Tag: Free improvisation

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Performances

Sonic Circuits April 4 Free-Improv Show

From DC’s Sonic Circuits:

Saturday April 4, 2009
doors: 8:00pm
music: 8:30pm SHARP
$7!

PYRAMID ATLANTIC
8230 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring MD 20910
301.608.9101
located three blocks south of the silver spring metro station (red line)
Free parking in gated lot out front
INFO: http://www.dc-soniccircuits.org
DIRECTIONS: http://www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org

Michael Thomas Jackson has been creating and recording music since 1985. He has been involved in fully notated composition, free improvisation, avant rock, concrete and electronic music, performance art and everything in between. He has worked with tape, found objects, analogue synthesizers, prepared guitars, various percussion, all manner of sound processing, electronic feedback systems, turntables, voice and extended techniques on the clarinet. Michael has played as, in, or with many fine projects and people including Eugene Chadbourne, Rompecabeza, Spool Ensemble, Viktimized Karcass, Alien Planetscapes, Choptsicks, Cobra Clutch, Cephalic Index, The George Steeltoe Ensemble, Brian Osborne, Chris Phinney, Martin Klapper, Rafael Flores, Isolation, Flutter, Jerry’s Finger, Truncheonette, Projexorcism, Skoweyajeed, Katsu Itakura, Carl Howard, Bruce Eisenbeil, Quien Es, Thomas Dimuzio, Dave Fox, David Prescott, Pat Lawrence, Ian Davis, Scotty Irving, New Loft, Zan Hoffman, Hal McGee and O.N.E. Michael is currently active performing, recording and releasing music through the Primecuts Recordings imprint, raising a daughter and being poor.
http://www.microearth.com/jackson/

Layne Garrett, is a member of The Cutest Puppy in the World, proprietor of The Lighthouse, and master improviser, guitar picker, and musical carpenter.
http://www.questionthetruth.com

Vector Trio is a project designed to explore freedom and possibility in three voices, contextualized by cultural disharmony. Vector Trio began life in 1996 as Vector, an improvisational avant-garde funk septet. In 2002 Vector became Vector Trio. The musicians began making use of electronics, including looping devices and effects processors, to expand the possibilities of the trio. Their work to date is showcased in their all-original CDs–Plot Twist (2004), Live in DC (2005), Paths Unknown (2006), and Nomina (2009). By 2009 Vector Trio’s sound had mutated into a noisy dark electronic mélange of loops, corroded trumpet lines, bowed cello cacophony and a dense mix of percussive mayhem.

scott forrey – trumpet, loops, electronics, metal things
gary rouzer – NS bass cello, loops, electronics, found objects
marshall hughey – drums, handsonic, landscape percussion

http://www.vectortrio.com
http://www.myspace.com/vectortrio

Recognized as a incredibly creative and innovative guitarists and improviser, Michelle Webb is a electrifying and original guitarist. A restless collaborator who constantly seeks the most diverse and personally challenging contexts for her music, Webb not only produces and contributes to a large number of recorded projects, she performs frequently throughout the USA with several regular groupings as well as solo guitar concerts and concerts of freely improvised music with a host of diverse instrumentalists. Michelle Webb has helped unfetter the guitar from the conventions of genre-bound techniques, but her instrumental virtuosity is always deployed in the service of deep and immediate personal expression. Likewise, she has developed a highly individual style from an uncommonly varied range of influences that include traditional blues, East Asian, Classical North Indian and Turkish music, free jazz, free improvisation, American steel-string guitar, rock, jazz fusion and 20th century classical. Webb has built an ever-mounting reputation as a very talented musician and composer. Solo CD releases under Michelle Webb’s name include: Dotsavant,(2000) Screams from the Ceiling,(2000) Prepaired Guitar Works (1997), Michelle Webb Live (2005) and Figures at the base of a Crucifixion (2006). She composed music for the film Hospice and screen play Vincent directed by Ken Forestal and Silent Movie directed by Michael Torrez.
http://www.myspace.com/michellewebbmusic

Janel & Anthony & Violet trio return once again to coax spontaneous music out of their instruments of cello, guitar, junk, and loads of effects pedals.
http://www.myspace.com/janelandanthony
zeromoon.com/violet

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Reviews

The Thirteenth Assembly Reviewed

A recent performance of the avant supergroup is reviewed.

The Thirteenth Assembly, a four-piece collective, reconciles more strains of music than might seem prudent at first glance. Its new debut album, “(un)sentimental” (Important), conveys trace amounts of springy funk and chugging metal, along with chamber pop, Latin jazz and a few different takes on free improvisation (combative, schematic, serene). But what you notice, in the end, isn’t the variety so much as the consistency: this is a group with an admirably relaxed sense of self, and a shared conviction to keep all options open.

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Reviews

Bagatellen Reviews

From Bagatellen:

Frank Gratkowski/Chris Brown/William Winant – Wake (Red Toucan)

Sometimes what makes for vivid, exciting free improvisation is not necessarily the foregrounding of a “new” technique, the spontaneous elaboration of an impressive form, or even – perhaps especially – a race to the boiling point, the big rock solo moment in free improv. No, it’s often the case that the documents worth returning to […]

Francisco López Michael Gendreau – TDDM (Sonoris)

Since 2006, many worthy labels have either fallen into depression or ceased production altogether. Franck Laplaine’s Sonoris continues to push out releases at a snail’s pace (roughly a disc per year) from a very personalized operation. A look back through the Sonoris catalog shows quite the range, and the envelope has widened even […]

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Performances

Upcoming Events in LA

Three shows coming later this month to Los Angeles.

February 27, 2009
7:30-11:30

Tribal presents three indie jazz bands: Slumgum, Whale Shark, & Colter Frazier/Matt Crane. Come sample an emerging SoCal modern jazz scene with bands from LA and Santa Barbara.

Tribal Café
1651 W. Temple St., #A
Los Angeles, CA., 90026-5026
(Echo Park)
no cover/$6 minimum delicious purchase
http://www.tribalcafe.com

SLUMGUM combines elements of jazz, free improvisation, world music, and contemporary classical music to shape a unique voice as a band. Their exhilarating live shows take the audience through a sonic journey that is both communicative and provocative. Using an arsenal of compositions by all band members as a point of departure, Slumgum weaves original music and standards into a performance of fun, unpredictable improvisation. This band is committed to creating music that is innovative and visceral, yet accessible and rooted in the tradition of American music to create an exciting experience for any listener.
http://www.slumgummusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/slumgum

COLTER FRAZIER (tenor sax) and MATT CRANE (drums) perform music to uplift the spirit and instill positivity into the heart. Relatively isolated in Santa Barbara for many years, Colter Frasier has been honing a unique playing style and compositional sound that shines like a beacon of hope in a dark world of jazz that too often lacks individuality.
http://www.colterfrazier.com

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This Week’s Wayward Music Shows

From Seattle’s Wayward Music:

Saturday, January 17, 2009
Seattle Improv Fest Benefit: 1-Minute Solos
8:00 PM; suggested donation $10 or more.

Seattle Improvised Music presents its annual benefit concert to raise funds for the 24th annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival. This year’s festival (February 13, 14, 15 and 20, 21, 22) will feature performers from France, Berlin, Beirut, the east and west coasts of the US, and Seattle. And this year’s fundraiser will again feature many, many Seattle area musicians, poets, and dancers performing one-minute solos. It’s a chance to hear a diverse spattering of local performers and contribute generously to the support the longest-running festival of free improvisation in the country.

Friday, January 16, 2009
Transport: MAD Trio
8:00 PM; $5 – $15 siding scale odnation at the door (WCF members attend one concert in the Transport Series free)

Washington Composers’ Forum’s ongoing Transport Series features MAD Trio, an ensemble that stretches the line between composed and improvised music. Alan Lechusza (multi-woodwinds), Christopher Adler (piano), and Colin McCallister (electric guitar), present high energy performances. The trio offers compositions from Alan Lechusza and selections from his multi-media work TRAPA and the symphonic tone poem The Birth of a Butterfly.

Thursday, January 15, 2009
Is That Jazz?: Krispen Hartung + RadioSondeg
8:00 PM; $15 suggested donation.

The Seattle Composers’ Salon announces the first annual IS THAT JAZZ? festival, taking place on three Thursday nights, January 8, 15, and 22. Local and national acts come together for six inspired and compelling sets. The festival also invites artists and audience members to explore the underlying question: Is that jazz? Meet the artists and discuss the music at informal receptions after each concert, and participate in an on-line discussion blog to begin a conversation about music and art in the twenty-first century.

Krispen Hartung (Boise)
Krispen Hartung focuses on the tonal character of the guitar as a basis for random electro-acoustic manipulation via Reaktor, a wide variety of VST effects, and Cycling 74’s MAX/msp. For this performance, he will play a new custom instrument built by San Juan Island luthier Bobby Warren. It’s a one-of-a-kind miniature jazz archtop guitar, only 29″ long but full of amazing tone and punch.

RadioSonde (Seattle)
This company of five dancers and four improvising musicians premiered their first work INVERT to rave reviews last January at the Chapel. Dancer Beth Graczyk and composer Tom Baker have constructed a new score for this event, a structured dance/music improvisation to enliven the visual, sonic and physical space of the Chapel.

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Interviews

Evan Parker Interview

Evan Parker at the Vortex
Image by _mattxb via Flickr

Evan Parker is interviewed.

It may be almost impossible to be involved in free improvisational forms and not be influenced by the compositional genius of Evan Parker. As a saxophonist, he has created one of the most original voices in the history of the instrument and after several decades, remains one of music’s most important pioneers.

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General

European Free Improvisation home

British saxophonist Evan Parker performing liv...
Image via Wikipedia

European Free Improvisation home has been updated.

* A definite focus on the Blue Notes in this update, based around the wonderful 5CD box from Ogun Blue Notes: the Ogun collection which includes re-issues with additional music of Legacy: Live in South Afrika; Blue Notes for Mongezi (2CD); Blue Notes in concert; and Blue Notes for Johnny. In addition, there’s the great, just issued, duo of Louis Moholo-Moholo with Marilyn Crispell on Intakt – Sibanye – and what looks like the final McGregor/Brotherhood of Breath CD on the Fledg’ling label: Our prayer by the Chris McGregor Trio featuring Barre Phillips and Louis Moholo.

* Barre Phillips also turns up on the excellent duo with Jöelle Léandre on Kadima Collectvie Recordings – A l’improviste – and Jöelle has another brand new CD, on Leo, with Akosh S. on reeds: KOR. Also on Leo is Anthony Braxton’s Quartet (Moscow) 2008 recorded barely four months ago. And the second of Intakt’s new CDs is The salmon by Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky and Michael Griener.

* Three new PSI CDs came out right at the end of October: Alexander Von Schlippenbach with Friulian sketches; Ray Warleigh in duo with Tony Marsh on Rue victor massé; and John Edwards solo bass, Volume; and a recent release on Mutable is a DVD and CD offering from Jérôme Bourdellon, Thomas Buckner, Dalila Khatir and Roscoe Mitchell: Kirili et Les Nymphéas. Other recent Mutable releases included are: Thomas Buckner’s New music for baritone & chamber ensemble; “Blue” Gene Tyranny with The somewhere songs/The invention of memory; and Nils Bultmann, with Roscoe Mitchell on four tracks: Terminally unique

* A large number of ESP-Disk CDs have been added, the releases from June and September: Giuseppi Logan Quartet; Lowell Davidson Trio; Milford Graves Percussion Ensemble; Henry Grimes Trio with The call; the Gunter Hampel Group with Music from Europe; The Holy Modal Rounders Indian war whoop; Karel Velebny with SHQ; Yuganaut’s This musicship; The Holy Modal Rounders Live in 1965; Totem> with Solar forge; and Jugendstil by Chris Speed/Chris Cheek/Stephane Furic Leibovici.

* CDs on my must get around to sometime (but now finally have) list include the Journey into the valley DVD with bonus CD from Faruq Z. Bey and Northwoods Improvisers on Entropy Stereo and, on MusicNow, Consciously from Cornelius Cardew, solemn songs of sound political intent including, on one track a great soprano contribution from Evan Parker, and Liquid metal dreaming by Robert Evans and Laurie Scott Baker.

* A new label from Lithuania is No Business Records with The Vilnius explosion by Mats Gustafsson. On DUNS Limited Edition, there’s Bionic beings’ beginnings from Paul Dunmall/Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg/Philip Gibbs/Peter Brandt and Spirits past and future from Paul Dunmall and Tony Bianco; four more Dunmalls on FMR: in duo with Paul Rogers on Regeneration; with Barry Edwards/Mark Sanders on Mind out; with Trevor Taylor and Evelyn Chang on Crossing; and with Philip Gibbs added on Atmospheres without oxygen; on Loosetorque the trio of Jon Corbett, Nick Stephens and Roger Turner going under the name of Dangerous Musics In ’91; SLAM has the self-titled Aida Severo and the fascinating D.A.T.A. disc Compressed; the new Potlatch CD is Shortcut from Trio Sowari; on 2:13 Music there’s A schlep from Strathbungo, a duo by John Bisset and Ivor Kallin; on Al Maslakh there’s Shortwave from Christine Sehnaoui/Michel Waisvisz, and Much remains to be heard by Stéphane Rives; and on Red Note there’s RegenOrchester XII (Franz Hautzinger/Christian Fennesz/Otomo/Luc Ex/Tony Buck with Town down.

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General

On writing about music

Ashiko
Image via Wikipedia

Friend of AMN Lyn Horton writes about writing:

Free improvisation employs broadly accepted ensembles of instruments, speaking a language that is sometimes foreign to the instruments; but also within this music is used, among countless others, the doson gouni, the kora, the shenai, the cello, the violin, the oud, the djembe, accordion, synthesizers, amplifiers, samples, vocals, spoons, mouth-harps. Box drums. Table tops. Stages. And instruments still to be invented.

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