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The "Would-be" Island String Trio

  • Whidbey Island Center for the Arts PO Box 52 | 565 Camano Avenue Langley, WA 98260 (map)

Violinist/Fiddlers Michael Gray and Julian Smedley are joined by 'cellist James Hinkley to form Puget Sound’s most unique bowed-string ensemble, the "Would-be" Island String Trio.

What distinguishes the WBST from their string peers is the sheer joy of improvisation inherent in the Trio’s DNA.  Both Michael and Julian are melodic improvisors par excellence; Michael with his 25 plus years in Pearl Django; Julian through his association with the Hot Club of SF and a 30 year career in composing and performing jazz classics; and James, who is equally at home playing the Korngold 'cello concerto as he is with improvising and arranging jazz standards.

Drawing as much from the yearning freedom of Wayne Shorter and the rhythmic intensity of American Fiddle tunes, with a hint of Brahmsian eloquence, the WBST performs their original compositions and re-imagining’s of the American canon with precise string technique elbow to elbow with incandescent melodic soloing.

Enjoy!

Friday, May 5 | 7:30 PM

Tickets available:
WICA Star: $45
Standard: $30
by request from box office: $20

Earlier Event: April 29
Celebration of Dance - Whidbey Island Dance Theatre
Later Event: May 6
Cancelled: Nainoa Thompson, Finding Our Way

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts would like to begin by acknowledging that we gather on the ancestral homelands, originally known as Tscha-kole-chy (SHA-KOL-CHI) in Lushootseed (LU-SHOOT-SEED), of the Coastal Salish Peoples, on the lands of the lower Skagit, Tulalip (tuh·lay·luhp), Swinomish (SWIN-ə-mish), Snohomish (snō-hō-mish), Stillaguamish (still-uh-GWAH-mish), and Suquamish (soo-kwah-mish), who have lived in the Salish Sea basin since time immemorial and have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken care of these lands.

We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and we honor their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water.

Please join us in expressing our deepest respect and gratitude to the indigenous people of this territory and for their enduring care and protection of the land in which we currently occupy and share through the Treaty of Point Elliott signed by 82 tribes in Múckl-te-óh (Mukilteo) on January 22, 1855.