Welcome to AMN Celebrates Braxton 75, a multipart series focused on the work of American composer and multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton. Braxton, who in 2020 will be celebrating his seventy-fifth birthday, is one of the most important and influential creative minds of the past fifty years. Each week this series will feature three to four links of live performances, interviews, and articles found on the web that should be of interest to both the curious and the longtime explorers of Braxton’s music.
We begin this week with a short clip from 2007 at the Blue Note in Milan, with Anthony Braxton, William Parker, and Hamid Drake. The quality of the video is low but the music is great.
We continue with Anthony Braxton’s Composition Numbers 136+56+254 performed at a workshop in Tokyo conducted by Kyoko Kitamura and Masayasu Tzboguchi in 2019. The ensemble is Nonoko Yoshida – alto saxophone, Shinpei Ruike – trumpet, Masayasu Tzboguchi – piano, Hiroki Chiba – bass, Manami Kakudo – percussion and Kyoko Kitamura – vocals and conducting.
We conclude this week’s post with an article by Paul Steinbeck, from 2018 that originally appeared in the Journal of Music Theory. Steinbeck is an accomplished musician, scholar, and author. Unlike much academic writing, Steinbeck’s writing is always clear, insightful, and readable. I would highly recommend his recent book on the Art Ensemble of Chicago. In “Improvisation and Collaboration in Anthony Braxton’s Composition 76”  Steinbeck provides an insightful analysis of the work that will be of interest to both listeners and musicians.
Join us again next week for another post as AMN Celebrates Braxton 75.
Chris De Chiara
Avant Music News 