On the Edge of the Musical Frontier : The Adventurous ROVA Sax Quartet Is Deep Into Experimental Sounds

Of the saxophone quartets that have sprung up in the last several years, ROVA is the most adventurous. Unlike the World Saxophone Quartet, whose members and inspiration come from the realm of jazz, ROVA has associated itself with the world of new and experimental music over the 12 years it has been in existence.

That experimental tradition continues Saturday night when the quartet performs Alvin Curran’s “Electric Rags II” at, fittingly, the Nelson Research Auditorium at UC Irvine. The performance is part of a daylong Electronic Music Symposium sponsored by the university and Buena Park-based Yamaha Music Corp.

“The work is composed of 30 three-minute pieces, or miniatures,” said ROVA member John Raskin from Atlanta last week on the day after the group premiered the composition.

“We use our saxophones with pickup microphones that feed into a computer that generates sounds. Our acoustic sound is amplified as well so that we have the sound of the sax quartet inside an electronic environment that is triggered by what we’re playing. The computer’s program is an interpretive program that interfaces with what we do.”

The San Francisco-based quartet has been working the edge of the musical frontier since its founding in 1977. The group’s name is an acronym of the group’s original members: John Raskin, Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt--since replaced by Steve Adams--and Bruce Ackley.

In addition to collaborations with the Kronos String Quartet, Terry Riley, John Zorn, Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser, ROVA has recorded more than a dozen albums for various labels, mostly of its members’ own compositions. “Saxophone Diplomacy,” recorded live during a 1983 trip to the Soviet Union, and its 1986 double album, “The Crowd” (both on the Hat Hut label), are good examples of involved structures and dynamic interplay on which the group’s reputation rests.

Curran’s piece fits perfectly into the synthesis of structure and improvisation that ROVA has embraced over the years. “Some of the miniatures are completely improvised with minimal instruction,” said Raskin. “Several of them are thoroughly notated, though most of them are a combination of improvisation and composition. Although Alvin’s writing style is very different than ours, it’s also very compatible with the way we work.”

Curran, a founding member of Musica Electtronica Viva, an experimental group established in the mid-’60s, has been working lately on what he calls “geographical music.” His recent composition, “Maritime Rites,” uses environmental sounds such as fog horns recorded along the Eastern seaboard to provide background for solo instrumentalists including saxophonists Anthony Braxton and Steve Lacy. Curran is now working on a new piece that utilizes recordings of wolves, Canadian geese and the sound of 20 million bats leaving at cave at dusk.

The composer describes “Electric Rags II” as “a storybook of my musical interests and life. Every composer’s work is autobiographical, but this in particular is like a collection of short stories. They range from rollicking, almost dance-like jazz music to unmoving, meditative pieces. I would say that 90% of the piece is notated. Though the balance of improvisation is quite minimal, the entire effect of the music taken together is that of one long improvisation.”

Curran, who will be on stage Saturday manning the computer during ROVA’s performance, said the piece was “created to suit any occasion of any duration. The entire set of 30 doesn’t have to be played in its entirety--one can construct shorter versions of the piece.”

Both Curran and Raskin felt that the “Electric Rags” premiere went well (“Especially,” said the composer, “considering it was the first performance with some very complex and heavy electronics”), though they disagree on the initial performance’s setting.

“It was very exciting, actually,” said Raskin. “We performed outside at an arts festival with a full moon and clouds dashing across it. Some of the music is extremely provocative and eerie, as well as funny, and it was a really great environment in which to enjoy the piece.”

But for Curran: “It wasn’t performed in the best conditions--a sprawling city park with a big festival free to the public. People who happened to be there wandered through and it was noisy.”

After the Orange County performance, the group will take the composition to San Francisco where it will be recorded live for New Albion Records. ROVA also plans a trip to the Leningrad Jazz Festival in November and upcoming collaborations with drummer Jack DeJohnette and L.A.-based clarinetist-composer John Carter. ROVA also has a backlog of compositions that they hope to record.

“We’ve been coming up with a lot of our own compositions recently,” said Raskin, “and now it’s time to really harvest.”

The ROVA Saxophone Quartet will perform Saturday at 8 p.m. at the culmination of a daylong Electronic Music Symposium at UC Irvine. Tickets for the concert only, held in the Nelson Research Auditorium, are $5.50 to $7.50. Admission for the symposium is $80. Information: (714) 856-5414.