LJWorld.com

For jazz soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom, writing music is a lot like painting a picture.

Or at least it was for her album "Chasing Paint," a compilation of songs inspired by the work of abstract artist Jackson Pollock.

Bloom, who will be playing Thursday in Lawrence as part of the Lawrence Arts Center's Jazz at the Center series, has long been intrigued with the artist's work.

Pollock is most famous for the "drip painting" technique he started in the in the late 1940s. Bloom says the physical motion of his painting was what grabbed her attention. Her compositions in "Chasing Paint" are an attempt to recreate the motion Pollock used to move paint around the canvas by manipulating the way sound moves around the stage.

"When you look at things in nature like the branches of a tree that aren't symmetrical -- but yet there is a logic, an order to them -- there's a kind of fractal theory that helps describe and define that scientifically," Bloom says. "I think something not unlike that could be applied to jazz musicians' solos to show you how this beautiful order comes out of a spontaneous moment. It's a natural, wonderful, almost unknowable kind of a thing."

Bloom says crafting a song around a painting is not actually as visual as one might think. Instead, she writes based on how the paintings make her feel.

"There's no sense in trying to recreate something another artist has done. It's more how that artist has inspired creativity in you. That's where the excitement is. That's where the spark is," she says. "I try to let the music speak for itself. There's such a strong visual feel in the music that it often does come across fairly well to people. It's almost like visualizing sound."

Jane Ira Bloom's latest record, "Chasing Paint," is a collection of songs inspired by the work of artist Jackson Pollock.

Performing with her in Lawrence will be the other three members of her quartet: bass player Mark Dresser, drummer Bobby Previte and pianist Dawn Clement. Dresser and Previte also play with Bloom on "Chasing Paint" and on her new album, which will be released April 10.

"Like Silver, Like Song" is the saxophonist's 12th recording. It is also her first with a new label called Artist Share, a company that offers artists' albums solely via the Internet. Bloom's latest work will not be available in record stores; instead fans can buy it from her Web site, janeirabloom.com, or from artistshare.com. Purchasers can either download the album or have it sent to them.

In her 25-year career, Bloom has risen to the top of the jazz scene. She was named soprano saxophonist of the year by the Jazz Journalists Award in 2001 and 2003. She has played in venues such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Kennedy Center, among several other national and international sites. She is a recipient of the Charlie Parker Fellowship for Jazz Innovation and is the first musician ever to be commissioned by the NASA Art Program.

JaneIraBloom.com: Unexpected Light JaneIraBloom.com: Chasing Paint

Bloom says people coming to the March 3 show at the arts center can expect "jazz without a safety net."

Her performance will concentrate on her work in "Chasing Paint," but the night also will include songs from her upcoming record, "Like Silver, Like Song," which concentrates more on electronic sounds. Although electronic music has always been part of her albums in the past, those sounds are emphasized in her newest effort.

"It's very adventurous, very exciting. It's very expressive," she says. "It's something that you have to see live. It's not the same on recordings, no matter how good the recordings are. You've got to see improvisers relating to one another in the moment, live, in action."