Courtesy Photo / Ruby City
Natural Information Society features San Antonio native Lisa Alvarado, who provides its elaborate textile backdrops and also plays harmonium.
As with all Natural Information Society shows, visual accompaniment for the Ruby City performance will come via band member and San Antonio native Lisa Alvarado, known for her elaborate textile backdrops.
Alvarado — who's married to Abrams — has won praise for her visual art from the New York Times and landed a spot in the 2022 Whitney Biennial. Texas Monthly recently called her "one of the brightest rising Mexican American artists."
For those unfamiliar, ecstatic jazz, or spiritual jazz, is a genre rooted in the 1960s explorations of the late John Coltrane — specifically his 1965 masterpiece A Love Supreme — and makes use of modal, free and avant-garde approaches with an emphasis on spirituality.
While Natural Information Society draws on that tradition, it also encapsulates decades of music growth for bandleader Abrams and includes both compositional and improvisational components. The Philadelphia-born composer has collaborated with a veritable Who’s Who of modern musicians, from hip-hop act The Roots and indie icon Will Oldham to post-rock bands Tortoise and Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
Abrams' ability to work with such disparate musical partners is emblematic of the Natural Information Society's open approach, which extends the jazz tradition through a joyful embrace of all things modern.
“It’s patient, layered music that’s always heading somewhere, sometimes spare and sometimes complex and shimmering,” New York Times critic Ben Ratliff wrote of the group's sound.
Spiritual jazz has historically taken in a variety of influences, and Abrams’ compositions are no exception, utilizing elements such as modern classical’s use of repetition to Hindustani music’s harmonium. For SA native Alvarado, who plays harmonium in the group, the instrument's reedy pulse is reminiscent of home.
“I’ve always liked the accordion,” she told Ravelin Magazine in 2017. “I’m from San Antonio... and the accordion is a staple of the music [there]. I love the sound. Hearing the harmonium for the first time, I was amazed how it is similar to the accordion but constructed to create more meditative layers as well.”
Alvarado attributes much of her interest in fabrics to her grandmother’s South Side home.
“My welita created colorful laces and stitched fabrics that were wrapped upon all of her surfaces: tables, pillows, couches, and all changed out frequently,” Alvarado told Texas Monthly in 2021.
After studying two years at San Antonio College, Alvarado headed to Chicago, where she finished her degree and embraced the city’s thriving jazz scene. That's where she met Abrams, her future husband and bandmate.
For the Ruby City show, Abrams and Alvarado will be joined by Mikel Patrick Avery on drums and Jason Stein on bass clarinet, according to details shared by the venue. The performance will celebrate Natural Information Society’s seventh album, Since Time is Gravity, which dropped last month.
Attendees can bring picnic blankets and low chairs to the performance, according to Ruby City.
Free, 7 p.m. Friday, May 12, Ruby City Sculpture Garden, 150 Camp St., (210) 781-7180, rubycity.org.Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
