water under the bridge

…and now we’ve returned to the work as different people, imaginations stretched in unimagined ways. With this new recording, rehearsal and performance dates set, the quartet is once again finding its footing, weathering many forces at play—those life-and-death circumstances that attend us daily. Yet, as the years pass, Rova remains dedicated to creating/realizing personal works for saxophone quartet.


Bookended with pieces by Steve and Jon, we present three compositions commissioned from outside composers. Each of the five works brings us separate challenges and opportunities for execution and exploration.

Tenor and soprano sax specialist John Butcher continues to reimagine saxophoning, the instrument having become an extension of his essential being. With The Knot Gallery, John has shared his unique reed language with us to activate his idiosyncratic sound device.

Gino Robair, a long-time Rova collaborator, first worked with us in the San Francisco premiere of John Zorn’s Cobra in 1987. He’s an innovative performer-improvisor, producer, writer, editor, paper and printmaker and free-range visionary. I, Norton was excerpted for Rova from his opera of the same name, the subject of which is a near-mythic San Francisco figure, Emperor Norton.

The exhilarating, ecstatic end of the horn’s spectrum is brought to life in Miya Masaoka’s Music for Mouths. At once ritual and improvisatory song, the work offers unique demands that excite us as performers, stimulating wonder in the players’ collective psyche and astonishment in listeners.

The opener, Steve Adams’ those who…, is red meat that feeds Rova’s craving for a good jousting session. Steve’s ear for interval, rhythm, and player interaction make this a vigorous outing. Play works. The piece was originally conceived to be performed with poet Clark Coolidge reading from his text, written while listening to Cecil Taylor, from which the work also takes its title. Similarly, Coolidge’s 1994 book, The Rova Improvisations, was created with Rova as his soundtrack.

And, thinking of weather systems, Jon Raskin’s Valley Winter Clouds brings us outdoors, under vast skies and into the charged atmosphere of the natural world. This intuitive work reminds us that breathing into the horns can be barometric, delivering a sensation-laden weather report.
Approaching our 50th year in action, Rova’s essence remains intact, with unpredicted sounds to be heard, rippling water under the bridge. Thriving under less than obvious circumstances.

Thanks William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for the funding for The Knot Gallery, Music for Mouths and I, Norton. Special thanks to poet Clark Coolidge

--Bruce Ackley
San Francisco, April 2026
released October 23, 2026

1. those who… (12:53, Steve Adams, Metalanguage/BMI)
2. The Knot Gallery (18:59, John Butcher, MCPS/PRS)
3. I, Norton (14:52, Gino Robair, Gino Robair Ink/BMI)
4. Music for Mouths (10:12, Miya Masaoka, Miya Masaoka/ASCAP)
5. Valley Winter Clouds (13:10, Jon Raskin, Temescal/ASCAP)

Bruce Ackley - soprano saxophone
Steve Adams - alto and sopranino saxophones
Larry Ochs - tenor and sopranino saxophones
Jon Raskin - baritone and sopranino saxophones