Performance

Music at Large

From the start, Music at Large has been about collaboration. At times I have brought distinctive groups to perform together, and other times I have assembled unique individuals to perform as a unit. There has been a great diversity in the performers I’ve worked with, and that will always be a touchstone for Music at Large: the call to challenge ourselves to hear other voices while delving deeper into how our voices are aligned with our roots.

Lewis Jordan collaborations

I bring Music at Large with me in all my performances. Often, though, I collaborate with others under a variety of names and in a variety of projects. In all cases, I bring music. In most cases, I bring music and poetry. In some cases, I bring dialogue to a presentation, as in Perfecting the Moment (at Headlands Center for the Arts, 2000). Performing solo or in ensemble, I look to strengthen the context for improvisation. I have worked in contexts where poetry was out front (with wordWind Chorus, with Genny Lim); where theater was out front (in SoundSeen: with Aoki, Izu and Nakamura); where dance was out front (with Alston, Sample, Tayao). For more information: http://www.lewisjordan.com/

Lewis Jordan reviews

Deeply expressive saxophone mastery
Derk Richardson

Jordan communicates in very existential terms of commitment to the essential importance of what he’s doing. He plays this music because he has to, and it matters.
Loren Means

Lewis Jordan…plays a mean sax—sweet and mellow, sharp and staccato, richly complex, as the mood demands… Jordan is a triple threat man: a virtuoso on alto saxophone, a deft and ingratiating comic actor and a poetically humorous writer
Robert Hurwitt

…subject is a street musician and drifter.
He does not possess any asset potential
and accordingly, his case is being placed
in a closed status.
Confidential FBI File

…some good, earthy blues (a la Big Bill Broonzy) and a nice layering of poetry, delivered by Jordan in the best Kenneth Patchen tradition.
Philip Elwood

Collaborators

Here is a list of some of the artists who I have performed with and who are part of the resources that Music at Large will call on again! If you want to be included in the list, let me know. Each one is an outstanding performer; collectively we represent the creativity that thrives having sprung up from this and other continents:

Jimmy Biala
Sandra Poindexter
Bruce Ackley
Karl Evangelista
Ollen Erich Hunt
Genny Lim
John-Carlos Perea