At Home With
Lisa Mezzacappa
A guide to jazz rhythm sections – part two
About the Mentor
Lisa Mezzacappa is a San Francisco Bay Area-based composer, bassist, bandleader, and producer. Called “one of the most imaginative figures on the Bay Area creative jazz scene” by The Mercury News and “a Bay Area treasure” by KQED public radio, she has been an active part of California’s vibrant music community for nearly 20 years. Mezzacappa’s activities as a composer and bandleader include ethereal chamber music, electro-acoustic works, avant-garde jazz, music for groups from duo to large ensemble, and collaborations with film, dance and visual art.
Recent projects include Cosmicomics, a series of compositions inspired by Italo Calvino’s stories about the origins of the universe; avantNOIR, a suite for sextet rooted in noir fiction; Organelle, a chamber suite for improvisers grounded in scientific processes on micro and cosmic scales; Glorious Ravage, an evening-length song cycle for large ensemble and films drawn from the writings of Victorian lady adventurers; and Touch Bass, a collaboration with choreographer Risa Jaroslow for three dancers and three bassists. Current projects include the duo B. Experimental Band which performs original compositions for improvisers bimonthly in Oakland, CA; and premiering in 2020, The Electronic Lover, an opera podcast created in collaboration with writer Beth Lisick.
Workshop Materials
Pre-listening assignment: Albert Ayler – Ghosts (audio only)
If you are able, please listen to this track, three times – each time listen closely and focus on one instrument primarily – first saxophone, then bass, then drums. See if you can describe the character of each person’s playing (sound, attitude, energy, relationship to harmony/pulse etc.), and then try to describe the nature of their ensemble interaction. If you don’t have time to listen beforehand, don’t worry! This is just some prep work to prime our ears before the workshop meets.
Please have headphones when we meet next week!
Catch up with Lisa’s first workshop in February
Miles Davis Second Quintet Live in Stockholm – 1967
This was Lisa’s listening assignment for Session One. Not required for this session, but enjoy this great performance!
Please listen to the first 7 1/2 minutes of this live performance, three times – each time listen closely and focus on one rhythm section instrument – first bass, then drums, then piano.