Tag: Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians

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.

Today is Anthony Braxton’s 75th birthday and this is the final post in this series.

We begin with a wonderful performance of Composition 304 from Winsor Music.

We continue with an entire performance of Anthony Braxton with Mary Halvorson and Taylor Ho Bynum  as the Diamond Curtain Wall Trio from 2015 in Copenhagen.

This trailer from 2012 on Roulette TV intersperses interview with performance to provide a nice overview of Braxton’s career and his ideas.  Braxton’s forever hopeful outlook is a very timely positive message to us all.

Finally, since it is Anthony Braxton’s birthday why not wish him a happy birthday with a visit to the New Braxton House at Bandcamp and check out all of the recordings that are available and maybe pick up a few.

Hope you enjoyed the series and happy birthday Anthony Braxton.

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Chris De Chiara

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.

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Chris De Chiara

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 full concert from 2019 in France of Anthony Braxton with Ingrid Laubrock – saxophone, Miriam Overlach and Jacqueline Kerrod – harp, Carl-Ludwig Hübsch – tuba, and Jean Cook – violin.

A Conversation with Anthony Braxton is a transcript from 1995 during a visit to Istanbul. In this conversation, Braxton dives into a variety of topics often in a very conversational and informal way, more so than in many of his interviews.

Here is a nicely filmed and recorded concert segment from 2019 of Anthony Braxton Solo – Live @ Sons d’hiver.

We end this week’s installment with a talk that Anthony Braxton gave in Amsterdam for the 2015 DOEK FESTIVAL. He is joined for this talk by Kevin Whitehead, Taylor Ho Bynum, and James Fei.

Join us again next week for another post as AMN Celebrates Braxton 75.

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Chris De Chiara

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.

This week’s post begins with a  2015 performance of Anthony Braxton’s Composition No. 131 by Ben Leeds Carson – piano, Jason Hoopes – bass, Robert Lopez – drums and Rhonda Taylor – alto saxophone at the 2015 Santa Cruz Festival of New Music.

Anthony Braxton live in Italy at the Pomigliano Jazz festival in 2009 with William Parker – bass and Don Moye – drums.

We end this week’s post with an interview from 2008 from the “under your skin channel”.

Join us again next week for another post as AMN Celebrates Braxton 75.

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Chris De Chiara

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 start this week with a concert from 1976 at San Jose State University.  The concert featured Anthony Braxton – reeds, Roscoe Mitchell – reeds, Richard Teitelbaum – synthesizer and Allen Strange – musical easel. The concert was presented in quadraphonic sound but this recording was made on a handheld stereo cassette recorder. Despite the low-fi sound, this is a wonderful concert. The second part is also available and well worth the listen.

In 2005 as part of “Braxton at 60: A Celebration”, Kevin Whitehead gave a talk at Wesleyan University, in which he explores Braxton’s relationship to “jazz”. “Braxton & Jazz: IN the Tradition” is an adaptation of that talk in print format.

We end this week with a 2019 performance of Anthony Braxton’s Composition No. 63 for two soloists and chamber orchestra.  Performed by the Mills Performing Group during the “Anthony Braxton 75th Birthday Celebration Concert” at Mills College, Oakland, California.

Join us again next week for another post as AMN Celebrates Braxton 75

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Chris De Chiara

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’s installment with a short excerpt from one of Anthony Braxton’s  current ensembles, The Anthony Braxton Standard Quartet – Live at Schlachthof, Wels, Austria.

Here is a short but very interesting Braxton interview from 1971 on KPFA produced by Other Minds. This audio interview is interspersed with his solo saxophone and at times Braxton sounds a bit defensive, but as always, he is very interesting.

This week’s installment ends with a full set from 2003 at the Kanjiža Jazz Festival in Serbia.  Anthony Braxton is joined by Hungarian pianist György Szabados and Ganelin trio drummer Vladimir Tarasov. It’s a beautiful set!

Join us again next week for another post as AMN Celebrates Braxton 75

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Chris De Chiara

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 the Ensemble Dal Niente performing some of Anthony Braxton’s works inspired by Native American musics. The “Ghost Trance Music” – Composition Nos. 193 + 228.

Here is a 2014 interview that was part of WKCR’s coverage of the 2014 TriCentric Festival, centered around the premiere of Braxton’s opera, Trillium J. Braxton dives deep in describing the work. He also explains some of the background on his development of the Ghost Trance Musics. We also occasionally hear from collaborator and TriCentric Executive Director Kyoko Kitamura.

Anthony Braxton in the recording studio with Brandon Evans  recording Evans’s composition “Elliptical Axis 15”,  at Wesleyan University in 2000.  They both perform on a wide array of wind instruments and I believe the entire recording session was videotaped and can be seen on YouTube.

If you have not already read “Forces in Motion” then perhaps this wonderful article by Hank Shteamer will convince you to do so!  Anthony Braxton’s Big Ideas: Why ‘Forces in Motion’ Is an Essential American Music Book .

Join us again next week for another post as AMN Celebrates Braxton 75

Previous Segments

Chris De Chiara