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Mike Gamble

@instagambz

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Hey everyone I watched Friday the 13th as a kid. Yup, go figure—Jason Voorhees made recurring appearances in my nightmares. Of course, I learned about Judas, traditionally counted as the thirteenth guest at the Last Supper, the one who ghosted everyone and then betrayed Jesus. But what about the Maya and Aztec calendrical systems, in which thirteen held significance in sacred cycles and cosmology? And why does the fear of creating a space designated as the literal 13th floor exist almost everywhere, yet remain so rarely discussed? Well, here we are. My 41st album, recorded at Color Therapy, 13th Floor, became an investigation into triskaidekaphobia and other uncanny physical and mental phenomena that exist but are often hidden or brushed under the rug. During the first track, and then peppered throughout some of the others, an unfamiliar sound implants itself into the recordings. You will hear an analog ghost inside your digital machine. Sadly, this happens quite frequently, and my studio mate Ryan and I discuss the matter at considerable length. Maybe it’s 5G interference? Or is it just a coincidence that something on the tangential thirteenth floor is trying to leave its mark, an uninvited presence buried somewhere in the signal? So there you have it: thirteen tracks of mechanical ghosts, shifting perspectives, unfinished ideas, forward motion, and the strange things that happen when you follow a sound back to its source. 13th Floor 1. Ghosts With the Machines 2. Gestalt Vault 3. Back to the Drawing board 4. Love Forward 5. Slider-Crank 6. To the Root of All 7. Slapback Max 8. Please Do Elaborate 9. Just Walked Off Stage 10. Norse Myth 11. Aftermathing 12. Seeing the forest through the trees 13. Triskaidekaphobia Mike Gamble- Electric Acoustic Guitar, Efx Recorded at Color Therapy Studios Straight to Tascam 246 4-track Cassette Mixed and Plastered at Studio M//G Photo by Jonathan Sielaff #diyrecording #releasemaxxing #13thfloor #mikegamblemusic by @instagambz
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4 days ago
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Christian San Nicolas // Christian Ramirez // Mike Gamble CMG Artistic Director Series Wednesday, October 7 • 8PM Dream House, Portland 412 NE Beech St, Portland, OR $10 sliding scale Join us for an evening of adventurous improvised music featuring three distinctive voices from across the creative music spectrum. Christian San Nicolas brings a deeply personal approach to the saxophone, connecting free improvisation, CHamoru culture, and sonic storytelling. Their performances draw from the landscapes, histories, and lived experiences of Guåhan while exploring sound as a path toward autonomy, truth, and presence. Bassist Christian Ramirez, a recent graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, has emerged as a powerful young voice on the instrument. A recipient of numerous national honors, he has shared the stage with artists including Gary Bartz, Taylor Eigsti, Dayna Stephens, and Leona Mitchell. Guitarist Mike Gamble is a composer, improviser, educator, and Artistic Director of the Creative Music Guild. Known for blending expansive guitar textures, electronics, and spontaneous composition, Gamble has performed internationally and collaborated with artists including Nels Cline, Shahzad Ismaily, Wayne Horvitz, Laura Veirs, and Bobby Previte. Expect an evening of spontaneous creation, solo sets, deep listening, and musical conversations that exist only in the moment. Thanks @thehollerfundorg for the support #PortlandMusic #CreativeMusicGuild #ImprovisedMusic #ExperimentalMusic #dreamhouseportland by @instagambz
4
10 days ago
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Hi hello greetings and all Here we are:::: release #40! Wealth, and the money that binds us to keeping our careers alive seems increasingly less physical and more abstract these days. Regardless of the currency the whole system still depends on a fundamental act of collective trust. I would hope that this has value and an underlying sense of sustainability. But more than ever, I’m skeptical that trust is a universal geopolitical commonality we all share. Money began as exchange: barter, debts, promises, and systems of accounting. In ancient Mesopotamia, debt became a way of organizing society. In Lydia, metal alloys like electrum were turned into standardized coins. Then Rome stamped the faces of its rulers onto currency and later fell apart. China developed paper money and dealt with a great deal of theft. Centuries later of course we have banks, stock markets, credit, inflation, algorithms, and now Bitcoin. This heaping mess came along with greed, self protection, and a history of robberies, scams, frauds, and psychological memetic and AI deep fakes. Electrum explores what happens when the people who hold, analyze, and count your hard-earned money collide with fringe culture. Imagine fur-traders, the independently wealthy, and stockbrokers forced against the wall persuaded to abandon themselves to wild encounters with priceless, timeless, and precious moments. Things and experiences that money can never buy. Electrum 1. Stocks & Socks 2. The Heart of All Wealth 3. Greedy Algorithm 4. Averting Ambiguity 5. Team Bonanza 6. Minted Minded 7. Bathos Runoff 8. Clout Cloud Mike Gamble- Electric Guitar, Efx, Keys Mike Gamble- Electric Bass Mike Gamble- Drums and Cymbals Recorded at Color Therapy Studios Straight to Tascam 246 4-track Cassette Mixed and Plastered at Studio M//G Photo by Alissa DeRubeis #releasemaxxing #pnwmusic #diyrecording by @instagambz
1
10 days ago
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Hi everyone Release #39 is out there:/ No matter who you are or where you are on this planet, there’s always something to be annoyed about. It might be as petty as your own bad habit or as unsettling as a minor inconvenience. Maybe someone is chewing too loudly with headphones on. Or you leave a text left unread for a reason. Maybe even an algorithm consistently reveals to you precisely what makes you riled up. There are endless ways to spend your time identifying what’s wrong, figuring out why it’s wrong, and developing your own niche system for making sure it never happens again. The problem is that the little things can start to feel more important than they are. A pet peeve becomes a fixation. A routine becomes an obsession. Then you end up trying to make everyday more manageable and it just becomes another source of stress. You spend so much energy optimizing the small stuff you don’t have much left for anything else. “Good On Paper” is about this strange human tendency to become deeply invested in minor problems while much bigger ones sit patiently in the background. These are eight improvised/ semi-written songs about systems, habits, irritations, coping mechanisms, and the comforting illusion of productivity. 1. Formalized Cutoff 2. Finding out First 3. From Mids to Grids 4. Mukbangs 5. Cheugy Feud 6. How It Turnt Out 7. Journey to the Earth’s Core 8. Pet’s Peeve Mike Gamble- Electric Guitar, Efx, Keys Mike Gamble- Electric Bass Mike Gamble- Drums and Cymbals Recorded at Color Therapy Studios Straight to Tascam 246 4-track Cassette Mixed and Plastered at Studio M//G Photo by Bobby Previte by @instagambz
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17 days ago
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Improvisation Summit of Portland - Night 5 Presented by Reed College Performing Arts Building Room 320, Reed College 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland, OR 97202 Saturday October 17, 2026 • 7:00 PM FREE GEORGE Anna Webber (tenor saxophone, flute) Sarah Rossy (voice, synthesizer) Chiquita Magic (synthesizers, voice) John Hollenbeck (drums, composition) Formed by drummer and composer John Hollenbeck, GEORGE is a genre-defying quartet where groove, improvisation, electronics, and songcraft converge. Featuring four singular voices from the worlds of jazz, experimental music, and contemporary composition, the group creates music that moves fluidly between vintage funk, art-pop, futuristic electronica, and creative improvisation. The band’s name honors George Floyd while also evoking a wider constellation of artists, thinkers, and visionaries, grounding the music in themes of humanity, reflection, and connection. Praised by Pitchfork for its “infectious” energy and hailed by AllMusic for its “captivating, provocative compositions,” GEORGE creates immersive performances that blend soaring saxophone lines, layered vocal textures, microtonal synth landscapes, and inventive rhythmic frameworks into something both adventurous and deeply engaging. 3rio Machado Mijiga • Andrew Jones • Mike Gamble with Special Guest Morgan Luker Drawing from backgrounds in jazz, experimental music, contemporary composition, and spontaneous collaboration, the trio creates dynamic performances that balance lyricism, texture, groove, and risk. Having performed together in a variety of ensembles and creative music settings throughout the Pacific Northwest, they have developed a shared musical language rooted in deep listening and collective exploration. For this special performance, they are joined by Morgan Luker, saxophonist, ethnomusicologist, composer, and Chair of the Music Department at Reed College, whose work bridges improvisation, contemporary music, and global musical traditions, adding another distinctive voice to the ensemble’s adventurous sound. Poster by @eatcho by @instagambz
1
17 days ago
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IMPROVISATION SUMMIT DAY 1 Oct 13th, 8pm $10-30 Suggested Donation Half Court Studio @halfcourtstudio Poster by @eatcho 2500 NE Sandy Blvd Ste f, Portland, OR 97232 CAROLINE DAVIS Caroline Davis’ solo performances are chosen spontaneously, given the atmosphere of the room and the people present. She explores sonic textures offered by interactive technologies, sharing sounds from the saxophone that she considers to be distinctive and quirky. She makes use of Pure Data patches developed by the open source community surrounding the Organelle (the technobear, shreeswifty, critterandguitari, tony j morton, nobuyasu sakonda, soxsa, varicela, nicky-system, samesimilar, and chrisk). The music during this performance will pull from Caroline’s recent solo album, Fallows, created during a time of rest on land in Ucross Wyoming. bell hooks was a constant source of inspiration during this time, through the following ideas: love as a practice of freedom, radical openness, maintenance of commitment, using community as a means of escape, belief in one’s capacity to transform, what it means to listen, and eliminating elimination. YAWA YAWA IS A SONGWRITER AND PRODUCER FROM MEMPHIS,TN AND CURRENTLY RESIDES IN PORTLAND, OR. IN HER ONE-WOMAN PERFORMANCE, SHE BUILDS VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL LOOPS FROM SYNTH, DRUM MACHINE, AND KALIMBA CREATIN ATMOSPHERIC TEXTURES. YAWA SURPRISES AND TANTALIZES AUDIENCES WITH MIND BENDING IDEAS WHILE SKIPPING MUSICALLY FROM SOUL-SHAKING GOSPEL TO SMOOTH JAZZ. HER MUSIC IS BOLDLY MYSTICAL AND SOUL-FIRED, AND HER RAW LIVE PERFORMANCES INVOKE ELEMENTS OF BOTH THEATRICAL AND MAGICAL SURPRISE. MIKE GAMBLE Mike Gamble is an adventurous guitarist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist whose work draws on extended performance techniques, improvisation, and emerging technologies. Approaching music as a vehicle for multi-layered expression, he moves fluidly between melody and abstraction, precision and risk. Mike Gamble is the Artistic Director of Portland’s long-standing experimental music organization, the Creative Music Guild. He also serves as a Contemporary Music Industry instructor at Oregon State University and teaches guitar at Reed College. by @instagambz
2
18 days ago
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Wed September 30th 2026 — 8pm $10 Suggested Donation, sliding scale Dream House 412 NE Beech St, Portland, OR 97212 Creative Music Guild’s Artistic Director Series continues with a special residency performance from CMG Artistic Director Mike Gamble, joined by drummer Grant Pierce and bassist Garrett Baxter. The evening will unfold through a series of solo and trio performances, highlighting the distinct musical voices of each artist while exploring the creative possibilities that emerge through improvisation and collective listening. Moving between intimate solo explorations and collaborative trio improvisations, the performance will celebrate the process of musical conversation, transformation, and discovery. Drawing from jazz, experimental music, ambient sound, and free improvisation, Gamble, Pierce, and Baxter create music that balances structure with spontaneity, emphasizing deep listening, interaction, and the unique character of the moment. Presented in the intimate setting of Dream House, this residency performance offers audiences a chance to experience three creative musicians engaging in an evening of exploration, risk-taking, and shared artistic inquiry. Thanks to @thehollerfundorg for the support @lonelygodpdx @dreamhousepdx by @instagambz
1
20 days ago
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The 2026 Creative Music Guild Improvisation Summit explores the theme of Transitions & Transmutations: the ways artists, communities, and creative practices evolve through collaboration, experimentation, and change. Across eighteen days of performances, workshops, screenings, collaborative projects, and community gatherings, the festival celebrates music as a space where ideas, identities, and artistic languages continuously shift, merge, and emerge anew. Featuring more than 30 Pacific Northwest artists and ensembles alongside a distinguished roster of visiting artists, the Summit creates opportunities for meaningful exchange between local and national creative music communities. Guest artists include acclaimed saxophonist and composer Caroline Davis, vocalist, pianist, and composer Judith Berkson, vocalist Lorin Benedict, celebrated bassist and composer Todd Sickafoose, bassist and bandleader Keith Witty, and a special appearance by GEORGE, the boundary-defying ensemble featuring John Hollenbeck, Anna Webber, Sarah Rossy, and Chiquita Magic. The festival also highlights many of Portland’s most adventurous creative voices, including YAWA, Machado Mijiga, the Akila Fields Trio, Brown Calculus, and the annual Improvisation Summit Round Robin hosted by Ben Woodman. This year’s festival artwork was created by Portland artist Eatcho, whose imaginative illustrations, murals, album art, and richly detailed visual worlds capture the spirit of creative exploration, transformation, and discovery that lies at the heart of improvised music. His work invites audiences to look closer, make connections, and find unexpected pathways through intricate landscapes of color, character, and possibility. Through new collaborations, artist-led workshops, improvised performances, multimedia presentations, film screenings, and interdisciplinary projects, the Improvisation Summit highlights the transformative power of creative practice while fostering connections across generations, disciplines, and musical traditions Click the link in our bio to explore the full festival schedule, artist bios, venue information, and details for each event. Poster by @eatcho Mike Gamble AD taken in Portland, Oregon by @instagambz
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22 days ago
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Hi, #38 here we go I once wanted to be a professional tubist. I got my chops together by playing in the Columbus Youth Symphony, leading a sousaphone section in a competitive marching band that played Stravinsky on football fields. I even attended a brass camp in Akron OH led by an instructor named Tucker Jolly. Then I found myself joining the annual Tuba Christmas a few times, and even took it upon myself to learn some second line with some jazz homeys just to fundraise for homeless shelters. Nevertheless, after paying my tuba-dues I turned my attention back toward my first instrument, the guitar. TBH I was drawn to its versatility, its massive sonic range, and the vast lexicon its players had produced. I wanted to be in a rock band, learn jazz and follow the trends new artists were developing. But I never quite lost my attraction to the sheer physical power of low brass. There is a weight of the sound, the vibration, and the undeniable feeling of an instrument moving through your body. I would jokingly ask to myself “Tuba or not tuba?” Well TUBA indeed! This album is a return to that impulse I once had and how I reimagined it into an avant-garde tuba-and-beat record. Blockchained explores the idea that backtracking isn’t necessarily failure or regression. Going backward can reveal things that are invisible in the process of constantly moving forward at a rapid pace.This music is awkward, funny, and a bit juvenile. Making it was indeed frustrating, liberating, but unexpectedly pleasurable at times. 1. First Glance 2. Metamorphman 3. Ship of The Saunterers 4. Backtracker 5. Quippy 6. March of the Marxists 7. Fancy Dancy 8. Races be Cases 9. Flowdance 10. Blockedchain 11. Machine Concerning 12. Scooter the Handflutist 13. Next Chapter 14. Too Far to Bother 15. Stranded When Landed 16. Bumfuzzled 17. Fubsy Bubsy 18. Ego Lift Mike Gamble- tuba & electronics Mike Gamble- acoustic guitar and acoustic/electric bass & efx Mike Gamble- drums and Cymbals Recorded at Color Therapy Studios @centerforsoundlightandcolor Straight to Tascam 246 4-track Cassette Mixed and Plastered at Studio M//G Photo by Mike Gamble by @instagambz
7
25 days ago
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Join us at 13th Moon Gravity Well for an evening of improvised music and community. Mike Gamble (guitar) Cole Zeimer (bass) Matt Mayhall (drums) The trio kicks things off at 7 PM with a set of spontaneous, exploratory music, followed by an open jam at 8 PM. Bring your instrument, your ears, or just come hang out. Thursday, September 24 7 PM - 10 PM 13th Moon Gravity Well 4513 SE 41st Ave, Portland, OR, 97206 Free admission • Tips appreciated #PortlandMusic #ImprovisedMusic #JazzPNW #CreativeMusic #PortlandArts by @instagambz
3
25 days ago
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CMG Fundraiser P. 2 Featuring Past & Present Artistic Directors Join the Creative Music Guild for a special community fundraiser celebrating our upcoming Improvisation Summit and supporting CMG’s year-round programming. The evening features performances by former Artistic Directors Jonathan Sielaff and Ben Kates, alongside current Artistic Director Mike Gamble, highlighting the organization’s longstanding commitment to creative music, improvisation, and artist-led programming in Portland. Following the performances, the stage will open for an all-ages, all-levels improvisation jam, inviting musicians and listeners to participate in the collaborative spirit that has always been at the heart of CMG. Part celebration, part fundraiser, and part community gathering, this event helps sustain Creative Music Guild’s mission while honoring the artists who have helped guide the organization over the years. Saturday, September 26, 2026 7:00 PM -10pm Blue Butler Studios @bluebutlerstudios 2400 SE Holgate Blvd, Portland, OR 97202 Suggested Donation: $15 Sliding Scale Learn more and support the campaign at the link in bio. #CreativeMusicGuild #CMG #ImprovisationSummit #PortlandMusic #ImprovisedMusic taken in Blue Butler Studios by @instagambz
2
a month ago
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Hey everyone Release #37 is on @bandcamp :) Ever since live performances returned after the pandemic, I’ve tried to reconnect with the sacred act of making music in the presence of others. My focus has become the exchange between the person creating the sound and the people receiving it. An audience can profoundly shape a performance simply by listening. When a performer is attuned to that exchange, they can respond in real time, remaining vulnerable, egoless, and open to whatever emerges. Even when there is no visible reaction, something mysterious can still pass between sender and receiver. I often return to Pauline Oliveros’s ideas of Deep Listening and quantum listening. In a world saturated with devices, notifications, and endless social distractions, listening remains anything but passive. It is an active practice of being present with sound, space, and community at once. There is something almost spiritual about imagining a listener existing just beyond perception, hearing from elsewhere and receiving what has been sent. Tone Senders is dedicated to that feeling of transmission, the connection we seek whenever we gather together in a room. I recorded this album by pairing myself with alternate versions of myself, including my distant cousin, creating a dialogue across time, distance, and identity. Yet I never felt limited to the role of a solitary musician constructing a trio in the studio. Throughout the process of composing, improvising, and tracking to tape, I imagined the audience as an active participant. I heard their reactions in real time, allowing their imagined presence to influence each decision as the music unfolded. Tone Senders 1. Clickfate 2. Listening from the Inside Out 3. Worked Out Technique 4. Off-base 5. Baby Tooth 6. Dyed-in-the-wool 7. Sentient glitch 8. Tower of the 11th Hour 9. Halternecking 10. Never Pass Up A Good Ending Mike Gamble- Electric Guitar, Efx Mike Gamble- Electric Bass Mike Gamble- Drums and Cymbals Recorded at Color Therapy Studios Straight to Tascam 246 4-track Cassette Mixed and Plastered at Studio M//G Photo by Devin Febbroriello #releasemaxxing #improvisedmusic #pnwmusic #diyrecording by @instagambz
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a month ago
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