The Lab: August, 2019

Once again, The Lab will present a run of three concerts, all of which will address adventurous approaches to making music. Two of these involve composers and performers sharing the program with other artists, while the third is a solo evening, which has already been given a heads-up article on this site. For those who do not already know, The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street. This is a short walk from the corner of Mission Street. This is particularly good for those using public transportation, since that corner provides bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel as well as a BART station. All concerts will begin at 8:30 p.m., and doors will open at 8 p.m. It is usually the case that a long line has accumulated before then. Specific dates are as follows:

Friday, August 16: The first event of the month will feature local saxophonist Phillip Greenlief, a major contributor to post-jazz virtuoso improvisation. He will be performing with Detroit-based pianist Evelyn Davis, whose work is also based heavily on improvisation with ventures into performance art. These musicians will share the program with the duo of dancers Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener, both of whom were members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the same time. Since 2010 they have been creating dance in response to complex and active spatial environments. They share the Cunningham aesthetic principle that dance should co-exist with music, rather than follow it slavishly. This program will be free for members of The Lab; general admission will be $15 for all others. Seats may be reserved through a login Web page for members and a guest registration Web page for others.

Thursday, August 29: This will be the special performance by Pamela Z presented by the San Francisco Arts Commission; specifics for this event were provided on this site at the end of last month.

Tom Hall controlling one of his synthesized environments (from the event page for his performance)

Saturday, August 31: Sound artist Jorge Bachmann, based in San Francisco, will share a program with two other artists working with both audio and video resources. Scott Arford, also based in the Bay Area, has been active here since 1995 and works with real-time synthesis of both audio and video content. Bachmann and Arford will be joined by Tom Hall, born in Australia and now living in Los Angeles. Hall’s work is involved with creating environments through real-time control of sound and image resources. This program will again be free for members of The Lab, and general admission will be $15. Seats may be reserved through a login Web page for members and a guest registration Web page for others.