New York Press

WWW.NYPRESS.COM | JUNE 22, 2004

MOLLY SHERIDAN
LISTINGS

Assembled: Free Jazz + Electronics

Sat., June 26

Assembled: Free Jazz + Electronics is taking over OfficeOps in Brooklyn this Saturday. Presented by free103point9, the show will fill three rooms and spill out onto the 15,000- square-foot roof to mix improv sounds with skyline views.

The show caught my eye because a personal favorite, Matthew Shipp, was listed among the featured talent. Tom Roe of free103point9 says the programming came out of a discussion about how the seemingly different instrumentations of acoustic free jazz and electronic performances were increasingly intersecting. As these things tend to go, enthusiastic conversations sparked new ideas and connections until the final lineup fell into place.

Though the schedule is intense, there's a certain amount of staggering in the sets, so if you wander back and forth between the rooms you should be able to catch a taste of everything. In one room, DizzySparkle (Andrew Barker, Tom Roe, Charles Waters) will get things going, followed by Triptych Myth (Cooper-Moore, Tom Abbs, Chad Taylor). Matthew Shipp and Guillermo E. Brown will then take the stage, followed by the Acid Birds (Charles Waters, alto; Andrew Barker, drums; Jaime Fennelly, electronics). Matt Lavelle, Daniel Carter and Shannon Fields will finish off the night behind door no. 1.

The second room will feature four sets: Matt Mikas and Daniel Carter; Chris Forsyth, Jaime Fennelly, Shawn Hansen, and Chris Heenan; Mogami (Jeff Arnal and Ryan Smith); and finally N.R.A. (Ricardo Arias, Vic Rawlings, and Tatsuya Nakatani).

The rooftop will highlight the larger collectives, including noise and audio experimenters Sapat (from Louisville), the SB and Laundry Room Squelchers.

OfficeOps seems like a good home for this show. A certain amount of flexibility within the space was required, as well as a quality sound system, plus a piano for Shipp. Roe says the space will allow them to not only put on a very good jazz show, but "also make the show into something larger that might appeal to those who might normally attend rock shows or art openings."

If you trek out to the space and find the music not to your taste, fret not—you can make your own. In a third room, Paul Davies' "Jazz-Shifter" installation (controlled via modified tractor shifter, so wear your trucker hat for full effect) will allow participants to mix lines of classic jazz into some new sounds.

OfficeOps, 57 Thames St. (Knickerbocker Ave.), Williamsburg, 718-418-2509, 9:30, $7.

Volume 17, Issue 25