CREATIVE SOUNDSPACE: Chris Jonas’ The Sun Spits Cherries
The Nakatani/Weaver/Balistreri Trio

Throughout the 1990’s, while based in NYC, saxophonist/composer Chris Jonas was a member of bands led by Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, William Parker, the Brooklyn Sax Quartet, Butch Morris conduction ensembles and his own critically acclaimed ensemble, The Sun Spits Cherries. Since his move to Santa Fe in 2001, Jonas has worked primarily as a composer and video artist, as well as writing scores for motion pictures, new operas, intermedia installations and live soundtracks to silent films. He is a faculty member at the College of Santa Fe’s Contemporary Music Program and co-founder of Littleglobe, a Santa Fe-based performance non-profit that creates intermedia community-dialog projects. Founded in NYC in 1997, The Sun Spits Cherries consists of soprano saxophonist Chris Jonas; tenor and bass trombonists Joe Fiedler and Chris Olness; and percussionist Milton Villarrubia III. Tonight’s concert will also include extended vocalist, Molly Sturges. Neither pure improvisation, nor entirely composed, these pieces braid cues and conducting techniques to layer and juxtapose composed materials and improvisations placing focus on space, color, timbre and interaction. Jazziz Magazine has described the music as “A deeply nuanced world — distinctive, accessible, simple and achingly beautiful.” Tonight’s performance by the Nakatani-Weaver-Balistreri Trio will mix Tatsuya Nakatani’s solo percussion music with a trio collaboration featuring tuba player Mark Weaver and bassist Mike Balistreri. Originally from Osaka, Japan, Tatsuya Nakatani currently lives in Pennsylvania. In 2006 he performed in 80 cities in 7 countries and collaborated with 163 artists worldwide. He has created his own instrument and ways of playing it utilizing drumset, bowed gongs, cymbals, singing bowls, metal objects, bells, and various sticks and bows to create an intense, organic sound based in improvised/experimental music, jazz, free jazz, rock, and noise, while retaining a sense of space and beauty found in traditional Japanese folk music. A drummer in a past life, Mike Balistreri brings a distinctly percussive approach to the double bass. Having devoted himself almost exclusively to improvised music, Mike has collaborated, performed, and recorded with a wide range of musicians, poets, filmmakers, and performance artists. Recently he has been performing with his large ensemble project, th3 e1emental orke5tra. Tuba player Mark Weaver is a native New Mexican who has contributed to countless creative music projects in the Southwest and on the West Coast. Recent projects include the brass+drums quartet, Brassum, the duo Resonance with vocalist Patti Littlefield; the Santa Fe ensemble, Playroom, which composes and performs music for theater and film; and his latest, the UFO Ensemble, which will premier later this May at the Taos Inn.

$17/$12 Members & Students. Available in advance, by phone or in person, at the Outpost Performance Space (268-0044)