Jacob William - Double Bass

Jim Hobbs - Alto Saxophone

Forbes Graham - Trumpet

Steve Lantner - Piano

Lawrence Cook - Percussion

A live simultaneous performance in real and virtual space by one of Boston’s finest free jazz ensembles, the Para Quintet.

The names Jacob William. Jim Hobbs, Forbes Graham, Steve Lantner, and Laurence Cook are near legendary among those who follow avant-garde jazz in the United States and Europe. On April 30, the closing day of the Through the Virtual Looking Glass Exhibition, these fine muscians will perform in the Harbor Gallery at UMass Boston, while an avatar of each performs simultaneously in Second Life. A video of the live gallery performance will be streamed into Second Life so that audiences from around the world will be able to view the musicians performing in real space at the same time their avatars are playing in virtual space. The virtual performance in turn will be viewed through digital projection in the Harbor Gallery, so that both real and virtual performances can been seen and heard by the audience physically present there. The conversion of the real life performance into a virtual world performance of avatars will be handled by the POP ART LAB in Second Life.

We can imagine no better way of concluding Through the Virtual Looking Glass than with a mixed reality performance by these virtuoso musical artists.