September marks the beginning of the new school year at the Community Music Center (CMC); but music lessons have always been supplemented with a generous offering of concerts and master classes. One of the first of the concert offerings for this season promises to be particularly adventurous, bringing together two groups that readers are more like to encounter in this site’s Bleeding Edge dispatches. Whether this event will be a standard two-set evening or the groups will join forces remains to be seen; but in either case we can expect an adventurous synthesis of composition and improvisation that departs significantly from the beaten path.
The first of the two groups is likely to be the more familiar. The Rova Saxophone Quartet consists of Jon Raskin, Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, and Steve Adams playing all different sizes of member of the saxophone family:
Rova Saxophone Quartet (from their CMC event page)
The group formed in 1977, and Adams replaced founding member Andrew Voigt in 1988. Music has been written for them by major contemporary composers, and they are equally adept at collective improvisation. [updated 9/9, 11:25 a.m.: The program for this concert will preview their new CD. There will be a piece by each of the four members: Raskin (The Time Being Suite), Ackley (Oxygen), Adams (Dark Forest Suite), and Ochs (Hidden in Ochre).]
The second group, Ghost in the House, may be less familiar to many; but some readers may recall an article on this site about their second album, Second Sight, which appeared this past July. Their CMC offering will feature music from this album. The group was conceived by David Michalak, who plays lap steel guitar but whose approach to music-making draws upon the narrative techniques he has engaged as a filmmaker. The other players are Kyle Bruckman on double reeds, Karen Stackpole on percussion (with particular attention to different sizes and types of gongs), Tom Nunn on his own invented instruments, Polly Moller on bass flute, and John Ingle on saxophones. Dean Santomieri, who served as narrator on the recording, will also perform, along with dancers Cindy Webster and Kinji Hayashi.
This performance will begin at 8 p.m. on Sunday, September 17; and it will be held in the CMC Concert Hall. CMC is located in the Mission at 544 Capp Street, between Mission Street and South Van Ness Avenue and between 20th Street and 21st Street. Tickets will be sold at the door at prices of $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. Those wishing further information may call 415-826-2765.
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