MSP/Piano: w Donald Robinson @ SIMM Series, SF (Sun 25 Aug, 8:30pm) + The Deconstruction Of What You Know (Allen/Kaiser/Miller/Winant, 7:30pm)

TIME CORRECTION: Lasqo/Robinson is Set 1, 7:30pm, Deconstruction of What You Know is Set 2, 8:30pm

After a series of private performances at the musical rituals of the secret society IBIM, Don Robinson and I are presenting some of the initial findings of our paranormal researches into rhythm Outsound’s SIMM Series at 8:30pm, Sun 25 Aug (Set 2) 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 Don Robinson.

Described by Coda as a “percussive dervish”, Don Robinson is a technical master of the drums. He’s a stalwart of the of San Francisco Bay Area avant-garde jazz scene, playing and recording with many of the area’s past and current improvisational players, from saxophonists John Tchicai, Marco Eneidi and Larry Ochs to koto player Miya Masaoka (正岡みや) and pianist Matthew Goodheart, and with prominent visitors like Cecil Taylor, Wadada Leo Smith, George Lewis, trumpeter Raphé Malik and Canadian pianist Paul Plimley. Much of this work has featured the combination of Robinson and bassist Lisle Ellis as rhythm section: ‘the best bass-drums tag team on the scene’ (Jazz Times). His longest musical association, dating from the 1970′s, was with the late tenor saxophonist Glenn Spearmann.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1953, Don first studied classical percussion at the New England Conservatory. During the early 1970′s he served his musical apprenticeship in the jazz world of Paris, studying with Kenny Clarke and playing with Alan Silva, Anthony Braxton, Oliver Lake and Bobby Few among many others. He first played with Spearmann as a duet partner during this period in Paris, an association which continued through various configurations and many recordings until the saxophonist’s death in 1998.

Recently returned from a European tour with Larry Ochs of Rova Saxophone Quartet, Don will be joined by myself on laptop & piano.

In working with Don, I’ve reached back into my percussion studies in South India as a performer on the mṛdangam (மிருதங்கம்) & into the stochastic rhythm theories of Xenakis, projecting these rhythmic structures through the prisms of signal flow code & keyboard — my drum kit has hammers, strings & recursive filters.

Together, Don and I open a sophisticated new space of interlocking rhythmic energy, distressed tālas, and unexpected re-mappings.

Free jazz, Indian, or electronic?

Rhythmelodics or „Klangfarben-Hoquetus“?

Whatever you decide it is, you’ll not have heard anything like it before…

Set 2: The Deconstruction Of What You Know (8:30pm)

The amazing power quartet of Josh Allen – tenor saxophone, Henry Kaiser – electric guitar, William Winant – drums/percussion, Mark E. Miller – drums is an experience you’ll not soon forget.

Josh Allen is infamous for blowing apart music and reconstructing it at a higher energy level, and with collaborators like these, no barrier can stand. Together they specialize in rhythmic propulsion into extremely diverse sonic spaces.

Born in Berkeley, California, Josh has created his own personal language on the tenor saxophone, with an emphasis on polytonal and asymmetrical phrasing, as well as extending the range and sonic ability of the instrument. He does this with constant emphasis and study of the overtone series, and the generation of multiphonics from the application of this process.

Josh came up through the Berkeley public school system, studying saxophone starting at the age of nine under Phil Hardymon, and then with such prominent Bay Area musicians as Bill Aron, Joe Henderson, and Rory Snyder. With focus on jazz composition and performance, Josh moved to Southern California in the early 90s to study with Rick Helzer at San Diego State. He became active in the Latin Jazz community, and worked with various musicians such as Dennis Chambers, and Eddie Palmieri. Josh returned to the Bay Area in the mid 90s for further studies. His association with saxophonist Marco Eneidi led to working relationships with musicians such as Glenn Spearmann, Matthew Goodheart, Damon Smith, Garth Powell, and Cecil Taylor.

In 1977, Henry Kaiser founded Metalanguage Records with Larry Ochs (Rova Saxophone Quartet) and Greg Goodman. In 1979 he recorded With Friends Like These with Fred Frith, a collaboration that lasted for over 20 years. In 1983 they recorded Who Needs Enemies, and in 1987 With Enemies Like These, Who Needs Friends? They joined with fellow experimental musicians John French, and English folk-rocker Richard Thompson to form French Frith Kaiser Thompson for two eclectic albums, Live, Love, Larf & Loaf (1987) and Invisible Means (1990). In 1999 Frith and Kaiser released Friends and Enemies, a compilation of some of their earlier work together with new recordings.

In 1991, Henry went to Madagascar with fellow guitarist David Lindley, where recorded with Malagasy musicians. Three volumes of this music were released by Shanachie under the title A World Out of Time.

Since 1998, Henry has been collaborating with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith in the “Yo Miles!” project, releasing a series of tributes to Miles Davis’ 1970s electric music. This shifting aggregation has included musicians from the worlds of rock (guitarists Nels Cline, Mike Keneally and Chris Muir, drummer Steve Smith), jazz (saxophonists Greg Osby and John Tchicai), avant-garde (keyboardist John Medeski, guitarist Elliott Sharp), and Indian classical music (tabla player Zakir Hussain).

Henry has appeared on more than 250 albums and scored dozens of TV shows and films. He was awarded a Grammy for his work on the Beautiful Dreamer tribute to Stephen Foster.

In 2001, Henry went to Antarctica on a National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program grant. He has subsequently returned for nine more deployments to work as a research diver. His underwater camerawork was featured in two Werner Herzog films, The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) and Encounters at the End of the World (2007), which he also produced, and for which he and David Lindley composed the score. Henry served as music producer for Herzog’s Grizzly Man (2005). He was nominated for an Academy Award for his work as a producer on Encounters at the End of the World.

Mark E. Miller, drummer, studied gamelan in Java for two years, worked in NYC from the late 70′s into the 90′s performing and recording — notably with the band Toy Killers that included Bill Laswell, Elliott Sharp, Wayne Horvitz, John Zorn, and others (firecrackers and other explosives often featured in these largely improvised performances…).

A typical review of this period (from WFMU):

“With dedications to Derek Bailey and Malcolm X, The Unlistenable Years catalogues an unruly outfit called the Toy Killers biting at the ass-end of NYC No Wave in their own inimitable way. Led by free-bashers Charles K. Noyes and M.E. Miller (who cut their teeth on early Material and Zorn sessions), the Killers wrecked halls and employed a veritable who’s who in 80s Downtown that included Nicky Skopelitis, Arto Lindsay, Wayne Horvitz, Elliott Sharp and Zorn (who’s duck calls never sounded so at home). Primitive, brutal, banned from Folk City…”

A new Toy Killers album Awayward, with Charlie Noyes, Weasel Walter, Henry Kaiser, Damon Smith, and others is about to be released.  Mark is currently recording and performing in the Bay Area.

William Winant has performed with some of the most innovative and creative musicians of our time, including John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Pierre Boulez, Frank Zappa, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith, James Tenney, Terry Riley, Cecil Taylor, Gerry Hemingway, Mark Dresser, Barry Guy, Marylin Crispell, George Lewis, Steve Reich, Nexus, Charles Wuorinen, Jean-Philippe Collard, Frederic Rzewski, Ursula Oppens, Joan LaBarbara, Danny Elfman/Oingo Boingo, Sonic Youth, Marc Ribot, Keith Rowe, Joey Barron, Bill Frisell, Yo-Yo Ma (馬友友), Rova Saxophone Quartet, and the Kronos Quartet. His own groups include ROOM (w Chris Brown / Larry Ochs), CHALLENGE (w Anthony Braxton / David Rosenboom), WAKE (w Frank Gratkowski / Chris Brown), and the William Winant Percussion Group.

He is principal percussionist with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, has been closely associated with composer John Zorn, and has made numerous recordings, and performed in many projects throughout the world with him. Starting in 1995 he has been the percussionist with the avant-rock band Mr. Bungle, has made two recordings (Disco Volante and California on Warner Brothers), and has toured throughout the world with this group. For many years he had worked with composer Lou Harrison, recording and premiering many of his works, and in March of 1997 he participated in the world premiere of Lou Harrison’s quintet Rhymes with Silver featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma (馬友友) and the Mark Morris Dance Group, and has toured the piece throughout the US and UK. In the fall of 2011, he joined Mike Patton‘s Italian pop music project Mondo Cane which features a 12 piece band + string orchestra, and have recently completed tours of South America and Australia.

In the fall of 2003, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, William, along with composers Takehisa Kosugi (小杉武久) and Christian Wolff, created music for a series of eight special “Events” staged by Merce Cunningham and Dancers at London’s Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern. Since then he has continued to tour throughout Europe and the US with the company.

He has made over 200 recordings, covering a wide variety of genres, including music by Earle Brown, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, John Zorn, Butch Morris, James Newton, Frank Gratkowski, Pauline Oliveros, Luc Ferrari, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Danny Elfman (Batman Returns), Siouxsie and the Banshees, Secret Chiefs 3, ICP, Han Bennik, The Ex, White Out with Jim O’Rourke, Lou Reed, Thurston Moore, and Mike Patton. His recording of Lou Harrison’s La Koro Sutro (which he produced for New Albion Records) was the New York Times Critic’s Choice for best contemporary recording of 1988. In 1999 he produced a recording of music by 20th-century avant-garde composers with the influential rock band Sonic Youth; Goodbye 20th-Century was hailed by both The Los Angeles Times and New York’s Village Voice as one of the best compendiums of this type of music ever recorded. Most recently his recording with cellist Joan Jeanrenaud of her CD Strange Toys was nominated for a grammy in 2009. Also he along with guitarists Henry Kaiser and David Lindley, created special music for Werner Herzog’s 2009 Oscar nominated documentary Encounters at the End of the World.

If you’re ready for some Encounters at the End of the World — and beyond — join us for an unforgettable evening of musical exploration.