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Larry Ochs

Since 1978, Ochs's professional activities have been primarily centered around the Rova Saxophone Quartet, which has made over thirty European tours and numerous concerts throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as recording over 30 CDs as a quartet and/or in collaboration with other artists.

Other performance groups:

In 1986, Ochs formed the group Room with Chris Brown and William Winant, a trio of saxophone, piano, computer electronics and percussion. The group continued performing and recording until 1994, and was one of the first bands to combine acoustic instruments and computer electronics in formal compositions that involved improvisation.

In 1990, he and keyboardist Wayne Horvitz formed The International Creative Music Orchestra for the Pan American Goodwill Games in Seattle with further performances at the Vancouver DuMaurier International Jazz Festival. In 1991, he suggested a collaboration between Room and The Glenn Spearman Trio, a sextet that eventually became an ongoing band, and recorded 4 CDs as Glenn Spearman Double Trio. In 1993, he created a nine-piece group to perform a specially commissioned work for Antwerpen '93 Festival entitled The Secret Magritte.

Also in 1993, he organized a saxophone octet (including the Rova quartet) to perform five compositions of his music at festivals in Austria and Germany. In 1994, Ochs joined with Lisle Ellis and Donald Robinson to form the ongoing trio, What We Live, which has toured in the US and Europe and recorded six CDs.

In 1995, he was a guest soloist with the George Lewis Creative Orchestra at Mills College in Oakland, California. Also in 1995, he performed and recorded with India Cooke's group, Red Handed.

In 1997, he composed the 45 minute work Pleistocene for a 12 piece ensemble which was performed at The San Francisco Jazz Festival (as part of Rova's 20th anniversary concert.) Also in 1997, Ochs first recorded with the John Lindberg Ensemble; a tour and second recording took place in 1999; a third recording and tour followed in 2000.

In 1998, he toured and recorded with guitarist Fred Frith and koto-player Miya Masaoka in a trio called Maybe Monday. A CD was released by this trio on Buzz (Netherlands) in 2000. A second CD with guest Joan Jeanrenaud has been released in 2002 on Winter & Winter (Germany) in time for an 8 city European tour.

In 2000, Ochs organized the trio Larry Ochs Sax & Drumming Core with drummers Scott Amendola and Donald Robinson; a first recording has been released on Black Saint in 2002, and their first European tour also took place in early 2002.

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8
Album Review

Jones Jones: A Jones In Time Saves Nine

Read "A Jones In Time Saves Nine" reviewed by John Sharpe


Over a decade in existence and the free jazz trio Jones Jones has just dropped its third album. That's not exactly prolific, but may well be an accurate reflection of the challenge implicit in bringing together colleagues separated by the 5795 miles between reedman Larry Ochs and bassist Mark Dresser in California, and percussionist Vladimir Tarasov in Lithuania. But the wait has been worth it with A Jones In Time Saves Nine ranking as their finest work so far, surpassing ...

2
Album Review

Larry Ochs Sax And Drumming Core: Wild Red Yellow

Read "Wild Red Yellow" reviewed by John Sharpe


Reedman Larry Ochs' Sax And Drumming Core was famously once threatened by a punter calling the police because they weren't conforming to his narrow definition of jazz. Wild Red Yellow constitutes the second outing by the augmented version of the band responsible for that misdemeanor, following as it does from Stone Shift (Rogue Art, 2009), which similarly incorporated the Japanese pair of trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and pianist Satoko Fujii as guests. Happily they haven't been cowed by the prospect of ...

564
Multiple Reviews

Larry Ochs: The Celestial Septet & We All Feel The Same Way

Read "Larry Ochs: The Celestial Septet & We All Feel The Same Way" reviewed by Marc Medwin


ROVA Sax Quartet/Nels Cline SingersThe Celestial SeptetNew World Records2010 Jones JonesWe All Feel The Same WaySoLyd2010 The synchronicity and boundless energy that separate great groupwork from everything else pervades these two new additions to multi-instrumentalist and composer Larry Ochs' already formidable discography. He has always negotiated the permeable boundaries between improvisation and composition with ...

295
Album Review

Larry Och's Sax & Drumming Core: Stone Shift

Read "Stone Shift" reviewed by John Sharpe


Fifty years after its inception, the avant-garde still regularly begs the hoary old question “Is it jazz?" Notwithstanding that it has persisted as an active style as long or longer than most of its predecessors, with a small but committed following around the globe while continuing to reinvent itself in different ways wherever the seed germinates, that question just won't go away. With each passing year the connections to the tradition become clearer, but still not clear enough perhaps.

Why ...

316
Album Review

Larry Ochs Sax & Drumming Core: Stone Shift

Read "Stone Shift" reviewed by Kurt Gottschalk


Larry Ochs, best known for his work with the long-standing ROVA saxophone quartet, has been working an unusual and satisfying side project for close to a decade. His Drumming Core, founded in 2000, is a trio with two drummers dedicated to exploring American field hollers and Asian chants. The first two CDs were rewarding, if more as an opportunity to hear Ochs as the sole melody instrument than for the East-meets-West concept. But for their third release, Ochs has expanded ...

515
Profile

Larry Ochs

Read "Larry Ochs" reviewed by Marc Medwin


“It started out as a social thing," says saxophonist and composer Larry Ochs of what would eventually determine the course of his life. “I played trumpet as a kid in New York, but it wasn't really because I enjoyed it. I played music because friends of mine were doing it; then it was supposed to be good for college credit. My private teachers never even suggested to me that I could play music I liked or hinted at the idea ...

1,323
Interview

An AAJ Interview with Larry Ochs

Read "An AAJ Interview with Larry Ochs" reviewed by AAJ Staff


This interview was originally published in January 2000.“To reveal a new world is the function of creation in all the arts." --Edgard VareseHow different might our planet be if a number of significant events over the past century had NOT happened? What if the Kennedys and Dr. King had NOT been assassinated? What if nuclear weaponry had NOT been invented? What if the stock market had NOT crashed in Oct. 1929?From a musical perspective, ...

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28

Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Nicholas Payton, Larry Ochs and Kinhoua, and More

Jazz This Week: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Nicholas Payton, Larry Ochs and Kinhoua, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

From free improv to fusion to big band to neo-soul/hip-hop influenced experimentation, this week's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis has a variety of offerings to suit different musical tastes. Let's go to the highlights... Tonight, New Music Circle presents saxophonist Larry Ochs and Kihnoua in concert at Kranzberg Arts Center. In addition to Ochs, the group features Scott Amendola on drums and electronics, Dohee Lee on vocals, and special guest bassist Trevor Dunn. Also tonight, trumpeter/multi-instrumentalist ...

28

Performance / Tour

Larry Ochs and Kihnoua to Play Wednesday, March 28 at Kranzberg Arts Center

Larry Ochs and Kihnoua to Play Wednesday, March 28 at Kranzberg Arts Center

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

New Music Circle has announced that saxophonist Larry Ochs will be bringing his group Kihnoua (pictured, above left) to St. Louis for a performance at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 28 at the Kranzberg Arts Center. In addition to Ochs, the group features Scott Amendola on drums and electronics and Dohee Lee on vocals, plus bassist Trevor Dunn, who will be a special guest on their St. Louis date. Kihnoua's sound is described as “music that intermingles the very new thoughts, ...

59

Interview

Interview | Larry Ochs (Celestial Septet)

Interview | Larry Ochs (Celestial Septet)

Source: Ars Nova Workshop

On Tuesday, February 22, Ars Nova Workshop presents the Celestial Septet, featuring Rova and the Nels Cline Singers, who kick off their 5 date tour at International House Philadelphia. For those living outside the city who would like to experience this special concert, be sure to sign up for the free live webcast at this link. We'll see everyone else on Tuesday! ANW was able to catch up with Larry Ochs, a founding member of Rova, for a few questions ...

279

Performance / Tour

Spanish Fan Calls Police over Saxophone Band Who Were Just Not Jazzy Enough

Spanish Fan Calls Police over Saxophone Band Who Were Just Not Jazzy Enough

Source: Michael Ricci

Festival-goer claims it was 'psychologically inadvisable' for him to hear Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core perform Jazzman Larry Ochs has seen many things during 40 years playing his saxophone around the world but, until this week, nobody had ever called the police on him. That changed on Monday night however, when's Spain's pistol-carrying Civil Guard police force descended on the Sigenza Jazz festival to investigate allegations that Ochs's music was not, well, jazz. Police decided to investigate after an ...

128

Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Houston Person; "Rapology" with Troupe, Bell and Burrage; Larry Ochs; "A Jazz Heaven"; and More

Jazz This Week: Houston Person; "Rapology" with Troupe, Bell and Burrage; Larry Ochs; "A Jazz Heaven"; and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

It's another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, so let's go right to the highlights:Tonight, saxophonist Houston Person (pictured) opens a four-night stand that continues through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. A seasoned veteran who's had a lifetime of experience wrapping blues, bop and ballads into a crowd-pleasing package, Person was in St. Louis most recently at the end of August to perform in a benefit concert at Harris Stowe State University for ...

189

Recording

Larry Ochs and Orkestrova - The Mirror World (Metalanguage, 2008) ****

Larry Ochs and Orkestrova - The Mirror World (Metalanguage, 2008) ****

Source: All About Jazz

Some years ago, I might have put this CD away after ten minutes, because of its weird soundscapes with instruments weaving apparently uncoordinated sounds into even more indiscernible textures. Today, I find it has a staggering beauty, an unusual aesthetic and a fragile sadness, which is rare. That Larry Ochs is capable of great music, is no longer a mystery. Here, he takes on a real project, a tribute to the film of avant-garde director-painter Stan Brakhage, who was most ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

A Jones In Time Saves...

NoBusiness Records
2019

buy

Wild Red Yellow

Rogue Art
2017

buy

Stone Shift

Rogue Art
2010

buy

Unauthorized Caprices

Not Two Records
2010

buy

Stone Shift

Rogue Art
2009

buy

Up from Under

Atavistic Records
2009

buy

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