CMG Improv Summit: Melissa Achten • William DeLee • Cameron Landers

About this event

The Creative Music Guild Melissa Achten Melissa Achten is a Los Angeles-based harpist, improviser, and composer. Her practice is grounded in a personal mythology that traces mirrored patterns and oscillates between the real and the sublime. Melissa is a member of the experimental new music nonet Ghost Ensemble, harp and cello duo Rán, and the avant-garde duo Deathflavorkiss. She is also the co-founder and executive director of Oracle Egg, an experimental sound and performance incubator in downtown Los Angeles. Melissa has premiered work in New York, Berlin, Reykjavík, Copenhagen, and London – in abandoned water towers, cemeteries, black sand beaches, and other liminal spaces. William DeLee Will DeLee got started with ngerpicking guitar almost a decade ago, following the usual path of Fahey, Basho, etc. before veering o hard in his own unique directions on both the 6- and 12-string guitar as well as the ronroco and charango, the latter a South American stringed instrument originally made from armadillo shells. Will’s a straight-up ngers guy, no picks, etc. just nails and calouses working the strings. His overall style focuses heavily on improvisation vs. composition (as indicated by the title of his rst release, ”Improvisations for Guitar & Charango”) and reects his more recent inuences such as Ralph Towner, Paco De Lucia, Gerardo Núñez, Derek Gripper and a number of other European and South American players. He leans towards a more “clean”, neo-classical style of playing, often on nylon string “amenco” style guitars but sometimes delves into the realms of guitar soli, raga, drone and ambient musics. Typically a soloist, Will has been leading duo and group sessions as of late and continues to expand his ouevre in new and exciting directions. — Rob V. (Portland, Ore) Recommended if you like: Fahey, Basho, Kottke, Jack Rose, Glenn Jones, Steen-Basho Junghans, Sir Richard Bishop, Ben Chasny, Liam Grant, Daniel Bachman, Duncan Park. Will’s next album, “Raynol Overlook”, will be co-released in early summer 2026 by Carbon Records (NY) and Feeding Tube Records (MA) and he’ll be touring extensively in support, including a run throughout the Pacic Northwest in July 2026 with Liam Grant. His debut album, “Improvisations for Guitar & Charango” as well\ as a live recording, “Live at Megalith” were released in 2024 by Budtapes and reissued in Sep 2025 on CD, cassette and digital formats by The Sound-O-Mat. Cameron Landers Cameron Landers is born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. In 2020 he created a solo project called Cameron Landers Trio as a statement on the isolation of the pandemic. Releasing four albums under this title, he went on to form the quartet Alphabet. With the belief that improvisation does not necessitate chaos, Landers ‘approach to music is to form sound the way dreams form symbols.

Who

• The Creative Music GuildPerformer
• Melissa AchtenPerformer
• William DeLeePerformer
• Cameron LandersPerformer

Venue

No Fun

Portland, OR

Venue website

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