Rova to the Artist Roster

The Rova Saxophone Quartet has been around for more than three decades; "one of the most daring ensembles of any instrumentation to emerge in recent years", writes the leading jazz magazine, Downbeat. Plans are in place for a European Tour which starts on 12^th November and runs through to the 30^th. We are very much looking forward to collaborating with Rova in their future endeavors! If you would like to offer a date during this period, or for more information, sound pieces and video footage, please visit the Rova Saxophone Quartet & Rova Orkestrova Electric Ascension pages.

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Think of the human voice in music. The most primal of instruments, it can melt you or move you to tears on the spot. Then it’s the saxophone, one-step removed from the human voice, and the next most powerful messenger in music. Johnny Hodges, Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders, Oliver Lake, Steve Lacy, King Curtis, Tim Berne - to name only a few of the many singular voices on the instrument who, with one short phrase or even one sound, can take your breath away, or excite and inspire you to great heights.

Multiply that power, that capability, times 4, and you have a saxophone quartet. You have a group that can move you the way an Eastern European choir of voices can move you, but also a group with force, a force that can feel as if its tearing the walls of the listening space down, or that can simulate the complex sound of a machine, or one of nature’s wild phenomena, or conversely, the almost-silent overlapping sound-patterns heard with eyes closed in a field in the wilderness.

Rova Sax Quartet's musical goal has always been, since 1978, to instigate, to challenge, and to inspire. The group explores the synthesis of composition and collective improvisation, creating exciting, genre-bending music. Rova:Arts, formed in 1986, acts as the umbrella organization for the musicians, facilitating the goals and productions and tours, the collaborations and special projects.

Rova is one of the longest-standing groups in the music movement that has its roots in post-bop, free jazz, avant-rock, and 20th century new music; Rova draws inspiration from the visual arts, contemporary poetry, contemporary dance. We listen closely and deeply appreciate both the traditional and the pop music styles of Africa and Asia. And then there is the blues; always the key.