Sep
30
2005
5

Bill Shoemaker on improvised music

“For many, improvised music is the final frontier, the last large blank space on the musical map. In a word, discovery is the deep-seated need that is fulfilled for many by improvised music. Often, it is a need previously met by other forms of music, before they became, after sufficient exposure, familiar, then predictable, and, ultimately, product. The irony is that improvised music is not completely immune from the expectations and fickleness of consumers. People come back and again to improvised music because they have developed a taste for it. They know in general terms what to expect, and their evaluation of the music depends on how those expectations are met, or are supplanted by something truly unexpected and startling. The saving grace of improvised music is it is fated to remain on the fringe. The idea of having improvised music out there, way out there in the unmarketable wild, also fulfills a deep-seated need of many improvised music fans.”
- Bill Shoemaker, June 2005 in Point of Departure

Vitamin S – First Trio, Part C Excerpt, 20th August 2004 [2'12]

Written by Richard in: jazz,Music | Tags: , , ,
Sep
22
2005
5

Dominion Centenary Concert Band

Today’s post is about a new musical project in Auckland – the Dominion Centenary Concert Band. The DCCB is a 7-piece ensemble of improvising musicians involved in the Vitamin S collective. (And yes, I play in it.)

DCCB’s instrumentation, stage appearance and repertoire is largely a tribute to New Zealand’s brass band tradition, and particularly the amateur community bands (Salvation Army, Women’s Temperance Union, Maori and Ratana bands) that abounded during New Zealand’s colonial period. The DCCB has specifically been established to mark the approaching centenary of New Zealand becoming a Dominion of the British Empire in 1907.

The format of DCCB performances revolves around “islands” of orchestrated composed pieces (drawn from multiple sources) connected by passages of free improvisation.

The 17 minute performance posted here was recorded at our inaugural concert, on June 16th 2005 at St Kevin’s Arcade on Karangahape Road, one of Auckland’s few remaining orginal shopping arcades. The composed fragments heard here are Hala Vuna, a traditional Tongan folk song; Ennio Morricone’s movie theme from My Name is Nobody [Update: I am reliably informed that this theme is in fact High Plains Drifter, by Dee Barton, not Morricone's spaghetti western melody] ; and Bonnisseau, a brass theme of French origin.

Dominion Centenary Concert Band – Performance #1 , June 16th 2005

The personnel on the recording are: John Bell (concert master, glockenspiel, tenor horn, whistles and percussion); Paul Winstanley (marching bass drum, percussion and guitar); Bruce Morley (drums and percussion); Jaekyung Kelly Choi (clarinet, recorder, fife, hojuk and bass clarinet); Richard Cotman (trumpet, flugelhorn, bugle and shofar); and Tim Sutton (bass trombone).

Our next gig is in Wellington on October 30th as part of the Wellington International Jazz Festival. I hope you enjoy the music, and I’d be interested in comments, whether positive, negative or bemused!

John Bell

Written by Richard in: Music,New Zealand | Tags: , , , , , ,
Aug
24
2005
1

Impish Orchestrations

The great thing about skiing holidays is that it’s almost never the skiing that is the most memorable event. So the undoubted highlight of my short break in the South Island this winter were the keas.

The kea is the world’s only alpine parrot, and apart from being some of the most intelligent birds on the planet, they also are among the most fearless, playful and impish. They will rip apart the upholstery on your snowmobile, steal french fries off your picnic table from under your nose, and then flap off noisily up the mountain to look at you sideways from the safety of a rocky outcrop.

So, in a twisted tribute to these impish inhabitants of our Southern Alps, I’ve dug up some of the most impish music I could find. The London Improvisers’ Orchestra, recorded live at the Freedom of the City Festival on May 5th 2002. Phone In is an improvisation for orchestra and mobile phones, while Fanfare for LIO is an improvised duet for orchestra and audience.

Keaaaaaa!

London Improvisers’ Orchestra – Phone In
London Improvisers’ Orchestra – Fanfare for LIO
From Freedom of the City 2002: Emanem 4090 [Buy]


Kea, Improvising

Written by Richard in: Music | Tags: , , , , ,
May
24
2005
1

Don Cherry and John Coltrane

Don Cherry and John Coltrage – Cherryco
Don Cherry and John Coltrane – Bemsha Swing
From The Avant-Garde: Rhino/Atlantic 812279822 [Buy]

Few introductions are required here… John Coltrane and Don Cherry, recorded in New York in 1960. Ed Blackwell on drums, and Charlie Haden (Cherryco) and the late Percy Heath (Bemsha Swing) on bass. Compositions by Don Cherry and Thelonius Monk, respectively (and respectfully).

Written by Richard in: jazz,Music,USA | Tags: , , , ,
Apr
06
2005
1

Dewey Redman: Sound Explorer

Dewey Redman Trio – QOW
Dewey Redman Trio – Joie de Vivre
From Coincide (Impulse! ASD-9300), rereleased on The Ear of the Behearer: IMP 12712 [Buy Here]

Dewey Redman is one of my favourite saxophonists, who I first heard in his role as a member of one of the most extraordinary bands ever to walk this Earth, Keith Jarrett’s “American Quartet” with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian.

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1931, Dewey Redman was a high school friend of Ornette Coleman, with whom he would play in later years in San Francisco and New York. After a spell on the west coast, Redman moved to New York around the time Coltrane died in 1967, and soon became known as a regular performer in exploratory ensembles such as Coleman’s own groups and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra.

Although one of the legends of the late 60s East Coast free scene, Dewey Redman’s distinctive sound has never quite lost the blues and gospel roots of his Texas childhood, something that comes through on these two tunes, both recorded in September 1974 for Redman’s Impulse! album Coincide, a trio date featuring Redman with Eddie Moore on drums and bassist Sirone (aka Norris Jones).

These are typical Redman performances, weaving in and out of tonality, enhanced by the implied harmonic freedom of the horn-bass-drums format. Joie de Vivre is close to being a ballad, while the mysteriously named QOW is a bluesy, funky romp defined by sing-song bass vamps from Sirone.

Dewey Redman is still active playing, recording and touring, and it is somewhat unfortunate that these days he stands somewhat in the shadow of his son, tenorman Joshua Redman.

Also worth Hearing…

Today, (Wednesday 6th April), (((NOMUSIC))) is streaming a 24 hour worldwide “audio diffusion” event today called Royal Battle. Performers include David Fenech (Paris), Fugu and the Cosmic Mumu (Tokyo), Scott Smallwood (Princeton) and the Alsace based (((NOMUSIC))) founders Carl Y and laboiteblanche. Turn the lights down low and turn it up!

Written by Richard in: jazz,Music,USA | Tags: , , , ,
Oct
04
2004
0

Deep Throat


Photo: Heartonastick

Vitamin S tonight features Chirgilchin, the current champions of the Tuvan national throat singing competitions! They’re dropping in to Odeon on their way to Dunedin. This sounds unmissable.

(Update) Wow, what a joyful musical occasion. The trio was greeted by a PACKED Odeon Lounge, and performed a 30 minute set of some of the most extraordinary and perfectly conceived music I’ve ever heard. Anyone who hasn’t heard throat singing should google it and find some mp3 samples, or look up Chirgilchin on Amazon. The documentary Genghis Blues is of course at the root of popular awareness of this musical style in the West, and is well worth catching, and is a good introduction to the sound and landscape of Tuva.

Written by Richard in: Music,New Zealand | Tags: , , , , , , ,

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