I’m excited to once again join Jim Ryan’s unique multi-media ensemble Green Alembic at San Francisco’s focal-point new music incubator and venue, Center for New Music (55 Taylor Street, San Francisco, CA – map).
Founded by Adam Fong and Brent Miller, members of the composers’ collective, The Collected, and assisted by many volunteers and distinguished curators, CNM has quickly grown into an essential orgone accelerator for the Bay Area’s new music communities across the broad spectrum from avant classical to free jazz.
sfSound (pictured, L → R: Christopher Jones, Erik Ulman, Matt Ingalls, Monica Scott, Kyle Bruckmann, Kjell Nordeson, John Ingle)
Tonight it will be our pleasure and honor to play under the auspices of sfSound’s sfSoundSalonSeries (sfSSS event listing: here, Examiner.com preview of show: here). Curated by master of extended-technique avant-clarinet and MSP guru, Matt Ingalls, and the sfSound team, the sfSoundSalonSeries has brought a steady stream of international and domestic sound art pioneers to CNM to demonstrate the results of their paranormal researches and expeditions to the sonic frontier. This year alone has seen fantastic shows involving George Cremaschi, Joan La Barbara, Natural Artefacts (Sweden), Tim Perkis, Danishta Rivero, Lucie Vítková (Czech Republic), and Jack Wright, among many others.
Set 2, 9pm: Jim Ryan’s Green Alembic
One alembic makes you smaller….
Infected by bebop at a tender age, Jim first took up the trombone in Minnesota, and by Mai ’68 was playing flute & sax, living in Paris, and jamming and performing with musicians like Sunny Murray, Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, Archie Shepp & Anthony Braxton, then shortly afterward beginning his musical association with Steve Lacy.
Jim Ryan
After stretching the boundaries of improv with the “Free Music Formation” in Paris and other European cities, Jim returned to the US, first jolting the scene in Washington, D.C., then moving to the Bay Area not so long before the Loma Prieta Earthquake (coincidence…?)
Since then, Jim has led a remarkable variety of improv groups, e.g. Green Alembic, Dark Precursor, Forward Energy, Left Coast Improv Group, the Electro/Acoustic Sextet of Oakland, Subjects of Desire, and Retro Blue, as well as participating in Marco Eneidi‘s American Jungle Orchestra. and the Orchestra for World Peace of Sun Ra trumpeter Eddie Gale.
Those who’ve heard Jim play have never been the same, and, after hearing his poems about surrealist elf sexuality, or seeing the powerful color energies of his paintings, are often never the same all over again.
Jim Ryan reading his poetry (photo by Carly Hoopes)
Green Alembic is Jim’s “new approach to multimedia presentation of Image, Word, & Sound” … the group transmutes projections of original art used as graphical scores and spoken word into rare musical elements. The music is inspired by images which are projected throughout the performance, by spoken word pieces, and by spontaneous interactions among the musicians. The group’s aesthetic is focused upon the immediate creation of musical ideas, clear articulation, and sensitivity to the unfolding sonic and visual environment.
In addition to Jim Ryan (kalimba, flute, horn, word, original images & leader), the line-up will also include:
Doug Carroll & friend
Doug Carroll is a cellist, composer, and audio engineer and has a BA in Music from the University of Alabama and an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College. Doug attended music classes at the Royal Conservatory in Den Hague and Darmstadt International Summer Courses. He completed composition studies including with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Lou Harrison and Anthony Braxton; additionally, he performed with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s world premier of Ocean, with music composed by John Cage. With an emphasis in improvisation, Doug has also performed at Seattle Improvised Music Festival, Sound Symposium, and the Birmingham Improvised Music Festival with Davey Williams and LaDonna Smith.
Michael Cooke (photo by Danny Nolan)
Michael Cooke, a multi-instrumentalist, improviser, composer of jazz and classical music. He plays a variety of instruments — saxophones, flutes, soprano and bass clarinets, and has a deep relationship with the bassoon. Recently he has incorporated the Chinese shēng (笙), a free reed instrument, into this arsenal. He is a cum laude graduate with a music degree from the University of North Texas.
Sheng (笙)
Ron Heglin (photo by Tom Djll / Djll Pixels)
Ron Heglin: is a trombonist and vocalist working with extended technique on the trombone and with spoken and sung imaginary languages. His voicing has been influenced by his study of North Indian vocal music. He works both compositionally and in an improvisational mode. He has been a member of the Bay Area music context for over twenty-five years and has performed internationally.
Jeff Hobbs (L) & Bob Marsh (R)
Jeff Hobbs: is an Oakland resident, instrument repair artist at ‘Best Instrument Repair’ on 14th St. in downtown Oakland, and a ubiquitous presence on the improv, poetry slam, and outlandish Eastbaynia rock and R&B scenes. He plays violin, doublebass, cornet, various clarinets as well as several other instruments. It’s great to have Jeff’s sonic inspiration as a bandmate in Aaron Bennett’s Electro-Magnetic Trans-Personal Orchestra too!
Jason Hoopes and friends...
Jason Hoopes: is a bassist and composer from Oakland. He can be seen performing with Jack O’ The Clock, Fred Frith, Eat The Sun, Dominique Leone, John Ettinger, Sarah Wilson, John Schott, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, and numerous others. Jason also works in dance, composing music for choreographers Peiling Kao (高沛齡), Molissa Fenley, and Alyce Finwall, among others.
ChrIstina Stanley
Christina Stanley is a Bay Area violinist, composer, vocalist and artist. She is active as a performer, improviser, electronic musician and teacher. She has performed in Europe, the continental US, and Cuba as a vocalist, violinist and electronic musician. She has played SF MOMA and has premiered works by Roscoe Mitchell under conductor Petr Kotik.
Joe Lasqo @ Meridian Gallery, 11 Jan 2012 (Photo: PeterBKaars.com, http://www.peterbkaars.com)
It is my pleasure and honor to once again join this “improvisational chamber super-group of accomplished Bay Area musicians” (sfSoundSalonSeries).
Set 1, 7:49pm: LANACANE (Lana Voronina),
LANACANE (Lana Voronina)
LANACANE is the solo electronic music project of Lana Voronina, multi-media visual artist, performer, and event producer.
Expect to hear piano improvisation, samples, effects, beats, and much, much more…
Join us for a night of chamber and solo improv expeditions into a world whose center is everywhere and whose limit is nowhere…
Joe