Larry Ochs offers up a deeply felt set of improvised music, created by this stellar ensemble of San Francisco Bay Area improvisers... and we invite you, the creative listeners, to dig in to our spontaneous but thoughtfully sculpted music as it happens, in real time, in the super comfortable, acoustically special Back Room setting.

Conceptually, Subconscious Life might be said to be administratively led by Larry Ochs, who also might add carefully placed comments before and after sessions. The music itself, however, develops collectively as the four performers listen, respond and focus on the collective musical elements, each player reacting (I believe) from his or her own composerly perspective. As some of you will hear: "Form" is definitely part of the creative process in this band. As a result, each piece "magically" ends up with a formal shape and its own distinct character. In other words: there's a sign outside the entrance to the Studio that reads EARS WORKING...

Ben Davis - cello

Darren Johnston - trumpet

Lisa Mezzacappa - acoustic bass

Larry Ochs - tenor and sopranino saxophones

Larry Ochs has been creating this kind of improvised music in the Bay Area since 1977, when he and his life partner Lyn Hejinian moved to Berkeley. He has also been a member of Rova Saxophone Quartet since 1977, a music group with which Ochs has spent most of the last 47 years performing worldwide, with an emphasis on evolving rules-based compositions and structures for improvised music. Ochs also partnered with guitarist Henry Kaiser and initiated the record label Metalanguage Records in the late 1970s, releasing records by Rova Sax Quartet and other artists in those early years, with sporadic CD releases continuing to this day.

... Subconscious Life began its musical journey locally in 2023 with freely improvised sessions in Lisa Mezzacappa's studio, and Ochs very much looks forward to seeing how it develops through this decade. Tours outside the Bay Area will be forthcoming in late 2026 and 2027. For a look at Ochs' other touring bands over the decades, please visit: www.ochs.cc

Ben Davis has been concentrating on fusing his classical, jazz, and contemporary music experiences into a raw vehicle of acoustic expression. Originally from the UK, Ben has been seen and heard playing with great USA-based musicians such as Myra Melford, Tomeka Reid, Mary Halvorson, Ben Goldberg, Chris Brown, Zeena Parkins, Marty Ehrlich, Nicole Mitchell, Gerald Cleaver, William Winant, and Roscoe Mitchell.

Darren Johnston is a well-known member of the Bay Area jazz and improvised music scenes. Since 1997, he has collaborated and recorded with an extremely diverse cross-section of artists - from straight-ahead jazz luminaries such as bassist/composer Marcus Shelby, to experimental icons like Rova Sax Quartet, Fred Frith and Myra Melford, and to bands and musicians in popular world-music idioms, while always maintaining his own unique voice in each context. Ochs and Johnston have been performing and recording together since 2005 when Johnston recorded his first CD - a great one - featuring Ochs, Fred Frith, Devin Hoff, and Ches Smith. They have also toured together with the trio Spectral every few years with Ochs, Johnston and Chicago sax stalwart Dave Rempis. On tour with Fred Frith, Ochs etc in Europe in 2018.

Lisa Mezzacappa is a Berkeley-based composer, bassist, producer, and record label boss, who has been active in the Bay Area music community for more than 20 years. Her activities as a composer and ensemble leader include ethereal chamber music, electro-acoustic works, avant-garde jazz, music for groups from duo to large ensemble, and collaborations with film, dance, and visual artists. Recent projects include Cosmicomics, a suite for electro-acoustic jazz sextet based on Italo Calvino’s stories about the origins of the cosmos, and the serial audio opera The Electronic Lover. She is a recipient of the Pauline Oliveros New Genres Prize from the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM) and has been commissioned by the San Francisco Girls Chorus and Del Sol Quartet. In 2025, Mezzacappa released 1 ambitious recording project per month on the Queen Bee label. In late 2025, she was announced as the new executive director for The Jazzschool in Berkeley.

Tickets are $22.50 in advance and $25 at the door. Children under 12 are free. Advance tickets are available here, or if the show is not sold out, you may purchase your tickets at the door before the show.

Doors open 30 minutes before show time. We accept cash or Venmo only at the door.

The Back Room is an all-ages, BYOB (for those 21+) space, dedicated to (mostly) acoustic music of all kinds. You are welcome to bring your own food and beverages. The venue is ADA accessible. If you need more information or have any questions, please call us: #510-381-1997.

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Please refrain from using your phone during performances, and if you use your camera or video, please disable the flash.

Although masks are no longer required, we strongly encourage their use to keep everyone safe in our intimate space.

Thank you for your support!

Contact the host of Larry Ochs, Ben Davis, Darren Johnston, Lisa Mezzacappa - Subconscious Life