Lisa Mezzacappa's music lives in the intersection of improvisation and composition. Her projects as a double bassist, composer, curator and collaborator explore new contexts for developing interactive musical languages and sonic experiences. She has performed and workshopped with the Sun Ra Arkestra, Meredith Monk, Bob Moses, Myra Melford, Art Baron, Terry Riley and David Murray, among others, and has performed at countless Bay Area venues including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SFMOMA, and the de Young Museum, San Francisco; as well as the Earshot Jazz Festival, Seattle; and the Montreal Jazz Festival; Canada. She was artist-in-residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts (2006) and the Banff International Jazz Workshop (2000), holds an MA in ethnomusicology from UC Berkeley (2003), and a BA in music from the University of Virginia (1997). She is composer-in-residence at Djerassi Resident Artists Program in fall 2008. Lisa has been awarded grants from American Composers Forum, the City of Oakland and Meet the Composer. She currently performs in nearly a dozen original jazz, pop and chamber ensembles in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she lives.
Current projects include duo B., a drums and bass duo with Jason Levis; Aaron Bennett's free jazz-meets-metal band Go-Go Fightmaster, the trombone reggae band Joseph's Bones; Nathan Clevenger' Giuffre-esque Clevenger Three; Scott Larson's ska-roots ensemble Franco Nero; Aaron Novik's minimalist psychedelia project Kipple; his chamber pop band Floating World; and his noise-rock band Love Triangle Elementary School; Phillip Greenlief's cinema noir trio
Lisa’s collaborative projects integrate improvisation-infused composition into public spaces and cross-disciplinary works. For Gold Record Studio (2007-8), she co-hosted, with Jon Brumit, a free public recording studio for six weeks at an Oakland neighborhood flea market, assuming the role of record producer, audio engineer and musical instigator. For Phonological (2006-08), a collaboration with installation artist Deborah Aschheim, she composed and recorded 18 pieces, with more than a dozen musicians, for a series of sculptural installations exploring the relationships between music, memory and language. Phonological has been exhibited at the Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno NV (2007), Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis MO (2008), and the Pasadena Museum of California Art (fall 2008).
As curator and ringleader, Lisa programs the annual JAZZPOP music series at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and organizes the twice-annual quiet films/loud bands film and music series at 21 Grand, Oakland.