Larry Ochs
Larry Ochs is an American saxophonist and composer, born in New York in 1949. He plays tenor and sopranino saxophones, and his work has centred on the Rova Saxophone Quartet since 1978. Alongside Rova he has led and co-led a long series of groups that join written structures and free improvisation. Ochs formed the trio Room with Chris Brown and William Winant and in 1991 helped start the Glenn Spearman Double Trio.
A Civil Right
Larry Ochs and Donald Robinson's second and definitive recording will be released on legendary free jazz label ESP-Disk'. Ochs is a founding member of the great ROVA Saxophone Quartet, one of the Bay Area's avant-garde treasures since 1978. Robinson - "a percussive dervish", according to Coda - was the drummer of choice for ROVA's revivification of John Coltrane's Ascension. The East Bay Express has said of the saxophonist's sound, "Ochs' full-bodied tenor is out of the John Coltrane/Albert Ayle…
Every Day → All The Way
This is the first to be released of a series of albums ESP started recording in 2023 combining artists who hadn't worked together before. In this case, we team saxophonist Larry Ochs with the Flow Trio rhythm section of drummer Charles Downs and bassist Joe Morris. They meshed magnificently on their first encounter! Larry Ochs, co-founder in 1977 of ROVA Saxophone Quartet, was born in New York City but has long been based on the West Coast, specifically the Bay Area. He has also been a member of…
In Transverse Time
Rova Saxophone Quartet's studio album of compositions from 2013 to 2017, recorded in Oakland: Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs and Jon Raskin moving between written structures and group improvisation.
Spectral
** 2021 Stock ** Aerophonic Records presents Spectral by Dave Rempis, Darren Johnston and Larry Ochs. This free-improvising trio came together in the fall of 2011, when Rempis journeyed to the West Coast to discover some things about his compatriots on the Bay Area improving scene. Trumpeter Johnston, a frequent visitor to Chicago, where the two had collaborated in several different settings in the years prior, suggested this trio lineup for a performance at Oakland’s Uptown Nightclub. Although …
A Jones In Time Saves Nine
Edition of 300 copies. Brand new album for the trio comprised of Larry Ochs (tenor and sopranino saxophones), Mark Dresser (bass) and Vladimir Tarasov (drums and percussion)
The Fictive Five
*In process of stocking. 2022 stock.* Larry Ochs may be best known as one-quarter of the Rova Saxophone Quartet, the Bay-area group, which, in its near-40 year history, has created large-scale works with composers as diverse as Terry Riley and Barry Guy. Ochs’ projects outside of Rova have often been just as noteworthy. He first assembled The Fictive Five for a performance at his 2013 residency at The Stone and this recent recording testifies to the way the band’s strengths realize Ochs’ composi…
Spiller Alley
Since 1978 saxophonist Larry Ochs' activities have been primarily centered on the Rova Saxophone Quartet, but increasingly, survival in the jazz world demands the pursuit of parallel projects. Consequently Ochs participates in groups as diverse as the all-improv Maybe Monday and his uncategorizable Sax and Drumming Core, as well as the trio found on Spiller Alley. Ochs has stated that all his written music has been concerned with the integration of composition and improvisation using non-traditi…
