Saturday, September 21, 2019

Adventurous Improvisation Coming to The Lab

Saxophonist Makoto Kawashima (courtesy of The Lab)

The last weekend of the month will see the next musical offering at The Lab. The program will present three highly adventurous improvisers. It is unclear how the evening will be organized, but it seems  reasonable to anticipate that each musician will take a solo set and that things will wrap up with an “all hands” group improvisation.

The performers are as follows:
  1. Alto saxophonist Makoto Kawashima is now recognized as one of the most original improvisers in a new generation of Japanese players. This will be his first ever performance in California. His style involves leaping between subdued lyrical lamentations and insistent trills.
  2. On the other hand guitarist Henry Kaiser has a reputation of accomplishments too numerous to cite in detail. He is equally at home in the genres of rock, jazz, world, and contemporary experimental. He has appeared in over 330 different albums and has contributed to countless television and film soundtracks.
  3. Korean musician Soo Yeon Lyuh specializes in the haegeum, a two-string bowed instrument. Her compositions include “Yessori,” scored for string quartet and haegeum, written in response to a commission from the Kronos Quartet and first performed in March of 2017. Her partners in improvisation have included Kaiser.
This performance will begin at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 28. The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street, which is a short walk to the east 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. The admission charge for this program will be $10 for members of The Lab; general admission will be $15 for all others. Doors will open at 8 p.m., and it is usually the case that a long line has accumulated before then. As a result, online registration is highly recommended using the above hyperlinks for the two categories of tickets.

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