Music from the Deserts
Chris Jonas: Music from the Deserts explores the music and videos created over 60 days / three years of solitary winter camping in Arizona's Barry Goldwater Missile Range throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
This collection of music and videos tours worldwide in 2023 and 2024 with shows in Chicago, Berkeley, Santa Fe, Southern California, Tel Aviv, Rome, Bologna and Siena.
Music from the Deserts features Santa Fe-based composer and saxophone player Chris Jonas along with musicians from a few key collaborations across the globe including:
Oakland, CA
Chris Jonas, compositions, projected video, soprano and tenor saxophones
Cory Wright, baritone sax, clarinets
Lisa Mezzacappa, bass
Jason Levis, drums
Bologna, Italy
Chris Jonas, compositions, projected video, soprano and tenor saxophones
Luca Serrapigglio, contrabass clarinet and baritone saxophone
Luca Bernard, bass
Giacomo Pisano, drums
Chicago, IL
Chris Jonas, compositions, projected video, soprano and tenor saxophones
Jeff Kimmel, clarinets
Robert Lundberg, bass
Sam Scranton, drums
Santa Fe, NM
Chris Jonas, compositions, projected video, soprano and tenor saxophones
with various ensembles, including
Delbert Anderson, trumpet
Jerry Weimer, clarinets
Jeremy Bleich, electric bass
Cyrus Campell, double bass
Milton Villarrubia III, drums
Jonas’s music for the Deserts contains some elements of a jazz-based ensemble, and works with colors and sounds outside of the usual domains of traditional jazz, mixing elements that are quirky, delicate, weirdly groovy, polyphonic, and a mixture of the disjointed and melodic.
Videos projected during each concert include images from the Goldwater Missile Range, Trump and Obama's border walls, the complex community of Yuma, Arizona and the vast wilderness surrounding these places.
RECENT PERFORMANCES
October 22, 2023 at Mosswood Chapel, Oakland, CA
with Cory Wright, clarinet and baritone saxophone, Lisa Mezzacappa, bass, Jason Levis, drums
October 20, 2022 at the Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA
with Cory Wright, clarinet and baritone saxophone, Lisa Mezzacappa, bass, Jason Levis, drums
August 6, 2023 at Shape Shoppe Paradiso studios Siena/Monteriggioni, Italy
Chris Jonas Desert 4tet with Luca Serrapigglio, contrabass clarinet and baritone saxophone, Luca Bernard, bass and Giacomo Pisano, drums
August 3, 2023 at Collywood, Bologna, Italy
Chris Jonas Desert 4tet with Luca Serrapigglio, contrabass clarinet and baritone saxophone, Luca Bernard, bass and Giacomo Pisano, drums
July 21, 2023 at Levontin 7, Tel Aviv, Israel
Chris Jonas conducting the Lost Time Orchestra
featuring Assif Tsahar, tenor saxophone
May 4, 2023 at Elastic Arts Foundation in Chicago, IL, as part of their Improvised Music Series and featuring Jeff Kimmel on clarinets, Sam Scranton on precussion, and Robert Lundberg on bass
May 2, 2023 at Uncle Art Gallery in Chicago, IL, presented by Department of Harmony and featuring Jeff Kimmel on clarinets, Sam Scranton on precussion, and Robert Lundberg on bass
April 20, 2023 at San Miguel Chapel in Santa Fe, NM,
with two ensembles consisting of a broad swath of multi-generational musicians:
A trio with Jeremy Bleich on electric bass and Milton Villarrubia III on drums,
and a Quartet/Quintet featuring Jerry Weimer on clarinet, Leroy Medina on bassoon,
Cyrus Campbell on Double Bass, and Dan Cuatt on drums
November 10, 2022 at Bird & Beckett Books, San Francisco CA
featuring Chris Jonas with
Liza Mezzacappa, bass
Jordan Glenn, drums