21 Grand
416 25th St @Broadway Near 19th Street BART Oakland
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Forward Energy --

with Special Guest Lisle Ellis double bass, and Alicia Mangan tenor sax, Rent Romus c-melody/alto&soprano saxes, Jim Ryan flute+alto&tenor saxes, Andrew Wilhusen and Stephen Flinn drums. "...Forceful, immediate, inventive." - Signal to Noise

Lisle Ellis has toured and performed worldwide with many if not all of the luminaries of creative music - Paul Bley, Alvin Curran, Marilyn Crispell, Myra Melford, and Paul Plimley. He has also collaborated extensively with dancers, actors, and artists from Europe, Canada, and America. Ellis has recorded extensively. He is featured on at least 40 CD's. He began winning awards and commissions in 1978, and in 1991, he was the first musician honored in Canada as a recipient of the Freddie Stone Award, which is presented annually to a musician who has shown innovation and integrity in their field.

Jim Ryan's Forward Energy has been a Bay Area Free Jazz staple since the late '90. While living
in Paris, France in the early 70's he participated in a year-long workshop organized and led by Steve Lacy. Jim formed the "Free Music Formation" in Paris and on his return to the States he formed the Art Performance Group in Washington, D.C. He moved to California and in 1997 he launched Forward Energy which has been performing regularly since then. Jim has also participated in Marco Eneidi's "American Jungle Orchestra," and Eddie Gale's "Orchestra for World Peace." There are a half dozen Forward Energy CD releases: most of them are available on Edgetone Records. The most recent is "Where Are They?' with Jim Ryan alto tenor sax & flute, Eddie Gale trumpet, Alicia Mangan tenor sax, Scott R. Looney piano, Kristjan Bondesson bass, and Marshall Trammell on Edgetone Records EDT 4025. Buy them at the show or, to order, www.edgetonerecords.com and click 'artists,' 'Jim Ryan'

Alicia Mangan honed her chops in bebop and Latin based music but opted for total dedication to the calling of avant-garde jazz. Her music follows and has been influenced by the exploratory methods used in the tradition forged by Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, & Charles Gayle. While in the San Francisco Bay Area she has been a member in such groups as Eddie Gale's Orchestra for World Peace, Jim Ryan's Forward Energy, Marco Eneidi's American Jungle Orchestra, and is a member of the group Sacred Unit featuring percussionist Spirit. In addition to working with these artists, Alicia has also worked with Peter Kowald, Karen Borca, Donald Robinson, Wadada Leo Smith, and Sabu Toyozumi.
She currently divides her time between the San Francisco Bay Area and her home in Los Angeles, California.

Rent Romus Rent Romus is a force spanning over twenty years of creative improvised music. He is the current director and producer of Edgetone Records, curator of the Luggage Store Gallery Series, and the SIMM Music Series at the Studio 6 Musicians Union Hall, both located in San Francisco. Rent Romus has produced countless shows, events and festivals featuring experimental, avant garde, freejazz, electronica, and noise artists from within the Bay Area and all over the world.
From his very beginnings as a student of Jazz, studying under the tutelage of Stan Getz, Bruce Foreman, Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Martin, and drummer Eddie Moore he found himself drawn to the outer realms of music. Rent Romus' ongoing free jazz/experimental project 'Lords of Outland' has had many incarnations. The latest 'Outland' offering Culture of Pain is soon to be released on CD

Andrew Wilshusen is always seeking to explore the boundaries of music. His keen ears and fluid coordination make him a drummer whose rhythms, which range from minimalist colorations to polyrhythmic tirades, always perfectly compliment his band mates while propelling them to new heights of their own. When he's not playing the drums, he can be found instructing, inspiring and encouraging his students.

Stephen Flinn has been a professional musician for over twenty years, and has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. As well as being an accomplished drummer and percussionist, he works with unusual sound sources including found objects and items not normally used musically. He lives in San Francisco and spends his time teaching, performing, and writing.

Cost: 6-10 sliding scale

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