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Rova discography

This is a discography of albums by the Rova saxophone quartet. Rova was formed in 1977 by Jon Raskin, Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt and Bruce Ackley. Voight left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Steve Adams.

The discography is an attempt to list all albums that include the four members of the quartet playing together. That is: albums by the quartet; by expanded versions of the quartet such as the Special Septet and Rova Orkestrova; by collaborations between the quartet and other musicians; and albums by other musicians that feature the members of the quartet on one of more track.


Rova discography

Cinema Rovaté, Rova Saxophone Quartet, 1978, Metalanguage ML 101

Tracks : New Sheets, Trobar Clus #1, Trobar Clus #2, Ride Upon the Belly of the Waters, Building Your Boats To Carry All

Musicians : Jon Raskin, Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt, Bruce Ackley

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The Bay, Rova Saxophone Quartet with Andrea Centazzo, 1979, Ictus 0019

Tracks : Trobar Clus, O Ce Biel Ciscjel Da Udin, The Bay, Carmel Duet, Ready N. 2, Ready N. 6

Musicians : Jon Raskin, Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt, Bruce Ackley, Andrea Centazzo

Reissued on CD by New Tone in 1996 with 2 bonus tracks.

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Daredevils, Rova Saxophone Quartet, 1979, Metalanguage ML 105

Tracks : Daredevils, Kol Nidre, Zaum, Mal Qué Arroz

Musicians : Jon Raskin, Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt, Bruce Ackley, Henry Kaiser

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The Removal of Secrecy, Rova Saxophone Quartet, 1979, Metalanguage ML 106

Tracks : That's How Strong, Carmen, 3x60° EACh, Druids, The Removal Of Secrecy, Trobar Clus #3

Musicians : Jon Raskin, Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt, Bruce Ackley

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This, This, This, This., Rova Saxophone Quartet, 1980, Moers Music 01080

Tracks : Exiles, Flamingo Horizon, 3x30° Each, Trobar Clubs 5

Musicians : Jon Raskin, Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt, Bruce Ackley

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As Was, Rova Saxophone Quartet, 1981, Metalanguage

Tracks : Quill (For Valda Setterfield), Escape From Zero Village (For Ted Greenwald), Under The Street Where You Live (For Albert Ayler), Paint Another Take Of Shootpop (For Olivier Messiaen And Otis Redding), Daredevils (For Mr. Kite)

Musicians : Jon Raskin, Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt, Bruce Ackley

Reissued on CD by Atavistic in 2000.

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The Social Set: Metalanguage Festival Of Improvised Music 1980, Volume 1, Bruce Ackley, Greg Goodman, Henry Kaiser, Toshinori Kondo, Larry Ochs, Evan Parker, Jon Raskin, Andrew Voigt, 1981, Metalanguage ML 116

Tracks : The Social Set, Part 1, The Social Set, Part 2

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Greg Goodman, Henry Kaiser, Toshinori Kondo, Larry Ochs, Evan Parker, Jon Raskin, Andrew Voigt

Recorded live at the Metalanguage Festival Of Improvised Music at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on October 21, 1980.

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The Science Set: Metalanguage Festival Of Improvised Music 1980, Volume 2, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Henry Kaiser, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Greg Goodman, Toshinori Kondo, Andrew Voigt, 1981, Metalanguage ML 117

Tracks : Trobar Clus #6, Druids, Narrow Are The Vessels

Musicians : Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Henry Kaiser, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Greg Goodman, Toshinori Kondo, Andrew Voigt

Recorded live at the Metalanguage Festival Of Improvised Music at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on October 21, 1980.

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Invisible Frames, Rova Saxophone Quartet, 1982, Fore

Tracks : Trobar Clus #6, Druids, Narrow Are The Vessels

Musicians : Andrew Voigt, Jon Raskin, Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs

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Favorite Street: Rova Plays Lacy, Rova Saxophone Quartet, 1984, Black Saint 0076

Tracks : The Dumps, The Throes, Sidelines, Undone, Beeline, Moon, Snips

Musicians : Andrew Voigt, Jon Raskin, Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs

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Saxophone Diplomacy, Rova, 1985, hat ART 2013

Tracks : Flamingo, Sidelines, Paint Another Take Of The Shootpop, Escape From Zero Village, The Throes, Strangeness, Detente Or Detroit

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Andrew Voigt, Ivers Galenieks (track 7), Vladimir Tarasov (track 7)

recorded live June 1983 in Moscow, Riga, and Craiova in June 1983. Released on CD in 1993 (hat ART 6068).

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The Crowd: For Elias Canetti, Rova, 1986, hat ART 2032

Tracks : Terrains, Room, Knife In The Times, Parts 1+2, Knife In The Times, Parts 3-8, The Crowd, Sport

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Andrew Voigt

Released on CD in 1992 (hat ART 6098).

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Beat Kennel, Rova, 1988, Black Saint 0126

Tracks : El Amor En Los Tiempos De La Finca, The Aggregate, Sportspeak, Composition, What Was Lost Regained

Musicians : Larry Ochs, Andrew Voigt, Bruce Ackley, Jon Raskin

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The Aggregate, Anthony Braxton/ROVA Saxophone Quartet, 1988, Sound Aspects 023

Tracks : The Shopper, The Aggregate, Composition 129+: Excerpt 1 (Comp. 129 Session A) / Excerpt 2 (Comp. 86 / Comp. 87) / Excerpt 3 (Comp. 129 Session B)

Musicians : Anthony Braxton, Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Andrew Voigt

The Shopper and Composition 129+ recorded live in Oakland on July 30, 1988. The Aggregate recorded live in San Francisco on August 22, 1986.

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Long On Logic, ROVA, 1990, Sound Aspects 037

Tracks : Long On Logic, Hope, Song And Dance, Sugagaki For Conlon, The Shopper, K/24 (For Vasilly Kandinsky), Wig Hat Six Step, Tourque (For Roscoe Mitchell)

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, John Raskin

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Electric Rags II, Alvin Curran / Rova Saxophone Quartet, 1990, Black Saint 0076

Tracks : Wonder Bread/Corny Island (Ackley Solo)/General Cluster/Grandma's Quilt, Z Train, Little Him - Lo Main, Harmony Circus/Corny Island (Ochs Solo)/Dust Bowl, Scusami, I Walk Alone, For Giacinto, Field It/Jurassic Times/Corny Island (Adams Solo)/List I, Cords Of Would, Others Brothers//Blow-Hole/Corny Island (Raskin Solo)/Continental Shelf-dance, One And/Amino Acids/When In But Out But

Musicians : Alvin Curran, Jon Raskin, Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Steve Adams

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This Time We Are Both, Rova Saxophone Quartet, 1991, New Albion NA 041

Tracks : Introduction, Third Terrain, Torque, The Freedom Of Information, What Was Lost Regained, Other Brothers, The Unquestioned Answer

Musicians : Jon Raskin, Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Steve Adams

Recorded live in Vilnius, Khazan, Riga, Moscow and Talinn in November 1989.

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Saxophone Diplomacy, Rova, 1991, hat ART CD 6068

Tracks : Flamingo, Sidelines, Paint Another Take Of The Shootpop, Escape From Zero Village, The Throes, Strangeness

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Andrew Voigt, Ivers Galenieks (track 7), Vladimir Tarasov (track 7)

Recorded live June 1983 in Moscow, Riga, and Craiova in June 1983. Originally released, on a double LP in 1984 (hat ART 2013). One track is omitted from the CD release.

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The Crowd, Rova, 1992, hat ART CD 6098

Tracks : Sport, The Crowd, Room, Knife In The Times, 1-8, Terrains

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Andrew Voigt

Originally released on a double LP in 1986 (hat ART 2032).

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San Francisco Holidays, Ganelin Trio, The And Rova Saxophone Quartet, 1992, Leo CD LR 208/209

Tracks : Ritardando, Mack The Knife, The Set-Up, New Wine..., Umtza-Umtza, The Knock-Off

Musicians : Vyacheslav Ganelin, Vladimir Chekasin, Vladimir Tarasov / Bruce Ackley (tracks 3 & 6), Larry Ochs (tracks 3 & 6), Jon Raskin (tracks 3 & 6), Andrew Voigt (tracks 3 & 6)

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From the Bureau of Both, Rova, 1993, Black Saint 0135

Tracks : Swang, Pinnacle, Swapmeet! Swapmeet!, Cage: For John Cage, The Floater, What's The Frequency, Kenneth?, Streak

Musicians : Larry Ochs, Steve Adams, Bruce Ackley, Jon Raskin

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Chanting The Light Of Foresight: Imbas Forasnai, Terry Riley / Rova, 1994, New Albion NA 064

Tracks : The Tuning Path, The Pipes Of Medb / Medb's Blues, Song Announcing Dawn's Combat, The Chord Of War, Ferdia's Death Chant, Chanting The Light Of Foresight

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

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Wreckin' Ball, The Hub, 1994, Artifact Recordings

Tracks : Crybaby, Waxlips, The Glass Hand, Wheelies, Hub Renga, Waxlips II (Das Lied Von Der Nerd), Electric Rags III, Vex

The Hub : Chris Brown, John Bischoff, Mark Trayle, Phil Stone, Scot Gresham-Lancaster, Tim Perkis

Guests : Alvin Curran plays on track 7 Electric Rags II. Rova Saxophone Quartet and Alvin Curran plays on track 8 Vex..

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The Next Room, Mordred, 1994, Noise

Tracks : Lo-Cal. Hi-Fiber, Skid, Crash, Splinter Down, Shut, Pauper's Wine, Acrophobia, Murray The Mover, In A Turn, The Trellis, The Next Room Over, Rubber Crutch

Notes : The track Shut includes sampled saxophones from the Rova album From the Bureau of Both.

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Transparent Messenger, Various Artists, 1994, Hermit Foundation

Tracks : Untitled (Erhard Hirt and Martin Klapper), Grace (ROVA Saxophone Quartet), Safari (Peter Cusack), Workshop (Pavel Fajt and James Meneses), Workshop (Peter Cusack and Michael Delia), Song (Anchelka Mazur and James Meneses), Spring Song (Hugh Davies), Helicopter (Rajesh Mehta), Amnesty (Silver)

Musicians on the Rova track: Larry Ochs, Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Jon Raskin

All tracks recorded at The Plasy Monastery, Czech Republic on June 30 to July 3, 1994.

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The Works, Rova, 1995, Black Saint 0176

Tracks : Theme And Variations, Shouts And Meditations, When Not Then, Introduction, Section 2, Section 3, Section 4, Finale 1, Colors: Part 1, Interludes, Colors: Part 2

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

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The Secret Magritte, Larry Ochs, 1995, Black Saint 0177

Tracks : Parts 1 And 2, Part 3, Part 4 And 5

Musicians : Larry Ochs, Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Jon Raskin, Marilyn Crispell, Chris Brown, Barry Guy, Lisle Ellis, William Winant

All four members of Rova play on this Larry Ochs album.

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Pipe Dreams, Figure 8, 1995, Black Saint 0167

Tracks : Head Count, LG-[S-DB-J]TV, Tracers, Drmeš, Triceratops

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Dave Barrett, Tim Berne, Vinny Golia, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Glenn Spearman

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John Coltrane's Ascension, Rova, 1996, Black Saint 0180

Tracks : Welcome, Ascension

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Raphe Malik, Dave Douglas, Glenn Spearman, Steve Adams, Chris Brown, George Cremaschi, Lisle Ellis, Donald Robinson

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The Works (Volume 2), Rova, 1996, Black Saint 0186

Tracks : Visible Man, Beyond Columbus & Capitalism, Appearances Aren't Always What They Seem

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

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Ptow!!, Rova, 1996, Victo CD 040

Tracks : Testimony (For Dmitri Shostakovich), Crossroads, Ptow!!, The Farallons (For Fred Frith), Wig On (For George Clinton), Zygomatic (For Evan Parker), Critical Thought

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

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MoConduction 11: Where Music Goes, Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris, 1996, New World

Tracks : Conduction #11, Pt. 1, Conduction #11, Pt. 2

Musicians : Lawrence Butch Morris, Bruce Ackley, Dave Barrett, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Chris Brown , J.A. Deane, Jon English, Jon Jang, Bill Horvitz, Blk Lion, Kash Killion, Kaila Flexer, Hal Hughes, William Winant

Recorded live at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on December 18, 1988. The performance was sponsored by and features the members of the Rova Saxophone Quartet.

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Jazzgalerie Nickelsdorf: The 20th Anniversary Album, Various Artists, 1997, Jazzgalerie Nickelsdorf

Tracks : Atlantis (Athanor), Cowboys & Indians (Frank Wright Quartet), 74 882 (ROVA Saxophone Quartet), Option Abdullah (Schlippenbach Trio), Composition 23 M (Anthony Braxton Quartet), Solo (Roscoe Mitchell), Wie Beim Falb Die Kuckucksuhr Tickt, So Tickt Sie Nirgendwo (Trio Clusone), Spellings (Frisque Concordance), Beef (Gerry Hemingway Quintet)

All tracks recorded live at Jazzgalerie Nickelsdorf. The Clusone 3 track was recorded in September 1993.

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Bingo, Rova, 1998, Victo CD 056

Tracks : Face In The Crowd, Initials, Witch Gong Game, Water Under The Bridge, Can Of Worms, Witch Gong Game

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

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Morphological Echo, Rova Saxophone Quartet, 1998, Rastascan Records BRD 027

Tracks : Obvious, Circumstances, Under, The Web, Less Than Obvious, Maintaining, Grace

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

Recordings made in December 1989 and September 1992.

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Burnt Ivory And Loose Wires, Annie Gosfield, 1998, Tzadik TZ 7040

Tracks : Nickolaievski Soldat, Freud, The Manufacture Of Tangled Ivory: Part I / Part II, Four Roses, Blue Serge, Brawl

Notes : An album in the Tazdic Composers Series that features the music of Annie Gosfield. The final track Brawl is performed by the Rova Saxophone Quartet (Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin).

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The Works (Volume 3), Rova, 1999, Black Saint 0196

Tracks : Laredo, No. 1 Quartet, Gene Pool

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

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Rovamatic: Sound Source Library, Rova, 1999, Rarefactiom

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

A CD-ROM "Sound Library" release mixed, cut, looped and edited by Thomas Dimuzio.

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Fred Frith: Freedom In Fragments, Rova Saxophone Quartet, 2001, Tzadik 7076

Tracks : Freedom Is Your Friends / Some Assembly Required, Advertising, Song And Dance, Void Where Prohibited / The Up And Up, Boyan's Problem, Ikue's Song, T Square Park Lark - For Frank Zappa, Significant Restrictions Apply, Hey René, Chained To The Skyway, Batteries Not Included / Nostalgia, Water Under The Bridge - For Jimmy Giuffre, Freedom Is Your Friends II

Musicians : Jon Raskin, Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Steve Adams

Composed by Fred Frith in 1994. Performed by Rova between February 1999 and January 2000.

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Resistance, Rova, 2003, Victo CD 086

Tracks : Resistance, The Drift, The M'Ad-Din (Á La Mémoire De Cerno Bokar Saalif Taal)

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

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An Alligator in Your Wallet, Rova::Orkestrova, 2004, EWE Records 0069

Tracks : A Lion In Your Bag, A Zebra On Your Roof, An Alligator In Your Wallet, Survival (In Five Acts), Chuck

Musicians : Steve Adams, Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Darren Johnston, Natsuki Tamura, Michael Vlatkovich, Tom Yoder, Satoko Fujii, Carla Kihlstedt, Ken Filiano, Scott Amendola

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Electric Ascension, Rova Orkestrova, 2005, Atavistic ALP 159

Tracks : An Interpretation of John Coltrane's Ascension

Musicians : Jon Raskin, Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs, Steve Adams, Chris Brown, Otomo Yoshihide, Nels Cline, Jenny Scheinman, Carla Kihlstedt, Fred Frith, Ikue Mori, Don Robinson

Recorded live in Los Altos on February 8, 2003.

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Totally Spinning, Rova, 2006, Black Saint 0206

Tracks : Let's Go Totally Spinning, Stiction, Radar 11/19/01, Cuernavaca Starlight For Charles Mingus, Kick It, It's A Journey, Not A Destination, Preshrunk, Radar, Version 731

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

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The Mirror World (For Stan Brakhage), Larry Ochs / Rova Special Sextet / Orkestrova, 2007, Metalanguage MLX 2007

Tracks : Realization 1: Hand: The Marks / Palm / Fable / That Hunts / Full House / 14 Fingers / Itself Now Corresponding To Sand, Realization 2: Wall: Hit / Hung / Radar / Sonor / Pulsar / Screen / Reflector / Ruin / Omens / Wall

Musicians : Realization 1: Larry Ochs, Darren Johnston, David Bithell, Toyoji Tomita, Jen Baker, Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Jon Raskin, Ben Goldberg, John Schott, Joan Jeanrenaud, Theresa Wong, Lisle Ellis, Tim Perkis, Matt Wright, William Winant, Gino Robair, Moe! Staiano / Realization 2: Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Gino Robair, William Winant

A limited edition double CD of two realizations of the Larry Ochs composition The Mirror World (for Stan Brakhage). The pieces were recorded live at Kanbar Hall, Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on June 10 & 11, 2005.

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Juke Box Suite, Rova Saxophone Quartet, 2008, Not Two MW 786-2

Tracks : Afro-Balkan, Mambo, Niggum (Dedicated To David Englestein), Detroit (Dedicated To The White Stripes), Hang Up (Dedicated To Eva Hesse), Choro (Dedicated To Alfredo Da Rocha Vianna Filho Better Known As Pixinguinha), Värttinnä (Dedicated To Värttinnä)

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

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Planetary, Rova Saxophone Quartet, 2010, Solyd SLR 0407

Tracks : Parallel Construction #1, S, Flip Trap, Glass Head Concretion, Planetary, Parallel Construction #2

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

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The Celestial Septet, Rova & Nels Cline Singers, 2010, New World Records 80708-2

Tracks : Cesar Chávez, Trouble Ticket, Whose To Know (For Albert Ayler), Head Count, The Buried Quilt

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Nels Cline, Devin Hoff, Scott Amendola

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The Receiving Surfaces, Rova : Zorn, 2011, Metalanguage ML 2011

Tracks : Arc Fuse 1, Helicoid, Saddle Scroll Song, Arc Fuse 2

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, John Zorn

A limited edition vinyl only release. Recorded live at Yoshi's in San Francisco on August 28, 2010.

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A Short History, Rova Saxophone Quartet, 2012, Jazzwerkstatt jw 099

Tracks : The Blocks, To The Right Of The Blue Wall, Certain Space: Introduction / Part 1 - For Giacinto Scelsi / Part 2 - For Cecil Taylor / Part 3 - For Morton Feldman

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin

Recorded in February 2003 and August 2011.

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Electric Ascension, Rova Channeling Coltrane, 2015, RogueArt ROG-0065

Tracks : Electric Ascension, Cleaning The Mirror

Musicians : Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Chris Brown, Nels Cline, Hamid Drake, Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, Rob Mazurek, Ikue Mori, Jenny Scheinman

Live recording from 2012 Guelph Jazz festival provided on DVD, Blu-Ray and CD. The DVD also includes a documentary film Cleaning The Mirror.

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Last updated March 2017