Wally Shoup
Wally Shoup is a compelling
and passionate saxophonist and veteran free improvisor, having been involved in playing
and organizing since 1974. He has played with many of world's most unique improvising
musicians, including Davey Williams, La Donna Smith, Jack Wright, Toshi Makihara, Amy
Denio, John Oswald, Paul Hoskin and John Russell, but is equally known for integrating the
tenets of improvisation with dance and the visual arts. His free-wheeling exuberance,
coupled with a sophisticated sense of color and texture, translates as expressively to
silk and canvas paintings as it does to his sax playing. He treats the sonic and the
visual arts as two sides of the same coin and devotes himself equally to both.
Since arriving in Seattle in 1985, he has been active not only in leading groups devoted exclusively to investigating free improvisation, including the Catabatics. the Pulsation Crew, and, most recently, Project W, but he has also been diligent in creating similar opportunities for others. Since 1987, he has been instrumental in organizing the Seattle Improvised Music Festival (which celebrated its 13th incarnation this year) and also helped found the "Other Sounds" Series, a longstanding, bi-weekly showcase for adventurous and unconventional music.
Wally Shoup's recent Project W CD was listed on a top ten list for Cadence Magazine's 1996 list, and the group, augmented by Toshi Makihara, were recently invited to play on the prestigious Du Maurier Jazz Festival in Vancouver, B.C. Other notable events/venue where he has played include Roulette & the Knitting Factory (NYC), the Palais de Beaux Arts (Brussels), Logos (Ghent), the Atlanta International Jazz Festival, Princeton Univ., the London Musicians Collective as well as in hundreds of clubs and galleries. Additionally, he has been the recipient of numerous multi-media grants which incorporate his costumes and set designs to augment his music.
In addition to his playing and organizing, Wally has written numerous articles on the art of improvising, serving as a reviewer for the Improvisor, Seattle's Arts Focus, and the Stranger, as well as having provocative essays published in Perspectives of New Music and Atlanta's Art Papers.
Wally Shoup is among a handful of Americans who have devoted themselves exclusivly to the practise of free improvisation, honing his craft as a creator "in the moment", steadfastly believing that spontaneity and creative alertness are avenues to spiritual freedom. His "voice" is raw but elegant, direct but challenging, and given to lyrical earthiness. His work operates outside the commercial paradigm and thus reflects a committment to aesthetic integrity over popular acceptance.
Raves
"Shoup's fiercely honest and technically accomlished playing paints emotional sonic landscapes" -- Coda
"Agile, machine-gun/serpentine phrasing, split-tones like a rubber band cutting metal, Shoup's playing spits out in a torrent of non-repetitive articulation" -- The Improvisor
"The Rainbow of jazz stylings from Seattle stretches from the avant-garde, free saxophone of Wally Shoup to the pop commercial instrumental music of Kenny G" -- Seattle Weekly