Friday, January 9, 2009

The Rova Saxophone Quartet & Ghost in the House

I'm a huge fan of Tom Nunn and David Michalak, two incredible artists and musicians. This Saturday, their amazing ensemeble Ghost in the House will join the acclaimed all-saxophone ensemble, Rova at the Community Music Center in San Francisco’s Mission District. With their unique instrumental combinations the two ensembles will present an evening of adventurous music making – performing as Rova and Ghost in the House, but also mixing it up with different combinations of the two groups. ROVA will present a set of original works for saxophone quartet. For more than 3 decades Rova has explored ways to blend composed and improvised musical elements to create genre bending pieces to the delight of audiences around the world. Community Music Center is an ideal setting to get up close and personal with the foursome. Rova will offer the San Francisco premier of Steve Adams’ Parallel Construction #3 from his series of works that blends interval and set derived written sections with options for improvising soloists.

Ghost In the House will be performing “other worldly scenarios” from their recent CD on the artist collective label Edgetone Records as well as new work including, “Dreams of the Tin Man” and “Beyond” a tribute to the late Toyoji Tomita.
http://www.edgetonerecords.com/ghostinthehouse.html

SOME QUOTES

about ROVA
The Penguin Guide to Jazz calls its music "a teeming cosmos of saxophone sounds" created by "deliberately eschewing conventional notions about swing [and] prodding at the boundaries of sound and space..."

about Ghost in the House
" Exotic and ethereal without being totally weightless, soothing without turning into sonic wallpaper, deep and mysterious... definitely worth your attention." - The one true dead angel

ROVA Saxophone Quartet, the acclaimed all-saxophone ensemble, has fundamentally extended the horizons of music since forming in 1977. Positioning themselves at music's most dynamic nexus, Rova has become an important leader in the movement of genre-bending music that has its roots in post-bop free jazz, avant-rock, and 20th century new music as well as traditional and popular styles of Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States. With its potent mix of stellar musicianship and compositional creativity, Rova explores the synthesis of composition and collective improvisation. The result is adventurous works that are ardent and riveting, exhilarating and free-spirited. While much of Rova's music is composed by its members, the group has also collaborated with and commissioned new works by a wide range of creative artists. Since its founding, Rova has released over two dozen recordings of original music.

ROVA is:
Jon Raskin – baritone, alto and sopranino
Larry Ochs – tenor and sopranino
Steve Adams – alto and sopranino
Bruce Ackley – soprano and tenor

Conceived by filmmaker & musician David Michalak, GHOST IN THE HOUSE explores the ethereal and elemental soundscapes where music suggests an image; a murder mystery, a visitation in a dream or a cataclysmic storm.

“The music reflects a series of descriptions by its creators, who picture hypothetical images and dreams while trying to represent them through the strangest sounds they can obtain from their instruments... truly beautiful..." - Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes
“These are the films I couldn’t afford to make.” David Michalak

Ghost In The House Is:
Kyle Bruckmann – Oboe, English Horn
Karen Stackpole – Gongs, percussion
Tom Nunn – Inventions
David Michalak - lap steel, buffalo drum

The Ghost In The House Concert Series
a series of shows featuring Edgetone Records’ Ghost In The House and special guest artists.

Rova Meets Ghost in the House
San Francisco Community Music Center
544 Capp Street, Between 20th & 21st
January 10th, 2009, 8:00 P.M.
$10.00
For reservations (415) 826-2765 or e-mail dmichalak@sbcglobal.net