Friday, 4/14/06 WAYANG SAXOPHONY: Henry Kuntz w/Balinese Shadow Puppets & The Forward Energy Trio Jim Ryan sax&flute, Scott R. Looney piano, Stephen Flinn drums
Henry Kuntz undertakes a thorough reexamination of tenor saxophone sound, technique and musical purpose. Balinese Shadow Play form provides a context; Leather Puppets tell the tale. Henry has been intimately involved in free jazz and free improvisation for more than 30 years. From 1973 to 1979, he was editor and publisher of the internationally-acclaimed newsletter-review BELLS. He first recorded on tenor saxophone in 1977 on Henry Kaiser's Ice Death. He has played musette and various flutes since 1981, miniature violins since 1983, gamelans and xylophones since1988, and rhaita since1999. On Humming Bird Records, he has released 2 LPs, 16 cassettes, and 5 CDs of solo, group, and multi-tracked free improvisations. In 1986, he formed the "avant-shamanic trance jazz" group Opeye. He has traveled extensively to Mexico, Central and South America, Asia, North Africa, and Indonesia recording, studying, and drawing upon aspects of music, ritual, dance, and performance, from which five ethnographic cassettes have also been produced.
The Forward Energy Trio -- Jim Ryan’s Forward Energy groups based in the Bay Area have been performing here and across the country since 1997. Jim’s experience on sax and flute as well as spoken word ranges from the early ‘70s Paris free jazz scene to his present-day involvement in several ongoing Bay Area projects. Scott Looney is an MFA graduate of Cal Arts with broad experience as an outside/inside piano improviser, electronic musician, and recording engineer. Stephen Flinn’s most recent CD, Square Circle with Noah Phillips guitar has just been released on pax recordings.
Cost: $10