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Mika Pontecorvo

Mika was born in San Francisco California in 1955. While living just outside of a small desert town in Nevada, he began his sound explorations: first playing with his grandfather's shortwave radios and, then, later on, in his early teens, playing a number of home made string and wind instruments, a sitar, and experimenting with prepared electric guitar using gum-wrappers and played with a violin bow and an electric razor.

From these early experiments Mika's improvisational/compositional reach was extended in the early to mid-1970s employing a modular synthesizer and tape loop echo machines in live electronic treatment of acoustic instruments (soprano saxophone, flute, voice, prepared fender-rhodes piano, and acoustic guitar primarily.)

He studied composition in university under Professor Vladimir Ussachevsky, and helped teach a graduate level electronic music composition seminar series and under-graduate computer music courses, while completing a Computer Science Degree. During this time Mika developed a probabilistic simulation of piano improvisation as the basis of an algorithmic composition system.

His current musical/sonic efforts center on emergent structures of improvisation from interactions between an ensemble of musicians and generative sound architectures and systems he constructs in MAX/MSP, PD (PureData) and other hardware/software elements .

In his bands Cartoon Justice, Bridge of Crows, v'Maa (Voi! Maa!), Feral Luggage, Diaspora focii Trio, Poets of Mars, the Lingua Incognita Sessions and in other collaborative projects Mika melds free improv with structured song and experimental noise processes, and extra musical elements (including his own generative video sculptures.)

His new creative systems draw on his software research and development in Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Environment Simulations, and Complex Adaptive Systems.

Recent collaborations with G Calvin Westion (formr Ornette Coleman drummer) on the Terra Lingua (sketches) CD bringing a new twist on Jazz Rock Fusion with Calvin and Cartoon Justice - A kind of Sound/Approach tha fuses Harmolodic-Punk-Jazz with Post industrial Electroacoustic chamber improvisation..

He is now in a roots-meets-free-improvisation-and- electronics trio collaboration Diaspora Focii Trio (reeds/Jaroba, Kersti abrams) and quartet work with Poets of Mars with African Master Musician/Mogauwane Mahloele, Tenor Sax,Poet/Elliott Levin, Cello,Sarangi/Kash Killion and Bass Clarinet/Jaroba ...

Tags

"...the vague boundary between genius and madness..." https://www.rootsmusic.it/feral-luggage-diaspora-focii/

"Feral Luggage, VoiMaa, penchant for a subversive free jazz sound" https://nikilzine.it/feral-luggage-voimaa-penchant-for-a-subversive-free-jazz-sound/

"Revolutionary sonic visions Feral Luggage" https://contemporaryfusionreviews.com/revolutionary-sonic-visions/

"...deconstructed and nocturnal jazz from take your breath away..." https://www.rootsmusic.it/diaspora-focii-trio-tri-space-process/

past: Of the Mika Pontecorvo/Calvin Weston/Cartoon Justice CD Terra Lingua(sketches) : "Pontecorvo, Weston and Cartoon Justice sure put out a mighty hot jazz rock (as in fusion done up right!)"..."what I would have hoped Sonny Sharrock woulda been up to had he lasted this long down the music line. Frantic and cluttered, yet with a clear musical vision..."

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