Biography:
Jim Ryan was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and graduated from the University of 
Minnesota in philosphy. Began listening to bebop at about age 15 and took up 
the trombone but was forced to abandon it about a year later when his parents sent
him to work in an electrode factory in North Carolina. Nearing his mid-30's and living 
in Paris, France he picked up the flute in about '68 and shortly thereafter acquired a 
c-melody sax. In the early 70's he participated in a year-long workshop organized 
and led by Steve Lacy. 

Jim formed the "Free Music Formation" about this time, and played in Paris and
other European cities. He returned to the States in 1975 and settled in Washington,
D.C. where he formed the Art Performance Group in 1979.

In 1987 he moved California and lived in Marin County until 1993 when he moved to 
Oakland and hooked up with the Bay Area Improv Scene. In 1997 he launched his
own group "Forward Energy" which has been performing regularly since then. Jim has 
also participated in Marco Eneidi's "American Jungle Orchestra," and Eddie Gale's 
"Orchestra for World Peace."

In the Spring of 2000, he founded the Electro/Acoustic Sextet of Oakland which was a 
melding of free jazz and 'avant' academic styles. The group performed in Oakland and 
at the Big Sur Experimental Music Festival in May, 2000. In the Spring of 2000 he performed 
in the 401 Festival at Theatre Artaud in composer Matthew Burtner's piece for nine tenor 
saxophones, "Portals of Distortion." He is currently working with a new ensemble: THE
LEFT COAST IMPROV GROUP (see this title under 'Artists' on this site).

His CD releases: "Forward Energy @ the Yellow Room," a free jazz & poetry trio 
(jimzeen productions CD 1001) 8/1997 /// "Triptych," (jimzeen 1002) 11/1999 
post bop bop /// and the limited edition "TLCIG I" (jimzeen 1003) due out 3/2001.
///"Forward Energy in Concert at 21 Grand" (jimzeen 1004) Jim Ryan, Alicia Mangan
(ts), Scott Looney (e-piano), Damon Smith (db), Donald Robinson (d)

To order, e-mail-> jim@majornet.com

Work-In-Progress:
He has recently formed THE LEFT COAST IMPROV GROUP with Ernesto Diaz-infante, Shoko Hikage,
Bob Marsh, and Scott R. Looney . . . they will be playing during March and April at the following venues:

1) March 22 (Thursday) Luggage Store Gallery -- 8pm
2) April 11 (Wednesday) Kimos (at Polk and Pine in S.F.) -- 8pm
3) April 15 (Sunday) Acme Ob @ Tuva Space -- 8pm

A limited edition of TLCIG will be on sale at the above performances.

Also, his "Forward Energy" free-jazz group featuring Eddie Gale trumpet, Damon Smith dblbass,
Scott R. Looney e-piano, and Peter Valsamis drums, will perform at Kimo's on April 18.

Upcoming Events:

21Grand
21 Grand Ave.
between Broadway and Webster
Oakland CA

Friday, Mar 22 2002 8:00 PM

3rd Annual Glenn Spearman Music Festival

9 pm - Marco Eneidi, Chris Brown, Jackson Krall 

10 pm - Peter Brotzman, Spirit, Damon Smith

http://www.marcoeneidi.com

Luggage Store Gallery
1007 Market Street at 6th Street 
(1 block from Powell Street BART)
San Francisco, California,

Thursday, Apr 11 2002 8:00 PM

8pm LEFT COAST IMPROV GROUP
Ernesto Diaz-Infante - prepared e-guitar, small percussion
Ron Heglin - trombone, voice
Scott R. Looney - computer laptop electronics
Bob Marsh - cello
Jim Ryan - flute, small percussion
Karen Stackpole - big percussion
In the spirit of Bay Area artistic experimentation and exploration, The Left Coast Improv Group (TLCIG) has crystalized from divergent musical and geographical backgrounds to form a unit of unprecedented talent. It's members are products of deep dedication, long study (both in and outside of academia), and many years of performance experience. The emphasis of the group's approach is on relaxation, freedom, and listening, rather than individual virtuosity which, nevertheless, underlies the ensemble as an unfailing support for its cohesive expressiveness.

8:45pm From Chicago! JEROME BRYERTON - solo percussion
Chicago-based Jerome Bryerton has been working as a free improvising percussionist for the past eight years. In this time, he has worked with some of the most well respected players in the world.

9:30pm from L.A.! SUCH SIMPLE EARS
Brian Christopherson-drums, percussion
Dan Clucas-trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, flute, misc.
Brian and Dan, who also play together with guitarist Jeremy Keller in the Dead Air Trio, have been playing as a duo since 1996. Their improvisations, while ranging from the sparsest textures to wild onslaughts, are grounded by mutual respect and an insistence on true dialogue at every step of the way.

SF Alt Music Festival
21 Grand Ave.
between Broadway and Webster
Oakland CA 94612-3727
Near the 19th Street Bart Station

Saturday, May 11 2002 8:00 PM

Wind Trio of Alphaville

The Wind Trio of Alphaville (WToA) was founded in 2000 by ROVA Saxophone Quartet founding member Jon Raskin, Shakuhachi Virtuoso Philip Gelb and Evander Music Founder Phillip Greenlief. The group gets their name from the 1965 Jean-Luc Goddard film about an imaginary totalitarian state (Alphaville) that is run by a computer - a city where art and truth have been outlawed, but is eventually overthrown by detective Lemmie Caution, who mutters at the film's close, "I will fight so that failure is possible". Bringing many of the film's ideas to their own musical arena, these three highly-talented composers and improvisers overthrow our current state of musical technocracy and creative anemia with brave statements of imagination, in addition to sporting a unique lineup of wind instruments that include a wide range of saxophones, Bb clarinet, flute, wood flute and shakuhachi.

The WToA has recently expanded its penchant for improvising to include ROVA's "Radar Games", and new compositions by Greenlief, Raskin, and new music masters Pauline Oliveros, Waddada Leo Smith and John Zorn.

Pamela Z

Pamela Z has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. She has performed in numerous festivals including Bang On A Can at Lincoln Center in New York, the Interlink Festival in Japan, Other Minds in San Francisco, and Pina Bausch Tanztheater's 25 Jahre Fest in Wuppertal, Germany. She has composed, recorded and performed original scores for choreographers and for film and video artists, and has done vocal work for other composers (including Charles Amirkhanian, and Henry Brant). Her large-scale, multi-media performance works, Parts of Speech and Gaijin, have been presented at Theater Artaud in San Francisco, and her audio works have been included in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum in Cologne.
 

Eddie Gale Band

Eddie Gale's muted trumpet work can be heard in the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz with piano great Cecil Taylor. He has also recorded with Sun Ra, Larry Young & Elvin Jones and performed with John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Booker Ervin and Illinois Jacquet.

From a review of Eddie Gale's A MINUTE WITH MILES (Mapleshade Records)

"...A suite depicting jazz music from its African origins through swing and bop to modal jazz and beyond...a communiqué from a hidden treasure of creative jazz, a real find." - Hi Fi News and Record Review A*1 rating

CDs on which Jim Ryan appears:
 

Artist	Title	Label	Number
Forward Energy	May 2000	Jimzeen Productions	Demo
Forward Energy	Quintet	Jimzeen Productions	3
Forward Energy	The Yellow Room	Jimzeen Productions	CD 1001
The Left Coast Improv Group	The Left Coast Improv Group	Jimzeen Productions	CD1003