Naturo-Electro
FRI 8/15
Bass players are always the artsy ones. Maybe it’s because of their introverted souls. They did, after all, select an understated instrument. You’d be hard-pressed to find a longhaired guitar player giving a musical interpretation of contemporary art. Local bass player Bill McKemy, however, is doing just that.
Inspired by Greg Rose‘s landscape paintings on display in an exhibit called Paradise Redux at the Kemper Museum (4420 Warwick), McKemy and mixmaster Sterling Holman have paired for some very experimental jazz.
“I liked [Rose’s] work, and I wanted the opportunity to put music to it,” McKemy says. “We’ll try to invoke the general kind of environment that he takes you to.”
We’re not sure where that environment is, but we think it’s populated by Hawaiians who trip on acid. Rose’s landscape paintings aren’t quite landscapes. They’re more like Japanese woodcarvings wearing L.A. tourist shirts. The flat, minimalist renderings represent trees and flowers but look like well-designed computer graphics. McKemy and Holman aim to reflect this with an ear to the synthetic as Holman samples, loops and manipulates McKemy’s bass.
The Friday performance runs from noon to 1:30 p.m. Admission, which includes a boxed lunch, is $8. Call 816-573-5784 for reservations.— Sarah Smarsh
String Chic
Aska Kaneko is a daring violinist.
FRI 8/15
Japanese violinist Aska Kaneko is perhaps best categorized by her inability to be categorized. She has worked with the choreographer for the New York-based School of Hard Knocks Dance Company and also with percussionist Graham Dowdall (who toured with Nico of Velvet Underground fame). She still performs classical concerts and hits jazz festivals, too, when she’s not sitting in on pop and jazz recordings being made all over Japan. She’s coming to the Lyric (1029 Central) at 7:30 p.m. Friday for a show called East Meets West: Faces of Love, for which she’ll be joined by members of the Vivan Watt Dance Ensemble, a handful of traveling jazz musicians and — in Kansas City only — local sax legend Bobby Watson. For tickets or information, call 816-235-6222.— Gina Kaufmann
