Our Story

Rewind the film, turn over the record . . . the story has another key element that would shape the much of the first 9 seasons. In the summer of 2011, Davis attended a small performance at an improvised gallery space in downtown Flagstaff that featured visual art by Karen McClanahan and Steve Lauman and music by the Out of Town Trio: Tracy McMullen (sax), Hal Onserud (bass), and Rob Wallace (drums). After the trio’s show ended, Davis approached Wallace and bought a cd (a rare event, even circa 2011). He also spoke with Wallace about being a percussion student at NAU and having met Frank Rosaly. 5 years later when Davis and Wallace were reacquainted, it was Rosaly who had put them back in touch. Wallace may have forgotten Davis’ name (to his eternal shame), but he did remember the enthusiastic percussionist who had purchased a cd of improvised music. Wallace, born and raised in Flagstaff, had returned to his hometown in August 2015 to teach in the Honors College of Northern Arizona University. Davis approached him about appearing in the series, and in October they performed as a duo—a grouping that has flourished and continued. Wallace also performed a solo set featuring pieces from his Humdrum project. He quickly became a key ally of the series, as an audience member, performer, and also in helping to program artists such as percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani (who became a series regular). Davis invited Wallace to become an official co-curator in April 2017, and the two quickly started their scrappy and improvisational approach to curation—dreaming big but also incorporating and encouraging local performers to thrive. Davis had already included NAU students and faculty into the mix, and Brosseau was a teacher at FALA (Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy), a local charter school known for its arts education. Wallace and Davis further emphasized the connections between the series and education, inviting students and colleagues to participate in the series and inviting visiting artists to give workshops and guest lectures. At this point, Davis was not yet the music education hero he would soon become, but he was educating his audiences nevertheless—especially as your friendly neighborhood barista at Kickstand Kafe, where he would encourage everyone to attend series events. These enthusiastic invitations created many converts to new and improvised music, and also led to the use of a long-standing “clubhouse” of sorts for the series as we still program many events at Kickstand. Everyone from clarinetist-philosopher David Rothenberg, new music diva Stephanie Lamprea, indie-rock god Alan Sparhawk, and Bay Area free jazz legends Positive Knowledge have performed at Kickstand, just a few yards away from where Wallace had learned to play jazz at Flagstaff High School.

 

Kickstand is one of several makeshift venues that the series transforms into spaces for new, improvised, and experimental performance. We’ve occasionally moved onto the streets and into the parks of Flagstaff, as well as more prestigious venues such as the Orpheum Theater, the Coconino Center for the Arts, and Kitt Recital Hall. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the series thrived outside of normal venues with an innovative of weekend “drive-up” of performances curated by Betsy Hamill (another key supporter of the series and board member), as well as other outside performances and virtual concerts. We also did a short run of podcasts, Broadcast Interference, and continued releasing physical and digital recordings on our archival record label, Nonessential Records (launched in 2019). 

 

In June 2020, the series officially became a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. As the series progressed, Davis and Wallace fostered alliances with various arts organizations and other local institutions, ranging from Northern Arizona University to the Museum of Contemporary Art Flagstaff. We have received generous support from Creative Flagstaff; the Arizona Community Foundation’s Pickard Arts and Culture Fund; the Western States Arts Federation; Northern Arizona University’s Jazz Studies Program, Percussion Studio, Honors College, and the Richard A. Wood Professorship in Philosophy; and numerous local and national donors. Of particular note are long-standing relationships with board members Brian Skiff and John Schiek. Schiek and his wife Lynn have been particularly instrumental in supporting visiting artists. And in 2024 the series formed another key relationship, via the NAU Honors College, with R.C. and Pamela Nakai, who fund Wallace’s Performance in Practice course as part of the Nakai Fund For Arts and Experimental Performance. Each spring, Wallace’s students from the class perform a public concert in the series, featuring their original pieces. 

 

The series has continued its mission of presenting innovative, experimental, and hard-to-classify concerts, and has featured hundreds of artists in distinct and often unique performances. Legendary composer Terry Riley sang telematically from Japan along with the Radical Empathy Trio; Boston-based bicycle percussionist Reynaliz Herrera performed on a bill with local band the Caverns and sensational duo Tent Music; Davis composed a piece for elementary school students and a local playground; among a range of other memorable performances. Along the way, the series has also cultivated a schedule of recurring events dedicated to marking seasonal changes and paying tribute to important innovative artists. Our Coltrane Equinox concert celebrates the music and life of John and Alice Coltrane and their fellow-travelers each September; our Sun Ra Earthly Arrival Party each May marks the legacy of one of the Universe’s most original voices; February’s Yokofest! presents the work of, and work inspired by, Yoko Ono; and our Summer and Winter Solstice concerts are paired with community collaborations featuring seasonal pieces by composers Phil Kline (Unsilent Night in December) and Elliot Cole (Flowerpot Music in June). Each spring, local duo John and Carmen Marcus present their Primordial Light Show to celebrate the equinox.

 

Every performance is different—from jazz to new music, noise to singer-songwriters, Hindustani classical music to performance art, the Interference Series offers a vital resource for the Flagstaff community. Here’s to the future history!