July 23 —Saturday, 7:30
Bird & Beckett, San Francisco
July 31 —Sunday, 1:00
Salesforce Rooftop Garden, San Francisco
August 11 —Thursday, 8:00
Art Boutiki, San José
Music at Large will be celebrating the release of our new CD, Critical Mass, bringing our improvisation and poetry for strengthening the resilience.
Lewis Jordan: alto saxophone, poetry
Sandra Poindexter: violin, vocal
Bruce Ackley: soprano/tenor saxophone
Ollen Erich Hunt: acoustic/electric bass
Jimmy Biala: drums, percussion
Listening
is an acquired taste
In Berlin, at the Kühlspot. Where else?
EastSide Arts Alliance, Oakland, California
Music at Large
I began Music at Large in 1976, dedicated to interdisciplinary and multicultural productions, with presentations incorporating music, theater, dance, poetry and visual art. Since that time, Music at Large has been a vehicle for producing musical performances of my own and others’ work, plays, and panels.
The genesis of Music at Large is the commitment to bringing people together by bridging arbitrary distinctions that have only served to divide us from ourselves, as well as serving to divide us from others. As the saying goes, “put all my food on the same plate.”
A few historical highlights, from way back, include:
In 1976, Music at Large featured a performance that included dancers Adela Chu, Andrea Sherman and Yuki Shiroma at the Metropolitan Art Center in San Francisco. Also, there was a concert of duets: I performed with the legendary alto saxophonist Russel Baba; with the drummer Carl Hoffman; and with the singer Jesse Foster.
In 1977, Music at Large featured performances in New York City. I worked with bassist John Lindberg and drummer Rashid Bakr in a presentation of Re: Arrangements and De Compositions of Lewis Jordan.
In 1994, Music at Large was the producer of “Language By Any Means Necessary,” in words and music, composed and improvised. This was a presentation (on KPFA-FM and at the Headlands in Sausalito, CA.) featuring Charles Alston (voice), Q.R. Hand (poetry), myself on alto saxophone, Juan Ceballos (flute), Dhyani Dharma Mas (guitar), Lisle Ellis (acoustic bass), and Donald Robinson (drums).
In 1999, Music at Large was the producer of a four-part interdisciplinary series at the Noh Space in San Francisco: music with poetry, dance, drama and a performance mural, including Alejandro Murguía, devorah major, Genny Lim, Akinyele Sadiq, Joe Vance and Miranda Bergman.
In 2000, Music at Large presented a performance/panel at the Headlands Center of the Arts, in Sausalito, California. Featured were improvisers speaking on their work and performing: Miya Masaoka, India Cooke, Sara Shelton Mann, Genny Lim and Bob Ernst represented improvisation in the fields of music, dance, poetic and theatrical disciplines.
Most recently, the focus of Music at Large has been a performing unit. This group, based in the San Francisco Bay area, features myself on alto and baritone saxophones, working with several regular collaborators—among the most recent are Jimmy Biala on percussion and drums, Karl Evangelista on electric guitar, Ollen Erich Hunt on acoustic and electric bass, and Sandra Poindexter on violin. Other contributors include Bruce Ackley on saxophones, John-Carlos Perea on electric bass and cedar flute, Marshall Trammell on drums, and James Washington on piano. In the last decade, the group has performed throughout the Bay Area, including Velma’s Jazz Club and the 12th Annual New Music Summit Festival in San Francisco; Oakland Public Conservatory of Music; Anna’s Jazz Island and Freight and Salvage in Berkeley. The group has three recent recordings: this is where i came in (2017), face it (2018) and Keys to the High Way (2020), and another CD is due in May, 2022, Critical Mass.
Performance
2023
Lewis Jordan, Wakasa Memorial, Japantown, San Francisco
Lewis Jordan with Karl Evangelista’s Bukas Project, San Francisco/Oakland
LewisJordan with Grencsó Kollektíva, Budapest and Szeged Hungary, Oradea, Romania
Lewis Jordan, Olympia Free Jazz Festival, Olympia, WA
Bird & Beckett, San Francisco — Lewis Jordan and Music at Large
2022
Salesforce Rooftop Garden, SF — Lewis Jordan and Music at Large
Art Boutiki, San José — Lewis Jordan and Music at Large
Saint Mary’s College, Moraga — Lewis Jordan and Music at Large
2021
Critical Mass:
Performance at Freight and Salvage, Berkeley, CA — Lewis Jordan and Music at Large in collaboration with poet Tureeda Mikell and movement artist Pearl Ubungen, working with my original music and poetry;
Studio recording, due for release in May, 2022.
2020
Keys to the High Way, CD release (Lewis Jordan and Music at Large, along with Alex and Harriet Bagwell, Thomas McKennie and James Washington)
2019
Germany
Berlin: Performance at the Kühlspot, leading an ensemble of instrumentalists and a vocalist in a set of my original material;
Hungary
Nagymaros: led week-long workshop on free, collective improvisation for instrumentalists and vocalists at Adyton Szabadzene Műhely/Free Music Workshop;
Budapest: Performance with the István Grencsó Collective;
West Coast
Olympia, Washington: Performance leading an ensemble of instrumentalists in a set of my original material at the first Olympia Free Jazz Festival.
2018
face it, CD release (Lewis Jordan and Music at Large);
Germany
Berlin: Performance at the Kühlspot, leading an ensemble of instrumentalists in a set of my original material.
2017
5th Annual SFJazz Poetry Festival (solo);
this is where i came in, CD release (Lewis Jordan and Music at Large);
CD release performance at Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland, CA
2016
wordWind Chorus at the Top of the Mark (Brian Auerbach, q.r. hand jr, Lewis Jordan);
Music at Large at Bird & Beckett, SF; at Café Pink House, Saratoga, CA (featuring Masaru Koga and Arlene Biala).
2015
Free World Third Thursday series, curation with India Cooke, at the Berkeley Arts Festival;
Re-presented only children at the Asian Improv aRts Festival (Music at Large).
2014
Performances at festivals in Budapest, Hungary and Kanjiža, Serbia with the István Grencsó Collective.
2013
An Albert Ayler Tribute with Karl Evangelista’s group: Karl Evangelista (electric guitar), Eli Wallace (piano) and Robert Lopez (drums) at the Swarm Gallery in Oakland.
I performed on baritone saxophone with Karl Evangelista’s Taglish at the Red Poppy in San Francisco;
Music at Large performance at the 12th Annual New Music Summit Festival in San Francisco, the premiere of only children. Music at Large: India Cooke (violin), Karl Evangelista (electric guitar), John-Carlos Perea (electric bass), Jimmy Biala (drums/percussion) and me (alto saxophone and poetry).
2012
Music at Large at the Berkeley Arts Festival: Karl Evangelista (electric guitar), Richard Saunders (acoustic bass), Marshall Trammell (drums), and me (saxophone);
Music at Large performed at CNMAT (The Center for New Music and Audio Technologies): Karl Evangelista (electric guitar), India Cooke (violin), Marshall Trammell (drums), and me (alto and baritone saxophones);
Music at Large performed at Saint Mary’s College: Karl Evangelista (electric guitar), Richard Saunders (acoustic bass), Marshall Trammell (drums), me (saxophone and poetry), with poet Genny Lim as special guest;
Performance with the John-Carlos Perea Jazz Sextet at the Native Contemporary Arts Festival at Yerba Buena Gardens In San Francisco;
Performance (alto saxophone/poetry) with Grencsó István and his Open Collective at the Budapest Jazz Festival, Hungary;
Recording on alto and baritone saxophones for John-Carlos Perea’s Creation Story (Masaru Koga, alto saxophone; Frances Wong, tenor saxophone; Bryan Bowman, drums; Jimmy Biala, percussion; Tim Volpicella, electric guitar; John-Carlos Perea, electric bass and cedar flute).
2011
Music at Large hosted King for a Day at the Oakland Public Conservatory with invited poets, including James Cagney, q.r. hand jr, Genny Lim and devorah major. Music at Large: Karl Evangelista (electric guitar), John-Carlos Perea (electric bass, cedar flute), Marshall Trammell (drums), and Me (alto saxophone);
Performance (alto saxophone/poetry) with my United Front co-founder and stalwart George Sams in St. Louis at the Metropolitan Art Center;
Performance on alto saxophone as part of Falling Flags, a dance/text/poetry presentation created by Sharon Sato, Frances Cachapero and Genny Lim at Shotwell Studios in San Francisco.
2000-2010
2010
On baritone saxophone in Bill Crossman’s musically-improvised opera John Brown’s Truth, along with musicians and actors including Raymond Nat Turner, Eliza O’Malley, Sandy Poindexter, Henry Mobley, Zigi Lowenberg, Cheryl Schwartz, Akinyele Sadiq and Bill Crossman;
Eddie Gale's second fund-raiser to Create Jazz Musicians’ Health Care Collective at Velma's Jazz Club, San Francisco;
Music at Large audio and video recorded at the New, Improved Recording Studio in the East Bay, with John Finkbeiner the engineer. Music at Large: Karl Evangelista (electric guitar), John-Carlos Perea (electric bass, cedar flute), Marshall Trammell (drums), Jimmy Biala (percussion) and me (alto and baritone saxophones and poetry).
Europe
Performance (alto saxophone/poetry) with Grencsó István and his Open Collective at the Budapest Jazz Festival, Hungary; recorded our second CD together, Local Time (BMC CD 181); and performed at the Brugge Jazz Festival, Belgium.
2009
Recording and performance with the Grencsó Open Collective in Hungary and the Czech Republic. Our first CD was Homespun in Black and White (BMC CD 161);
Eddie Gale's first fund-raiser to Create Jazz Musicians’ Health Care Collective at Velma's Jazz Club, San Francisco.
2005
Performing with the Grencsó Open Collective in Hungary and solo performance in Prague.
2001-02
Performances of Music at Large, featuring Jen Shyu (vocals), John-Carlos Perea (electric bass) and Jimmy Biala (drums). We also recorded tracks for More Travels of a Zen Baptist.
2001
Improvising a Life, solo music/theater performance at the Marsh, San Francisco
2000
Perfecting the Moment: A Cross-Disciplinary Look at Improvisation: I developed and facilitated a performance/panel at Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, CA. India Cooke, Bob Ernst, Lewis Jordan, Genny Lim, Sara Shelton Mann, Miya Masaoka.
1990s
1999
Four-part Music at Large interdisciplinary series at the Noh Space in San Francisco, CA: music with poetry, dance, drama and a performance mural, including Charles Alston, Miranda Bergman, Genny Lim, devoerah major, Alejandro Murguía, Akinyele Sadiq, Naomi Sample, Lita Tayao, and Joe Vance..
1995-97
Duet performances with Dhyani Dharma Mas (acoustic guitar) at Yerba Buena Gardens, Alliance Française and elsewhere in the San Francisco Bay area, CA.
1994
Language By Any Means Necessary in words and music, composed and improvised: A presentation by Music at Large (on KPFA-FM and at the Headlands in Sausalito, CA), featuring Lisle Ellis, Donald Robinson, Juan Ceballos, Charles Alston, Dhyani Dharma Mas, and q.r. hand jr.
1993
A solo tour to Europe with performances in Hungary and Austria.
1992
The Izu-Jordan duet performs in New Orleans, LA, at San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art, and on KQED.
1990
The play’s the thing: writing, co-producing, performing in ...But Time Will Take You Out at the Eureka Theater in San Francisco, CA.
1980s
1987-88
Two tours to Europe and a recording, Travels of a Zen Baptist, as the Izu-Jordan duet, performing in Amsterdam, Berlin and Ljubljana.
1986
Performed as the narrator/saxophonist in Jukebox…Music to Live By (Betserai and Jayo’s live radio drama), which featured Danny Glover and Nobuko Miyamoto.
1985
United Front performs in Europe, at the Druga Godba Festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and in Vienna; in the U.S., in New York City and St. Louis, MO.
1984-87
Co-wrote and performed in Type O and Seven Steps to Go (throughout California), the "zen cabarets" of SoundSeen (Sachiko Nakamura, Brenda Wong Aoki, Mark Izu, Lewis Jordan).
1984
United Front is featured in a documentary film, "Outside in Sight" which included United Front’s performance at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, CA.
1982
United Front (with Anthony Brown replacing Carl Hoffman on drums) performs in the Nickelsdorf, Austria International Jazz Festival Konfrontationen and at Berlin’s Total Music Meeting, which produced our third album United Front: Live in Berlin.
1981
United Front releases its second album, Ohm: Unit of Resistance, on our own RPM Records label.
1980
United Front releases its first album, Path with a Heart, on our own RPM Records label.
1970s
1979
The Lewis Jordan-George Sam Quartet makes its first trip to Europe, performing in Germany at the Moers International Jazz Festival and at the Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The group, soon to be renamed United Front, included Mark Izu (b) and Carl Hoffman (dr).
1976-
Music at Large performance series is inaugurated, dedicated to interdisciplinary work to evolve over the years into a performing ensemble.
1974-77
Brujería, the first group that I helped put together, with Richard Wood (alto sax, flute), George Sams (trumpet) and Carl Hoffman (drums). At the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Public Library and in Golden Gate Park, CA.
1971
Charles Tyler Ensemble, my first performance, doubling on alto sax with Charles, along with Wilbur Morris (b) and Jaki Prentice (dr).
