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July 31, 2006

Bassist Wanted

Porter Mason, writer of Bassist Wanted, a ‘comic strip about music, man’ dropped me a line pointing to his site. Made me laugh, so I’m happy to pass it along to you - the skits on Sony’s DRM rootkit fiasco are particularly good (read ‘em from the bottom up to make sense).

Originally posted by Tim Rutherford-Johnson from The Rambler, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:17 PM | Comments (0)

MP3s

A nice site for unusual, ambient, electronica MP3s -

click here!

This site really covers a lot of bases, and you get to hear the music as well!

Originally from Reflection Field, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:17 PM | Comments (0)

Now men will go content with what we spoiled

Dateline Sunday 30 July 2006 - Hazardous material bound for Israel is believed to have been landed at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, after flights were diverted from Prestwick airport in Scotland in the wake of planned protests. A member of staff at RAF Mildenhall told the Press Association that one plane operated by US cargo firm Atlas Air was on the runway - but they could not say what was inside it. Atlas Air is being used for two hazardous material flights from Texas to Tel Aviv, and planes were due to fly into Prestwick over the weekend - but they were diverted to a military base elsewhere in the UK, according to a source at Preswtick.

An official operations spokesman at RAF Mildenhall, which has one of the biggest runways in Europe, later refused to confirm or deny the hazardous material flights had been diverted from Prestwick to Mildenhall. It is not sure exactly what is on board the planes, but their dangerous contents needed a special exemption from the Civil Aviation Authority, which was approved.

Two chartered A310 Airbuses carrying bunker-busting bombs for Israel previously stopped over for refuelling at Prestwick, apparently without following proper procedure. It led to calls for US planes to be banned from using the UK as a staging post for arms transport during the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon - although the government has made clear it was the breach in protocol rather than the fact of the flights that was at issue.

US president George Bush apologised to Tony Blair over the previous use of Prestwick to refuel planes carrying bombs to Israel.Tony Blair defended allowing the use of Prestwick for US aircraft ferrying bombs to Israel.Speaking on an official visit to San Francisco he told Sky News last night: "What happens at Prestwick airport is not going to determine whether we get a ceasefire in the Lebanon."

From the Eastern Daily Press. RAF Mildenhall is 35 miles from Aldeburgh, and 30 miles from where I write these words.

The pity of war, the pity war distilled
Now men will go content with what we spoiled
Wilfrid Owen's words used in Britten's War Requiem

The heading photograph shows the aftermath of the German bombing raid on Coventry in 1940 which destroyed the 14th century cathedral. Benjamin Britten's War Requiem was composed for the reconsecration of the cathedral in 1962. Britten (left) intended that the soloists for the premiere in the cathedral should be a Russian, Galina Vishnevskaya, a Britain, Peter Pears, and a German Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, but the Russian authorities blocked the participation of Vishnevskya, and her place was taken, at short notice, by Heather Harper. For Britten's peerless recording of the work made in the following year Vishnevska joined Pears and Fischer-Dieskau. Britten and Pears purchased the Chapel House in Horham, Suffolk in 1971 because the noise from US fighters flying from the RAF Bentwaters base near Aldeburgh was disturbing Britten's composing. Ironically Horham is ten miles closer to RAF Mildenhall, and it was in Horham he wrote his late works, Death in Venice, Phaedra and the Third String Quartet. Britten died in 1976, and RAF Bentwaters closed in 1993 after 43 years with a US presence on the base.

Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
If you enjoyed this post take An Overgrown Path to Dresden Requiem for eleven young victims and I am a camera - Britten's Aldeburgh

Originally from On An Overgrown Path, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:17 PM | Comments (0)

History written, and rewritten

Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942), the German-oriented Czech composer, was one of the unfortunate who died in the concentration camps. But, as James Conlon pointed out in last night's Schulhoff Showcase at Ravinia, it wasn't his Jewish ethnicity that led to his death, it was that he held a Russian passport. Disillusioned with his era, he turned to Marxism and planned to emigrate. But the Germans rounded up anyone with a foreign passport, imprisoned them, and he was eventually deported to the Wurzburg camp, with his son, and died.

Conlon's on a mission with composers such as Hans Krasa, Schulhoff and Viktor Ullmann to show that their music has historical significance and that, had it been known and its composers not silenced, music history would have been written differently. Composers after 1945 would have known about these banned composers innovations, adopted them, and followed in their footsteps.

Since much of this music, thousands of pieces, according to Conlon, was only heard beginning in the 1970s, he may have a point. On the other hand, the early-music movement has unearthed a great deal of music by composers that other composers had no idea existed, and Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy and the rest have yet to be dislodged from their pedestals.

Schulhoff had a strong sense of the absurd, reflecting his involvement with the Dada movement. Last night, Bassnachtigall and The Cloud Pump aired his absurdist view, with a contrabassoon singing sweetly as a nightingale and Thomas Meglioranza singing about coffee carafes, naked bodies and other such illogical topics ("Mad Libs on acid in German," as he puts it on his blog).

The piano piece Five Pictures traded in ragtime, cakewalks and foxtrots, along with a silent movement notated entirely in rests. The page was black with sixteenth-note rests, thirty-second-note rests, dotted eighths and other nonsensical rhythmic units. (Beat that, John Cage, with your mere "Tacet" in 4'33".) Philippe Bianconi gave strong-willed and punchy reading to the Joplin-esque work. The Hot Sonata for saxophone and piano put the sax in the lite, Rudy Wiedoeft mode, along with some bluesier moments. Like every German since the dawn of time who's attempted it, the jazz style came off as drippingly sleazy.

But it wasn't just small-time revolutions of putting his finger in the eye of polite society he was after, he also wrote in a neo-Classical style. The Mendelssohn String Quartet played his machine-like Second String Quartet and Hindemithian String Sextet. (The program note said that Hindemith played viola in the 1924 premiere with the Czechoslovak Quartet.) A passage with the two violas and second violin playing tremolos on the bridge and on the fingerboard had a raspy, unsettling edge.

Now, Conlon's point is that this music would have changed the course of music history had composers known about it. But while they may not have known about these composers, they certainly knew of the style. Debussy used ragtime and jazz as early as 1909, Ravel's G major Piano Concerto was written in 1929 (and Ravel actually heard Duke Ellington live, unlike Schulhoff), and Hindemith's and Les Six's music wasn't unknown. Boulez has said he can respect the "craft" of Hindemith, but little else, and has no time for Honegger. (Me, I think the Second and Third Symphonies of Honegger are tough masterpieces, and the lovely Pastorale d'ete should be programmed more often.)

Hearing unfamiliar work has a way of illuminating everything else you hear from that time, and the Schulhoff and Ullmann works Conlon's brought, and is bringing, to Ravinia help fill in the period between the wars. Would they have changed history? I don't know, but I doubt it. Composers (Messiaen, Boulez, at least, presumably others) knew works in these styles, and chose to ignore them. It wasn't ignorance, it was the selection and filtration process that all artists inevitably go through in making their art.

As George Grosz, a Dadaist and Expressionist, himself once put it, and I'm paraphrasing, "The act of art isn't saying yes; more often, I find myself saying no."

Originally posted by MarcGeelhoed from Marc Geelhoed: Deceptively Simple, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)

Emerson/Bartok

Boosey & Hawkes, which publishes the music of John Adams, was kind enough to lend me a study score of Naive and Sentimental music a couple of years ago. They also put me on the mailing list for their newsletter.

The spring issue contained a pointer to an interactive feature on the Carnegie Hall Web site, in which the Emerson String Quartet explores the quartets of Bartók. I have not examined this in any detail, but it looks fascinating. It's oriented toward performers; I am sure that anyone who loves that music and knows something about it will learn lots:

Originally from Iron Tongue of Midnight, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)

Recent Listening

Strange and Sacred Noise is a rare example of music that I became familiar with through a score before I heard it (I spotted it on the new acquisitions shelf at school towards the end of the year). Both ways of approaching this piece are rewarding, but yield very different results. If you look at the score, it contains epigrams on violent natural phenomena, along with brief descriptions of the fractals which John Luther Adams took as "inspiration."

The CD liner notes talk about the violence bits, but don't get into too many explanations about the fractals. Granted, you don't need to understand them to enjoy the music, but it's neat to know anyway, compositional process-wise. The first and last movements, for example, are based on Cantor dust. If you look at the score for these sections, the connection to the fractal is pretty much self-explanatory (JLA has an excerpt up for viewing).

Even though the role of the fractal looks like it could have been conceived completely "on the page," I do think it's possible to hear them in performance. One notable thing about the piece is that JLA found a way to make "organic" (and audible) large-scale structures that don't rely on tried-and-true methods of symmetry and repetition (à la sonata). The moments in first movement when the Cantor dust becomes most dispersed/chaotic is truly striking, almost awe-inspiring, these little lightning bolt contours of sound jumping out of silence.

One thing I really wish had been brought up in the notes is an explanation of sacred noise, a concept which I'm assuming was borrowed from R. Murray Schafer's The Tuning of the World (a true must-read for any musician). From an article on the author:

"Noise pollution is a world problem," says Schafer. "What I call Sacred Noise is in every society. If you want to find prominent institutions, you will find that they have a certain identifying sound or a noise. And just as the tallest buildings in any cityscape are generally centres of power, the biggest noises in the city represent centres of power. And the sacred part is, because they represent power, no one is permitted to complain against those noises."

This is where Adams's piece is at its most thought-provoking. Its fractal forms provide a fairly literal translation of chaos in nature, unleashing sounds that run the gamut from the barely audible to the barely containable. By being a representation of nature, the music both illuminates it and tries to wrest control of it (the jury's still out on the feasibility of the latter). At its core, the piece is an eloquent statement of one of JLA's favorite themes: a plea for listeners to attune themselves to their environments based on the sounds in them.

Originally from Form/Content, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)

Art Blakey and more synchronicity... with Thelonious Monk, Clifford Brown et al...

Art Blakey... I was sat in a rather wonderful new bar bistro place in God's Little Acre called Goodliffes a couple of days ago with my collaborator Murray discussing future plans (given my ongoing health problems, somewhat narrowed down and more targeted...) when he mentioned how much he liked Art Blakey. At first I misheard and thought he was referring to a character in the old and late-lamented (by the perverse) British sitcom , 'On the Buses' - (Blakey: 'I 'ate you, Butler')... a momentary slip. A little while later 'Moanin' by one of the classic (Art) Blakey lineups came on the sound system (I said this place is wonderful...) – so you can't fight these things...

I saw (Art) Blakey at a festival just down the road about twenty years ago and he was awesome – an old guy with a shock of white hair who tottered on stage – and when he hit his drums it was like tectonic plates moving in the earth – incredible power. Blakey was generally regarded as the best drummer to play behind Thelonious Monk – so here are two selections from their shared album, recorded in 1958. This is the Jazz Messengers with Monk taking the piano chair – front line speed tenor man Johnny Griffin had also played with Monk in his quartet. Blakey ushers in 'Evidence' – that tricky, rather ominous Monk theme. Bill Hardman solos first, over Monk's elliptical comping that disappears abruptly then suddenly plonks a triplet or a chordal marker/phrase down. Monk takes a minimal solo – more an exercise in silence in between a few scattered phrases. Griffin fleet through the changes as ever, Monk more in evidence (ho ho) behind him than he was with Hardman. Blakey enters quietly, slowly building – an exercise in dynamics – he wasn't always battering the life out of his drums. Creating a solo over the constancy of his ticking hi hat that erupts into brilliance. Actually the best solo on the track

Monk leads off 'Rhythm a ning' with a truncated phrase from the theme. He takes his solo, teasingly waiting a few bars before coming in. Variations on the theme, spun out and cranked up with percussive stabs and then he suddenly drops out as the bass carries it along before a drum roll that marks the end of the chorus – to signal Bill Hardman?. Monk playing deep bass rumbles and higher descending chords - before he again just drops out. Griffin skirling in. Monk banging in behind him sporadically, prodding, leaving the timbral flavour of his piano across the track. Rumbling toms usher in Blakey. Inspired playing again, the equal of everyone else and more... Ensemble theme statement, Monk taking the rolling figure in the middle eight.

One could argue that the beboppy solos from Hardman and Griffin are not quite aligned with Monk's muse and his silences, rhythmic displacements and unusual comping almost stand as sardonic rebukes as well as guidelines– but the interactions between Blakey and the pianist across this session – dominated by Monk and his compositions - make up for any stylistic uncertainties that occur. Classic stuff...

Blakey's longtime band The Jazz Messengers was a great school through which many young musicians passed. Here is the late Clifford Brown featured on trumpet from a live session recorded at Birdland in 1954 by the Blakey quintet - with Horace Silver the co-founder of the future Messengers on piano. A fast version of 'The way you look tonight' – appearing somewhat flustered and out of breath? - if the brisk tempo is a guide... Brownie is imperiously good as ever – but it does not hurt to be reminded of the fallen occasionally. A young man who always seemed to be bursting with music – as if he had to get so much out before his tragic death. Donaldson is in his Charlie Parker bag – but fluent and swinging. Silver is the real surprise here – a scampering, madcap solo, replete with the bebopper bag of quotes – among others 'Three Blind Mice' in there somewhere, which is almost a harbinger for the Blakey/Jazz Messengers version some years later. Russell is good and solid in support. Blakey takes a typically torrential solo before they come back for the theme. An interesting snapshot of jazz a year before Charlie Parker died... where the template of hard bop is being constructed - to evolve into the future Jazz Messengers sound (and fury...).

Every time I hear the hammered pedal point piano introduction to 'Free for all' I get that shiver of anticipation: this may have been the best Messengers grouping of all – great soloists backed up by provocative material especially from Shorter and arrangements that take the band beyond the blowing session into a more co-ordinated unit. A twisting, turning Shorter solo, bolstered by the other horns riffing in and out sporadically for punctuation – with Blakey's thundering drums this helps to boot the tenor further along down the path of inspiration. Curtis Fuller next up: gruffly fluent. Followed by Hubbard, who never played better than with this band (not that he ever played badly). Soaring, majestic... The leader fires off a brutal, driving solo, hammering the hell out of his kit...There is some kind of clenched energy to this album – some kind of riposte to - what? The rise of the free jazz avant-garde? Incorporating some of those newly discovered technical freedoms inside the expansive more social rhythms that Blakey could lay down – sadly, just as this particular incarnation of the Messengers was coming to an end – to prove that jazz could change from within, expand and grow without losing its mainstream attraction? A wider cultural message – in the context of Sixties America in general – and Black musicians and their people in particular? Fiery stuff...

And for added value, here's Blakey and the Messengers, featuring Lee Morgan and Wayne Shorter, playing his call to arms 'Blues March'...


Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey with the Jazz Messengers
(Thelonious Monk: piano; Johnny Griffin: tenor saxophone; Bill Hardman: trumpet; Spanky DeBrest: bass; Art Blakey: drums).

Download
Rhythm – a – ning
Evidence

Buy


Art Blakey Quintet
(Art Blakey: drums; Clifford Brown: trumpet; Lou Donaldson: alto saxophone; Horace Silver: piano; Curley Russell: bass).

Download
The way you look tonight

Buy

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
(Art Blakey: drums; Freddie Hubbard: trumpet; Wayne Shorter: tenor saxophone; Curtis Fuller: trombone; Cedar Walton: piano; Reggie Workman: bass ).

Download
Free for all

Buy

Originally from wordsandmusic, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

Noise Solution

Originally from The Hollow Tree Experimental Music Report, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

New Art Ensemble of Chicago Released

Pi Recordings is the home of the latest AEOC release, a double CD.

The Art Ensemble of Chicago’s Non-cognitive Aspects of the City is a double CD representing two sets recorded during the band’s rare six-night engagement, March 30th through April 4th 2004, at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City. Engagements of that length are rare nowadays and Pi Recordings was anxious to be able to hear the band develop their sound in front of an audience in one city for a week straight. Rarer even than that though is the induction of new members, Corey Wilkes (t) and Jaribu Shahid (b) into a band with a history and influence as deep as the Art Ensemble’s. We were there all six nights, 14 sets in all, and it was amazing to see the band coalesce and grow over the course of the week. Early in the week, the musicians were understandably somewhat tentative, which one would expect with new musicians coming to a music that is so unique and so drenched in its own ritual and tradition. But by the time of these recordings on Friday and Saturday nights, the band was playing as one with power and cohesion. Some will inevitably try to compare Jaribu to Malachi and Corey to Lester, a fool’s errand for sure. Both bring their own strengths and voice to the music and neither try to copy the style of their predecessors. Corey would tell us later that he was in awe that entire week, as it seemed that the entire extended AACM family attended the shows. In fact, Corey said he gained a great deal of confidence after Lester Bowie’s wife Deborah encouraged him to carry on the trumpet tradition in the band and thanked him for doing his own thing and not trying to imitate Lester. These same musicians, two years after this recording, continue to perform and perpetuate the legacy of The Art Ensemble of Chicago.

The two CDs are the first readily available live releases to exclusively feature The Art Ensemble since their Live in Japan release of 1984. The two complete sets on two CDs capture the band in all its unpredictable glory while at the same time observing the ritual of an Art Ensemble set. The music runs the gamut: Joseph Jarman’s spirituality and poetry (“The J Song” and “Erika”), straight out funk driven by Jaribu and Don Moye (“Big Red Peaches”), a warped take on hard-bop (“Song for My Sister”), open explorations (Red Sand Green Water) and a dedication to a comrade past (“Malachi”). Each set is wrapped up by a different version of the band’s theme song “Odwalla”.

Non-cognitive Aspects of the City continues Pi Recordings’ documentation of one of music’s most important bands and one of America’s greatest treasures. More importantly though, it captures the continuing development of the band as they move forward and carry on what is now one of the longest running musical associations in any style of music. It also makes clear what the band has always known: It’s not about “who” is doing it, but about “what” is being done. Not surprisingly, the “who” here is more than up to the challenge. With the front line once again filled out, the band is able to stretch out and create vital music in the way that has influenced everyone from the Vandermark 5 and John Zorn to the Anti-Pop Consortium.

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

New and Coming on Thirsty Ear

Thirsty Ear has announced a few new releases:

Carl Hancock Rux “Good Bread Alley” (view epk for Good Bread Alley)
Carl Hancock Rux’s Thirsty Ear debut, “Good Bread Alley”, will be
ming out in May. Carl Hancock Rux’s soulful delivery of neo-blues is rivaled only by his thoughtful and at times scathing social commentary. His words are surrounded in this album by swirling musical compositions and a brilliant cohesive sensibility that puts you in the mind of this creative talent. This heady brew of eclectic soul demands one’s attention, and makes the listener interact with the blues.

Sex Mob’s debut Thirsty Ear Release
Sex Mob is in the studio, creating their debut Thirsty Ear release. The album entitled “Sexotica” is written and performed in the spirit of Martin Denny, the father of “Exotica.” Prepare for a lush cinematic journey that will take you to a new place?

The Blue Series Free-Zen Society “Free-Zen”
This Blue Series chamber ensemble came together in NYC with artistic director Matthew Shipp on piano, bassist William Parker and harpist extraordinaire Zeena Parkins (Bjork, Ikaw ay Mori) to create the basis of a new collaborative work to be rewoven through electronic means by producer Peter Gordon.

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

Evander Music

Evander Music is a label that features a number of new-music artists. An edited lsit follows:

Industrial Jazz Group
Los Angeles-based large ensemble led by composer Andrew Durkin

Good for Cows
Devin Hoff, bass; Ches Smith, drums.

Phillip Greenlief
Woodwinds, Composer

Bill Horvitz Band
Bill Horvitz, guitar; Steve Adams, reeds; Joe Sabella, drums

Jettison Slinky
Graham Connah, Ben Goldberg, Marty Wehner, Rob Sudduth, Jewlia Eisenberg, Nancy Clarke, Lee Alexander, Smith Dobson Jr

Kaolithic Music
Clayton Bailey, Bob Bassara, Linda Elvira Piedra, Jon Raskin

The Lost Trio
Phillip Greenlief, saxophones; Dan Seamans, bass; Tom Hassett, drums

Miss Henry
Miss Henry, voice; Alex Candelaria, guitar; Calder Spaniel, saxophone; Michael Blustein, piano; Leo Boumeister, piano; Todd Sickafoose, bass; Tom Lyne, bass; Scott Amendola, drums; Eric Crystal, tenor sax

Dan Seamans
Bassist and founding member of The Lost Trio, The New Klezmer Trio, and with bassist with Graham Connah’s Jettison Slinky, Sonya Hunter, and many others

Todd Sickafoose
Bassist, Bandleader, Composer

Ches Smith
Drums, founding member of Good For Cows

Sarah Wilson
Sarah Wilson’s music is an “improviser’s dream,” says internationally acclaimed composer/pianist Myra Melford. Her music is “rich with suggestion and possibility: ebullient and tender, poignant and humorous.”

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

Beefheart on Youtube and Other News

Thanks to the avant-progressive list for this bunch of rare videos of the good Captain. In the mean time, his official site has a link to a newly-found video of a UK performance and has announced 6 upcoming CD releases.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIlVXzC85TU&search=captain%20beefheart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5VfawxwQpU&search=captain%20beefheart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbKau-eBTNA&search=captain%20beefheart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY0×9eLjso4&search=captain%20beefheart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23fKjO57O18&search=captain%20beefheart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEelcBYl0Ig&search=captain%20beefheart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQs8dka52H4&search=captain%20beefheart

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

Site Update

We’ve recently upgraded our blog software to fix a few issues. You shouldn’t notice a difference but if something seems to not be working properly, drop us a line.

One of the things we get asked occasionally is “How big is AMN?” In other words, how many readers do we have? This is a very hard if not impossible thing to measure, with web crawlers, automatic feed readers, multiple users sharing internet addresses, etc. Just counting hits doesn’t work. However according to two fairly reliable services that we use, Statcounter and Feedburner, we seem to have in the range of 400-500 regular readers.

In any case, our readership has slowly grown over the 3+ years our the site’s existence, with little or no publicity or pushing of the site by yours truly. And we continue to get, and appreciate, all the nice comments and emails we receive. Thanks.

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

Veteran jazz musicians find new energy as a duo

An article covers the Sonny Fortune / Rashied Ali duo and their upcoming shows in Oakland.

Like gym rats who repeatedly push one another to new feats of physical endurance, alto saxophonist Sonny Fortune and drummer Rashied Ali turn every performance into a sweaty test of creative stamina.

Working together over the past decade, they have developed a muscular sound built on long, flowing, independent lines that converge and separate sequentially over dozens of choruses. Using standards such as “Love for Sale,'’ “Cherokee,'’ “The Song Is You'’ and John Coltrane’s “Impressions'’ as launching pads for 45-minute-plus odysseys, Fortune and Ali have forged their rigorous but unfettered art form.

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

ReR Releases New Necks CD

Not much info as of yet, but ReR is carrying the new Necks release.

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

Ornette Coleman Week at Destination Out

Destination Out is featuring a bunch of Coleman articles include a few brand new cuts from Coleman’s new band that premiered recently in New York.

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

London Jazz Festival

The LJF takes place in November this year and mainly focuses on the more mainstream side of jazz, with the exceptions of Dave Holland and Evan Parker.

Firmly established as a major event in the UK’s cultural calendar, the London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3 continues to push the envelope. The 2006 programme illustrates how the Festival celebrates the extraordinary riches of the jazz tradition, extends boundaries and perceptions, takes the music to new audiences and responds to the vibrant culture of one of the world’s great cities.

Venues across the capital welcome a host of major international stars including Wayne Shorter who returns to the capital with his all-star quartet. One of the giants of Latin jazz, pianist Michel Camilo joins flamenco guitar virtuoso Tomatito to play their first London concert. Iconic South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahimwill play a solo acoustic concert while Randy Weston teams up with the BBC Big Band to premier special arrangements of his music. Oregon return to play their first London concert in many years, with Ralph Towner, Glen Moore, Paul McCandless and Mark Walker. Vocal stars Take 6 fuse gospel and jazz and e.s.tlaunch their brand new album Tuesday Wonderland with a one-off concert for the Festival, in a killer double bill with Polar Bear.

The Festival is proud of its reputation for creating new commissions and collaborations and this year we’re celebrating two of the most influential British players of their generation. Dave Holland’s 60th birthday concert includes his stellar quintet and one of the seminal jazz figures, guitarist Jim Hall. Renowned saxophonist Evan Parker leads his acclaimed Electro-Acoustic Ensemble in their first London concert.

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

Emanem & Psi News

The latest release and upcoming release news from Emanem & Psi.

Latest releases - available now:

Emanem 4128 Ross Bolleter ‘Secret Sandhills and satellites’ (2001-2005)
pieces for ruined pianos and pianos on the edge of ruin

Emanem 4129 Michael Keith, John Oswald, Roger Turner ‘Number Nine’ (2005)

Psi 06.03 Aki Takase piano quintet ‘Tarantella’ (1997)
with Aleks Kolkowski, Maurice Horsthuis, Tristan Honginger & Nobuyoshi Ino

Psi 06.04 Adam Linson ‘Cut and Continuum’ (2006) double bass and samples

Psi 06.05 Evan Parker ‘The Topography of the Lungs’ (1970)
reissue plus with Derek Bailey & Han Bennink

Psi 06.06 ‘Free Zone Appleby 2005′ with Gerd Dudek, Paul Dunmall, John Edwards,
Tony Levin, Tony Marsh, Evan Parker, Paul Rogers, Philipp Wachsmann & Kenny Wheeler

Psi 06.07 Spontaneous Music Ensemble ‘Biosystem’ (1977) reissue plus
with John Stevens, Nigel Coombes, Roger Smith & Colin Wood

Psi 06.08 Peter Evans ‘More is More’ (2005) solo trumpet

In preparation on Emanem:

Kent Carter String Trio ‘Intersections’ (2004) with Albrecht Maurer & Katrin Micklewicz

Milo Fine & Viv Corringham ‘Senilità’ (2005) with Charles Gillett & Davu Seru

Iskra 1903 ‘Chapter Two’ (1983) with Paul Rutherford, Philipp Wachsmann & Barry Guy

Roswell Rudd ‘Blown Bone’ (1976) reissue
with Steve Lacy, Wilbur Little, Paul Motian, Patti Bown, Kenny Davern, Enrico Rava,
Tyrone Washington, Sheila Jordan, Louisiana Red & Jordan Steckel

Elliott Sharp & Reinhold Friedl ‘Feuchtify’ (2001)

Roger Smith & Adam Bohman (2005)

Spontaneous Music Ensemble & Orchestra ‘Trio & Triangle’ (1978/1981) reissue plus
with John Stevens, Nigel Coombes, Roger Smith & others

In preparation on Psi:

FURT ‘Omnivm’ (2004-6) Richard Barrett & Paul Obermayer

Evan Parker ‘Saxophone Solos’ (1975) reissue

Evan Parker ‘Circadian Rhythm’ (1978) reissue plus
with Paul Burwell, Hugh Davies, Max Eastly, Paul Lovens, Paul Lytton, Annabel Nicolson & David Toop

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

July Point of Departure

The latest issue of Point of Departure has been posted.

PoDHeader

Issue 6 - July 2006

Page One: Editorial

The Uh Uh Uhs: Commentary on Current Music Criticism

Something Else: Peter King and Aeromodeling

Moment’s Notice: Recent CDs Briefly Reviewed

The Turnaround!: Previously Published Articles, Essays and Reviews

The Circle With A Hole In the Middle: Rare Vinyl Revisited

Travellin’ Light: Gerry Hemingway About Life on the Road

Free Jazz: The Point of Departure Contest

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

AAJ Reviews

Yet more from All About Jazz.

30-Jul-06
Tenor Badness: Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, Gato Barbieri (Impulse!)
30-Jul-06 Mike Keneally Band
Guitar Therapy Live (Exowax)
29-Jul-06 Cory Combs
Cory Combs featuring John Hollenbeck and Dan Willis: Valencia (Evander Music)
29-Jul-06 James Beaudreau
Java Street Bagatelles (Workbench)

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

Keyboard Music?

The number of young musicians for whom a portable electronic keyboard is the primary instrument must be large. In places like Germany, where housing is crowded and playing out loud after nine or so in the evening is often restricted, being able to play an instument through headphones is nice option (most pianos for the home market here also come with a built-in felt damper mechanism, either hand- or pedal-controlled, the Moderator).

Given the ubiquity of these instruments, it's surprising that a larger repertoire of new music written specifically for solo electronic keyboards has not developed. In the sixties and early seventies, there was actually quite a repertoire for Farfisa organs as ensemble instruments (Reich, Glass, and others) and cheap amplified reed organs had some currency in the British Experimental scene.

So how about it -- who has pieces for solo electronic keyboards, with ranges of 49 to 61 keys, and perhaps a dozen contrasting timbres, with key-velocity and sustain pedal optional?

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)

Doctor Atomic (2005). /dvd only?/

Originally from aworks :: "new" american classical music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)

Endless Mardi Gras (2006). Chas Smith

Originally from aworks :: "new" american classical music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)

Raise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1927). Kurt Weill

Originally from aworks :: "new" american classical music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Stayed home. New York is great in the summer except for the part about not being able to go outdoors if you are an older, asthmatic kind of person which I am. City is deserted on the weekend except for tourists who are mostly harmless and bring money.

Originally posted by Jerry Bowles from Sequenza21, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 31, 2006 at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)

July 29, 2006

Two shows for your August calendar...

Originally from The Hollow Tree Experimental Music Report, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 29, 2006 at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)

Jazz and Classical Listings From the New York Times

Oops, we’re a little late on this one, but nonetheless, lots of good stuff going on in New York.

SYLVIE COURVOISIER AND MARK FELDMAN (Tonight) As a pianist and composer, Ms. Courvoisier pursues intricacy and rigor; Mr. Feldman, a violinist, favors plangent intensity. They have worked well as a duo, perhaps most notably on “Malphas: Book of Angels Vol. 3” (Tzadik), a volume of John Zorn compositions. At 8, Center for Improvisational Music, 295 Douglass Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (212) 631-5882, schoolforimprov.org; cover, $12.

MARTY EHRLICH SEXTET (Sunday) As on his appealing recent album, “News on the Rail” (Palmetto), Mr. Ehrlich, a versatile alto saxophonist and virtuoso clarinetist, leads a sextet that includes James Zollar on trumpet, Allison Miller on drums and Howard Johnson on tuba and baritone saxophone. At 8 p.m., Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Modern Art, 15 West 54th Street, Manhattan, (212) 708-9491. moma.org/events/summergarden; free, but tickets, required for entry, will be distributed at 5:30 p.m. on a first-come-first-served basis. (Chinen)

FAUX, FAUX (Tonight) Conceived as a showcase for the veteran avant-garde trumpeter Baikida Carroll, this collective quartet features the convoluted compositions of its other members, mainly Tim Berne, an alto saxophonist, and Michael Formanek, a bassist. At 10, 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883, 55bar.com; cover, $8. (Chinen)

THE OTHER HALF (Wednesday) Notwithstanding the title, which is either weakly ironic or oddly dismissive, this concert is a laudable showcase for six female avant-garde composers. In order, they are the cellist Ha-Yang Kim, performing alone; the pianist Angelica Sanchez, with a top-shelf quintet; the vocalist Judith Berkson, self-accompanied on keyboards; the alto saxophonist Matana Roberts, in a solo exertion; and the sympathetic duo of Jessica Pavone, on viola, and Mary Halvorson, on guitar. At 7:30 p.m., Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7501, tonicnyc.com; cover, $10. (Chinen)

BANG ON A CAN FESTIVAL MARATHON (Sunday) This vibrant new-music collective ends its annual summer festival and institute at Mass MoCA with a six-hour marathon mélange of rock, classical, jazz and world music. Students and faculty will perform works by the Bang on a Can artistic directors, Julia Wolfe, David Lang and Michael Gordon; this year’s composer in residence, Meredith Monk; as well as Steve Martland, Michael Daugherty and Joan Tower. The enthusiastically unclassifiable event will also include a Balinese gamelan ensemble performing a work with Western instruments and several robots. At 4 p.m., 7 Marshall Street, North Adams, Mass., (413) 662-2111, massmoca.org; $22. (Schweitzer)

FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC AT TANGLEWOOD (Today through Monday) At this new-music festival, the students of the Tanglewood Music Center and assorted guests usually give polished, energetic performances of an array of modern works. Last night’s opening program, to be repeated this afternoon, is a triple opera bill, with Elliott Carter’s “What Next?,” as well as Stravinsky’s “Mavra” and Hindemith’s “Hin und Zurück.” James Levine leads the Carter; the others are to be led by the student conducting fellows. Other highlights include a program tomorrow morning with works by Ron Ford and Johannes Staud; a concert tomorrow evening that includes Pierre Boulez’s “Messagesquisse” for seven cellos and works by Andrew Norman and Betsy Jolas; a Sunday morning performance with music by David Felder, Stephen Andrew Taylor, Mark Gustavson, Eric Chasalow, Stephen Jaffe and Edmund Campion; and a Sunday evening concert that includes Hans Abrahamsen’s Piano Concerto, a solo violin work by Mr. Ford and works by Mr. Staud, Milton Babbitt, Donald Martino and Poul Ruders, with the guitarist David Starobin as the soloist. The finale will be a performance of the English composer Mark Anthony Turnage’s powerful “Blood on the Floor,” on Monday evening. Today at 2:30; tomorrow at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.; Sunday at 10 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Monday at 8:30. Tanglewood, Lenox, Mass., (888) 266-1200, tanglewood.org; $11 and $30 to $50 for the opera triple bill; $50 pass for all performances tomorrow through Monday. (Kozinn)

EMILY MANZO (Sunday) This pianist, an Oberlin graduate and new-music champion, has given the premieres of works by John Luther Adams, Kyle Gann and Mary Halvrson. A regular performer at the Stone, John Zorn’s experimental performance space, she will tackle John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano, with video by Paul Rowley and David Phillips. At 8 and 10 p.m., the Stone, Avenue C at Second Street, East Village, thestonenyc.com; $10 per set. (Schweitzer)

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 29, 2006 at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)

Tatsuya Yoshida’s Israel Performance Reviewed

Yoshida recently played in Israel for the first time and his show is reviewed.

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 29, 2006 at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)

Darkwinter

Darkwinter is one of many netlabels out there. This one focuses on dark ambient and electroacoustic music. All albums are free to download. After listening to a few, I’d recommend the Seetyca and Adaptcore releases.

Originally posted by Mike from Avant Music News, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 29, 2006 at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)

July 28, 2006

Ornette by three...

You can't get away from Ornette... I was early morning net surfing and over on the very wonderful jazz blog Destination Out (now added to my links on the sidebar) found some recordings of a recent concert in New York by him and his now three bass band. They won't be there long so go get them here... – sound quality is good and the music is stunning. Ornette seems to be on an artistic roll at the moment... So, given all the harmolodics of late – here's three by Mr Coleman. Why fight fate...

First: a live session recorded in Europe, 1965: 'At the Golden Circle, Vol 1' from which I have selected 'Faces and Places' (alternate take). What always comes across in his work is a sense of freedom and space – even on the crowded and sprawling electric Prime Time tracks. Here – an acoustic trio playing music that flows and rolls effortlessly – and breathes. At this distance in time it is easily forgotten how hard won these freedoms were (go back and read some of the asinine contemporary criticism)– and one wonders if Ornette has ever really been given his rightful due (rather than just some awkward tokenism). Still – we should be glad that he is still playing/composing - and putting together killer bands. 'Faces and Spaces' is a typical quirkily brilliant theme and Ornette solos over solid Izenson bass and the spurring drums of Moffet. One of my favourite groups, they seem so finely tuned to each other's moves. Moffet especially is an underrated drummer, I think, spinning out long polyrhythms, sudden rolls and ticking rimshots, bass drum triplets, cymbals in constant agitation, fast off-beat high hat stutters. Izenson solos as Moffet falls back, just ticking cymbals as accompaniment, the bass a little muffled but delivering fast articulate lines. Ornette returns for another solo – if one can think of this in terms of solo plus backing because everything is so tightly interlocked and interdependent – they call it harmolodics, captain... Moffett's drums surge in volume towards the end – which when it comes is one of those drop on a dime (or old sixpence) sudden stops.

'From 1950 to 1975 harmolodics has always existed in my writing and playing. Yet I did not have a Harmolodic Band to compose and perform with as a working band. I often speak about being a composer that performs without prejudice of environment.

Enter - Prime Time in forming a Harmolodic Band, where the needs of the composer and the players found challenging questions. Prime Time is not a jazz, classical, rock or blues ensemble. It is pure Harmolodic where all forms that can, or could exist yesterday, today, or tomorrow can exist in the now or the moment without a second.'

(-Ornette Coleman, from the liner notes to Body Meta).

'Body Meta' was recorded in 1975 . 'Voice Poetry' has a cheeky Bo Diddley-ish rhythmic lick to it – the old 'shave and a haircut two bits' – ushered in by the drums before the rhythm guitar picks it up. Another guitar enters, single line melody statement across the bouncing bass and the rhythm guitar/drums holding the repeated lick, evolving into modulating chordal strums. Ornette finally enters – his alto in perfect sonic balance with the other lines. Long held notes until the solo develops further, his innate rhythmic displacements bouncing off his companions. Melody as rhythm, rhythm as melody... high smearing plaintive notes - always an element of some sweet sadness in his playing – to my ears. The guitar not holding the rhythm loop becomes more agitated. A sudden drop off ending...

Coleman came together with Pat Metheny in 1986 – on the face of it, an odd pairing, yet Metheny (who subsequently went on to record with the late Derek Bailey) had expressed much admiration for the elder player and his guitar on 'Song X' steps beyond itself in this company. Metheny holds his own and more – and Ornette seemed particularly inspired. 'Endangered Species' opens on high squealing notes that suddenly swirl and swarm – like a flock of demented birds whose collective internal radars have been sabotaged. (An 'endangered species?' Like forward-thinking 'jazz' musicians?). One of Ornette's strange tunes that is nevertheless catchy mainly because of the repeated, bending phrase that follows the initial fast frenzy. Beyond the theme, this is largely collective improvisation driven by the maelstrom of the two drummers. Ornette seems unflappable against the sonic extravaganza launched by the guitar player, angry swirls of thick guitar swooping round his alto and threatening to drown him in places – yet he stands his ground. Metheney's playing here is more about timbre and texture, the inimitable Charlie Haden all but inaudible in places but gamely hanging. They drop out to leave the drums to duet, De Johnette and Denardo, two veterans of the long hard rides into fusion and electricity that Miles and Ornette independently launched ( as incessantly mentioned in recent posts!). Return to theme, then odd electronics as the drums take it out onto a final cymbal crash.




Ornette Coleman Trio
(Ornette Coleman(as,tp,vln), David Izenzon(b), Charles Moffett(d) )
Download
Faces and Places


Buy


Ornette Coleman
(Ornette Coleman(as), Bern Nix(g), Charles Ellerbee(g),
Jamaaladeen Tacuma(b),Shannon Jackson(d) )
Download
Voice Poetry


Buy


Ornette Coleman/Pat Metheny
Ornette Coleman(as,vln)Pat Metheny(g,g-syn), Charlie Haden(b), Jack DeJohnette(d), Denardo Coleman(d)

Download
Endangered Species


Buy

And here is an interesting, somewhat lo-fi video of Metheny in Japan, 1999...

Originally from wordsandmusic, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 28, 2006 at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)

July 27, 2006

Into the Deep End

Originally from Iron Tongue of Midnight, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 27, 2006 at 01:59 PM | Comments (0)

Forced hiatus

Originally from Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 27, 2006 at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)

Feeding back... Byard Lancaster...and more... James Chance... Joe Bowie/Defunkt...

The comments on my blog are always welcome especially as they enable me to feed back music if I can lay my hands on it.. Sparked by a comment from godoggo, I searched for Byard Lancaster – found a couple of tracks from some live sessions in 1976 and also on a Sunny Murray album from 1966 – and also found some obscure musicians worthy of attention. The trumpeter Jacques Coursil, for one. (Scroll down). The alto player Jack Graham appears to be even more obscure... if anyone any information about him, I would be interested in seeing it.

In chronological order...

This eponymous Sunny Murray album is a wonderful document of the bustling avant-garde in 1966 when all options must have seemed open and Murray was fine-tuning his revolutionary skills on drums. 'Hilariously' opens with a unison stretched out theme that Silva's arco bass slides in and out of, followed by alto solo, underpinned by the rolling surging drums of Murray, timbrally moving from high to low via his insistent cymbal work and the bass and tom tom with his marching band rat tat snare in the middle. The first alto solo starts high and proceeds with alternate querulous low register squark to high register scribble. A touch of Ayler... Trumpet enters worrying at a phrase, circling and pouncing back. Cat plays with mouse... finally tailing away as the second alto enters, recorded back in the mix and blurred at times by Murray's drums – which suddenly drop back before the return of the theme unison. Silva is not always easy to pick out of the mix – probably because of the deeper timbres of the rolling, almost oceanic drums. An interesting snapshot of free jazz a year before Coltrane died, four before Ayler's demise.

By the seventies, the avant-garde (and much of the mainstream in jazz)was in a period of severe retrenchment. Yet, behind the scenes, musicians were still playing, often using the loft spaces of New York as rehearsal area and club. One of the most famous was Studio Rivbea – owned by Sam Rivers and his wife. The next two tracks are from sessions recorded there in May 1976 – on the cusp of punk interestingly - and released on the 3 cd set Wildflowers (reviewed here... scroll down). These recordings provide a fascinating glimpse into a largely undocumented era. On the first selection, in a band led again by Sunny Murray, Byard Lancaster on alto plays a gorgeous, straight reading of 'Over the Rainbow' in tandem with David Murray on tenor. The second is by a band collectively called Flight to Sanity - Lancaster here is playing tenor sax. A long, loping modal track, flavoured by bass ostinatos, pattering congas and thrusting piano from Sonelius Smith. Lancaster solos after Art Bennett on soprano sax and the pianist, thoughtful, restrained, a small echo of Coltrane in his slightly keening timbre. Ironically, both these tracks are almost conservative by comparison to the Murray album from a decade earlier...

More feedback...

Anthony is a big James Chance fan – here he is playing the wild Michael Jackson cover: 'Don't stop till you get enough.' Frenetic punk nihilism, fed by the energies of the rock scene sourced in the heady days of CBGB's etc colliding with Siegried/Chance/Black's freejazz aspirations.

I thought it might be interesting to compare Chance with Joe Bowie's Defunkt, coming from a different angle – very much more aligned with Ornette's harmolodics yet with his own distinct take on how to bang 'social' rhythms next to free form scrawling.


And a last thought – here's a polemic that states punk was birthed from radical jazz – which in a way brings all of this round in a circle...

Sunny Murray
(Jacques Coursil-trumpet; Jack Graham-alto saxophone; Byard Lancaster-alto saxophone; Sunny Murray- drums; Alan Silva-bass)

Download
Hilariously

Buy

Sunny Murray and the Untouchables
(Murray- drums; Byard Lancaster- alto saxophone; David Murray- tenor saxophone; Khan Jamal- vibes; Fred Hopkins- bass )

Download
Over the Rainbow


Flight to Sanity
(Harold Smith- drums; Byard Lancaster- tenor saxophone; Art Bennett- soprano saxophone; Olu Dara- trumpet; Sonelius Smith- piano; Benny Wilson- bass; Don Moye- conga )

Download
The need to Smile

Taken from 'Wildflowers'
Buy


Defunkt

Download
The Razor's Edge

Buy

James Chance and the Contortions

Download
Don't stop till you get enough

Buy


And some video footage of James Chance
and
Defunkt to finish with

Originally from wordsandmusic, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 27, 2006 at 01:44 PM | Comments (0)

This is your life

The estimable Fred Himebaugh of the Fredösphere provides a useful guide to the life ahead for young persons considering a career in composition.

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 27, 2006 at 01:44 PM | Comments (0)

Form: always surprised

There's a pumpkin plant in our (tiny) garden that's stretched and arched around the back terrace, coming into bloom here and there, but now, suddenly, four metres away from the roots, an orange fruit has finally taken hold, a future jack'o'lantern suspended between an old rose and the garden shed. Why there? Why now? How does it manage to arrest attentions, surprising every passer-by?

I've tried several times to write something useful about musical form. I've thought about the origins in song and dance, and the license gained by the invention of absolute genres. I've considered the uses and benefits of calculation (or the failures of miscalculation). But in the end, musical form is about finding the right mix of materials and time, playing those elements against human memory and expectation, and then -- if you want to make music that does more than function -- you grab something surprising and incalculable, you add that pumpkin four metres down the vine.

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 27, 2006 at 01:44 PM | Comments (0)

July 26, 2006

John King's ALLSTEEL

ALLSTEELJohn King's new release AllSteel, which features us, is now available!For more information about John King, check out our blog series COMPOSERS & COLLABORATORS SPOTLIGHT. He is this month's fe...

Originally from Ethel - MySpace Blog, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 26, 2006 at 01:41 PM | Comments (0)

Dika Newlin (1923-2006): A Remembrance

Dika Newlin, American composer, pianist, writer on music, educator, punk rock performance artist, and actress passed away in Richmond, Virginia, on July 22, 2006.

Originally from NewMusicBox, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 26, 2006 at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)

July 25, 2006

New Blog

I'm adding the blog of the San Francisco Chronicle music critic Joshua Kosman to the blogroll. In one of his first posts, Mr. Kosman demonstrates a good ear and the not-all-that-common ability to translate what he hears (in Mahler's Symphony No. 9, I) into meaningful prose: Complications are in the air. We careen around the corner, and — whoosh, everything gets sucked out of the atmosphere.

Originally from listen., ReBlogged by jodru on Jul 25, 2006 at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)

Eve Beglarian

My review of a disc of music by Eve Beglarian will soon be up at Sequenza21. [EDIT, 22 July: The review is posted.] I've been aware since I started the 101 project that I needed a "Downtown" piece on the list. Ms. Beglarian's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is that piece. It replaces Karol Symanowski's King Roger on the list. (The change is reflected in the list at the bottom of listen.'s main

Originally from listen., ReBlogged by jodru on Jul 25, 2006 at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)

You can't do this here

I read through the score of Stravinsky's Movements this morning, a favorite piece* and realized that the old man does a lot of things younger composers can't get away with anymore in the American concert hall, between sharp breaks in continuity and a steadfast anti-tonality. Tragic but true: when the smoke had cleared, the new music wars had been won not by towners up or down or coasters east or

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jodru on Jul 25, 2006 at 03:01 PM | Comments (0)

July 24, 2006

Instagon this Sunday (free waffles & coffee)

bringing the NOISE

Instagon ..428
Sunday, July 23rd, 2006
noon
$5

1001 Del Paso Blvd, space 3
Sacramento,CA 95815


Sacramento Audio Waffle


INSTAGON
ECO MORTI (SF)
HIS NAME IS ROBERT PAULSEN (klowd/lepordae collab)
WARNING BROKEN MACHINE (OR)
IDX1274 (OR)


free waffles and coffee!


Instagon will feature members of Chopstick, Art Lessing & the Flower Vato, and possibly North Bound Train!


http://www.norcalnoisefest.com/audiowaffle
http://www.myspace.com/sacramentoaudiowaffle




-- Also, be sure to listen to Lob on KDVS fm 90.3 every Sunday at Noon 'til 2:00 pm UTC --

... and while you're doing that, read the exciting new Hollow Tree TiddlyWiki blog. Obsessively updated with obscure news, quirky opinions, bizarre links and ongoing experiments with emerging internet technology.

Originally from The Hollow Tree Experimental Music Report, ReBlogged by jodru on Jul 24, 2006 at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)

American Composers Remember György Ligeti (1923-2006)

Martin Bresnick, Roberto Sierra, and Anne LeBaron all shared hours of music and conversation with the compser. Here they celebrate their great friend and teacher with us.

Originally from NewMusicBox, ReBlogged by jodru on Jul 24, 2006 at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)

To comfort and disturb

Somewhere along the line, somebody said that the purpose of good music (or art or literature) was to disturb the comfortable and to comfort the disturbed. What was the last piece of music that had that effect on you?

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jodru on Jul 24, 2006 at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)

Hidden tracks

I recently revisited a stack of scores made in when I was 16 or 17. One of the most interesting, at least conceptually, was a piece for piano and ensemble, in a just intonation that was (and is) probably unrealizeable by real instruments. Curious to hear the piece with some precision, I entered the score into a notation program, and then rendered it as a sound file with the pitches right (well

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jodru on Jul 24, 2006 at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)

Overheard

in a Cafe, a man says to a woman: "you'll like Roy Orbison... he's the Hugo Wolf of popular music".

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jodru on Jul 24, 2006 at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)

July 20, 2006

works list

Hello all,As I've gotten a number of inquiries about pieces for various ensembles, I suppose it would behoove me to include my formal works list here on myspace. If you have any questions about any of...

Originally from Eric Schwartz - MySpace Blog, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 20, 2006 at 02:31 PM | Comments (0)

Music is Music

New Chatter article for you all: Music is Music Enjoy!

Originally from Belinda Reynolds - MySpace Blog, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 20, 2006 at 02:31 PM | Comments (0)

1 + 1 = 2

It's too hot to embark on the usual round of agonising about the apparent demise of classical music. So perhaps it's a good time to peer through the wood at the trees - or to draw a simple conclusion from a simple equation. . .

Originally from The Crunch, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 20, 2006 at 02:04 PM | Comments (0)

Local Genres

The Proms season has begun in London, and I wonder if anyone else has noticed that there is actually a genre of "Proms pieces" -- twenty minutes long, big orchestra, at least one orchestration feature (lots of percussion, or a soloist, or a childrens' choir), and a tonal language that is never really avant-garde, but never really retro, either --? I've heard quite a few Proms pieces performed in

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 20, 2006 at 02:04 PM | Comments (0)

Snarky-But-True Theoretical Asides, Nr. 1

From Diether de la Motte, Kontrapunkt: ...(siehe einschlägige Regeln für die Fugenkomposition im französischen Standardwerk von Gedalge: Regeln, die allem Rechnung tragen, nur nicht der Bachschen Fugenpraxis)...[...(see the relevant rules for the composition of fugues in the standard French textbook by Gedalge: rules, applicable to all situations, except for Bach's fugal practice)...]

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 20, 2006 at 02:04 PM | Comments (0)

July 19, 2006

"I recorded two hours of bombs + trumpet from my balcony yesterday night"

Originally from Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 19, 2006 at 04:03 PM | Comments (0)

A New Hollow Tree Page

I haven't pulled the plug on the Hollow Tree Experimental Music Report. No, I've still got a couple things I'm working on. Or maybe 'neglecting' is the word.

Whatever the right word is, take a look at our spanking new TiddlyWiki page. It's more general in scope, and therefore more frequently updated. And, when I finally get around to finishing that Diatribes review, and the other stuff, I'll post an update at the TiddlyWiki page. So you won't miss a ding dong thing.

Originally from The Hollow Tree Experimental Music Report, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 19, 2006 at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)

Let Farinelli Rest

There's been a recent news item in wide circulation about a project involving the exhumation of the remains of Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli, the most celebrated of the castrati singers. This is being done for musicological and physiological research purposes. I'm all for open scientific inquiry, but this seems both unnecessary and disrespectful. Is knowing more about the anatomy and

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 19, 2006 at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2006

Audio snapshots?

An old friend, Tom Hilton, has introduced "random Flickr" blogging as a weekly feature at his blog If I Ran The Zoo. Each week a random number XXXX is drawn, and Tom's readers are invited to search for an IMG_XXXX at Flickr and give it an appropriate caption. It'd be swell to have an audio equivalent, but my guess it that it wouldn't work. Listening to music consumes time in a different way

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 18, 2006 at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)

July 17, 2006

July Improvisation

And to think, i did this without that low A.

My A string an octave below middle A broke the other day. This saddens me, who am much fond of both the key of A major and of this particular note in this particular section of the piano. The music of this improv starts off ok but then sort of sputters out, which often happens with improvs.

You can hear my unadulterated influence from john adams towards the end. Im not particularly happy with it, either, but whatever, it doesnt last that long.

the link is here

Originally from Music in a Suburban Scene, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 17, 2006 at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)

... i canti alterno

In the prologue to Monteverdi's Orfeo, Music sings "I alternate my songs, now happy, now sad...". Music's warning and embrace of more than one kind of song, with more than one kind of effect -- to calm a troubled heart, kindle a frigid mind, charm our ears, or inspire our souls -- is here a key to the musical variety that will follow. There has been a tendency to segregate a "sound art" from

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 17, 2006 at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)

Reading for Winter 2006-2007

Amazon has just started taking pre-orders for the next Pynchon novel, title unknown, 992 pages long, due in December, with this blurb by the author: Spanning the period between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the years just after World War I, this novel moves from the labor troubles in Colorado to turn-of-the-century New York, to London and Gottingen, Venice and Vienna, the Balkans, Central

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 17, 2006 at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)

A Small Prelude in F

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 17, 2006 at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)

July 15, 2006

Pine Tree State Mind Control on a compilation

Hello from your friends at Pine Tree State Mind
Control,

PTSMC will be appearing on a compilation issued by the
fine label Walnut+Locust, due to be released on July
18th.

Learn more here:
http://www.atributetoanalog.fr.st/

Entitled "CrO2: A Tribute to Analog", the CD features
many fine projects:
Chris Carter (UK)
Aube (Japan)
Ulan Bator (Italy)
Molasses (Canada)
Maggot Breeder (Canada)
Alexandre Pax (France)
Empusae & Agathokless (Belgium)
We Are Gentlemen (France)
.cut featuring Gibet (France)
Terminal Sound System (USA)
and
Kasper T Toeplitz (France)

No folksy singer-songwriters.

And you should also be reminded that Walnut+Locust's
previous compilation was released for FREE DOWNLOAD!

Yes, Free!

Listen at:
http://cutremixes.free.fr/download.htm

No really, you should. Especially note the PTSMC
remix and the remix done by Voidstar artist The Vomit
Arsonist.

Smile!

PTSMC

Originally from The Hollow Tree Experimental Music Report, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 15, 2006 at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)

July 14, 2006

Glorifying Terrorism

It is now an offence in the UK to "glorify terrorism". The offence was created at part of the UK government's range of measures to combat terrorism. After much debate in Parliament, it became illegal this spring to state views which could be construed in this way.

Naturally people concerned about the criminalisation of the expression of a point of view have pointed out that support for Nelson Mandela and the ANC at the time of their armed struggle could have been defined as "glorifying terrorism".

Perhaps more concerning still is the discouragement given to attempts to understand the motives or feelings of terrorists, for fear of appearing to praise them. The introduction of this offence seems to fit well with the approach of the US and UK governments - of seeking to declare terrorism (as defined by them) to be an absolute evil, and therefore not open to understanding or interpretation.

At the point when this offence became law, I was beginning work on a piano piece, and I'd noted down a few ideas, but had no sense of direction. Reading about the law crystalised my thoughts, and I decided to sketch out a scenario for the piece taking the 'terrorists point of view'.

What emerged is a piece called "Glorifying Terrorism" - though it is an entirely abstract piece of music, not arguing any particular case, just drawing on ideas about how it might feel to be powerless, with no alternatives but inaction or to lash out violently.

The piece will be performed on September 27th at St Cyprian's Church, Baker Street, London, in the All Ears Contemporary Music Festival. I await with interest any response by the police.

I've posted a MIDI realisation

Originally from New Music Notes, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 14, 2006 at 01:51 PM | Comments (0)

New Rochester Blogger

Originally from Form/Content, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 14, 2006 at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)

Mad Gardeners, All of Us

He thought he saw an Elephant, That practised on a fife: He looked again, and found it was A letter from his wife. 'At length I realise,' he said, The bitterness of Life!' -- from Lewis Carroll, The Mad Gardener's SongIn a recent post, I described a mean-spirited game of composer-jump-the-snark. This was really the completely wrong idea. When the trajectories of a piece of music and a listener

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 14, 2006 at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)

July 13, 2006

2-4-6-8, it's not time to commutate*

Non-commutative Ramblings is a new blog by "Lprcycle"** for "music theory, musicology, mathematics, philosophy, and other 'stuff.'" The first article is a review of a recent volume, Music and Marx. Not casual reading. *Apologies for the somewhat misleading title of this item. It's not quite good form to mix a metaphor from electricity with one from mathematics, but I couldn't resist. **Younger

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 13, 2006 at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)

You don't leave a bar when all the drinks are on the house, unless the damn place is on fire.

The outlines of the US administration's plan for exiting Iraq are starting to emerge. Today, we've learned that Army contracts with Halliburton will not be renewed. We can reasonably assume that Halliburton is not being cut out unwillingly, but has decided that they have maxed out their opportunities and will now get out while the getting's good. Halliburton has been benefactor to one of the

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 13, 2006 at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2006

Facing the shark

Just got off the phone with an old friend, also a composer, still in California. In one of those off-moments when old friends lose their manners, we started to play a game of When-Did-Famous-Composer-X-Jump-The-Shark? After having agreed upon Die Feen and Kontakte, better sense and a measure of good will took hold of both of us, and we set aside the game, agreeing that good composers never

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 12, 2006 at 01:34 PM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2006

Philip Glass/David Bowie/Aphex Twin - Heroes symphony re-mix (1997)

PWS made a post recently mentioning an "ideal" music. He was writing about debussy, and if you know me, i live off the stuff. Basically anything he wrote after 1888 sends me into a quivering mess on the floor in fetal-position bliss. His late music leaves me speechless in its gorgeousness, but all this talk of an ideal, well, debussy's late music is certainly one, but another ideal of mine is this piece, aphex twin's collaboration with glass and bowie. Third times a charm- or an absolutely fucking masterpiece, its a work that leaves me just as speechless and blissful as debussy. This is my modern ideal, this is the kind of music i wish to write someday- or at least, music that achieves this effect or result for me.

This is postmodernism in its most hypnotic, frantic, lush and contemporary. Imagine some film like a further-technofied koyyanisqatsi, fragmented and expressionistic, accompanying this music- I can think of nothing that would be a better art to express the hypnotic, mechanical and frenzied pace of urban life (the orginal qatsi music pales in comparison). This is a dark beauty, full of menace and propulsion, full of energy and agony, hope and despair- all those emotions expected in some19th century romantic symphony, but rapped up in a five minute intense minimalistic/maximalistic piece. There are those echoes and emotions welling up into waves, cresting into points of great tension, almost seems as if musique concrete had a singing love child with philip glass.

While other works of aphex twin have impressed me, none have left me so happy, so enthralled with the sounds of a kind of music i'd never heard before.

Originally from Music in a Suburban Scene, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 11, 2006 at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)

Fred Lerdahl

I've just posted a short review of a CD of music by Fred Lerdahl at Sequenza 21.

Originally from listen., ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 11, 2006 at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)

So hidden, I don't know what I'm missing

Pliable has a good post about the "hidden power" of agents in the classical music world, especially the agency IMG ArtistsTM, which appears to be the inescapable behemoth, the Yoyodyne Corp. of that particular world. Curiousity raised, I took a look at IMG's webpages, and went through their complete roster name-by-name, seeking out in vain a single name on their lists that would cause me to

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 11, 2006 at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2006

Let us now praise the rebloggers

...for they bring us together. New music bloggers are mostly soloists with day jobs, and it's tough for us to keep up a regular routine of postings, making it inconvenient for readers out for a daily fix musical news, opinion, and chatter. There are many of us, and you never know when one of us is going to suddenly pronounce wisdom on the world in one of our inimitable verbal cadenzas. Jeff

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 10, 2006 at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)

Infernal machines: a progress report

"These talking machines will ruin the artistic development of music in this country. When I was a boy, in front of every house in the summer evenings, you would find young people together singing the songs of the day or old songs. Today, you hear these infernal machines going night and day. We will not have a vocal chord left in America! The vocal chord will be eliminated by a process of evolution

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 10, 2006 at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)

Or, how to stop worrying and...

Boulez, Babbitt, and Carter. Merely mentioning the names of any of these three composers in a blog or a discussion group nowadays virtually guarantees insults, invective, flames, and further unpleasantries not worth detailing further. I will now go out onto a fragile limb on the old oak of experimental music and admit to you that I do not lay awake at night worrying about and cursing the

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 10, 2006 at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)

July 07, 2006

A Small Prelude in Eb

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 7, 2006 at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)

July 06, 2006

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson

Originally from listen., ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 6, 2006 at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)

Happy Fourth: The People United

Originally from listen., ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 6, 2006 at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)

Landmarks (14)

Achille-Claude Debussy, Six Épigraphes Antiques (1914) piano four-hands. Arranged by the composer from incidental music originally scored for two flutes, two harps and celeste, there are also versions for two hands, and for orchestra, but the four-handed version is a remarkable ensemble piece and seems to me to be the optimal expression of these little pieces. Arrangements of theatrical music

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 6, 2006 at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)

July 05, 2006

Five Pieces for Independence Day

Christian Wolff, Changing the System (revised version) Charles E. Ives, Second Orchestral Set Robert Ashley, Public Opinion Descends Upon The Demonstrators Pauline Oliveros, Big Mother is Watching You John Cage, Lecture on the Weather

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 5, 2006 at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)

My strangest meal

The '80s. Met La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela in Schoenberg Hall at UCLA, then drove them to Clifton's Cafeteria, where we joined the then-90-something Nicolas Slonimsky as guests of Prof. Robert Stevenson (pianist, composer, and musicologist; LY's teacher at UCLA, making Stevenson one of my grand-teachers). Clifton's was (and still is) a pay-by-the-portion buffet with a menu that has not

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 5, 2006 at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)

July 04, 2006

Why Ligeti Mattered to Me Too

Belatedly, after so much else has been written, here is a little more.

I have always been moved by Ligeti's music, in a way I have not been by the music of Boulez or Stockhausen. Why the difference? Partly his astonishing skill, but if feel so much arises from his own personal historical and political circumstances, and the way this enabled him to express a sense of life in the last half of the 20th century.

Think of what he lived through - finding himself on the wrong side of a frontier after the carve-up of the empires after the First World War, suddenly made a member of an ethnic minority, living through and somehow surviving the Nazi horror, only to find himself living under a communist government, placing severe restrictions on his creative freedom, then escaping and encountering the almost wildly experimental world of post World War 2 music in Western Europe.

Add to that a musical background which provided him with a wide range of resources, and the ability to make use of them, and we have a composer who was almost uniquely equipped to express the nature of life in his times. Shostakovitch is the perhaps best comparison in this respect.

To me, as someone of the next generation, born just after World War 2, his music conveys a real sense of how it felt to grow up with that history in mind, and part of the present and recent past - it gives his music a fundamental humanity which those of many of his contemporaries lacks.

Originally from New Music Notes, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 4, 2006 at 03:14 PM | Comments (0)

Mr. July

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 4, 2006 at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)

Orchestras: real, imaginary, and in-between

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 4, 2006 at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)

Rock stars I have babysat

I've never come up with a good, compact answer for the neighbor or person across the aisle on the train who asks: "Oh, you're a composer. What kinds of songs do you write?" or "What's the name of your band?" If I try to explain a bit about The New Music, and my relationship to old music, I get a lot of blank stares, and often the advice to "write a hit, make a lot of money, and retire so you can

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 4, 2006 at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)

Concitato

It's possible to mark the transition from the musical renaissance to the early baroque with Monteverdi's invention of the genere concitato in the astonishing Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. While Monteverdi would subsequently reserve the concitato style to suggest battle and agitation, the style has had long-term resonance in repertoire independent of those associations, and in some very

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 4, 2006 at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)

De Profundis.

Here's a nice little item (Quicktime required) from my hometown that's either a parable about the banality of the quixotic or just another story about a guy digging a big hole in his front yard. ***** If you ever have the opportunity to hitchhike around Ireland, I can guarantee that you will inevitably have multiple encounters with circles of four to six grown men standing around holes in the

Originally from Renewable Music, ReBlogged by jeff on Jul 4, 2006 at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)