Chris Jonas Music
Chris
Jonas’ remarkable composed suites [are] subtle
breakthroughs and fantastic journeys
-Ann Powers, The New York Times 6/01
Composer, visual artist and soprano/tenor saxophone player Chris Jonas has gained recent international attention for his work leading the ensemble The Sun Spits Cherries (The Vermilion, 2001 Hopscotch Records; Sun Spits Cherries,1999 Hopscotch Records) which features Jonas on soprano saxophone, Myra Melford on piano, Joe Fiedler on tenor trombone, Christopher Washburne on bass trombone and Andrew Barker on percussion. Additionally, Jonas is co-leader of amitosis (NYC), the ARC Ensemble (New Mexico) and the neo-Ethiopian pop groove band BING (Santa Fe, NM). Jonas has also become well known for his work guest-conducting ensembles in cities all over the U.S and Europe.
As a side man, Jonas is best known for his long-time collaborations with MacArthur recipient and composer Anthony Braxton and as a side man in William Parker’s “Little Huey” Creative Orchestra, Cecil Taylor’s New York ensemble (1995-97), The Brooklyn Sax Quartet, the Great Circle Saxophone Quartet, Butch Morris' conduction ensembles, Assif Tsahar’s Brass Reeds ensemble, and as a member of the composer’s collective CIC.
[see Jonas Discography for more]
RECENT
MUSIC PROJECTS
Among his
recent composition projects, he has written music for an installation la
Reina Roja by Ricardo Mazal at the Mexican National Museum of Anthropology
in Mexico City, scores for local documentary film productions, live BING music
Circus
Luminous (sold out shows at the Lensic Thanksgiving 2003&2004),
music for BING (co-leading
the ensemble with Molly Sturges), a live score for Buster Keaton's 1929 silent
film Steamboat Bill, Jr. (performed at Albuquerque's
Kimo Theater January 2003 and at the Taos Film Festival March 2005), a live
BING soundtrack for the 1928 German Expressionist film The
Man Who Laughs (part of SITE Santa Fe's 2004 Biennial, performed at the
Lensic) and NIGHT, a multimedia
performance piece initially created via the OBRAS
residency in Evoramonte, Portugal (Feb-May 2004) and expanded for a performance
at the Lensic April 2006. He has also written for orchestras, string quartets,
electro-acoustic music ensembles and jazz/new music ensembles from a broad range
of sizes and instrumental configurations.
As Curator and Director of Installation and Performance Arts at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico (www.ccasantafe.org) Chris created a variety of music series and events including the HAT Improvisation Series (an improvisational 'roulette' - for all performance disciplines), Global Sonics Series (New Music, Improvisation and World Music concerts) the Open Process Series and various festivals.
In the midst of well-deserved critical acclaim...
One of the premiere stylists on his instrument.
- Derek Taylor (musings), 2000
Jonas constantly inverts foreground and background activity, crafts lovely and unusual color combinations and uses written material to instigate improvised stuff... Although bold improvisation is a big part of this group, it is Jonas’ imaginative, provocative compositions and arrangements that really stick out and make him one to watch.
- Peter Margasak, Jazz Times, 2000
A deeply nuanced world -- Jonas crafts a richly expansive sound that stresses subtle timbral shadings and tersely composed phrases punctuated by sudden bursts of flavorful improvisation... Distinctive, accessible, simple and achingly beautiful
- Michael Kremer, Jazziz, 2001
Jonas' [has] evidently assimilated the best qualities of two of the musicians he's worked with: Anthony Braxton (flexibility and a sense of surprise in compositional structure) and Cecil Taylor (clear, consistent and insistent presentation of a defined pitch universe). The music, without ever swinging, propels itself forward by the accretion of melodic and rhythmic building blocks, in a manner closer to contemporary classical music than to jazz (whatever "jazz" means these days): the crystalline serialism of late Stravinsky haunts the intricate canons of "Prosperity" and the chorales of "Betta", while the wilder passages ("Ottoman", with its athletic pianism and wailing trombones) recall Xenakis' "Eonta" (with better pitches). Jonas neither hogs centrestage nor overdoes the extended techniques, but leaves plenty of room for the music to develop. Consistent, thought-provoking and totally satisfying.
- Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic Magazine, 2001