Serving the San Francisco Bay Area New Music Community

                    
Steve Adams
Saxophonist, composer, Rova member, band leader
Steve Adams ( b. 1952 ) composes and plays sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones as well as flute, alto flute, bass flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and synthesizer. Steve is a graduate of the School of Contemporary Music in Boston, and has studied composition with Thomas Oboe Lee, Christopher Yavelov and Alan Crossman; saxophone and flute with David Birkin; and Indian music with Peter Row and Steve Gorn. He has taught at North Shore Community College, Governor Dummer Academy and the School of Contemporary Music.

Currently based in San Francisco, Steve is a member of the Rova Saxophone Quartet, an innovative ensemble that has been called "one of the most daring ensembles of any instrumentation to emerge in recent years" by Downbeat magazine. Rova has toured widely in the U.S., Canada, and Eastern and Western Europe and has recordings on the Black Saint, Hat Art, Sound Aspects and Metalanguage labels. He is a former member of Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet, an eclectic jazz group that has toured Europe and recorded on the Coppens CCD label, Composers in Red Sneakers, a classically-oriented composer's consortium, and Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, a "punk classical" rock group with recordings on Rykodisc, Ace of Hearts and Cuneiform Records. Steve is on more than 35 recordings, including seven with the Rova Saxophone Quartet, four with Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet and three as a co-leader for the 9Winds label. He has performed with Anthony Braxton, Sam Rivers, Dave Holland, John Zorn, Cecil Taylor, Donald Byrd, Jaki Byard and Ted Nugent and with many other jazz, rock, classical, dance and theater groups.

Steve received a Reader's Digest/Meet the Composer grant in 1993 and was a finalist in the 1983 Massachusetts "You Gotta Have Arts" grant competition. He has written many compositions and arrangements in various genres,including fifteen currently on record. His works in the classical vein include Owed t'Don for marimba and violin, commissioned by Marimolin and recorded for the GM label, Watching for a Story for alto saxophone and tape, Squinch for brass quintet, commissioned by the Empire Brass Quintet, and K/24 (for Vasily Kandinsky) for saxophone quartet. He has also written music for dance pieces and animated films. Steve wrote the music for the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival's 1990 production of Twelfth Night, for the California Shakespeare Festival's 1991 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, their 1993 production of Hamlet, their 1994 production of The Taming of the Shrew, and their 1995 production of Much Ado About Nothing.
Videos
Ken Filiano/ Steve Adams Duo at the Stone
CDs on which Steve Adams appears:
ArtistTitleLabelNumber
Steve Adams Spectral Ruckus
Artist: Steve Adams
Title: Spectral Ruckus
Label: Bandcamp
Label page on this site: Bandcamp
Bandcamp
Steve Adams A Capella Barbeque
Artist: Steve Adams
Title: A Capella Barbeque
Label: Bandcamp
Label page on this site: Bandcamp
Bandcamp
Steve Adams and Ken Filiano In Out Side
Artist: Steve Adams and Ken Filiano
Title: In Out Side
Label: 9 Winds Records NWCD 0156
Label page on this site: 9 Winds Records
9 Winds Records NWCD 0156
John Schott Shuffle Play: Elegies for the Recording Angel
Artist: John Schott
Title: Shuffle Play: Elegies for the Recording Angel
Label: New World Records 80548-2
Label page on this site: New World Records
New World Records 80548-2
Bill Horvitz Band The Disappearance
Artist: Bill Horvitz Band
Title: The Disappearance
Label: Evander Music Em 018
Label page on this site: Evander Music
Evander Music Em 018
Favorite Disks:
Steve Adams (05/13/2014)
List posted on discussion group in response to a question about Steve Lacy
Artist NameTitleDescription
Steve LacySongs (with Brion Gysin)hatart
Steve LacyClinkers (solo)hatart
Steve LacyTroubles Black Saint (quintet) (available on itunes)
Steve LacyItinerary+16hatart (large ensemble)
Steve LacyMonk's Dream(quintet w/Roswell Rudd) Classics Jazz France (available on itunes)