Larry Ochs And Don Robinson Duo at The Funhouse @ Mr Smalls

Tickets $20 advance on Ticketmaster, and from Jerry's Records and Government Center Records. $25 at door.

Based in the Bay Area, saxophonist Larry Ochs is primarily found in the worlds of “avant-garde jazz” or “improvised music,” composing music for bands such as Rova Saxophone Quartet (for more than 40 years) and Fictive Five. He is a member of all-improv bands with musicians such as Nels Cline, Gerald Cleaver, Fred Frith, Mark Dresser, Vladimir Tarasov and Miya Masaoka.

Don Robinson is a technical master of the drums. Long-time studies with funk master Charles Cook and bebop pioneer Kenny Clarke in Paris in the 1970s honed his physical technique, while performing with the likes of Cecil Taylor, Glenn Spearman, Lisle Ellis and Rova Sax Quartet sharpened his mental acuity. As a Bay Area stalwart, he has played and recorded with many of the region's improvisers such as John Tchicai and Marco Eneidi. He has also been the drummer of choice for visitors like Wadada Leo Smith, Joe McPhee, George Lewis and Dave Douglas....

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Tickets $20 advance on Ticketmaster, and from Jerry's Records and Government Center Records. $25 at door.

Based in the Bay Area, saxophonist Larry Ochs is primarily found in the worlds of “avant-garde jazz” or “improvised music,” composing music for bands such as Rova Saxophone Quartet (for more than 40 years) and Fictive Five. He is a member of all-improv bands with musicians such as Nels Cline, Gerald Cleaver, Fred Frith, Mark Dresser, Vladimir Tarasov and Miya Masaoka.

Don Robinson is a technical master of the drums. Long-time studies with funk master Charles Cook and bebop pioneer Kenny Clarke in Paris in the 1970s honed his physical technique, while performing with the likes of Cecil Taylor, Glenn Spearman, Lisle Ellis and Rova Sax Quartet sharpened his mental acuity. As a Bay Area stalwart, he has played and recorded with many of the region's improvisers such as John Tchicai and Marco Eneidi. He has also been the drummer of choice for visitors like Wadada Leo Smith, Joe McPhee, George Lewis and Dave Douglas.

Although Ochs and Robinson have collaborated in various groups for more than 20 years, their duo is a recent phenomenon. Ochs says: "We're definitely coming out of the tradition of horn-drum duos from John Coltrane and Rashied Ali to Wadada Leo Smith and Billy Higgins, but we've found our own space after a long stretch of shows together. Our set will include new, original material, with some high-energy playing and things that are more spatial, as well as some homages to more popular music. In a sparse setting like this, the music hits a listener right away - nothing is obscured, everything is clear."

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