FINAL FRIDAYS: PAUL KIKUCHI AND THE EMPTY CAGE QUARTET

Paul Kikuchi is a percussionist, composer, and instrument maker living in Seattle,WA. He holds degrees in music from Bennington College and California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with Milford Graves, Wadada Leo Smith, Swapan Chaudhuri, and Vinny Golia among others.

The Empty Cage Quartet, of which Kikuchi is a member, has been consistently praised by critics as one of the most interesting and original new jazz groups to emerge from the American West Coast. For over eight years the group has explored new ways to integrate a diverse mix of musical influences, utilizing a unique system that blurs the lines between composition and improvisation. They have recently received funding and support from Chamber Music America, The American Composers Forum, and the International Society for Improvised Music. Their seventh CD, Gravity, is out now on the Clean Feed label.

Paul Kikuchi and the Empty Cage Quartet will perform a free concert for our October Final Fridays at the Carriage House Theatre.