A blend of music and performance art, bassist Adam Lane's compositions and sound constructions are an eclectic blend of expressive horns, strings, shrieking spoken word segments, pinging electronics, and the occasional vacuum cleaner. At Langton the Oakland musician presents new compositions for strings and acoustic bass as well a performance by as his electro-acoustic free jazz band Full Throttle Orchestra. As Ezra Gale has warned about Lane's aggressive style, "those listeners who prefer their jazz to match their wallpaper had better run for cover." (SF Weekly, April 18 -24, 2001)

Reflecting the diversity of his music studies at Cal Arts, Lane's compositions combine influences from Mingus, Ellington, Stockhausen, Melt Banana, New Japanese Punk, and 50s sci-fi sound tracks. Writing for 20-piece orchestras, string quartets, big bands, and solo performers, Lane stretches the terms "jazz" and "chamber music" well beyond their conventional use. Critic Sam Prestianni notes in Jazziz that "Lane's confidence and confrontational prowess as well as his abiding sense of lyricism and heavy-groove power place him in the lineage of forward-jazz adventurism."

The bassist has recorded with a broad range of highly regarded musicians from free jazz pioneer John Tchicai to rock legend Tom Waits. In April 2000 he was featured on John Tchicai's Infinitesimal Flash (Buzz Records). He also recorded a duet with Tom Waits for the original soundtrack Pollock, released with the movie about painter Jackson Pollock in 2000.

Adam Lane has composed works for the California Ear Unit and the Southern California New Century Players, and has performed his compositions at LACE, Hollywood, CA, Yoshi's, Oakland, Knitting Factory, New York, among other venues. His discography includes Without Being by the Adam Lane Quartet (Creative Improvised Music Projects, forthcoming, July 2002), Nowhere Zen: Chamber Works and Solo Statement (Evander Music, forthcoming, July 2002), NO(W) MUSIC, Adam Lane's Full Throttle Orchestra (Cadence Jazz Records, 1999), and Hollywood Wedding (Cadence Jazz Records, 1999). Lane studied at the Darmstadt School for New Music with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Stefano Scodanibbio after earning his MFA in Composition from the California Institute of the Arts in 1996 under Wadada Leo Smith. He is the recipient of several Meet the Composer grants and the 2000 Julius Hemphill Award for Jazz Composition. Lane lives in Oakland.