The Shaking Ray Levis is an ongoing collaboration of musicians with a common interest in free improvisation

Free improvisation

Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....

. The project was conceived and led by the Chattanooga

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

-based team of Dennis Palmer and Bob Stagner

Bob Stagner

Bob Stagner is an American drummer and percussionist who has worked with a wide range of artists in every discipline, from to Derek Bailey and Howard Finster....

. They use storytelling, synthesizers, samplers and percussion to achieve their distinctive sound. They are the first American group to have recorded for Incus Records

Incus Records

Incus Records is an artist-owned record label, founded by Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, Evan Parker and Michael Walters, specialising in the dissemination of free-improvised music. The first release on the label was The Topography of the Lungs, recorded by Bailey, Parker and Han Bennink in 1970...

, the record label of British free improvisational guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist Derek Bailey. Additionally, they have performed and recorded with Borbetomagus

Borbetomagus

Borbetomagus are a free improvisation/noise music group. They are cited by critics as pioneers of aggressive improvised noise music.- Biography :...

, John Zorn

John Zorn

John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...

, David Greenberger

David Greenberger

David Greenberger is an American artist, writer and radio commentator best known for his Duplex Planet series of zines, comic books, CDs, and spoken word performances and radio plays...

, Killick Erik Hinds

Killick Erik Hinds

Killick Erik Hinds of Athens, Georgia is active as a composer, performer, and promoter of a wide range of music. He plays quartertone electric guitar, as well as Big Red harp guitar and the H'arpeggione, an 18-stringed upright acoustic instrument with sympathetic strings, both built by Fred Carlson...

, Fred Frith

Fred Frith

Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...

, Min Tanaka

Min Tanaka

is a Japanese actor and dancer. He won the award for best supporting actor at the 26th Japan Academy Prize for The Twilight Samurai.-Filmography:* The Twilight Samurai * The Hidden Blade * House of Himiko...

, Amy Denio

Amy Denio

Amy Denio is a Seattle -based multi-instrumental composer of soundtracks for modern dance, film and theater, as well as a songwriter and music improviser. Often called an unclassifiable avant-garde jazz musician, she is also deeply inspired by world music. She is probably best known as a...

, and Derek Bailey, as well as with many other critically acclaimed artists.

External links

• The Shaking Ray Levi Society
• Shaking Ray Levi Society MySpace page
• Shaking Ray Levis MySpace page
• Do lak ah sez sample, 1997
• thank the knife sample, Boss Witch, JD Parran, Steve Beresford
  Steve Beresford
  Steve Beresford is a British musician who graduated from the University of York. He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, trumpet, euphonium, double-bass and a wide variety of toy instruments, such as the toy piano. He has also played a wide range of music...
  
  , Davey Williams
  Davey Williams
  David Carlous Williams was an All-Star second baseman who played his entire career for the New York Giants of the National League. Listed at 5' 10", 160 lb., Williams batted and threw right-handed...
  
  , Frank Pahl, Mary Richards
  Mary Richards
  Mary Richards, portrayed by Mary Tyler Moore, is the main character of the television sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show.-Family:Mary Richards, born in Roseburg, Minnesota, is the daughter of Walter and Dottie Richards...
  
  and the Shaking Ray Levis, 1997.