The Lab
2948 16th St SF
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Rova Saxophone Quartet Plus One, Featuring Dohee Lee, Wobbly, and ACVilla

Saturday, January 27, 2018
7:30pm Doors / 8:00pm Performance
$15 Guests / Free for members
Reserve seats: guest registration

Rova Saxophone Quartet marks their 40th season with "Rova Plus One.” The evening will be two sets as follows:

Set 1
Rova plus Dohee Lee (voice and movement) perform Slowville, a structured improvisation composed by Larry Ochs

Rova plus Wobbly (electronics) perform Luau Axe Quiz, composed/designed by Steve Adam

Set 2
Rova plusACVilla’s No Distractions (film)
Specifically envisioned for Rova Saxophone Quartet and The Lab, video artist ACVilla has created a unique visual score that will be played in three simultaneous movements. This artistic collaboration calls upon Rova’s four decades of shared sonic exploration, intuition and surprises as well as their intrepid tours; ACVilla is curious how their past, dating up to today, will join her experiences of a decade of perpetual travel. From a collection of footage she gathered while touring throughout the lower 48 states, she has chosen pieces that invite each audience member and musician to wander through their own cultural landscape, stopping now and then to greet their personal preconceptions and then move along together, swept up in the moment of patterns, textures, colors, movement and music.

Rova Sax Quartet: a group that can move you the way an Eastern European choir of voices can move you, but also a group with force, a force that can feel as if it is tearing the walls of the listening space down, or that can simulate the complex sound of a machine, or conversely, the almost-silent overlapping sound-patterns heard with eyes closed in a field in the wilderness.

Rova Sax Quartet's musical goal has always been, since 1978, to instigate, to challenge, and to inspire. The group explores the synthesis of composition and collective improvisation, creating exciting, genre-bending music. Rova:Arts, formed in 1986, acts as the umbrella organization for the musicians, facilitating the goals and productions and tours, the collaborations and special projects. rova.org

Born on Jeju Island in South Korea, Dohee Lee studied Korean dance, music, percussion and vocals at the master level. Since her arrival in the US she has been a vital contributor to both the traditional and contemporary arts landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Dohee’s work focuses on integration of traditional forms and contemporary arts through music, movement, images, costumes and installations. Lee’s distinctive and profound performance style evokes the full spectrum of human emotion, the primordial, futuristic, visible and invisible realms. A review that appeared in the Chicago Tribune stated, “Lee unfurled an extraordinary lexicon of vocal colors, tones and textures. Yet she deftly controlled these otherworldly sounds…with her sinuous, thoroughly personalized one-woman choreography, self-styled art form.” doheelee.com

Wobbly is the moniker of Jon Leidecker, a San Francisco–based musician/composer of experimental electronic music. He has been producing music since 1987 and ongoing studio and live projects involve collaborations with People Like Us, Thomas Dimuzio, Kevin Blechdom, Tim Perkis, Matmos and The Weatherman of Negativland. He is a member of the Chopping Channel and Sagan and in 2002, Leidecker was responsible for the first montage and final cleanup of the Fred Frith Friths Experiment and "Keep the Dog" first album, That House We Lived In (2003). With Negativland’s Mark Hosler and Peter Conheim along with Doug Wellman, Leidecker produced “”There Is No Don””, a live tribute to the late Don Joyce and his work, on July 23, 2015.[6] He has released works on Tigerbeat6, Illegal Art, Alku, Phthalo, and others. detritus.net/Wobbly
Sound file of source material from the radio: https://youtu.be/Pp7GxN39JdY

ACVilla is currently traveling through 48 states and filming in a wide variety of public spaces. Her footage explores the points of cooperation between artists and government as well as the ways that artists claim spaces for themselves. "Focusing the camera on the points where people meet their environment and each other, Silver Ochre offers “a fresh sight & sound take on the road trip and all points, people & things in between.” (Keif Henley, Guild Cinema, NM) angelacvilla.com Movie segment from her travel videos and improvised music by Thollem McDonas. silverochre.com/who-are-us-2016.html

Audio samples in which musicians at this event play:

Videos featuring musicians playing at this event