Music from the Deserts
Chris Jonas' Music from the Deserts explores music and video created over the past two years of solitary winter camping excursions in the remote Sonora Desert, including Arizona's Barry Goldwater Missile Range and Trump's Border Wall which cuts across the granite Tinajas Altas. The ensembles exploring the various aspects of this work are located in Santa Fe, NM, Chicago, IL, San Francisco, CA, and Tuscany, Italy.
This project will contain some elements of a jazz-based ensemble, but will be working 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. The music will be accompanied by Jonas's videos from the Goldwater Missile Range, Trump and Obama's border walls, the community of Yuma, Arizona, and the vast wilderness surrounding these places.
Upcoming Performances
Stay tuned here for dates and times of future perfomances of Music from the Deserts.
PAST PERFORMANCES
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.
***
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.
April 20, 2023 at San Miguel Chapel in Santa Fe, NM, featured 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.