Year of the Snake Show (蛇新年音樂會): MSP/piano w Aaron Bennett’s Electro-Magnetic Trans-Personal Orchestra @SIMM, SF (Sun 10 Feb, 8:30pm) + Karl Evangelista’s Ai-Ai (7:30pm)

新年快樂！Join us as we welcome the Year of the Snake with a joyful noise unto heaven!

After a string of great East Bay shows @ CNMAT and elsewhere, San Francisco listeners will again be able to hear Aaron Bennett‘s phenomenal ensemble Electro-Magnetic Trans-Personal Orchestra on their own ground, appearing at: Outsound’s SIMM Series at 8:30pm, Sun 10 Feb in the Musicians Union Hall, 116 9th St @ Mission, SF (map)

Outsound’s SIMM Series reminds me of cozy parties among friends at my favorite yakitori joint, nestled under the Shimbashi Bridge in Tokyo in the night rain… from the outside a few hints of warm light and laughter, on the inside a serious wild time. The difference is that, unlike the yakitori joint, the SIMM Series is a spaceship that travels to other musical dimensions.

An acoustic-centered sister of the Luggage Store Series, SIMM has brought the best cutting-edge acoustic jazz and avant-garde musicians in and out of the Bay Area to SF audiences and delivered one musical adventure after another. It’s my honor to return to this series, and I’m very excited to be doing so with Aaron’s fantastic band and music.

If you’ve already heard the first album of Aaron Bennett‘s unique compositions released by Electro-Magnetic Trans-Personal Orchestra (cover below) you know exactly what I’m talking about, and you’re already coming to this great show. If not, run, don’t walk, to get a copy at http://emtpo.bandcamp.com/ and hear what the fuss is about.

Among Aaron’s many stellar contributions to the Bay Area improv and new music scenes (like sax trio arrangements of Bollywood standards!) are fantastic “breathing chart” compositions for large improvising groups that deliver heightened coherence and adventure at the same time. They stand as Himalayas of group improv music. And Electro-Magnetic Trans-Personal Orchestra is the Mt. Everest.

To quote Aaron: “The members of this ensemble utilize the electro-magnetic field of their collective mind to attain a unitive transcendent state of sonic consciousness and in turn, create sublime and/or unusually expanded sonic experiences for their listeners.”

‘Nuff said…

(For a more detailed interview with Aaron about this music, please check out Craig Matsumoto’s post: Aaron Bennett’s Electro-Magnetic Improv)

Bio note: Saxist/composer Aaron Bennett has been bending space in the Bay Area jazz and improvised music communities for more than 15 years. Beyond his studies in composition and performance of western music at California Institute of the Arts, Aaron has also studied and played the music of West Africa, Indonesia, India, and Traditional Japanese 雅楽 (Gagaku) music. He has performed throughout the United States and abroad including performances with Wadada Leo Smith, Peter Kowald, John Butcher, Donald Robinson, Marco Eneidi, Gianni Gebbia, Weasel Walter, Adam Lane, Larry Ochs, Steve Adams, John Raskin, Victoria Williams, Aphrodesia, Lagos-Roots, The Rova Saxophone Quartet and many others.

He leads his own groups Go-Go-Fightmaster, Electro-Magnetic Trans-Personal Orchestra and performs in the Oakland Active Orchestra , Lisa Mezzacappa’s Bait & Switch, Vijay Anderson Quartet, and Guerilla Hi-Fi. Aaron has composed for large ensembles, chamber groups, plays, films, dance performances, wind quintet, saxophone quartets and trios as well as pieces for solo instruments.

In addition to Aaron Bennett (sax & compositions), the line-up will also include:

• Robert Ewing
• Jeff Hobbs
• Darren Johnston
• Joe Lasqo
• Bob Marsh
• Lisa Mezzacappa
• Crystal Pascucci

Rob Ewing – trombone

Darren Johnston – trumpet

Crystal Pascucci – cello

Jeff Hobbs – violin (or cornet, or…)

Bob Marsh – accordion (and spiritual guidance counselor)

Lisa Mezzacappa – bass

Joe Lasqo – piano & MSP

Beginning the show at 7:30pm in Set 1 will be Karl Evangelista’s ensemble Ai-Ai.

As well as organizing the Light a Fire Series, Filipino-American guitarist/composer Karl Evangelista ranks among a new wave of creative musicians grounded in jazz, 20th century experimentalism, and popular song, exploring the place of multiculturalism and ethnic co-existence in an increasingly post-cultural, trans-idiomatic cultural space. As the creative force behind boundary breaking group Grex, Evangelista has been called “essential current-and-future listening, his music “a near-seamless blend of modern jazz, contemporary structuralist composition, indie rock, and blues rock” (Tiny Mix Tapes). This complex, powerful aesthetic fosters an “otherworldly experience” that is “completely original” (Eugene Weekly).

Karl has explored the possibilities of intercultural dialogues across a vast spectrum of academic and professional situations. He’s worked in a wide variety of ensembles with or under the direction of, among others, e.g. Achyutan (Marvin Patillo), Scott Amendola, Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), India Cooke, Fred Frith, Eddie Gale, Ben Goldberg, Matthew Goodheart, Phillip Greenlief, Darren Johnston, Lewis Jordan, Myra Melford, Hafez Modirzadeh (حافظ مدیرزاده), Bill Noertker, Zeena Parkins, John-Carlos Perea, Gino Robair, Daniel Schmidt, Marcus Shelby, Aram Shelton, David Slusser, Damon Smith, Karen Stackpole, Moe! Staiano, and AIR co-founder Francis Wong (王世明), and has performed in new arrangements of works by Luciano Chessa, Christian Jendreiko, Polly Moller, AACM co-founder Muhal Richard Abrams, and Art Ensemble of Chicago co-founder Roscoe Mitchell. Karl’s interest in fostering cross-cultural musical dialogues has also led to grant-based research (’08) on The Blue Notes, a group of South African exile musicians, multiple guest lectures at UC Berkeley, and continued work at the community-based East Bay Center for the Performing Arts.  Karl holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from UC Berkeley and an MFA in Improvised Music from Mills College.

Via Asian Improv aRts, Evangelista was awarded a 2011 Zellebach Grant for the composition of Taglish, a suite centered on Filipino-American culture; an album of the composition was successfully funded via Kickstarter and released in late 2012.

This is a unique blend of influences that have never been brought together before, and songs like Dreams, Dreams – Part C, and MRS will leave you stunned, so check it out today.

Ai-Ai is a new project spearheaded by Karl featuring keyboardists Rei Scampavia Evangelista and Eli Wallace, Robert Lopez on drums, and a revolving cast of percussionists and reedmen.

Exploring the nexus between free jazz, free improvisation, vocal music, and noise rock, Ai-Ai synthesizes its influences into songs that are unique, fun, and endlessly surprising. Fans of Canterbury prog rock, 60’s Impulse! records, and Bay Area pop will find plenty to enjoy in Ai-Ai’s twisted, mighty music.

Having had the pleasure of hearing this ensemble several times, I’m struck with the freshness with which they’ve picked up a tradition of multi-keyboard highly percussive post-jazz from where various Miles Davis ensembles of the In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew era left off.

Join us for a fantastic high-energy night!

Joe