8pm: Thomas/Levin duo
Oluyemi Thomas - Bass Clarinet, Saxophone, Percussion
Ike Levin - Saxophone, Bass Clarinet
9pm PAS Music (NY)
Robert L. Pepper, Amber Brien, Jon "Vomit" Worthley, Michael Durek, and Will Seesar
"[When]
Oluyemi Thomas, the sage-like reedman from Oakland, California [...] performs, his aim is to reach up towards the ceiling, to gauge the nature of the room, in terms of its acoustics and its human inhabitants. Although he moves through a broad range of instruments, including saxophones, musette, flute and various percussion pieces, it's the bass clarinet that occupies most of his concentration. "My main and great spirit guide on the bass clarinet has been, and still is, Eric Dolphy ," he says. "His tone is so
sweet, poetic, meaningful, soulful and clear. Listening to Mr. Dolphy at first made me want to find my own vocabulary system as he did, but Eric showed me it can be done emphatically. Bass clarinet and saxophone, I love them both because they both speak and sing the ancient/modern language-tunes. But the bass clarinet has that floor-of-the-ocean tone that I really adore."
No matter which performance context Thomas finds himself in, the overwhelming aura is one of invocatory ritual, in the tradition of Sun Ra, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and beyond. In his early days, Oluyemi was listening to a funkier form of jazz (this still remains so), but revelation came when the likes of Cecil Taylor, Pharoah Sanders , Archie Shepp and Ornette Coleman passed through the city. [...]"-Martin Longley, All About Jazz
Ike Levin has been playing reed instruments professionally for over 25 years. A native of Chicago, Ike was an active performer in the city's jazz, blues, and new music scene before relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area. He studied music at the Roosevelt University Conservatory of Music and in the Jazz Music Studies program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. While a student, Ike performed as a regular member of the University Jazz Ensemble and the Jazz Members Big Band comprised of many top Chicago area jazz musicians performing original compositions. He studied privately with legendary reed jazz master Joe Daley who helped him establish his technique and neo-bop musical roots. In addition, he studied with Fred Anderson, one of the co-founders of the Chicago based Association For The Advancement of Creative Music (AACM). Under the tutelage of Fred Anderson, Ike begin to explore new musical frontiers of spontaneously improvised, creative music.
PAS started in 1995 out of Brooklyn, NY, USA, driven by the creative talents of Robert L. Pepper working in the mediums of sound and video. Since then PAS has evolved into a collective with many different instrumentations and lineups. Permanent members include Amber Brien, Jon “Vomit” Worthley, Michael Durek, and Will Seesar. Guests and occasional collaborators include, ZEV!, Hati, Steve Beresford, Thomthom Geigenschrey, Matt Chilton (Vultures), Anthony Donovan (Vultures), Damien Olsen, Philippe Petit, Robert Pascale, and many others. PAS have released 9 full length releases and have been on several compilations throughout the years. Some of these can be found on www.cdbaby.com or iTunes. PAS have performed in various countries including the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Greece, Lithuania, Macedonia, and Poland. Sound and video installations have also included Chile and the United States. PAS have also performed at Fausts Avant Garde Festival 2009 and 2010, the 18th Olympia Experimental Festival in Washington, the 2010 Spark Festival in Minneapolis, and the 2011 CoCArt Festival in Torun Poland. Robert L. Pepper has also founded the projects Magic Zorillo and Jazzfakers. He is also an active member of the SK Orchestra
Cost: $6-10 sliding scale