WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Summer Wildcat Jazz musician Rob Brown came to the Mat Bevel Institute in Tucson as part of a summer jazz feature called Zeitgeist.

Experimental jazz adds new dimension to Mat Bevel Institute

The Mat Bevel Institute is a lush, dense oasis of art that provides a fantastical retreat from the Southwestern style for which Tucson is known.

In one corner of the warehouse is a mannequin strapped into a car seat.

Another of Bevel's pieces features a series of broken television sets fixed to a metal frame. In another corner, a plastic Halloween alien mask peers out of a birdcage. A jack-o-lantern fixed to a fan gazes down from a rafter.

And on weekends there's music, too.

"Zeitgeist is a year-round (music) series held on the weekends," said Bob Steigert, assistant co-producer of the series.

"It's mostly experimental jazz, but there's another part to it called Īemerging voices.' It's all local acts, but acts that play well with the audience," he said.

Zeitgeist, meaning "the spirit of the times," is an experimental jazz performance series presented by the Mat Bevel Institute at 530 N. Stone.

On Saturday, Zeitgeist featured a jazz trio with alto sax player Rob Brown, guitarist Matt Mitchell, and percussionist David Wayne.

The story behind the trio is just as spontaneous as the improvisational jazz they played.

"We have a history since about Wednesday," said Brown, a 30-year veteran sax player and jazz musician. "Who knows?" laughed Wayne. "This might be the beginning of music history."

In the world of improvisational jazz, there seems to be a lot of mixing players. There are no real set bands. All of tonight's musicians participate in at least three other projects as well as having solo careers like Brown, who has 12 solo recordings.

"Needing money and organization are how people get together," Wayne said about the spontaneity of the improv jazz circuit. "It's what music is."

Wayne continued to explain the atmosphere of improvisational jazz and the melding together of all different kinds of musicians: "(Improv) is the same idea as like somewhere in Appalachia. You know, sitting on the back porch and coming together and playing music. That was their idiom," he said, gesturing toward the stage. "This is ours."

Mitchell, a Tucsonan and former classical guitar student at the University of Arizona, was impressed by the venue.

The Mat Bevel Institute is a warehouse-turned-gallery displaying works of art by owner Ned Schaper, who plays the persona "Mat Bevel." Schaper got the name from the beveled mat, a key component in television sets.

As the trio tuned their instruments and got ready for the evening jam session, patrons milled about the warehouse where Bevel's pieces were literally scattered on the floor, hooked to the wall, or dangling from the ceiling.

Mat Bevel's art consists of over 400 pieces and ranges in size from a two-foot-tall Barney doll with a face mask to metal sculptures well over 8 feet.

"It all turns on too," said Mitchell, warming up by playing a few guitar riffs.

Many of the pieces are what the artist himself calls "machines" or "kinetic sculptures." These are metal, wire and papier-m‰chˇ sculptures that feature moving bicycle wheels, chains, propellers and lights.

"I started making machines out of paintings I had drawn," said Bevel, next to an old swing set that functioned as a leg for one of his pieces. "There used to be an old burlesque theatre (near UA) I was using and there was all of this stuff on the floor, so I started making sculptures with them."

"(The Mat Bevel Institute) represents 20 years of art. He has over 400 pieces, books, and poetry," said Matt Cook, a personal friend and former roommate of Bevel's.

"Mat is one of the only true working artists in the world. He gets up in the morning and just sits down to work," Cook explained.

In 2002, Bevel received the Arizona Arts Award and has undertaken an interesting project with the proceeds.

"One of the things he did with the award is he got a Mac computer, and he just does some amazing things with color," Cook said. "It's really hard to describe what it looks like if you haven't seen it, but it's just amazing stuff."

Once the Mtt Bevel Company completes "Bevelvision," a demo tape of Bevel's work, a larger segment of the public will have the opportunity to see what he does with his Mac.

"We're using digital video to make, like, television pilot and maybe put it on our web cam," said Bevel.

"Bevelvision" consists of performance art pieces that Bevel showcases three times a year. Bevel's performances include interplay among his artwork so that each piece comes to life in a vignette. "The Icon of Jesus Chiquita," an old clothesline pole crucifix and wire-mesh messiah with big red lips, is one such piece.

"He's got enough (pieces and performances) to syndicate on television," Bob Steigert said.

"For example, he has a character called Sergeant Claus and he'll walk up to "The Icon of Jesus Chiquita" and have a whole discussion with it about economics, society, stuff like that," Steigert said.

As far as written works go, Bevel has created the Mat Bevel Manifesto, a five-page collection of statements and thoughts. "I used to have the whole thing memorized," Bevel said. "It's really the poetry of the show I do."

In addition to the large quantity of pieces at the Mat Bevel Institute, the artist has pieces on display in some galleries in New York where he spent a brief period after his work at the UA. None of his pieces are for sale.

Although Bevel has created his own artist's oasis in the heart of Tucson, some of his new artwork, including "Bevelvision," could lead to the creation of a whole new world, one all his own.