CJM Sounds

Rockwell on 1980 New Music America

2010-06-11T06:20:00.000-07:00

Music: Avant-Gardists Get a Chance to Roam
By JOHN ROCKWELL
Special to The New York Times

MINNEAPOLIS, June 9 - There is a benignly brooding "video portrait" of John Cage greeting people in the lobby of the Walker Art Center here. That's only appropriate, because people are gathering for a nine-day festival called New Music America that began Saturday night. This is a followup to a similar festival held last June at The Kitchen in New York, and part of what is now hoped will be an annual event in different parts of the country, all devoted to the openly experimental spirit that Mr. Cage pioneered.

There are good reasons for this second festival to be in Minneapolis-St. Paul, but the reasons are more institutional than creative. As Roy M. Close, music critic of The Minneapolis Star, points out in the festival catalogue, the Twin Cities have never been the home of a particularly strong school of experimental composers. But local institutions, above all the Walker Art Center and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, have more than made up the slack, and the result is an active audience and support system for such music. The festival is being presented by the center and The Star, and the first evening's performances were by the chamber orchestra.

•

Judging from the first two days and from a look at the programs to come, the Minneapolis festival differs in several ways from its Kitchen prototype. The Kitchen festival was criticized for cramming too many short, insubstantial works onto each program. Here, the evenmgs offer three or four composers instead of six, and allow them a greater length and breadth of forces.

This is not always an advantage. Some of the composers abused that generosity on the first two nights, and the concerts ran too long for comfort. The necessary inclusion of some local composers, plus a few misjudgments about out-of-town guests, has diffused the festival's conceptual focus. Still, the overall program seems genuinely representative of the variety of "new music" styles.

Perhaps the biggest difference from the Kitchen programs is the inclusion of a wide range of special events and "installations." The latter are musical compositions that in one way or another interact with their site, which by definition is not a conventional concert hall. New Music America has some rather silly, trendy (and worse, yesteryear's trends) examples of this genre, mostly by local composers. But there is a fine piece by Liz Phillips in the plaza outside the Minnesota Orchestra's concert hall - clever, entrancing and ingenious. There is a permanent installation of a subtly lively steady-state work for 64 speakers and small synthesizers by Max Neuhaus in Minnesota's largest greenhouse. Brian Eno's gentle "Music for Airports" is chiming away in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, and Alvin Lucier has an example of his thoughtprovoking minimalism in a large indoor courtyard.

•

Two of the three pieces on the chamber orchestra's opening-night concert were commissions. Unfortunately, the festival opened with one of those commissions, a weak, derivative and rather giddy piece by Minnesota's Homer Lambrecht called "Owl." But then there was Steve Reich's characteristically ingenious Octet, played brightly and industriously by a hardworking band of orchestra members.

The concert ended with the other commission, a 45-minute work for piano, orchestra and electronics by Alvin Curran. Mr. Curran, an American composer who lives in Rome, has heretofore been best known for his solo appearances, and in this piece's nine minute cadenza for himself at the piano, hammering out a frenzied ostinato, wailing away American Indian style into a sound system that "treated" his voice, and supported by two French horns, he achieved a compelling impact. But his orchestral writing which blended folk songs, Western kitsch and na'ive counterpoint, sounded amateurish.

•

Last night's second concert had editing troubles. A mixed-media piece by Charles Amirkhanian and Carol Law failed to present Mr. Amirkhanian's clever "text-sound" manipulations at their full aural potential, and Barbara Kolb's three works not only went on far too long, but also seemed curiously out of place in their sober, East Coast-formalistic way. A local group called Zeitgeist combined Reichian ostinatos with jazzy brass improvisations inoffensively but trivially. The evening was handily salvaged, however, by Robert Ashley at the end.

Mr. Ashley was at once old and new, an honored veteran of pioneering new music groups, and the purveyor, in collaboration with Blue Gene Tyranny, Peter Gordon and others of the rock-art vanguard, of about the freshest sound heard in recent months. This was another in-progress installment of his "Perfect Lives - Private Parts" series. But instead of the wonderful floating dreaminess of previously encountered parts, the latest section partook of the tension, energy and anger of new-wave rock. Yet it hardly "ripped off" rock; this was always Mr. Ashley's piece, and it earned him the most fervent ovation of the festival so far.

Cellular Automata and a Meta-Hodos Club?

2010-05-04T08:01:00.000-07:00

Christopher McIntyre can anyone recommend reading on the topic of generative formal concepts in art making?

April 30 at 12:27pm
Rama Gottfried likes this.

Christopher McIntyre

"art" meaning all the arts, not just visual

April 30 at 12:28pm

Miguel Frasconi

I've been staring at those three words for a few minutes now, and I can't for the life of me understand what it means. Do you mean self-generating algorithms? Or perhaps ideas that hand out tuxedos?
Other than that, the only free-associative thought that comes to me is Tenney's Meta-Meta Hodos. Does that help?

April 30 at 1:33pm

Christopher McIntyre

self-generative algorithms included, yes. i want to research existing ideas about emulating biological/geological operations to generate form in real-time or otherwise. difficult to know what to call exactly. seems like the first place to start!

April 30 at 1:46p

David Watson

thanks , Miguel. I thought it was me.
https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~blackrse/algorithm.html

I understand this article : that might be a bad sign.
... See More
But then also, say, Ono's (I think ) : "Draw a Line, and follow it".
?

April 30 at 2:06pm

Miguel Frasconi

Aaah! I get it. Fascinating! The effect of time on structure. Art that grows and ages gracefully as part of it's own internal structure. (Perhaps watching Arav is inspiring these thoughts!) Very cool. Maybe reading about HMSL would help. Good luck!

April 30 at 2:13p

Miguel Frasconi

Great article David! Ah yes, "Draw a straight line and follow it." Perhaps the first algorithmic composition. (good ol' LaMonte, actually.)

April 30 at 2:17pm

Christopher McIntyre

Thanks David and Miguel! Meta-Meta confused me the first time I scratched the surface, but so did Meta. Time to try again! The Stanford thing looks amazing D!

April 30 at 2:17pm

Miguel Frasconi

Ya know, I've been thinking a starting a Meta-Hodos study group. Because, yes, it confuses me too. Having Tenney explain it to me helped a little, but not much! I think it would help having multiple brains reading it together would help to unlock it. HMSL was Polansky and other's way of incorporating Jim's ideas into software.

April 30 at 2:24pm

Rama Gottfried

there's a lot of generative visual stuff going on with processing might be a good resource also: http://processing.org/

April 30 at 2:48pm

Christopher McIntyre

Nice one Rama!

April 30 at 3:56pm

Christopher McIntyre

I'm down for a Meta-Hodos reading club. Anthony Coleman and I had talked about reading it together at one point as well. One of those books. I've read it all the way through twice. By the end of 2nd time I was feeling more secure about what it's saying. Now, how to process things in real-life that way as both a listener and composer...

April 30 at 3:58pm

Zeena Parkins

I am going to read this now!! here in my residency at Oxford Univ. perfect!

Sat at 5:39am

Annie Gosfield

Wow, you're at Oxford, Zeena? How great!

Sun at 5:34pm

David Linton

i would also join a hodos club

Sun at 11:47pm

Zeena Parkins

a hodos club?... moi aussi!!

Yesterday at 4:31am

Frances-Marie Uitti

what about the cellular automata of Stephen Wolfram. Not the silly wolframtunes, but the generated patterns and chaos that results from rules of cells. I find the whole thing quite interesting!

Yesterday at 6:24am

Christopher McIntyre

Thanks FMU! I've been hovering around the idea of modeling cellular activity for a while so digging in to Wolfram's stuff should help push that forward.

Yesterday at 10:17pm

Christopher McIntyre

A Tenney Club, eh? I think this could be a really important thing. Maybe Polansky would be able to join up periodically. I'll send out a note to those who mentioned interest here and to a few other potentials.

Crystal structure

2010-04-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

Crystal structure
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In mineralogy and crystallography, crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms or molecules in a crystalline liquid or solid. A crystal structure is composed of a pattern, a set of atoms arranged in a particular way, and a lattice exhibiting long-range order and symmetry. Patterns are located upon the points of a lattice, which is an array of points repeating periodically in three dimensions. The points can be thought of as forming identical tiny boxes, called unit cells, that fill the space of the lattice. The lengths of the edges of a unit cell and the angles between them are called the lattice parameters. The symmetry properties of the crystal are embodied in its space group.

SEM micrograph of surface of a colloidal crystal. Structure and morphology consists of ordered crystallites, grains or domains of particles as well as interdomain lattice defects in the form of grain boundaries.

Kampuchea, Jan. 07

2010-04-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

Player with playlist here

Recorded during CJM and AS's 3-week honeymoon in Cambodia, Jan.2007, using the Edirol R-09 with a mixture of internal mic and an AT822.

..::FILE NAME INFO::..
PP = Phnom Penh
SR = Siem Reap
AW = Angkor Wat (temple)
B = Bayon (temple)
TP = Ta Prohm (temple)
KS = Kbal Spean (carved river-bed)
mndlkiri = Mondulkiri region
kep = city of Kep

01_air1.MP3

02_air2.MP3

03_PP_brkfst.MP3

04_PP_Bali.MP3

05_PP_Coke.MP3

06_PP_mrkt.MP3

07_bus.MP3

08_bus.MP3

09_SR_D.MP3

10_SR_trad-mus.MP3

11_AW.MP3

12_Bayon.MP3

13_B.MP3

14_TP1.MP3

15_TP2.MP3

16_TP3.MP3

17_TP4.MP3

18_TP5_whsl.MP3

19.MP3

20.MP3

21.MP3

22_KS_longdy-sing.MP3

23_KS_wtrfl.MP3

24_KS.MP3

25_KS.MP3

26_KS.MP3

27_KS.MP3

28_SR.MP3

29.MP3

30_bus-mndlkiri_hip-hop.MP3

31_mndlkiri_wtrfl.MP3

32_mndlkiri.MP3

33_mndlkiri_lunch.MP3

34_mndlkiri_elphnt1.MP3

35_mndlkiri_elphnt2.MP3

36_mndlkiri_elphnt3.MP3

37_mndlkiri_elphnt4.MP3

38_mndlkiri_elphnt5.MP3

39_mndlkiri_river1_talk.MP3

40_mndlkiri_river2.MP3

41_mndlkiri_river3_frog1.MP3

42_mndlkiri_river3_frog2.MP3

43_mndlkiri_river3_frog3.MP3

44_mndlkiri_river3_frog4.MP3

45_mndlkiri_river3_frog5.MP3

46_mndlkiri_river3_frog6.MP3

47_mndlkiri_river3_frog7.MP3

48_mndlkiri_river3_frog8.MP3

49_mndlkiri_river3_frog9.MP3

50_mndlkiri_river3_frog10.MP3

51_kep1.MP3

52_kep2.MP3

Las Lajas pixelada, non pixelada

2010-04-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

Dialectic of Site and Nonsite

2010-03-13T12:51:00.000-08:00

Site	Nonsite
1. Open Limits	Closed Limits
2. A Series of Points	An Array of Matter
3. Outer Coordinates	Inner Coordinates
4. Subtraction	Addition
5. Indeterminate Certainty	Determinate Uncertainty
6. Scattered Information	Contained Information
7. Reflection	Mirror
8. Edge	Center
9. Some Place (physical)	No Place (abstract)
10. Many	One

Footnote 1 from Robert Smithon's essay The Spiral Jetty (1972).

Originally published in Arts of the Environment, Gyorgy Kepes, ed. pp.222-232
Reprinted in Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings, Jack Flam, ed. pp.143-153

Varkala flute

2010-02-25T23:10:00.000-08:00

This recording is from an impromptu performance by a Hindustani flute player along the red rock cliff in Varkala, Kerala, India, January 2005. I no longer know the musician's name, but he hand made his own flutes, one of which I bought. Unfortunately it was badly damaged in transit. This recording popped up during an iTunes shuffle. A Proustian delight, South Indian style...

by John Keller

2010-02-24T23:32:00.000-08:00

Esseneite & NiTi crystal lattice structures from the monoclinic space group

2010-02-23T20:56:00.000-08:00

Esseneite

NiTi

Installation Views of Jose Alvarez's video Surfaces of Constant Time from Ratio3 in SF

2010-02-18T13:26:00.000-08:00

Features soundtrack by CJM. Here's an excerpt:

Smithson's Hotel Palenque

2010-02-06T17:36:00.000-08:00

From UBU, a bootleg film document from 1972 of Robert Smithson lecturing at Univ. of Utah on photographs he shot at his hotel in Palenque, Mexico in 1969.

PDF of the complete transcript and slides from the lecture.

The Ballroom at Hotel Palenque

Artikulation with stylized waveform

2010-01-26T20:59:00.000-08:00

Fabric (geology)

2010-01-24T21:16:00.000-08:00

Fabric (geology)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In geology, a rock's fabric describes the spatial and geometric configuration of all the elements that make it up.[1].

Types of fabric

Primary fabric – a fabric created during the original formation of the rock e.g. a preferred orientation of clast long axes in a conglomerate, parallel to the flow direction, deposited by a fast waning current.
Shape fabric – a fabric that is defined by the preferred orientation of inequant elements within the rock, such as platy or needle like mineral grains. It may also be formed by the deformation of originally equant elements such as mineral grains
Crystallographic preferred orientation – In plastically deformed rocks the constituent minerals commonly display a preferred orientation of their crystal axes as a result of dislocation processes.
S-fabric – a planar fabric such as cleavage or foliation, when it forms the dominant fabric in a rock, it may be called an S-tectonite
L-fabric – a linear fabric such as mineral stretching lineation where aggregates of recrystallised grains are stretched out into the long axis of the finite strain ellipsoid, where it forms the dominant fabric in a rock, it may be called an L-tectonite.
Penetrative fabric – a fabric that is present throughout the rock, down to the grain scale.

Primary fabric in anorthosite intrusion, Rogaland, Norway

MATA Interval 3.1: Architectures of Sound [100113]

2010-01-16T07:06:00.000-08:00

MATA presented a fascinating event on Wednesday night, curated by David Kant and Cameron Hu. Several perspectives on how to raise audience awareness of physical space via sonic material were proffered by a great group of composers and performers. Included below is the list of the program and performers, and then some media documentation.

Interval 3.1: Architectures of Sound

Performers
Casey Thomas Anderson, soprano saxophone and electronics
Jacob Sudol, singing bowls and electronics
Anthony Ptak, electronics
Charles Stankievech, electronics
Aaron Meicht, trumpet
Quentin Tolimiere, piano
Phil Rodriguez, trumpet
David Kant, tenor saxophone

Program
Casey Thomas Anderson - quarters
Anderson, electronics

Charles Stankievech - Radiance (soundtrack for a silent film)
Stankievech, electronics

Michael Winter - Perspectives I
David Kant, saxophone
Casey Thomas Anderson, saxophone
Aaron Meicht & Phil Rodriguez, trumpet

Jacob Sudol - until we remain suspended…
Sudol, singing bowls and electronics

Intermission

David Kant & Cameron Hu - Straight Line Between Terminals
Kant & Hu - video and electronics

Anthony Ptak - Elusive Architectonics
Ptak, electronics

G. Douglas Barrett - A Few Rooms
David Kant, saxophone
Casey Thomas Anderson, saxophone
Aaron Meicht, trumpet
Quentin Tolimiere, piano

Michael Winter performing A Few Rooms by Doug Barrett

David Kant performing A Few Rooms by Doug Barrett

crumple

2009-12-26T21:10:00.000-08:00

crumple
from Wikitionary

Verb
(transitive) To rumple; to press into wrinkles by crushing together.
(transitive) To cause to collapse.
(intransitive) To become wrinkled.
(intransitive) To collapse.

prolepsis

2009-12-24T23:10:00.000-08:00

prolepsis (plural prolepses)
From Wikitionary

The assignment of something to a period of time that precedes it.
The representation of something which has occurred before its time. I'm a dead man.
(rhetoric) The anticipation of an objection to an argument.
A grammatical construction that consists of placing an element in a syntactic unit before that to which it would logically correspond. That noise, I just heard it again.
A philosophical concept used in ancient epistemology to indicate a so-called "preconception", i.e. a pre-theoretical notion which can lead to true knowledge of the world.

Graham - Jersey subdivisions as proto-Minimalist aesthetic

2009-12-22T23:21:00.000-08:00

Dan Graham - From Homes of America (1965)

Evenings For New Music - Carnegie program cover

2009-12-22T07:48:00.000-08:00

A very hip logo for a very important series that ran from 1964 to 1980 in Bufallo and New York. Every program presented during the Evenings for New Music can be viewed and searched on the University of Bufallo Music Department Library website.

Image taken by CJM at Baird Hall Library in the "Treasure Room." Apologies for the image quality. Shot with iPhone with only one florescent light source available.

Early visual sketch for "foliation (for Suzanne)" for TILT Creative Brass Band

2009-12-15T21:35:00.000-08:00

Listenings 091212

2009-12-12T23:42:00.000-08:00

Big Choantza - The New Mellow Edwards (Curtis Hasselbring's band), Skirl 010
Hockey [The Parachute Years Disc 3] - John Zorn, Tzadik 7316-2
Shakara/London Scene - Fela Kuti & Africa '70, MCA 314 547 377-2 [discog]
The Shape of Jazz to Come - Ornette Coleman, Atlantic 1317-2
Pacifica - Fred Frith, Tzadik 7034
John Adams/Arnold Schönberg Chamber Symphonies - Absolute Ensemble, CCn'C Records 00492

70's Experimentalism: SoHo Scene by CJM [for DRAM]

2009-12-12T09:52:00.000-08:00

DRAM Monthly Playlists
70's Experimentalism: SoHo Scene
Posted on Monday, October 06, 2008
Contributed by Chris McIntyre
[original URL]

[Blog Note: Links to recordings are password protected within DRAM site.]

Throughout the 1970's, the avant garde music community in New York City experienced a uniquely fecund period of aesthetic, cultural, and technological discovery. Conceptual and interdisciplinary work developed during the 1960's led to several strains of activity, all of which were manifest in or near the area in Lower Manhattan known as SoHo (a neologism meaning "South of Houston"). This playlist addresses two distinct yet overlapping areas of work prevalent within the so-called "SoHo Scene": Minimalism (of the drone, static variety) and Conceptualism. These now classic aesthetic modes were experienced most often in loft venues such as The Kitchen and Experimental Intermedia (among many others). These particular physical contexts, with their grandiose iron facades and vast wooden interiors of 19th century structures, are as key to this music as the sound itself, although recordings can at least give us an aural glimpse.

SoHo's Roots

The collective journey that led to the 70's zeitgeist in "Downtown" New York was indeed rooted in the lofts and film houses of Lower Manhattan. However, many of the better-known practitioners developed their early work in other parts of the country such Ann Arbor, Michigan and the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as an expatriate community living across the Atlantic in Rome. Typical histories of the period cite composer John Cage and his artistic philosophies as ubiquitously inspirational. Activities such as "happenings" (created by artists like Dick Higgins) and the Fluxus movement in general are seen by some as "Cageian" developments. I personally find this narrative to be overly monolithic, but there are few who deny the influence of Cage and his New York School colleagues (see Newton Armstrong's recent DRAM playlist) on the artists to be covered below.

The first three tracks identify a few key developmental figures:

David Tudor/John Cage - Rainforest II / Mureau - A Simultaneous Performance (Part I) (New World 80540)

The impact of John Cage and David Tudor's work with Merce Cunningham Dance Company on artists in the SoHo Scene is incalculable. Beyond the basic conceptual approach of complete independence of sound from the dance, the pervasive use of what became known as "live-electronics" revolutionized the field. The work of groups such as Sonic Arts Union and Musica Elettronica Viva (both of which are discussed below) seem impossible without the seminal activities of these two pioneers.

Pauline Oliveros - Bye Bye Butterfly (CRI CR728)

In the early 1960's, Oliveros and several other Bay Area composers (Morton Subotnick primary among them) established the San Francisco Tape Music Center. Epochal musical moments worthy of mention from SFTMC's history include: Terry Riley and Steve Reich's early tape experiments; the first performance of Riley's In C, and Subotnick's paradigm shifting work in developing analog synthesizers. Oliveros' electronic music and work with open, non-hierarchical forms was and still is influential to experimentalists in New York and beyond. Bye Bye Butterfly, from the key 70's document New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media, is a classic example of the type of sound world one experiences listening to an Oliveros creation.

Gordon Mumma - Megaton for Wm. Burroughs (New World 80632)

Gordon Mumma was a founding member of the loosely grouped quartet of composer/performers known as Sonic Arts Union (SAU). Along with Alvin Lucier, Robert Ashley, and David Behrman (the latter two of whom are represented in the playlist below), SAU was known for its irreverent and severe use of live-electronic instruments, most of which they built themselves. SAU grew out of relationships developed in Ann Arbor, Michigan during the legendary ONCE Festival. Also via introduction during ONCE, Mumma became involved in Tudor and Cage's Cunningham experiments with self-made circuits. Megaton for Wm. Burroughs was created for a theatrical, in-the-round performance during the 1964 ONCE Festival. The title refers to the weight parametric used for military artillery and, of course, the Beat writer William S. Burroughs.

Minimal SoHo

New York in the late 1960's saw the emergence of the now-canonical musical format known as Minimalism. A number of the primary musicians involved in its development, such as Jon Gibson and Steve Reich, had migrated from the West Coast after working at the San Francisco Tape Music Center. The work of a critical mass of like-minded artists in New York catalyzed an unusually unified aesthetic for the late 20th century. Even Philip Glass, who famously "discovered" the circumscribe aesthetic of his earliest work while in Europe, ostensibly required the nascent environs of what would become known as SoHo to bring his mature work to fruition.

It was within this wildly fertile milieu that two pioneering video artists, Woody and Steina Vasulka, opened The Kitchen at Mercer Arts Center (MAC) in 1971. Originally intended as a workspace for video artists to develop and show material, the Vasulkas were also interested in analog audio synthesizers as tools for live video events. This led to the hiring of a very young Rhys Chatham (student of Morton Subotnick at the time) to "curate" music events. The resulting music series, at both the MAC and The Kitchen's better known Wooster Street loft locations, became the epicenter for a particular way of making music; related to the motoric, rhythmically additive forms of Minimalism, but of a more static character, drawing listener focus more to sonic and durational concerns.

David Behrman - From The Other Ocean (Lovely Music LCD1041)

This track was actually recorded while Behrman was teaching at Mills College in Oakland, but I include herein because he was a central figure in the SoHo Scene before and after moving to California. Also, the sound world of From The Other Ocean and the technology used to create it are quintessentially of the time. Continuing the tradition that David Tudor and other Sonic Arts Union colleagues had of building their own synthesizers, Behrman taught himself the coding language for the first commercially available "microcomputer", the KIM-1. An early example of the now pervasive use of computer interactivity, Behrman "taught" the KIM-1 to trigger changes to the constant underlying harmonic drone when it "heard" certain pitches being played by the bassoon and flute, i.e. pitch sensing.

Phill Niblock - A Third Trombone (XI XI121)

Phill Niblock is also a key figure in the development of the loft community, both artistically and as the purveyor of Experimental Intermedia (aka XI), a non-profit organization and performance venue (as well as a record label) located (to this day!) in his loft on Grand and Centre Street since the early 70's. Famous for creating "tape pieces" that present singular, massive drones with complex frequency textures, Niblock's work is definitively SoHo: static, immersive, and especially when experienced at the loft, of extremely long duration. A Third Trombone can either be played back by itself or with a live trombonist manipulating natural frequency "beating" phenomena, adding another layer to the brutal yet subtle texture.

(Ed. Note: Niblock turned 75 on October 2nd, and Chris will be performing this piece at Brooklyn's ISSUE Project Room on Oct. 8th as part of a week long celebration.)

Julius Eastman - The Holy Presence Of Joan D'Arc (New World 80638-2)

Julius Eastman was and remains an enigmatic character in the Downtown scene of the 70's and 80's. He was a key figure during the early days of Morton Feldman's tenure at the University of Buffalo, adding his piano and astonishing vocal skills to the work of the seminal performer/composer group Creative Associates, among other projects. This recording of The Holy Presence Of Joan D'Arc consists of an ensemble of 10 cellos and is part of New World Records' lauded 3-CD release of Eastman's work entitled Unjust Malaise. He died in 1990 penniless and homeless, most of his work and archives having been lost along the path to an early demise. Thanks to the work of Mary Jane Leach, Kyle Gann, Paul Tai, and others in putting together what is the first release of his recorded music, people of my generation are able to experience Eastman's unique and powerful music firsthand. Related to motoric Minimalism on the surface, many of the works represented on this record (including The Holy Presence...) develop via the use of an open form score/strategy and the subtle use of pop music references (i.e. the quasi rock riff that opens this track).

Peter Zummo - Instruments (New World 80656)

By the later 70's, a younger generation of artists were stretching the boundaries of classic Minimalism, absorbing ideas from their Conceptualist colleagues, as well as the Loft Jazz and No Wave rock scenes around them. Trombonist Peter Zummo's compositional aesthetic tends to reflect that sort of inclusivity. Instruments, although severe in its simplified, elemental character, suggests a dialogic space between the written material and its implication, both a Minimalist exercise and an indeterminate strategy.

Conceptual SoHo

The avant garde in the visual arts has had a strong tradition of Conceptualism since the early 20th century. In the 1960's and 70's, the musical avant garde began a similar process in the "alternative spaces" of Lower Manhattan. Below are four examples from the SoHo Scene period.

Tom Johnson - An Hour Of Piano (Lovely Music LCD1081)

NOTE: Please be sure to open the liner notes before listening to this piece.

The musical content of composer Tom Johnson's work An Hour Of Piano (performed here by composer and virtuoso pianist, improviser, and Musica Elettronica Viva co-founder Frederic Rzewski) is simplified and repetitious in an intentionally conspicuous way.

The owner of this vinyl LP discovered on its cover that the program notes were "to be read while hearing." As Kenneth Goldsmith astutely points out in an additional liner note to Lovely's 2000 reissue, Johnson's idea harkens back to Satie's Furniture Music concept and the contemporaneous Ambient experiments of Brian Eno. Beyond his artistic membership in the SoHo Scene, Johnson was chronicler of its exploits in the Village Voice from 1974-84. Invaluable to anyone curious of the period, an edited collection of his writings entitled The Voice Of New Music is available for free download from his website.

Robert Ashley - Automatic Writing (Lovely Music LCD1002)

Co-founder of Ann Arbor's ONCE Festival and a primary in the Sonic Arts Union collective, by the 1970's Robert Ashley was inventing a highly idiosyncratic form of non-narrative, non-linear vocal work. His various projects from this period (Perfect Lives, etc.) redefine the traditional concept of "opera" to better fit typical American English speaking patterns and televisual reality. Automatic Writing, created between 1975 and '79, deals specifically with "involuntary speech" and does so with a haunting, evocative sonic environment of indecipherable whispers, a woman softly speaking French, and an intentionally banal and tautological organ presence. Charmingly inscrutable and totally engaging.

Joan La Barbara - Vocal Extensions (Lovely Music LCD3003)

Joan La Barbara is a legendary and ubiquitous figure in New Music. A look at her activities during the period being examined confirm this assertion: whether singing works by Cage and Morton Feldman, exploring sound within David Tudor's Rainforest installation, or improvising with Rzewski and others at radio station WBAI's Free Music Store, she was working at the forefront of the so-called New Music community. Her own work as a composer and sonic researcher in the 70's are featured on the Lovely Music reissue from which Vocal Extensions is culled. This piece represents La Barbara's first use of the live-electronics, which by "abruptly changing [its] settings, [she] used the equipment as a source of surprise, working with the resulting sounds as an improviser reacts to other musicians."

Alvin Curran - Maritime Rites: World Music (New World 80625)

Around the time that Sonic Arts Union formed in SoHo, another group of Americans was forming around similar principles in Rome. Musica Elettronica Viva, aka MEV, was founded by "Ivy-league drop outs" Richard Teitelbaum, Fredric Rzewski, and the composer of this track Alvin Curran. MEV's ideal was focused on non-hierarchical performance practice and free improvisation. After raucous beginnings in the Travestere District of Rome, the group made its way to New York in the early to mid 70's, performing at The Kitchen, WBAI, and elsewhere (inviting musicians such as Anthony Braxton, Steve Lacy, and Garrett List to join for specific concerts or recordings). One area of Curran's life outside MEV involved the burgeoning field of Sound Art. The collection Maritime Rites, comprised of studio works whose content is derived from fog horn sounds recorded up and down the Eastern Seaboard,documents this work while also featuring improvising colleagues, among others. Martime Rites: World Music spotlights the beautiful, introspective trumpet playing of Wadada Leo Smith.

Christopher McIntyre leads a multi-faceted career as performer, composer, and curator/producer. He interprets and improvises on trombone and synthesizer in projects including TILT Brass Band and SIXtet, Ne(x)tworks, 7X7 Trombone Band, and Lotet. His compositions typically include conceptual elements such as spatialization, recontextualized notated material, and gradually shifting aural tableaux achieved with improvisative strategy. He has contributed work to Lotet, TILT, Ne(x)tworks, 7X7 Trombone Band (for choreographer Yoshiko Chuma), Flexible Orchestra, and B3+ brass trio. McIntyre is also active as a curator and concert producer. He is currently Artistic Director of the MATA Festival, with independent projects at venues including The Kitchen, Issue Project Room, and The Stone (June 2007).Visit cmcintyre.com for more info.

Selected Bibliography:

Chadabe, Joel. Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Prentice Hall.

Gendron, Bernard. "The Downtown Music Scene" In The Downtown Book: The New York Art Scene 1974-1984, ed. Marvin J. Taylor, pp. 41-65. Princeton University Press.

Johnson, Tom. The Voice of New Music. Paris: Editions 75. [digital download]

Web Resources:

The Downtown Show: The New York Art Scene 1974-1984
UBUweb
Franklin Furnace - Archives of the Avant-Garde
The Kitchen
The Vasulka Archive
Experimental Intermedia
Lovely Music

Nos. 10 & 11 of Worldly Remains, Gandhi Smitri (New Delhi, India)

2009-12-05T20:34:00.000-08:00

Gandhiji's spectacles and their case (Nos. 10 & 11) as seen in the display of his 11 worldly remains at Gandhi Smitri

No. 9 of Worldly Remains, Gandhi Smitri (New Delhi, India)

2009-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

The walking cane found in the display of Gandhiji's 11 worldly remains at Gandhi Smitri

Object Collection at The Stone 091117

2009-11-17T21:58:00.000-08:00

Travis Just and Object Collection
Travis Just (compostion, electronics, woodwinds, objects) Kara Feely (voice, recordings, objects) James Moore (guitar) Devin Maxwell (percussion, inside piano) Aaron Meicht (trumpets, electronics)
Music by composer Travis Just performed by the experimental ensemble Object Collection.

Artforum: DIA Announces new construction on Chelsea site (091106)

2009-11-16T21:31:00.000-08:00

Dia Foundation Announces Plan to Open a New Space in Chelsea
11.06.09
http://www.artforum.com/archive/id=24121

Philippe Vergne, the director of the Dia Art Foundation, announced today that the foundation will construct a new building in Chelsea for “a reinvigorated New York City program.” The building will be located at 545 West Twenty-second Street, on the footprint of the building that Dia currently owns. A press release from Dia notes, “In keeping with the organization’s historical commitment to in-depth support of ambitious projects, the space will provide a New York City location for commissioned artworks.” It will also house long-term exhibitions, performances, and public programs––including readings, lectures, and symposia.

The decision to open a new site follows Dia’s closing of its former New York City space, which was in need of “substantial renovation and was found to be inadequate for Dia’s programming needs.” Early planning for the building has begun, and the architecture and scale of the edifice––which “will provide a utilitarian space designed for the experience of art”––are being determined. The project represents the first time in its thirty-five year history that Dia has elected to construct a new building, rather than to reuse an existing one.

Vergne, working in collaboration with Dia’s staff and in dialogue with its board, is conceptualizing the artistic and architectural program for the new space, which “will provide flexible conditions in which artists across generations, disciplines, and cultures and experiment and produce new works.” In the press release, he states, “By establishing this site in Chelsea, Dia reaffirms and deepens its commitment to artists and their vision, as well as to New York City. Dia:Chelsea will facilitate the creation and presentation of new works, new ideas, and new discourse.” Dia chairman Nathalie de Gunzburg states, “The vision that Philippe has articulated for Dia’s New York City space has galvanized the board of trustees, and we have embraced this major initiative with enthusiasm. We are thrilled to support Dia in providing artists with a new platform for in-depth exploration and innovation.”

In Memory of Suzanne Fiol - St. Ann's Church, Brooklyn 091115

2009-11-16T12:24:00.000-08:00

Suzanne's memorial at St. Ann's was a truly extraordinary event. Despite being 3 1/2 hours long, there wasn't a single moment that felt unessential. Below is a short video I shot with my Flip UltraHD during sound check, several images taken with my iPhone, and scans of the program. I and 9 other trombonists started things off with Fredric Rzewski's 1969 piece Last Judgment (for solo trombone or several echoing trombones not quite in unison). There's a separate post with the players listed and an mp3 of the actual performance.

VIDEO:

IMAGES:

Musicians during sound check

(l to r: Zach Layton (gtr), Audrey Chen (vcl), Marc Ribot (gtr), Henry Grimes (violin), Aki Onda (tapes), Mary Halverson (gtr)

Anthony Coleman pre-show

7x7 Trombone Band playing Rzewski

Sarah Fiol (middle) receiving the "Suzanne Fiol Day in Brooklyn, USA" proclamation from a representative of Borough President Markowitz's office

PROGRAM:

CJM's 7X7 Trombone Band at Fiol Memorial 09111

2009-11-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

A performance of Fredric Rzewski's 1969 work Last Judgment - for solo trombone or several echoing trombones not quite in unison by Chris McIntyre's 7X7 Trombone Band and Friends during In Memory of Suzanne Fiol at St. Ann's Church, Brooklyn, NY on Nov. 15, 2009.

Audience right (front to back):
Chris McIntyre
Brian Drye
Jen Baker
Stephen Swell
Peter Zummo

Audience left (front to back):
James Rogers
Deborah Weisz
Ben Gerstein
William Lang
Monique Buzzarté

Images and video from the event here...

No. 8 of Worldly Remains, Gandhi Smitri (New Delhi, India)

2009-11-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

A shaped stone (possibly for knife sharpening?) found in the display of Gandhiji's 11 worldly remains at Gandhi Smitri

Music for 16 Futurist Noise Intoners (Performa 09) @ Town Hall, NYC - 091112

2009-11-13T11:56:00.000-08:00

After an incredibly challenging process and satisfying TILT Brass show on the previous evening, I was very excited to witness the inspired resurrection of the Italian Futurist Luigi Russolo's Intonarumori (Noise Intoners) instruments at Town Hall. 13 composers were (enviably) asked to compose new works for the 16-piece Intonarumori, several of whom are close colleagues including Joan La Barbara, Jenny Walshe (w/ Tony Conrad), James Fei, Elliott Sharp, and Nick Hallett. The Magik*Magik Orchestra traveled from the Bay Area to offer their totally committed, engaging performance of these works, all under the steadfast and cheerful guidance of conductor (and composer of one of the evenings most compelling scores) Luciano Chessa. As I told some friends and Maestro Chessa himself, this was a capital "I" important event on the New York calendar. Beyond the sublime answer to the curiosity around what these infamous things sound like, the evenings importance was supported by the shear number of NYC musical avant garde Illuminati in attendance. It was quite a hang next door afterward!

I have one complaint that had nothing to do with the performance itself, but made me very uncharacteristically angry. First, a heartfelt thanks to Performa for having the will and follow through to make this show happen. Many local presenters should take serious note of your boldness in this regard. However, it was a major oversight to not list the members of the Magik*Magik Orchestra in either the printed program or on the event page of their website. This is totally unacceptable! These people poured their spirit and musicality into this music and the absolute least that should be done is recognize them in print. Obviously, my perspective on this skews toward the performing musicians, but regardless of your station in the hierarchy of presenting this event, failing to give them proper credit is shameful and tone deaf to the musical art form.

...and I really love what you are doing Performa!

No. 5, 6, & 7 of Worldly Remains, Gandhi Smitri (New Delhi, India)

2009-11-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

A set of table wear made of wood (except, of course the knife blade) found in the display of Gandhiji's 11 worldly remains at Gandhi Smitri

Chatoyancy

2009-11-06T22:55:00.000-08:00

Chatoyancy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In gemology, chatoyancy (pronounced /ʃəˈtɔɪənsiː/, shə-TOY-ən-see), or chatoyance, is an optical reflectance effect seen in certain gemstones. Coined from the French "œil de chat," meaning "cat's eye," chatoyancy arises either from the fibrous structure of a material, as in tiger eye quartz, or from fibrous inclusions or cavities within the stone, as in cat's eye chrysoberyl. The effect can be likened to the sheen off a spool of silk: The luminous streak of reflected light is always perpendicular to the direction of the fibres. For a gemstone to show this effect best it must be cut en cabochon, with the fibers or fibrous structures parallel to the base of the finished stone. Faceted stones are less likely to show the effect well.

Gem species known for this phenomenon include the aforementioned quartz, chrysoberyl, beryl (especially var. aquamarine), tourmaline, apatite, moonstone and scapolite. Glass optical cable can also display chatoyancy if properly cut, and has become a popular decorative material in a variety of vivid colors.

No.4 of Worldly Remains, Gandhi Smitri (New Delhi, India)

2009-11-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Knife [type unknown] found in the display of Gandhiji's 11 worldly remains at Gandhi Smitri

Merce! 091028

2009-10-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

I attended the Merce Cunningham Memorial event at the Park Ave. Armory last night. Lots of friendly faces in the audience and on the "bandstand." Every time I see/hear a MCDC performance, I can't help but smile through most of it. The dance is so playful, exploratory, natural; the sound often has a similar manner, but other times it really exists on another complimentary plane altogether. I took some iPhone pics and a 3-min audio snap with Voice Memo. I was feeling fairly anxious about a composing deadline on my way there, but I'm really glad to have made it uptown for this once in a lifetime "Event."

A view toward the front from the the corner of Stage 3

The musicians were on the catwalk-like area. Fuzzily pictured here are (L to R) Stephan Moore (standing), Miguel Frasconi, and John King (seated).

John King - laptop, Miguel Frasconi - glass & electronics, possibly others too...

No.2 & 3 of Worldly Remains, Gandhi Smitri (New Delhi, India)

2009-10-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

A set of metallic fork and spoon found in the display of Gandhiji's 11 worldly remains at Gandhi Smitri

Fredric Rzewski's Last Judgment - score, recordings, CJM program note

2009-10-21T01:16:00.000-07:00

CJM's edition of Last Judgment available on Werner-Icking page of Rzewski scores (PDF and sib files)

Live recording of Last Judgment on Archive.org
DownTown Ensemble's Flexible Orchestra Concert
St. Peter's Church, Chelsea, NYC
April 28, 2006

CJM’s Program Note for the April '06 performance of Fredric Rzewski’s
Last Judgment: For Trombone Solo or Several Echoing Trombones Not Quite In Unison [1969]

I met Fredric Rzewski several years ago during his monumental performance run of the solo piano work The Road at The Kitchen. We were sitting down for beer(s) afterward with his old friend Steve ben Israel, an early member of Living Theater, and the speaker's voice heard on the original 1971 Opus One recording of Coming Together. At any rate, we were (well, Fredric was) talking about how little New York had changed in 30 plus years. No elevators in the subway, this sort of thing.

Not wanting to go anywhere near a counter-argument with Mr. Rzewski, I switched the subject and mentioned that my group TILT Brass Band had just performed his 1969 process piece Les Mouton de Panurge. This was very intriguing to him, and he said, "well, you know, there's a trombone piece from around the same time. I shall put you in contact with my manager and you should play it." I admire the man's work a great deal, so this concert is my (initial) fulfillment of his suggestion.

Last Judgment does fall well within Rzewski's compositional interests at the time. Like Mouton, and the original concept behind Musica Elettronica Viva, his subtitle of "For Trombone Solo or Several Echoing Trombones Not Quite In Unison" intends an inclusive and non-hierarchical spirit. MEV was (as Fredric put it in an email) "trying, by introducing audience participation into our concerts, to break down the caste differences between 'musicians' and 'amateurs'. So we invited beginners... to play in our concerts and paid them like everybody else. This sometimes produced interesting, though also dreadful, results." He continued, "We used to have a guy in our group, Franco Cataldi, who wanted to play the trombone but couldn't (unlike a gentleman). His ambition was to do the 'Tuba Mirum' solo... so I thought of this piece which is really too difficult even for a very good soloist, but could be done if enough players, both good and mediocre, teamed up together. The idea of the title is that it doesn't matter who gets to Heaven first, because they just have to wait so that we all go in together."

We have no amateurs or mediocre players to speak of in this Orchestra, but the work's frequent meter changes, duration, and range make for a difficult blow to be sure. The decision was made in rehearsal to execute the piece as essentially 10 soloists. Again like Les Mouton, the sound of the group going in and out of unison becomes the aesthetic of the piece itself, creating a novel and quite beautiful sonority.

For the trombonophiles in the audience, the piece does indeed incorporate the opening intervals of Mozart's ubiquitous (at least for orchestral auditioners) Tuba Mirum solo from the Requiem. Using the classic Minimalist additive process, Last Judgment is truly a "fantasy" on both the musical material and apocalyptic meaning behind the Mozart work. It progresses through continually augmented phrases, mutating gradually from one to the next, with contrasted dynamics, and a tremendous finale hovering around the tenor trombone's ringing high B flat's and C's.

I saw Fredric again last Fall and mentioned the Flexible Orchestra's planned performance of Last Judgment. He thought it an excellent idea. Later, after discussion of trombones and trombonist's had continued, I mentioned the parenthetical phrase included above, (like a gentleman). A little Estonian vodka had taken hold of me, and I said "well, Fredric here regards trombonist's as gentlemen!". To which he replied, "Oh, I guess you don't know the old joke then: the man wanted to learn the trombone, but, like a gentleman, he didn't."

No.1 of Worldly Remains, Gandhi Smitri (New Delhi, India)

2009-10-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

1 of Gandhiji's 11 worldly remains as displayed at Gandhi Smitri

Isostasy

2009-10-15T23:35:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia:

Isostasy (Greek isos = "equal", stásis = "standstill") is a term used in geology to refer to the state of gravitational equilibrium between the earth's lithosphere and asthenosphere such that the tectonic plates "float" at an elevation which depends on their thickness and density.

Raster patterns [Rastterp]

2009-10-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

A set of basically symmetrical patterns for the rhythmic cycle technique found in my piano quintet work for Ne(x)tworks called Raster:

Radel Taalmala Digi-100

2009-10-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

Along with Arav's first set of tabla, I bought one of these at the harmonium manufacturer Sharma Musicals in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India (45 minutes east of Delhi)

Radel Tallmala digi-100 Electronic Tabla

vis a tergo

2009-10-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

Like the Evangelists, like Saint Luke, the arist is not a free agent obeying only his own will. His situation is rigidly bound by a chain of prior events. The chain is invisible to him, and it limits his motion. He is not aware of it as a chain, but only as vis a tergo, as the force of events behind him. The conditions imposed by these prior events require of him either that he follow obediently in the path of tradition, or that he rebel against the tradition. In either case, his decision is not a free one: it is dictated by prior events of which he senses only dimly and indirectly the overpowering urgency, and by his own congenital peculiarities of temperament.

Excerpted from The Shape of Time by George Kubler, pg. 50

Suzanne Fiol (1960-2009) [Published in NewMusicBox] - 091007

2009-10-08T19:17:00.000-07:00

Suzanne Fiol (1960-2009)

By Christopher McIntyre

Published in NewMusicBox: October 7, 2009

Suzanne Fiol at ISSUE Project Room's original East 6th Street location, December 2004

On October 5, 2009, Suzanne Fiol, the founder and artistic director of the Brooklyn performance venue ISSUE Project Room, died after a year-long battle with cancer. She was 49 years old. She leaves behind her daughter Sarah, her sister Nancy, her parents Lawrence and Arlene Perlstein, and her partner Anthony Coleman. Known to all as a fiercely passionate advocate, Suzanne's passing is an utterly profound loss for the experimental arts community. She possessed an insatiable curiosity and nurturing spirit—qualities that sustained ISSUE through various growing pains and the vicissitudes of presenting avant-garde art, and continue to drive its eventual move to a permanent home in downtown Brooklyn.

The fabric of Suzanne's personality and spirit are woven into every inch of the ISSUE Project Room quilt. Her background outside the field of music as both an esteemed photographer (with works in the permanent collections of The Art Institute of Chicago and The Brooklyn Museum, among others) and a commercial gallerist afforded Suzanne a singular, artist-centric perspective. What ISSUE at times lacked in production materials and funding in its early days on East 6th Street was exponentially made up for with old school hospitality, collegial camaraderie, and genuine respect for the various artistic languages and voices being explored. Like Suzanne, ISSUE successfully straddles the precarious line between challenging aesthetic concepts and a personal connection to the art with a relaxed, inviting demeanor that welcomes novices and initiates alike.

I was aware of ISSUE Project Room fairly early on. Looking at the online performance archive from IPR's earliest days clarifies how it arrived on my radar. In typical fashion, Suzanne had garnered the support of many preeminent Downtown artists to kick off the space such as Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp, The Jazz Passengers with Deborah Harry, and Anthony Coleman. I was curating at The Kitchen at that time, and before even attending a show at IPR I sensed the forming of a venue reminiscent of that venerable institution's beginnings. After spending time there, I did feel the sort of collective, like-minded energy that I imagine existed in the SoHo scene circa 1972. In any case, Suzanne and her staff had successfully created a professional/personal space for people to get to know each other, and I was delighted to be a part of it.

Suzanne with IPR Production Director Zach Layton, January 2008

Personally, over the past six years, I've created some of my best work as an artist and curator at ISSUE Project Room, and I owe Suzanne a great deal for the opportunity to bring these projects to life. As she did with so many artists, Suzanne supported my ideas unconditionally and afforded me the time and space to manifest them in any way that I saw fit. As ISSUE's first Artists-In-Residence during the Spring of 2006, the ensemble Ne(x)tworks found its group voice while presenting works by composers including myself, Joan La Barbara, Kenji Bunch, Cornelius Dufallo, and Julius Eastman. The work we did over three important events led to many future opportunities and a greater profile in the field. In July of 2006, Suzanne took a true leap of faith in agreeing to present two seven-hour performances by choreographer Yoshiko Chuma's School of Hard Knocks and my trombone septet. The work, Sundown, encompassed IPR's entire Carroll Street compound, with simultaneous performances inside the famous silo space and on the banks of the Gowanus Canal. It was an incredible weekend of interdisciplinary art making, and it couldn't have happened anywhere but ISSUE Project Room.

I believe that Suzanne's steadfast faith in the people and community around her will be her most lasting legacy. From the very start, she wanted ISSUE to be a place for serious artists to experiment, innovate, and push their own boundaries. This attitude is in very short supply in these high-pressure times in which ticket and bar sales seem paramount. Thankfully, Suzanne's wonderful legacy has an opportunity to carry on with the advent of IPR's new space at 110 Livingston. It will be a bittersweet triumph for some when the "Carnegie Hall of the Avant-Garde" opens sometime next year, but it will indeed be Suzanne's triumph. She did all that she could possibly have done to make it a reality, and for that we will all be eternally grateful.

Cornelius Dufallo (left), Suzanne, Yves Dharamraj (right) at IPR's James Tenney celebration (May 2005)

One of my biggest regrets with her passing is that my 14-month old son Arav will live his life not having known Suzanne. To many in our community she truly was "Mama ISSUE." She was someone that I hoped he would get to know very well, a beloved extended family member that he could look up to and admire. Her loss is a real tragedy, and one that I may never be able to reconcile.

I believe that Suzanne Fiol the artist, curator, and mother was guided by a true reverence for the sublime. As with many people who spend their lives searching for aesthetic bliss, she could be charmingly impractical and perhaps even maddeningly irascible. But these were forgivable and forgettable peccadilloes: Suzanne is one of the warmest souls I've ever met and I will miss her deeply for the rest of my life.

We all love and miss you Suzanne. Rest in peace.

Suzanne, CJM, Curtis Hasselbring, Steve Swell, Peter Zummo, Jacob Garchik, Peter Evans, and Richard Marriott

at IPR in October 2006

Suzanne & Yoshiko, July 2006

2009-10-08T15:48:00.000-07:00

Lo-res but very high quality content. Suzanne Fiol with choreography Yoshiko Chuma after the 2nd of 2, 7-hour performances of the work Sundown at ISSUE Project Room's Carroll Street silo space. Visit here to see images from that spectacular event.

Suzanne, then

2009-10-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

Suzanne Fiol at the original ISSUE Project Room space at 619 E 6th Street in the East Village, December 17, 2004

Her impact on the world will be felt for a very long time. I miss her terribly...

M.K. Gandhi quote from Gandhi Smitri (New Delhi, India) - 090928

2009-09-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

It has been my misfortune or good fortune to take the world by surprise. New experiments, or old experiments in new style, must sometimes engender misunderstanding.

M.K Gandhi

[One of hundreds of quotes posted on the wall at Gandhi Smitri in Delhi, the site where Gandhiji lived his last 144 days and where he was shot by a Hindu extremist on 30 January 1947]

New Music America info: 1979 - 92

2009-08-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

New Music America
Festival Locations, Producers, Venues 1979-92
From New Music Across America, Iris Brooks editor
Published by Cal Arts/High Performance , 1992
ISBN 0-938683-01-2

l979
Rhys Chatham
Mary MacArthur
The Kitchen
New York, New York

1980
Nigel Redding
Walker Arts Center
Minneapolis Star
Minneapolis, Minnesota

1981
Robin Kirck
San francisco Examiner
San Francisco, California

1982
Peter Gena
Alene Valkanas
Mayor's Office of Special Events
The Chicago Tribune
Museum of Contemporary Art
Chicago, lllinois

1983
Deborah Hanzlik
Bill Warrell
Bob Wisdom
Washington Performing Arts Society
9th Street Crossings Festival
District Curators, Inc.
Washington, D.C.

1984
Joseph Celli
Mary Luft
Real Art Ways
The Travelers Companies;
Asso(iate Producer the Advocate Newspapers
Hartford, Connecticut

1985
Joan La Barbara
Carl Stone
Collaboration of 25 arts organizations.
Los Angeles, California

1986
Michael Galbreth
Jerry McCathern
Pauline Oliveros
The Houston Festival Foundation, Inc.
Houston, Texas

l987
Joseph Franklin
Relache
The Ensemble for Contemporary Music
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1988
Joseph Celli
Mary Luft
Tigertail Productions
Miami, Florida

1989
Yale Evelev
Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival
The Kitchen
Dance
Theater Workshop
The Knitting Factory
Roulette
Prospect Park Picnic House
Experimental Intermedia
Performance Space 122
WNYC
New York, New York

1990
Jean Piché
Montréal Musiques Actuelles
Montréal, Québec
Canada

1991
No Festival

1992
New Music Across America
In 14 U.S. cities, two Canadian cities, and two European cities.

David First's Gestural Improv Group @ ISSUE Project Room 090821

2009-08-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

David First's myspace
ISSUE Project Room calendar page

David First’s Gestural Improv Group – an evening of searching for perfect frozen moments through hyper-sensual tuning systems and black holed rhythms. Featuring Jane Rigler/flute, Chris McIntyre/trombone, Reuben Radding/bass, Michael Evans/drums & percussion and D.F. on guitar & laptop.

[Images by David's wife Mira]

Graham @ Whitney - projector sounds 090820

2009-08-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

I visited the Dan Graham show at the Whitney today (finally). It was a really great experience. The pavilions especially are as profound as they are socially engaging.

I took some clandestine audio with the iPhone Voice Memo app in the rooms with 2 classic film projectors projecting simultaneously. I've included them here as a little "displacement" of the ambient audio from both pieces (forgot to document the titles... anyone?):

Room 1 - Eiki projectors

Room 2 - projector type unknown

non-site 001: convolution reverb

2009-08-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

From CJM Facebook Wall:

Christopher McIntyre is there a musical analogy to Smithson's "non-site" concept?
August 5 at 1:15am

Michael Berk
Maybe not musical, and maybe not even aesthetic at all, but I think of convolution reverb processes
August 5 at 1:36am

Christopher McIntyre
very nice mB. had to wiki it, but convolution reverb and the impulse response component in particular are spot on. been digging in to smithson, matta-clark, et al. for a project. really inspiring...
August 5 at 1:52am

From Wikipedia:
Convolution reverb
In audio signal processing, convolution reverb is a process for digitally simulating the reverberation of a physical or virtual space. It is based on the mathematical convolution operation, and uses a pre-recorded audio sample of the impulse response of the space being modelled. To apply the reverberation effect, the impulse-response recording is first stored in a digital signal-processing system. This is then convolved with the incoming audio signal to be processed.

Smithson and the land of crystal - 090817

2009-08-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

I've been wending my way through a book exploring the work and working method of artist Robert Smithson. Entitled Robert Smithson: Learning from New Jersey and Elsewhere, author Ann Reynolds charts a teleological path through Smithson's abstruse and varied interests. She identifies essays and books he was reading and quoting in his own writing while in process with his art works. His use of aerial maps, mirrors, and of course "earth" as content have larger dimensions than I thought before reading this work. There is a particularly compelling section dealing with Smithson's drive to fully objectivize abstraction in which his interest in "coded environments" informs the non-site concept. It inspired me to work on a composition tentatively called "The Crystal Land", the title of an important eassy he wrote in the late 60's. I'm going to use my own composerly coded environment to generate formal and linguistic content. Smithson's land of crystal is New Jersey, and I'm not really sure I understand what he means yet, but I have picked up a copy of "The Writings of...". I plan to read it while in India. Aptly incongruous for me...

Cornelius Cardew's Treatise arrives - 090811

2009-08-11T23:46:00.000-07:00

Cardew. There's a really fascinating and palpable renewed interest in his work. Treatise [1967] and its precursors, such as Octet '61 for Jasper Johns [1961], are extremely imaginative and evocative works of visual language. Graphic "interfaces" meant to elicit interactive musical responses, avoiding collaborative hierarchies based on access to knowledge (i.e. training in conventional notation). So few of the young composers I come across objectify the actual visual interface of the score like Cardew and so many others did in the halcyon days of the 60's and 70's. Pragmatism rules the day I'm afraid. At any rate, a few images of my new prized possession...

Page 42

Page 131

Asphalt Orchestra & Rhys Chatham's Crimson Grail - 090808

2009-08-09T10:38:00.001-07:00

I checked out Bang On a Can's newest project Asphalt Orchestra at Lincoln Center Saturday night. I was very keen to hear this group during its debut run (at LC no less!) for several reasons. First of all, a number of stellar colleagues of mine are members of the band (Shane Endsley on trumpet, Peter Hess on tenor sax, Ken Thomson on alto sax, Jessica Schmitz on flutes, and Yuri Yamashita on percussion). Secondly, I was very curious to hear what Ty Braxton chose to write for them. I have a lot of respect for his band Battles and I recently heard some other written material of his. And third, I have a feeling that AO and TILT Brass may cross paths at some point, and I wanted get a sense of what they do.

I thought it was a really impressive musical experience, especially for a just-hatched ensemble idea! Most groups, especially repertoire oriented ones, need a minute to find their voice. Asphalt Orchestra came out with a fully formed and well executed concept. Maybe that can be at least partially attributed to the experience and support of the BoaC clan, but the quality and depth of the players involved can not be underestimated. In any case, it was a lovely moment all around.

[I will refrain from commenting on my friend Rhy Chatham's 200 guitar piece. It was a mob scene audience-wise, which meant I could neither see nor hear (believe it or not) the thing. I ended up splitting after about 30 minutes and grabbing Afghani food with my boy Anthony Coleman. Sorry Rhys (and Mr. King)!]

090826 Addition

[ed. note - I had forgotten about this recording I had made with my iPhone until it came up accidently in iTunes. iTeresting...]

Asphalt Orchestra playing Conlon Nancarrow's Study No. 20, arr. by Ken Thomson - 8/8/09 7:10 PM

Electronic Arts Intermix 090730

2009-08-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

I visited EAI recently to view several videos from their collection, including various Dan Graham documents, Robert Smithson/Nancy Holt's Mono Lake, Gordon Matta-Clark's Splitting (with a couple others), Charlemagne Palestine's Body Music I & II, and a Rhys Chatham concert at The Kitchen in '81. EAI is a classic SoHo Scene era non-profit (they provided fiscal sponsorship to Woody and Steina Vasulka to start The Kitchen in '71), and I highly recommend setting up a time to hang out in the viewing room.

2009-08-05T11:18:00.001-07:00

This is my first mobile post from my new iPhone. Amazing...

Listenings 090805

2009-08-05T00:41:00.000-07:00

The Fifth Dream by Cornelius Dufallo
Ne(x)tworks live at ISSUE Project Room, March 06

Kya - Giacinto Scelsi/Ensemble Contrechamps, hat [now]ART 117

Visistations I & II + Thirties - Jon Gibson, New Tone nt 6747 2

Crazy Nigger by Julius Eastman, From Unjust Malaise, New World 80638

String Quartet (1979) - Morton Feldman/Group For Contemporary Music, Koch Int'l Classics 3-7251-2 H1

sfSoundRadio - San Francisco Electronic/Contemporary/Improvised/Experimental/etc

...NOW...

2009-08-05T00:40:00.001-07:00

I will write here. I will write here. I will, right here.

Freddie and the One Finger Snap

2008-12-30T02:30:00.000-08:00

I'm very averse to feeling starstruck, but 5 or 6 years ago I was waiting on line at a pharmacy on 26th and Park Ave South when I realized that the legendary trumpet player Freddie Hubbard was standing in front of me. I deduced that it was him from the memory of his visage on ancient Blue Note album covers and from the fact that he was playing that weekend at the nearby Jazz Standard. I waited patiently as he filled a prescription, contemplating the pros and cons of committing the ultimate New York faux pas of intruding on a famous persons real-time and space. I firmly decided to let Mr. Hubbard do his thing and just remember the proximity to an admired musical master fondly.

I got my 'scrip shortly after FH had left the building, headed out the door, and proceeded to the crosswalk, where Freddie and what I imagine was one of his bandmates were standing and chatting. I changed my mind and resolved to invade his privacy, emboldened by the sudden memory of having listened to Herbie Hancock's Empyrean Isles all the way through the previous night purely by coincidence. The rapport between Hubbard and drummer Tony Williams on those sides is astonishing, in particular on both takes of One Finger Snap.

At any rate, I walked up to him and asked if he was, in fact, Freddie Hubbard. He affirmed. I told him how much I admired and respected his playing, and then said in a sort of embarrassingly sentimental way "...and Empyrean Isles, man, Empyrean Isles...." He said "That really IS a great record," his eyes looking up to the right as if a sense memory of hitting hard on that date with Herbie, Tony, and Ron Carter were rushing in.

There was a sort of long pause, during which his companion had hailed a cab. Freddie turned to get in, at first without acknowledging me, but then he turned around and said with a prophetic air, "the Eye of the Hurricane, man, the Eye of the Hurricane." He got in the taxi and rolled on.

I was kind of stunned, but then I quickly recalled two ostensibly unrelated things elicited by this enigmatic and epigrammatic statement. First, Herbie's composition on Maiden Voyage. Not relevant, or at least doesn't seem to be. Second, and this is the idea that I've taken away from the encounter right or wrong, was the early Free Jazz metaphoric concept of sonically and energetically reaching the eye of a tumultuous hurricane. The collective sound generated by intense improvisation epitomized in Coltrane's Ascension, among many others. Saxophonist Bobby Watson had explained this idea to a friend years before over a spliff, and it really stayed with me. Now, especially since Mr. Frederick Dewayne Hubbard, age 70, passed away earlier this week, another layer of meaning folds into the maelstrom for me.

PS - Another coincidence involving Empyrean Isles: I was uploading mp3's from my copy to a new external hard drive when I read of Freddie's passing. It had been a few years since I had even handled this CD, let alone listened to the true genius captured within.