7:30 Brett Carson - solo piano
8:30 duo B.
Lisa Mezzacappa - double bass
Jason Levis - drums

duo B., the San Francisco Bay Area improvising and composing ensemble of percussionist Jason Levis and bassist Lisa Mezzacappa, is a musical think tank of grand schemes and impossible scenarios. For more than ten years, the ensemble has developed and refined its singular approach to improvisation and composition, through cross-disciplinary projects with film, collaborations with improvising instrumentalists at home and abroad, study of repertoire by like-minded composer-improvisers, and immersion in the improvised-composed musical worlds of masters Wadada Leo Smith, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, Henry Threadgill, and others. duo B.'s music is ethereal chamber music wrapped in dense improvised soundscapes. Levis uses gongs, Tibetan singing bowls, bowed cymbals, marimba and drumset to create lush, delicate textures and abstract noise grooves. Mezzacappa draws on a palette of sinister drones, punchy vamps and acoustic bass manipulations to weave storylines through gnarly rhythms, pointillistic shapes and ecstatic melodies. duo B.’s influences range from free jazz to indie pop to contemporary chamber music, from Threadgill to Zorn, Wilco to the Boredoms, Messaien to Grisey and back again.

https://www.lisamezzacappa.com/duo_band.html

Brett Carson is a composer, pianist, improviser, poet, and theater artist based in Berkeley CA. His compositional work, which has been described as "fascinatingly intense" (Stephen Smoliar, SF Classical Voice), explores the juxtaposition of a gleefully chaotic plurality of musical approaches. This is combined with a penchant for surreal world-building and an exploration of the bizarre and uncanny, along with a commitment to writing for the voice and the stage. In addition to his compositional work, he enjoys a career as a pianist, keyboardist, and synthesist, having performed internationally in the realms of free improvisation, contemporary classical music, and jazz.

For this performance, he'll be presenting a (mostly) improvised solo piano set.

https://www.brettcarsonmusic.com/

$10-25 suggested donation
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Otherworld Ensemble - Secret mythic music
Rent Romus, Heikki Koskinen, Elihu Knowles, Joshua Marshall, Joseph Noble, Pete Schmitt

The Otherworld Ensemble is a unique multi-cultural project lead by Heikki "Mike" Koskinen and saxophonist and composer Rent Romus. Their music is inspired by Finno-Ugric mythopoetic structures. The spark of inspiration came after Romus toured Denmark in the mid-nineties working with musicians who were integrating their cultural traditions with African-American music. Romus realized the music he grew up with could serve as a platform and research tool into his own lost heritage. The “Other World” theme references heritage found deep in the “Body of Memory” embedded in the ensemble's musical psyche refracted through the lens of improvisation, folk, and composition.

Ghost Dub Sextet
Karen Stackpole, David Michalak, Ben Davis, Darren Johnston, Cindy Sawprano, Kersti Abrams

Conceived by filmmaker & musician David Michalak, Ghost Dub (formerly Ghost in the House) continues to explore the ethereal and elemental soundscapes where music suggests an image. It could be a murder mystery, a visitation in a dream, a cataclysmic storm or a sound sculpture. This show will feature improvisations and two new works: Birds Have Their Wings and Blue Dream Drone, both reflecting the current environmental and psychological malaise.

$15 - 25 sliding Free Admission for Mothers
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