The one, the only... Freelove Music School
Karl Evangelista’s peripatetic Light a Fire series has generated both heat and light in many East Bay locations, and I’m very happy to play it again in its new home at Freelove Music School, at 4390 Piedmont Ave, Oakland 94611 (map), at 7:30pm on Sun 28 Oct.
I’ll be doing a mixed set of laptop + piano, with sound sources ranging from Jupiter & Saturn space probe signals, the Cheung Chau Bun Festival (長洲包山節, further description here), a specially developed library of extended vocal samples drawing from overtone singing, formant manipulation, and “trombooba tones”, + some good old FM synthesis, all intertwingled with live piano.
This will include a piece in the Saturnian extended meta-rāga Śani-Haṭakaṅgi (शनि–हटकङी), using samples of Saturn’s signal-scape as recorded by the Cassini space probe and a solo piano version of Failure, a piece by Rova’s Larry Ochs. If the mood is right, I may also do traditional rāga Māyāmāḷavagauḻa (மாயாமாளவகௌளை), from my album, Turquoise Sessions, and expect a post-jazz surprise or two.
Some of the sound sources I’ll use…
Cassini Saturn Probe results - Melody harmony or spectrum?
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The Bun Mountains - 包山
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Vowel Formants
First 5 Formants of the word "hide"
Ross Hammond
Set 2: Ross Hammond Trio
First, to let Ross Hammond speak for himself:
“I’m a guitarist, improviser and composer living in Sacramento, CA. I never really know how to answer when people ask what type of music I play. I suppose it’s rooted in jazz and folk and rock and soul, and then it’s heavy on the improvisation, except when it’s a composed piece. Oftentimes the music I make is totally improvised. Sometimes there’s no music at all and it’s just sound. And then again I’ve been known to play a lot of acoustic, roots based music with other like-minded folks. Sometimes I’ll accompany singers, songwriters, poets and dancers. From time to time I’ll also get chances to write music for films and other art projects. I’m not sure there’s any easy way to describe all of that, so I just say that I play the guitar.”
Those who have heard Ross Hammond are familiar with the problem of describing his fluid music, always unpredictable (except you can be sure it will always be warm, ear-opening, and very, very hip).
And those who know the music scene of the Greater East Bay stand in awe of Ross’ role in organizing Nebraska Mondays at Luna’s and many other events that keep the flame creative music burning brightly in Sacramento, Davis and points beyond.
Some of his current projects are:
— Ross Hammond Trio (w Shawn Hale: bass, Dax Compise: drums)
— Electropoetic Coffee (w/ poet NSAA)
— Lovely Builders (w/ Scott Amendola)
— V Neck (w/ Tom Monson)
— Amy Reed (accompaniment)
Looking forward to hear what Ross has in store for this show!
Set 3: Karl Evangelista, Marshal Trammell, and Rent Romus
Last, but certainly not least, a titanic trio of Bay Area masters who are also impresarios:
As well as organizing the Light a Fire Series, Karl Evangelista draws on both jazz & a broad, high/low tradition of 20th-C musical experimentation to craft 21st-C music. Born in Van Nuys, CA to two Filipino immigrants, Karl brings a cross-cultural perspective to explore the place of multiculturalism in an increasingly post-cultural, trans-idiomatic musical space.
Karl Evangelista
Karl has explored this intercultural dialog in many ensembles with or under the direction of India Cooke, Fred Frith, Eddie Gale, Ben Goldberg, Phillip Greenlief, Darren Johnston, Lewis Jordan, Myra Melford, Hafez Modirzadeh (حافظ مدیرزاده), Zeena Parkins, John-Carlos Perea, Rent Romus, Daniel Schmidt, Damon Smith, Moe! Staiano, and Francis Wong (王世明), performing in new arrangements of works by Muhal Richard Abrams, Luciano Chessa, Christian Jendreiko, Roscoe Mitchell, and Polly Moller, and fronting both his own trio and the ensemble Grex. Karl received a 2010 Zellerbach Grant to realize the cross-cultural work Taglish drawing from the Philippines, the US, and beyond. Karl holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from UC Berkeley & an MFA in Improvised Music from Mills College.
As well as organizing the Heavy Discipline Series at Good Bellies in Oakland, Marshall Trammell is a multi-disciplinary, multi-instrumentalist applying his unique “Multi-Aesthetic Theory of Improvisation” in idiosyncratic approaches to improvisation, percussion and drum set, solo/ensemble music projects, curation, and collaborations with grassroots social justice organizations. Marshall is a co-founder of Mutual Aid Project, curator, pioneered “Decolonizing the Imagination,” a political education arts practicum, and an apprentice in Afro-Cuban folkloric percussion.
Marshall performs regularly with Nick Obando and Tracy Hui of Mutual Aid Project, and has shared the stage with Roscoe Mitchell, India Cooke, Angela Wellman, Marco Eneidi, Phillip Greenlief, Francis Wong (王世明), Joe MacPhee, Pauline Oliveros, Lisle Ellis, Eddie Gale, Byb Chanel Bibene, Zachary James Watkins, Chris Evans, David Boyce and many more musicians and dancers. Marshall is a recipient of the 2012 Emerging Arts Professionals Fellowship.
Rent Romus
Finally, the Godfather of Avant Soul, organizer of innumerable Bay Area events, Rent Romus, saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, and producer, heavily involved in going beyond the confines of standard music forms of composition and improvisation and focused in presenting and supporting the local experimental and avant-garde community. From his beginnings as a student of jazz while being exposed to the tutelage of Stan Getz to the present day Rent Romus has recorded and released 22 recordings as a leader which have included Jason Olaine, Steve Rossi, Chico Freeman, John Tchicai, Jonas Müller, Stefan Pasborg, Toyoji Tomita, Dave Mihaly, Bill Noertker, CJ Borosque, Philip Everett, Ray Schaeffer, Paris Slim, Jesse Quattro, Scott R Looney, Bob Marsh, Jim Ryan, Ernesto Diaz-Infante, Tobias Fischer, and Thollem Mcdonas. As a producer and artist business activist he runs Edgetone Records a label for all forms of improvisation and experimentation. He is the founder and Executive Director of Outsound Presents under which he curates the SIMM Series, the Luggage Store Series every Thursday, both in San Francisco, and The Outsound New Music Summit, a national experimental music festival held in the San Francisco Bay Area every summer in July.
Look forward to see you at this fantastic event!
Joe