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Seattle's Jazz Iconoclasts, Bad Luck

Chris Icasiano and Neil Welch were both studying jazz at the University of Washington when they formed Bad Luck. Now, after more than a decade of thinking beyond the limits of genre classifications, the band and their fans have no need to define this music.

Mixing free jazz with folk, metal and electronic styles, Bad Luck are a band in pursuit. Icasiano and Welch both mentioned feeling better about their music than they ever have, now four albums and ten years along.

Performing live in our studios, the two come across as multi-instrumentalists - an expanded duo, if you will. They both use electronics and effects pedals to get many different sounds out of their instruments. 

Their music varies between meditative moods and anguished tension. Sometimes the feeling is of pure improvisational freedom, at others the pair plays so tightly in sync they seem to be of one mind.

Over the years, Icasiano and Welch have become community icons. Their music and motivation is to bring people together across genre boundaries, while inspiring and taking inspiration from the artists and art appreciators they encounter.

The two have helped create and sustain the adventurous music of the Racer Sessions at Cafe Racer in Roosevelt, and the progressive Table and Chairs Music label.

Bad Luck shatters any notion of musical tribalism, sharing stages with musicians of all types. Their audience is largely comprised of the younger population raised with immediate access to all music in the palm of their hand. Classification is passe in 2018.

Hold on tight for this impressive and emotional session with Bad Luck, including a brand new piece and a pair of songs from their fourth album, the just released Four. Leave preconceptions at the door and open your ears, if you're feeling lucky.

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Studio Sessions Live Studio Sessions
Abe grew up in Western Washington, a 3rd generation Seattle/Tacoma kid. It was as a student at Pacific Lutheran University that Abe landed his first job at KNKX, editing and producing audio for news stories. It was a Christmas Day shift no one else wanted that gave Abe his first on-air experience which led to overnights, then Saturday afternoons, and started hosting Evening Jazz in 1998.