Sue Ann Harkey

Vocalist/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Sue Ann Harkey is a section of Seattle and Brand-new York’s underground music and visible arts moments for over 2 decades. Her function, which includes been known as “futurist folk,” mixes philosophical and politics lyrics with improvised music influenced by free of charge jazz, digital, folk, and Middle Eastern and African components. Harkey found out improvisational music’s power in 1979, when she started playing acoustic guitar with close friends; this resulted in her exploration of the harp-guitar as well as the 12-string acoustic guitar, which she used mallets, bows, plectrums, and rods, and which also presented alternate tunings and metallic discs woven between your strings. By 1980, Harkey created the cassette label/politics pamphlet distributor Cityzens for nonlinear Futures (CNLF) as well as the improv group Sound Notice. The group was co-founded by Harkey and violinist/songwriter Sharon Gannon, offering Don Cherry and Dennis Charles among its revolving regular membership. Hailed among the cassette revolution’s most significant ensembles, Sound Notice released a prolific quantity of tapes through CNLF aswell as one recording, 1988’s IT REALLY IS This IT ISN’T This. Harkey relocated to NY in 1983 and became component of this city’s improvisational picture quickly, collaborating with Sue Garner, LaDonna Smith, Lesli Dalaba, Chris Cochrane, Man Yarden, and additional players, a lot of which made an appearance on her behalf 1989 single debut, The Old Past as well as the Old Long term Are Both Mere seconds Away. She came back to Seattle in 1992 and likewise to operating her own style/illustration company, Cactus Bones Studio room, she released albums such as for example 1997’s Fulcrum, including free of charge jazz players and DJs from your U.S. and U.K. underground.