Esce per Lenka Lente a Nantes (Francia) un fitto dossier su Steve Lacy (1934-2004) con cronologia, discografia e note di copertina, saggi, interviste e contributi vari a cura di Guillaume Tarche: Steve Lacy (unfinished). Ci sono i ricordi e i commenti tra gli altri di Steve Adams, Irene Aebi, Alvin Curran, Martin Davidson, Jean Derome, Christoph Gallio, Ben Goldberg, Guillermo Gregorio, Phillip Johnston, Pablo Ledesma, Urs Leimgruber, Dave Liebman, Giancarlo Locatelli, Roberto Ottaviano, Evan Parker, Jon Raskin, Patrice Roussel, Bill Shoemaker, Bruno Tocanne e Seymour Wright.

À l'approche du vingtième anniversaire de sa disparition (ou du quatre-vingt-dixième anniversaire de sa naissance), écouter Steve Lacy c'est observer diversement la silhouette du sopraniste s'éloigner: pour les uns, une chambre sourde l'enserre dorénavant, étouffant la résonance; pour les autres, son écho nous parvient encore, grâce à ses continuateurs ou par sa seule force...

http://www.lenkalente.com/steve-lacy-unfinished

Coming Together

Frederic Rzewski (1938-2021)

 

A un anno esatto dalla scomparsa Confront Recordings porge omaggio a Simon H. Fell pubblicando un estratto da un suo concerto del 2018 al Cafe Oto londinese assieme a Mark Wastell e Alex Ward in cui venne eseguito in pubblico per la prima volta il brano di Derek Bailey With Apologies To G. Brecht.

"This cryptic text score has an explicit relation to the work of George Brecht; during the late 1960s Bailey had played Brecht pieces with Gavin Bryars, John Tilbury, Evan Parker and others in the ‘Instelimp’ group, which preceded the Music Improvisation Company (Bailey may also have had personal contact with Brecht, who lived in London from 1968 to 1971).Whether Bailey’s piece is influenced by Fluxus or represents a reaction against the movement is a matter of debate; like many Fluxus scores the text is non-specific, and requires considerable input from the realising musician(s) – although it is also possible that the score that survives is actually incomplete. For this first performance Simon Fell has prepared a version which reflects the growing exclusiveness of Bailey’s commitment to improvisation at the end of the 60s. Performers are required to turn-over instructional cards, complete a household chore then improvise."

https://confrontrecordings.bandcamp.com/with-apologies-to-g-brecht
https://jazzjournal.co.uk/obituary-simon-fell
https://londonjazznews.com/derek-bailey-three-presences

 

Dopo ben due rinvii potrebbe essere a settembre, l'11 e il 12, l'occasione buona per la festa d'anniversario di Yumi Hara Cawkwell al Cafe Oto londinese. Ma ora con l'impazzare della variante Delta chi può più dirlo...

Oto presents a special Yumi Hara retrospective focusing on the past 10 years of her activities, and launch of her second solo album. Yumi Hara’s compositions have been performed by contemporary classical ensembles such as Piano Circus and the BBC Singers, but she has become increasingly well known as an improvisor and performer in the avant rock, Canterbury and RIO scene since releasing CD Dune with Hugh Hopper in 2008. She has formed bands and projects such as The Artaud Beats (with Geoff Leigh, Chris Cutler, John Greaves), you me & us (with Daevid Allen, Chris Cutler), Jump for Joy! (with Jean-Herve Peron, Zappi, Chris Cutler, Geoff Leigh, Geraldine Swayne), The Watts (with Tim Hodgkinson and Chris Cutler) and Half the Sky / Lindsay Cooper Songbook. She is senior lecturer in music at University of East London.

www.yumiharacawkwell.co.uk
https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/yumi-hara-two-day-residency
https://www.facebook.com/yumi.cawkwell

 

Corde ce n'erano eccome, salde e ben governate, sulla chitarra di Frith - allora una Burns Black Bison - con i Massacre al CBGB newyorkese il 24 aprile 1981, pochi giorni dopo il concerto parigino che poi costituì buona parte di Killing Time: lo ricorda un breve documento pubblicato da Laswell nei suoi archivi Bassmatter, CBGB 1981.

https://billlaswell.bandcamp.com/album/cbgb-1981

 

Di altra assenza - nello specifico, di corde sulla chitarra - ha ben più gioiosamente testimoniato Fred Frith prendendo parte il mese scorso al Maker Music Festival, operando appunto con una 'No Strings Guitar' e inoltre con esemplari - più unici che rari, letteralmente - di 'Super Strut Bandaw Bass', 'Portable Street Piano' e 'Post Hole Tone Music Box' rinvenuti nell'incredibile laboratorio creativo di Sudhu Tewari. Se ne vedono un po' gli esiti presso Boing Boing, oltre che negli spazi pubblici e privati dell'ingegnosa cittadella studentesca creata ad hoc per l'edizione virtuale del festival.

https://www.makermusicfestival.com
https://boingboing.net/fred-frith-at-maker-music-festival

 

Il 6 novembre 2015 a Berna fu l'ultima volta che Keith Rowe si presentò in concerto, da solo. Per un motivo. Serio. 

Lo rivela lui stesso in Absence (erstwhile, 2021), indicando anche l'attimo cruciale: "November 2015 marked the end of the first year of living with Parkinson's. During that year the right hand tremor was becoming more and more uncontrollable, to the point I could not conceive of how in the future I could manage solo performances. During that year I had experimented with different anti-shaking set-ups, in attempts to work around the tremor caused by stress and anxiety of performing solos. It was during the 33min solo on the 6th of November in Bern that I concluded that I did not want to continue performing solos, and almost immediately from that day onwards I declined invitations to perform as a soloist. Retirement, or stepping away, is difficult and painful. It requires a recognition of certain realities, that you are not important, that the world does not care that you have stopped performing solos, actually the world does not notice that you have stopped, life outside your bubble continues, get used to it, you are not at the centre of anything. A part of the reality is to try not to leave a big mess for others to tidy up after you have left the departure lounge, retirement is an opportunity where you are able to discard all the junk you’ve accumulated. I want to share with you a recording of that 33 mins solo from Bern before it too departs for the dustbin. An important moment in the solo is at 12:10 thru 12:21 where the Parkinson's tremor frequency (around 300bpm) can be heard, and it’s around this moment I decide not to solo again."

https://erstwhilerecords.bandcamp.com/album/absence

 

La foto di Jack Kilby in copertina può trarre in inganno chi ne ricorda una simile utilizzata per Withdrawal, ma rispetto a quello non ci sono né Wheeler né Guy né Parker né Bailey (pur parzialmente presente, quest'ultimo, nell'immagine). Ci sono però Trevor Watts, Paul Rutherford, Bruce Cale e naturalmente John Stevens nello Spontaneous Music Ensemble qui documentato per iniziativa di Rhythm and Blues Records, che in Question and Answer 1966 mette assieme il loro concerto del 22 giugno 1966 al Prince Albert di Greenwich con una mezzoretta di domande e risposte e una breve sessione di studio prodotta dal medesimo quartetto qualche settimana più tardi.

The Spontaneous Music Ensemble enjoys mythical status, not least among free jazz devotees. Its driving force, drummer John Stevens, determined early in his career to focus upon 'free' and 'improvised' music. From the mid-sixties until his untimely death in 1994, Stevens' story is one of creative achievement with little in the way of financial reward. London's Little Theatre Club supported the attempts of Stevens and others to forge a new music at a time when precious few other venues were willing to do so. The Prince Albert in Greenwich did offer the SME a gig, the session was recorded and it forms the basis of Question and Answer 1966, a two-disc release from Rhythm and Blues Records. Stevens teamed up with like-minded souls Trevor Watts, alto sax, Paul Rutherford, trombone, and bassist Bruce Cale to explore the possibilities of a new approach to music first signalled by Ornette Coleman. Their efforts on the night of June 22, 1966 in a typical pub setting, were committed to tape and it is only now that we can hear the previously unreleased material. 

http://rhythmandbluesrecords.co.uk/question-and-answer-1966

 

La storia dell'Instant Composers Pool prima dell'Instant Composers Pool: è raccontata da Corbett vs. Dempsey nel doppio Incipient ICP (1966-71).

The untold early history of Amsterdam's seminal collective. Founded in 1967 by three of European free music's leading lights – pianist Misha Mengelberg, drummer Han Bennink, and saxophonist and clarinetist Willem Breuker – the Instant Composers Pool (ICP) was simply one of the most important vehicles for experimentation and improvisation in the history of creative music. Culling ideas and materials from jazz, modern and contemporary classical music, Fluxus, traditional music from the Balkans and elsewhere, as well as avant-garde theater, ICP was ahead of the pack in numerous ways, presenting a kind of irony-tinged, amalgamated version of free and structured improvisation – or instant composition – that would be a hallmark of subsequent movements in New York's downtown scene and elsewhere in Europe in decades to follow. 

https://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/incipient-icp-1966-71
https://corbettvsdempsey.bandcamp.com

 

Due volte Rova in streaming a sostegno del Center for New Music di San Francisco, in tempi ancora assai difficili per le attività artistiche e musicali in presenza: Rova On The Air, dal vivo in studio con diversi brani nuovi e alcune anticipazioni del prossimo album atteso a settembre su ESP-Disk.

The Center for New Music was founded in 2012, and is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation. It fosters contemporary music’s growth by giving practicing artists access to professional resources and expertise, and by providing them with opportunities for sharing knowledge and exploring new ideas. The Center serves the practitioners of creative, non-commercial music by providing the resources they need, including space to work, rehearse, and perform, access to a like-minded community, and access to media resources. Through these services, the Center seeks to support and build the community of new music to encourage its efficiency, growth, integration, and excellence.

The Center acts as a steward for our community, including but not limited to composers, performers, producers, presenters, teachers, students, listeners, scholars, advocates, engineers, curators, collaborators, critics, and organizers. By valuing diversity and inclusion, fair treatment of members, fair payment of participating artists, and advocacy for the growth and integration of our community, the Center will provide a platform for communication, collaboration, outreach, program development, incubation of new artists, engagement of new listeners, and increased activity for the business of new music.

The Center was conceived in 2011 by composer-performers Adam Fong and Brent Miller. Through their experience as both artists and administrators in the Bay Area new music scene, and resulting from a thorough community needs assessment, they designed a plan to provide a flexible space for new music: during the day the Center functions as an administrative and research hub, a space to work, meet, learn, and rehearse; in the evenings it hosts workshops and affordably-priced concerts of innovative music.

In October of 2012, the Center for New Music San Francisco signed a lease on the ground level retail space at 55 Taylor Street. Located one-half block from a bustling and rapidly changing Market Street corridor, this site is comprised of 4,400 square feet, with a main gallery space that can accommodate performing ensembles solo to quintet, and room for up to 100 audience members. While pursuing non-profit status, the Center was fiscally sponsored by Rova:Arts.

https://centerfornewmusic.com/event/rova-on-the-air-3-set-1
https://centerfornewmusic.com/event/rova-on-the-air-3-set-2

 

Chi fosse curioso di conoscere la scaletta dello strabiliante concerto offerto qualche giorno fa su Night Flight Plus dai Residents sappia che è stato eseguito per intero, o quasi, il materiale dello storico Duck Stab/Buster & Glen (Ralph, 1978), riveduto e aggiornato anche in vista dell'imminente nuova serie di appuntamenti dal vivo. Nell'ordine: Lizard Lady, Blue Rosebuds, Laughing Song con Bach Is Dead, Sinister Exaggerator (il cui attore principale in origine era il compianto Hardy Fox), Weight-lifting Lulu, Krafty Cheese, Elvis And His Boss con Birthday Boy, Semolina, Hello Skinny, The Electocutioner con Constantinople, accompagnata quest'ultima da alcuni video creati appositamente dai partecipanti alla seconda serie di I Am A Resident. Grand Chess Records ne ha già promesso un'edizione audio e video entro fine anno.

https://residents.com
https://www.hibou-anemone-bear.com/NightFlightPlus

L'ultimo concerto dal vivo dei Pere Ubu prima della sospensione causata ovunque dalla pandemia fu a Madrid il 16 gennaio dell'anno scorso, all'Auditorio de Conde Duque. In scaletta l'album The Long Goodbye, in formazione David Thomas, Keith Moliné, Gagarin e Chris Cutler. Quel concerto - finora documentato in piccolissima parte su YT - è ora disponibile ufficialmente e per intero via Bandcamp: Conde Duque - The Long Goodbye 16​.​01​.​2020.

The last gig Pere Ubu played before the pandemic caused a lockdown in 2020. The gig was played at the Conde Duque in Madrid as part of the 'Suena Conde Duque' series of shows. The previous night, there was a masterclass with local musicians, run by Chris Cutler and David Thomas. The set features the 2019 album The Long Goodbye in its entirety. Those in possession of the CD format of that album can compare how the show advanced from its first outing, with the 'Montreal' bonus disc included in that package. The show was vibrant and features the songs undergoing variations from the studio recording, thanks to the tendency of this band line-up to enjoy curve balling some improvisations into the mix.

https://pereubu.bandcamp.com/conde-duque-the-long-goodbye
https://www.hibou-anemone-bear.com/Conde+Duque

 

Due nuove affascinanti collezioni di musiche create ai sintetizzatori digitali e analogici dal prodigioso Allen Ravenstine, radunate in unico album in vinile o in doppio cd: Electron Music e Shore Leave. Inaugurano la serie The Tyranny of Fiction, per Waveshaper Media.

Electron Music/Shore Leave brings together ten of the prodigious composer’s most recent lyrical and abstract compositions collectively comprised of the sounds of analogue and digital synthesizers, traditional acoustic instruments and the sampled sounds of birds, dogs and other artifacts of nature. Working prodigiously on a daily basis, over the past two years Ravenstine has amassed a large number of atmospheric recordings that he has intuitively aggregated into groups of five pieces each. The first five recordings, subtitled Electron Music, are found on Side A of this LP while the second five, Shore Leave, comprise Side B.

Ravenstine played the majority of the sampled instruments on these recordings as well as piano, Moog theremin, a Roland Aerophone and a bevy of synthesizers including a Korg MS20, EML 200, and a Doepfer Dark Energy. Recording virtually over the internet due to the covid pandemic, collaborators from around the world contributed Ondes Martenot, prepared piano, transverse flute, trumpet, saxophone, double bass and percussion. The result is a heady, disparate brew of compositions that range from abstract to lyrical, in the process conjuring up a bricolage of ambient soundtracks, jazzy miniatures, space age exploration, world music, Erik Satie-like studies and the ghost of Harry Partch. As a collection Electron Music/Shore Leave is a stunningly mature work that provides new and surprising sonic rewards with each and every listen.

https://allen-ravenstine.bandcamp.com/electron-music-shore-leave

 

Con ancor vivo il ricordo del suo Zappe Zappa di vent'anni fa, Pierrejean Gaucher trae ispirazione ora (anche) da Erik Satie: inevitabilmente, Zappe Satie.

20 ans après son projet qui reste une référence saluée par la presse et les fans de Frank zappa, Pierrejean Gaucher a eu l’envie de réitérer cette aventure autour de l’univers musical d’Erik Satie. Ce nouvel album marque son retour à l’écriture avec un tout nouveau répertoire, porté par de jeunes et brillants musiciens qui font l’actualité du jazz en France depuis des années (ONJ, Ping Machine, PJ5, Sarab…)

https://pierrejeangaucher.bandcamp.com/album/zappe-satie

 

Quando lo prese nella sua band, anni e anni fa, Arturo era un giovane di talento, ancora minorenne, vivace e tanto cariiino... Ora che è cresciutello, O’Farrill e la sua Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra pensano a lei, Carla Bley, per un gustoso omaggio nella serie Virtual Birdland in lockdown: Celebrating Carla Bley. Con una breve apparizione della festeggiata - c'è anche Karen a un certo punto - e la prima esecuzione di un suo inedito: Blue Palestine.

https://youtu.be/dotHLm-9Fcc
https://www.facebook.com/afrolatinjazzalliance

 

La lunga e complessa preparazione di Turner in Uri, presentato dai Westbrook in prima mondiale al festival Alpentöne di Altdorf (Svizzera) il 15 agosto 2003 e replicato qualche giorno dopo a Zurigo, è documentata in Devil's Bridge, film realizzato da Charles Mapleston a stretto contatto con autori e interpreti durante le fasi di ricerca, studio, scrittura, prove e messa in scena. Prodotto e trasmesso a suo tempo dalla televisione svizzera è ora disponibile integralmente presso il WestbrookJazz Moving Picture Show.

A seven-part work based on the painter J.M.W. Turner's travels in Switzerland. Written for two solo vocalists, Kate Westbrook and classical baritone Claudio Danuser, choir (Schola Uriensis directed by Renaldo Battaglia) brass band (Brass Band Uri, conducted by Hans Burkhalter), jazz/rock group: Jon Hiseman (drums), Tim Harries (bass guitar), Mike Westbrook (piano), Chris Biscoe, Barbara Thompson (saxophones). Music: Mike Westbrook. Text: Kate Westbrook, including translations in the five Swiss languages, German, French, Italian, Swiss German and Rumantsch. Plus film projection of paintings by Kate Westbrook. Commissioned by Alpentöne Festival. Premiered in Altdorf and at Zurich Theater Spektakel, August 2003. Broadcast by Swiss Radio and TV. Documentary film directed by Charles Mapleston for Malachite Films, commissioned by Swiss TV.

https://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/turner/index.shtml
https://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/pictureshow/June2021.shtml
https://www.claudiodanuser.ch
https://www.hibou-anemone-bear.com/TurnerInUri

Splendida occasione per riascoltare le musiche dell'amatissimo Jonathan Coe, nella nuova versione che ne darà l'impareggiabile Artchipel Orchestra in concerto per Estate Sforzesca a Milano il prossimo 19 luglio.

https://www.ahumpilgrim.org/ahum-xxii-per-estate-sforzesca
https://www.facebook.com/estatesforzesca
https://www.facebook.com/erbalunga

 

Occasione preziosa per riascoltare l'amatissimo Phil Miller nella preparazione domestica e solitaria di alcuni brani destinati a esser pubblicati in forma completa in Cutting Both Ways (Cuneiform, 1989): Solo Demos 84-85.

Scrive Aymeric Leroy: "These solo demos were recorded by Phil using a Fostex 4-track cassette recorder in 1984/85. Obviously the intention was to help the other members of In Cahoots get the feel of each piece, along with the score, rather than a finished product anyone outside that close circle was supposed to ever hear. But this is a fascinating listen for anyone who likes Phil’s music and, particularly, his wonderful multi-layered guitar playing. Unlike his later demos, produced using MIDI, these were made playing instruments in real time, so there’s a strong human element there."

https://philmillerthelegacy.com/music/solo-demos-84-85

 

Due nuove occasioni per riascoltare l'amatissimo Lol Coxhill: St Mary's Aylesbury 1991 (con Adam Bohman, Mark Browne, Trevor Davis e Steve Nash) e un Live in London registrato in due distinte occasioni nel 1995 e 1996 (ancora con Mark Browne, Adam Bohman e il fratello Jonathan). Dagli archivi Scatter.

https://scatterarchive.bandcamp.com/album/st-marys-aylesbury-1991
https://scatterarchive.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-london-1995-1996

 

Tutto da immaginare è anche quello che succede nel giardino sul retro della casa di Sylvia Hallett. Però qualche indizio c'è: Bolt and Latch.

https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/shop/sylvia-hallett-bolt-and-latch

 

Anche la scultura Io sono - come Buddha in contemplazione, o Afrodite piange - di Salvatore Garau bisogna immaginarsela: esiste, ma non si vede. Tuttavia, si vende.

Italian artist Salvatore Garau has just sold an invisible sculpture for $18,000 USD. The Io Sono (I am) sculpture, as the artist explains, exists but just not in material form, and is actually more like a “vacuum.” The 67-year-old went on to elaborate that, “the vacuum is nothing more than a space full of energy, and even if we empty it and there is nothing left, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, that ‘nothing’ has a weight. Therefore, it has energy that is condensed and transformed into particles, that is, into us.” Much like how we “shape a god we’ve never seen.” The “sculpture” is intended to be displayed in a 5×5-foot square and must be displayed in a private space free from obstructions where lighting and climate control are not required. Reiterating that even if you can’t see it, it does exist, Garau included a certificate of authentication to the purchaser.

https://tinyurl.com/uafy3kra
https://www.art-rite.it/it/lot/13988/71/1
https://www.affaritaliani.it/venduta-in-asta-una-scultura-immateriale

 

Sabato al cinema, ogni settimana fino al 10 luglio. Il film bisogna immaginarselo, tra popcorn e coca-cola, le fotografie di Heike Liss e le musiche di Fred Frith: The Movie I Will Never Make. A Basilea (Svizzera), al Lotsremark Projekte.

The Movie I Will Never Make ist eine partizipative Installation, die im Foyer eines Kinos spielt. An den Wänden sind in Technicolor gedruckte Lobby-Karten angebracht, die Momente aus dem Film zeigen. Diese „Film-Stills“ halten eine internationale Besetzung von Amateur-Schauspielern in filmischen Momenten in Aktion und Pause fest. Sie wurden von Heike Liss entdeckt und fotografiert; ihre Beziehung zueinander bleibt offen. Weiter bleibt unbekannt, wo dieser Film beginnt oder wann er endet. Begleitet von der dramatischen Bewegung des Soundtracks von Fred Frith sind Sie eingeladen diese genre-übergreifende Produktion mitzugestalten.

The Movie I Will Never Make is a participatory installation set in the foyer of an imaginary movie house. Arranged upon the walls are promotional theatre lobby cards, printed in technicolor, showing a series of undefined cinematic moments. These film stills capture an international “cast” in action and repose. The characters have been discovered and screen-tested by artist Heike Liss but it is unknown how they relate to each other. It is also unknown where the movie begins or ends. Accompanied by the dramatic movement of Fred Frith’s soundtrack, you are invited to create this genre- defying production for yourselves.

Lotsremark Projekte
Klybeckstrasse 170
CH-4057 Basel
info@lotsremark.net
https://lotsremark.net

La documentazione delle attività del centro di produzione e ricerca musicale Art Zoyd Studios a Valenciennes (Francia), già piuttosto ampia grazie a un articolato sito web frequentemente rivisto e aggiornato, si arricchisce di due interessanti serie in podcast, Radio Paz: una riguarda le attività dei compositori in residenza, i corsi di studio e i laboratori audio e video - ed è quella che nell'ultimo periodo ha avuto maggiore impulso, accompagnando le esigenze della didattica a distanza - e una è dedicata alle origini e all'evoluzione del gruppo da cui il centro ha preso origine, gli Art Zoyd storici di Gérard Hourbette e Thierry Zaboïtzeff. Proprio a quest'ultimo è dedicato l'episodio più recente, il quinto.

Basé à Valenciennes, Art Zoyd Studios est un Centre de Création Musicale. À travers ses résidences, le centre favorise la conception et la réalisation d’œuvres musicales nouvelles, en assure la diffusion, et contribue au développement de la recherche musicale. La pratique de nouveaux instruments, la découverte de nouvelles formes de musique, la création, l’écoute et l’exploration sonore sont l'essence de la structure.Le centre participe activement à la transmission des œuvres électroacoustiques. Il a été fondé en 1999 par Gérard Hourbette et Monique Hourbette Vialadieu. Il porte le nom d’Art Zoyd groupe issu du rock progressif que Gérard Hourbette a dirigé jusqu’à sa mort en 2018 (codirection avec Thierry Zaboïtzeff jusqu’en 1997). Puisant dans les ressources sonores infinies des instruments électroniques, Art Zoyd mêlait les influences du rock et de la musique électroacoustique pour faire jaillir l’imaginaire fantasmatique de la musique.

https://artzoydstudios.com
https://artzoydstudios.com/histoire
https://artzoydstudios.com/radio-paz

 

Ci sarà presto per Bureau B un box antologico per i Faust, contenente gli storici titoli Polydor e Virgin e vari estratti dalle edizioni ReR. I cinque titoli che proprio ReR raccolse in cofanetto - con un bel libretto curato da Chris Cutler - più di vent'anni fa, The Wümme Years 1970-73, sono disponibili singolarmente a poche sterline, ma solo per acquisti entro fine mese (e finché le scorte durano): Faust, So Far, The Faust Tapes, 71 Minutes, BBC Sessions.

https://www.rermegacorp.com
https://tinyurl.com/ReRFaust
http://www.bureau-b.com/faust71-74

 

Viene diffusa in streaming oggi una nuova maratona sonora ideata e prodotta dai tre storici direttori artistici di Bang On The Can, Michael Gordon, David Lang e Julia Wolfe. Il tema scelto questa volta è la canzone, sviluppato attraverso il contributo di quindici diversi autori - tra cui Anna Clyne, Julius Eastman, Fred Frith e Charles Amirkhanian - con molti lavori commissionati ad hoc e alcune anteprime: Marathon of Song.

The Bang on a Can Marathon of Song features 15 performances streamed from musicians’ homes around the country and across the world. For this Marathon, all performances will include some type of vocalization – singing, speaking, murmuring, or other use of the voice. The Marathon will be hosted by Bang on a Can’s artistic directors Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe who will speak to the artists after each performance. “Humming, speaking, crooning, shouting, praying, tuneful, harmonized or noisy, we have spun songs since the beginning of our existence. These adventurous composers are redefining what it means to make song, and these powerful performers bring it to life with a myriad of colors and sensibilities.”

https://live.bangonacan.org/june-2021-marathon

 

Terry Riley da casa sua in Giappone ed altri amici in vari luoghi si danno appuntamento online oggi e domani per raccogliere fondi in favore della drammatica situazione pandemica in India e Nepal: Music for India, in streaming presso Gray Area.  

Music For India is a special live concert series to raise urgent funds for India Covid-19 relief. All proceeds raised will go directly to organizations working on the ground in India to provide oxygen, food, and other needed supplies. On June 5, join us for the first concert in the series — a very rare live streaming concert by the legendary composer Terry Riley. Riley, who turns 86 years old next month, will be broadcasting live from Japan, where he currently lives. Riley has had a longstanding alliance with the rich musical cultures of India, going back to the 1960s. Like other prominent musicians of the time, including the Beatles and Ravi Shankar, Riley was key in forging an important bridge between Indian music and the West. Riley first achieved international acclaim in the 1960s, when he launched what is now known as the Minimalist movement with his classic “In C.” This seminal work provided a new concept in musical form based on interlocking repetitive patterns, changing the course of 20th century music. In 1970, he became a disciple of the master Indian raga vocalist Pandit Pran Nath; Riley appeared frequently in concert with Pran Nath until Pran Nath’s passing in 1996. His work has inspired prominent composers such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams and the music of rock groups such as The Who, The Soft Machine, Tangerine Dream, Curved Air and many others. Terry's hypnotic, multi-layered, polymetric, brightly orchestrated Eastern flavored compositions set the stage for the prevailing interest in a new tonality.

https://grayarea.org/event/music-for-india

 

Una sorta di anticipazione dei concerti che i Residents del cinquantennale terranno in molte località degli Stati Uniti a partire dal prossimo agosto - e a gennaio e febbraio 2022 anche in Europa - la si avrà domani nel corso di uno speciale evento in streaming visibile agli abbonati della piattaforma di video on demand Night Flight Plus. In scaletta ci sono vari documenti d'archivio, tra cui i film The Decline of Western Civilization e John Cage Meets Sun Ra; la regia della performance dei Nostri, ideata per l'occasione, è affidata al video artista John Sanborn, loro fedelissimo: Duck Stab! Alive!

In celebration of Night Flight's 40th Anniversary, as well as their own upcoming 50th, The Residents are thrilled to announce Duck Stab! Alive!, a re-imagining of the group's iconic 1970s album. Directed by celebrated video artist John Sanborn, Duck Stab! Alive! will be a contemporary, "live-in-the-studio" interpretation of the band's classic sound. The program, scheduled to begin streaming on Night Flight Plus June 5, 2021, also serves as a prelude to The Residents' 50th Anniversary tour beginning in August of this year.

https://residents.com
https://www.nightflightplus.com

 

Un'anticipazione del film documentario sugli inarrivabili Brian Poole e David Janssen, cioè Renaldo and The Loaf, è da qualche giorno disponibile in rete, ad esempio su Vimeo: si intitola 23rd Century Giants e Well Dang! lo promette pronto e finito entro la fine dell'anno. Nell'attesa, c'è da sbizzarrirsi - e divertirsi - a confrontare l'originale Gurdy Hurding con l'Hardly Gurning While The World Is Turning appena sfornato da Klanggalerie.

23rd Century Giants is a documentary feature film following the musical careers of Brian Poole and David Janssen, aka Renaldo & the Loaf, an avant-garde duo who have been creating strange and captivating music together since the '70s. Features interviews with the duo and virtually every key figure in their musical lives, unseen photos, unheard music, and comedic cutout animations. 

Renaldo and The Loaf are respectively Brian Poole and David Janssen, two friends who met up in 1970 and decided from then on to create their own music, pursuing their hobby from their bedroom studios. Following years of exploration, dead ends and developing experimental techniques, in 1978 they finally distilled their ideas into an album, Behind Closed Curtains, which was due for release on a UK independent label – but which folded at the last minute. A year later Renaldo and The Loaf were born and the self released cassette album, Struve and Sneff, secured them a contract with the San Francisco based Ralph Records, a hugely respected experimental label which was also home of The Residents. They went on to release 5 albums with Ralph, one being a unique collaboration with The Residents. After a long break, Renaldo and The Loaf re-emerged in 2006 and a few years later started a series of re-issues of their back catalogue through Klanggalerie - the albums being remastered and expanded with outtakes and other rare and unreleased tracks.

https://www.renaldoloaf.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/RATL
http://www.klanggalerie.com/gg367
https://vimeo.com/498379781

 

Absolutely Breit
Peter Hollinger (1954-2021)

Mentre il New York City Jazz Record dedica a Mike Westbrook un lungo articolo nel numero di maggio 2021 - riportato per intero anche nel WestbrookJazz Notice Board - è ai testi e ai disegni di Kate Westbrook che attinge il nuovo video della serie WestbrookJazz Moving Picture Show. Protagonisti sono i dipinti originali di Caspar Wolf (1735-1783), primo pittore tra i suoi contemporanei a ritrarre da vicino - inerpicandosi in alta quota tra rocce e ghiacci con cavalletto, tele, oli, acquarelli e guazzi - le bellezze sublimi, selvagge e terrificanti dei paesaggi delle Alpi svizzere. A lui i Westbrook dedicarono uno splendido lavoro nel 2005, Art Wolf - portato anche in concerto con Pete Whyman e Chris Biscoe - da cui è tratto Unsigned Panorama, introdotto nell'album da Mein bleicher Sonnenschirm interpretato da Kate in lingua tedesca.

My pale parasol shadows my frozen hair, splinters of ice flick sun through the air. The heat and the coldness are at war on the breeze, as my fair companions seize the harsh and the sweet. A great glacier before me, Alpine Swifts above, I shall live for ever an image of love.

https://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/artwolf
https://vimeo.com/547900446