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Interviews

Alessandro Bosetti Interview

From New York’s Roulette:

Central to the music of Trophies is the voice or a multitude of voices.  A type of voices bordering song and speech but not embracing either one of those practices completely. On November 14th at Roulette, composer and sound artist Alessandro Bosetti presented TROPHIES along with Kenta Nagai, and Ches Smith.  We met up with Alessandro to talk about the project. 

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Coming in Early 2010 from EMF Productions

From New York’s EMF Productions:

Iannis Xenakis:
Composer, Architect, Visionary
October, 2009—March, 2010

Electronic Music Foundation and other organizations in New York present a series of extraordinary events showcasing the visionary interdisciplinary practices of this revolutionary composer/architect.

In collaboration with Goethe Institute NYC
Unsound Festival
February 2—10, 2010

A first for New York City, Unsound NY will showcase European experimental and electronic music, as well as related visual arts, including the Warhol Series. Details coming soon.

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Performances Reviews

In Brooklyn, Yesterday’s Avant-Garde as Today’s Durable Works

From NYTimes.com, a review of recent Darmstadt shows.

Precious little linked most of the composers who participated in New Music, New York, a nine-evening concert series presented by the Kitchen in June 1979. Then located in SoHo, the Kitchen was a home for a wide range of musical doings: Fluxus happenings, the nascent Minimalism of Philip Glass and Steve Reich, experiments by rock refugees like Robert Fripp and performance artists in the process of defining themselves.

What New Music, New York provided for its disparate participants was a sense of unity and purpose, a rallying cry that proposed that the creative urges expressed at the Kitchen were worthy of the attention paid to “uptown” composers — modernists like Elliott Carter and Milton Babbitt — and worthy of critical evaluation and financial patronage too.

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Bohemian in Exile Shows

Upcoming performances in Detroit:

Friday, December 4th at Contemporary Arts Institute of Detroit: Steve Cohn with Jeff Marx and Joel Peterson

Saturday, December 5th at 2739 Edwin: Cohn/Marx/Peterson plus Dushun Mosley
Piano and sakuhachi player Steve Cohn is a native of San Francisco. In his early days he worked with notables like Sonny Simmons and Eddie Henderson and also spent 2 years in Japan learning sakuhachi. Upon relocating to New York, Cohn started playing strictly improvised music and immersed himself in the scene there, working with Reggie Workman, William Parker, Fred Hopkins, Oliver Lake and others. Two of his records as a leader have earned 4 star ratings in Downbeat and Cohn has received grants from Arts International, Meet the Composer and The New Jersey Council of the Arts.

Michigan native Jeff Marx is a saxophonist who now lives in Chicago. Like Steve Cohn, he also has spent time in the Bay Area and New York. He was originally inspired on the instrument by seeing Detroit saxophonist Sonny Stitt as a youngtser. He’s gone on to work with Donald Byrd, Jim Pepper, Ira Coleman etc. and co lead the group Second Sight with Dave Douglas,Jeff Siegel and John Esposito.

Chicago percussionist Dushun Mosely is known to many of us as co-leader of The Vizitors (with Kenneth Green) and as drummer for Eight Bold Souls. A member of the AACM, he has performed with some of its most famous figures, including Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal Abrahms, Don Moye and Douglas Ewart– as well as other important creative musicians like Don Cherry, Anthony Davis and Henry Threadgill.

Joel Peterson, on doublebass, is familiar to most of you folks.

Friday doors at 8 pm. $5-10.
Saturday doors at 8:30, $10 suggested.

Coming Soon:
12/14 Keenan Lawler/Jozef Van Wissem
1/25 Frode Gjerstad/Paal Nilssen Love
3/25 Han Bennink/Frode Gjerstad

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Upcoming Roulette TV Shoots

From New York’s Roulette:

Christian Wolff
ROULETTE TV SHOOT
Sat Dec 12 – 8:00 PM

All-Star quintet: Joey Baron, Robert Black, Larry Polansky, Robyn Schulkowsky, Christian Wolff present the music of Christian Wolff both old and new – including the premiere of new long form piece written specifically for this quintet.

Christian Wolff was born in 1934 in Nice, France. He’s lived mostly in the U.S. since 1941. He studied piano with Grete Sultan and composition, briefly, with John Cage. Though mostly self-taught as a composer, the work of John Cage, Morton Feldman, David Tudor and Earle Brown have been important to him, as well as long associations with Cornelius Cardew and Frederic Rzewski. A particular feature of his music is the various freedoms it allows performers at the time of performance as well as the variable results possible for any one particular piece, for which various new notations have been invented. Underlying notions in the work are shared freedom, self-determination and democratically-spirited collaboration. The music is published by C.F. Peters, New York and much of it is recorded, on many labels. A number of pieces, starting in 1953, have been used and commissioned by Merce Cunningham and his dance company. Wolff has been active as a performer and as improvisor – with Takehisa Kosugi, Steve Lacey, Christian Marclay, Keith Rowe, William Winant, the group AMM, Kui Dong and Larry Polansky. His writings on music (up to 1998) are collected in “Cues: Writings and Conversations”, published by MusikTexte, Cologne. He has received awards and grants from the American Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letters, the Ford Foundation, DAAD Berlin, the Asian Cultural Council, the Fromm Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts (the John Cage Award for music) and the Mellon Foundation. He is a member of the Akademie der Kuenste in Berlin and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2004 he received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts. Academically trained as a classicist, Wolff was professor of classics and music at Dartmouth College from 1971 to 1999.

Joey Baron
ROULETTE TV SHOOT
Sun Dec 13 – 8:00 PM
Join us for the filming of Roulette TV’s special on Joey Baron! Avant-garde jazz drummer Joey Baron has worked with an impressive list of musicians, including everyone from Bill Frisell, Stan Getz, and Tony Bennett to John Zorn, Laurie Anderson, Fred Frith, and Tim Berne. His own groups he has led include the “Down Home Group”, Barondown, and Killer Joey and was a member of “Naked City” (with John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith and Wayne Horvitz) and of Zorn’s group Masada (Dave Douglas and Greg Cohen). Joey Baron was born 1955 in Richmond ,Va. He started drumming at age 9, performing profesionally the following year. His early musical education included private drum lessons as well as the wide genre radio programing of the 1960s. After finishing high school early through a special accelerated program, Mr. Baron spent time in Boston attending the Berklee School of Music.He settled in Los Angeles,California in 1975 to realize a dream of playing with the great jazz musician Carmen McRae,consequently becoming a much sought after singer’s drummer. Since moving to New York City in 1983, Mr. Baron has continued to expand his scope and develope his musical ideas through collaborations with various artists including Red Rodney, Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, Ron Carter, and John Zorn ,with whom the collaboration continues to the present. Current projects include solo concert tours, duo concerts with Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, his own band, “Killer Joey”,The John Abercrombie Quartet, and the Schulkowsky, Studer, Baron drum trio.

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Mary Halvorson In November

From Improvised Communications:

Fresh off a successful European duo tour with Jessica Pavone that ended earlier in the month, guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson is only playing a few gigs in November with Crackleknob, Ellery Eskelin and Lisa Mezzacappa.

Next month things heat up again when she will play two gigs with her quintet, record the follow-up to her acclaimed debut, Dragon’s Head (Firehouse 12 Records), and head back to Europe for a week-long tour with her longstanding trio featuring John Hébert and Ches Smith.

Crackleknob
11/15 :: Douglass Street Music Collective (Brooklyn, NY)

Ellery Eskelin
11/21 :: Cornelia Street Cafe (New York, NY)

Lisa Mezzacappa
11/22 :: Zebulon (Brooklyn, NY)

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String Quartet Ethel in 2010

From ETHEL Central:

ETHEL w/ Quartetto Gelato
Saturday, January 16 @ 8:00PM
Koerner Hall, Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Canada
*World premiere*
This concert helps launch the new venue’s inaugural season.

Amplified alt-classical NYC string quartet Ethel fuses genre-defying world, blues and classical music, and plays it all with rock-concert intensity. Virtuosic showpieces, relaxed humor, romantic tenor arias, the sizzling energy of tangos and gypsy folk songs, and a World Accordion Champion – this is Quartetto Gelato. This performance will feature the music of Latin America from the quartet’s latest recording CD “Musica Latina”. For more info, visit http://performance.rcmusic.ca/performance/index/year/2010/month/01/day/16/time/2000/venue/koerner.

ETHEL Album Recording
January 21 – 25
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

A private recording of new works composed by children of Native American reservations; as part of ETHEL’s TruckStop® project. Since 2005, ETHEL has served as the Native American Composers Apprentice Project’s (NACAP) Ensemble-in-Residence resulting in several workshops, tours, and performances with children of Native American reservations. From the Navajo and Hopi tribes to schools throughout Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, ETHEL has explored indigenous communities, music, and people that warrant an album recording. CD release date TBA.

ETHEL Educational Concerts/Residences in New Jersey
Monday, February 1 @ 9:00AM – 2:00PM
ETHEL continues its outreach program with a visit to New Jersey schools in New Providence.
9:00AM New Providence High School Auditorium ?35 Pioneer Drive, New Providence, NJ
12:30PM Salt Brook School Gym ?40 Maple Strett, New Providence, NJ
2:00PM A.W. Roberts School Gym ?80 Jones Drive, New Providence, NJ

ETHEL Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert
March 3 @ 7:30PM
Pregones Theater, Bronx, New York

ETHEL continues to provide free concerts as part of the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series. For more than 30 years, Carnegie Hall has brought FREE concerts to neighborhoods throughout all five boroughs of New York City. The Neighborhood Concert Series presents concerts for all ages in collaboration with museums, colleges, libraries, community centers, churches, and cultural organizations, with music reflecting the diverse sounds of the City and Carnegie Hall’s quality programming. For more info, visit http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/explore_and_learn/art_neighborhood_concerts.html.

ETHEL New Sounds® Live
March 11 @ 7:30PM
Merkin Hall, New York City, New York
*World premiere*

The New Sounds® Live series, hosted by WNYC’s John Schaefer, returns to Merkin Hall for another adventurous season offering new ways to hear the ancient language of song. A collaboration with the string quartet ETHEL and Dutch avant-pop composer Jacob TV in a program sure to surprise and inspire. For more info, visit http://kaufman-center.org/press/releases/2009-2010-season-at-merkin-concert-hall/.

ETHEL Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert
May 13 @ 8:00PM
LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Queens, New York

ETHEL continues to host free concerts as part of the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series. For more than 30 years, Carnegie Hall has brought FREE concerts to neighborhoods throughout all five boroughs of New York City. The Neighborhood Concert Series presents concerts for all ages in collaboration with museums, colleges, libraries, community centers, churches, and cultural organizations, with music reflecting the diverse sounds of the City and Carnegie Hall’s quality programming. For more info, visit http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/explore_and_learn/art_neighborhood_concerts.html.

ETHEL Lincoln Center Out of Doors
July 28th (Time TBA)
Lincoln Center Damrosch Park, New York City, New York
*World premiere*

ETHEL makes its Lincoln Center Out of Doors debut with ETHEL FAIR: The Songwriters. Soaked in ETHEL’s unique style and sound, the group collaborates with four singer-songwriters and presents original and revamped works. Guests TBA.

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Claudia Quintet at REDCAT Reviewed

From the Los Angeles Times:

The accordion isn’t exactly one of the more common instruments in jazz. Yet in the context of the genre-shifting mix of New York’s Claudia Quintet, the accordion sounded so natural at REDCAT on Wednesday night that it’s fair to start questioning just why it doesn’t make an appearance more often.

Of course, the same can be asked of the quintet. Composed of veterans from New York City’s jazz scene, the Claudia Quintet doesn’t make its way west very often. But the audience of CalArts students and older jazz heads were treated to an evening with a versatile band that deserves mention among the top ensembles in jazz today.

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Chance Aesthetics Concert in St. Louis

Next week features an avant concert in St. Louis:

The performance will begin with Music of Changes Book IV: New York, December 13, a piece for solo piano by experimental composer John Cage (1912 -1992). Written in 1951, Music of Changes was Cage’s second fully indeterminate work, with compositional decisions made in consultation with the I Ching, the classic Chinese text. Performer will be Peter Henderson, assistant professor of music at Maryville University.

Next on the program will be The Oracle, a new improvisatory work based on a mobile hanging from the ceiling of the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall. Performers will be guitarist William Lenihan, director of jazz performance; percussionist Henry Claude, teacher of applied music; and cellist Tracy Andreotti. In addition, the performance will feature three dancers: Mary-Jean Cowell, associate professor and coordinator of the Dance Program; David Marchant, senior lecturer in dance; and post-doctoral fellow Ting Ting Chang.

Following intermission, the program will conclude with In C, a classic 1964 work by Terry Riley (b. 1935). Often credited with launching the minimalist movement, In C consists of 53 short, simple musical phrases — lasting from one-half to 32 beats — each of which can be repeated an arbitrary number of times by any combination of musicians.

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Xenakis in New York

Iannis Xenakis
Image via Wikipedia

Two days of Xenakis is coming to the Miller Theatre at Columbia University:

Iannis Xenakis in New York
“Composer Portrait” Concert by International Contemporary Ensemble
Miller Theatre at Columbia University
October 16 & 17, 2009

Presented in conjunction with Iannis Xenakis: Composer, Architect, Visionary
On View at The Drawing Center from January 15 – April 8, 2010

What:

Friday, October 16: Iannis Xenakis: Interdisciplinary Connections
-A consortium of artists and experts will join together for a panel discussion
-Panelists include composer David Lang; musicologist, Xenakis biographer, and exhibition co-curator Sharon Kanach; Mark Wigley, Dean of Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; and Steven Schick, percussionist and conductor

Saturday, October 17: Concert by International Contemporary Ensemble
-International Contemporary Ensemble will present a “Composer Portrait” of Iannis Xenakis
-Percussion superstar Steven Schick will play and conduct O-Mega, Xenakis’s final composition, together with other musical selections by Xenakis

When:
Friday, October 16, 7:00 PM
Iannis Xenakis: Interdisciplinary Connections
Free Admission

Saturday, October 17, 8:00 PM
“Composer Portrait” concert by International Contemporary Ensemble
Admission: $7 – $25

Where:
Miller Theatre at Columbia University
Located north of the Main Campus Gate at 116th St. & Broadway on the ground floor of Dodge Hall

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