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    The factory jazz project is a circle of musicians from the free jazz community in the Boston area. The idea is to present jazz as art in art spaces. Jazz is a large umbrella that will cover and fuse diverse cultures with the belief that creativity is transformative. The performers reflect the energy of the listeners. Our hope is a fusion of people, ideas, culture, and peace.



    Lawrence’s Island Street Stage has been a platform for these musicians to trade energy and inspiration back and forth between themselves and the listener. The Factory Jazz Project events have been a great experience for the musicians to be together with the community in a way that something can be made that wasn't there before...through connection and then channeling that energy that becomes...music.

    Musicians that have participated in the Factory Jazz Project:

    Melli Bermejo
    Jim Cameron
    Andy Dow
    Jeff Galindo
    Phil Grenadier
    Bob Gullotti
    		 Charlie Kohlhase
    John Lockwood
    Bertram Lehmann
    Linda Maloof
    Ben Monder

    		 Nat Mugavero
    Bob Nieske
    Bruno Råberg
    Osmany Paredes
    Monica Yngvesson


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    Changing tone. Even the stages are improvisational for musicians of Factory Jazz Project.

    By Bill Ewing, Boston Globe
    July 17, 2005

    In a nondescript alleyway theater next to the Essex Arts Center in Lawrence, some of Boston's foremost jazz innovators have been gathering over the past year to explore the outer boundaries of their art. When the weather turns inclement, they move indoors to a brick-walled industrial space in a neighboring mill building.

    In both spots, an avant-garde jazz scene is taking root.

    The Factory Jazz Project, started by 48-year-old Amesbury guitarist Bruce Ferrara, has featured such high-profile players as Bruno Raberg, Charlie Kohlhase, Jeff Galindo, and Ben Monder.

    Until recently, these shows have taken place irregularly, but for the remainder of the summer will be held every other Thursday night and will be open to the public and free of charge.

    "I only have superlatives for Bruce's project," said bassist and composer Raberg, a Berklee College of Music professor who played the indoor space with his quartet last month. "The audience was very appreciative and listened with big ears. I think these kinds of performance spaces for non-pop music are invaluable."

    "It really has a great atmosphere and a very grateful audience," said vocalist Monica Yngvesson, who has performed with the Factory Jazz Project twice in past months. "It's very uplifting for a musician. You can tell that there is a group of people there who really care."

    The concerts inside or out are laid-back and welcoming, with diverse audiences numbering from 20 to 120 people. By design, there is little division between the audience and performers.

    "I spent the last five years or so doing a lot of traveling in Europe, and one thing I noticed in cities like Paris and Berlin is that there are these art communities where there's a lot of energy passing back and forth between artists and the community, a lot of sharing," said Ferrara. "I'm trying to capture that spirit, that give and take."

    Ferrara considers the Factory Jazz Project to be an "art project," rather than an attempt to start a popular music series or create a family-friendly entertainment experience. About this fact, he is adamant. It is a platform, he said, for addressing big, open-ended questions about the nature and meaning of art and trying to find answers by playing live without any commercial boundaries.

    "We don't live in an art culture; we live in a consumer culture," he said. "Music is a product, an entertainment, something light. The real life of it gets pushed aside.

    "What I want to do is let the musicians create something and put it out there without watering it down. To give people a chance to experience it and decide for themselves if it matters. My experience in Lawrence has been and we've put some heavy, all-the-way abstract music out there nothing is too heavy for people."

    "Knowing that this project is more about avant-garde, free-form music, it really brought out that side of our playing," Raberg said of his recent set. "We start out with a set of loose compositions, but we stretch them out and change sections during each performance."

    Music: Jazzing in Lawrence

    By Joel Brown, HubArts.com
    July 29th, 2005

    Normally if you said you had a good time in an alley in Lawrence, people would look at you funny and start backing away. The Merrimac River mill city is struggling. But over by the Essex Art Center last night, a small crowd was swinging without violating any statutes. Our friend Bruce Ferrara's Factory Jazz Project offered two hours of fine tunes from two bands, on a near-perfect summer evening. Trumpeter Phil Grenadier played in trio format wearing flipflops and cargo shorts; later Ferrara led a quintet with his fluid guitar tones on "Equinox," "Naima" and other favorites. And the sound was, surprisingly, terrific. This alley is just like a lot of jazz clubs - long, narrow, with exposed brick walls - but no roof.

    Ferrara is making this an every-other Thursday gig through the summer, moving indoors if it rains. On Aug. 11, his scheduled guest is Berklee bassist and composer Bruno Raberg. Suggested donation is usually $5 and offstreet parking is free. You can bring a bottle in a bag if you're so inclined. And if you want to make a night of it, start with a cheap and terrific Mexican meal at nearby Cafe Azteca. You'll thank me.