Live at The Skylark

Bassist and band director, Tige DeCoster, has toured throughout Asia, Europe, and Central America and the United States with Martha Wainwright, Dan Bern, Omar Torrez, and the bands Crosseyed, Hanuman, and the Supersones. He was the recipient of Seatttle Weekly’s Best Acoustic Band for Hanuman’s album Pedalhorse in 2002, and a 2009 Fulbright scholarship to perform and tour in the Republic of Georgia. He has performed with many notable musicians, such as Amy Denio, Eric McFadden, Jessica Lurie, Donald Barrett, Will Bernard, Paul McCandless, Bill Horist, Eric Apoe, Paul Benoit, Chris Chandler, Scott Law, and many others. Tige also enjoys writing and publishing poetry.

Keyboardist Kent Halvorsen is easily one of the Seattle underground’s most celebrated figures. He is currently a member of Saruna, Battlestar Kalakala, and Rubies in The Dust, and has been a member of Manooghi Hi and Dabouge. Having performed and written with Seattle music royalty such as Shawn Smith, legendary drummer KJ Sawka and Sky Cries Mary, he also toured extensively as a member of American Idol star Blake Lewis’ band A.D.D. While with Blake, Kent played many national TV shows and Arenas. Kent currently teaches piano at The Music Factory in Seattle’s Madison Valley Neighborhood. 

Tenor Saxophonist, flautist, horn arranger and polymath, Kevin Nortness, studied composition at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and Portland State University, completing his training as apprentice to the legendary composer/pianist Andrew Hill. Kevin has been an active contributor to Seattle's performance arts community since 1993, working as a composer, arranger, collaborator, instrumentalist, music director, and sound engineer for theater, dance, film, studio, and concert productions. Most notably, Kevin contributed ten years as a resident composer and performer with the internationally acclaimed, The Degenerate Art Ensemble. Other notable contributions include Teatro ZinZanni (2007), the Moisture Festival (2010-2015), the 1448 Festival (1998-2016), musical director for Vashon Youth Theater (2013-2016), and instrumental instructor and sound engineer for Seattle Drum School (2006-2012). He has received grants as a composer or collaborating composer from The Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Artist Trust, The Poncho Foundation, Meet the Composer, the NEA, the Jack Straw Foundation, and The Nesholm Family Foundation. Kevin regularly performs, teaches, and records on the saxophone, upright bass, clarinet, piano, trumpet, and flute. 

Baritone and soprano player Kate Olson is an innovative improvising saxophonist and music educator. She can be heard performing with her own solo projects KO Solo and KO Electric, as a collaborator with The Royal Room Music Ensemble and Electric Circus (led by Wayne Horvitz), Birch Pereira and the Gin Joints, the Seattle Men’s and Women’s Chorus, and cabaret producers Can Can Presents and Verlaine & McCann. Kate has a B.A. in music (jazz emphasis) from the University of Wyoming and an M.M. in Improvisation from the University of Michigan and is currently on the jazz faculty at Pacific Lutheran University. Kate’s international resume continues to grow, including performances in Russia, Latvia, Turkey, Switzerland, South Korea, Cuba, and Slovakia. She has appeared on stage with Terry Riley, Stuart Dempster, Pauline Oliveros, Allison Miller, Bobby Previte, Skerik, Patricia Barber and pop music icons Elvis Costello, Brandi Carlisle, and Sir-Mix-A lot. Kate was nominated in 2011 and 2013 for the Earshot Golden Ear Award in the emerging artist category, and in 2014 and 2016, was in the best instrumentalist category, and best Northwest alternative group. In 2020, her project, The KO ensemble, was awarded the Golden Ear Award. 

Christian Pincock is a composer, trombonist and educator who draws upon a multitude of experiences to create intentional, adventurous and innovative music that seeks to explore new concepts, processes, and instruments while maintaining a deep foundation of technique and tradition. One of these vehicles is Tightrope which features the quadapod, a hybrid instrument of his own creation consisting of custom electronics, software and an organ-style pedalboard  which he uses to play counterpoint and accompaniment with his trombone. Airdancer, with Brian Bermudez  on saxophones and Max Holmberg on drums explores the integration of the quadapod into a chamber-jazz group which blurs the line between composition and improvisation. Christian also explores real-time virtual performance with his collaboration Satellite Music with NYC-based drummer John O’ Brien and directs Scrambler which uses Soundpainting, the international multi-disciplinary sign-language for performing artists. He also performs regularly with a wide variety of musical groups in the Seattle area and presents educational workshops and masterclasses.

Steve Treseler is a Seattle-based saxophonist, composer, teaching artist, and author who performs and leads creative music workshops across the U.S. DownBeat calls his music “beautifully crafted ensemble pieces—whether free, through-composed, or somewhere in between.” His music has been featured in the New York Times, DownBeat, and on NPR. Steve is the founder of Infinite Improvisation, offering creative music experiences in a variety of mediums: in-person and virtual workshops, instructional books, and digital media.

Treseler grew up in the midst of Seattleʼs grunge scene before moving to Boston to pursue his studies on scholarship at New England Conservatory, where he studied with jazz legends Jerry Bergonzi, Bob Brookmeyer, George Garzone, and Steve Lacy. He holds a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies and Improvised Music from the University of Washington where he worked with avant-garde trumpeter Cuong Vu.Steve leads his own ensembles and is part of several ongoing collaborative projects. He and renowned trumpeter Ingrid Jensen are co-leaders of the album Invisible Sounds: For Kenny Wheeler on Whirlwind Recordings, which was named one of DownBeat's best albums of 2019 and featured in the New York Times and on NPR's Jazz Night in America. Steve's latest album Sonic Meditations, a self-produced project, is being released as a series of singles throughout 2023. Steve is deeply embedded into the Northwest jazz and creative music scene as a member of The Jim Knapp Orchestra, Tom Varner’s Nonet, Conner Eisenmenger's Think Tank, Scrambler, Wayne Horvitz’s Washington Composers Orchestra, Jessika Smith’s Big Band, and the Phil Parisot Quartet.Creative music education is an integral part of Steve’s ongoing work. In addition to Infinite Improvisation programs, he is on faculty at Seattle JazzED and the Pacific Music Institute in Honolulu. He is the author of Amazon bestseller Creativity Triggers for Musicians, The Living Jazz Tradition: A Creative Guide to Improvisation and Harmony, and the Creative Music Blog. He has presented clinics at Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, JEN, WMEA, Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, and California Jazz Conservatory.

Steve has performed with jazz greats Bill Frisell, Dave Douglas, Bob Brookmeyer, Kenny Wheeler, Steve Swallow, George Garzone, Jamie Cullum, Geoffrey Keezer, and Mike Stern. Steve is a Conn-Selmer endorsing artist.

Percussionist Tor Dietrichson is a vocalist, composer, bandleader, and music educator with a 50-year history of playing music from around the world. Specializing in Afro Cuban conga drums and East Indian tabla drums, he also is fluent in many styles of world music percussion. His teachers, Zakir Hussain and his father Ustad Allah Rakha, are the top tabla players in the world. In the mid 1970s Tor was the youngest member of the legendary Diga Rhythm Band with Zakir Hussain and Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. He is also a composer and recording artist; his 1987 release Global Village on Global Pacific Records charted high nationally and was distributed worldwide through CBS/Sony records, featuring numerous other luminaries, including a tabla duet with Hussain. His albums have featured Santana percussionist Karl Perazzo, violinist Steve Kindler, guitarist Joaquin Lievano, Brazilian vocalist Flora Purim, flutist Paul Horn and many others. He has had many bands of his own and has performed with many people in Seattle and the Bay Area. His band, Mambo Cadillac, features three-time Grammy award winning vocalist, Carlos Cascante, and pianist Julio Jauregui. He is also the vocalist of the blues band, The Tor Dietrichson Blues Machine.