Guest Curation by Bob Marsh
Music In Motion
The difference between Wright and Rong
Jack Wright - saxophones
Bob "Rong" Marsh - Sonic Suit #1
Kinji Hayashi - butoh dance
"When two legends of american improvised music decide to share with us the space of a moment, their passion for the duo, we can only be curious, then won over. The saxophonist Jack Wright remains the most indispensable musician of his generation. A true catalyst of energy, indefatigable explorer, conjurer of white magic in a music inspired by black, he is still the reference par excellence for all the generations who have followed. As for Bob Marsh, he can be described as an agitator of the american alternative scene. Showing up everywhere, from California to Chicago, he brings his freshness and vigor of renewal to all projects in which he participates. We can understand from this past why he is still so courted."---From Sebastian Moig, writing for Jazzosphere no. 19 (a French publication)
JACK WRIGHT. After teaching at Temple University in the 1960s and leaving academia in the early 1970s to engage in radical politics and community organizing, by the late 1970s Wright directed his energies into music. He is one of a very small group of musicians in North America that has played improvised music exclusively since the 1970s. Through years of near constant touring, often performing for audiences in cities and towns where improvised music had never before been heard, he came to be regarded as something of an underground legend. He has deliberately eschewed the conventions and socio-aesthetic limitations of musical careerism to pursue his own vision. Although his de-professionalized approach sets him apart from most musicians at his level of accomplishment, his art has always grown, expanded, and synthesized new information. He is unquestionably an original and virtuosic saxophonist, a master improviser who is deeply lyrical, with humor never far away.
Today Wright tours frequently in Europe and North America (and in Japan in 2006), making new musical and human connections, bringing European musicians to the U.S. and bringing musicians everywhere together. His inspiration has provided crucial impetus to hundreds of musicians and has even motivated several people to establish music venues in order to present him and other improvisers (e.g. Baltimore’s High Zero festival). His vast list of collaborators includes some “name” luminaries (William Parker, Axel Dorner, Michel Doneda, Andrea Neumann, Denman Maroney, Bhob Rainey to name a few) but more significant are the many obscure greats he has played with. He has made over 40 recordings (many published on his own Spring Garden label), performed in over 20 countries, and written extensively and insightfully about music and society for journals such as Improjazz (France) and Signal to Noise (US), as well as his own website.
Bob Marsh is a well seasoned improviser whose work has involved shaping sounds words images ideas and instruments. Originally from Detroit, Marsh arrived in the Bay Area in 2000 after ten years in Chicago where he played with most of the avant improvisers in that rich and varied scene. Since his arrival on the west coast, multi-instrumentalist and composer Marsh has been busy with several projects. He currently leads or directs String Theory, a string ensemble focusing on textures and microtonics; the Che Guevarra Memorial Marching (and Stationary) Accordion Band, structured and free improv for six to fifteen accordions; Robot Martians, electronics and processed voice; the Out of the Blue Chamber Ensemble, a mixture of reeds and strings; Opera Viva, voiced physical theater; the Quintessentials, a quintet specializing in interpreting graphic compositions based on alterations to the Michelin Road Guide to France; and the Illuminated Orchestra, structured improves for large ensemble. Additionally Marsh is a member of Romus/Diaz-Infante's Abstractions, Jim Ryan's Left Coast Improv Group, Moe! Staiano's Moe!chestra and Tom Bickley's Cornelius Cardew Choir. Bob Marsh tours frequently with his long term partner saxophonist Jack Wright. Bob has recently been presenting a solo work involving violin, voice and tap shoes. Marsh's educational background includes a BFA in sculpture and an MA in humanistic clinical psychology. He has studied classical piano, classical guitar and vibraphone and has taught himself various other instruments. He currently is active with cello, accordion, violin, voice, vibraphone and electronics, and inventions such as the sonic suit to be performed with Brenda Hutchinson.
Kinji Hayashi was raised in Tokyo, Japan. A solo Butoh dancer since 1991, has collaborated with numerous artists and groups such as Polish Theater director Miroslaw Kocur and San Francisco playwright Helen Pau. He has performed throughout the Bay Area with the Asian American Theater Company, Theaterworks, and Theater of Yugen. He also toured with HRG in California and with Harupin Ha in Japan and the US. He has received Dance Bay Area's Commissioning Project Grant, Zellerbach Family Fund, City of Oakland Cultural Arts Division's Creative Artist Fellowship, and the Pritzker Foundation Endowed Fellowship. He and Momo received a commission from the American Composers Forum to perform with composer William Ludke.
Caring for turtles is a source of his inspiration in this fast-paced world.
Cost: $6-10 sliding