Chris Jonas: Curriculum Vitae

I. Polymedia/Expanded Performance/Visual Arts/ Video Projects
One of the other central processes in my work has been the combination of multiple art forms in performance. Given my background in both the visual arts and in musical composition, I have used these projects as a means to mix the issues and processes of drawing, video projection, installation, performance, improvisation and composition. The specific idea behind these polymedia projects has been the removal of the creative arts from their familiar settings, allowing foreign situations and environments to redefine the set of principles with which the various artistic mediums operate.

2005-06
Night module 2 (w/Molly Sturges and poet Jimmy Baca)
for projected video, live and pre-recorded sound/composition, movement, portable performance installation, BING, pre-recorded sound.
Performance: April 2006, Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM.

2005
La Reina Roja
Musical & video component to installation by Ricardo Mazal. Mexican Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City.

2004
Celebration of Industry, Friendship, and Happiness: China + US
(w/Molly Sturges, Art Institute of Santa Fe, New Mexico & tune(in)))
for homemade glove box, midi, China & US propaganda songs, game board, children’s musical instruments, live video, Tyvek suits.

2004
Night module 1 (w/Molly Sturges)
for projected video, live and pre-recorded sound/composition, movement, portable performance installation. voice, soprano saxophone, pre-recorded sound. [MORE INFO]

2002
The Big Shirt (duet with Molly Sturges)
Single two-person black long-back (10’ between sleeves) button-up shirt, bundle of 4 children’s accordions, soprano saxophone, voice, movement. NYC.

2002
CCC Circus
Three musicians, one agitator, one repairer, props, bells, rigged chairs, corrupted composition, movement. NYC.

2001
(sub)merge (with Molly Sturges, Josh Smith, Colleen Sanders), Installation/Performance
Gallery Installation consisting of 8 large (8’ to 14’ diameter) Tyvek enclosures (white Tyvek material and PVC tubing), each with its own musician (8 performers), 40 minute performance structure, sound and card cues, interactive walk through composition, audience participation in final composition via interceding bureaucracy. Cleveland, OH.

2001
Duet (with video artist Aaron Davidson)
Soprano saxophone, MIDI video instrument, electonics, media projector, various MIDI triggers and LiSa and Image/ine software driven "performance matrix" (live conduction & triggered, manipulated and projected video with sampled sound)

1999-2000
Stripes (with Judy Dunaway)
3-D projected video, amplified balloons, Connecticut and NYC.
2000 Project Tour of Europe

1998
Duet/Night 1 (for two wind instruments and two video projectors), Connecticut.

1995-2000
Line Duets (with Dan Plonsey)
Live large-scale drawings, ensemble conduction and composition in performance
(violin, cello, trumpet, two reed players and 7’x12’ drawing easel)
Tours
2000 US East Coast
1998 US West Coast
1997 US East Coast

1993-98
Live large-scale drawings on stage in performance
Concerts and Festivals
New York, NY
Festivals:
1998 Wesleyan University Festival of Recent Works
1996 Vision Festival
1994 Improvisers Collective Festival

1983-84
The Lucky Grapefruit
Oberlin, OH
Cycle of 12 paintings, 12 coordinated tape recorders, 24-minute composition, 2 live woodwind players
Superimposition of the color-wheel and musical cycle of fifths

II. Music (projects, ensembles – as a leader or member)

Ongoing
BING
Co-leader, composer
Various local performances, Northern New Mexico
Recordings:
GALORE (Quinner Binner, release March 2004)
[MORE INFO]

Ongoing
Circus Luminous (in Collaboration with Wise Fool New Mexico, Moving People Dance Company and Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM)
Co-composer, conductor; performed by BING
2004 Performances Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe
2003 Performances Lensic Performing Arts Center

Ongoing
Music for Silent Films
Live Soundtrack for BING performing Buster Keaton silent film "Steamboat Bill, Jr" (1928)
2005 Performance at Taos Film Festival, March 2005
2003 Performance at Kimo Theater, Albuquerque

Live Soundtrack for BING performing Paul Leni's "The Man Who Laughs"(1928)
2004 Performance at Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe (part of SITE Santa Fe's 2004 Biennial)

Ongoing
Soundtrack for Ricardo Mazal's Installation "La Reina Roja"
2004-05 Installtion at Mexican Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

2004
Film Soundtrack
Drought in New Mexico, Joe Day documentary (midi instruments)

2004
Trio (Jonas, saxes; JA Deene, sampler; Harris Eisenstadt, percussion)
2004 High Mayhem Festival, Santa Fe, NM

2003
ARC Ensemble (new music/electronic/improvisation/conduction)
Composer, conductor
Festivals:
2003 Outpost, Albuquerque, NM
2003 High Mayhem Festival, Santa Fe, NM

2003
Circus Luminous (in Collaboration with Wise Fool New Mexico, Moving People Dance Company and Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM)
Co-composer, conductor

2003
Anthony Braxton Duo/Trio, Side-person
2003 Performance: Outpost, Albuquerque, NM
Recordings
2004 [Not yet titled] (Slated release)

2002-2003
ZIYA (Afro-pop, jazz), Side-person
Various local performances, Northern New Mexico
2002
Ensemble: Chicago (new music/improvisation/conduction), composer/guest conductor
Performance: Chicago Cultural Center 12/02

2001-2003
amitosis, composer/co-leader (new music/improvisation/conduction)
New York City, NY & Santa Fe, NM
Tours:
2004 Midwest and East Coat
2002 New Mexico
2001 East Coast
Recordings:
2004 Adventure Realty

2001
Chicago Improvisers Group, composer/guest conductor

2001
Albuquerque Creative Ensemble, composer/guest conductor

2000
Cleveland Creative Orchestra, composer/guest conductor

2000
Slovenian National Radio Orchestra, co-conductor with Anthony Braxton
2000 Ljubljiana Jazz Festival
Recordings:
2001 Anthony Braxton: Composition 169 +(186 + 206 + 214) (Leo Records)

1999-2000
Anthony Braxton Wesleyan University Creative Orchestra, conductor/co-conductor Middletown, CT
Recordings:
2004 Anthony Braxton: Compositions 219 + 221 (Slated release)

1998-2003
The Sun Spits Cherries, composer/leader, New York City, NY
Festivals:
2001 Good/Bad Festival
2001 Vision Festival
2001 Bell-Atlantic Jazz Festival (Knitting Factory)
2000 Jump Festival
Recordings:
1999 The Sun Spits Cherries (Hopscotch)
2001 The Vermilion (with Myra Melford, piano) (Hopscotch)

1999-2002
James Fei Alto Saxophone Quartet, side-person, NYC
Tours:
2001 Taiwan
Recordings:
2003 Live in Taipei [8x2001] (Organized Sound)

1998
Benton Crossing, Wesleyan University Orchestra, composer/co-conductor/guest conductor
Middletown, CT

1998
Brooklyn Creative Orchestra, composer/co-leader/conductor,Brooklyn, NY
1998 Jump Festival

1997-2002
Anthony Braxton Tentet and Ensembles (various), side-person, co-leader, conductor
Festivals:
2001 Antwerp
2001 Banlieus Bleus Festival (Paris)
2000 Vienne Jazz Festival
2000 Verona Jazz Festival
1999 Library of Congress Anthony Braxton Festival (Washington DC)
1998 Anthony Braxton’s 173 Festival (at the Knitting Factory, NYC)
1996 Anthony Braxton Creative Orchestra Works (at the Kitchen, NYC)
1997 Trillium R, Shala Fears for the Poor (Anthony Braxton Opera)
Recordings:
2004 Tentet (slated release) Vienne
2004 Quintet (slated release) Middletown
2003 Tentet (slated release) Antwerp
2003 Two Compositions (Trio) (Leo)
2002 Library of Congress (Leo)
2000 Trillium R, Shala Fears for the Poor (Opera) (Braxton House)

1997-2001
Butch Morris, side-person, Various Conduction Ensembles, New York City, NY
Festivals:
2000 Jump Festival
1999 Jump Festival
1999 Vision Festival
1997 Vision Festival
Recordings:
1998 Live at the Vision Festival (Aum)

1996-2002
Brooklyn Saxophone Quartet (concerts and community activism), composer/side person
New York City, NY
Various performances and benefit concerts
1999-2002 Artist in Residence, Brooklyn Academy of Music
Tours:
2002 US Southwest and Northwest
Recording:
2001 The Way of the Saxophone (Innova)

1996-2002
Assif Tsahar’s Brass Reeds Ensemble, side-person, New York City, NY
Festivals:
2000 Jump Festival (NYC)
Recordings:
1999 The Hollow World (Hopscotch)

1992-2002
William Parker’s Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra, side-person, New York City, NY
Festivals
2001 Vision Festival (NYC)
2000 Vision Festival
1999 Verona Festival
1999 Banlieus Bleus Festival
1999 Lyon Jazz Festival
1999 Vision Festival
1998 Knitting Factory Texaco Jazz Festival
1998 Vision Festival
1997 Vision Festival
1996 Knitting Factory What is Jazz Festival
1995 Improviser’s Collective Festival (NYC)
1994 Knitting Factory Jazz Festival
Recordings:
2003 Live at the Verona Festival (slated release) (Black Saint)
2000 Mayor of Punkville (Aum)
1998 Vision I (Aum)
1998 Sunrise in the Tone World (Aum)
1994 Flowers Grow in My Room (Centering)

1995-1997
Cecil Taylor, various ensembles, side-person, New York City, NY
Festivals:
1997 Cecil Taylor Festival (Knitting Factory)
1996 San Francisco Jazz Festival
1995 FMP/Total Music Meeting: Cecil Taylor and Steve Lacy (Berlin)
1995 Cecil Taylor Festival (Knitting Factory)
Recordings:
2003 Light of Corona (FMP Records)

1992-1999
Chris Jonas Duo/Trio/Quartet/Quintet/Septet, composer/leader, New York City
Regular NYC concerts, venues such as Knitting Factory, Roulette,
Festivals:
2000 Bell Atlantic/Knitting Factory Jazz Festival
1999 Vision Festival
1999 Texaco/Knitting Factory Jazz Festival
1998 Jump Festival
1996 Knitting Factory What is Jazz Festival
Recordings:
2000 Chris Jonas: Ensembles Unsynchronized (New Sonic)
1993 Chris Jonas and Daniel Sarid Duo: (Y)Earbook Vol 1 (Rastascan)
1992 Mohawk (Jazz Quintet), composer/leader, New York City

1991
What Quickens (Jazz Quintet), composer/leader, New York City

1989-1996
Great Circle Saxophone Quartet, composer/co-leader, Oakland, CA and New York, NY
Tours:
1996 East Coast
1996 West Coast
1995 East Coast
Recordings:
1997 Child King Dictator Fool, (New World Records)
1993 American Works for Balinese Gamelan (New World Records)

1984-88
The Sky Monks, co-leader, Oberlin, OH and Oakland, CA
Avant-garde jazz and political satire

1981-84
The Trees of Mystery (avant-rock), Los Angeles, CA

1981-84
Oversaxed Saxophone Quartet, composer/co-leader, Orange County, CA
Singing telegrams and entertainment

III. Selected List of Compositions

• Music for NIGHT (voice, electronics/sampler, BING, others), 2004-06 (in development)
• Music for La Reina Roja (with Molly Sturges) (voice, soprano saxophone, vibraphone, bass flute, cello)
• Live Music for "The Man Who Laughs" - silent film by Paul Leni (commissioned by SITE Santa Fe as a part of their 2004 Biennial) (voice, vibraphone, soprano and tenor saxes, sampler, turntables, cello, trombone, electric guitar, electric bass, percussion)
• Live Music for Circus Luminous (voice, saxophones, electric guitar, tuba, trombone, percussions), 2003 & 04
• Film Soundtrack, "Drought in New Mexico", Joe Day documentary (midi instruments)
• ARC Ensemble (Outpost) (soprano sax/conduction, bass flute/sampler, tenor trombone I, tenor trombone II/tuba, marimba/percussion), 2003
• Live music for "Steamboat Bill, Jr." – silent film by Buster Keaton (commissioned for the 100th anniversary of the KIMO Theater in Albuquerque, NM) (quartet: soprano sax/tenor saxes/vibes, voice/cello/sampler, trombone/tuba, percussion), 2003
• Various pieces for "BING" (voice/sampler/accordion, pedal steel guitar, tenor sax/electronics, trombone/tuba, electric bass, percussion), 2002-04
• "Chicago 12/02" (soprano sax, english horn, cornet, trombone, piano, mallets/percussion), 2002
• Various cells for "Amitosis" (2 reed players, bass drums), 2002
• "The Vermilion" (soprano saxophone, tenor trombone, bass trombone, piano, percussion, inter-ensemble conduction), 2001
• "Sun Spits Cherries" (various compositions) (soprano saxophone, tenor trombone, bass trombone, percussion, inter-ensemble conduction), 1999
• "Cleveland I, II"; "Chicago I, II"; "Albuqurque I, II", "Brooklyn I, II" (various large ensembles 8-15 instruments, conduction), 1999
• "Ensembles, Unsynchronized" (two winds & two brass w/ percussion) (reed #1: soprano and tenor saxes; reed #2: e-flat alto saxophone; trumpet; trombone; percussion/mallets), 1998
• Music for "Line Duets" (violin, cello, trumpet, two reed players, and 7í x 12ídrawing easel), 1998
• "Duets for Wind Quartet and Percussion" (sop./ tenor saxes, alto sax /bass clar., trumpet, tromb., percussion), 1998
• "Benton Crossing (for Orchestra Divided)", (commissioned by the Wesleyan University Orchestra), 1998
• "Duet (Night 1)" (soprano saxophone, bass clarinet with two projected videos), 1998
• "Black Top" (sax quartet), 1997
• "Eight Pieces for Wind Quartet" (soprano sax, alto sax, trumpet, trombone), 1996-1997
• "Ootheca" (solo oboe), 1997
• "Oort's Cloud" (string quartet), 1997
• "Piano 96-97" (for Steve Porter), 1996-1997
• "String Quartet", 1994 Chromatic cells
• "Piano Preludes 1-8", 1993-94
• "Snake Tectonics" (improvisational strategy for any ensemble), 1993
• Music for small jazz ensembles (selected works): "Lumber/Lumbar", "Les Trois Petits Cochons", "Saints' Remains", "Red Mountain", "Talus", "They Used to Kiss My Little Feet Why Don't They Kiss Them Now?", "Rainbirds", "E-Pock", "Aramuru's Doorway", 1992-1995

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