Bruce Ackley

Saxophonist, composer, Rova member, band leader.

Born in 1948 in Detroit. A 1986 Bay Area Music award nominee for best saxophonist, Ackley has recorded with such noted musicians as John Zorn, Henry Kaiser, and Eugene Chadborne, and collaborated with trombone/electronics composer J.A. Deane on sound environments for the films of Bay Area film maker, David Machalak. He was a founding member of the Sound Clinic, an improvising wind trio, with trumpeter George Sams and saxophonist Lew Jordan and a 1970's precursor to the all-winds Rova, and participated in the founding of the Blue Dolphin, an artist-run alternative art space in San Francisco. He began playing saxophone in 1970, and formed his first trio that year in Detroit. As a disc jockey from 1973-75, Bruce presented jazz and new music programs on San Francisco's community sponsored station, KPOO.

Links:
Home Page: http://www.rova.org/about-us/bruce-ackley.html

Upcoming Events:

7Sep

Sunday, September 7 2025 2:00 PM

Center for New Music [55 Taylor St SF]
Harold Carr + Bruce Ackley, Andrew Voigt, Cervino-Wood, Derek Coombs More...

11Sep

Thursday, September 11 2025 8:00 PM

Peacock Lounge [552 Haight Street, SF, CA]
Bruce Ackley & Fred Lonberg-Holmes
The Anti-cellist arrives at the gate of the Peacock Lounge on Sept. 11. Pupils ablaze with unholy mastery of harmonics, timbre and scale, summoning our own neighborhood druid, Bruce Ackley, weilding the sonic sceptres known as clarinet, soprano and tenor.

JETZTAHORA
From the blind-beyond a fantasy supertrio of Danishta Rivero, Sandy Buschman-Román, and Kyle freaking Bruckmann appears to your ears.

Theresa Wong
Nowhere do past and future comingle more clearly than in Theresa Wong's musical embrace. By voice, cello, light, and through composition new possibilities unfold.

Headboggle
Derek Gedalecia's acoustic/electronic performance-art research utilizing his very own kitchen sink which at any moment might uncork with Moog, Harmonica, Banjo, Harpsichord, Irish Harp, EMS Synthi, Violin, Drums, Clavinet, Serge Modular, field recordings, or your very own squirming brain. More...

Photo Albums (click to view photos):

Garden of Memory 2014
album