Inner Focus Music » Experimental Music

Jenks Miller’s Zen Automata Volume One: V

George — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:36:38 +0000

On Approaching the Invisible Mountain, Jenks Miller’s only previous album under his own name, the guitarist exploits only space and tone. The series of six spare, nebulous guitar improvisations comes full of rests and breaks—as though, in pauses for pondering, Miller considered what he’d just played and proceeded accordingly. It was a winding, easy listen, where the listener delighted as much in the possibility of what might happen next as in what had come before. More….

Jenks Miller’s Zen Automata Volume One: V is a post from: Inner Focus Music

Steve Swell

George — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:44:43 +0000

One of the most adventurous and prolific members of the New York free-jazz community” according to Ed Hazell of Signal To Noise, Steve Swell’s reputation, work ethic and committment to excellence has kept him in the forefront of improvised music and a leading voice on his instrument for more than 20 years. On February 27th at Roulette, Swell presents a concert featuring his new ensemble with some of improvised music’s finest contributors: Rob Brown, alto; Chris Forbes, piano; Hilliard “Hill” Greene, bass; Michael T.A. Thompson, drums, percussion. It will feature Swell’s writing along with his unique, on the spot direction of incorporating this group’s rich improvisation abilities along with his compositions. Read more….

Steve Swell is a post from: Inner Focus Music

The Year in Music: Acclaimed Ensemble – BU Today

Frank Rosaly Explains

George — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:31:51 +0000

Frank Rosaly Explains is a post from: Inner Focus Music

Music, sex and murder – Jamaica Gleaner

Experimental Music In Los Angeles

George — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:02:40 +0000

No musician admits it out loud and a few probably don’t even admit it to themselves, but every musician wants to get into the history books. I’ve seen composers open a new book from the back just to look for their name in the index. I do that myself sometimes.

I’m very proud that I got mentioned even once in Frank Zappa’s autobiography. (On page 175 in case you run across a copy because Frank didn’t believe in indices.)

Recently I was contacted by Charles Sharp (also known as C. Sharp). He wanted to interview me for his doctoral dissertation. Here’s how he described it:

[It is] ostensibly about avant-garde jazz in Los Angeles but it has become increasingly about the intersection of various different genres of experimental music in Los Angeles.

One of those intersections involved the ICA, the Independent Composers Association, a group in which I was active in the early 1980s. You can read several Mixed Meters articles about ICA. (MM is the only place on the Internet you can read anything about ICA, alas.)
I answered Charles’ questions as best my memory would allow. A year passed. Charles finished his dissertation, charmingly entitled “Improvisation, identity, and tradition: Experimental music communities in Los Angeles”. He has since defended it against all comers and earned some letters after his name which entitle him to a chance of being hired for menial college teaching positions.

The dissertation is 500 pages long! I immediately searched it for my name and found a gratifying number of mentions. Thankfully the quotes Charles picked didn’t make me look like a complete idiot. It’s not online at the moment but if you want to read it you should contact him. Charles created a blog to accept comments here which might be a good place to leave him a message.

The story Charles tells is important. It’s about creative music right here in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, in experimental music, what happens in L.A. stays in L.A. This telling should help delineate a historical tradition few people know much about. Even those of us who witnessed parts of it don’t know the whole story. People from elsewhere will be surprised.

After an academical introductory chapter (in which the word hermeneutics confused me repeatedly) it’s a pretty easy read. Charles starts off with Ornette Coleman, not often thought of as an L.A. musician. He left here for New York in 1959 after recording The Shape of Jazz to Come. Three Los Angeles jazz musicians, pianist Horace Tapscott, cornetist Bobby Bradford and clarinetist John Carter are the backbone of the story.

I was acquainted with John Carter, heard him play a bunch of times and even got to play with him once, if only in private. He was a nice and genuine person. His cycle of 5 albums, Roots and Folklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music, is the centerpiece of Charles’ story. I could have learned a lot from John – had I thought to pay more attention.

Sharp discusses the music of Tapscott, Bradford and Carter :

…these musicians had preunderstandings, which were informed by bebop and also the developing music of free jazz. Their music suggested different realities and possibilities. If racism, which was a systemic part of urban planning, policing, and public policy, was a reminder that black people were not fully valued as individuals, the music was a reminder of the importance of individuals and the power of community. … Their music was supposed to sound unique, different every time, and challenge the listeners; aspects that seldom result in broad mass appeal. … As their music was understood, it expanded the horizons of the listeners and new communities would emerge. (p.126-7)

Charles writes a lot about communities – little groups of like-minded people within which music could take on some meaning. Telling how these groups arose and interacted with each other and eventually disappeared makes the story interesting.

For example, I found the early histories, starting in high school, of drummer Alex Cline, guitarist Nels Cline and synthesist Lee Kaplan (who ran an important concert series at a little dump pretentiously called the Century City Playhouse) fascinating. My buddy Vinny Golia gets a lot of space. (You can hear ancient recordings by an improv trio of myself, Vinny & flutist Anne LaBerge in this MM article.) Others (like Bill Roper, James Grigsby, Titus Levi, Kraig Grady, Lynn Johnston, Will Salmon) who I know or worked with get space as well.

Charles puts a lot of different things into his narrative. A chapter about punk rock. A chapter about the various Los Angeles city-wide arts festivals (which I alluded to in my recent post about opera.) Dr. Sharp takes the story right up to the present – long after I dropped out.

Having lived in Los Angeles for nearly 35 years, first as an active participant in the local experimental music scene and then an observer of same, I think this dissertation deserves to be widely read. Creative musicians, non-creative musicians, music fans of all kinds and even music critics will find it interesting. And they might just realize that Los Angeles is not quite the creative wasteland we pretend to be.

By David Ocker

Experimental Music In Los Angeles is a post from: Inner Focus Music

Chicago Experimental Music and Noise Festival

George — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:08:19 +0000

Chicago has lots of music festivals, and Chicago has plenty of concerts year-round devoted to experimental music and noise. Now it looks like the city is finally getting a festival that focuses on experimental music and noise. The Neon Marshmallow Festival will make its debut from August 20 through 22 at the Viaduct Theater, and while the details (including the lineup) are still being hammered out, what’s been announced so far looks impressive.

The event is being organized by Daniel Smith (who makes music under the name Red Electric Rainbow) and Matt Kimmel, who’s behind the Acid-Marshamallow site, which showcases mostly experimental stuff. Among the confirmed performers are Astral Social Club, Carlos Giffoni, and Emeralds, whose recent What Happened (No Fun) was one of last year’s best examples of taxonomically slippery pyschedelic drone. I’ve also seen a list of artists the organizers are waiting to hear from, so I can say that Smith and Kimmel seem to have pretty good taste (and an aesthetic leaning toward the noisier end of the spectrum). There’s already a Neon Marshmallow Fest site, but it’ll probably be another week or so before anything is actually on it. More….

Chicago Experimental Music and Noise Festival is a post from: Inner Focus Music

Hi Lo Trio in Chicago

George — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:23:05 +0000

Hi Lo Trio in Chicago is a post from: Inner Focus Music

New York Experimental Music Locations

George — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:53:14 +0000

1. The Stone
John Zorn’s spartan Alphabet City outpost provides a no-frills home for avant-garde music of all inclinations, programmed by different musicians each month. Ave C at 2nd St (no phone)

2. Issue Project Room at the Old American Can Factory
Issue’s current home is temporary, but avant-rockers, contemporary-classical players and electroacoustic improvisers have made the space a permanent destination.
232 3rd St at Third Ave, Gowanus, Brooklyn (718-330-0313)

3. Roulette
Now housed in a comfortable, elegant Soho space, Jim Staley’s long-running venue keeps the downtown-music torch burning brightly.
20 Greene St between Canal and Grand Sts (212-219-8242)

4. Monkey Town
Four-wall video projections make Monkey Town’s back room a haven for multisensory stimulation.
58 North 3rd St between Kent and Wythe Aves, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-384-1369)

5. Experimental Intermedia
Twice a year in March and December, composer and video artist Phill Niblock opens his loft to composers, sound artists and improvisers from around the world.
224 Centre St at Grand St, third floor (212-431-5127)

For information on New York hotels click here

New York Experimental Music Locations is a post from: Inner Focus Music