Mosswood Sound Series
3630 Telegraph Ave enter 2nd door on 37th St Oakland
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(#4) TRIO+SOLO Scott Looney + Kjell Nordeson + Lisa Mezzacappa / Tom Weeks


TOM WEEKS performs compositions & improvisations for solo saxophone.

TRIO LMNTS (SCOTT R LOONEY - prepared/unprepared piano, electronics, Lisa Mezzacappa - bass, Kjell Nordeson - percussion) have been mutually exploring their shared sonic landscape since shortly before the pandemic. The resulting lockdown situation resulted in an extended hiatus until it was decided to try playing in a completely remote manner over an application called Sonobus. This forced the group to adhere to only improvising freely so that audio latency would be less noticeable. The trio met several times regularly, sharing not only music, but also their minds in lengthy discussions on many diverse topics.


SCOTT R LOONEY has always been interested in the creation and performance of compelling sounds across a broad spectrum of contemporary, improvised, and experimental music. He has studied composition and improvisation with Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Morton Subotnick, David Rosenboom, and Frederic Rzewski, obtaining his MFA in Composition from California Institute of the Arts. After moving to New York, and finally to the San Francisco Bay area, he became more interested in expanding the timbral possibilities of the piano, and using pianists such as Denman Maroney as a starting point, has forged a signature style using the inside and outside of the piano, plucking strings, using metal implements and other quick preparations, in combination to playing the piano normally. He has also developed a flexible, expressive voice with electronics which is as effective as his many piano textures are.

Lisa Mezzacappa is a San Francisco Bay Area-based bassist, composer, and musical instigator. An active collaborator and curator in the Bay Area music community, she leads her own groups Bait & Switch, Nightshade, the Lisa Mezzacappa Trio and the Tangle Trio, and co-leads the ensembles duo B., Cylinder, the Mezzacappa-Phillips Duo, and the Caribbean folk band Les Gwan Jupons. Lisa has released her music on the Clean Feed, NoBusiness, Leo, NotTwo, Evander, Odd Shaped Case and Edgetone record labels, and has recorded as a sideperson for the Tzadik, Kadima and Porto Franco labels. She collaborates frequently on cross-disciplinary projects in sound installation, film/video, sculpture and public music/art.

Kjell Nordeson divides his time between Stockholm and San Francisco. Together with saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, he formed AALY Trio in 1986. AALY Trio became one of the leading groups in the Swedish experimental scene in the 90's. Nordeson has toured extensively in North America, Europe, North Africa and Japan with various groups. He has performed with Peter Brötzmann, Barry Guy, Ken Vandermark, Joe Morris, William Parker, Paul Rutherford, Gerry Hemingway, Frank Gratkowski, Stefano Scodanibbio, and many others. Since 2004, Nordeson has been active in the San Francisco Bay Area's thriving community of free-improvised, experimental and new music. He regularly plays with musicians Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Greg Goodman, Scott Looney, John Ingle, sfSoundGroup, Darren Johnston, Lisa Mezzacappa and many others.

TOM WEEKS is a composer, improviser, and saxophonist from Oakland, CA. He has received a Bachelor's degree in Jazz Composition from Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA, and a Master's degree in Composition from Mills College, Oakland, CA. He has studied with Roscoe Mitchell, Fred Frith, Zeena Parkins, Pauline Oliveros, Steve Adams, Richard Evans, and Phil Wilson, among others. His music is influenced by various African-American musical traditions, the historical avant-garde, and the heavy metal and hardcore traditions; utilizing improvisation, extended techniques, and traditional and experimental notational practices. He has worked with musicians such as Alvin Curran, Gerald Cleaver, Makoto Kawabata, Ricardo Descalzo, The MolOt Ensemble, Hans Koch, Walter Thompson, William Winant, G. Calvin Weston, members of the ROVA saxophone quartet, and Henry Kaiser, among many others. In addition to leading the bands Ero Guro and BEER, as well as performing and composing with the ensembles Nine Dog Dick and TONED, his frequent collaborators include Camille Emaille, Nathan Corder, Kazuto Sato, James McKain, and Kevin Murray.

Cost: $10-$25 sliding scale

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