Carefully curated pairings between artist and environment have also happened at The Rothko Chapel, The Glassell School of Art, The Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern, and The Menil Collection’s Richmond Hall (featuring Dan Flavin’s final installation set in very live acoustics) and Byzantine Fresco Chapel. These have included commissions for Twilight Epiphany, The James Turrell Skyspace at Rice University, as well as several concerts at The Turrell Skyspace at the Live Oak Friends Meeting House.
These have included names such as: Wadada Leo Smith, Ran Blake, Amina Claudine Myers, Joe Mcphee, Peter Brötzmann, Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg, Sam Rivers, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Hamid Drake, Joëlle Léandre, Loren Connors, Borbetomagus, Keiji Haino, Maggie Nicols, Dave Burrell, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Roswell Rudd, Henry Grimes, Akio Suzuki, Reggie Workman, Patty Waters, and Phil Minton. The Creative Music Concert Series includes a sub-series called “Sound Observations”, site-specific events that contextualize a dialog between cutting edge musicians and some of Houston’s singular art environments. The series frequently features first-time Houston performances from important veteran musicians in the fields of jazz and experimental music, legendary artists who likely would not otherwise perform in the country’s fourth largest city. The increasing inclusion of local musicians, often collaborating with or participating in the ensemble of visiting guests, provides local audiences and visiting artists exposure to Houston’s own vital contributions to creative music. We look to balance programming between national and international artists, as well as a keeping balance between veteran musicians and newer voices. Consisting of about 7-10 annual events, the series seeks to represent various experimental genres and practices, with a special emphasis on improvisation. Since 2001, Nameless Sound’s concert series has been a consistent part of Houston’s cultural landscape. When the series began in 2001, it filled an important gap in Houston’s cultural scene by bringing world-class artists from musical movements that weren’t otherwise being represented in the city’s arts programming.