7:30 PM duoB
Lisa Mezzacappa - bass,
Jason Levis - drums
8:30 PM Golia/Johnson/Hammond
Vinny Golia - woodwinds,
Max Johnson - bass,
Ross Hammond - guitar
duo B., the improvising and composing ensemble of percussionist Jason Levis and bassist
Lisa Mezzacappa, is a musical think tank of grand schemes and impossible scenarios. For more than ten years, the ensemble has developed and refined its singular approach to improvisation and composition, through cross-disciplinary projects with film, collaborations with improvising instrumentalists at home and abroad, study of repertoire by like-minded composers such as Jon Raskin, Aaron Bennett and Phillip Greenlief, and immersion in the improvised-composed musical worlds of masters Wadada Leo Smith, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Cecil Taylor, and others. duo B. has released two recordings and this year, embarks on a new journey in long-form improvisation with its latest project.
A multi-woodwind performer, Vinny's recordings have been consistently picked by critics and readers of music journals for their yearly "ten best" lists. In 1990 he was the winner of the Jazz Times TDWR award for Bass Saxophone. In 1998 he ranked 1st in the Cadence Magazine Writers & Readers Poll and has continually placed in the Downbeat Critic's Poll for Baritone & Soprano Saxophone. In 1999 Vinny won the LA Weekly’s Award for "Best Jazz Musician". Jazziz Magazine has also named him as one of the 100 people who have influenced the course of Jazz in our Century. In 2006 The Jazz Journalists Association honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Golia has also contributed original compositions and scores to Ballet and Modern Dance works, video, theatrical productions, and film. As an educator Vinny has lectured on music & painting composition, improvisation, Jazz History, The History of Music in Film, CD & record manufacturing and self-production throughout the United States, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand and Canada. He currently teaches at California Institute of the Arts. In 1998 Golia was appointed Regent's Lecturer at the University of California at San Diego. In 2009 Vinny Golia was appointed the first holder of the Michel Colombier Performer Composer Chair at Cal Arts.
Vinny has been a featured performer with Anthony Braxton, Henry Grimes, John Carter, Bobby Bradford, Joelle Leandre, Leo Smith, Horace Tapscott, John Zorn to name a few.
Max Johnson is a bassist, composer and bandleader based in New York City. Growing up in Hoboken, New Jersey, Johnson learned about music at an early age from his father, Glenn Johnson, drummer/composer of the band Leisure Class. At age 13, Max took up the electric bass, and after performing with local bands in Montclair, NJ, he joined the School of Rock in 2004, where he had the incredible opportunity to tour internationally and perform with Jon Anderson, John Wetton, the Butthole Surfers, Adrian Belew, Vernon Reid, Andrew W.K., Ronnie Spector, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and a long list of others. Johnson then attended the New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music in 2008, where he studied bass with masters Henry Grimes, Mark Helias, Reggie Workman, Cameron Brown & Marji Danilow; and composition with Jane Ira Bloom, Tim Berne & Bill Kirchner. While studying there, he began performing professionally in New York City, building a name for himself as a bassist and bandleader in the improvised music world, and a first call bass player in the bluegrass scene.
Sacramento guitarist
Ross Hammond has played on large stages and in small corners throughout the United States. His sound is equal parts jazz, folk, blues, spirituals and world music. His latest release is "Humanity Suite," a live, long-form jazz suite written for sextet and recorded at the Crocker Art Museum.
Ross has collaborated/gigged/recorded with:
Kevin Seconds, Oliver Lake, Pheeroan AkLaff, Vinny Golia, Vladimir Tarasov, Nicole Mitchell, Dwight Trible, Calvin Weston, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Alex Cine, Nels Cline
Cost: $10-$15 sliding scale