released January 5, 2024

WALTER THOMPSON has achieved international recognition as a composer and for the creation of Soundpainting, the universal multidisciplinary live composing sign language.
theatre ensembles and multidisciplinary groups in United States, Europe and South America. In 1974, after attending Berklee School of Music, Walter Thompson moved to Woodstock and began an association with the Creative Music Studio. While there, he studied composition and woodwinds with Anthony Braxton and began to develop his interest in using hand and body gestures as a way to create real-time compositions. Beginning as a tool to help shape the direction of a performance, it has evolved to become a universal composing language for composers and artists off all disciplines and abilities. Soundpainting is now being used both professionally and in education in more than 35 countries around the world including; the United States, France, Canada, Australia, Czech Republic, China, Germany, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Brazil, Uruguay, Montenegro, Guadeloupe, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Nigeria, Switzerland, Turkey, and the Netherlands.

BRET SEXTON grew up in Riverton, WY and moved to Denver, CO in 1992 to attend the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music. After discovering a passion for music outside of the academic realm, he withdrew from school to pursue his musical vision, and led the bands Trio Fungus, Sanskrit, and many others. His group Sanskrit performed for Denver’s Creative Music Works through the mid 1990s. Their album, “Live at Seven South” was reviewed by Cadence Magazine, saying: “Sexton is a passionate pointillist-expressionist, his playing is full of the unfettered imagination, fervent arrogance and tonal unpredictability that makes for a distinctive improviser.” Bret has also played alongside musicians such as Joe Bonner, Hugh Ragin, Nate Wooley, Shane Endsley, Kaveh Rastagar of Kneebody, Rudy Royston, Farrell Lowe, and Ryan Seward. He studied briefly with local saxophone legend, Fred Hess, and his albums are available at bretsexton.bandcamp.com and bretsextonquartet.bandcamp.com.

FARRELL LOWE is a guitarist, and an extraordinary one at that. His work spans jazz, experimental, world fusion and free improvisation. But “guitarist” barely scratches the surface of a multi-faceted artist who has made creativity his life’s work. Prolific is another term well-placed in Farrell’s bio. He continues to challenge limits and publish music that defies categorization, at a mind-boggling rate. He’s also an accomplished stoneworker, painter, woodworker, and instrument maker.

MATT SMILEY is a bassist, composer, and educator from Staunton, VA, now residing in Denver, CO and completing his DMA in Jazz Studies at UC Boulder.

In his work as a performer and a composer, Smiley focuses on developing systems and modes of playing at the nexus of composition and improvisation that reference elements of established American and European vernacular and experimental music traditions, while simultaneously and idiosyncratically deviating from them. His multifaceted and studied approach to both the bass and composition enable an adroit facility in both idiomatic and non-idiomatic settings.

Since moving to Colorado, Smiley has worked with a number of diverse and prominent performers and composers including Alvin Lucier, Christian Wolff, Stephen Drury, Jean-Claude Risset, Terrell Stafford, and Greg Osby. In addition to his rigorous performance schedule, he teaches at both Denver School of the Arts Jazz Camp and The Gift of Jazz, a non-profit focusing on enriching the community through the creation, promotion, and preservation of the art of jazz in the Rocky Mountain Region.

RON COULTER is a percussionist, composer, and improviser. He has presented at 100+ universities and has toured internationally appearing in all 50 U.S. states, Europe, Canada, and Japan with artists such as the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, David Murray, Vinny Golia, Tony Malaby, Linux Laptop Orchestra, Matthew Shipp, Nate Wooley, Sandy Duncan, Bolokada Condé, Music from China, Youngstown Symphony, Gino Robair, Michael Zerang, Eric Mandat, Chris Corsano, and Tone Road Ramblers, among others. Ron has presented at numerous conferences, including: ISIM, PASIC, NIME, BMC3, JEN, CMS, a.pe.ri.od.ic, Futurisms, Soundlines, RadiaLx, and the JVC and Montreal Jazz Festivals. He is co-founder of the Percussion Art Ensemble, duende entendre, Marble Hammer, Drm&Gtr, and founder of the Southern Illinois Improvisation Series and Creative Music Series. Additional interests include noise, intermedia, interdisciplinary collaboration, and organizing Fluxconcerts. As a composer, Ron has created more than 433 compositions for various media.

SeFa LoCo formed in May 2021, the context was the Creative Music Series (2019-2021) founded and curated by Ron Coulter in Casper, WY. The quartet, comprised of Bret Sexton (alto saxophone & electronics), Farrell Lowe (electric guitar), Mike Facey (bass), and Ron Coulter (drumset, percussion, electronics) has released several albums on Right Brain Records, Kreating SounD, and BretSextonMusic; including their album “Entanglements” with trumpeter, Hugh Ragin. Facey relocated to the East Coast in 2021 and the group has continued to perform and record with bassists Bill McCrossen, Mike Brown, Dave Willey, and Matt Smiley.