Sunday, January 14, 2024

The Lab: February, 2024

Hopefully, readers already know by now that next month at The Lab will get off to a roaring start with an Underground Jazz Cabaret to celebrate the recent release of the Strut Records album Afro Futuristic Dreams. This will mark the beginning of a relatively busy month, which will compensate for the more limited activities that have already taken place this month. To “review the bidding” for those unfamiliar with the venue, The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street. This is particularly convenient for those using public transportation, since it is a short walk to the corner of 16th Street and Mission Street. Busses stop at that corner for both north-south and east-west travel, and downstairs there is a station for the BART line running under Mission Street. All performances this month will begin at 8 p.m., and doors will open half an hour in advance. Specific information, including a hyperlink to the event page that provides both background material and hyperlinks for ticket purchases, is as follows:

Friday, February 9: This will be a two-set evening. The opening set will be a duo performance by Luke Stewart on upright bass and vocalist Amirtha Kidambi. Stewart will perform his instrument in a setting of amplifier feedback, effects pedals, and looping. Kidambi will deploy her own vocal effects pedal. Their resulting improvisations draw upon free jazz, noise, rock, Indian music and Black music. The second set will be Beast Nest, a project conceived and realized by multimedia performance artist Sharmi Basu. The objective of the performance will be to transmute experiences of trauma through complex sonic textural layering.

Miya Masaoka performing on her monochord

Friday, February 16: The Wattis Institute will present a performance by Miya Masaoka as part of a year-long research season entitled Annicka Yi is on our mind. Masaoka’s approach to performance explores the natural world through bodily perception of vibration, movements, and time while foregrounding complex timbre relationships. She will perform on koto, electronics, and a monochord (as shown above).

Saturday, February 24: Saxophonist Phillip Greenlief and drummer Scott Amendola will celebrate 30 years of collaboration with the release of the album Stay with it on Clean Feed Records. They will give a duo performance of free improvisation that will reflect on the content of that album. Their set will be preceded by another duo performance, which will begin the evening. That will also involve a percussionist, Karen Stackpole, playing with instrument builder Krys Bobrowski.

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