Presented by Asian Improv aRts, the Sound and Social Justice Commons, and San Francisco State University Creative Music Studies

Lewis Jordan

The project is a musical work called only children. Premiered in July 2013 at the Outsound New Music Summit in San Francisco. Music with text, presented by a five-member ensemble: alto saxophone, violin, electric guitar, electric bass and drums/percussion.

The intended outcome is, as always, to stimulate the audience while the performers ourselves are discovering the nuances of the work. This work, only children, is specifically intended to meld three different perspectives on only children: only children, as in more than one only child; only children, as in Groddeck’s idea of growing older once more to be a child—childlike or childish; and only children, as in we are all children of the earth, no matter the religion. There is a theme of youth; there are themes of play; and there are themes built on scales that are middle eastern, or middleworldlian in my subtitle.

The performers will be the group whom Lewis has presented as Music at Large in recent years:

Lewis Jordan, alto saxophone and poetry

India Cooke, violin

Karl Evangelista, electric guitar

John-Carlos Perea, electric bass

Jimmy Biala, drums/percussion

Music at Large is the name Lewis often performs under, and also the series that he introduced many years ago. Music at Large is a home for musical improvisation that plays outside category and for performance that escapes genre. Lewis dedicates the concept to interdisciplinary and multicultural productions, with presentations ranging among music, theater, dance and poetry.

Please find clips of Lewis’ work at

http://www.lewisjordan.com/vid/music_video.html

(July 27, 2013 performance of only children)

Lewis Jordan was born in San Francisco, but he grew up in Chicago, with the blues and with learning to associate creative musicians with the advancement of society as we know it. On saxophones and with poetry, he is an international touring and recording artist. He first performed with the legendary Charles Tyler; was a founding member of United Front (the seminal ensemble known for its originality, aggressive imagination and cultural synthesis); and is the producer of Music at Large (an interdisciplinary project involving a range of artists, including dancers, painters and actors).  He focuses on creative structures for improvisation, and his interest continues to be meeting and working with performers who delve into their deeper resources for modes of expression that honor their traditions while speaking to the urgency of the present.

This event is part of

ImprovisAsians! 2015: The People’s Stories

An Exploration of Text, Music, and Movement in the pursuit of narrative

April 20 -  24, 2015

San Francisco State University

Creative Arts Building

1600 Holloway Ave.

San Francisco, CA 94132

ImprovisAsians! is an annual series of performances and workshops at San Francisco State University exploring the connection between the performing arts and community-building. ImprovisAsians! 2015 is presented by Asian Improv aRts in association with, the Sound and Social Justice Commons, and SF State University Creative Music Studies. All events are free and open to the public!

Admission is Free!