Neil Welch

Biography

Saxophonist Neil Welch is a Seattle-based improviser, acoustic and electronic artist, curator, composer, recording artist and educator. His practice is firmly linked to the natural world, welcoming inspiration from the abundant wildernesses of the Pacific Northwest. These influences are sonically reflected by a measured use of space and activated silence, with such specialized techniques as multiphonic-acoustic chord playing, microtonal pitch content, and air/wind-based sound. Whether playing any horn voice ranging from soprano to bass saxophone, he is also a deep practitioner in the sculpting of a compelling melody. Neil’s performance and recorded works focus largely on current musical forms, with a strong emphasis on improvisation. He is a member of the acclaimed sax + electronics / drums duo Bad Luck and Wayne Horvitz’s Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble. As a solo artist, Neil also particularly welcomes the emotive vulnerability of unamplified acoustic solo saxophone improvisation.

Neil embraces the power of community collaboration in the arts, often exploring varied ensemble instrumentations and interdisciplinary practices. He was a founding member of the Racer Sessions series (est. 2007 - 2024) and curator artistic curator (2014-16). Neil is currently a member of the collectively run Gallery 1412 artist space. With 7 solo releases and appearances on 60+ albums to date, Neil’s playing unabashedly embraces a vastness of sonic possibility. All About Jazz calls his work "stunning and extraordinary” and Downbeat Magazine calls Neil "an impassioned player.”

“Combining profound humility with a tectonic technique, Welch approaches the saxophone family as a transmaterial collaboration, an alloy of sound and soul.”

-All About Jazz

More of the nitty gritty details

Neil is committed to expanding the saxophone's role in modern music through new performance collaborations and exploratory sound craft. He has performed with artists from widespread musical genres, some including: the rock band God Speed You! Black Emperor, modern composers Wayne Horvitz and John Teske, indie rockers Darto, Sheridan Riley, and Cataldo, jazz drum master Gregg Keplinger and jazz french hornist Tom Varner, North Indian classical sitar legend Pandit Debi Prasad Chatterjee, Iranian-American guitarist Raeim Rahmani, and mrudangam artist/composer Rajna Swaminathan. As a longtime collaborator in the powerful drum/sax duo Bad Luck, Neil often performs the saxophone through live electronics blended with visceral acoustic sounds. Many of his solo and group projects, such as 12 Moons and the ongoing Continuous Resonance solo saxophone series focus exclusively on unamplified acoustic performance, with nearly 700 recordings documented to date. Neil was a founding member (2008) and former curator (2014-16) for the acclaimed Racer Sessions weekly music series. He was awarded Emerging Artist of the Year (2009) and Outside Jazz Group of the Year (2017) by the Earshot Jazz Society. Additionally, he was nominated in the categories of Outside Jazz Group of the Year and Concert of the Year (2018), Album of the Year (2020) and Northwest Jazz Artist of the Year (2021) by Seattle’s Earshot Jazz Society. He was awarded a Jack Straw Artist in Residency (2017) to record a major ensemble composition entitled Concepcion Picciotto, which was released in 2022. Neil studied jazz improvisation with multi-instrumentalist Jay Thomas, jazz and classical saxophone from University of Washington professor Michael Brockman, and North Indian Hindustani classical music and sonic resonance with Indian sitarist Pandit Debi Prasad Chatterjee. Neil holds a BM in Jazz Studies from the University of Washington.

Neil has over 15 years of experience as a classroom and private lesson educator. He is the saxophone instructor at Cornish College of the Arts and the Lakeside School, and a former educator for the SRJO Jazz Scholars organization (2007-2022). He is co-director of the Seattle Saxophone Institute (2014-present) summer music camp series, and works with students one-on-one through private lesson mentorship. Regardless of the educational medium, Neil aspires to help students of all ages reveal and cultivate their artistic voice within.

Full Biography

Born in Edmonds, WA Neil Welch was called to the saxophone at an early age. While in high school, he participated in the famed Essentially Ellington Competition in New York and was awarded the Outstanding Tenor Saxophone Soloist Award by Wynton Marsalis. At the age of 17 he was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Vail Jazz Foundation in Colorado. He went on to study at the University of Washington, graduating with a B.M. in Jazz Studies in 2007. During his time in college, Neil began collaborating with a number of fellow classmates that would go on to become members of Seattle’s Racer scene, centered around explorative work at Seattle’s famed Racer Sessions, of which Neil was a founding member. While in college, Neil began a lasting collaboration with drummer Chris Icasiano, the two forming the powerful duo Bad Luck which performs throughout the country. From 2004-2008 Neil studied traditional North Indian classical music from sitar master Pandit Debi Prasad Chatterjee, whom he has performed with a number of times since 2009. Neil had the honor of recording a raga with Pandit Chatterjee on his debut album Narmada in 2008. 

Neil was awarded Emerging Artist of the Year (2009) and nominated for Earshot Jazz Golden Ear awards (2018) in the categories of Outside Jazz Group of the Year, Concert of the Year, and Album of the Year by Seattle’s Earshot Jazz Society. He was awarded a Jack Straw Artist in Residency (2017) through the Jack Straw Foundation to record a major ensemble composition entitled Concepcion Picciotto, released in 2022. His longstanding drum/saxophone duo Bad Luck, co-run for over a 17 years with drummer Chris Icasiano, has taken him to nearly every major city in America. Bad Luck gained recognition early on and was named Outside Jazz Group of the Year (2011) by Earshot Jazz Magazine. The band tours extensively in venues ranging from divey house shows to universities and performance halls.

In 2013 Neil embarked on 12 Moons, an ambitious project where he documented a single solo improvisation each day for one year. Each of the 365 improvisations included an artistic statement and graphic. All were released online daily for free. These improvisations were performed acoustically and without amplification, using techniques such as multiphonics (naturally generated chords), semitones, chirps, scrapes and wails. Other pieces explored athletic melodic cycles played in the extreme ranges of the instrument. Since early 2014, Neil has continued documenting solo work with his ongoing series Continuous Resonance, in which he has documented over 500 solo recordings to date. Sites have included a WWII fallout shelter, a garbage dump, an alpine lake 30 miles into the North Cascade mountains, parking garages, desert landscapes and much more. Neil records and performs most often on the tenor and soprano horns, but recently began performing on the much rarer C-melody tenor, C soprano, and bass saxophones.

Educational Work

Neil is also a co-founder and former artistic curator for the acclaimed Seattle experimental music series the Racer Sessions. He is a former organizer for the avant-garde event organization and record label Table and Chairs Music, and is highly involved in music education in the Seattle area. Neil is a faculty saxophone instructor at Cornish College of the Arts, and the Lakeside School. Neil is co-founder of the Seattle Saxophone Institute music camp and former Program Coordinator for the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra Jazz Scholars music education program. Neil is proud to have an award-winning private saxophone studio that welcomes students of all ages and ability. Read more below for information about Neil's work in Education.

Neil teaches saxophone privately throughout the Seattle area in addition to rural Whidbey Island, and often provides clinics throughout the US while on tour. He is committed to teaching student populations in low-income and rural areas, and maintains a sliding scale lesson fee depending on family income. Neil is co-director of the Seattle Saxophone Institute, a summer music camp for Middle and High School students interested in a sound-immersive educational curriculum.  Neil is an artist faculty and Program Coordinator for the SRJO Jazz Scholars and Musical Pathways Project, each of which mentor students and teachers alike in underserved music programs in SE and SW Seattle. Click the links below to learn more about Neil's passion for non-profit  and private lesson work.