After a decade of exploring the frigid depths of the sea hidden under Antarctic ice, Henry Kaiser is set to delve into an even more treacherous realm, the unpredictable currents of the human heart. The pioneering avant-garde guitarist, an intrepid musical seeker who has reached a broader audience in recent years through his collaborations with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Werner Herzog, performs solo on electric and acoustic guitar Friday at Duende in Oakland.
In a region known for adventurous lovers, Kaiser might well provide the ideal soundtrack for a Valentine’s celebration. With some 250 recordings to his credit, including more than a dozen solo sessions, he’s got a vast trove of sounds and concepts to draw upon. But judging from his beautifully trancy 2011 solo outing, Everything Forever, which he recorded “live” in the studio without overdubbing, he’s well prepared for crafting sonic settings appropriate for the occasion.
“Playing solo is really cool, where it’s 100 percent your responsibility,” says Kaiser, 61, from his house in Santa Cruz, where he relocated from Oakland about two years ago. “You have a really direct connection with the audience. I like to be beautiful and weird at the same time, and see if you can take them somewhere with you.”
A grandson of the storied Oakland industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, whose prolific Richmond shipyards played an essential role in the Allied victory in World War II (check out the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park for the story) and led to the creation of Kaiser Permanente, Kaiser lit out on his own, guided by his interests in scientific diving, film production, and experimental music.
In the early 1970s, Kaiser soaked up experimental jazz directly from the source at the great North Beach venue Keystone Korner, catching the astounding pianistic flights of Cecil Taylor and Miles Davis’s roiling fusion bands at their most creative. He first made his mark as a player during a mid-70s period on the East Coast, where he connected with fellow guitar renegade Eugene Chadbourne, who had recently arrived in New York City after years of Canadian exile for refusing military induction.