Rage Within the Machine

William Hooker

It's 10:30 on a warm Tuesday evening at the Five Spot. Drummer/composer William Hooker's doing his jazz thing tonight — a free-floating labyrinth of note-bending dissonance and cocktail cool.

The band — tenor saxophonist Charles Compo, alto sax man Blaze Siwula and keyboardist Evan Gallagher — melds sensuously bent electronic blips, twangy harp and colliding saxophones, while Hooker plays gently malleted drums that slowly build to rage.

Then, the large, bald Hooker, stands to address the Five Spot's audience with glistening staccato poetry. The small crowd, at first slightly confused, warms to the words.

Like his playing, his conversation is sometimes direct, sometimes wistful, always vivacious.

"I've been working with my band for a while, so the rapport is there," says a soft-spoken Hooker the next day from the Knitting Factory record label's New York offices. "But most of the time," he laughs, "when I'm on stage, I don't know anybody else is there. I hear sounds, but..."

Hooker, 50, hopes that every time he plays a note for the listener, it sounds "like the first time." With Hooker's approach to free jazz, it's to be expected. Over the course of a quarter decade, every disc or gig he has played on, from the droning guitar frenzy of duets with Thurston Moore to the propulsive sax work with longtime friend David Murray — Hooker leads the charge. He's never followed.

"I'm trying to signal things in people's heads. A fresh view of the ocean, a familiar sense of the self. Reaching for the time warp; my version of hyperspace where you're in a black hole and you come out in a different head set. I always hope the audience stays with me."

It might be tough for some listeners. His newest record, the live in San Francisco Mindfulness (Knitting Factory), is sonorous and roaring, ill-behaved and becalmed.

"Is it illbient though?" Hooker asks of his noise/ambient collaboration with DJ Olive (their second since 1995's Armageddon).

Only two weeks after he played at the Five Spot with his jazz combo, Hooker returns to the Balcony at the Trocadero with his hep new group featuring New York illbient spinster DJ Olive and reedman Glenn Spearman.

"What we do in this group is more formalized, heavily rehearsed. We're dealing with dynamics — the pace and tone of the piece as well as where the spaces will be or not... or if we should fill the void: natural sound, sampled sound, special effects or scratching."

"I didn't know what sounds a turntable could offer," says Hooker of DJ Olive. "When working with Olive, we made sure his spinning would suit what I was doing. For example, if I was going for the majestic, he wouldn't toss on some dancehall reggae on the turntable. I want a flow, not a series of solos. And I'm not looking to work with some mad machinist. It's why Olive and I work together so well. Keep the party rolling."

Hooker works up a head of steam taking in all aspects of performance. "If you take in the lights and the architecture, other phases of the room you're playing in, it could be a very nice story to tell..."

He's looking forward to his Trocadero gig and wants to reach new audiences. He's especially looking forward to working with "some sax guy from down there I met before," that guy being Philly sax man Elliot Levin. Most of all, he's looking to do a "full show" with a lot of "diversification."

"I've been lucky. I'm a drummer who composes and gets taken seriously. There's been a cross-pollination of growing audiences of all ages and musical backgrounds, especially indie rock audiences and players. The only thing that hasn't changed is my drum set. Just the heads've changed."

You can reach Hooker and take a peek at his poetry, tour dates and art work at his Web site: www.knittingfactory.com/hooker.

William Hooker w/ DJ Olive, Elliot Levin, Bardo Pond, Sun., Sept. 7, 8 p.m., The Balcony at the Trocadero, 10th & Arch Sts., 922-LIVE.