Music from the Deserts

and other current projects

Chris Jonas: Music from the Deserts explores the music and videos created over 80 days / four 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 2023-2025
(shows listed below)

JONAS PERFORMANCES

2025

Saturday, March 8
Music of Anthony Braxton @ Library of Congress
6pm Pre-concert panel (Jonas as panelist) moderated by Timo Hoyer
8pm Concert Thomas Jefferson Building - Coolidge Auditorium
10 1st Street SE, Washington, DC 20540

Performing:
Compositions 222, 100 and Thunder Music

Performers
Jean Cook, violin, Erica Dicker, violin , James Fei, saxophone, Nick Hallett, voice, Chris Jonas, saxophone, Adam Matlock, accordion and voice, Dan Peck, tuba, Reut Regev, trombone, Tomeka Reid, cello, Anne Rhodes, voice, Stephanie Richards, trumpet, Aaron Siegel, percussion, Carl Testa, double bass, electronics, Cory Smythe, piano, Katherine Young, bassoon
https://www.loc.gov/item/event-415334/music-of-anthony-braxton/2025-03-08/

March 12 7:30pm - Troy NY
Jonas Deserts Quartet @ Improv Spaces
Mount Ida Preservation Hall, 548 Congress St, Troy, NY 12180 www.improvspaces.wordpress.com/
$20 suggested donation

March 13 7:30pm - Saugerties, NY
Jonas Deserts Quartet @ Upstate Films/Orpheum Theater
156 Main St, Saugerties, NY 12477
www.upstatefilms.org
Tickets: $14 general/$10 members

March 15 7:30pm - Brooklyn, NY
Jonas Deserts Quartet @ Soup & Sound
292 Lefferts Ave., Brooklyn, NY
www.soupandsound.org/
Soup at 7:30, Music at 8 $20 suggested donation

Chris Jonas Deserts Quartet (Brooklyn)
with
Chris Jonas, saxophones, video, composition
Thomas Heberer, cornet
Cyrus Campbell, bass
Andrew Drury, drums

ITALY

Wednesday, April 23
Deserts Quartet (Bologna band)
Club Zuni, Via Ragno 15, Ferrara, Italy

Saturday April 26 9:30pm
Fonterossa Night (workshop performance with other conductors)
Toscana Produzione Musica at Exwide Club
Via Franceschi 13, Pisa, Italy
https://exwide.com/

Sunday, April 27 6pm
Deserts Quartet and
Jonas Conducts Fonterossa Open Orchestra (40 person creative orchestra)
Jonas: Three Afternoons, Tinajas 2025 (three movements)
Fonterossa Day #9
Teatro di Sant'Andrea, Pisa Italy
https://toscanaproduzionemusica.it/fonterossa-open-lab-2025/

April 28 & 29
Masterclasses with Deserts Quartet
Conservatorio A Vivaldi
Via Parma, 1, 15121 Alessandria AL, Italy
www.conservatoriovivaldi.it

April 30 9:30pm
Deserts Quartet (Bologna band)
Alessandria Jazz Club @ Ristorazione Sociale
viale Milite Ignoto 1/a
www.alessandriajazzclub.it

Deserts Quartet (Bologna)
Chris Jonas, compositions, projected video, soprano and tenor saxophones
Luca Serrapigglio, contrabass clarinet and baritone saxophone
Luca Bernard, bass
Giacomo Pisano, drums

DESERTS ENSEMBLES

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.

Brooklyn, NY
Chris Jonas, compositions, projected video, soprano and tenor saxophones
Thomas Heberer, trumpet
Cyrus Campbell, bass
Andrew Drury, drums

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
Jonah Minkus, 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.

2023 & 2024 CONCERTS

July 20, 2024 at Paradiso Santa Fe
with Delbert Anderson, Trumpet, Cyrus Campbell, bass, Jonah Minkus, drums
(with guests Alex Murzyn, flute/alto sax, Jerry Weimer, clarinet)

July 18, 2024 at Outpost, Albuquerque
with Delbert Anderson, Trumpet, Cyrus Campbell, bass, Jonah Minkus, drums

July 17, 2024 at Reno Public Market/Art Town, Reno, Nevada
with Delbert Anderson, Trumpet, Cyrus Campbell, bass, Jonah Minkus, drums

March 2, 2024 at Santa Monica Libray
with Cory Wright, clarinet and baritone saxophone, Lisa Mezzacappa, bass, Jason Levis, drums

March 2, 2024 at Santa Monica Libray
with Cory Wright, clarinet and baritone saxophone, Lisa Mezzacappa, bass, Jason Levis, drums

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