Following on the heels of our fantastic recent show in the sfSoundSalonSeries at CNM (Examiner.com review: here), I’m excited to again join Jim Ryan’s unique multi-media ensemble Green Alembic.

The show will be at the East Bay’s indispensable focal point for new music, Berkeley Arts Festival (2133 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA – map) at 9pm, Sat 17 May.

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.

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.

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 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, 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.

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 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 is a bassist and composer from Oakland. He can be seen performing with Jack O’ The Clock, Fred Frith Trio, 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 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.

It is my pleasure and honor to once again join this “improvisational chamber super-group” (sfSoundSalonSeries).

Set 1, 8pm: Jim Ryan’s Triangle

∆

Jim Ryan’s most recent collaboration will make its debut at the Berkeley Arts Festival at this show. Triangle is a new, cool, free style jazz trio bringing bassist Jason Hoopes and drummer Mark Pino into an oblique dance with the jazz cannon.

(For more info on Jim, see above in this post…)

Jason Hoopes is a bassist and composer living in Oakland, CA. He works and has worked with a wide range of Bay Area rock bands including Jack O’ The Clock, Satya Sena, The Atomic Bomb Audition, powerdove, Host Family, and Dominique Leone among others.

Jason is part of the Fred Frith Trio with Fred Frith and percussionist / composer Jordan Glenn. He has shared the stage with a broad host of improvising artists including Phillip Greenlief, Larry Ochs, Ellen Fullman, Theresa Wong (黃天欣), Gino Robair, Nate Wooley, Gretchen Jude, Kanoko Nishi-Smith (西鹿乃子), Matt Ingalls, Kyle Bruckmann, Noah Phillips, Karl Evangelista, and Dohee Lee (이도히), among many others.

Jason also works with some of the Bay Area’s most exciting modern dancers and his dance compositions can be found at http://www.jasonhoopes.bandcamp.com.

Jason holds an MA in composition and an MFA in performance and literature from Mills College. He lives with his wife, photographer Carly Hoopes.

Mark Pino began playing percussion at the age of twelve, and has played music regionally, and nationally since 1990.

Mark studied jazz under Herbie Lewis at New College of California, along with taking private instruction from master jazz drummer Richie Goldberg and master rock drummer Dawn Richardson.

Currently, Mark focuses on improvised music, within several different musical/instrumental configurations, including Cloud Shepherd (w Andrew Joron, Joe Noble, and Brian Lucas), The Ruminations (w Rent Romus, Bob Marsh, Christina Stanley, and Markus Hunt), and Ear Spray (w Carlos Jennings and Ann O’Rourke), among others.

From Mark’s “Mission Statement“:

“I consider myself a band player. It is from the musical interactions, publicly and privately, that I get creative satisfaction.

My aesthetics are formed by appreciation of music and other art forms, especially sculpture and poetry. Creativity is a bottomless well and an endless challenge. I thrive on the challenge and stand in awe of the well. ”

Join us for a night of chamber improv expeditions in a world whose center is everywhere and whose limit is nowhere…

Joe