Studio Grand
3234 Grand Ave, Oakland
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Oakland Freedom Jazz Society: Rent Romus's Life's Blood Ensemble + Brown Slusser plays Rubber City

Rent Romus'S LIFE'S BLOOD ENSEMBLE PLAYS THE LOST RADIO SET

Rent Romus - alto/soprano saxophone
Timothy Orr - drums/percussion
Safa Shokrai - double bass
Scott Walton - double bass
Heikki Koskinen - e-trumpet/recorder
Joshua Marshall - tenor saxophone
Mark Clifford - vibraphone

This visionary group lead by saxophonist composer Rent Romus, pays tribute as well as bring to light, reinvent, deconstruct, and delve into the deep realms of their collective body of memory. Their repetoire features original composition and contemporary local and international composers while exploring the influences and inspirations of jazz and free improvisation. Life's Blood debut recording was released in 1999 and featured Danish drummer Stefan Pasborg and bassist Jonas Westergaard while Romus was on tour in Northern Europe.

Jazz journalist Andrew Gilbert, who wrote the liner notes for their 2016 recording Rising Colussus, states that "Life's Blood Ensemble dives headlong into a disparate array of compositions, opening and closing with very different works inspired by epic tales..."

"Indeed, Romus and associates have reached a milestone with this top-notch outing that defies strict categorizations when considering bridges between free improvisation and modern progressive jazz. It's a seamless incorporation of the best of many worlds." - Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz



BROWN SLUSSER PLAYS THE MUSIC OF RUBBER CITY

Sheldon Brown - alto saxophone/bass clarinet
David Slusser - tenor/soprano saxophone
Richard Saunders - double bass
Chris Ackerman - drums

David Slusser was born in Akron, Ohio in 1952. He began playing tenor saxophone at age 10, around the same time he started experimenting with reel to reel tape recorders. Getting his first film sound job in 1975, he continued his career with a move to the San Francisco Bay area in 1977, where he joined Lucasfilm in 1984, and received an Emmy award for sound editing in 1993. He has worked often as a music editor for directors Francis Coppola, George Lucas and David Lynch, with whom he has co-composed music for his films. On his own he has composed for documentaries and public radio, as well as his jazz group Rubber City. His sound design is in the collections of both the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Contempory Art in Los Angeles, though far more people have heard it in some of the more imaginative commercials on television. He began an association with John Zorn in the mid eighties. Received two prizes in the 1999 Julius Hemphill Composition Awards, including first for jazz orchestra.

DOORS 9:00 PM; SHOW 9:30 PM

$7-15 sliding scale

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