tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30013158998781218492024-03-13T13:50:40.932-07:00A Shot in the DarkImprovisation - Essays, Articles, and ResourcesMatt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-55448406931630024092022-02-10T20:57:00.009-08:002022-02-15T18:45:22.598-08:00Jimmy Giuffre's "Silent Years" - 1962 thru 1972<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">After 1962's groundbreaking <i>Free Fall</i>, Jimmy Giuffre didn't release another record until 1972's <i>Music for People, Birds, Butterflies. </i>This period of Giuffre's life always interested me, so I decided to do a deep dive. I lay out some of Giuffre's early career, and then give some highlights from his "silent period".</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> For some information relating to Giuffre's earlier and later periods, check out Jazz Profiles' two excellent posts: <a href="https://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2008/04/jimmy-giuffre-quiet-man.html" target="_blank">Jimmy Giuffre - The Quiet Man</a> (2008) and <a href="https://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2014/10/jimmy-giuffre-quiet-man-revisited.html" target="_blank">The Quiet Man Revisited</a> (2014).</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Jon De Lucia also has <a href="http://www.jondelucia.com/counterpoint-jazz/" target="_blank">some interesting bits</a> over at his site.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHaEuWY8oO4PFsB8DrzyQ-IknzaB0_Mhsi3lTGadlDLExD8XL0SQT3IsFpIdcpGB6NUvGlyjFvzHt8sVHb2uSmsENA8N14oklLt60L8whQExRjFtWS6jmP6d-FqCuAKWknL_NfXSoMd3U/s1600/rawImage.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHaEuWY8oO4PFsB8DrzyQ-IknzaB0_Mhsi3lTGadlDLExD8XL0SQT3IsFpIdcpGB6NUvGlyjFvzHt8sVHb2uSmsENA8N14oklLt60L8whQExRjFtWS6jmP6d-FqCuAKWknL_NfXSoMd3U/s320/rawImage.jpg" width="212" /></a><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span>"</span><span>The two most important figures in the early days of avant-garde jazz were both composers and reed players: Ornette Coleman and Jimmy Giuffre." - Paul Bley</span></span></i><br />
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James Peter Giuffre was born in 26 April 1921 in Dallas, TX. He went to the North Texas Teachers College in 1939. In 1942 he graduated and joined an Army band. After the war, he worked as a writer and woodwind player for the big bands of Jimmy Dorsey, Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, and Boyd Raeburn. In 1947 his composition "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ-6P4zLbvY" target="_blank">Four Brothers</a>" was <a href="http://www.78discography.com/COL38000.htm" target="_blank">recorded</a> by Woody Herman's band. He also recorded with <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Charlie-Barnet-Dizzy-Gillespie-Bill-Harris-Stan-Kenton-Woody-Herman-Miles-Davis-The-Modern-Idiom/release/5355068" target="_blank">Maynard Ferguson's band in 1952</a>.<br />
<br />In or around 1952, Giuffre moved to Los Angeles. He began studying composition with Wesley LaViolette, known by some in the West Coast school as the "'Father' of West Coast jazz groups." ["<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/83757695/wesley-laviolette-article/" target="_blank">Bach and Jazz Are Much Alike</a>", Arizona Republic, 22 May 1959, p. 9] LaViolette, born in 1894, was an accomplished composer as well as a public intellectual. LaViolette had also taught Stan Kenton, Andre Previn, Bill Holman, Martin Denny, and Nelson Riddle ["<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=MemynYViOXUC&dq=why+jazz+happened+brubeck" target="_blank">Why Jazz Happened</a>", p. 63].<br />
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Giuffre began to record in small groups as part of the emerging West Coast post-bop scene. He recorded several times with bassist Howard Rumsey in 1952 and 1953, sessions which were released by Contemporary Records across two 10" LP's (<i>Lighthouse All-Stars <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Howard-Rumseys-Lighthouse-All-Stars-Howard-Rumseys-Lighthouse-All-Stars/master/413544" target="_blank">vols. 1</a> and <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Howard-Rumseys-Lighthouse-All-Stars-Sunday-Jazz-A-La-Lighthouse-Vol-2/master/390922" target="_blank">2</a></i>). He also cut records as a sideman for <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Shorty-Rogers-And-His-Giants-Modern-Sounds/release/4265402" target="_blank">Shorty Rogers</a>, <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Shelly-Manne-Septet-Heres-That-Manne/release/2188519" target="_blank">Shelly Manne</a>, and <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Red-Norvo-And-His-Sextet-Reds-Rose-Room-Reds-Blue-Room/release/7997288" target="_blank">Red Norvo</a>.<br />
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Many of these records include at least one composition by Giuffre. For example, in 1953 he recorded a session with vibraphonist Teddy Charles, which included Giuffre's tune "Evolution":</span><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EE7vFX_J5wQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="EE7vFX_J5wQ"></iframe></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">
In 1954 and 1955 Giuffre led his <a href="http://www.jazzdisco.org/jimmy-giuffre/catalog/" target="_blank">first sessions as a leader</a> for Capitol records, which were released on a self-titled 33 1/3rpm EP (T-549), and also as a 45rpm single (F3-549). These records also include some brief and curious moments of collective counterpoint (i.e. the intro for "All For You").<br />
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Billboard (20 Nov 1954) published a favorable review of the record, describing it as "an exciting collection of sides" that "has a chance to turn into a strong-selling jazz effort for the winter season." And sure enough, the following month, Giuffre's self-titled Capitol record was listed as a "Best Selling Popular Album", alongside the likes of Frank Sinatra and Duke Ellington. (Billboard, 4 Dec 1954).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">In September 1954, Shelly Manne recorded <i>Abstract No. 1</i> with Giuffre and Shorty Rogers:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pDUApw1Uom0" width="320" youtube-src-id="pDUApw1Uom0"></iframe></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><i>Abstract No. 1</i> was credited to "The Three", meaning that it was collectively "composed" by Manne, Giuffre and Rogers. The piece opens with Manne at a brisk 290, followed shortly by Giuffre on tenor and Rogers on trumpet. Harmonically, Giuffre hovers around a Eb minor tonality, while Rogers plays more chromatically, settling into Bb minor occasionally. Around 1:30, Giuffre switches to clarinet, and Manne switches from sticks to brushes. After a brief clarinet solo, Manne returns to take the piece out. Giuffre switches to baritone sax for the final 30 seconds.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">The lack of discernible form or changes, and its collective composition credits, lead me to conclude that this piece is essentially a free improvisation. Some minor "traffic rules" may have been discussed, but much was clearly left to the spur of the moment.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">
Throughout the 1950's, Giuffre received several invitations to write for other artists. A work of his was included on Milt Bernhart's RCA/Victor release <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Milt-Bernhart-Brass-Ensemble-Modern-Brass/release/4164810" target="_blank"><i>Modern Brass</i></a> [1955], as well as on Columbia's <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Gunther-Schuller-John-Lewis-2-Jimmy-Giuffre-J-J-Johnson-Dimitri-Mitropoulos-Music-For-Brass/release/3409221" target="_blank"><i>Music for Brass</i></a> [1957]. The latter also included writers as diverse as John Lewis, Bill Russo, and Milton Babbitt.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6Xjw57Zw9xI" width="320" youtube-src-id="6Xjw57Zw9xI"></iframe></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">
Shortly before Christmas 1955, Giuffre was signed to Atlantic Records by the label's vice-president Nesuhi Ertegun (Billboard, 24 Dec 1955). Earlier in 1955 Ertegun had joined his brother (and label-founder) Ahmet, and was also responsible for signing such figures of modern jazz as John Lewis, Charles Mingus, Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz, Teddy Charles, and in 1959, Ornette Coleman (New Grove Dictionary of Jazz 1994, <i>Atlantic</i>).<br />
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In December 1956 we see the first recording session of his trio with guitarist Jim Hall and a rotating cast of bass players, including Ralph Pena, Jim Atlas, Red Mitchell, Buddy Clark, and Ray Brown. On occasion, Giuffre excluded bass altogether, opting for valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. Here's a clip from Newport 1958:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OCVg1UOADO8" width="320" youtube-src-id="OCVg1UOADO8"></iframe></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">The Lenox School of Jazz / Meeting Ornette Coleman & Don Cherry</span></u></b></div>
<span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b>In the summers of 1957, '58 and '59, Giuffre was a faculty member at the Lenox School of Jazz's summer camps. Ornette Coleman and his colleague Don Cherry attended the School in 1959 on a scholarship recommended by John Lewis. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160815194051/http://jazzdiscography.com/Lenox/1959prog.htm" target="_blank">A concert program from 1959</a> lists Coleman and Cherry as members of an ensemble co-led by Max Roach and John Lewis. The group performed four tunes, three of which were written by Coleman. The summer of 1959 was a pivotal time in Coleman's career: shortly after recording <i>The Shape Of Jazz To Come </i>(rec'd May 1959) but before its release (Oct 1959). This was also mere months before his controversial stint at the Five Spot Cafe (which ran from in Nov 1959 to Jan 1960).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br />Jeremy Yudkin (</span><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="font-family: trebuchet;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lenox-School-Jazz-American-Relations/dp/0978908910/" target="_blank">The Lenox School of Jazz</a></i><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">, Farshaw 2006) </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">suggests that although he was attending as a student, Coleman "was not really a student any more. He had been playing professionally for over 10 years, had recorded three albums already, and had founded the quartet [with Cherry, Higgins and Haden] that would revolutionize jazz." (p. 89) George Russell added that Coleman & Cherry's status as students was "a kind of gross error" (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bill-Evans-How-Heart-Sings/dp/0300097271" target="_blank">Pettinger</a>, 2002 p. 88). Indeed, Yudkin writes that "it was the teachers who learned from Coleman that summer."</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">Giuffre described Coleman's playing as "wonderful ... when somebody gets to this point where he can be this free and this sure in his statement..." (Yudkin, p. 89) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6rsc4M2iL8" target="_blank">Perry Robinson</a>, who was a student of Giuffre's at the School that summer, recounted an incident that demonstrates the dramatic impact that Coleman's music had upon his teacher:<br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><i>"[Coleman] blew [Giuffre's] mind. One time there was a jam session going on with George Russell and Ornette, and I was watching through the window. Jimmy was standing there listening, and after Ornette took his solo Jimmy fell on the floor and started kicking his feet. He had such an amazing reaction to the music, it was like a musical orgasm."</i> (Quoted in Jeremy Yudkin, 2006 pp. 150-151.)</span></blockquote>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">Paul Bley and Steve Swallow</span></u></b></div>
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Irrevocably changed by Ornette Coleman's music and ideas, Giuffre began to experiment with new groups. In October 1960, Giuffre performed at New York's Village Vanguard, with a quartet that featured bassist Bill Takas, drummer Ronnie Bedford, and pianist Paul Bley. The quartet opened for a 25-year old Aretha Franklin, who was debuting in New York City. Billboard's Jack Maher was in the audience, and he wrote a very favorable review of the show. While focusing on Franklin, he dedicated a paragraph to Giuffre's set, writing that "the music has much in common with Japanese prints in that it is low-keyed and full of gentle subtleties and delicate touches. [Bley, Bedford and Takas] all acquitted themselves with distinction, especially in the passages that called for interweaving improvisation. Most notable ... were: 'Two,' 'Laura,' 'Stella By Starlight,' and 'Easy Way Out.'" (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=MiAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA44&dq=%22jimmy%20giuffre%22%20aretha%20franklin&pg=PA44#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Billboard, 17 Oct 1960, p. 44</a>) This quartet did not record, and I am unable to locate any other gigs that they had.<br />
<br />By March 1961, Giuffre had returned to the drumless trio format, keeping Bley and hiring the young bassist Steve Swallow. Although short-lived, the group recorded two albums for Verve, (<i>Thesis </i>and <i>Fusion</i>) and what one of the most bizarre records in Columbia Records' catalog, <i>Free Fall </i>(1962).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d2OZQzuKYGg" width="320" youtube-src-id="d2OZQzuKYGg"></iframe></span></div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br />For its part, Columbia has <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Jimmy-Giuffre-Free-Fall/release/3151523" target="_blank">reissued</a> <i>Free Fall</i>. ECM and hatART have also contributed to make sure that Giuffre's most esoteric work does not languish in analog obscurity in a digital world.<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">Giuffre's "Silent Years"</span></u></b></div>
<span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br />After the release of <i>Free Fall</i>, Giuffre did not record as a leader until 1972. He had a couple sessions as a sideman: 6 May 1963, he recorded 3 tracks for a Teddy Charles project entitled <i>Russia Goes Jazz</i> (<a href="https://www.discogs.com/Teddy-Charles-And-The-All-Stars-Russia-Goes-Jazz-Swinging-Themes-From-The-Great-Russian-Composers/release/2376541" target="_blank">United Artists, UAL 3365</a>). In 1964 he and Hal McKusick played <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Helen-Merrill-The-Artistry-Of-Helen-Merrill/release/4831871" target="_blank">background woodwinds</a> on a track for vocalist Helen Merrill.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">In February 1965 Giuffre gave a <a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/1613615-Jimmy-Giuffre-Olympia-Feb-23rd-1960-Feb-27th-1965" target="_blank">trio performance in Paris</a> with pianist Don Friedman and bassist Barre Phillips. The recording was first released in 1999. In 2014, <a href="https://www.elemental-music.com/the-jimmy-giuffre-3-4%E2%80%A8-new-york-concerts/" target="_blank">Elemental Records</a> released two previously unissued Giuffre recordings: a "live studio" recording at Columbia University's Wollman Auditorium (May 19, 1965) and a live concert recording from Greenwich Village's Judson Hall (September 3, 1965). The double-disc is nicely packaged and comes with a 28-page booklet of photographs and liner notes, including testimonies from Steve Swallow, Paul Bley and Jim Hall.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">The music is fascinating. Giuffre, typically heard during this period on clarinet only, also plays tenor saxophone. Both sessions featured Joe Chambers on drums. Phillips and Friedman played at the Wollman session, and Richard Davis played bass on the Judson Hall concert.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">In1967, Giuffre performed with Red Mitchell, Jimmy Rowles, and Ed Thigpen (Donald Bailey was advertised as the drummer in prior articles). A concert review, written by Leonard Feather, describes Giuffre as playing clarinet, tenor saxophone, and even alto saxophone, "an instrument he has rarely if ever used in public." The quartet played "Come On In", "The Note" and "Rhythm Speak", as well as "Green Dolphin Street" and a 12-bar blues. Feather notes that stylistically, Giuffre had "at last come full circle" (<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6548020/8-aug-1967-giuffre/" target="_blank">8 Aug 1967, LA Times</a>)<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">Film Scores</span></u></b></div>
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Giuffre is known to have recorded two film scores during this period. In 1964, Giuffre and Phillips recorded the soundtrack to an independent film called Smiles. The film was directed by Hugh Mooney, who was assisted by a young Martin Scorcese:<br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nfKGUv0rsIY/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nfKGUv0rsIY?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg73HA0yDmkIz9Y1pRCuLcZeXgu5FYP_vS1PLdcE9vhqgZ1Afz2FXFxnPhp82j_yV0E29Fvx8-PrX1XBH3b5Us4ruTCU9JVkoVUmWYNmM8sRFkn7lAbSBJAB-s825MU63B0c-7BcjTduR4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-19+at+9.59.36+AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg73HA0yDmkIz9Y1pRCuLcZeXgu5FYP_vS1PLdcE9vhqgZ1Afz2FXFxnPhp82j_yV0E29Fvx8-PrX1XBH3b5Us4ruTCU9JVkoVUmWYNmM8sRFkn7lAbSBJAB-s825MU63B0c-7BcjTduR4/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-02-19+at+9.59.36+AM.png" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: x-small;">A still from the opening credits for Mooney's <i>Smile</i> (1964)</span></td></tr>
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A music copyright catalog from 1967 lists two entries for Jimmy Giuffre:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivebncxqvTlVwheQK7PCgOPFTrXDilOWGZnxwIW5r6AHyFFZ_WNhFmfbT7TKTXIPADQoNY5lSlAMOHnddMe_5PbS_FjnvXzCZsVsYWzNr4jYz3vPbl4R9ubqriDMdKOT7epk0jUnsIoa4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-10+at+3.16.32+PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivebncxqvTlVwheQK7PCgOPFTrXDilOWGZnxwIW5r6AHyFFZ_WNhFmfbT7TKTXIPADQoNY5lSlAMOHnddMe_5PbS_FjnvXzCZsVsYWzNr4jYz3vPbl4R9ubqriDMdKOT7epk0jUnsIoa4/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-02-10+at+3.16.32+PM.png" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: x-small;">From the 1967 <a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=SDwhAQAAIAAJ&rdid=book-SDwhAQAAIAAJ&rdot=1" target="_blank">Catalog of Copyright Entries, Music</a> (3rd series, vol. 21, part 5, no. 1, section 1, p. 1139)</span></td></tr>
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The first work listed in that year, "Pharaoh", was originally recorded nearly 10 years prior.<br />
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"Sighet, Sighet Theme" refers to the soundtrack to a Harold Becker film which Giuffre composed and performed. The film follows the story of Nazi concentration camp survivor and author <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1986/wiesel/biographical/" target="_blank">Elie Wiesel</a> (1928-2016), as he visits his home town Sighet in 1967. Giuffre's soundtrack consists of solo clarinet and woodwind melodies, at times barely audible beneath Wiesel's narration, and it's difficult to imagine a more appropriate backdrop to such a dark tale. (<i>Sighet, Sighet</i> is available on DVD from <a href="http://www.aldenfilms.com/" target="_blank">Alden Films</a>.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZ0v5W3GgFHJxp3Ekl31vPpTTdetiM1W92o8Tn-LicQMeNszxMPW7qEVX2Bo3zZy4MwjYETNVgJEd7e9-2K2TKLPzOUvQRhQnWX4FXzLFda636TFjMILsa0A7n4L7_I02BAQuMMK6c5o/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-19+at+9.39.18+AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZ0v5W3GgFHJxp3Ekl31vPpTTdetiM1W92o8Tn-LicQMeNszxMPW7qEVX2Bo3zZy4MwjYETNVgJEd7e9-2K2TKLPzOUvQRhQnWX4FXzLFda636TFjMILsa0A7n4L7_I02BAQuMMK6c5o/s400/Screen+Shot+2016-02-19+at+9.39.18+AM.png" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: x-small;">Composite image of the closing credits to Becker's <i><a href="http://0xdb.org/2040506/info" target="_blank">Sighet, Sighet</a></i> (1967).</span></td></tr>
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<b><b><u><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">Interdisciplinary Improvisation</span></u></b></b></div>
<span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br />As early as 1963, Giuffre collaborated with dancers. A performance of Giuffre's trio (likely Bley and Swallow, but not confirmed) and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/13/obituaries/john-butler-74-choreographer-and-a-versatile-dancer-is-dead.html" target="_blank">John Butler</a> & others was televised in <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6548403/14-feb-1963-giuffre/" target="_blank">Connecticut in February 1963</a>. (Anyone have access to a video of this? -ME)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">A few years later, a concert was held at UCLA's Royce Hall (<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6548046/10-aug-1967-giuffre/">Fri 11 Aug 1967</a>) and starred <a href="http://www.jeanerdmandance.com/" target="_blank">Jean Erdman</a>. The concert was <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6548063/14-aug-1967-giuffre/" target="_blank">reviewed in the LA Times</a> (14 Aug 1967). The first work, "Encounter in the Grove" featured a recorded soundtrack by composer and cellist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Laderman" target="_blank">Ezra Laderman</a>. Giuffre accompanied her on the second work, entitled "The Castle":<br />
</span><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">
"Except for some taped electronic rumbles and noises, the music was entirely in the hands of Jimmy Giuffre, a jazz clarinetist-saxophonist-composer. He functioned as a participant musician - not in the pit or backstage, but right on stage, according to Erdman-devised patterns of limited action.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">
"The rest was up to him: to provide improvised music expressive of such preset moods as "Joy", "Nostalgia", "Nervousness", "Sleepiness", "Machine-made" and "Jazz", to mention only those in the first portion of the two-part theater piece.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">
"Miss Erdman responded to Giuffre's playing with improvisations of her own. She, too, had the required sense of timing, the imagination and technique it takes to do something on the spur of the moment." (credit: Walter Arlen, Times Staff Writer) </span></blockquote>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">Teaching/Education</span></u></b></div>
<span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b>
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjwTbr1lyXlwwQuMb4KRluJM_bH0bohjCrLdPzw5Py0M6ZZyJTPwa1y5-Z2NG8SAMyMzIF3V-Tc60uZFChIlyzsifT1K63mVx1zOgWOKkwoEf8W5eeyCN-qNHr8X4AsTed34HGQd971qnnYAuibvdtzGjCRWX7ta7Hn1iw9pR5JZUH8SZJBRU7h9Z5_=s500" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="357" height="467" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjwTbr1lyXlwwQuMb4KRluJM_bH0bohjCrLdPzw5Py0M6ZZyJTPwa1y5-Z2NG8SAMyMzIF3V-Tc60uZFChIlyzsifT1K63mVx1zOgWOKkwoEf8W5eeyCN-qNHr8X4AsTed34HGQd971qnnYAuibvdtzGjCRWX7ta7Hn1iw9pR5JZUH8SZJBRU7h9Z5_=w334-h467" width="334" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br />Also during this period, Giuffre continued his work as a teacher. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">In 1969, Giuffre's textbook </span><i style="font-family: trebuchet;">Jazz Phrasing and Interpretation</i><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> was published by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. This book, which was sold for $1.50, was available in separate volumes for C, Bb and Eb instruments. There were also volumes for bass clef and percussion instruments. It is presently in use at the University of Michigan, where Dr. Stephen Rush has used it for his improvisation class.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">In 1970, he was hired by the New York University School of Education's Division of Music Education. Giuffre, along with Clark Terry, Ed Shaughnessy, Ahmed Abdul-Malik, and Alan Raph, were hired to teach a four-year program entitled "Music from the Contemporary American Perspective". An article (</span><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6548108/2-may-1970-giuffre/" style="font-family: trebuchet;" target="_blank">2 May 1970</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">, author unknown) quotes division chair Dr. Jerrold Ross who said the program provided, in part, "intensive study of the roots of what is uniquely an American musical expression arising from the thoughts and feelings of millions of Americans; [and] the dual - no less important - need to use such knowledge as a means of heightening the self-esteem of these peoples."</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><u><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">Epilogue</span></u></b></div>
<span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br />
1972 saw Giuffre's return to the recording business. He played background horns on David Clayton Thomas' self-titled Columbia record. In 1972, he played alongside Joe Henderson and Sam Rivers in an orchestra led by George Russell. The group played on a Bill Evans album from 1972 called <i>Living Time </i>(listen to Tony Williams throw down in the left channel):<br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0cwnLK-9h2M/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0cwnLK-9h2M?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i>
In this same year, Giuffre returned to record as a leader for the first time since <i>Free Fall</i>. The record, entitled <i>Music for People, Birds, Butterflies & Mosquitos</i>, was the first release from Choice Records, which would go on to release records by Roland Hanna, Buddy DeFranco, Joanne Brackeen and many others. This same trio also made <i>River Chant</i> (1975).<br />
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The music is a return to the woodwind/bass/drum format, but his choice of sidemen is very curious. Bassist Kiyoshi Takunaga had in the past recorded on a one-shot free jazz record by a saxophonist named Ed Curran. The record, <i><a href="http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/01/ed-curran-looking-back.html" target="_blank">Elysa</a></i>, was produced by Bill Dixon, and released by Savoy Jazz. The drummer was Randy Kaye, who had previously recorded with vibraphonist and pianist Bobby Naughton.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UCEh2Sdqsv8/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UCEh2Sdqsv8?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">Giuffre's dedication to free improvisation was pretty significant, considering his thorough background in mainstream jazz. Along with Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, he was one of the earliest adoptees of Ornette Coleman's ideas. And his contributions to the development of free jazz are becoming more and more widely recognized, as they should be. I'm hoping that this post provided a little more context for his turn to free jazz, and shined some light on what he was up to during those mysterious years from 1962-1972.</span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;">𝄇</span></span></div>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-19547616978791619422021-07-15T10:17:00.013-07:002023-07-01T09:27:51.859-07:00Lukas Foss & Improvisation, part 3: Documented Performances and Miscellany<div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKXSLRBf6UmzXom2mORXtvq-wQvXa2LnLgMr8Noufj2VfqMbpOIiJnhRuOcMq5kAqOOSitaCpTPMTXONfAbaIoFciIYlAFGYwysVGY0ZPgH9xAaN3AejS_pF_1QwTEZyuWNfgJfzAHIc8/s1012/img.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1012" data-original-width="546" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKXSLRBf6UmzXom2mORXtvq-wQvXa2LnLgMr8Noufj2VfqMbpOIiJnhRuOcMq5kAqOOSitaCpTPMTXONfAbaIoFciIYlAFGYwysVGY0ZPgH9xAaN3AejS_pF_1QwTEZyuWNfgJfzAHIc8/w346-h640/img.jpeg" width="346" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>What follows is a chronology </b>of performances, lectures, and other notable moments from my research into Lukas Foss and the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble (ICE). This is in the spirit of a <a href="http://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-new-music-ensemble-part-4.html">prior post on the New Music Ensemble</a>. It's not <i>everything</i> I've found, but it's a lot of the most interesting bits from the period of 1958 to 1964. (For a more complete list, you can browse my collection of <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clippings/#query=foss&user=2122540" target="_blank">newspaper clippings</a>.)</span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>Foss made improvisation central </b>to his work for at least 5 years, but by</span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> 1963 he was ready to move on. He had</span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"> nowhere near the impact of Black musicians in this era, especially Ornette Coleman, Muhal Richard Abrams, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, and John Coltrane. By cataloging Foss's work I am trying to lay out the facts, not to create the misimpression that he had some immense influence that has been unjustly forgotten. <br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">However, he was one of relatively few academic composers/musicians who took improvisation seriously as an avenue for innovation and expression, and Foss attracted a lot of attention for his activities. For example ... <b>some main takeaways:</b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">- Foss appeared at least once at John Lewis's Lenox School of Jazz (1959 and possibly 1960).</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">- Using a $10,000 Rockefeller Foundation grant, Foss organized two "training programs" to get other composer/performers involved in improvisation. Fred Myrow is known to have participated. (see Nov 6, 1960 below)</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">- In Fall 1962, Foss toured Europe with the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble. I am looking for more information on these appearances. If you have any information, please <a href="mailto:mattendahl@gmail.com">get in touch</a>!</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">- He wrote a method book on his improvisational process, which remains unpublished (I tried to track this down in the <a href="https://lccn.loc.gov/2006579408" target="_blank">Library of Congress's collection of Foss's papers</a>, but it is not certain whether the manuscript still exists.) </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">If you have any information, please </span><a href="mailto:mattendahl@gmail.com" style="font-family: times;">get in touch</a><span style="font-family: times;">!</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">- Foss inspired <b>Dr. Ruth Shaw Wylie</b> to form her own Improvisation Chamber Ensemble at Wayne State University (Detroit, MI), which ran from 1967 until about 1970. (Forthcoming post about her, and an interview with pianist James Hartway who worked with her.)</span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Foss' approach was unique, but he was not the only Western academic composer who was experimenting with improvisation around this time. To take just three contemporary examples:</span></div><div><div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br />
•</span> <b>March-August 1957 in New York: </b><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/06/edgar-var%C3%A8se-and-the-jazzmen-mp3s.html" style="font-family: times;" target="_blank">Edgar Varese</a> conducted portions of <i style="font-family: times;">Poeme Electronique</i> with an ensemble of players including Charles Mingus, Teo Macero, and Art Farmer. Sounds like score excerpts are being played as a graphic score.<br />
<br />
• <b>1957 San Francisco:</b> <a href="http://radiom.org/detail.php?omid=C.1957.XX.XX.A" style="font-family: times;" target="_blank">Pauline Oliveros, Loren Rush, and Terry Riley</a> improvised with a number of guests including their mentor Robert Erickson. Specific dates are unclear. Oliveros has confessed to being a bit amused by Foss' schemes, so it seems that she had been improvising already prior to meeting him.<br />
<br />• <b>Unknown dates, 1958:</b> Larry Austin was improvising with Arthur Woodbury around this time as well, though closer to 1958, not 1957. Both of them would go on to found the New Music Ensemble, a pioneering free improvisation ensemble, in 1963. (</span></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">No recordings of their 1950's experiments are known to exist.)</span></div></div></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjl6cNTNimuQXeHqu8Qq5SYOWhTAbCrggiwKdJ_s5acPliiIi9MsR_sCFithaR9ygXtWBv6zB6AkkHKxm71alzPI9gUS_q9JGpdjOFLDzftXR0ZRp-5TJf1BP62I1tU0DjnnYGxhAescOuXqdBZBbparMXZN_k7nXrY5Se5jkeoUvYfyx6b8PxYHR8C=s1200" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="1200" height="45" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjl6cNTNimuQXeHqu8Qq5SYOWhTAbCrggiwKdJ_s5acPliiIi9MsR_sCFithaR9ygXtWBv6zB6AkkHKxm71alzPI9gUS_q9JGpdjOFLDzftXR0ZRp-5TJf1BP62I1tU0DjnnYGxhAescOuXqdBZBbparMXZN_k7nXrY5Se5jkeoUvYfyx6b8PxYHR8C=w480-h45" width="480" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Here is the catalogue:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;">[CW: This was the era of the racist terms "serious music" and "serious composing". If you go through the newspaper links, you will see these terms quite a bit.]</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: times;"><h2 style="font-family: -webkit-standard; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><u>1958</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34460932/foss-improvisation-early-24-jul-1958/" target="_blank">July 25th, 1958</a></b>, Grand Junction, Colorado.<b> </b>Friday, Wheeler Opera House.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">"Chamber Music Improvisation": Foss lectured with Charles Jones as part of the Conference on American Music in Aspen, CO. </span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><u>1959</u></span></h2></div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7222585/28-feb-1959-ice/" target="_blank">February 26th 1959</a> </b>Thursday, Schoenberg Hall, UCLA<br />
</span></span><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: times;">This was the ICE's debut performance. There are some prior gigs mentioned. And according to the article, the ICE had already been working at this for a year-and-a-half, placing the start date somewhere in 1957. This corresponds to Foss' own claim. Any information on prior gigs, rehearsals, etc. would be much appreciated.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>• </b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34462149/lukas-foss-19-mar-1959/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Friday March 20</a>, Minneapolis, MN</span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">Foss was a guest with the Minnesota Orchestra. Three additional ICE concerts are mentioned:</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">"At all three concerts since [February 26th], they have had packed houses."</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">I'm looking for any info on these three interim concerts.</span></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7247759/4-apr-1959-foss/" target="_blank">April 4th, 1959</a></b>, Saturday 8:30pm, Nottingham Auditorium, Syracuse.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">Foss was a guest with with the "<a href="https://www.onondagaorchestra.org" target="_blank">Onondaga Symphony Orchestra Inc.</a>, <a href="https://syracusechorale.org/index.html" target="_blank">Syracuse Chorale Inc.</a>, and <a href="http://www.syracusefriendsofchambermusic.org" target="_blank">Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music Inc.</a>"</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
"Los Angeles Improvisation Ensemble" mentioned but this is likely the same as the ICE.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13856295/foss-10-may-1959/" target="_blank">April 21-22, 1959</a></b> with the UCLA Symphony, "Concerto for Five Improvising Instruments and Orchestra"</span><br />
<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">Most of the articles I've read so far make clear to distinguish Foss' approach as "different" from jazz. Foss himself did so. In fact, he even confessed a sort of "jealousy" and "envy" toward jazz musicians and their ability to improvise as an ensemble. Why should jazz musicians have the "monopoly" on ensemble improvisation?</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">It's a fair point to make, but why is he trying to segregate it from jazz? Isn't it enough to simply be "inspired" or "influenced" by it?</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
This was followed in the next decade by an insistence that jazz was not a part of the vocabulary of the improvisers. This was done for a variety of reasons (think of Larry Austin vs. Gavin Bryars, for instance). Does it really make that much of a difference whether it's "jazz" or not? </span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">• <b>Regarding the April 21-22</b> concerts at UCLA, see this<b> <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13856256/foss-12-apr-1959/" target="_blank">April 12th, 1959</a></b> article by James Adams, a music student at <a href="https://www.redlands.edu/study/schools-and-centers/school-of-music/" target="_blank">University of Redlands</a>:<br /></span></span><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><u>Missing Link</u></span></h2></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>Non-Jazz Improvisation by Foss Group Discussed</i><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;">[...]</span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: times;">Basically, the system consists of six "rows" or sets each containing four tones, and six sets of corresponding inversions. These groups serve as the center of tonal gravity, as well as being used for [a] melodic purpose. To aid the players as to the order of participation, each member of the group has in front of him a card containing certain formulae of order.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: times;">But this regulation does not hamper the player in the least from being as creative as his imagination will allow. The indeed unique factor is the ensemble result. One player, while he might improvise brilliantly, can only say one thing at a time, and in only one way; while the more players taking part, the more "liberal" the discussion. Since each player is usually schooled in the tradition of one certain composer, the styles of several men like Stravinsky, Bartok, Copland, and, of course, Foss, might be heard concurrently. And when all this seems complicated, the formulae simplify the matter.</span></blockquote></div></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><p style="text-align: center;">[...]</p></div></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: times;">Adams also gives some names:<br /><br />Robert Drasnin, flute<br />Richard Dufallo, clarinet<br />William Malm, bass clarinet<br />Eugene Wilson, cello<br />Charles De Lancey, percussion<br /><br />Mention of improvisation book to be "published very soon".<br /><br />Also includes quote from Ernst Toch: "I was impressed and fascinated every minute by those fascinating sounds. It was one of the most refreshing and enjoyable performances that I have ever attended, and I should like to know more about it. I enthusiastically say YES to it."</span></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">•<b> June 3rd, 1959</b> - San Francisco, Marines' Memorial Theater</span></div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61803269/foss-ice-6359-sf-review/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Alexander Fried</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61803576/foss-ice-7659-personnel-mentioned/" target="_blank"><b>July 6th, 1959</b></a> - Claremont, Bridges Hall of Music</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Foss, DeLancey, Drasnin, Dufallo, Malm, Wilson.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">• <b><a href="https://jazzmf.com/lenox-school-of-jazz-1959-evening-event-schedule/" target="_blank">August 12</a> </b>- Lenox School of Jazz, Music Barn Stage "Non-Jazz Improvisation for the Small Ensemble".</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">A Foss lecture is also mentioned in Jeremy Yudkin's "The Lenox School of Jazz" (p 105), though the year is given as 1960.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><u>1960</u></span></h2><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">• <b>April 10</b> - Minneapolis, MN </span><span style="font-family: times;">8:30pm </span><span style="font-family: times;">Walker Art Center, Center Arts Council Music Series </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61803924/foss-ice-41060-postponed/" target="_blank">Postponed</a>.</i></span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
<b>• October 7-8, 1960 </b>(Friday - Saturday), Academy of Music, Philadelphia Orchestra. Article: <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7222832/2-oct-1960-p1-ice/" target="_blank">part 1</a> - <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7222816/2-oct-1960-p2-ice/" target="_blank">part 2</a>.<br /></span>
<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Some good info about <i>Concerto for Five Improvising Instruments and Orchestra</i>. This was its debut.</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
"At first blush this new work may seem to represent a hybrid of a new genus - a sort of symphonic jam session. But a closer look at this 'improvisation' and a few words from the composer dispel that illusion."</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Conceived in 1957. "In the spring of that year, I considered the possibility of ensemble improvisation, an area that until then had been largely ignored by serious musicians."</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
The ICE: Organized by Foss, including three graduates of his composition class at UCLA: DeLancey, Drasnin and Dufallo.</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Foss: "To the classically trained musician 'improvisation' invariably means solo improvisation. In solo improvisation, however, the artist is in control of his piece; in ensemble improvisation he relies on others and is responsible to others . . . in solo improvisation the artist need not adhere to any preconceived structural principle."</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Concerto for Five Improvising Instruments and Orchestra</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
I. Prelude (Richard Dufallo)</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
II. Chorale (Variations) (Robert Drasnin)</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
III. Intermezzo (Foss)</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
IV. Finale (Fugue) (Charles DeLancey)</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Schloss: "One imagines, however, that it will be less a symphonic jamboree than something akin (however faintly) to the ensemble improvisations of those Gypsy bands or orchestras which flourished in the less formal concert halls and places of entertainment in Europe several generations ago."</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61804368/foss-ice-philadelphia-review/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Schloss.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25322093/foss-ice-syracuse/" target="_blank">October 13, 1960</a></b> Thursday, Everson Museum, </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">Syracuse, NY.</span><span style="font-family: times;"> "Foss Improvisation Ensemble."</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50695734/ice-foss-improvisation-chamber-ensemble/" target="_blank"><b>October 14, 1960</b> </a>Friday 8:15pm, Virginia Museum Theater, Richmond, VA. Chamber Music Society.</span><br />
<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Mrs. Bruce V. English, President of the Society.</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Foss: "Anyone to whom the word improvisation means something makeshift, random, haphazard, is in for a surprise. So is the classically trained musician to whom improvisations means solo improvisation."</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Foss: "the classical counterpoint to jazz improvisation."</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
"A <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50697119/ice-foss-virginia/" target="_blank">question and answer</a> period will follow the concert."</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13856369/foss-in-chicago-21-aug-1960/" target="_blank">October 24, 1960</a></b> "The Free Concerts Foundation" Natural History Museum, Simpson Theater, Chicago, IL</span><br />
<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
"The group will present improvisations within what Mr. Foss calls a "system of controled [sic] chance and one movement of his concerto for the ensemble in a chamber version made for this concert. Members are</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Robert Drasnin, flutist</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Richard Dufallo, clarinettist</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Howard Colf, cellist</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Charles DeLancey, percussionist</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
and Mr. Foss, pianist and director.</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
The Festival String Quartet will provide the accompaniment for the concerto excerpt."</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Bs47-lacz4k9Ov7jIuzQ7TiW0ZMTs7mW4gkZS_r7yMTNa61KgZkTOW7-kS_HlJay6MazZORgI7CG-4OWyprLwMBGIAPNEkFJf6cgvUxn_6quGziVdu1NkGaI0y00sct-d2EDkUKWw8s/s879/FossICE.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="879" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Bs47-lacz4k9Ov7jIuzQ7TiW0ZMTs7mW4gkZS_r7yMTNa61KgZkTOW7-kS_HlJay6MazZORgI7CG-4OWyprLwMBGIAPNEkFJf6cgvUxn_6quGziVdu1NkGaI0y00sct-d2EDkUKWw8s/w410-h269/FossICE.png" width="410" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">L to R: Howard Colf, Lukas Foss, Charles DeLancey,<br />and Richard Duffallo (standing)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• Regarding the 10/24/60 concert</b> in Chicago, see this article by <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50695917/ice-foss-article/" target="_blank">Thomas Willis</a>. Some very interesting bits:</span><br />
<br />
"On this program they will improvise a Concertino and a Trio and join the Festival String Quartet in the Introduction and Allegro from the aforementioned concerto and in an Antiphon for Five Improvisers and String Quartet, also by Mr. Foss. The concerto excerpt, which has been adapted by the composer for small scale performance, will be played twice to show the different possibilities of realization . . .<br />
<br />
"Reports of the group's first concerts in 1959 would seem to indicate the music is neither the embellished melodic variation of the jazz musician nor the extemporized, episodic polyphony of the great organists. According to one reviewer, the improvisations were based on a changeable four note series and a rhythm scheme was agreed on before the playing started. Furthermore the formal outline of the longer sonata movements was written on small cards and consulted by the players during the performance . . . <br />
<br />"At the very end of the [musical dictionary article on <i>improvisation</i>] was the curt suggestion. 'See [Penillion].' We did.<br />
</span><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: times;">'Penillion: an ancient form of Welsh music practice [See Bards] executed by a harpist and the former playing a well known harp air and the latter extemporizing words and a somewhat different melody to fit the harpist's tune and harmonies. The harpist can change his tune as often as he wishes: the singer, after a measure or two, is expected to join with proper words and music.'</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMsJd4di1MrZop6AJ0uhWA2YH8mlXY9b_BzCe_rtLZ3YNZ7d1vFQ0v4lTsiMwqGP-MSNsmeNySdCNRcOyJ6GfX2mx-MZ7kCO7kiHNDFnWm8Qve-epvapR9o2XGTyPfBxHmm4lJ6VCRFl0/s618/img.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: -webkit-standard; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMsJd4di1MrZop6AJ0uhWA2YH8mlXY9b_BzCe_rtLZ3YNZ7d1vFQ0v4lTsiMwqGP-MSNsmeNySdCNRcOyJ6GfX2mx-MZ7kCO7kiHNDFnWm8Qve-epvapR9o2XGTyPfBxHmm4lJ6VCRFl0/s320/img.jpeg" /></a>
Two people extemporizing instead of just one, and with overtones of competition, intellectual stimulation, and downright fun. It seems something like what Mr. Foss has in mind as he seeks to free his performers' imagination and retain the traditional forms."<br />
<br /><span style="font-size: medium;">• Somewhere there is a <b>Carnegie Hall </b>performance with the NY Phil (Bernstein).<br />
<br />
<b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13856417/foss-6-nov-1960/" target="_blank">November 6, 1960</a></b>: $10,000 grant given to UCLA from Rockefeller Foundation "in support of a training program for 'ensemble improvisation'[.]"</span><br />
<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
The program will "enable small groups of classically trained musicians 'to take out time from their professional life to acquaint themselves with the techniques of ensemble improvisation.'</span></div></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMsJd4di1MrZop6AJ0uhWA2YH8mlXY9b_BzCe_rtLZ3YNZ7d1vFQ0v4lTsiMwqGP-MSNsmeNySdCNRcOyJ6GfX2mx-MZ7kCO7kiHNDFnWm8Qve-epvapR9o2XGTyPfBxHmm4lJ6VCRFl0/s618/img.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
"Each training class will consist of six musicians who will meet three times a week for a period of 10 to 15 weeks under the direction of Prof. Foss and his Improvisation Chamber Ensemble. The musicians will receive stipends under terms of the grant."</span></div></div></blockquote><div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13856405/foss-4-nov-1960/" target="_blank">November 15, 1960</a> </b>UCLA Faculty Women's Club meeting, Faculty Center, UCLA campus</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div>
</div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
"Mr. Foss ... will discuss Musical Chance Control, his new method of ensemble improvisation . . . ''Ensemble Improvisation' requires members of the group to play without written or memorized music, creating harmony, melody and counterpoint literally on the spur of the moment within a system of controlled chance. Mrs. William Pucket will preside..."</span></div></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
"Tape recordings will be used to demonstrate the new technique."</span></div></div></blockquote><div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: times;"><h2 style="font-family: -webkit-standard; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><u>1961</u></span></h2></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34463302/foss-improvisation-7-jan-1961/" target="_blank">Jan 7 1961</a></b>, a skeptical Paul Henry Lang piece entitled "Improvisation Gains a Disciple"</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: times;">
"To shape any piece of music demands the gift of anticipation, recapitulation, and summation. This is difficult enough to attain by an individual, but Mr. Foss expected a whole group of musicians to improvise simultaneously. How can several persons' minds so function that the anticipation, recapitulation, and summation just mentioned will be co-ordinated?"</span></blockquote>
<div>
<span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: times;">
Perhaps Lang doesn't know about Foss' scores. But he ends with a very good point:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: times;">
"If Mr. Foss' idea is to revive this old artistic practice, he should not find it too difficult to restore group improvisation. After all, it is all around him - jazz is a form of highly conventional and standardized group improvisation."</span></blockquote>
<div>
<span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13856433/foss-22-jan-1961/" target="_blank"><b>22 Jan 1961</b></a>, how that Rockefeller grant money is being put to use:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: times;">
"Master class in ensemble improvisation." Associate directors Dufallo and DeLancey.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: times;">
Feb 2 to May 20 [later <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13856458/foss-29-jan-1961/" target="_blank">revised</a> to Feb 20 to May 29 - ME], auditions Feb 15, 16 & 17<br />
June 5 to Sept 11, auditions June 1, 2 & 3</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: times;">
Scholarship holders will be awarded a stipend of $50 per week for either of the classes, with the total per person amounting to $750. Applicants will be selected by audition.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;">• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7247803/19-feb-1961-foss/" target="_blank"><b>19 Feb 1961</b></a>, after auditions closed for the first term of master classes:<br /></span>
<br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Foss: "Listeners will witness an act of musical creation wherein musicians virtually 'make' their music . . . Listener and player alike will become absorbed in a process wherein anything may happen at any time - and never again[.]"</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
"While the virtue, the stamp of a masterwork is the measure of its durability and hence its repeatablity, improvised ensemble music derives its fascination from its ever-changing contours; it is unrepeatable, intended for the moment of performance only . . . slight though the individual contributions may be, they 'add up' when part of the combined effort."</span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7222731/2-apr-1961-ice/" target="_blank">3 April, 1961</a></b> Monday Evening Concerts, 8:30pm, Fiesta Hall, Plummer Park 7377 Santa Monica Blvd.<br /></span>
<br />- Durations (Feldman)</span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Arthur Hoberman, alto flute</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Janet DeLancey, violin</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Howard Colf, cello</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
James MacInnes, piano</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br />- Music for piano, violin and percussion (Schuller)<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Schuller, guest conductor</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
(This was apparently deleted from the program, but present in some promo material. This was replaced by:)<br />
<br />- Fantasy for piano (or harp) (Schuller)</span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Foss, piano</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;">- Five Pieces for Five Horns (Schuller)<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
James Decker</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Herman Lebow</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Allen Guse</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Ralph Pyle</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Wendell Hoss</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br />- Variations on the Theme in Unison (Improvisations by the ensemble)<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Foss, Dufallo, DeLancey, Colf</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
"Three improvisations that ... were quite astonishing in their interplay and ingenious freedom."</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br />
</span><div><span style="font-family: times;">- Improvisation sur Mallarme, No. 1 (Boulez)<br /></span></div></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">Marni Nixon, soprano</span></div></div></div><div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">Dorothy Remsen, harp</span></div></div></div><div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Los Angeles Percussion Ensemble</span></div></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>
Review</i> by <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7247870/5-apr-1961-foss/" target="_blank">Albert Goldberg</a>.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34461167/lukas-foss-mention-4-may-1961/" target="_blank">May 19-20-21 1961</a></b>, Ojai Festival, Ojai, CA<br /></span>
<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Foss, dir. had recently received 1961 New York Critics Circle Award for "Time Cycle"</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Ojai Festival Orchestra</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Roger Wagner Chorale</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Andre Previn, Shelley Manne and Red Mitchell played selections from West Side Story.</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Foss featured in four-hand piano with Previn.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7258282/11-jun-1961-foss/" target="_blank">11 June 1961</a></b>, "Torch Lighted Anew For Improvisation"<br /></span>
<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">
by Albert Goldberg. Well worth reading.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br /><span style="font-size: medium;">
• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7247920/17-aug-1961-foss/" target="_blank"><b>17 Aug 1961</b>,</a> "It's Improvisation - Without All That Jazz. An informal visit with Lukas Foss."<br /></span>
<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
by Dorothy Townsend. A few quotes:</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Foss: "Well, it is like a jam session, but it has nothing to do with jazz . . . We don't just get on the stage and start to play . . . We follow a kind of master plan based on a system of chance control."</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
"Please don't call me an improvisor."</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
"For the four musicians in the Improvisation Ensemble . . . the improvising starts in rehearsal. There we decide on each one's role and we draw up the traffic rules[.]"</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Foss is looking forward to September 11th, the final concert of the second term of master classes.</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Exciting as [Foss] finds improvisation performance, he says his interest "is in building a profession for somebody else, not in doing it myself."</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25322124/foss-ice-2-ensembles-names/" target="_blank">11 Sept 1961</a></b>, 8:30pm, Schoenberg Hall<br /></span>
<br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
"Two new improvisation ensembles [which] ... have been trained by Lukas Foss and members of the original Improvisation Chamber Ensemble."</span></div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVlJWnSzro5R78s_Jp2-_ZnhxQ8_BsSi-gAOSaWa0QUUOZhpnZRvEGB2RmrO7SqBkfkEO84i2LD3QHRSsGYMQu6_FVfbzPVeNctcb-ZkH-_mwDAHNq6vzCKPLWPVaLfyjxNDLFIAOHBYk/s545/img-1.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="545" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVlJWnSzro5R78s_Jp2-_ZnhxQ8_BsSi-gAOSaWa0QUUOZhpnZRvEGB2RmrO7SqBkfkEO84i2LD3QHRSsGYMQu6_FVfbzPVeNctcb-ZkH-_mwDAHNq6vzCKPLWPVaLfyjxNDLFIAOHBYk/s320/img-1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7248019/7-sep-1961-foss/" style="text-align: right;" target="_blank">Participating</a><span style="text-align: right;"> in the two groups are:</span></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Arthur Hoberman, flute</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">William Kraft, percussion</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Salli Terri, soprano</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Michael Zearott, piano</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Douglas Davis, cello</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Richard Levitt, tenor</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
Fredric Myrow, piano</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
David Shostac, flute</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">Unfortunately, no review could be found.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">
<br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50700415/ice-foss-time-cycle-boston/" target="_blank">November 3 1961</a></b> Symphony Hall, 2:15pm. <i>Time Cycle</i> w/ Boston Symphony Orchestra<br /></span><h2 style="font-family: -webkit-standard; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><u>1962</u></span></h2></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>• March 4, 1962</b> San Francisco State College, </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77870213/foss-ice-4-mar-1962-concert-review/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Alexander Fried.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34463476/foss-12-mar-1962/" target="_blank">March 10, 1962</a>,</b> Composer's Forum, </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;">3pm, </span><span style="font-family: times;">Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">by Donald Steinfirst.</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">"The composer would probably object to the appellation 'controlled' when applied to improvisation as contrasted with the term 'free.' Nevertheless, this is what he does and this is not in any sense to be meant as derogatory."</span></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"> "The Music of Lukas Foss - Adele Addison, soprano, and Lukas Foss and his Improvisation Chamber Ensemble."</p></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77870526/foss-ice-oak-ridge-mar-17/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">March 17, 1962</a>, Oak Ridge High School, 8:15pm</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Oak Ridge Civic Music Association. The Foss / Dufallo / DeLancey / Colf line-up augmented by Richard Levitt, counter-tenor.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">• <b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77869414/foss-ice-22-march-1962-jordan-hall/" target="_blank">March 22, 1962</a></b>, Sanders Theater, Boston.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">This concert was originally scheduled on March 20th at </span><span style="font-family: times;">Jordan Hall, Boston, Mason Music Foundation.</span></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=34472147&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjIzNTIyOTY2LCJpYXQiOjE2MTgwMDAxMDcsImV4cCI6MTYxODA4NjUwN30.y4lgyH4UGxpA2iZ8zfJBL6mec8PYA0Q_B15t2FlUzJE" target="_blank">March 23, 1962</a></b>, NTSU Music Recital Hall, Denton, TX, 8:15pm</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">by Nikki Cole.</span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">Performance with the ICE, sponsored by the Fine Arts Committee.</span></div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">"Foss will be on the campus as guest composer and moderator for the School of Music's second Composers Workshop Friday through next Sunday."</span></div></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78233734/foss-ice-41662-fiesta-hall/" target="_blank">April 16, 1962</a></b>, Fiesta Hall, Plummer Park, Los Angeles, CA 8:30pm</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span>"Echoi" was performed.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;">• <b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78235370/ojai-festival-blurb/" target="_blank">May 19, 1962</a></b>, 16th Ojai Festival Bowl (Libbey Bowl), Ojai, CA</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div>Ojai occurred over 4 days, and Foss was featured among several other contemporary composers. May 19th was the night of experimental music and jazz. Eric Dolphy's trio was featured.</div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78234202/foss-ojai-festival-good-stuff-here/" target="_blank">Albert Goldberg article</a> with some long quotations by Foss, showing how he viewed himself in relation to his contemporaries.</span></div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: times;">Reviewed by <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78234781/foss-ice-ojai-review-dolphy-schulle/" target="_blank">Julien Musafia</a>, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78234925/foss-ojai-review/" target="_blank">Don Michel</a>, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78235005/foss-ojai-review-3/" target="_blank">Rachel Morton</a>.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">• <b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78235776/ice-on-wrvr/" target="_blank">August 8, 1962</a></b>, WRVR-FM, Father O'Connor's Jazz Anthology, 8:30-9:30pm</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">"The improvisation ensemble of Lukas Foss". Perhaps the record was played / discussed? Not sure of other details.</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7248223/12-jul-1962-foss-stratford-festival/" target="_blank">August, 1962</a></b>, Stratford Festival, Canada</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Grace-Lynne Martin sang "Time Cycle" with Lukas Foss & the ICE. The ICE was also <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78235562/foss-stratford-festival-info/" target="_blank">invited</a> by the CDC to do an episode of "The Lively Arts", which aired <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78238417/foss-the-lively-arts-henry-somers/" target="_blank">16 Oct 1962 at 10:30pm</a> on Canadian TV.</span></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Foss' performance was broadcast on CBC radio at least once, on <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78237216/foss-time-cycle-stratford-rebroadcast/" target="_blank">Wed 29 August</a>.</p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;">• <b>August 18-19 1962</b>, Tanglewood / Berkshire Festival, Pittsfield, MA</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Time Cycle was performed with Adele Addison. "Improvisors" mentioned, but not the ICE.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78236901/foss-tanglewood-time-cycle/" target="_blank">Review</a> by Jay C. Rosenfeld.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span>This is Foss's second (possibly third?) appearance at Tanglewood / Berkshire events.</span></p></blockquote><p><i><b><u>Fall 1962 European Tour</u> ... Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Rome, London</b></i></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78238300/foss-ice-london-bomb-threat/" target="_blank">October 14, 1962</a></b>, American Embassy Theater, London, UK</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Someone phoned in a bomb threat before the concert, but after a search turned up nothing, the concert took place.</p><p>According to <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78239651/lukas-foss-ice-info-on-english/" target="_blank">another article</a>, the ICE gave "at least two public concerts in England one of which was broadcast by the BBC."</p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;">• <b>October 16, 1962</b>, "The Lively Arts" CBC channel 6, 10:30pm</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLJZU3bXwLJoIozzcCTxwizLLdCpMmGCCfw6NflNqyWr6aCQr8B3YKFR05ZRwoOKroPPFlKQ2YjfiViILuuFOApJL4LckM5l-fkbv8VWB8uiit9kHDeiw-B2jCAH5FUWc_jKYn5cPBLb0/s545/16Oct1962.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="545" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLJZU3bXwLJoIozzcCTxwizLLdCpMmGCCfw6NflNqyWr6aCQr8B3YKFR05ZRwoOKroPPFlKQ2YjfiViILuuFOApJL4LckM5l-fkbv8VWB8uiit9kHDeiw-B2jCAH5FUWc_jKYn5cPBLb0/s320/16Oct1962.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Henry Somers is a typo ... he's listed as <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/films-emc" target="_blank">Harry Somers</a> in another source. <a href="https://utorontopress.com/us/harry-somers-1" target="_blank">More info</a> to come...</p><p>If you have access to this video, please get in touch at mattendahl@gmail.com Thanks!</p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78240213/foss-nov-21-1962/" target="_blank">November 21, 1962</a></b>, Friday 8:30pm Philharmonic Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Time Cycle was conducted by Zubin Mehta. ICE mentioned.</p></blockquote><p>Reviewed by <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78240319/lukas-foss-time-cycle-mehta-review-1/" target="_blank">Orrin Howard</a>, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78240573/lukas-foss-nov-21-1962-review-2/" target="_blank">Albert Goldberg</a>.</p><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><u>1963</u></span></h2><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78241773/foss-buffalo-improvisation-mentioned/" target="_blank">January 21-22, 1963</a>, </b>University of Cincinnati</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: times;">Foss opened the year's Corbett Lecture Series on Monday the 21st, and then:</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: times;">"[Foss] will also work with two College-Conservatory composer-improvisateurs at a special session Tuesday afternoon at the Conservatory."</span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">In the article, Foss shares stories from the Fall 1962 European tour which are worth reading. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">His Corbett Lecture was <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78242748/foss-corbett-lecture-on-radio/" target="_blank">broadcast</a> at 7:30 on WGUC-FM on the 24th. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Pictures possibly <a href="http://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/University_of_Cincinnati_Cincinnatian_Yearbook/1963/Page_1.html" target="_blank">available here</a>.</p></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: times;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78352060/foss-ice-mention/" target="_blank">February 25, 1963</a></b></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>, Monday, 8:15pm, </span><span>Chico State College, Chico, CA</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">The ICE was scheduled to perform, but had to cancel "due to unavoidable circumstances". A group called "Bach to Mozart" performed instead.</span></div></div></span></div></div></blockquote><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><u>1964</u></span></h2><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78351731/foss-improvisation-lecture/" target="_blank">January 15, 1964</a></b>, Southern Illinois University, Davis Auditorium, Wham Education Building</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Foss was visiting the SIU campus for the week of Jan 9-16. He lectured on Jan. 15 "on improvisation and his latest composition <i>Echoi</i>."</span></div></div></span></div></div></blockquote><div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzFlt4DIbHJu_GNW9r7aewL0D4w5ekjSVAw7_apgYqq0xeC-W-UuSXLiiMU1vhPQnbzWUsL-DJ1KHGN0n7e9emsbSk54df9GeC0yREWe59u4rFG0XZ9s6KY9BcjvrhH23eQAzFzw-OKaQ/s1200/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzFlt4DIbHJu_GNW9r7aewL0D4w5ekjSVAw7_apgYqq0xeC-W-UuSXLiiMU1vhPQnbzWUsL-DJ1KHGN0n7e9emsbSk54df9GeC0yREWe59u4rFG0XZ9s6KY9BcjvrhH23eQAzFzw-OKaQ/s320/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>As you can see</b>, after Foss accepted the position in Buffalo, the activities of the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble effectively cease. There are several mentions in the paper archives, but these are either mentions of past activities, or radio playlists. Foss even cancelled an appearance in California by the ICE in February 1963.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2><span style="font-family: times;">Bonus: Time Cycle Liner Notes</span></h2><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The anonymous author of the <i>Time Cycle </i>liner notes writes (presumably on behalf of Foss)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">The <i>improvised interludes</i> are not, properly speaking, part of the composition. The song cycle can be performed without them. They form, however, an added attraction, a spontaneous commentary on time, clocks, bells. The four improvising instruments remain silent during the performance of a composed movement; then conductor, orchestra and singer stand by and the improvising chamber group takes over; then the composition continues with the next song. At no time are composition and improvisation combined. [...]</span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>Foss discarded the obvious possibility of improvisations developing from thematic material of the songs. Instead he conceived of a variety of basic 'textures' and basic 'pulses' -- a kind of <i>pre-compositional raw material</i>; then proceeded to put these 'in order,' assigning 'roles' to the four improvising instruments according to a technique developed by him and his ensemble, a technique based on the study of the predetermined coordination of non-predetermined musical ideas . . . Foss structured the improvisations in their relationship to the composed parts in such a manner as to convey a feeling of 'two performance levels': each succeeding interlude appears to ignore the song which immediately precedes it by retracting its steps, as it were, to the place where the previous interlude left off. Thus the interludes weave like a thread through the song cycle, connecting not with the songs but with each other.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>In summing up the difference between composition and improvisation, Foss says: "In composition all becomes 'fate'. Improvisation remains 'chance', 'hazard', <i>corrected</i> by the will." </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">- Liner notes, <i>Time Cycle</i> (Columbia Masterworks MS 6280)</span></blockquote><div></div></span></div><div><h2><br /></h2></div></div><div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">𝄇</span></div><div><br /></div><div><div></div></div></div>
</div>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-60327938196256008552021-04-04T17:40:00.004-07:002022-03-05T08:05:26.685-08:00Herbie Nichols' "The Jazz Life" - Part 3<div style="text-align: left;">A few weeks ago, I was searching for name variations on Herbie Nichols, and came across a "Jazz Life" column that I missed. While the other columns were credited to "Herbert H. Nichols", the author's name was mistakenly printed "Herbert <b>L.</b> Nichols". (Nichols' middle name was Horatio.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />The article, Nichols' second for the New York Age, centers mainly on Mary Bruce, the great Harlem dance teacher.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><i>Quick links to</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2018/05/herbie-nichols-jazz-life-part-1.html">Part One</a><br /></i><i><a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2018/10/herbie-nichols-jazz-life-part-2.html">Part Two</a></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE JAZZ LIFE</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;">by Herbert H. Nichols</div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The New York Age</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></i><div style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/66936205/the-jazz-life-herbie-nichols-71241/" target="_blank">July 12, 1941</a> (p. 10)</b></div></div><p style="text-align: left;">After having seen the following acts perform on the stage you are likely to question yourself at times like this, "Who taught Katherine Dunham, Jeni Legon, Anise and Alan, Bill Robinson, Bill Bailey, Stump and Stumpy and other great performers their routines? Does such dancing, comedy and singing acts learn their parts easily, or is it a matter of long drawn-out schooling?" Many of us would like to know the formula they use for success.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qynPqoL9pRM" width="320" youtube-src-id="qynPqoL9pRM"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p>We have quite a few dancing schools that are successfully filling the needs of aspiring stage folk. One of these schools is headed by dancing instructor Mary Bruce, who left Chicago about three years ago, and who has taken Gotham by storm with her dancing troupe ever since arriving here.</p><p>Many people, as we all know, have a natural flair for entertaining as dancers, comedians, singers etc. - apparently without the need of coaching from anyone. Few of us are in this class, thus, leaving plenty of room for the many vocal and dancing schools to continue showing a profit. In fact, we find there is a shortage of such schools at the present time.</p><p>In the jazz life, as in other fields of endeavor, you will find successful people and others that are not so successful. The former will have an easier time of everything than the latter. The little comforts are magnified a thousand fold. For instance, when one is undergoing the rigors of continuous travel, which is practically synonymous with show life. However, once a person decides to gather in the shekels, that person will want to get a good start by seeking instruction from some qualified source.</p><p>Teaching people how to perform for the stage is a pretty big business. It is so profitable that the services of different types of lawyers are often required in order to cope with the heavy bookkeeping involved in keeping far-flung physical properties in line. Experience has shown that whenever a dancing school attains a moderate degree of success the owner usually finds he is able to cash in on the publicity in various other ways.</p><p>Among aspiring chorines in Harlem the most widely known name is that of Mary Bruce. Judging from repeated engagements that she has had at the Apollo I would say that she has definitely made a hit with the public. Her troupe has had innumerable playing engagements elsewhere. They appeared at the New York World's Fair in a Michael Todd revue, also at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C.</p><p>Valentino Whitaker, the young star of the Mary Bruce revue, "Bobo, the Aladdin of Harlem," appears on the Jello radio program, seem destined for the big time. Again the credit belongs to Mary Bruce, who is now busying herself lining up a real opening for her current child star.</p><p>It would be difficult to find a truer personification of the jazz life than the capable Miss Bruce, danseuse and impressario.</p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzFlt4DIbHJu_GNW9r7aewL0D4w5ekjSVAw7_apgYqq0xeC-W-UuSXLiiMU1vhPQnbzWUsL-DJ1KHGN0n7e9emsbSk54df9GeC0yREWe59u4rFG0XZ9s6KY9BcjvrhH23eQAzFzw-OKaQ/s1200/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzFlt4DIbHJu_GNW9r7aewL0D4w5ekjSVAw7_apgYqq0xeC-W-UuSXLiiMU1vhPQnbzWUsL-DJ1KHGN0n7e9emsbSk54df9GeC0yREWe59u4rFG0XZ9s6KY9BcjvrhH23eQAzFzw-OKaQ/s320/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><u>Further Reading</u></p><p>Mary Bruce's obituary:</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/15/nyregion/mary-bruce-95-tap-dance-teacher.html">https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/15/nyregion/mary-bruce-95-tap-dance-teacher.html</a></p><p>...and some photographs and advertisements</p><p><a href="https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/harlem-dance-mary-bruce-vintage-promo-1932-+">https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/harlem-dance-mary-bruce-vintage-promo-1932-+</a></p></div><br />Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-76311292536989687342021-03-04T10:40:00.011-08:002021-03-25T22:37:14.977-07:00Lukas Foss & Improvisation, part 2: Liner Notes<div class="separator"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-family: trebuchet;">Here are three</b><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> </span><b style="font-family: trebuchet;">texts</b><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> from the 1961 </span><i style="font-family: trebuchet;"><a href="https://www.discogs.com/Lukas-Foss-Improvisation-Chamber-Ensemble-Studies-In-Improvisation/release/1650735" target="_blank">Studies in Improvisation</a></i><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> record by Lukas Foss and his Improvisation Chamber Ensemble. We begin with the liner notes on the record jacket, then we'll go into the booklet accompanying the record.</span></span></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><i style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">(Here is <a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2020/05/foss-invents-new-system-of-ensemble.html">part one</a> of this blog series.)</i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><i style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3zS_L0zcA8k" width="320" youtube-src-id="3zS_L0zcA8k"></iframe></span></div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><i><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nLmVGskSQ1kkWxAOnkxfdF-yAvfmqSu7nCjGYntPMvM5L5lUoZHmyWHmxdFzJdPqMAnsRqX8Czi_dY7RrJNI4CRIT30MBLBpubCezoPfh_UciDtISD2FE2CCIURfIk_hc9RC7-tCLig/s1200/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 238); font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nLmVGskSQ1kkWxAOnkxfdF-yAvfmqSu7nCjGYntPMvM5L5lUoZHmyWHmxdFzJdPqMAnsRqX8Czi_dY7RrJNI4CRIT30MBLBpubCezoPfh_UciDtISD2FE2CCIURfIk_hc9RC7-tCLig/s320/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div></i></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: trebuchet;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: medium;"><u>Studies in Improvisation</u> - Anonymous (1961)</span></b></p><p></p><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHtDo4TZbvyuzKaR24hz_2EY8IC3mAbtj74jcNfcPoPxdVLmHpcW0WXYy-eVzghCV7JaRWotul-GC9N_nsBKMDuI3ATfErfJHdOeEmM7R_hzm1eYoAFMEFQKU7FmZmIyn3m-MctdEBnBE/s600/R-8748304-1467914147-4422.jpeg.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHtDo4TZbvyuzKaR24hz_2EY8IC3mAbtj74jcNfcPoPxdVLmHpcW0WXYy-eVzghCV7JaRWotul-GC9N_nsBKMDuI3ATfErfJHdOeEmM7R_hzm1eYoAFMEFQKU7FmZmIyn3m-MctdEBnBE/w318-h318/R-8748304-1467914147-4422.jpeg.jpg" width="318" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: x-small;">The back cover of <i>Studies in Improvisation,</i><br />RCA LM/LSC 2558 (1961)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-family: trebuchet;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span>". . . musical history in the making . . . a stimulating and live experience in musical spontaneity . . . the beginning of an inspired concept in instrumental music!"<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">-- Maurice Faulkner, Saturday Review<br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><b style="text-align: center;"></b></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">". . . one of the most notable feats of contemporary music."<br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">-- Ernst Bacon<br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">". . . extremely refreshing, truly fascinating and stimulating . . ."<br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">-- Ernst Toch<br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">". . . incredible delicacy, suggestive at times of the firefly imagery of Webern. And what virtuosity! Each of these men is a creative artist . . ."<br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">-- Louis Biancclli, N. Y. World Telegram & Sun</span></span></div><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">Ideally speaking, an improvisation should not be recorded. It is music which, when heard live, varies with each playing. It is chance transformed into a moment of significance. The pinning down of the moment, the perpetuation through recording is in conflict with the very idea of improvisation. However, if one thinks of a record not as a perpetuator but as a means of making the new known and available, then the recording of these improvisations becomes imperative and all opposing arguments fade into the background.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">Ensemble improvisation as attempted here is new. It is based on new premises. It is an informal, spontaneous type of chamber music, proposed not in lieu of traditional chamber music practice, but in addition to it.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">The Improvisation Chamber Ensemble is a pioneering group of four, who believe in improvised chamber music: (1) as an essential new outlet for the many excellent performing musicians in the world; (2) as a new hunting ground for the composer; and (3) as a challenge to the musical curiosity of the listener.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">Says Lukas Foss, composer, originator of the technique and pianist of the group:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">"The music on this record is the result of extensive research and practice, of constant critical listening to one another, of developing from childish beginnings to the rather complex structures attempted on this record. I should welcome other musicians to follow suit, to form improvisation ensembles, to beuild on what we have accomplished, and to learn from our limitations and errors. It will take more than one approach to establish the art of ensemble improvisation as a way of making music. May this record make new friends for the art."</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">Lukas Foss has been a professor of composition and conductor of the university orchestra at the University of California at Los Angeles since 1953. He studied in Berlin and Paris before coming to the United States in 1937. He continued his studies at Curtis Institute, the Berkshire Music Center and Yale University. He has appeared as piano soloist and conductor with American symphony orchestras and in Europe. His diverse interests and talents are reflected in his compositions, which include three operatic works, two piano concertos, a symphony and other works for orchestra, chamber music in various combinations and several works for voices.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Mr. Foss' interest in the possibility of ensemble improvisation dates back to the spring of 1957 when , together with Richard Dufallo and Charles Delancey, he formed the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble. Howard Colf joined the group in 1959. A year later the ensemble went on its first national tour which included appearances with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The music of the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble is documented for the first time on this recording.</span> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nLmVGskSQ1kkWxAOnkxfdF-yAvfmqSu7nCjGYntPMvM5L5lUoZHmyWHmxdFzJdPqMAnsRqX8Czi_dY7RrJNI4CRIT30MBLBpubCezoPfh_UciDtISD2FE2CCIURfIk_hc9RC7-tCLig/s1200/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 238); font-family: -webkit-standard; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nLmVGskSQ1kkWxAOnkxfdF-yAvfmqSu7nCjGYntPMvM5L5lUoZHmyWHmxdFzJdPqMAnsRqX8Czi_dY7RrJNI4CRIT30MBLBpubCezoPfh_UciDtISD2FE2CCIURfIk_hc9RC7-tCLig/s320/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-family: trebuchet;"></b></span><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-family: trebuchet;">Inside the jacket, </b><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">you'll find a large booklet with more information. Here is an essay entitled </span></span><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><b><u style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></u></b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><u>Notes on Ensemble Improvisation</u> - Lukas Foss (1961)</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></p><p></p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">To the classically trained musician, improvisation means something makeshift, random, haphazard. Also, it invariably means </span><i style="font-family: trebuchet;">solo</i><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> improvisation to him, and he is likely to regard it as a form of self-indulgence. Let us make no mistake about it: solo and ensemble improvisation are two different procedures not to be confused with each other. In solo improvisation the artist is in full control, in ensemble improvisation he is part of the whole. In solo improvisation the artist is responsible to himself only, in ensemble improvisation he listens to his fellow players and plays accordingly. In solo improvisation, the artist need not adhere to any preconceived structural principle, in ensemble improvisation he must abide by melodic, harmonic and structural rules lest anarchy and chaos take over. Without order, direction and discipline, there can be no ensemble improvisation. In fact, ensemble improvisation is not possible unless specific ordering principles have been determined beforehand. This involves a study of musical freedom within a controlled field: a study of the predetermined coordination of non-predetermined musical ideas.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">Our approach to the idea of ensemble improvisation is the result of research I conducted at the University of California at Los Angeles since 1957. It was in the spring of that year that I founded the first I<span style="font-size: small;">MPROVISATION </span>C<span style="font-size: small;">HAMBER </span>E<span style="font-size: small;">NSEMBLE</span>. This "founding" was at the time no more than a declaration of intent, an expression of faith in a possibility; the possibility of a procedure, of a skill which would enable musicians to literally "<i>make</i> (invent) their music as they make (play) music."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">That musician and listener alike would benefit from this additional dimension to musical performance no one would deny. The question is: can one provide a technique which makes ensemble improvisation <i>workable</i>, without constant recourse to set tunes, set chord-patterns, set rhythm patterns, to given "entities" which already are music, thereby relegating improvisation to the sphere of variation and ornamentation? The question is: can one set up an order which will give the performer sufficient free rein for the flight of his imagination, and at the same time set up controls for keeping the musicians together? (An order of abundant horizontal leeway and some vertical control.)</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><span><i>Walter: "Wie fang ich nach der Regel an?"</i></span> </span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><i style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Sachs: "Ihr stellt sie selbst und folgt ihr dann."</i></span></blockquote><div><i><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></i></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">-- <span style="font-size: small;">RICHARD WAGNER [<i>Die Meistersinger</i>]</span></span></div></blockquote></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">Our earliest attempts were built on the idea of skeleton compositions (some notes written down, others to be added at the moment of performance). This proved to be a failure. In fact, many of our earlier premises had to be discarded because they restricted invention, or did not guide invention properly, or would give us a freedom which we did not know how to use. Our present procedure is something we arrived at through trial and error. It does not claim to provide the complete answer to all questions and expectations. Rather, it lays a <i>foundation</i>, at this writing, the only one of its kind known to us, the only systematic attempt at organizing the materials of music for ensemble improvisation.<br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">The new mode of music-making,-- which I do not propose in lieu of traditional chamber music practice but in addition to it,-- may best be understood as a classical counterpart to jazz improvisation, or to various oriental improvisational forms of ensemble playing. It can also be viewed as akin to the pre-classic practice of continuo playing (improvised harmony over a given base). Improvised ensemble music, music which is the result of diverse minds creating simultaneously, is of course vastly different from music carefully plotted by one individual, the composer, whose supreme effort goes into the producing of enduring work, or a masterwork. In our masterpiece-conscious time, one welcomes a musical expression which need not claim immortality in order to claim validity. While the virtue, the watermark of a masterwork is the measure of its durability and hence its repeatability, improvised ensemble music, on the other hand, derives its fascination from its ever-changing contours. It is unrepeatable. Listener and player alike become absorbed in a process wherein anything may happen any time -- and never again. Sounds may emerge unlike any that any one member of the group would have envisioned. Time and again we experienced that, meager though the individual contributions may be, they "add up" when part of a combined effort. (The total is more than the sum of its constituents.) Furthermore, gifted musicians will discover that any random note-group can be turned into a melodic phrase which makes musical sense. Mere chance formations can become the source for new musical ideas; new possibilities can open up, vistas of new musical simultaneities, answering the need, conscious or dormant in every artist, to experiment, to find a new approach, to make something new, surprising and enjoyable to ourselves and to others.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">Seen in this light, ensemble improvisation is likely to stimulate <i>composition</i>. In fact, my own interest in ensemble improvisation is that of the composer first, the educator second and the performer third.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">The basic conception, the planning of the structure, the "lucky accidents" which occur in abundance when we play, give the composer valuable hints and ideas for his own work and point toward areas worthy of his investigating powers, worthy of that curiosity which is at the bottom of the composer's need to compose . . . "<i>The next work [in this period of exploration] . . . will mix composed with improvised elements."</i></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"> <span style="font-family: trebuchet;">-- </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;">IGOR STRAVINSKY</span></span></p></blockquote></blockquote><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"> As to <i>music education</i>, it will have to take into account and foster the instrumentalist's capacity for inventing imaginative passages on his instrument. This capacity is hampered at present by the gaps in even the best performing musician's training. Many musicians who have attempted our ensemble improvisation have felt a shock upon realizing how unprepared they were to hear what need be heard, to find notes on their instrument, to assume the new responsibilities which come with ensemble improvisation. Solfege, ear training and general musicianship courses seem, in the light of our need, unimaginzative and inadequate.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">A word about <i>the audience</i>. In our recitals we have had occasion to notice that the audience, after a while, adopts a new listening attitude which is in sharp contrast to the devotional listening rightfully customary at concerts when the music of the masters is played. I dare say that the listener will be in a better position to follow complex compositions if he has had the experience of the kind of "active" listening required from him at improvisation concerts. This active listening is a combination of curiosity and excitement similar to that which we feel when we watch a game or contest. (Peculiar to ensemble improvisation is the element of danger, of "hit-or-miss," which an audience is quick in grasping and enjoying.)</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">Finally, a word about ensemble improvisation and its function within contemporary music. To the historian, it will be significant that the recent renaissance of interest in improvisation has followed close on the heels of the discovery of electronic music. Both improvisation and electronic music have a vital stake in <i>chance</i>. Apart from this they stand at opposite poles: electronic music is produced directly on tape. Whenever the piece is played it will be identical in every detail. Improvised music, as we have seen, is ever-changing, unpredictable, unrepeatable, and should be heard "live." Electronic music eliminates the performer. Improvised music, on the other hand, allots the performer new responsibilities.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">To the long conflict between composer and performer -- partners who, ideally speaking, should complement one another in a relationship built on mutual need (and who are separated today by the widest gulf) electronic music offers one solution: divorce. Ensemble improvisation offers another: it brings composition, or more accurately, musical invention, together with performance. In fact, the two become an undistinguishable process. Good therapy for a distinct marital problem.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">At the risk of being proven wrong, I should like to predict that in due time, ensemble improvisation, in one form or another, will be studied in conservatories and universities.* String and wind groups, etc. that will try their hands at it, will play masterworks the better for it. Chamber groups of three to six players will spring up and bring informal, improvised concerts to the devotees of the new way of making music. Because: as a natural outlet, as a joyful exercise of one's musical gifts, as an education of musical spontaneity, alertness, sensitivity, restraint, and as a listening discipline few things can take the place of ensemble improvisation.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">*</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Since these lines were written, a program charging the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble with the recruiting of other improvisation ensembles has been inaugurated at the University of California, Los Angeles under a grant by the Rockefeller Foundation. Also, in preparation: a text book on ensemble improvisation as practiced by the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><i style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><b>A slightly different</b> version of this essay (dated 1958) was included in Karen Perone's "<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/23051783" target="_blank">Lukas Foss: A Bio-Bibliography</a>", Greenwood Press, 1991, pp. 12-16.</i></span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nLmVGskSQ1kkWxAOnkxfdF-yAvfmqSu7nCjGYntPMvM5L5lUoZHmyWHmxdFzJdPqMAnsRqX8Czi_dY7RrJNI4CRIT30MBLBpubCezoPfh_UciDtISD2FE2CCIURfIk_hc9RC7-tCLig/s1200/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 238); margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nLmVGskSQ1kkWxAOnkxfdF-yAvfmqSu7nCjGYntPMvM5L5lUoZHmyWHmxdFzJdPqMAnsRqX8Czi_dY7RrJNI4CRIT30MBLBpubCezoPfh_UciDtISD2FE2CCIURfIk_hc9RC7-tCLig/s320/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><p></p><p><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><b>Finally, here is </b>the first page of notes detailing the process behind Foss's ensemble improvisation.</span></p><p><b style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><u>Studies in Improvisation</u> - Lukas Foss and Richard Dufallo (1961)</b></span></p><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></b></span></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); float: right; font-family: -webkit-standard; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 1em; orphans: auto; text-align: right; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg21YwXcEM3mPN4AoSaEpvE3D3R2IaT-y1UQCgczsbvPHqlbkVwAcytLWVUisbesPjRRLilbrdWTslQfDq2mXYBPqZr8_q2jdG7ePHGsuaPbbAfYw-5r27BU-krawf4D1oc1fmSRxQh_kE/s600/R-8748304-1467914174-7187.jpeg.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg21YwXcEM3mPN4AoSaEpvE3D3R2IaT-y1UQCgczsbvPHqlbkVwAcytLWVUisbesPjRRLilbrdWTslQfDq2mXYBPqZr8_q2jdG7ePHGsuaPbbAfYw-5r27BU-krawf4D1oc1fmSRxQh_kE/w320-h320/R-8748304-1467914174-7187.jpeg.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><b>The music on this record</b> is not composed, not the result of random ad-libbing, not jazz. It falls into the category of what might be named: </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">SYSTEM AND CHANCE MUSIC. </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">A specific formal or textural musical vision is committed to paper. Instead of traditional musical notation, the paper contains instructions set down in symbols, letters, numbers. Example: S</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> -----> H</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">L</span></span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> (signifies: supports player 1 until ready to lead the harmony). The musicians, as they play, translate the symbols into sound. They do not stake their hope on the element of chance and its capacity for yielding interesting musical results, - they do not put their trust into the order, the system, which coordinates the chance happenings. System and chance form the basis for ensemble improvisation, but the <i>performer holds the reins.</i> He does not passively translate his symbols into sound, he listens critically and plays accordingly. His task is to find the appropriate note, rhythm, phrasing, dynamic, register on his instrument, and at a moment's notice. He corrects chance rather than surrenders to chance - chance controlled rather than chance <i>in</i> control.</span></span><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">The resulting music sounds at times as contrived as a written-down composition. Advance planning, ordering, is responsible for the "composed" effect. Actually it is the rigid planning which makes spontaneity, improvisation possible.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><b><u style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The Theory</u></b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">It would be presumptuous as well as impossible to reproduce the technical procedure here <i>in toto</i>. We shall limit ourselves to such theoretical data as are essential for those who wish to follow the score (the charts) while listening.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><b>Guide-Sheets</b> Each musician has a guide-sheet in front of him on which his tasks are listed. The guide-sheets are like individual parts extracted from the score (the charts).</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><b>Guide-Tones</b> - predetermined, appear on the guide-sheet. They are used only in pieces (or parts of pieces) where tonality is desired. Guide-tones usually consist of easily memorizable four-tone patterns. (Example: F Eb Bb F) These may be rigidly transposed to the degree of the second or third note. (Example: Eb Db Ab Eb - Bb Ab Eb Bb) Or inverted. (Example: G A D G)</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">Guide-tones are not themes, not even musical motives. They are points of reference, helping the musicians stay together; sometimes they are "roots," sometimes just a degree of the scale on which to form the "preferred-intervals series."</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><b>Preferred-Intervals Series </b>Over a given guide-tone the musician has the choice of a major second, minor and major thirds, the fifth, the minor and major seventh. These intervals are the least likely to undermine the supremacy of the guide-tone. Their use is therefore safer for vertical (harmonic) control than the use of the remaining five intervals. Naturally all existing intervals may be used wherever it is possible to arrive at a choice of note by way of "listening." The restriction to preferred intervals is recommended only when such listening is impossible (for instance, when a chord is struck by all, simultaneously). When the guide-tone shifts, the preferred-interval series is transposed accordingly.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><b>Duration</b> of a guide-tone, or of a particular area, is sometimes indicated on the individual player's guide sheet in terms of bar numbers, but more frequently it is not fixed in advance: an area, or guide-tone duration will be shorter or longer depending on the moment of entrance of the subsequent leading instrument.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><b><u style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The Roles*</u></b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><b>Melody or Theme</b> - usually the leader unless otherwise indicated.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><b>Support</b> This is the most characteristic role in ensemble improvisation: the critical listening to another, and playing accordingly.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><b>Harmony</b>, when called for on the guide-sheet, usually stands for chords, struck on cue from either the melody player or harmony leader.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;"><b>Counterpoint</b> A line, resulting from the interplay between three instruments who keep "out of each other's way." Each of the three usually has a specific part of the bar assigned. If guide-tones are in effect the counterpoint players will adhere to the preferred-intervals series.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">*Only the four basic roles are listed here. The chart will reveal many subsidiary roles.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><b><u style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The Practice</u></b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: trebuchet;">No matter how often the musicians play from the same guide-sheet, the music emerges changed: "We try to remember the good notes, forget the bad ones. We work toward a goal, the realization of the basic, initial, musical vision. The piece changes, grows in unity and clarity as we keep playing it. We do not play 'anything that comes to mind,' rather, we play 'anything that comes to mind within a pre-determined, limited sound-conception.' After we have performed a piece a dozen times, it usually emerges a new piece, one in which the first attempt can barely be recognized. In a word, we evolve our pieces through the process of improvisation. Even when we feel that a piece has been achieved, even then we do not memorize. We cannot; since one of us will invariably inject an unexpected element which forces everyone to change his course. Only when a player is on a solo, may he end up by repeating, memorizing his improvisation (example: the pizzicato cello-solo in <i>Air Antique</i>). Short themes, motifs, might be remembered, spontaneously altered, exploited. Then comes the point when the musicians feel the need to improvise new themes, or abandon the piece altogether, discard that particular guide-sheet. Improvised pieces seem to have their own life-span. The basic vision which prompted the piece may yield so much and no more. Other pieces stay, as it were, in the repertoire, yielding ever new ideas for improvisation.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nLmVGskSQ1kkWxAOnkxfdF-yAvfmqSu7nCjGYntPMvM5L5lUoZHmyWHmxdFzJdPqMAnsRqX8Czi_dY7RrJNI4CRIT30MBLBpubCezoPfh_UciDtISD2FE2CCIURfIk_hc9RC7-tCLig/s1200/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 238); margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nLmVGskSQ1kkWxAOnkxfdF-yAvfmqSu7nCjGYntPMvM5L5lUoZHmyWHmxdFzJdPqMAnsRqX8Czi_dY7RrJNI4CRIT30MBLBpubCezoPfh_UciDtISD2FE2CCIURfIk_hc9RC7-tCLig/s320/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><b style="font-family: trebuchet;">The rest of the booklet </b><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">consists of the guide-sheets used on the recording, along with some text explaining what is going on. The guide-sheets were copyrighted by Foss and Dufallo and I will not include them here, unless I am given permission to republish them. So, that's it for now.... part 3 will be posted soon.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36);"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: medium;">𝄇</span></span></p></div></div>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-58413473106958837642021-01-24T12:09:00.011-08:002021-01-26T21:12:06.263-08:00Lukas Foss & Improvisation, Part 1: "Foss Invents New System of Ensemble Improvisation"<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">[Note: the introduction to this post was updated later on 1/24/21.]</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After spending some weeks on Larry Austin's New Music Ensemble, next I'd like to turn to Lukas Foss (1922 - 2009), who worked in the field of improvised music from about 1957 until 1963. Initially inspired by the Modern Jazz Quartet, he sought a process for musicians with 20th-century classical training to engage with each other through improvisation. Foss formed the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble (ICE), recorded an album with them, and wrote a book on the ensemble's processes (though it was apparently never published or circulated). The album, <i>Studies in Improvisation</i>, was recorded in <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Lukas-Foss-Improvisation-Chamber-Ensemble-Studies-In-Improvisation/master/1025866" target="_blank">1961 for RCA/Victor</a> (it is yet to be reissued on CD). Foss's work in improvisation in this period culminated in 1962 with <i style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.discogs.com/Lukas-FossGroup-For-Contemporary-Music-At-Columbia-University-Improvisation-Chamber-Ensemble-Echoi-F/master/912628" target="_blank">Time Cycle</a></i>, a composition which featured the ICE.</div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In 1960 Foss received a $10,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation for two improvisation workshop programs, 10-15 weeks in length. At least one of these programs culminated in a concert. In 1963 Foss accepted a position as Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, left his post at UCLA, and shifted his focus away from improvisation.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For the first entry in this series, I have included two articles by Albert Goldberg about the ICE's debut performance at UCLA's Schoenberg Hall on Thursday, February 26th 1959.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25176951/22-feb-1959-lukas-foss-ice-debut/" target="_blank">THE SOUNDING BOARD</a></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">by <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-06-mn-228-story.html" target="_blank">Albert Goldberg</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Los Angeles Times</span></div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikoKDYf9s0HS7hBwZOeavpTNkHvAmTVXpc0m-GMmBtmUn95dMbRHN9pwTGKM9XOvsWVwCFcP2JxR0eSvSf-ERjEX-R6ij8R6UbvzfiZAFGT_kCXDU58wLcZJ4HVT8GxoIMoygEVsB2tw8/s235/Foss-Lukas-10.jpg" style="clear: left; font-family: -webkit-standard; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="235" data-original-width="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikoKDYf9s0HS7hBwZOeavpTNkHvAmTVXpc0m-GMmBtmUn95dMbRHN9pwTGKM9XOvsWVwCFcP2JxR0eSvSf-ERjEX-R6ij8R6UbvzfiZAFGT_kCXDU58wLcZJ4HVT8GxoIMoygEVsB2tw8/s0/Foss-Lukas-10.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lukas Foss</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">A form of musical activity that promises to be new and possibly revolutionary will be unveiled in UCLA's Schoenberg Hall Thursday night when the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble makes an official debut in performances of improvised ensemble pieces after a year and a half of preparation and a few out-of-town tryouts.<br />
<br />The motive force behind the experiment and the inventor of the idea is Lukas Foss, noted composer-pianist and UCLA faculty member, who is the pianist of the group. His associates in the venture will be Charles DeLancey on percussion instruments; Robert Drasnin, flute; Richard Dufallo, clarinet; William Malm, bass clarinet, and Eugene Wilson, cello.<br />
<br />
At the concert Mr. Foss will offer an explanation and demonstration of the principles involved, showing, in his words, "how we stay together, how we make up melodies and harmonies without a given melody or harmonies and without a rhythm section on the job to keep us playing together."<br />
<br />
<b><i>Famous Composers Improvised, Too</i></b></span><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRv1DFBU_ETZNkx0aOyFIlU6oVlv0Gu3p3L-A5LYbRktulsyLAG833z3CNlxtUJCcVmk0hvD6YvGvHZMreOwXmc1oaIxN_0v9UyyDqaXIQ7zG1gnBeQI7Ds6MzZR8O2Ig5Rerw_PYm728/s960/p01bqxlp.jpg" style="clear: left; font-family: -webkit-standard; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRv1DFBU_ETZNkx0aOyFIlU6oVlv0Gu3p3L-A5LYbRktulsyLAG833z3CNlxtUJCcVmk0hvD6YvGvHZMreOwXmc1oaIxN_0v9UyyDqaXIQ7zG1gnBeQI7Ds6MzZR8O2Ig5Rerw_PYm728/w329-h185/p01bqxlp.jpg" width="329" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Johann Hummel<br /></span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Improvisation, of course, if nothing new in music; such great composers as Bach, Mozart, Handel and Beethoven were noted for their extemporizations, and such 19th-century virtuosi as Liszt, Thalberg, Herz, Mendelssohn and Hummel were invariably expected to improvise at their public performances. Cadenzas to concertos by 18th-century composers were left to the improvisatory powers of soloists, a habit that even Beethoven followed until the "Emperor" Concerto, although the custom may have been followed more in the breach than the observance.<br /><b><i><br /></i></b></span><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">But since the middle of the 19th century solo improvisation has become practically obsolete in public performance; only an occasional pianist and a few organists indulge in it nowadays.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><b><i>Idea Came When Listening to Jazz</i></b></span><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><b><i><br /></i></b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPwaf2oFa6ZvfsIprML5H6U1Vzg4WpH0BomQvn9YxWNDeoImD34tnz9vBST5hCkbiiSpGJmycOwkAhdrn4zLbvRIY3Ym91GGysdQZmvuGFFTg19sQWpxzdai-YthJLpjnksIzHDBP_J00/s1414/MV5BODMzMWJjOWQtMzc3Mi00MzUyLWE2YTgtNTM0YTc3YTRiM2ZmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjQwOTE1MzE%2540._V1_.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1414" data-original-width="1208" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPwaf2oFa6ZvfsIprML5H6U1Vzg4WpH0BomQvn9YxWNDeoImD34tnz9vBST5hCkbiiSpGJmycOwkAhdrn4zLbvRIY3Ym91GGysdQZmvuGFFTg19sQWpxzdai-YthJLpjnksIzHDBP_J00/w226-h263/MV5BODMzMWJjOWQtMzc3Mi00MzUyLWE2YTgtNTM0YTc3YTRiM2ZmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjQwOTE1MzE%2540._V1_.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Modern Jazz Quartet<br />L-R: Milt Jackson, Connie Kay, Percy Heath<br />Seated: John Lewis</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table>
</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">
Nor is ensemble improvisation unknown, as Mr. Foss points out. Harpsichord players were expected to fill out 18th-century ensembles from a figured bass that indicated harmonies; East Indian music uses ensemble improvisations based on traditional ragas, and contemporary jazz is a form of group improvisation. But in all these there is a given theme or set of harmonies or rhythms as a foundation. Mr. Foss and his group start from scratch, as it were.<br />
<br />
"What we are doing has nothing to do with jazz," he said, "though the idea came to me when listening to the Modern Jazz Quartet. It occurred to me that these musicians had the chance to be really creative. So my idea was in part born of jealousy.<br />
<br />
"When we first started out it was like trying to fly, but we had no wings. For six months we were helpless. We tried everything and nothing worked. Either the rules we contrived would constrict us to an extent where imagination could not function or we had so much freedom we did not know what to do with it.<br />
<br />
"We kept remodeling the basis of our operations until now we have a system on which we can operate. The principles are so involved they make the 12-tone method seem elementary. Eventually I will publish a book explaining the method so that other people can form similar ensembles. We do not want to remain the only ones doing this sort of thing."<br />
<br />
<b><i>Specialization May Be Bane of Musicians</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
Mr. Foss feels that ensemble improvisation will open new vistas. "Specialization has done away with improvisation," he said.<br />
<br />
"Musicians become either performers or composers, or performer - composers, but usually they keep these activities apart. We owe our great art to this specialization. But we may now have reached a point where specialization has dried us out and produced a kind of sterility.<br />
<br />
"No one was ever meant to play just a cello, for example, and to play only printed notes all his life. The life work of a musician has become nothing but slavery to the printed note. I do not mean in any sense to do away with the printed note or with written-down composition. I think, on the contrary, that composition will gain from improvisation.<br />
<br />
"And a performer will come to understand better how to play the compositions of other people if he knows how compositions are made and if he can pick his notes on the strength of what others do. As a more practical kind of solfege the system should prove invaluable and might eventually make our present way of training musicians antiquated.<br />
<br />
"It must be understood that by improvisation I do not mean daydreaming at an instrument, but a very involved new scheme, the mastery of which will take years. At both the invention and the practice we still are only beginners.<br />
<br />
"Performers learned 50 years ago to get along without new music and to subsist on museum pieces. And the composer has just learned how to get along without the performer by means of electronic music in which the composer works directly with sounds arranged on tape. All this indicates a breakup in music.<br />
<br />
"But it will be a terrible society in which the composer and performer each learn to be self-sufficient to the point of getting along without each other - as bad as a society in which men and women do not need each other. It will be sterile.<br />
<br />
<b><i>'It's Making Music Together That Counts'</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
"All this is the result of specialization, the great cultural danger of our time. It is really what prompted me to attempt a merger of the performer and the composer. I would like to see a generation of composer-performers who literally make their music as they make music.<br />
<br />
"In solo improvisation you can do anything you want, but that does not interest me. I like ensemble improvisation because we can make music together. If you want to be alone you might as well compose. I became a musician because as a child I was fascinated with the idea of making music with other people. I was not obsessed with sounds. I use sounds, but I am not obsessed by them.<br />
<br />
"Electronic composers make the mistake of thinking they can become composers because of their sound obsession. I don't believe that. I think that the techniques of ensemble improvisation may prove to be a valuable countertrend. It is not something which will eliminate electronic music but it may help to strike a proper balance. The two things are opposites.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Improvisations Will Always Be Different</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
"Electronic music exists on tapes and the tapes will always be the same. Our improvisation will always be different. It will restore the performer and it entrusts him with an unprecedented creative task. Electronic music only does away with the performer.<br />
<br />
"Electronic music is ideal for background purposes. Human beings are ideal for foreground. I would like to help in restoring our vanishing foreground. In our lives we fill our daily routine with so much background that most of us are not 100% alive. Chamber music improvisation is one way of becoming more musically alive for the composer and performer as well as for the listener.<br />
<br />
"I am not trying to do away with anything. I am trying to add something to our present musical scene - a more informal type of chamber music, offering both the composer and the performer a new hunting ground; ultimately, possibly, a much-needed new career."<br /><br /><div style="font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">[22 Feb 1959, p. 106]</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div>
</span><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The performance was <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7222585/28-feb-1959-ice/" target="_blank">reviewed</a>, also by Goldberg, in Saturday's paper:</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div></span></div></div>
<span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><b><br /></b><b>Improvised Music Performed at UCLA</b><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFyXDFY6PXt4hEA79fgPzbzFVthlXY3GTL7bB-OQtLntjBLVY3LZPJxfu-gK7ZomIq4hXJLlxpn9ew_Z5xMSAAAwbtMJc4WaZiTeRnAqhrBjZV-hedTtafAs4zOyM8JsmSvfr_DA1exXw/s480/L-850374-1460041623-2914.jpeg.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFyXDFY6PXt4hEA79fgPzbzFVthlXY3GTL7bB-OQtLntjBLVY3LZPJxfu-gK7ZomIq4hXJLlxpn9ew_Z5xMSAAAwbtMJc4WaZiTeRnAqhrBjZV-hedTtafAs4zOyM8JsmSvfr_DA1exXw/s320/L-850374-1460041623-2914.jpeg.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">UCLA's Schoenberg Hall</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><br /></b>
Concerts at which new music is performed are no rarity. Nor is there any dearth of concerts at which new music is played once - and never again. But a concert consisting entirely of new music which could never be repeated even if anyone wanted to, because it is all improvised, ranks as a major novelty in the present scheme of things. Such was the debut appearance of the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble in UCLA's packed Schoenberg Hall Thursday night.<br />
<br />
Lukas Foss is the mastermind and pianist of this revolutionary experiment and his colleagues are Charles DeLancey on the percussions; Robert Drasnin, flute; Richard Dufallo, clarinet; William Malm, bass clarinet, and Eugene Wilson, cello. They have been working at Mr. Foss' system of "controlled chance" for a year and a half at the results proved to be extraordinarily provocative, though naturally still in a formative state.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Not Like Jazz</b><br /></i>
<b><br /></b>
Jazz, of course, is to an extent ensemble improvisation, but this differs from jazz in that there is no given tune, rhythmical scheme or predetermined set of chord combinations. Both the mood and the content are spontaneous, although in the course of preparation a fairly definite and complicated set of rules has been evolved to serve as guide posts in the search for freedom.<br />
<br />
As Mr. Foss explained the system at some length, though none too clearly, it primarily consists of six "rows" or complexes of four tones each, presumably chosen arbitrarily, and a corresponding set of six inversions, all of which serve as tonal centers, the various notes of which may be used either as melodic or harmonic components, apparently much on the order of Schoenberg's 12-tone system, but with the addition of primary and secondary notes.<br />
<br />
And to assist in formal organization there are formulas which indicate the order in which the players are to improvise the solo part, the counterpoint and the harmony. These are written on cards which the players follow in performance, and any player who does not happen to be busy at the moment conducts and indicates the lapse of measures in what seemed to be mainly four-bar patterns.<br />
<br />
Apart from these restrictions, which did not appear to be very restrictive, each player is on his own to improvise freely and to fit his ideas together with those of his partners.<br />
<br />
<i><b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgmdAwNZ8EO-eIBbvi2_cPBHNCVI82mqaS4a6Jyd1yVf0uSBgmu3r8FKzbgGjShUW8Q9xxEOUjeBfdD6FkmZByho0KhLSehXiB3tCFOSBGVjcWzQ_799GJfhY_Y01CdOWBk5Ey06EmoaA/s620/Webern0.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="460" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgmdAwNZ8EO-eIBbvi2_cPBHNCVI82mqaS4a6Jyd1yVf0uSBgmu3r8FKzbgGjShUW8Q9xxEOUjeBfdD6FkmZByho0KhLSehXiB3tCFOSBGVjcWzQ_799GJfhY_Y01CdOWBk5Ey06EmoaA/s320/Webern0.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Anton Webern.<br />Source: <a href="https://mahlerfoundation.org/mahler/contemporaries/anton-webern/" target="_blank">Mahler Foundation</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Varied Results</b><br /></i>
<b><br /></b>
The music that emerged took many forms. Most frequently it sounded like the pointillistic music of the Webern school, and generally it was atonal in the Schoenbergian sense. Sometimes it developed the swing of jazz; sometimes a player would hit upon a diverting tune which his colleagues would echo or develop, and now and then the music proceeded in straightforward rhythmical patterns. And always it was free and imaginative.<br />
<br />
Obviously the system works, primitive though it may be in its present state of development. But equally obviously, it requires gifted musicians to make it work.<br />
<br />
The possibilities are fascinating. Mr. Foss hopes that it will give rise to a new generation of composer-performers who will make music together spontaneously, freed of slavery to the printed page. That is a larger order, but there is no doubt that he has struck out on a new path, and one which may lead to unsuspected discoveries. At least the foundations have been laid - and with surprising success.</span><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">[28 Feb 1959, p. 12]</span></div></div>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-6067585817875594162020-10-12T08:15:00.028-07:002022-02-08T23:51:01.484-08:00Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble Receives Rude Reception<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-mf-jfBDVngI213onGnrv1IJqanudAy0k5Bz3BGzmk7-vnpA48P898GGTDNfg7_SaXdVP41-sajkb3_C_xGSiWH6UPuJUOwIY1sEBjacan0YSiU3OtdSe0rt5fnm83HqfkwtKnWi-0ic/" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 238); clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigXNavOLp8wAMCG-UlPPHRWdaDmasCbUJT3h2DYKa3xa0M3CWtml0JgI0lSoovoH-l8vANzUu879bvwduibHVfGcs58VywRQxGLpR36nmMoB_P2Yc3K2TNwmLY7TXxcaqLN4zhgeOG5yI/s741/LIE75.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"></a></div><div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigXNavOLp8wAMCG-UlPPHRWdaDmasCbUJT3h2DYKa3xa0M3CWtml0JgI0lSoovoH-l8vANzUu879bvwduibHVfGcs58VywRQxGLpR36nmMoB_P2Yc3K2TNwmLY7TXxcaqLN4zhgeOG5yI/s741/LIE75.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMyJzPz9b8KVEd5kpFaq2GXewjT4OCB8we2gKaRv1OkFzlCtZeBlyIBvhURoFXHZ5Uq7vmuLiaA2AdWz6Jz9usMxD2N5oUPi_W0SUdrQu2PWg6ndwC-pxUevMe8H14XsNVsHI26A9EhKU/s318/maildude.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>In my <a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2019/07/randall-snyder-on-lincoln-improvisation.html">interview with Randall Snyder</a>, he said:<br /><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMyJzPz9b8KVEd5kpFaq2GXewjT4OCB8we2gKaRv1OkFzlCtZeBlyIBvhURoFXHZ5Uq7vmuLiaA2AdWz6Jz9usMxD2N5oUPi_W0SUdrQu2PWg6ndwC-pxUevMe8H14XsNVsHI26A9EhKU/s318/maildude.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="263" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMyJzPz9b8KVEd5kpFaq2GXewjT4OCB8we2gKaRv1OkFzlCtZeBlyIBvhURoFXHZ5Uq7vmuLiaA2AdWz6Jz9usMxD2N5oUPi_W0SUdrQu2PWg6ndwC-pxUevMe8H14XsNVsHI26A9EhKU/w166-h200/maildude.png" width="166" /></a></div>We played one performance at an arts fair, and a couple people complained about the noise. This was an indoor amphitheater, it sat about 2,000 people. They came and told us we had to stop. Some of my students were there, and they complained about this, so they wrote letters to the editor, and it became sort of a cause celebre for a while.</span></i></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I was able to find a letter to the editor of the Lincoln Star that describes this incident, and a follow-up from the paper which give more details. Enjoy!</span></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><b>Musical guest group offered little courtesy</b></h1><h3 style="font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">Rude reception</h3><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57002313/lie-rude-reception/" target="_blank">The Lincoln Star, 5 May 1978 Page 4<br /></a><br />Lincoln, Neb.<br /><br />On Saturday, April 22, we witnessed an event that any proponent of freedom of expression would have found appalling.<br /><br />The Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble, who had been invited as guest performers, were scheduled to play at 4:30 p.m. The program, however, was running behind schedule and the group did not ascend the stage until approximately 5:10 p.m. No sooner had they announced the first number and begun to play than a representative of the Arts Festival intervened.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-mf-jfBDVngI213onGnrv1IJqanudAy0k5Bz3BGzmk7-vnpA48P898GGTDNfg7_SaXdVP41-sajkb3_C_xGSiWH6UPuJUOwIY1sEBjacan0YSiU3OtdSe0rt5fnm83HqfkwtKnWi-0ic/" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 238); clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="280" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-mf-jfBDVngI213onGnrv1IJqanudAy0k5Bz3BGzmk7-vnpA48P898GGTDNfg7_SaXdVP41-sajkb3_C_xGSiWH6UPuJUOwIY1sEBjacan0YSiU3OtdSe0rt5fnm83HqfkwtKnWi-0ic/w448-h640/image.png" width="448" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59877241/lie-good-picture/" target="_blank">Feb 1975</a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br />Judging from the clearly audible comments shared between the official and the ensemble members, he apparently asked them to play some "real music." He asked if they would lower the volume on their instruments because they were "scaring away the customers," and then stated to the audience that "some people were wondering when they were going to stop tuning up."<br /><div><br />He then inquired: "Who wants to listen to this?" Ignoring the enthusiastic affirmative response of the 25 to 30 people who had gathered to listen, he asked the remaining performers to leave (two performers were so insulted, they had already departed).<br /><br />The L.I.E. was invited to play at the festival on a no-fee basis -- they did not ask to come. As guest performers, they should have been accorded the respect due any guest. The 25 to 30 members of the listening audience should have been accorded the respect due any patron. Basic social graces and humane consideration seemed to be lacking. Regardless of whether the Arts Festival personnel knew of the L.I.E.'s musical style (and they should have), the moment of the performance is not the time to decide if the band should be perform. Rather, it would seem to the average person that this issue should have been decided prior to the invitation.<br /><br /><div>What happened to the Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble is akin to the initial rejection of the then-progressive musical styles of Louis Armstrong and the Hot Fives in the 1920's. Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker in the 1940's, as well as John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk in the 1960's created music in the face of such rejection. Their music is now acclaimed as classic or modern jazz. This phenomenon is not peculiar to jazz music, but may also be found in philosophy, literature and painting. Throughout history, people have consistently resisted any new idea that seemed to be a radical departure from tradition.<br /><br />An arts festival is traditionally a vehicle which provides for the cultural exchange of conventional and unconventional art forms between the patron and the artist. Lincoln should consider itself fortunate to include the Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble as members of its artistic community. Freedom to express that creativity is a necessary prerequisite to its continued growth.<br /><br />ROBIN BUCHMAN<br />DAVE SKOW<br />BARB STIMSON<br /><br /><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzFlt4DIbHJu_GNW9r7aewL0D4w5ekjSVAw7_apgYqq0xeC-W-UuSXLiiMU1vhPQnbzWUsL-DJ1KHGN0n7e9emsbSk54df9GeC0yREWe59u4rFG0XZ9s6KY9BcjvrhH23eQAzFzw-OKaQ/s1200/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzFlt4DIbHJu_GNW9r7aewL0D4w5ekjSVAw7_apgYqq0xeC-W-UuSXLiiMU1vhPQnbzWUsL-DJ1KHGN0n7e9emsbSk54df9GeC0yREWe59u4rFG0XZ9s6KY9BcjvrhH23eQAzFzw-OKaQ/s320/1*IH10jlQEJ7GW1_oq8s7WPw.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><span style="font-size: medium;">This letter was <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59517650/lie-rude-reception-reprint/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">printed</a> 11 May, 1978 by the Lincoln Journal. Ten days later, a <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59517768/lie-april-incident-follow-up/" target="_blank">response</a> came:<br /></span><p> </p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMC_JP7TdMKG-QbukjpAfKl2EEadXuY4qisC7Dei3crjmQjeRwJYCsejNJFdlizfz16-pMuSW-UG8yiOslaH5a8BY3qSr6NNuOsn1xpttL3K2nXP6qQ_QrfPgrv3tsKms2bCT7kEO1Up0/s888/img-1.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Quartet or ensemble? Music or noise?</h1><div>by Helen Haggie</div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVZGRPm4wM9idviBcdMUhb-Vo6QeMMtyAn0zDqR5gDRddyFTRr4SS6tqrg3cSNZO3nFNcq6Pa7jlcRZBQPGhJTfstJbuUQH35p46e47ky-42VHUlZ8NhvG6A5c-FIEjRk-l3OztUtkH0/s888/img-1.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="888" data-original-width="546" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVZGRPm4wM9idviBcdMUhb-Vo6QeMMtyAn0zDqR5gDRddyFTRr4SS6tqrg3cSNZO3nFNcq6Pa7jlcRZBQPGhJTfstJbuUQH35p46e47ky-42VHUlZ8NhvG6A5c-FIEjRk-l3OztUtkH0/w394-h640/img-1.jpeg" width="394" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Illustrator - <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59520397/lie-festival-of-the-arts-illustration/" target="_blank">Karen Blassen</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div>An incident of April 22 at the Festival of the Arts sponsored by the Lincoln Community Arts Council seems to have been blown out of proportion as the result of letters to editors of Lincoln newspapers.</div><div><br /></div><div>The incident centered on the volume of music made by the Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble at the festival, and the circumstances surrounding the group's departure from Pershing Auditorium during the festival.</div><div><br /></div><div>The letter writers claimed that a festival official told the musicians they were "scaring away customers["], asked them to play "real music" and to "lower the volume." The letter writers quoted the official as asking, "Who wants to listen to this?"</div><div><br /></div><div>The letter writers asserted that 25 to 30 people had gathered to listen to the ensemble but that the official finally asked all of the musicians to leave after two of them departed, feeling that they had been insulted although the ensemble was there by invitation of those who arranged the festival.</div><div><br /></div><div>Arts Council President William Schlaebitz responded to a request for another side of the incident, saying that he went to the musicians with certain requests after noticing people "streaming out" of the auditorium and being approached by several artists who had displays in the arena. Several asked: "Can't you do something about all that noise?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Schlaebitz said he found that [the] source of the "noise" was the Improvisation Ensemble, a group he described as 8 to 12 musicians on stage; Schlaebitz says he asked them to turn down the sound amplification, but this request did not get results "so I returned and I did ask them to leave."</div><div><br /></div><div>He said this was to protect a "captive audience" in the auditorium from sound that was annoying many rather than entertaining.</div><div><br /></div><div>Chairman Keith Heckman of the festival's performing arts program, said the invitation was for a quartet of improvisers, not a large ensemble, and that group appearing "was much larger than I expected." He recalled that the entire festival was moved into the auditorium because of bad weather outside and speculated that the ensemble's music played outdoors would have made no problem because those who didn't like it could have moved on and still been in the festival area. "A lot of persons had to make concessions when it (the festival) was in the auditorium," Heckman added.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for an assertion by the letter writers that the festival officials were, in effect, stifling innovative performing artists, Arts Council Director Sam Davidson said in response to a question that the festival never has been described as a haven for unconventional art. "Every new innovative art has its place, but it is hard to force it on the public in large doses," Davidson said.</div><div><br /></div><div>Schlaebitz said he apologizes if the group and its admirers are unhappy, adding he wants no verbal shooting match over the incident.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">𝄇</div></div></div></div>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-22350644334058432502020-10-06T07:52:00.005-07:002023-09-21T16:48:07.123-07:00The New Music Ensemble, Part 4 - Documented Performances and Misc.<p>The final installment of this series is sort of an info dump. I have compiled all of the known performances by the NME, with and without Larry Austin, from its inception in summer 1963 to its dissolution in 1967. This probably doesn't contain <i>every</i> performance. Concert programs, program notes, personal accounts, etc. would likely reveal more. In the mean time, this is a lot more than we had before, and we can see in greater detail than ever:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>who played in the ensemble over the years,</li><li>that the group improvised alongside its performances of contemporary repertoire,</li><li>that often these contemporary compositions were themselves infused with improvisational ideas, and</li><li>what newspaper reviewers thought about the NME's activities.</li></ol><p>I use the following format:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><h1 style="text-align: left;"><u>Year</u></h1><div>• <b>Month, Date</b> - Day, time, location. Here I'll usually offer a short synopsis, followed by</div><div><br /></div><div><u>Program included</u></div><div><br /></div><div>Any compositions performed.</div><div><br /></div><div><u>Performers</u></div><div><br /></div><div>Any named performers.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Anything contained in quotation marks is a direct quote from one of the media resources linked to in the entry."</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Review</i> (if extant)</div></blockquote><div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u><b>1963</b></u></span></h1></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u><br /></u></b><b>• </b><b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7266963/6-feb-1963-nme/" target="_blank">February 12</a></b> - Not an NME performance, since the name is not used. Larry Austin's "<a href="https://www.discogs.com/Leonard-Bernstein-New-York-Philharmonic-Larry-Austin-Morton-Feldman-György-Ligeti-Leonard-Bernstein/release/489442" target="_blank">Improvisations for Orchestra and Jazz Soloists</a>" was performed here. Also on the program were "Improvisations", performed by Austin, Woodbury, Lunetta, and John Mosher, a bassist.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• </b><b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50217854/nme-july-1963-austin-quotes-program/">July 31</a> </b>- Wednesday, 8:15pm, Freeborn Hall, UC Davis. This was the NME's debut performance.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Austin: "The idea is to perform significant, contemporary, chamber music; whatever is instrumental; to explore new composing and performing techniques; and to develop a concept of group improvisation."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"In frequent rehearsals over the past two months the ensemble has been primarily concerned with developing various approaches to group improvisation, particularly since all the works on this debut concert involve improvisatory and/or chance techniques in varying degrees. To begin with, all the players are fluent improvisers, either as creative performers, as composers, or both. The problem for the group was to perfect a sort of creative rapport which would enable us to improvise freely as a group and create aesthetically successful musical moments."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Program included:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Elegy</i> for solo percussion (Jerome Rosen)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Extrados</i> for solo clarinet (Garrett Bowles)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Collage </i>(Austin) ["which makes use of considerable free improvisation"]</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Domains II</i> for solo percussion (Richard Swift)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Refrain</i> for piano, celeste and vibraphone (Stockhausen)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Densities</i> for clarinet, vibraphone, harp and bass (Schuller)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Scherzo (Over The Pavement)</i> (Ives)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Of <i>Collages</i>, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50224099/nme-long-article-picture-73163/" target="_blank">Austin said</a>:</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">"This work is an agglomeration of nine musical fragments. The present order of the fragments is arbitrary. In fact, in the future I will no doubt add more fragments or perhaps discard some, depending on the music situation. In two fragments, the instrumentation is indeterminant [sic], Square being for any combination of from two to four instruments and Uncommon Canon for any combination of any number of instruments. The remaining fragments, including the improvised interludes, are for specific instrumentations.</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">"I have used improvisation and chance as compositional resources. Varying degrees of compositional control are exerted, from freely improvised fragments with only the time span indicated to through-composed compositions with only a few free [elements].</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Austin also describes the other five fragments, which include homages to the Modern Jazz Quartet and Ornette Coleman.</p></blockquote><div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u>Performers:</u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Larry Austin, trumpet</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Jerome Rosen, </div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Richard Swift, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Donald Brewer, trombone</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Adrienne Castelian, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Sylvia Hoffman, harp</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Jon Gibson, saxophone</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Barbara Johnson, piccolo</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Wayne Johnson, reeds, vibraphone</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Jerry Lopes, bass</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury, reeds</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">From a <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50223949/nme-73163-concert/">different</a> article: "Several of the members play more than one instrument during the concert. There is even one new instrument - a pianoform - derived from an old upright piano."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50225289/nme-73163-show-review/">Review</a> </i>by William C. Glackin</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkA0oQkjGLxQX6jMf5gqIXctUSVFDwRPRMJP5LvyGApJbsSlxF0zR8hOPy2XFcqx1vdKR13jiLquH1tm7NfyDyR8Chdu-AXcZGRqJd_zmGhNmaBIYTi9tU4WV9kIHs-X4YH2-8fU7sNwU/s1302/Screen+Shot+2020-08-28+at+10.28.00+AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1302" height="541" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkA0oQkjGLxQX6jMf5gqIXctUSVFDwRPRMJP5LvyGApJbsSlxF0zR8hOPy2XFcqx1vdKR13jiLquH1tm7NfyDyR8Chdu-AXcZGRqJd_zmGhNmaBIYTi9tU4WV9kIHs-X4YH2-8fU7sNwU/w625-h541/Screen+Shot+2020-08-28+at+10.28.00+AM.png" width="625" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>• </b><b>September 27</b> - 8:15pm, Freeborn Hall. "...a program of <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50225805/nme-92763-blurb/" target="_blank">contemporary works</a>..."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Program included:</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>A Broken Consort</i> (Larry Austin, MJQ Music)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Serenade No. 2</i> (Morton Subotnick)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Domains I</i> (Richard Swift)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Concert</i> for piano and orchestra (John Cage)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">"<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50227083/nme-92763-information/" target="_blank">A Broken Consort</a> ... In six movements, it applies the tone row technique of serial composition to certain elements of traditional jazz, including the 12 bar blues. The players are given room to improvise."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u>Performers:</u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Larry Austin, trumpet</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Richard Swift, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury, winds</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Donald Brewer, trombone</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Alexander Chambers, tenor</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Barbara Johnson, flute</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Sally Kell, cello</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Mura Kievman, percussion</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Paul Marsh, tuba</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">William Michael, horn</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">John Mosher, string bass</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Noami Sparrow, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Marvin Tartak, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• </b><b>October 13</b> - 3:00pm, E. B. Crocker Art Gallery.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"...the ensemble will perform some <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50227182/nme-101363-information/" target="_blank">free group improvisations</a>. These will be of varying lengths and for various groups within the ensemble."<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCvHTMaVilZuSCaJXNp7JCox3h8DdDBDC-nzFDKib-MeBjJQHQdnCYALGMAfXtFbIogL2PTy_3xROSaL1OMtppqFU74ckvn5JM_HOTUkjWmK5IcuelppyfSw0cLEvN1BHTtxYJEgxldrk/s546/img-1.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCvHTMaVilZuSCaJXNp7JCox3h8DdDBDC-nzFDKib-MeBjJQHQdnCYALGMAfXtFbIogL2PTy_3xROSaL1OMtppqFU74ckvn5JM_HOTUkjWmK5IcuelppyfSw0cLEvN1BHTtxYJEgxldrk/s320/img-1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50227336/nme-advert-101363/" target="_blank">Oct 13th, 1963</a></td></tr></tbody></table></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Larry Austin</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jon Gibson</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wayne Johnson</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stanley Lunetta</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jerome Rosen</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richard Swift</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Arthur Woodbury</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Billie Alexander</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Program included:</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Apparitions</i> (Jon Gibson)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Octet '61</i> (Cornelius Cardew)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Uncoverings</i> (Stanley Lunetta)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Cuttings</i> (Richard Swift)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• </b><b>October 17</b> - 8:15pm, "<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50228436/nme-improvisation-63-lecture-101763/" target="_blank">Improvisation '63</a>" lecture/demonstration by Austin / Swift. Home Economics Auditorium, UC Davis.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The group will illustrate the discussion with explorations of free improvisation using the common languages of 20th century music."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Performers:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Larry Austin</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richard Swift</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jerome Rosen</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Jon Gibson</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Wayne Johnson</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stanley Lunetta</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">[Billie Alexander apparently sat this one out. -ME]</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>• December 15</b> - 2:00pm, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50228822/nme-121563-concert-info/" target="_blank">Belmonte Gallery</a>. 2975 35th Street, Sacramento, CA</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"...an improvisation concert."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Larry Austin</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wayne Johnson</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richard Swift</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stanley Lunetta</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Arthur Woodbury</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jon Gibson</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pat Woodbury<br />Jerome Rosen</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In one blurb, Pat Woodbury / Billie Alexander is mistakenly [??] referred to as <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50228822/nme-121563-concert-info/" target="_blank"><i>Dixie </i>Alexander</a>!<b><u><br /></u></b></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: inherit;"><u>1964</u></b></h1><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>• <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50229050/nme-symphony-league-luncheon-mansion/" target="_blank">January 20</a></b> - 12:30pm, luncheon for Sacramento Symphony Center</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Larry Austin and his seven piece New Music Ensemble will be the featured entertainment."</span></div></div></blockquote><p>No program or personnel info listed. </p><div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>• April 3</b> - 8:15pm, Freeborn Hall, 101 Horticulture Building</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"In addition to a number of <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50229700/nme-4364-concert/" target="_blank">free improvisations</a>, the group will perform..."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI3Ba0KZRxgdlWOMc0kOYl7kurp17Bn1j1mr61hPTCys38LbnzoaQeRSenKWJGsEhNAUue5XR-YY-g7TN6FEHhZYXTe4iZvY5ctQ1WOJOTFzRwHrEOC4TwStxnRs7pX1_Wko_US8T9nVU/s1716/Screen+Shot+2020-08-28+at+9.40.40+AM.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1228" data-original-width="1716" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI3Ba0KZRxgdlWOMc0kOYl7kurp17Bn1j1mr61hPTCys38LbnzoaQeRSenKWJGsEhNAUue5XR-YY-g7TN6FEHhZYXTe4iZvY5ctQ1WOJOTFzRwHrEOC4TwStxnRs7pX1_Wko_US8T9nVU/w400-h286/Screen+Shot+2020-08-28+at+9.40.40+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Alarm, Square, Parle</i> (Larry Austin)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>May, 1962 </i>(Philip Krumm)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Variations I </i>(John Cage)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Hundreds of Butterflies</i> (Stanley Lunetta)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Cuttings</i> (Swift)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Billie Alexander, soprano</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Larry Austin, trumpet, flugelhorn</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jon Gibson, flute, soprano saxophone, clarinet</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wayne Johnson, clarinet, bass clarinet</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richard Swift, piano</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Arthur Woodbury, flute, alto saxophone, bassoon</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50230040/nme-4364-concert-review/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Glackin.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Trying to convey in words what happens in one of these [free improvisation pieces] ... would be like trying to convey Finnegan's Wake in sign language, only harder."</span></div></div></blockquote><div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>• April 23 </b>- Thursday, 8:15pm, Freeborn Hall. "Research Concert". Not an NME performance, but several members were included.</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58764943/42364-research-concert-nme-adjunct/" target="_blank">Performers</a>:</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Marvin Tartak, harpsichord</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Jean Cunningham, flute</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Bruce Haynes, oboe</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Helen Stross, cello</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Linn Subotnick, viola</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Morton Subotnick, clarinet</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Richard Swift, celesta</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Theodore Karp, oboe</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury, bassoon</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Larry Austin, trumpet</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">"...all on a variety of instruments."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u>Program included:</u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Bucolics</i> (Richard Swift)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Sonata</i> (Jerome Rosen)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Continuum</i> (Larry Austin)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Sonata </i>for flute, oboe, cello and harpsichord (Elliott Carter)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">"Rosen <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58764943/42364-research-concert-nme-adjunct/" target="_blank">describes his work</a> as a 'long, rather free and rhapsodic piece; the performer is called upon to improvise on material previously given him and is more than usually responsible for details of phrasing and proportion.'"</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50230501/nme-42464-concert-review-tv-show/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Philip C. Freshwater</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Freshwater includes this puzzling note: "Although [<i>Continuum</i>] has grown out of his work with the New Music Ensemble, as Austin states in the excellent program notes, the free improvisation of that group has been sharply reduced, leaving only tempo and meter relatively free."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i><b>• April 24</b> - 7:00pm, TV broadcast (Channel 9).</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>• April 27</b> - 10:30pm, TV broadcast (Channel 6, KVIE). Re-run of previous concert?</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• April 29</b> - 12:15pm, Hertz Hall "<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58768669/nme-42964-noon-concert/" target="_blank">Noon Concert</a>"</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Noon Concerts were a regular series at Hertz Hall for years. The Berkeley Improvisation Ensemble also performed several of these later in the 1960's. I wasn't able to find any more info on this.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• May 10</b> - 1:00pm, Belmonte Gallery.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"An <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50231139/nme-51064-with-painters/" target="_blank">unusual experiment</a> mixing painting with music, both on an improvisatory basis, will be staged ... next Sunday ... The New Music Ensemble of [UC Davis] will play group improvisations in various combinations of instruments. On the same program four painters from the university will demonstrate the similar experiments </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">which have been going on in the art department, in which several artists, taking turns, work on the same painting."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Performers</u>:</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Larry Austin</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richard Swift</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Arthur Woodbury</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wayne Johnson</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jon Gibson</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stanley Lunetta</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Billie Alexander</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• July 7</b> - 10:00am, SCC Auditorium (Sacramento City College)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50231514/nme-7764-info/" target="_blank">Performers</a></u>:</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richard Swift, piano</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Arthur Woodbury, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Billie Alexander, soprano</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jon Gibson, clarinet, flute, soprano saxophone</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wayne Johnson, bass clarinet</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Austin was <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50231446/nme-7764/" target="_blank">not mentioned</a> as a performer, likely because he was overseas in Rome.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• August 12</b> - Wednesday, 8:15pm, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50231716/nme-81264-concert-info/" target="_blank">East Hall Studio Theater</a>, UC Davis</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u>Program included:</u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Recitative and Improvisation</i> (Elliott Carter)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Serenade</i> (Jerome Rosen)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span> -written for Billie Alexander and Arthur Woodbury</span><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>The Trial of Tender O'Shea </i>(Richard Swift)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> "<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50231797/nme-81264-opera/" target="_blank">an opera</a> for the New Music Ensemble". Libretto by Dorothy Swift.</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">"In addition, the New Music Ensemble will perform a group of free improvisations."</div><div><br /></div></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u>Performers:</u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Billie Alexander, soprano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Jon Gibson, flute, clarinet, soprano saxophone</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Wayne Johnson, clarinet, bass clarinet</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Richard Swift, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury, flute, alto saxophone, bassoon</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Again, no mention of Austin.</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50232819/nme-81264-opera/" target="_blank">Three UCD students</a>, Carolyn Francis, Mary Offerman, Phillip Symonds, are also named. David Freund directed <i>The Trial of Tender O'Shea</i>.</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50234488/nme-81264-review/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Glackin</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>• August 13</b> - Mime Troupe Theater, San Francisco</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">"[The] New Music Ensemble ... gave a program of improvisations, preceded by 'musical' compositions of John Cage, Jerome Rosen and Philip Krumm."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22492769/nme-review-81264/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Paul Hertelendy.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• August 14</b> - Mime Troupe Theater, San Francisco</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The ensemble saved the best for the end, playing Richard Swift's short opera <i>The Trial of Tender O'Shea</i> after several short instrumental improvisations."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50235098/nme-81464-review/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Hertelendy.</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">"With the improvising instrumental group in the background, the soprano sings about O'Shea in various roles, and O'Shea himself sings at some length on tape recording (played by <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50238301/nme-121164-opera/" target="_blank">Alexander Chambers</a>)."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• October 18</b> - Sunday, 3:00pm, Belmonte Gallery. </span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50236085/nme-101864-monopoly-game/" target="_blank">Concert Will Feature Musical Monopoly Game</a>"</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Program included:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Lincoln Center</i> (Philip Krumm)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Variations I </i>(Cage)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u>Performers:</u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u><br /></u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Richard Swift, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Wayne Johnson, woodwinds</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Jon Gibson, woodwinds</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury, woodwinds</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Robert Bloch, violin</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Billie Alexander, soprano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The entire concert will be repeated Monday (10/19) in San Francisco in a live broadcast over KPFA."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• November 22</b> - 3:00pm, Belmonte Gallery, Sacramento. (Recorded for KPFA? Possibly a separate show)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Program included:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigzxO-3tMQUEtATBTR9BvMbzWNjQAyoJp-2EYqdUL7-9jh9o_y8OqIARWxkDNXG4sUUPj_SZYZpvUvIs2DF1cVSy23zyw5Z1LybNzfqnrctPCQxXnN4NJBaSqNHw-uqQaxsNVKyYiUCuw/s545/img-5.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="545" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigzxO-3tMQUEtATBTR9BvMbzWNjQAyoJp-2EYqdUL7-9jh9o_y8OqIARWxkDNXG4sUUPj_SZYZpvUvIs2DF1cVSy23zyw5Z1LybNzfqnrctPCQxXnN4NJBaSqNHw-uqQaxsNVKyYiUCuw/s320/img-5.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ad for 11/22/64 concert<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Concerto For Anything</i> (Philip Krumm)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Concert With Aria</i> (John Cage)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The group also will include <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50236424/nme-112264-info/" target="_blank">several of its free improvisations</a>, spontaneous and collective."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• November 23</b> - 8:30pm, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50236916/nme-112364-concert/" target="_blank">KPFA-FM Studio</a>, 321 Divisadero St., San Francisco</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Their press release is quoted in a <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50236645/nme-112364-concert-info/" target="_blank">strange blurb</a> here.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Concerto For Anything</i> (Philip Krumm)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Concert With Aria</i> (John Cage)</span></div></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>• December 11</b> - 8:30pm, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50238301/nme-121164-opera/" target="_blank">Eaglet Theater</a>, 15th and H Streets, Sacramento, CA.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u>Program included:</u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: italic; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><i>The Trial of Tender O'Shea </i>(Swift)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Concert Piece </i>for solo violin (Seymour Sheffren)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Duo For Two Fluent Improvisers</i> for piano and percussion (unknown composer)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Performers:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Billie Alexander</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Robert Bloch</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richard Swift</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jon Gibson</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wayne Johnson</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stanley Lunetta</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Arthur Woodbury</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimH5FCBLhbdKB-bxm5gawVxCwu5zDnuT-8TRIVWuv2nAsUanes6KbMZuxnWsLyqX_ftOWm-OFWciLyrSmJ9UMoIH5hZOKAxYsdL6SftMVyb9bVXX9p74XmkzMR_xDGrLWlgaEvpx8-hnI/s546/img-6.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimH5FCBLhbdKB-bxm5gawVxCwu5zDnuT-8TRIVWuv2nAsUanes6KbMZuxnWsLyqX_ftOWm-OFWciLyrSmJ9UMoIH5hZOKAxYsdL6SftMVyb9bVXX9p74XmkzMR_xDGrLWlgaEvpx8-hnI/s320/img-6.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>1965</u></b></span></h1><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>At the beginning of 1965, the NME received an <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50238630/nme-invitation-to-rome-evangelisti/" target="_blank">invitation</a> from Franco Evangelisti to participate in the 1966 Nuova Consonanza:</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Evangelisti: "We are extremely impressed by the creative virtuosity and control displayed by the composer-performers in the NME ... This is particularly significant for European musicians, for such groups of cooperatively creative composer-performers are all but non-existent in Europe. Hence, an appearance by your group would have great - even historic - impact in Europe, we are certain."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• March 21</b> - Sunday, 8:15pm, Belmonte Gallery</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Program included:</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">[unknown title] (John Cage)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>May 1962 </i>(Krumm)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">as well as "several of the group improvisations for which the NME is noted..."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Billie Alexander, soprano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Robert Bloch, violin, mandolin</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Jon Gibson, soprano saxophone, clarinet, flute</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Wayne Johnson, clarinet, bass clarinet</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Richard Swift, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury, alto saxophone, bassoon</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">John Moore, trumpet (<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50239201/nme-32165-info/" target="_blank">guest</a> on the Cage piece)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• April 7</b> - 8:15pm, <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50239336/nme-4765-show-info/" target="_blank">Freeborn Hall</a>, UC Davis</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"As a result of these [free group] improvisations, which recently have been recorded, [the NME] has been invited to appear at the Venice Festival, Palermo Festival, and the Nuova Consonanza Festival in Rome during the spring of 1966.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Program included:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Atlas Eclipticalis </i>(John Cage)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Winter Music</i> (Cage)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Concerto</i> for violin and chamber ensemble (Richard Swift)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">and eight improvisations.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Performers</u>:</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Billie Alexander, soprano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Robert Bloch, violin, mandolin</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Jon Gibson, soprano saxophone, clarinet, flute</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Wayne Johnson, clarinet, bass clarinet</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Richard Swift, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury, alto saxophone, bassoon</div></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50239472/nme-4765-review-glackin/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Glackin</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• June 14-15</b> - Little Theater, Sacramento State College. Recording for <i><a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/10065074" target="_blank">New Music Ensemble II</a></i>.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• July 7</b> - Wednesday, 8:15pm, Freeborn Hall</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Program included:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Concert</i> for piano and orchestra (John Cage)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Aria</i> (Cage)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Projection 4</i> (Morton Feldman)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Digressions</i> (Robert Moran)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">"...in addition to characteristic freely improvised pieces."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Performers:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Billie Alexander, soprano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Robert Bloch, violin, mandolin</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Jon Gibson, soprano saxophone, clarinet, flute</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Wayne Johnson, clarinet, bass clarinet</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Richard Swift, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury, alto saxophone, bassoon</div></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50240003/nme-7765-review/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Freshwater.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />• <b>November 14</b> - <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50240101/nme-111465-info/" target="_blank">Monday</a>, 8:15pm, Freeborn Hall</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>The Applicant</i> (Richard Swift)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Speculum Dianae</i> (Frederic Rzewski)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Inerziali </i>(Roland Kayn)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">"The group ... devoted more than half of the evening to what is quite evidently their favorite method of performing, free group improvisation."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Billie Alexander, soprano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Larry Austin, flugelhorn, string bass</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Robert Bloch, violin, mandolin</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Jon Gibson, soprano saxophone, clarinet, flute</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Wayne Johnson, clarinet, bass clarinet</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Richard Swift, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury, alto saxophone, bassoon</div></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[Austin returns from Rome. -ME]</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50240164/nme-111565-review/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Glackin.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />• <b>December 6 </b>- Monday, 8:15, Freeborn Hall </span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Not</i> an NME show, but some of its members were featured.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u>Program included:</u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u><br /></u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Meditation</i> (Gunther Schuller)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Galaxis</i> (Roland Kayn)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Ordini</i> (Franco Evangelisti)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Fluxion </i>(Enrique Raxach)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Catharsis </i>(Larry Austin)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50240353/nme-12665-shared-with-uc-repertory/" target="_blank">also</a> works by Mozart and Wagner</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Catharsis</i> is "for a four track tape of electric sounds ... plus a big ensemble and a small ensemble (a quintet last night, made up of members of the New Music Ensemble). The tape was heard from four speakers, two on each side of the hall; the players were onstage. The players have freedom to improvise along lines suggested by the score, which does not indicate any pitches or rhythms..."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50240485/nme-12665-review/" target="_blank"><i>Review</i></a> by Glackin.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><h1 style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: inherit;"><u>1966</u></b></h1><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br />• January 9</b> - Sunday, 8:15pm, Wyatt Pavilion Theater, UC Davis. "Music Theater"</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Program included:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50240557/nme-1966-show-info/" target="_blank">program</a> "will include improvisations, the group's favorite field, and three structured events":</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Views</i> (John Heineman)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Roma, </i>A Theater Piece in Open Style for Improvisation Ensemble and Tape (Larry Austin)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Quartet, 1965</i> (Stanley Lunetta)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">"Austin calls <i>Roma</i> an <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50240681/nme-1966-info/" target="_blank">abstract theater piece</a>: Within an explicit context the piece asks for interpretive movement as well as interpretive sound. The attitude of the 'movement improvisation' is suggested by the reaction - before, during and after the event - of the player to the lighting, the stage properties, the movements of other players, the audience and the nature of the hall. The reaction to the tape sounds and/or the group's improvisations determines the attitude of the 'sound improvisation.'"</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Lighting by Carolyn Tash. Stage director was David Freund, designer was Natalie Dobb.</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u>Performers:</u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u><br /></u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Billie Alexander, soprano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Larry Austin, flugelhorn, string bass</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Robert Bloch, violin, mandolin</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Jon Gibson, soprano saxophone, clarinet, flute</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Wayne Johnson, clarinet, bass clarinet</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Richard Swift, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury, alto saxophone, bassoon</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Guests:</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Roberta Baines</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Barbara Johnson</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stephen Wolfe</div></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">"A grant from the Music Performance Trust Fund of the Recording Industries supplies performers' fees."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50240886/nme-1966-review/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Freshwater.</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50240931/nme-1966-review-2/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Philip F. Elwood</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">• In <b>early 1966</b>, the NME's second record was released.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPOYwAkLtcxcSl5gqpKeYDwIclmf5DsDQrgO2mEk5JFeGXDYgKSyBxHucYCyhLUG7vDdqdws6Hl0ZL6GbnEjX6VCWGEyy0fRTljcKqqbVq-jSNhNqq1PGQWMu6CvNH63ZP5907ye_PUJM/s546/13Feb1966.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPOYwAkLtcxcSl5gqpKeYDwIclmf5DsDQrgO2mEk5JFeGXDYgKSyBxHucYCyhLUG7vDdqdws6Hl0ZL6GbnEjX6VCWGEyy0fRTljcKqqbVq-jSNhNqq1PGQWMu6CvNH63ZP5907ye_PUJM/s546/13Feb1966.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPOYwAkLtcxcSl5gqpKeYDwIclmf5DsDQrgO2mEk5JFeGXDYgKSyBxHucYCyhLUG7vDdqdws6Hl0ZL6GbnEjX6VCWGEyy0fRTljcKqqbVq-jSNhNqq1PGQWMu6CvNH63ZP5907ye_PUJM/s320/13Feb1966.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>• </b><b>March 3rd</b> - Thursday, 8:15pm, Freeborn Hall. "</span><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58834636/nme-adjunct-3366-research-concert/" target="_blank">Research Concert</a>".</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Not NME, but its members performed.</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u>Program included:</u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>PanJorGin</i> (Stanley Lunetta)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Green and Red</i> (John Mizelle)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>The Maze</i> (Larry Austin)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>10 Beginnings</i> (Jerome Rosen)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Carmina Archilochi</i> (Richard Swift)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50242859/nme-3366/" target="_blank">Members</a> of the New Music Ensemble and guests" including</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Larry Austin</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richard Swift</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jerome Rosen</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stanley Lunetta</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Dary) John Mizelle</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>• </b><b>May 5</b> - SSC Little Theater, Sacramento State College. </span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Possible performance by the NME? There was a graduate seminar at SSC on American music, described by Philip Freshwater. The NME is <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50242961/nme-5566-mention/" target="_blank">mentioned only in passing</a>. No program or personnel notes are included.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• </b><b>May 22</b> - Sunday, 8:15pm, Home Economics Theater (Room 176), UC Davis. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Composer's Forum"</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"New works by Philip Krumm, Stanley Lunetta, John Mizelle, Julian Woodruff will be performed along with the "First Piano Sonata" by Boulez and <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50243101/nme-52266/" target="_blank">improvisations</a> by the New Music Ensemble."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">• In <b>August</b> a headline appeared saying "<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50243324/composer-performer-edition-forming-nme/" target="_blank">Modern Music Concert Unit is Forming</a>". The article is about the founding of Composer/Performer Edition. Here's <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50243782/composer-performer-editions-source/" target="_blank">another article</a>, mentioning the founding of SOURCE.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• </b><b>September 7</b> - 5:00pm, 9:00pm, Freeborn Hall. "<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50243453/nme-9766-twoconcert-info/" target="_blank">Twoconcert</a>".</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Program included:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>First half, 5pm</b></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Sound Machine</i> (Philip Krumm)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Prelude to Naples </i>(Joel Chadabe)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Obos</i> (Harold Budd)</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">..."and some group improvisations by the NME."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Second half, 9pm</b></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Music for Prepared Piano</i> (John Cage)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Liaisons</i> (Roman Haubenstock-Ramati)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>III</i> (Harold Budd)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">..."and more improvisations." Hertelendy mentions five improvisations total.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Performers:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Billie Alexander, soprano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Larry Austin, flugelhorn, string bass</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Robert Bloch, violin, mandolin</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">??Jon Gibson, soprano saxophone, clarinet, flute</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Wayne Johnson, clarinet, bass clarinet</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">??Richard Swift, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury, alto saxophone, bassoon</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Guests:</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Marvin Tartak, prepared piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Harold Budd</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Thomas Gentry, piano</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Barbara Johnson, flute</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">John Mizelle, trombone</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Fred Utter, cello</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50243570/nme-9766-twoconcert-review/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Glackin</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50243634/nme-9766-twoconcert-review-2/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Hertelendy</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">"It should also be added that if the men in the group really appreciate Miss Alexander's thoughtful vocal contributions they ought to quiet down once in a while so she can be heard."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">• <b>October 13</b> - Thursday, First Unitarian Church, Sacramento. Composer/Performer Edition.</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">"The C.P.E. turns out to be the N.M.E... under another name, but this prgram [sic] had a good deal less improvising and much more written or at least blueprinted music than most N.M.E. concerts have had."</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Some improvisations are mentioned. Lunetta and Bloch are mentioned.</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50244247/composer-performer-editions-review/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Glackin.</div></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• </b><b>November 10</b> - Thursday, 12:00pm, Music Building (Room 115) UC Davis</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50244311/nme-111066-info/" target="_blank">second free concert</a> of the NME's 66-67 season"</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Program included:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>In Memoriam Esteban Gomez </i>(Robert Ashley)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>John Smith</i> (Ashley)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Pfft</i> (Stanley Lunetta)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Thursday Afternoon</i> (Alvin Curran)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Members of the Ensemble then will perform two free-group improvisations."</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Performers:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Billie Alexander</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Larry Austin</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wayne Johnson</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Stanley Lunetta</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">John Mizelle</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Arthur Woodbury</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Guests:</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Sherman Amerson</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Steve Reuben</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Robert Bloch</div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• </b><b>December 9</b> - 7:30pm (TV, Channel 6) "The Mod Sound In Music"</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An "<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50244474/nme-12966-tv/" target="_blank">unusual program</a> of contemporary music".</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>• </b><b>December 27</b> - 7:00pm (TV, KVIE) "Horizons '67"</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50244635/nme-122766-horizons-67-tv-special/" target="_blank">shared program</a>. The NME appeared alongside several other groups.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>1967</u></b></span></h1><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div>• </b><b>January 6</b> - 8:15pm, First Unitarian Church 2425 Sierra Blvd. [<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50244884/nme-1667-postponed/" target="_blank">Postponed</a>]<br /><b>• </b><b>February 17</b> - Friday, 8:15pm, Freeborn Hall</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Program included:</u></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Kontakte</i> (Karlheinz Stockhausen)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Kontra-Punkte</i> (Stockhausen)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Klavierstuck XI</i> (Stockhausen)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Zyklus</i> (Stockhausen)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Spazio A5</i> (Franco Evangelisti)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>World One</i> (Michael von Biel)</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><u>Performers included:</u></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stanley Lunetta. The NME is mentioned, but no other specific performer names.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Guest</u>:</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">David Tudor<br /><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50245299/nme-21767-review/" target="_blank">Review</a></i> by Glackin</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>• </b><b>February 19</b> - 8:30pm, Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Apparently a <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50245363/nme-21967-w-stockhausen-tudor/" target="_blank">follow-up performance</a> of the Stockhausen concert from Feb 17.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><h1 style="text-align: left;"><i>NME - That New Sound From Davis Is Experimental Music</i></h1><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></span></div></div>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-9959338020499460102020-09-28T18:41:00.012-07:002020-10-02T07:42:35.551-07:00The New Music Ensemble, Part 3 - NME II Liner Notes<p><i>In 1965, Larry Austin took a sabbatical semester from UC Davis. He travelled to Rome, where he participated in a very early version of Franco Evangelisti's Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza. During this time, the NME recorded a <a href="https://www.discogs.com/New-Music-Ensemble-New-Music-Ensemble-II/release/10065074" target="_blank">second album</a>, without Austin. Robert Bloch is included here, playing mandolin and violin.</i></p><p><i>The liner notes are fairly brief, and some photos are also included.</i></p><p><i><a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-new-music-ensemble-performers.html" target="_blank">Part one</a> features the liner notes on the back of the <a href="https://www.discogs.com/New-Music-Ensemble-New-Music-Ensemble/release/489414" target="_blank">first NME</a> album.</i></p><p><i><a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2020/09/new-music-ensemble-part-two-performers.html" target="_blank">Part two</a> is the performer biographies, included as an insert with that record.</i></p><p><i>The fourth and final part of this series will be a comprehensive "gig-ography" of the NME: all known performances, along with some lectures and other related events. Complete with performer and program information (where known).</i></p><p><i>BONUS: here is an interview with composer <a href="http://astronautapinguim.blogspot.com/2015/07/interview-with-philip-krumm.html" target="_blank">Philip Krumm</a>, several of whose works were performed by the NME.</i></p><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgybwDA5Qa5JY8X7FEsdvDFIJaBbwYq6ZHtGiJ0TnCB4E-TJ_UhWSTY7pwPUXkDUlp9BP37oW0QAbdp5GsXTsg-314h7VVRbCFLfbr0iY_lXsHS4-Y9-k0KC-EF13WfPjEWZP2OMwG03zk/s1591/NME2-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1190" data-original-width="1591" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgybwDA5Qa5JY8X7FEsdvDFIJaBbwYq6ZHtGiJ0TnCB4E-TJ_UhWSTY7pwPUXkDUlp9BP37oW0QAbdp5GsXTsg-314h7VVRbCFLfbr0iY_lXsHS4-Y9-k0KC-EF13WfPjEWZP2OMwG03zk/s320/NME2-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">L-R: Wayne Johnson, Jon Gibson, Arthur Woodbury,<br />Billie Alexander</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div><div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>New Music Ensemble, II</b></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The New Music Ensemble of the University of California at Davis is a group of composer-performers which was founded in 1963 to explore free group improvisation and to perform contemporary chamber music. During the past two years, the group has met regularly to experiment with new instrumentation techniques and new approaches to free group improvisation. The New Music Ensemble has appeared in a great many public concerts and radio and television performances and has been invited to make a European tour in 1965-66.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGiuUDu8Hy_Plm7EezOwOVDa07K2C6CZfzKJpyNnCsF_tmzrzTncH9SUxPMTPiF5uXE6FCBjzRkuO3lKTCtPLLVwLIqJqXBzVRkPaP4089CzvpXULdvYZmpLqvK6sIMpZpjeaaBwifo8/s1594/NME2-2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1594" data-original-width="1182" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGiuUDu8Hy_Plm7EezOwOVDa07K2C6CZfzKJpyNnCsF_tmzrzTncH9SUxPMTPiF5uXE6FCBjzRkuO3lKTCtPLLVwLIqJqXBzVRkPaP4089CzvpXULdvYZmpLqvK6sIMpZpjeaaBwifo8/s320/NME2-2.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Woodbury, Alexander, Swift (seated)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The New Music Ensemble does not use plans or charts for its improvisations. Rather, it depends upon the group feeling for composition developed during many playing sessions. Using contemporary musical vocabulary and innumerable conventional and unconventional instrumental techniques, the New Music Ensemble creates freely improvised compositions.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhmk4FvtQqYYX5TCvZzGu0RDJryV-AM7tgvuEWnI0NvVLStKY0lLzgrfOMz08Xs9jqrrNUEUWiTd-Jc9NRh6rCvUwM4tgymT87fUUKghQyGKEOQv7x5rxg3GKmG1H9pvvSqV5bc1bOlk/s1570/NME2-3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1177" data-original-width="1570" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhmk4FvtQqYYX5TCvZzGu0RDJryV-AM7tgvuEWnI0NvVLStKY0lLzgrfOMz08Xs9jqrrNUEUWiTd-Jc9NRh6rCvUwM4tgymT87fUUKghQyGKEOQv7x5rxg3GKmG1H9pvvSqV5bc1bOlk/w400-h300/NME2-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lunetta, Johnson, Swift, Alexander, Woodbury, Gibson, Bloch<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Members of the New Music Ensemble as pictured on the cover are: Standing: Robert Bloch, violin and mandolin; Wayne Johnson, clarinet and bass clarinet; Arthur Woodbury, flute, alto saxophone and bassoon; Billie Alexander, soprano; Jon Gibson, flute, clarinet, soprano saxophone. Seated: Stanley Lunetta, percussion; Richard Swift, piano.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This recording was made in the Little Theater of Sacramento State College, June 14-15, 1965.</span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Century Custom Recording Service 22764</span></div><br /><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sacramento, CA</span></div></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1hNU0cEo5h-aTkCQJyQtYRVPaaiUHHHLT8KBXertM6IxKVfmEskRgXwqUhTcMHLd8QaHvEwCpyOi_I6OAM8MLp9Iwh34e0GwA31NtV1YW1lQ0zSSJgmfK9arlsZVab-rU32wTC0597Y/s546/13Feb1966.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1hNU0cEo5h-aTkCQJyQtYRVPaaiUHHHLT8KBXertM6IxKVfmEskRgXwqUhTcMHLd8QaHvEwCpyOi_I6OAM8MLp9Iwh34e0GwA31NtV1YW1lQ0zSSJgmfK9arlsZVab-rU32wTC0597Y/s320/13Feb1966.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-36590974521327783342020-09-17T09:37:00.002-07:002020-09-17T09:39:31.282-07:00New Music Ensemble, Part 2 - The Performers<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLtahvrQ5rr6tdxLaFfYu5OXz6ddda96dJ9Z1kDmMNXaAVRiNjZk38BILj6owY9taHR7jw4bBZdjqkH0q_BPmr_tMmAiXBwVBiELpgf8CJiUvMQi3njZuontQLNZLgM0Z9Obh3Clzkv-g/s564/WayneJohnson.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><i style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">These are the performer biographies which were included as an insert with <a href="https://www.discogs.com/New-Music-Ensemble-New-Music-Ensemble/release/489414" target="_blank">the New Music Ensemble's self-titled first LP</a>. Be sure to check out the <a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-new-music-ensemble-performers.html" target="_blank">first post in this series</a> for some useful background info, and to see the liner notes from the first LP.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="911" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyc6SX4hWJsKjpHGrNbjENTXfCTCZawlV4SaD5XdYqT53L8BJNr3sn_q-kKG4bTnSjWNQjCBNfBBMcjWxpvRHZnTaCwiqznO9YJ79eFlOlRITlrhF71eu5v40jnjssJs_xo5Ojw1IYTQA/s320/OMDI1409.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Billie Alexander (Pat Woodbury)<br />with John Cage, 1969.<br />Credit: <a href="http://radiom.org/detail.php?omid=MC.1992.09.04.A" target="_blank">Charles Amirkhanian</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></span></div></div></div><u><br /></u><u>Billie Alexander</u> relates. Her thoughtful improvisations show an unique sense of timing and tasteful restraint. Her music is subtly intense. Her vocal techniques are unorthodox and include a wide range of strangely beautiful sounds, directly attributable to her extensive jazz background rooted in classical training. Oddly, this imaginative use of her voice is extremely disturbing to certain elements of our audience. Perhaps such an original conception of relating the human voice to instrumental voices upsets some ironclad preconceptions of what a singer should or should not do. That is her uniqueness.<br /><br /><u>Larry Austin</u> drives. His energy is contagious. His imagination is rampant. His flügelhorn and trumpet playing can force a new path for the improvisation or, just as suddenly, deftly suggest a new, but logically evolved, sound context for the group. In short, he asserts the group's personality. He is a well-known composer, a conductor, and an Associate Professor of Music at the University of California, Davis. His works have been performed by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, Gunther Schuller in his 20th Century Innovations Series at Carnegie Recital Hall, by the Hartt Chamber Players, by the Composers' Forums of Chicago and San Francisco, and by various other groups in universities throughout the United States. He is currently a fellow of the Institute for Creative Arts, residing in Rome. His published works include <u>Improvisations for Orchestra and Jazz Soloists</u> (MJQ Music), <u>Piano Variations</u> (MJQ), <u>A Broken Consort</u> for chamber ensemble (MJQ), and <u>In Memoriam J.F.K.</u> (Berkeley Publishing Co.). He is affiliated with Broadcast Music, Inc.<br /><br /><u>Jon Gibson</u> explodes. His outright abandonment of conventional sound concepts, particularly on the soprano sax, pushes the Ensemble into new and occasionally frightening contexts. He is primitive, but at the same time distinctly sophisticated. This is especially surprising considering the fact that he is the youngest member of the Ensemble. He is a graduate student at San Francisco State College, a composer, and a professional jazz musician.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline; text-align: center;"><u style="text-align: left; text-decoration: underline;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1zkUfQBc2lRE_3DrXf5sDq6AkdSvWGJ8X5y5HBsK-6GZ4cQCk4KoXB42w9lqz2-_SWr_SukGFcYr_FTf6KhIeWsIn76bkCmRRk-rup-y-IZjtGTAAjPJfzkHF5FDE_m_wmnTABku7jxs/s510/WayneJohnson.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1zkUfQBc2lRE_3DrXf5sDq6AkdSvWGJ8X5y5HBsK-6GZ4cQCk4KoXB42w9lqz2-_SWr_SukGFcYr_FTf6KhIeWsIn76bkCmRRk-rup-y-IZjtGTAAjPJfzkHF5FDE_m_wmnTABku7jxs/s320/WayneJohnson.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Wayne Johnson.<br />Credit: <a href="http://moosack.net/CJQ/" target="_blank">moosack.net</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Wayne Johnson</u><span style="text-align: left;"> sings. He is consistently lyric and often melancholy. A performer might in the heat of an improvisation "pull back" for momentary reflection on the piece as it moves. It is then that one senses the strength of Wayne's web of line within the piece. Not incidental to this concept is his remarkable control of freakishly high overtones on the bass clarinet. Wayne is a graduate of Sacramento State College, a composer, and a professional jazz musician.</span></div></div></span></div><br /><u>Stanley Lunetta</u> colors. He is ever alert to the proper aura of sound. Unlike so many percussionists, he listens and anticipates. The great potential power and the wide variety of color of his instruments are employed creatively and persuasively. His palette of sounds includes four clay dumbegs of differing sizes and tone, tuned cowbells, temple blocks, cymbals, a xylo-marimba, and a vibraphone. He is a composer, a graduate student at the University of California, Davis, and a virtuoso percussionist both in jazz and classical fields.<br /><br /><u>Richard Swift</u> shapes. He articulates the improvisations, often by a forceful piano cluster which washes away previous material or by a wry series of pitches which subtly imply a new context. He is the entrepreneur of taste. He senses the diverse elements of the piece, pulls them together and gives them new meaning, new cohesiveness. He is a noted composer, a conductor, a teacher, and Chairman of the Department of Music at the University of California, Davis. His stature as a composer is recognized widely. In 1959 and again in 1960 he was invited to participate in the Princeton Institute for Advanced Musical Studies. An article about his <u>Piano Concerto</u> was published in a recent issue of "Perspectives of New Music". His works have been performed by Composers' Forums, I.S.C.M. chapters, and universities in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. His works are listed with and available from the American Composers Alliance (BMI).<br /><br /><u>Arthur Woodbury</u> wails. He is the most fluent improviser in the Ensemble and the most virtuosic. His flurries of notes create glorious havoc and spark others to long series of fast changing pitches. His playing demands extremes in contrast. He is an extraordinary alto saxophonist, bassoonist, flutist, as well as jazz pianist. He is a staff member of the Department of Music at the University of California, Davis, as well as a professional performer in both jazz and classical fields.<br /><br />This wide diversity of styles and concepts, this seemingly incongruous group of improvisers, creates music which continues to please each of the participants completely. We hope it pleases the listener as well.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"> - - Notes by Larry Austin</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div>NME RECORDS<br />1135 E. 8th Street</div><div>Davis, California<br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-29892454602255100862020-09-05T12:43:00.011-07:002020-09-12T18:42:57.545-07:00New Music Ensemble, Part 1 - Liner Notes<div><div style="display: inline;"><b>The New Music Ensemble</b> was a new music group that was active from 1963-1967. </div>They are best remembered today as an influential free improvisation group, but they also regularly performed contemporary repertoire. Rehearsal recordings of their improvisations were heard by Franco Evangelisti, who was inspired to form the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruppo_di_Improvvisazione_Nuova_Consonanza">Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza</a> in Rome. (In fact, Larry Austin played in an early version of the Gruppo.) As the NME dissolved, several of the group's members formed Composer/Performer Editions and <a href="source music of the avant garde" target="_blank">SOURCE: Music of the Avant-Garde</a>.</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Billie Alexander, soprano</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Larry Austin, trumpet, flugelhorn, string bass</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jon Gibson, flute, soprano saxophone, clarinet</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wayne Johnson, clarinet, bass clarinet</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stanley Lunetta, percussion</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richard Swift, piano</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Arthur Woodbury, flute, alto saxophone, bassoon</span></div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>The NME released two LP's; both were private pressings and neither has been reissued. I'm still looking for a copy of <a href="https://www.discogs.com/New-Music-Ensemble-New-Music-Ensemble/release/489414" target="_blank">the first LP</a>, but I have scans of the front and back covers, so I have typed out the liner notes here.</div><div><br /></div><div>[No recording information is included with the first NME album, but according to Larry Austin's recollection, it was recorded in spring 1964.]</div>
<div><br /></div>For further background, check out the following documents:<div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">• <a href="https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/58901/original/Forum%2520-%2520Improvisation%2520(PNM%25201983).pdf" target="_blank">Forum: Improvisation. Childs, Hobbs</a>. Perspectives in New Music, September 1982. Austin is interviewed beginning on pg. 27, but the whole article is worth reading for its extensive interviews.</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">• My 2014 interview with <a href="http://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2014/08/interview-with-stan-lunetta.html">Stanley Lunetta</a>, who gave his perspective on the NME.</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">• <a href="http://moosack.net/stang/nme.html" target="_blank">This p</a><a href="http://moosack.net/stang/nme.html" target="_blank">age</a> from Stan's website, which includes a sound bite from each NME record.</p></blockquote><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8d899DB502xw4oDaqSe1P6hAhHMQsh4kSzx8GVmlAUVC1rsojdrXqpSBo-GvyXQadbOqiiWSpYyJpkH6EtZ_Le_x2j-aVAL4q5Jzg2zGqdYBIoRXVuPE3K7i0Mw3xFTYNRwTeAXr-QVY/s603/R-489414-1499809850-5967.jpeg.jpg" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 238); margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8d899DB502xw4oDaqSe1P6hAhHMQsh4kSzx8GVmlAUVC1rsojdrXqpSBo-GvyXQadbOqiiWSpYyJpkH6EtZ_Le_x2j-aVAL4q5Jzg2zGqdYBIoRXVuPE3K7i0Mw3xFTYNRwTeAXr-QVY/s0/R-489414-1499809850-5967.jpeg.jpg" /></a></div><div><div><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>New Music Ensemble</i> Liner Notes</span></h1>
<b><div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Ensemble</b></div></b>
<b><br /></b>
The New Music Ensemble here explores the realm of free group improvisation. This group of improvisers and performers has excited the greatest interest among composers, performers and the general public. Unlike other improvisation groups, the New Music Ensemble does not use plans or charts for their improvisations. Rather, they depend upon the group compositional feeling for structure from the smallest musical gesture to the total composition. Using contemporary musical vocabulary and innumerable conventional and unconventional virtuoso instrumental techniques, the New Music Ensemble creates total art improvisations.<br />
<br /><a href="https://www.harryaron.com" target="_blank">Harry Aron</a>, Associate Professor of Psychology at Sacramento State College, has followed the NME, has written about it, and has been a devoted listener. He writes:</div><div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.harryaron.com/harry.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="778" height="306" src="https://www.harryaron.com/harry.png" width="298" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harry Aron. Source: <a href="http://harryaron.com">harryaron.com</a></td></tr></tbody></table>
"A word. The New Music Ensemble is at the horizon. Horizons are always out of reach and never understood. They feel strange. And they are reached for in distrust. But are looked to. The NME is listened to. And they are reached for in distrust. But are looked to. The NME is listened to. And in the listening makes for you at least one horizon a little clearer. Somewhat more understood. And in so doing makes a thousand more horizons. An achievement.<br />
<br />
"But you say. The NME doesn't make sense. What does? What new thing does? Not to mention the old. All right. For a moment at least agree. Now tell me, you ask, what can I listen for? Why force me to perjure you? But I will. Just remember, you asked. You smile in your contemporary morality, knowing of course that now we are both guilty. Do you think it would help if someone would just strangle moralists? Or is that what morals are - stranglers?<br />
<br />
"What has all this to do with the NME? Well, for a moment think of what you felt. Repulsion, indifference, excitement, joy, even interest! You were forced to experience, aided to sensing, by the sound of the NME! By something of your history! Something long buried in the tradition which you call your style of life. Of the blindness which gives you vision. And hearing.<br />
<br />
"The NME gives you a chance. The real chance lies in experiencing yourself. Or at least part of you. Even if in revulsion. Most directly what happens to you while listening is an examination of yourself in the context of their sound. In the context of their courage to make a sound which is so exposed because it doesn't immediately fit. It exposes you. You move with them to a horizon. Or remain behind.<br />
<br />
"Stretch. Why should you? Why not? It's human. It is humanizing. You see, that's what the NME is doing for you. They offer you a context in which some of your most primitive feelings and history of behaving can be altered by disconnecting your feelings. By locking them to strange sounds and unexpected sequences. The chances are that in the unusual the typical in you is for the first time visible. Subject to alteration. It's a discovery with a chance. A chance to become.<br />
<br />
That's what people at the horizon do for you. To you. They allow you to regroup. To see and hear additionally. Or to retrench. To demand the old. The tired. To keep your prison the same. Or to change it. The humanity of the NME is that they allow you to choose the way. They don't make the prisoner, nor do they detail the citizen. It seems as if the NME has completely captured what it means to be humanistic: absence of invariance, discovery about your makeup, and change in who knows what direction - set by you. How? Through their music. But what marks their music? The pauses? The dissonances? The acute listening to each other? To themselves? And in listening the creation of the new sound? Which sets the piece? But which way will it go? That, of course, is the discovery. The creation. And the humor. They build the pieces. As you rebuild, your guesses are surprised! Confirmed! You are a partner as you are the student. You draw on yourself as you are given. That's involvement. And, of course, that's what the NME allows. Through an involvement which gives you the chance to stretch, to move, toward the new horizons I was talking about earlier.<br />
<br />
"Listen. Be. Do as the NME."</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCGpXqrJEfa6zrW3xrALIH7KCfuah5NP9px-bpAUjODJ4Hu1kMOrh9v3-YYDUXDSldOpmKTY_94KrhU9KDZteV7yMw8sv8VOOXVEAxeTHkPIWkT5ffyi4b15-JhWF2O5EAvE8xBTnqKX0/s1302/Screen+Shot+2020-08-28+at+10.28.00+AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1302" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCGpXqrJEfa6zrW3xrALIH7KCfuah5NP9px-bpAUjODJ4Hu1kMOrh9v3-YYDUXDSldOpmKTY_94KrhU9KDZteV7yMw8sv8VOOXVEAxeTHkPIWkT5ffyi4b15-JhWF2O5EAvE8xBTnqKX0/w512-h442/Screen+Shot+2020-08-28+at+10.28.00+AM.png" width="512" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50224099/nme-long-article-picture-73163/">July 28th, 1963.</a> This is one of the earliest photos of the NME, taken before their debut concert on July 31st. Note the mention of Pat Woodbury, who later performed with the NME as Billie Alexander. Also note the presence of <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/1413767-Jerome-Rosen" target="_blank">Jerome Rosen</a>, an early member who did not appear on either recording.</span></td></tr></tbody></table>
<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Our Music</b></div>
<b><br /></b>
The NME was formed in June 1963. The instrumentation used by the group was a result not of planning but of the performing abilities of the individual players. The first public concert took place in July 1963. Since that time, the NME has appeared in nearly twenty concerts, as well as on radio and television.<br />
<br />
We call our music free group improvisation. What we really mean is that it is group improvisation without a preconceived, explicit context. We are, however, operating within an implicit context. In a strict sense, then, we are never actually free. Absolute freedom is in fact not desired, for the result would be anarchic.<br />
<br />
As we operate within an implicit context, each player seeks his role. One gesture suggests a consequent gesture; that gesture another. For the most part the overall intensity of a gesture is controllable - but not every detail. Many times, upon rehearing our session on the tape, we become dissatisfied with a note or sequence of notes - but this is the inherent gamble of "spontaneous" composing. The composer can refine his art work, excluding unwanted details. But the composer lacks the immediate contact with the performer's concept of the art work, and can only imagine - can only hope - for the intended result, the obvious exception being electronic music, where the composer deals directly with the art sound. The unrefined details of group improvisation can often become significant music - immediately. And this ever-present possibility continues to intrigue us.<br />
<br />
Implicit in our improvisation is the practice of gradual liquidation of material which may or may not coincide with the gradual emergence of fresh material, which in turn may itself be liquidated or suddenly disrupted by explosive contrast of spontaneous material. Subsidiary material invented by one improviser may suddenly be projected to the foreground of the context by an other improviser. What at first might seem mere impulsiveness is actually deeply rooted in the piece. As a result, our reaction to certain types of gestures is ever sharper. The player who initiates the piece - often the one who plays the first note - sets the tone, calls the tune, motivates the oher [sic] players to respond to this piece in a certain way.<br />
<br />
Our growing understanding of our music and our growing sensitivity to certain types of gestures has tightened our control over the outcome of individual pieces. When we decide, for instance, that an improvisation will be a "short piece", we sense its inherent compositional problems: economy of means, tight controls over the choice of pitches, fewer and shorter impulsive contrasts, and a less complicated sound context which would necessarily call for long, elaborate gestures to spend the cumulative energy. "Long pieces", of course, will always present the greater challenge.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-wsortjsWiKz_iEsk6j7ql2V1Ni_pjPweXXNrKM3et_2nTYvKZ6jTAdyBNdvmZxBfmn5w_7x0dCsj1NW-QCd0-Ugw5ZE9VWcpVgJG5e65txuXrpWC-oyoT5UXdoViBt0AD8pidfzQQbs/s1228/img-4.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1228" data-original-width="546" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-wsortjsWiKz_iEsk6j7ql2V1Ni_pjPweXXNrKM3et_2nTYvKZ6jTAdyBNdvmZxBfmn5w_7x0dCsj1NW-QCd0-Ugw5ZE9VWcpVgJG5e65txuXrpWC-oyoT5UXdoViBt0AD8pidfzQQbs/w224-h500/img-4.jpeg" width="224" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This blurb appeared on <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50235704/nme-recording-info/" target="_blank">20 Sept 1964</a><br />in the Sacramento Bee</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />
<br />
When a piece is in motion, our response to the context is readily apparent in the rhythmic configurations. In early improvisation sessions, a frequent complaint by certain improvisers was that our music lacked a descernible [sic] "pulse", making us seemingly incapable as a group of creating rhythmic designs which could make a piece "fast" or "slow". We feel that for the most part it was due - in those early stages - to a lesser degree of sensitivity on the individual's part to the rhythmic motion of the group composition; i.e., sensitivity to the concept of tension-release. Improvisers now are acutely aware of the relative tension of a section, labeling it "fast", or the relative non-tension of a section, labeling it "slow".<br />
<br />
The one area which we thought would be the most problematic has turned out to be the least problematic: choice of pitches. Here we react ideally - at once to the group context, at once to individual improvisers, at once to the content of our own improvisation. We discovered early that, as fluent practitioners of the music of our time, we almost automatically selected the appropriate combination and/or sequence of pitches for the context. No pre-improvisational pitch arrangements were concocted, except in an occasional "study". The pitches chosen always seem relevant. Even the occasional remote references to conventional diatonic modes rises and subsides naturally without awkwardness and with credibility. This fortunate fluency in the choice of proper pitches keeps our pieces in motion, even when other elements of the context seem weak. Our "feel" for the right pitch is proven when, in the course of an improvisation, someone "hits a wrong note". This can cause the offender and the entire group to howl with laughter, delighted in the group understanding of its pitch idiom. For the most part duplication of pitches is avoided by the group. When chance duplication does occur performers immediately correct, if necessary, the conventional implications of non-motion by skilfully [sic] moving away or emphasizing the coloristic potential of the pitch combination. Otherwise, any and all pitch combinations are admitted.<br />
<br /><i>- Notes by Larry Austin and Richard Swift</i>
</div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50229859/nme-4364-concert-info/"><img border="0" data-original-height="1228" data-original-width="1716" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv5DoNwCeYlzk6XUTWesy7fUYD7WJkCoupHuM4ZGph0j66KLRWo6JN6NtalXrTcmg5k-4-vCI71MW3uJGj2OA03BbqHNc8HLWrZ80LBQYxfACWLZPN629fRoQTgfGTb7H7244eoKgwGMU/w512-h367/Screen+Shot+2020-08-28+at+9.40.40+AM.png" width="512" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50229859/nme-4364-concert-info/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">March 29, 1964<br /></span><br /></a></td></tr></tbody></table></div>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-90021899757054829182020-08-11T06:39:00.002-07:002020-08-11T06:39:18.621-07:00Jim Moran: In Memoriam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">As a follow-up to <a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-berkeley-improvisation-ensemble.html">my post on the Berkeley Improvisation Ensemble</a> in May, I am sorry to report that a member of the BIE, Jim Moran, passed away in February 2020. Allan Pollack wrote a memorial, and Jim Aron provided photographs. Rest in peace, Jim.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: x-large;">Jim Moran </span><p></p>
<p style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">(b. August 17,1949, d. February 26, 2020)</p>
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<p style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">Jim Moran was a phenomenally gifted, versatile musician who spent his entire life playing and teaching in the Bay Area. He played saxophone and flute, as well as being able to hold his own on keyboards. Occasionally he picked up the trumpet, only to reveal his affinity for musical instruments by producing a remarkably beautiful sound. Nothing musical seemed to be beyond his reach.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">Jim could improvise impressively, a talent that saw him through many gigs at weddings, clubs and concerts. He was also a studied classical musician, and played flute so well that he subbed in both the Oakland and SF Symphonies. As a teacher, he guided students through their studies with care and diligence. He would often talk about these students with a probing curiosity, examining their abilities as well as their limitations with remarkable insight.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">Jim’s penetrating intellect left few icons standing. His method of delivery was humor, though he was never mean even when his thoughts were very pointed or critical. Jim’s observations of the truly talented and accomplished revealed both his fundamental humility and his innate sense of wonder and appreciation. He seldom, if ever, talked about others negatively in order to build up his ego, but instead waxed eloquently on their extraordinary (sometimes super-human) achievements.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">As a fellow musician, Jim was a joy to work with. Nothing exceeded his abilities as a player or his intelligence as an artist. Creativity was the goal, and he always rose to the occasion. Rehearsals were fun, lively and deliciously thought-provoking with Jim, and everyone who performed with him felt inspired by the collaboration.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">Jim’s life was not without tragedy, losing his wife Sandy to cancer when his son James Patrick was only 9 years old. Jim was in his forties at the time and, despite being older, took on the challenge of raising his son as a single father with love and dedication. Jim never formed another long-term relationship from that point on. His example of responsibility and dedication to his son still serves as a lesson to us all.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">We feel his passing as an enormous loss. How we miss those jokes that would keep us laughing all night over a delicious meal or during a daylong walk through Muir Woods! We can only believe that those folks “on the other side” are having a much better time since his arrival. May this beloved man rest in peace. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">(Allan Pollack)</p></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr7StslC1GR3shFVKcVOoN67qBvD23GYBQGCZ1SdiIHYHQpM5CbIt_zJbNi-2IEn-MI4tZwl21zBvt1qLbgExShB4zCZZ_RzJ3AgTglRP-y4eboL8LfWZefmTgsMkiDnX0XGeA7itV83I/s2045/Jim+Moran+1968.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2045" data-original-width="1006" height="645" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr7StslC1GR3shFVKcVOoN67qBvD23GYBQGCZ1SdiIHYHQpM5CbIt_zJbNi-2IEn-MI4tZwl21zBvt1qLbgExShB4zCZZ_RzJ3AgTglRP-y4eboL8LfWZefmTgsMkiDnX0XGeA7itV83I/w320-h645/Jim+Moran+1968.jpg" width="320" /></a><img border="0" data-original-height="2045" data-original-width="1006" height="645" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjudGObKZo54Tam4N49jZ9sOMHRxULlxn0lhxvrUEAPkNUPVCMRb4vP2wSEkZAtwA0smoLkD66l-Um0hVo5kmDfVk2DB3sNRHiG5Dz9IXsVwWd6xvU6GEoHx2pGmtzsBN2IDI5bvxWTqu8/w320-h645/Jim+Moran+2019.jpg" style="text-align: left;" width="320" /></div><br /> <p></p>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-44571016916935642012020-05-10T12:39:00.009-07:002021-02-10T14:44:09.370-08:00An Interview with the Berkeley Improvisation Ensemble<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="645" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcEbqpohEiSnZrVakl1q_Z32HDa5MYREDe_lHKlIag7_pmB6Wt1FOLIKVFU9sQq_a49h7PA2yVmv5FOuyTkseWu-cogLA2FMMyW2yFIUvNqGPZwi1XGJDhSE89HfCJYFhkdbVZuWp9CsY/w516-h464/BIE.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="516" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Berkeley Improvisation Ensemble<br />(L to R) Robert Strizich, Allan Pollack, Evalyn Stanley, Jim Aron, Jim Moran.</span></td></tr></tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">The Berkeley Improvisation Ensemble, active between 1968 and 1971, is among the many groups I first learned about via the archives at newspapers.com. No recordings were available, and information elsewhere on the internet was scarce. So I reached out to Robert (Bob) Strizich, who was gracious enough to answer some of my questions. He also forwarded my questions to Jim Aron and Evalyn Stanley, who gave their responses to several questions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">The BIE describe their music:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">"The BIE is dedicated to the exploration of different techniques involving controlled improvisations. These techniques range anywhere from the performance of totally free pieces, where the control is provided by the individual improviser, to the performance of pieces where most of the sounds are precisely notated. Our main aim is to play music that is well-organized, coherent, and emotionally stimulating, yet still retaining the freedom and excitement that is inherent [in the music of improvisation]."</span></span></blockquote>
After striking up a correspondence, I learned that a <a href="https://www.discogs.com/The-Berkeley-Improvisation-Ensemble-The-Berkeley-Improvisation-Ensemble-1968-1971/release/15052291" target="_blank">2-CD set of live recordings</a> was released in 2019. It is available from Jim Aron, and can also be heard via <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-286tAvVUiJdrkvj5j_cB4abcMvP6Vmr" target="_blank">YouTube</a>.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">How did the BIE first come together? Can you describe some of the first times you played together?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Bob</i>: We came together by means of a rather complex network of interpersonal relationships!</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Jim Aron and Jim Moran already knew each other from high school in South San Francisco; Moran was attending San Francisco State College (SFSC; now San Francisco State University), and Aron was at the University of California Berkeley (UCB). </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw_m3VdNYa_4AFiRQw-UyAwbvwQ2fu1i9FSOsGtsKy0Sp4ApwuHFQN3oT9pzYmRYaUtBZPzt-rAw0mowZ6Hb1AFyP6bHp0QA7tnagaI9aAZtwdYym0jFXivKhY2hI0f9kb1KLhNW1S6Sc/s1600/img.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="546" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw_m3VdNYa_4AFiRQw-UyAwbvwQ2fu1i9FSOsGtsKy0Sp4ApwuHFQN3oT9pzYmRYaUtBZPzt-rAw0mowZ6Hb1AFyP6bHp0QA7tnagaI9aAZtwdYym0jFXivKhY2hI0f9kb1KLhNW1S6Sc/s320/img.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">South Bend Tribune, 5 March 1967 (p. 25)</td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Allan Pollack and I were also undergrads in music at UC Berkeley. I had been playing in a UCB jazz quintet that included vibraphonist <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Lee-Schipper-Phunky-Physicist/release/5042261" target="_blank">Lee Schipper</a> and saxophonist <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/another-day/276823316" target="_blank">Bob Claire</a>. Allan and Bob Claire had attended the same high school in Chicago and were friends, and so I ended up meeting Allan through Bob. Allan and I became good friends, and we began thinking about starting a group that would explore non-jazz free improvisation. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Allan knew Aron from a jazz band at UCB in which they both had played. Allan subsequently invited Aron to join us, who in turn suggested his friend Moran as a fourth member. Early on, Jim Aron was an engineering major at UCB, but soon switched his major to music.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">The first several times we played together, the musical experiences were very powerful and really "blew our minds." These early improv sessions convinced us to continue and to become a formal ensemble.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">What drew you to improvisation? How did your views change during the life of the BIE, and have they changed since?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Bob</i>: I was originally drawn to improvisation as a result of my early interest in jazz and my veneration of the great jazz virtuosos whose playing I admired. But when I first heard "free jazz" and then became engrossed in free improvisation myself, I began to realize that the term "improvisation" comprised a much larger musical terrain than just the jazz idiom. As wonderful as jazz was, I saw that improvisation had much more to offer than just improvising in a steady tempo to fixed, cyclical chord changes. In our work with the BIE, I felt that we were expanding the boundaries of what improvising itself was, and could be, and were evolving an extemporized musical idiom analogous to that of the composed "avant-garde" new music that was then emerging. Although I don't follow the current improv scene very much, it seems to me that improvisation is very much alive and well nowadays. And thanks to the emergence of the digital era, players now have an array of interactive technologies at their disposal to augment their instrumental improvisations (I'm thinking here of artists like composer/trombonist <a href="https://music.columbia.edu/bios/george-e-lewis" target="_blank">George Lewis</a>, who performs improvised "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec88U5R7cJ0" target="_blank">duets</a>" with interactive software of his own design).</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Composer / trombonist <a href="https://jazztimes.com/features/profiles/overdue-ovation-for-george-lewis/" target="_blank">George Lewis</a>.</td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Jim Aron:</i><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Our involvement with improvisation certainly had its roots in our jazz backgrounds and although our very first rehearsals (which, by the way, included bassist</span><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/730697-Peter-Marshall-2" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;" target="_blank">Peter Marshall</a><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">) incorporated jazz elements, we soon made a very conscious effort to avoid jazz techniques and jazz tonality entirely. This direction away from jazz continued throughout the group’s existence. That being said, I never lost my love of jazz. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><b>What were some of the influences on your musical style and background?</b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Bob:</i> Many diverse musical influences influenced and informed our performances and style of playing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Of course, jazz was an initial inspiration for all of us. We were certainly influenced in some ways by the more "mainstream" post-bebop musicians of the era (Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, etc.) and also the more radical free-jazz players (such as Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, etc.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">But the cultural context of the SF Bay Area in the late 60s and early 70s played a large role too. This was, of course, a tumultuous and troubled – yet exciting and inspirational – time to be of that young age, studying and performing music in Berkeley (already a notoriously infamous city!) and in the wider Bay Area. Our music was most certainly informed not only just by our jazz background and university training, but also by the alternative, radical, anti-establishment ferment of those years – combined with the changing winds of the new music blowing in from New York and Europe.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">As music undergrads, we were all acquainted – through our university music history classes – with the "atonal" and dodecaphonic works of Schönberg and Webern. But more important, and much more influential on us, was hearing live performances of post-WWII new music not only at UCB, but also at various San Francisco venues, Mills College, and UC Davis. We were exposed to seminal new works by Messiaen, Boulez, Stockhausen, Berio, Xenakis, Penderecki, Cage, Feldman, Steve Reich and many more composers. I also remember benefiting personally from visits and residencies of important composers such as Sessions, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Dallapiccola" target="_blank">Dallapiccola</a> and Messiaen (at UCB), Stockhausen (at Mills College) and Cage (at UC Davis).</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">All of the musical and cultural influences mentioned above were at work in our improvisational approach, characterized by a highly chromatic, freely 12-tone language at the service of an intense, dramatic – and often exuberant, even wild! – musical expression.</span></span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">On Discogs, I found a couple records of baroque music which you (Bob) recorded. Do you see your interests in improvisation and baroque music as related?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Bob:</i> Yes. Around the time that the BIE disbanded, I was becoming very involved with early music. I eventually studied lute and baroque guitar at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, and subsequently spent a decade or more performing and recording renaissance and baroque music. My experiences with jazz and the BIE definitely prepared me for the extemporaneous aspects of early music (such as ornamentation and the realization of <i>basso continuo</i> accompaniments). And there was certainly a loose correspondence between our work in the BIE and the performance practice of early music: like our BIE "scores," renaissance and baroque notation was not necessarily definitive, but was often a rough outline of melodic/harmonic content, the details of which would be filled in by the players at the moment of performance. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Jim Aron:</i> I was also involved in both renaissance and baroque performance technique, studying and performing on natural trumpet with harpsichordist </span></span><a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/1438649-Alan-Curtis-2" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;" target="_blank">Alan Curtis</a><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">. I also performed on soprano and alto sackbut, krummhorn and recorders with the Consortium Antiquum.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Who were some of the faculty members that you worked with, and did they encourage your pursuit of improvisation?</span></b></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Bob: </i>I studied with various composers at UCB, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaqu%C3%ADn_Nin-Culmell" target="_blank">Joaquin Nin-Culmell</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Felciano" target="_blank">Richard Felciano</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Imbrie" target="_blank">Andrew Imbrie</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Sessions" target="_blank">Roger Sessions</a>. Another important influence for me was harpsichordist <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/1438649-Alan-Curtis-2" target="_blank">Alan Curtis</a>, who was very supportive of my growing interest in early music. These professors were generally encouraging of the work of the BIE, but only indirectly. At that time, there was no support for jazz in the UCB music department, and the music that we were creating was considered to be some sort of jazz spinoff. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">In spite of our somewhat "alternative" status in the UCB Music Department, we were nevertheless quite active in the department and played frequent Noon Concerts (a weekly concert series on the campus sponsored by the music department). From these performances, we became quite well-known (perhaps infamous?) in the department, so much so that we were dubbed by some of the more staid students "The Beatles of New Music!"</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Bob and Evalyn</i>: After the four of us had been playing for a while, we decided to do more theatrical work. Evalyn Stanley had been a friend of Lee Schipper, and we got to know her through our jazz connections to Lee. After we saw her in a University production of Boris Vian’s “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Empire_Builders.html?id=SEtRAQAAIAAJ" target="_blank">The Empire Builders</a>," we invited her to join the group. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Evalyn was an undergrad in Dramatic Arts at UCB and member of <a href="http://magictheatre.org/" target="_blank">the Magic Theatre</a>, a young theater group in the East Bay. The Magic Theatre (MT) is now a well-known mainstay in the San Francisco theater scene, but at that time was in its infancy. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Our first collaboration with the Magic Theatre was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubu_Roi" target="_blank">“Ubu Roi” by Alfred Jarry</a>, directed by John Lion. Later on, in addition to Evalyn, we also collaborated with other actors from the Magic Theatre. When we began collaborating with the MT, the troupe had already mounted several controversial plays by San Francisco beat poet Michael McClure. We performed in McClure's play “The Cherub,” and also accompanied dramatic readings of selections from his “Meat Poems.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">At some point, Jim Aron had suggested trombonist <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/390701-Johannes-Mager" target="_blank">Johannes Mager</a> as a possible collaborator. Johannes was a very talented improviser at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) whom Jim knew through his brass players' connections, and we invited Johannes to share at least one concert with us.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7249175/9-apr-1969-bie-berkeley-improv/" target="_blank">One article</a> mentions that the group explored "different techniques involving controlled improvisation". <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32814367/17-feb-1969-bie-review/" target="_blank">Another</a> describes "rudimentary outlines, which the players then filled in". Did the Ensemble perform improvisations, scores, or a combination of both?</span></b></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Bob</i>: The only formal score that I recall was the score for my fairly long <i>Improvisation for Electric Guitar</i>, which contained specific timings, rhythms and pitches in addition to graphic notation. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">However, all of us contributed many verbal and/or graphic scores of various types, most of which were really rough "road maps" for controlled improvisation. These scores were mainly used at the beginning of the three-year life of the ensemble, whereas towards the end of that period we tended to perform totally free improvs: completely improvised, with no pre-planning at all. Many of these were also quite long-lasting – often 30 minutes or more. We considered these later lengthy improvisations to have been some our very best work.</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Did the members of the Ensemble view improvisation and composition as different? How so?</span></b></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Bob</i>: I think that improvisation and composition were very much linked with one another for us. Our main focus was chiefly improv itself, and for the most part, written "compositions" were just ways of guiding, or loosely controlling, the experience of improvisation.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">The pieces we did with Evalyn were a possible exception. Since these involved fixed texts and a member who was not a musician, the scores to these were more specific: <i>5 Poems by Stephan Crane</i>, <i>Potpourri</i>, 4<i> Poems by e. e. cummings</i>, and <i>Cantata in a Forgotten Language</i>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Did the Ensemble rehearse? How often? What did you work on during rehearsals?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Bob:</i> Yes, we did rehearse. At one point, we actually lived together for a year in a large rented house in Oakland, and during this time we rehearsed with some regularity, especially when we were preparing for performances with the Magic Theatre.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">After we moved out of the Oakland house, we probably rehearsed less, especially towards the end of the life of the ensemble, when we were mainly performing totally free improvisations. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">When we did rehearse pieces that were pre-planned or that used a "score," I think that rehearsals focused mainly on internalizing the overall formal shape, developing appropriate musical materials, and refining the proportions and timing of sections.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Some of the group's performances were accompaniments to dance, poetry, and theater. Did you view the BIE's activities as specifically musical, or interdisciplinary?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Jim Aron:</i> The BIE was certainly formed specifically as a musical endeavor, but which early on utilized poetry as a component to several of our pieces. This led naturally to our serendipitous involvement with the Magic Theatre. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Bob</i>: I would say that we viewed our activities as chiefly musical, especially when performing as a quartet or a quartet-plus-actress. But for specifically theatrical occasions (like our performances with the Magic Theatre), we wholeheartedly embraced our role as collaborators in a basically interdisciplinary enterprise.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">I've been able to find documentation on about 13 performances, dating from Oct. 1968 until Nov. 1971. Was there a particular moment at which the BIE disbanded?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Bob and Jim Aron:</i> Actually, we played what seemed like innumerable concerts: performances at venues all over the Bay Area, including museums, churches, and college and university campuses; a tour of University of California campuses all over the state, etc.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">All of us were developing other musical and personal interests towards the end of the three-year life of the BIE, and we disbanded – quite amicably I might add – in late December of 1971.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Are there any recordings of the Ensemble? Were any commercially released?<br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Jim Aron</i>: Although we did not commercially release any recordings while the ensemble was active, we have recently produced a two-CD set of recordings spanning nearly the entire life of the ensemble, which we would be happy to provide to you. These recordings include pieces from all of our KPFA recordings as well as excerpts from our Magic Theatre performances and a performance on KGO-TV (ABC). </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Do you still improvise?</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Jim Aron:</i> When the group disbanded in 1971, I continued this type of free improvisation, for a short time, with <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/390701-Johannes-Mager" target="_blank">Johannes Mager</a> and <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/2085531-The-Ghost-Opera" target="_blank">The Ghost Opera</a>, a group originally formed at the SFCM under the guidance of <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/646135-Robert-Moran" target="_blank">Robert Moran</a> amongst others. My musical life for the next twenty-five years moved in quite a different direction, which included theatrical and comedic improvisation but not the free improvisation associated with the BIE.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><i>Bob:</i> Yes, I do, but now in the context of my composing work. When I'm working on a new piece, I often improvise – on guitar, keyboard or computer (usually running Max/MSP) – to focus and develop musical ideas. Improvisation – often computer-assisted – has now become a compositional tool for me! </span></span></div><div style="color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: black; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span face="-webkit-standard">𝄇</span></span></span></div>
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Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-11051389204275782772019-08-01T09:40:00.002-07:002020-08-11T13:27:51.215-07:00Bergstraesser: Playing Free in Nebraska<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here's another post about the scene that orbited around <a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2019/07/randall-snyder-on-lincoln-improvisation.html">Randall Snyder's Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble</a>. Randy was kind enough to share his archival copy of EAR, which contained <i>Playing Free in Nebraska</i>, a first-hand account by Mike Bergstraesser of his work in the region. (Like everything on this blog, I share it for educational and research purposes only.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is from EAR, July/August 1978 (p. 8)</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Playing Free In Nebraska</span></b></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">by Mike Bergstraesser</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is a pleasure to share with you some of the esoteric music currently happening in Nebraska. First, let me give you a brief history of the improvisational and experimental music being performed in the state, particularly in Lincoln.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In September 1974 Randy Snyder, Associate Professor of Composition at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln (UNL), and <a href="https://www.yu.edu/faculty/pages/bartholomew-noyes" target="_blank">Noyes Barthalomew</a> [sic] formed the Lincoln Improvisational Ensemble (LIE). LIE, which is part of the UNL School of Music curriculum, offered less structured formats and more spontaneous improvisation than any previous ensemble.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Over the past four years LIE has consisted of many talented musicians including Paul Bendell on cello, Bill Buntain on trombone, Molly Baldwin on piano, Bob Reigle on tenor sax, and Preston Koch on synthesizer. Several of these members have gone on to organize improvisational ensembles in Oregon, Wisconsin, and Oxford, England.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIZeOkpKpyRX0I1BGPBDN1m1Sz6NNdQGm7ujjtPCXqzcei2oHfT0lew8gQxrFPyJcFMGN07U7Gpd-4zhRSGCZ5IXr8lxLa6TSoH2XqyPbqM8_XNpNbIt-G_stEQ4wUoGw8yKqylx3fM9k/s1600/LIE+EAR+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1019" data-original-width="1600" height="409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIZeOkpKpyRX0I1BGPBDN1m1Sz6NNdQGm7ujjtPCXqzcei2oHfT0lew8gQxrFPyJcFMGN07U7Gpd-4zhRSGCZ5IXr8lxLa6TSoH2XqyPbqM8_XNpNbIt-G_stEQ4wUoGw8yKqylx3fM9k/s640/LIE+EAR+cropped.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble performing in <u>Temporal Matters</u> by Barbara Ball Mason.<br />From left to right: Mike Bergstraesser, Warren Schaffer, Tom Malone, and Randy Snyder</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">About one year ago several members of LIE formed a new improvisation ensemble in Lincoln called SurRealEstate (SRE). SRE was not University-based, allowing exploration outside the school system. Currently both LIE and SRE perform in Lincoln and Omaha, each band sharing several musicians.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">LIE's music runs the gamut from spontaneous improvisation to highly structured formats. LIE has accompanied poetry, plays, and dance. Most of the music and many of the dances, plays, and poems are written by members of the ensemble. LIE has also accompanied several works by a variety of artists outside the group.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">SRE's music is as diverse as LIE's but emphasizes sonic exploration and spontaneity. SRE utilizes extensive percussion, sound-sculpture, and theatrics. SRE performs irregularly in Lincoln and has accompanied several dances by the Circle-Nicely Dance Company. <u><a href="https://www.discogs.com/Bob-Reigle-Bob-Reigle-with-Surrealestate/release/8709359" target="_blank">Surrealestate Live</a></u> is the title of SRE's first record, recorded late in 1977.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The instrumentations for LIE and SRE are very similar, since the groups share several members. All musicians play at least one instrument competently, and many players improvise on several different instruments. A typical piece may include flutes, saxophones, bassoon, brass, piano, synthesizer, tapes, electric guitar, and bass, and an occassional [sic] violin or cello. Percussion racks, toys, vocalizations, and spontaneous poetry round out the basic repertoire.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Multi-media format for Surrealestate and the Circle-Nicely Dance Company</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">An example of a format commonly used in the improvisation ensembles is illustrated. I wrote <u>Proto</u> for SRE and five dancers. The score integrates symbolic and graphic notation which is custom designed for both individual personalities and the group as a whole. Performance space has sometimes been a problem, especially for SRE, which does not have access to space at the University. Currently SRE practices in the homes of its members. LIE performs regularly at Kimball Recital Hall on the UNL campus and has played for several university and community fairs and festivals.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The musicians and composers in both groups finance their endeavors in a number of different ways. Several members are musicians in local commercial rock, jazz, or country bands, some are music students, and others work in a variety of non-musical jobs to support their interests in composition and improvisation.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mike Bergstraesser writes about his work:</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I have been active in LIE and SRE for the past three years and have written and performed about a dozen pieces for these ensembles. The flexibility and enthusiasm of both bands have been very valuable in the realization of my experimental music.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My compositions encompass many different genres including acoustic, electronic, and electronically modified acoustic music. Some examples of my music are:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u>Tree Music</u> (1976) is a multi-media for Tai-Chi dancer, flute, piano, gong, cello, and photo-electric mixer. This piece integrates several ideas I have been working on including perspective, information theory, aleatoric notation, and gestalting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The score consists of four different deciduous trees, one for each instrument. On the trunk and limbs of the trees I drew staves and on these staves I wrote the music which was a combination of very specific pitches and durations as well as aleatoric notations. The scores are laid on their sides when performed and the various angles of the staves in the limbs of the trees force the musicians to twist and contort, resembling real tree limbs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A Tai-Chi dancer performs simultaneously with the music and when his shadow interrupts the photocell mixer, the instruments that are sounding at the time are amplified through the house P.A. system, dramatically projecting the sounds to the audience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u>You've Got A Lot Of Nerve</u> (1977) is a multi-media biofeedback composition for solo biofeedback performer, physician, electronic tape, and slides. This has been my most ambitious electronic composition and the only biofeedback piece performed in Nebraska. This piece consists of five movements, each combining different bio-potentials, different electronic textures, and different lighting and visual effects. An electronic program tape paces the performance and provides a central nervous system cleanse between each of the five movements.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So far in 1978 I have co-composed and performed the music for an originally choreographed dance entitled <u>Temporal Matters</u> by Barbara Ball Mason. This dance incorporates acoustic, synthesized, and tape music and was written and performed by LIE members Randy Snyder, Warren Schaffer, Tom Malone, and myself (see photo). This has been the most performed piece in the history of LIE and probably one of its most successful. </span>𝄇<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>-BONUS -</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I also located a short promotional article about Bergstraesser, Reigle and Surrealestate. This came from Jazz Echo, a publication of the International Jazz Federation, Inc. (Vol 9, No. 39, January, 1979 - p. 9)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">New music is alive and well in the heartlands of America. Surrealestate is an improvisatory ensemble working out of Lincoln, Nebraska, that was formed about a year and a half ago by tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Bob Reigle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">During the summer of '77, Reigle and several other musicians got together and played regularly, often six days a week. The result of these intensive sessions can be heard on the group's first album "Bob Reigle with Surrealestate," released on their own Aardwood label (available through New Music Distribution Service, 6 W. 95th Street, New York, N.Y. 10025).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Describing the album, Reigle emphasizes, "All of the music was totally improvised--no parameters or structures were discussed before we started playing." The group's flutist, Mike Bergstraesser, explains that the music is "dictated by experience, with minimum control exercised by reason, exempt from moral and aesthetic preoccuptation."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Both Reigle and electric bassist Mike Mansfield studied at the Berklee College of Music. Reigle, Bergstraesser, flutist Tom Malone and French horn player Warren Shaffer all worked together in the Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble before forming Surrealestate. Other members of the group include trumpeter Preston Klik and percussionist Rich Jones, who has a master's degree in composition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Surrealestate has performed at the University of Nebraska, on a local radio station and has also presented several concerts in the Lincoln area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Contact:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Robert F. Reigle</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">7640 Fairax</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Lincoln, NE 68505</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">USA</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: -webkit-standard;">𝄇 </span></span>𝄇Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-54156258940705385172019-07-25T07:06:00.001-07:002020-08-10T10:45:25.752-07:00Randall Snyder on the Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEi0uE90BnrLcYpPVHWWBHRKLijBNPwxCKuX-ITE0kuc-WCKoYmjA_UxYRAPctXis1twaxeAuQyOXlyaCD0NgS8gNitA9L4f4sCNCq4JSzY7_KoMZlKOEULSTCWmSEDQ7miXSLR-WGJfM/s1600/51afa99c67361.image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="389" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEi0uE90BnrLcYpPVHWWBHRKLijBNPwxCKuX-ITE0kuc-WCKoYmjA_UxYRAPctXis1twaxeAuQyOXlyaCD0NgS8gNitA9L4f4sCNCq4JSzY7_KoMZlKOEULSTCWmSEDQ7miXSLR-WGJfM/s200/51afa99c67361.image.jpg" width="135" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Randall Snyder.<br />
Credit: <a href="http://www.dailynebraskan.com/professor-entertains-music-classes/article_0dad0e35-23ac-5b07-bfc3-acf20b0cc7c4.html" target="_blank">Daily Nebraskan</a></td></tr>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I came across Randy Snyder in a rather unusual way. Using my subscription to <a href="http://newspapers.com/">Newspapers.com</a>, I spent much of my spare time in 2016 searching for mentions of phrases like "improvised music", "improvisation ensemble", "ensemble improvisation", "music improvisation", and so forth. This search has, to date, borne much fruit, as longtime readers of this blog will attest.</span></span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px; white-space: pre-wrap;">With the phrase "improvisation ensemble", I struck a vein. In Lincoln, Nebraska, there was for several years a group called the <b>Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble</b>, under the direction of Randall Snyder. A Google search for "Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble" turned up a few curiosities, including an <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Bob-Reigle-Bob-Reigle-with-Surrealestate/release/8709359" target="_blank">LP on Discogs</a>, </span><span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px; white-space: pre-wrap;">the liner notes of which mention the LIE:</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4g0Fq4-d6gsUBO4ovSk4ElGoRzE69YIhNOeGg5J5fDx6M7M9RvugAbRSHMthroBtrShX2dBaqleJt4z_ezj3-c5lTH8neGwoP-4mzzz05_xp7fT8BsLZ9T16pwPP-wtJyU-yeGUg15Hc/s1600/surrealestate.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; white-space: normal;"><img border="0" data-original-height="125" data-original-width="281" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4g0Fq4-d6gsUBO4ovSk4ElGoRzE69YIhNOeGg5J5fDx6M7M9RvugAbRSHMthroBtrShX2dBaqleJt4z_ezj3-c5lTH8neGwoP-4mzzz05_xp7fT8BsLZ9T16pwPP-wtJyU-yeGUg15Hc/s400/surrealestate.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From <i>Bob Reigle with Surrealestate</i><br />
(Aardwoof No. 1)</td></tr>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4g0Fq4-d6gsUBO4ovSk4ElGoRzE69YIhNOeGg5J5fDx6M7M9RvugAbRSHMthroBtrShX2dBaqleJt4z_ezj3-c5lTH8neGwoP-4mzzz05_xp7fT8BsLZ9T16pwPP-wtJyU-yeGUg15Hc/s1600/surrealestate.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Other than this release, very little turned up. I decided to contact Randall and see if he could answer some questions I had about the LIE. He was very gracious with his time, and agreed to the publication of our conversation and some score excerpts.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many of Snyder's scores are available for download here:</span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicsnyder/">http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicsnyder/</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here's a transcript of our conversation in mid-2017:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Can you talk about how the Lincoln Improvisation Ensemble came together?</span></span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RS: I started teaching at the University of Nebraska in 1974, and started the group up the very first semester, that fall. That iteration of the band went for about 3 or 4 years, and then it kind of petered out. Then I started it up a second time, [in the] mid ‘80s. And that had a slightly shorter lifespan, maybe about three years. So there were two groups really, of all different personnel - students.</span></span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you come to be interested in improvisation?</span></span></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RS: My background was as a composer. I’d say for lack of a better description, kind of in the Elliott Carter tradition. And also a jazz musician. I was interested in trying to find an ensemble that could create chromatic improvisation. When I got my DMA at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), I played in an ensemble that was directed by <a href="https://www.music.wisc.edu/faculty/les-thimmig/" target="_blank">Les Thimmig</a>. That was one of the models for the group I wanted to start when I got the teaching position here in Nebraska. That group was a very orthodox group; it did not allow for even modal improvising, and I wanted to make this group slightly less strict, in terms of its aesthetic. So while we had chromatic free improv in the center, we went into lots of different directions, ultimately even getting into multimedia and theatrical pieces, with film, dance; it’s kind of hard to summarize. We did a lot of different kinds of things; it depended on the input of the players, where they wanted to take the group. While I was the director of the group, I wasn’t the leader, in terms of making decisions about repertoire. That was left up to the players. So we had a couple good years. I get it’s kind of hard to characterize it, because it was kind of all over the map.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Can you say more about the place of free improvisation in the LIE?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RS: It was the center of it, really. We used some “formats”; some pieces we would just walk out on stage without any preconceived notion of what was going to happen. Then other pieces had “formats”, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;">which might have pitch classes that were selected ahead of time, or some generalized notions of things. Some of these got to be very elaborate, in terms of graphic notation for example. Some of my students were influenced by Stockhausen with his </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aus_den_sieben_Tagen" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Seven Days in May</a><span style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and modular improv. I think the 80’s group was more prone to using guidelines. I would say in general that group was a little more “conservative”, if I could use that expression. </span><a href="http://www.johnlinkmusic.com/" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">John Link</a><span style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was a member of that group; he’s a composer in New York, and teached at William Paterson. Several players continued in this vein, one was </span><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180806172917/http://acousticlevitation.com/" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">Robert Reigle</a><span style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;">, he had a group called Surrealestate. He’s been teaching in Ankara, Turkey, and he signed this petition against President Erdogan, and he was summarily fired. And he had tenure.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn-0h_sFtP52-zfMdqqWDYPmRyxNrxKee3czdQuOpaFd9Tt2s_Du9ZwBVxtBUa12XobIqPIDn4gGH1j0kOpx9701oeUzNeyhtdeVtWHliKu1IVi5awSHFtGR29XppsIxL5ix8Dt9zYWSc/s1600/Score+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="1046" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn-0h_sFtP52-zfMdqqWDYPmRyxNrxKee3czdQuOpaFd9Tt2s_Du9ZwBVxtBUa12XobIqPIDn4gGH1j0kOpx9701oeUzNeyhtdeVtWHliKu1IVi5awSHFtGR29XppsIxL5ix8Dt9zYWSc/s640/Score+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TIME, SPACE(d), COLOR - A format by Snyder</td></tr>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the purposes of the group was for my composition students to try out ideas. These “formats” a lot of times were like compositional plans. I stressed that a composer, before they start writing a piece, should have an idea of what’s going to happen in the piece; to draw a kind of roadmap, often using pictorial or graphic notation, just to give a sense of the overall disposition of the piece. And these would be brought in separately as these kind of roadmaps. Have you ever heard of the magazine EAR? There was an article called “Playing Free In Nebraska”; one of my students contributed the article. There was a West Coast EAR and an East Coast EAR; this was the West Coast magazine. I imagine that came out in the late 70’s. It was a nice article; it talked about various ensembles in Nebraska that specialized in free playing.</span></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did the LIE make any recordings?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RS: We recorded every concert on reel-to-reel, but [there were no] recordings that were good for public consumption. I guess we felt that was beside the point of the group, to make documents like that. There are recordings available, I think mostly at the archives at the UN Lincoln, and I retired from there about 7 or 8 years ago, so I don’t know what’s going on there now. I doubt that there’s any interest in this sort of thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did you have a hard time getting the LIE accepted as a part of the U-N curriculum?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RS: The chairman was a composer, a very cool guy. He welcomed the idea, which was amazing in retrospect. That was the first group, and after a year or two, we mostly played gigs. It was a gigging band, basically. Then it became part of the curriculum, as an elective ensemble. The players in the 80’s band, they got 1 credit in lieu of having to play in wind ensemble or something. I think the curriculum was revised later, and I don’t know if it’s still there as an option. It may be, I really don’t know. The school has turned in a direction toward more commercial jazz; right when I was leaving, it was heading in that direction, and I wasn’t that interested in that path.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you have any particularly fond memories of the LIE that you’d like to share?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJLV2BiqIiv6IgLkXSAqz6tswAIvbrRB9EssBy8QbIZ3FZ4fdk45yjtGAnnaaAh13dTLOT2lWEP9AmnpipXh3jny5T8D3hxtrqF709flgLEi7Th8MP2ZY7HpknhWA8dNpQYTsxYINbcUU/s1600/Ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; white-space: normal;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="727" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJLV2BiqIiv6IgLkXSAqz6tswAIvbrRB9EssBy8QbIZ3FZ4fdk45yjtGAnnaaAh13dTLOT2lWEP9AmnpipXh3jny5T8D3hxtrqF709flgLEi7Th8MP2ZY7HpknhWA8dNpQYTsxYINbcUU/s320/Ad.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A typical ad for an LIE concert. Several of these can be<br />
found in papers from the period.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RS: I think the first band, it was my first year there, and the players in the band were almost my age, and they were applying using the GI bill. Some of them were Vietnam veterans, some outstanding talented people. That group in particular, we became like a club. It was like a rock band; we would rehearse and go out for drinks afterward. I recall some of the first gigs; we would play anywhere, for free of course. We played one performance at an arts fair, and a couple people complained about the noise. This was an indoor amphitheater, it sat about 2,000 people. They came and told us we had to stop. Some of my students were there, and they complained about this, so they wrote letters to the editor, and it became sort of a <i>cause celebre</i> for a while, it was funny. So there was a debate in these letters, about “What is art?” and all this kind of stuff. (laughs)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What paper were those letters to the editor in?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RS: Well there were two papers back then, there’s only one now. Either the Lincoln Journal, or the Lincoln Star. And now there’s just the one paper, called the Lincoln Journal Star. I recall there was a columnist who interviewed me about this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These were students who were taking my History of Jazz class, they weren’t music majors; it’s not like our own people were sending in these letters. They just came to hear the band, and we were told within three minutes that we had to stop playing. It was astonishing, the anger that we aroused, which I suppose is one of the traditional roles of music. We weren’t that loud! We started out as primarily an acoustic band, but we used analog synthesizers. Near the end, we were keeping up with the changes in the technology.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of my students was a medical student, and he created a biofeedback piece. And I was the subject: I was wired up, I wandered out on stage looking like Frankenstein. The galvanic skin response, I remember: when I started sweating, that would cause a signal to change. [Changes in] the heartbeat was monitored, and that would cause something in the electronics to reflect that. He said that, because there was some danger of a loop effect happening, that there had to be a doctor there, in case I fell upon some hard times! So one of his teachers was there, just to make sure that things didn’t get out of hand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did the LIE begin as a class, or was it an extracurricular group?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RS: We rehearsed at the school, but it wasn’t a class. I wanted to get to know the students better; we were out drinking one night, and over a beer we thought it would be fun to go in this direction. Some of the players envied jazz musicians. They couldn’t play jazz; at least, they couldn’t play bebop. They wondered if there was another way that they could experience playing improvised music, but not under even the strictures of avant-garde jazz of the ‘60s. So I’d say that, with one or two exceptions (we had about 10 people as a core group), most of them did not have jazz chops. So this was kind of an alternative way for them to experience playing non-written music.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDIE-THWPqrSbQFCk4BVby2-Auub2eAFzwwyVS6MA4oYB8jwMVyW4wjp2BaHXCv7Gneh-lKonhsDA7xUqLubdl4ZIPJ86_lQ6m7TqcoSu1fdywuIvc-tvK7YIpXC26haOTk24ViSRPHoc/s1600/1986+-+Program+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="848" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDIE-THWPqrSbQFCk4BVby2-Auub2eAFzwwyVS6MA4oYB8jwMVyW4wjp2BaHXCv7Gneh-lKonhsDA7xUqLubdl4ZIPJ86_lQ6m7TqcoSu1fdywuIvc-tvK7YIpXC26haOTk24ViSRPHoc/s640/1986+-+Program+copy.jpg" width="499" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Program notes from a concert on 22 April, 1986</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When did the LIE begin to "peter out"?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RS: It was about the end of the decade, I’d say. We started in ‘74, we kind of reached a peak in ‘76, in terms of frequency of performances, and the excitement of the group. And then players left; I recruited some new players, but it kind of died a natural death, by the end of the 70’s. ‘79 if you want to put a year on it. Then it started up again: I had a new crop of people, and they had heard about [the earlier group], and wondered if we could reconstitute it. I started by using some of the more successful written formats as starting points. In that group, I think I was really more the “leader” than I was in the first group: I was older, they hadn’t had quite the richness of experience that the players of the first group had.</span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’d say we had maybe 2, 3 good years. It didn’t last quite as long as the first group. And then there was talk of starting it up again, but I was in a different direction in the 90’s musically, so I wasn’t personally quite as interested as I had been in the past. </span></span></span>𝄇</div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-fde376e3-7fff-9b32-2e21-5f82428b530f"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></span>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-78030966247275396772019-02-10T19:33:00.015-08:002023-02-28T09:20:08.421-08:00The Toronto New Music Ensemble // New Music by Doug Pringle<div><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Update (March 24 2022)</i> - For more details, see David Lee's 2017 thesis <a href="https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10214/10930/Lee_David_201706_PhD.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y" target="_blank">Outside the Empire: Improvised Music in Toronto 1960-1985</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Back in November 2018 I was alerted to an eBay item which included the text "new music ensemble". This one was a new one for me though, based in Toronto. The cover was striking:</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6ft9RY7cmhYaH0agka0lNrOV5z8oQvzC9Neyw0RmtHBFqbL-FjS2UQypfFuSx_XZDgT5W7dshiE3JtlAuvqfodgWSmcLSckUKO2JssdPEMNea07BS1qcbsleNnY_4UPD6q8Q5qTqq1w/s1600/R-12767557-1541548433-7561.jpeg.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="599" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6ft9RY7cmhYaH0agka0lNrOV5z8oQvzC9Neyw0RmtHBFqbL-FjS2UQypfFuSx_XZDgT5W7dshiE3JtlAuvqfodgWSmcLSckUKO2JssdPEMNea07BS1qcbsleNnY_4UPD6q8Q5qTqq1w/s320/R-12767557-1541548433-7561.jpeg.jpg" width="316" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span>More images at <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Toronto-New-Music-Ensemble-Volume-One-27-29-12-66/release/12767557">discogs.com</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The record names only two performers: Ron Sullivan and James Falconbridge. With this information, </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I went on a deep dive to see what I could find out. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A Google search for the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"toronto new music ensemble" sullivan falconbridge</i></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> yields the following results (</span>Repeat the search and to see one additional result)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Notice the final link: Full text of "The Varsity, September 19, 1966 - March 17, 1967". I went searching through this raw data and found one historical document, which I want to share with you all. Its formatting is all jumbled up, so I'm mirroring it here. I think you'll find Doug Pringle's description of "New Music" vivid and inspiring.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>
New Music</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">By DOUG PRINGLE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• New Music moves toward the ectsatic state.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• Things and people bathed by the music are beautiful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• New Music moves the listener by physical force; it is an attempt to communicate by setting mind and body in vibration together, unseparate; an act of force, but not of violence, of love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• The understanding reached is not intellectual, and not emotional, in the sense that we understand these modes in art. Its significance is spiritual, it moves the mind and body together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-AWUA4NW7eSP7WuhzbChlbVkjwiKVVfZaMypRPr6j7_FenSEbNmeWT1Kgzthgnbrpgh0pkunmGv5flGWuCQAnFLl7tjt7-QsKXzCy9jK92Ffj-SfdLBE5by_kv9G_Ma997lQvjJHbDzE/s1600/3066635-2dc8ae6762c9133e5a76c83a7505a71c9fe5dd2d-s800-c85.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="800" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-AWUA4NW7eSP7WuhzbChlbVkjwiKVVfZaMypRPr6j7_FenSEbNmeWT1Kgzthgnbrpgh0pkunmGv5flGWuCQAnFLl7tjt7-QsKXzCy9jK92Ffj-SfdLBE5by_kv9G_Ma997lQvjJHbDzE/s200/3066635-2dc8ae6762c9133e5a76c83a7505a71c9fe5dd2d-s800-c85.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span>John Cage <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2012/09/05/160339846/silence-and-sound-five-ways-of-understanding-john-cage">in 1966</a>.</span><br />
<span>Photo: Victor Drees / Getty</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">• <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">New Music is pure music, in the same sense that new painting is pure plastic expression: the material and formal properties of the medium which determine the expressiveness of a piece of art have consistently been disregarded in the past in favor of the literal subject matter, which is much more easily verbalized because it is drawn from literary sources. As color and composition are the base elements in visual expression, melody (in the broad sense as a linear arrangement of sounds) and texture make the sense in music. (Cage's disparagement of the tradition of harmonic structure in Western classical music from Beethoven to Schoenberg as a denial of the essence of world music, melody, is interesting in the context of this polyphonic improvised music.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYnNDFSyC1p_Cztx3FVqhAbktMr-jw9-GUTJ-tmi635vAoUZ33qmPKH8y6SLpfEsSfYAnTUUS40vihaaFm9rGNNd9KQen8IghyrtQwCt6KholBTn7SAlKeQ30WFL4Zf5zaeskYu5uSxDs/s1600/3125.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="342" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYnNDFSyC1p_Cztx3FVqhAbktMr-jw9-GUTJ-tmi635vAoUZ33qmPKH8y6SLpfEsSfYAnTUUS40vihaaFm9rGNNd9KQen8IghyrtQwCt6KholBTn7SAlKeQ30WFL4Zf5zaeskYu5uSxDs/s200/3125.jpg" width="132" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span>Miles Davis <a href="https://www.wallofsoundgallery.com/en/miles-davis-by-joe-alper-miles-davis-C-newport-jazz-festival-C-.-i3125#">in 1966 at Newport</a>.</span><br />
<span>Photo: Joe Alper</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• The best jazz in the past has attained the same kind of spiritual feeling beyond the normal emotional range, in the same way that most great painting in the past has been expressive in pure plastic terms. The development of painting in this century ha been rooted in self-criticism, which has led to art which is fully conscious of its elements. Similarly, self-criticism in improvised music ha led to its refinment and increase in expressive scope through the recognition of its essential strengths.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">• <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Miles Davis synthesizes; new musicians realize.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• The point is not getting hot, or getting excited; these assessments of behaviour are part of a scale of values which are inapplicable to the music and its state of mind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• The music seems frenetic and harsh, yet the sense of the music is cool; it is an attempt to open up the mind so that stimuli are freely exchanged. The accelerated tempo is an effort on the part of the musician to match musical realization to the rate of conception; thus conscious with-holding of ideas is to a large degree eliminated, and the music is a measure of the mind. Criticism must follow the performance, and discipline and self-knowledge must precede.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• The synchronization of conception and expression makes the music a form of <a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2011/07/free-improvisation-part-four-group.html">automatism</a>; many analogies are to be made with abstract expressionism and De Kooning and Pollock's working methods, although the painter remains a solitary figure in a way that is undesirable for the musican who feels the common mind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsOvlQQazVNEpqacQEOyfsPQRjAdTW31q86CNS3rc9MvSSnKQGWsGUOyWjv6rQ90mwUntb5HLVuDMKAAlPCYM05XMKcGXyr3BD2qFSaqm7BPQIKNM9kEhLMzsVm1zJvXLzCr-3VDTLGnY/s1600/Albert-Ayler.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="810" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsOvlQQazVNEpqacQEOyfsPQRjAdTW31q86CNS3rc9MvSSnKQGWsGUOyWjv6rQ90mwUntb5HLVuDMKAAlPCYM05XMKcGXyr3BD2qFSaqm7BPQIKNM9kEhLMzsVm1zJvXLzCr-3VDTLGnY/s320/Albert-Ayler.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span>Albert Ayler, 1966. Photo: Jan Persson</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• Albert Ayler; "You have to really play your instrument to escape from notes to sounds".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• The form of the performed music is strong, and improvised passages often sound like composed music, when sympathies are strong. Sound relationships are deduced and intuited. Recordings change the involvement of minds entirely, but lead to understanding in a different way, as cross-sections of a continuous thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• New Music is not sexy, in the sense that it imitates sex; musical expression is another aspect of the erotic impulse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• New music is not a calculated experience; it is a simultaneous knowing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• Getting out of your mind is not out of the question.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">• Playing new music is like singing until your lungs ache.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The author is a member of the <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Toronto-New-Music-Ensemble-Volume-One-27-29-12-66/release/12767557">Toronto New Music ensemble</a> which played four engagements at the <a href="http://torontoplaques.com/Pages/Penny_Farthing.html">Penny Farthing</a> in the past month under the leadership of <a href="https://www.jackshainman.com/artists/michael-snow/">Michael Snow</a>. The band consisted of Snow (trumpet), Harvey Brodhecker (trombone), Jim Falconbridge (soprano sax), Stu Broomer (bass), Ron Sullivan (drums), and the author on alto sax. The New Music is a New York-based development of the jazz tradition. Further engagements are planned, including campus concerts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><i><a href="https://archive.org/stream/thevarsity86/thevarsity86_djvu.txt">The Varsity, Sept 30 1966 (p. 4 and 5)</a></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"> To the sponsors of Perception '67 at UC a word of warning: refrain from linking the projected 'new music' concert with 'jazz'. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Broomer" target="_blank">Stu Broomer</a> should have made this clear by billing his group as The Stu Broomer Kinetic Ensemble, with an emphasis on the word 'kinetic'. I have searched all over for an English translation of that particular title, but the best I came up with is this: "Those Of Us Who Play (Hung-Up) Musical Instruments And Make Noise According To The Principles Of Hypersensitivastronuclearsolarplexusphysica". In other words WATCH OUT! I talked to composer-arranger Broomer last night, and he has tentatively arranged to perform an original composition called 'Holy Communion'.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://archive.org/stream/thevarsity86/thevarsity86_djvu.txt">The Varsity Review, Jan 20 1967 (p 2)</a></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">𝄇</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-size: large;">Further Reading:</span></u></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
<i><span>- A touching example of how the music and the Internet can bring people (back) together:</span></i><br /><br /><strike>https://cleanfeed-records.com/all-about-jazz-review-by-stuart-broomer-2/</strike></span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><strike><br /></strike></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">[Feb 2023] The link above now redirects to a phishing website. Unfortunately the comments section was not preserved in the Internet Archive.<br />
<span><br /></span><i><span>- "Jim Falconbridge" turns up on a Dixieland revival disc in 1964:</span></i><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060427013520/http://www.new-orleans-delight.dk/Cliff%20Bastien%20Recordings.html">http://www.new-orleans-delight.dk/Cliff%20Bastien%20Recordings.html</a></span><br /></span>
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</div>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-40807634613767267072018-12-17T09:49:00.003-08:002022-02-28T15:26:11.969-08:00Don Ellis Updates<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7sKpJZGUubYNmru4QwmxNtbfUXEORgEJvUTknNxuMHdMjw4iajs6pzP7YWzGor9w6WOSHip7ziGbogSl7rsSocmFcdmTovayIiB66rfQBqDI2XVkbTGixDnaamy_dGpyrMikyWz2ZjDU/s1600/don-ellis-albums.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="560" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7sKpJZGUubYNmru4QwmxNtbfUXEORgEJvUTknNxuMHdMjw4iajs6pzP7YWzGor9w6WOSHip7ziGbogSl7rsSocmFcdmTovayIiB66rfQBqDI2XVkbTGixDnaamy_dGpyrMikyWz2ZjDU/s320/don-ellis-albums.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<u>Updated July 2020</u><br />
<br />
My earliest online project was the <a href="http://www.mattendahl.com/donellis/archive.html" target="_blank">Don Ellis Web Archive</a>, which I began in about 2000 or 2001, and last updated in about 2011. Don Ellis's music captured my imagination for many years, and while there's still a great deal to love about his music, I've been overtaken by other musical interests. But that hasn't stopped me from the occasional Google, JSTOR, and newspapers.com search for more information. And on the 40th anniversary of Don's passing, I thought it was fitting to make a post about him.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>Don Ellis' first album as a leader was 1960's "...How Time Passes..." with Charlie Persip, Jaki Byard and Ron Carter. But he actually recorded one prior to this, for the record label Enrica. There was an entry for this on Gord McGonigal's <a href="http://www.handofgord.com/donellis/" target="_blank">Don Ellis Info Sheet</a> as far back as 2001, and more information was found on the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20141123214155/https://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/archive/collections/2000_02/ellis7in/" target="_blank">UCLA Don Ellis Collection</a> holdings page (scroll down to "Enrica Date").<br />
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The album is listed in Lord's Discography [E2449-16]:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnHYetW-rGK-C4yTJ8GuvWYv9Vg_aSOJnKdteRcipfGRtzeaLOVp4btXWWETSsFhL8M9ahhgG2DNWFXEiV0Ykd_cqZyxIwHWtw-RK7AchsGwFpOqDGIKv9G6-gIPbEU2G_4meAVE_hSjU/s1600/EllisLords.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="1441" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnHYetW-rGK-C4yTJ8GuvWYv9Vg_aSOJnKdteRcipfGRtzeaLOVp4btXWWETSsFhL8M9ahhgG2DNWFXEiV0Ykd_cqZyxIwHWtw-RK7AchsGwFpOqDGIKv9G6-gIPbEU2G_4meAVE_hSjU/s640/EllisLords.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The <u>Note</u>: is lifted directly from my <a href="http://www.mattendahl.com/donellis/sessions/020060.html" target="_blank">Don Ellis Sessionography</a>:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRAzgpR1u5_VYTfZv7V8SmWQBHjVwrZK0w5Hh0nWy_TXpcunKFvejLqQe7-X1571YgkLVUzbQfyUik7cFTPHIUXuuQTDw7EkFITnFtW8h3JouJskZi8Gd7-V6s1Schd3qB6m8gN6_el9w/s1600/Don+Ellis+Lord%2527s.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="163" data-original-width="945" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRAzgpR1u5_VYTfZv7V8SmWQBHjVwrZK0w5Hh0nWy_TXpcunKFvejLqQe7-X1571YgkLVUzbQfyUik7cFTPHIUXuuQTDw7EkFITnFtW8h3JouJskZi8Gd7-V6s1Schd3qB6m8gN6_el9w/s640/Don+Ellis+Lord%2527s.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I had to reformat this a bit so it wouldn't break Blogger. I wrote these words in 2005, and would have chosen them a bit more carefully if I had known that I was contributing to a major jazz discography.<br />
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Anyway, the reason for this post is that I wanted to share some corroboration that I recently came across. In the 22 February 1960 edition of The Billboard (p. 26), we find that "Teddy McRae of Enrica and Rae-Cox Records, has signed trumpet player Don Ellis for an Enrica album":<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTQL1VHq5n6QFhm0Ww0oaANtneueCP-960ZGudhyBoRvX-5lW1Wi0zzh14aQLSAxAqV_KtgT3dSqneKLE1bcg2C5R0rdchxmjXoVCwGaX8ysagdlfMdCUbchIHwia0SIu7GBij8kQ32xI/s1600/enrica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="135" data-original-width="644" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTQL1VHq5n6QFhm0Ww0oaANtneueCP-960ZGudhyBoRvX-5lW1Wi0zzh14aQLSAxAqV_KtgT3dSqneKLE1bcg2C5R0rdchxmjXoVCwGaX8ysagdlfMdCUbchIHwia0SIu7GBij8kQ32xI/s1600/enrica.jpg" /></a><br />
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So while the recording itself is still in hibernation, here at least is independent verification that Ellis was known by the music industry press to have signed a contract with Enrica. The Discogs page shows Enrica LP's <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Linton-Garner-Garner-Plays-Garner/release/6291060" target="_blank">2001</a> and <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Bennie-Green-Bennie-Green-Swings-The-Blues/release/4070323" target="_blank">2002</a>, and a number of singles. Of course it would be cool to hear the record after all these years, but the backstory would be interesting to know as well.<br />
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<b>Bonus</b>: I just found this concert by the Hindustani Jazz Sextet. I had an <a href="http://www.mattendahl.com/donellis/sessions/032466.html" target="_blank">entry for this show</a> years ago, but didn't know anything about it. It was recorded March 24 1966, just 6 months before the Don Ellis Orchestra's break-out performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Steve Bohannon, probably my favorite member of the early Ellis groups, can be heard in great form.<br />
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<a href="https://californiarevealed.org/islandora/object/cavpp%3A22016">https://californiarevealed.org/islandora/object/cavpp%3A22016</a><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">𝄇</span>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-72441977115240314972018-10-16T11:28:00.004-07:002021-04-04T18:01:33.758-07:00Herbie Nichols' "The Jazz Life" - Part 2<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Part Two (articles 4-7)</span><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b><a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2018/05/herbie-nichols-jazz-life-part-1.html">Part One</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2021/04/herbie-nichols-jazz-life-part-3.html" style="text-align: left;">Part Three</a></div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">THE JAZZ LIFE</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
by Herbert H. Nichols</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The New York Age</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7218820/16-aug-1941-herbie-nichols/" target="_blank">Saturday August 16, 1941</a> (p. 10)</b><br />
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It is very seldom that a musical giant flashes across the horizon to have his contemporaries and followers acclaim him the way the classic jazz pianist Art Tatum has done. And it is once in a lifetime that one may be privileged to listen to a pianist who has a phenomenal technique coupled with an inexhaustible fund of musical ideas such as he has. This is a combination that can't be beat.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q0QD558TWSQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="q0QD558TWSQ"></iframe></div><br />
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Art Tatum is now appearing at downtown Cafe Society as a solo act. He is known mostly to the cafe crowds not having played any of the bigger theatres to date. However, his public following is constantly growing, via his Decca recordings.<br />
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In Oscar Levant's book, "<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/smattering-of-ignorance/oclc/384552" target="_blank">A Smattering of Ignorance,</a>" the story is told of some in the exclusive parties Art Tatum has played for. Levant says that the great George Gershwin once listened enthralled while Tatum took twenty different choruses with endless variations on "Liza" and "I Got Rhythm," two of his (Gershwin's own) compositions.<br />
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Leopold Godowsky was also an interested listener to this musical feat. And then Levant goes on to relate how some of his guests began to tire of this music after listening to it for an hour and a half. Chopin, famous pianist and composer, was wont to improvise for great lengths of time. My guess is that anyone who could tire of Tatum's music after listening to it for an hour and a half would in all probability tire of Chopin's music after listening to it for a similar length of time.<br />
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The piano is a musical palette to Art Tatum and he is able to paint any musical thought that comes to mind. Listen to his recording of "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbYG5_jhOQY" target="_blank">Humoresque</a>" and "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lPPy9P8SlE" target="_blank">Indiana</a>." For sheer coloring and novelty they remain musical gems. For technique listen to "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCCq7JmbtCo" target="_blank">Tiger Rag</a>" and "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_lCL04CT_Q" target="_blank">Elegie</a>." If you want to hear him play in the blues style, lend an ear to "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMpUpXUda1Q" target="_blank">St. Louis Blues</a>," this last number done in conjunction with Kansas City Joe Turner, shouting blues stylist. He tackles a Spanish rhythm on "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW29vKxd1bo" target="_blank">Begin The Beguine</a>." And then if you want to hear some solid jazz to top it all, listen to "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obH3lSRuYKw" target="_blank">Rosetta</a>," "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kMEPYU1Xwg" target="_blank">Tea for Two</a>," "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5HiMBzb-6o" target="_blank">I've Got Your Love to Keep Me Warm</a>" or dozens others.<br />
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Barry Ulanov, in an article in the Swing Magazine, Metronome, quoted Art Tatum as saying that among classical pianists one of his favorites was Vladimir Horowitz. Surely, he follows classical music closely. He will take a number like "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEu_iRg8GWg" target="_blank">Chloe</a>" or "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atKxDEVrPGM" target="_blank">Deep Purple</a>" and after adding his own embellishments and harmonies to it, the whole thing begins to sound more like a Chopin etude than the mere hack tune that it is.<br />
<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZf1nAh9A2F0qknMui2wfLzs5NLb2tZyvTyEibucegCHn1Z-FHCW-Zc2uEiROXsGh2Iz6pFn3tGJoPveMixt-aOT5s5WF76PZaITo3oudItWY2A6OBRDDAfftCo9O7f1tk7ymSYje7lP4/s866/Adelaide_Hall_ca_1920.jpg" style="clear: right; display: block; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="625" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZf1nAh9A2F0qknMui2wfLzs5NLb2tZyvTyEibucegCHn1Z-FHCW-Zc2uEiROXsGh2Iz6pFn3tGJoPveMixt-aOT5s5WF76PZaITo3oudItWY2A6OBRDDAfftCo9O7f1tk7ymSYje7lP4/w154-h211/Adelaide_Hall_ca_1920.jpg" width="154" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Adelaide Hall. Photo credit: <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hall-adelaide-1901-1993/" target="_blank">Black Past</a></i><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table>
Art Tatum has long been the man of mystery in jazz. Long before he became well known in the East, his name was legendary to musicians. He first came to New York in 1931, as accompanist to Adelaide Hall, returning to points west about 1934. Prior to this period he toured Chicago, Los Angeles and other mid-western and West Coast cities with his own band. He returned to the East Coast in 1935 as a solo act.</div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>
<br /><div style="text-align: left;">In 1938 Tatum traveled to London where he played at Ciro's and other spots, also broadcasting over the British networks. Soon after he returned to the States to appear at the Famous Door, 52nd street night club. He has now been a featured attraction at Downtown Cafe Society since October, 1940.</div>
<br /><div style="text-align: left;">Tatum's hometown is Toledo, O. Contrary to popular belief, he is not blind and is able to see quite well out of his good right eye. He is a man of medium height and build and moves about in a deliberate manner, which undoubtedly is due to the aforementioned handicap. You will always see him accompanied by his good friend Mr. Hicks.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">How to acquire and maintain a surefire technique such as his is a question that always bobs up whenever he is talked about. Many persons I know will refuse to discuss the subject - as if such a discussion belongs only to leads* beyond the veil. In any case, his music can be enjoyed and if there are any questions arising from it the one to see is Art Tatum himself, twentieth century wizard of the ivories.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">* I'm not sure about this word, since the source material is damaged at this point in the article.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">THE JAZZ LIFE</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
by Herbert H. Nichols</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The New York Age</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7218990/23-aug-1941-herbie-nichols/" target="_blank">Saturday August 23, 1941</a> (p. 10)</b><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Of all the ways for a young Negro to get a financial foothold in life, the jazz racket is easiest. All that is needed is a little common sense and a desire to get ahead. Make one mistake and then make the same mistake no longer.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
It's important that one be able to mix in society. Gin mills, theatres, rehearsals and parties are the order of the day. It is to the advantage of the entertainer to become a master of small talk and to acquire his own line of jive for he will soon learn that most of his time will be taken up doing just that.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
If you keep a good front and remain hard on the inside you're definitely suited for what lies ahead. The jazz racket is pretty good to colored musicians. With a commensurate amount of learning in some other field they would probably remain broke and out of a job for indefinite periods. But fortunately for him in this instance, while America continues to look to him for a highly touted form of primitive entertainment that can't be had elsewhere. Colored entertainers should take advantage of this situation.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Colored bands have got to keep traveling in order to make money. They are unable to to get sufficient commercial and location spots in order to remain stationary and so must keep on the move. Playing the road is more tiresome than working a location spot any day. There are a million more headaches, anyway.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Playing the smaller towns is much different from playing the bigger urban centers. A lot of the plush and streamlined comfort found in the big cities is missing in the smaller tank towns. In some sections a band may have to change its style definitely in order to satisfy the patrons. Country people take it for granted that the big bands rolling through their burgh always have plenty of money to spend and they don't think it all irregular to jack up some of their prices around town.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
After a long tour the average musician looks forward to the vaudeville dates in the large metropolitan theatres of the country. This is where the big money is made. During this period they play three to six shows a day and may be compelled to get in a good deal of rehearsing, meanwhile. That is work calling for a twenty-four hour schedule.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
When a big band appears on the stage togged in multi-colored monkey jackets and taped trousers and playing a fine arrangement, your first impression is that everything has been rehearsed well and that all is quiet backstage. However, there are many other problems that must be worried about. All sorts of acts are jumbled together on these bills, and if the house manager chooses his acts unwisely, the featured band may suffer.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
A controversy that has been raging for years from coast to coast is the question of the colored musician's tone. Some fellows claim that they haven't any tone and that is the reason why they miss out on hotel jobs and commercials; and that if they acquire a good tone such lucrative jobs will be forthcoming. It is true that the acquisition of a good tone on a wind instrument calls for the proper kind of study for a sufficient length of time. It is also true that many of our musicians are lacking in this respect. However, I don't think it has much to do with the present difficulties facing him.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The jazz life is ninety percent sham and front. There is always a quick turnover - in money and in personnel. The trouble is that most of us consider it an end in itself when it should be regarded as merely a means to an end.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">THE JAZZ LIFE</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
by Herbert H. Nichols</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The New York Age</i></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7219227/30-aug-1941-herbie-nichols/" target="_blank">Saturday August 30, 1941</a> (p. 10)</b><br />
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The very interesting drama of small-time club life that goes on in Harlem year in year out, supplying happiness and succor for a hard working and hard living people.</div>
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These include many hundred musicians who depend on club dates (gigs, one-night stand of what have you) for the chief source of their livelihood. Managing the Savoy Ballroom or Renaissance Casino is very big business compared to running one of these small clubs.</div>
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At most of these small affairs the entertainment will follow a set pattern. This includes the free flow of all kinds of alcoholic beverages that must be bought on the outside. It's an old story that many clubs in the past have been shuttered on account of some enterprising and unsuspecting waiter trying to sell the wrong party the wrong kind of a drink.</div>
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As I said before, the entertainment usually follows a set pattern and oftimes is spontaneous. Take the case of Rudy and his dancing partner, erstwhile troupers. The average club member and musician may recall the many times that the Shiek, as he is sometimes called, has made a pompous entrance into a dance hall, replete with cane, gloves and derby and the times when just as he was about to begin his dance (I say his dance because the specialty he performs, defies copying) the way he would solemnly doff his gloves. And then just as he was about to enter upon the dance floor, he would in all seriousness endeavor to rub off any extraneous increment from the soles of his shoes by working his two feet up and down in the manner of a prize fighter trying to get a foothold in a sea of resin. Rudy, his side-burns, attire, dancing partner and ballroom routine are all out of a bygone era and will surely be missed as time passes by.</div>
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The seasonal traits in this business remains fixed - a tough scuffle ensues during the winter months followed by a complete slow-down in the late spring and summer. Clubs may rent any of the smaller halls for a very small sum, with an additional fee for use of the bar where soft drinks are sold. The check rooms are where the profits are made and these are sold to a concessionaire by the owner.</div>
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The bloodhounds of the music game, who are the union delegates, perform their thankless tasks in as unobtrusive a manner as they know how. They cover all these affairs to see that only Local 802 men are on the job and also to remind the boys of the tax which must be paid into the union, a matter of 3 cents on every dollar earned.</div>
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In the summer time some of these delegates police the excursion steamers to prevent any union men from playing on unreported jobs. Many times they will meet a boat before it leaves the pier and return to meet it when it docks at night. At times the situations resulting from this "cops and robbers" game become ludicrous.</div>
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Whenever a lodge or fraternal order gives a dance, there is always a greater showing of camaraderie among the crowd. The grand march always climaxes the night's entertainment. During the time the introduction of the officers and members of a club is taking place, the audience is always noisy, making a difficult job for the emcee. When these halls finally acquire mikes, I believe the evening's proceedings will be more business like, but a lot of fun will be missing just the same.</div>
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In most lodge affairs, there is less restraint in their efforts to have fun, and I think they justify the existence of the small clubs. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face=""open sans", "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""open sans", "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">𝄇</span></div>
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Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-81787143078084721332018-05-09T09:26:00.008-07:002022-03-05T08:02:30.109-08:00Herbie Nichols' "The Jazz Life" - Part 1<span><div><i>Quick links to:</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2018/10/herbie-nichols-jazz-life-part-2.html"><i>Part Two</i></a></div><div><span><a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2021/04/herbie-nichols-jazz-life-part-3.html"><i>Part Three</i></a></span></div><div style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaIYKy55adSvIMKM0F3hZEuhWV3brcYWvC6lgbY4IzzviIezwSObPkZdVp1o4PC94fGgYBVvh6ggbcnUi9VqwlQ5kLxu2uhxvX_iwb6R__0EPsQqy57U6Dr8Z3SB70-lERRHZ4EtxCzs8/s1600/Herbie+Nichols+-+5-6-55+prophetic+sessions+1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="835" data-original-width="995" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaIYKy55adSvIMKM0F3hZEuhWV3brcYWvC6lgbY4IzzviIezwSObPkZdVp1o4PC94fGgYBVvh6ggbcnUi9VqwlQ5kLxu2uhxvX_iwb6R__0EPsQqy57U6Dr8Z3SB70-lERRHZ4EtxCzs8/s320/Herbie+Nichols+-+5-6-55+prophetic+sessions+1.jpg" width="320" /></a>[Minor updates made 16 Oct 2018]</div></span>
<br />Although practically ignored during his lifetime, Herbie Nichols is now widely regarded as an innovative and original composer, with a style reminiscent of Thelonious Monk or Andrew Hill. Nichols was famously profiled in <div style="display: inline;"><i style="font-style: italic;">Black Music: Four Lives</i> (later reprinted as Four Lives in the Bebop Business) by A. B. Spellman, who gave extensive and valuable biographical info. He hinted at Nichols's literary inclinations, mentioning that he began writing poetry in the 40's. (p. 158, 1994 edition)</div><div><br />
In addition, Nichols contributed at least 7 articles to the legendary Black newspaper <i>The New York Age</i> in 1941. These articles were titled "The Jazz Life"; the first four are published below. The rest of them will follow in another post. They provide a fascinating glimpse into New York show business, and especially the Black experience in this business, during the mid-late swing era. Nichols, born in 1919, was 22 years old when these articles were published.<br />
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The <i>New York Age</i> ceased publication in 1960, three years before Nichols passed away.<br />
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Disclaimer: I am not aware of whether Herbie Nichols' intellectual property is currently being managed by an estate or any legal entity. By publishing them here, I do so for educational purposes only. I am not claiming ownership of, and am not making any money from, his writings. If you have a legal claim to these writings and would like them removed from this blog, please let me know and I will oblige.<br />
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For further reading, check out Ethan Iverson's blog, which features an <a href="https://ethaniverson.com/2017/11/07/herbie-nichols-on-thelonious-monk/" target="_blank">article of Nichols's</a> from 1946 in <i>Rhythm.</i><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">THE JAZZ LIFE</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
by Herbert H. Nichols</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The New York Age</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7218399/5-jul-1941-the-jazz-life/" target="_blank">Saturday July 5, 1941</a> (p. 10)</b></div>
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The average person goes to the dance hall, cabaret, musical revue or party for a good time and returns home exhausted. The musician is the composed person you meet on arriving and the composed one you leave when you make your departure. Aside from playing the part of the capable entertainer his appearance must remain impeccable and he too, must at all times appear to be enjoying himself. (His real attitude toward any proceeding, of course, is seldom made known to the public.)<br />
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Jazz, (or swing music,) is the prevalent type of music dispensed for dancing in the United States today. Few of us know how it evolved to its present state. One thing that is quite certain - and unfortunately so for the colored musician - is the fact that the incorruptible American jitterbug apparently believes that the supreme haven of this musical art lies in the hands of the colored bands. The overwhelming and repeated financial success that we have enjoyed in this field, I believe, proves this to be true.<br />
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Jazz artistry reigns supreme in our group. It has been this department's contention that when it comes to jitter-buggin' and swing music we stomp louder and more often than the other fellow, and apparently find more pleasure in so doing.<br />
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The jam session has finally come to the attention of our swing magazines. Some musicians would rather miss their sleep than pass up a chance to hear Roy (Little Jazz) Eldridge or The Hawk at a jam session. If you haven't heard pianists Art Tatum, Kersey, Marlowe or Phipps at such a session then you have missed a lot of powerful piano playing. To the jazz musician who wants to learn more about syncopation and who wants to stay in the groove, these sessions are more in the nature of attending school.<br />
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Every group of people in the world is exponent of some particular type of music or dancing. Naturally, if this music or dancing catches on with the public there is going to be many imitations. The people of Lapland, who have their own musical dances, ordinarily would not attempt to make lasting reforms either in the music or the dance form of the rhumba. However, if it were a matter of radio commercials, big time vaudeville dates, hotel jobs, moving picture work, fat recording contracts and other million dollar considerations one wouldn't regard the situation as ordinary any longer. As a matter of fact with this always in mind the average Spanish person would be better prepared for the ensuing mutilation of his beloved rhumba.<br />
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Jazz is a big business and cannot be divorced from the Negro. It is still a lucrative field and if taken more seriously by some can be made to yield even more of that green stuff - yes indeed!<div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>[See <a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2021/04/herbie-nichols-jazz-life-part-3.html" target="_blank">part three</a> for July 12th, 1941]</i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE JAZZ LIFE</span></b></div><div>by Herbert H. Nichols</div><div><i>The New York Age</i></div></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7218539/26-jul-1941-herbie-nichols/" target="_blank">Saturday July 26, 1941</a> (p. 10)</b></div>
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The mainstay of the night-life world is the night club. For the most part these are tinsel palaces that glitter and hold forth with much seeming gayety. From the quaint glass stirrers to the quaint inhabitants, these institutions belie their real purpose - that of making money.<br />
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Some old-timers impressed me very much with one statement: "In the night club racket," they said, "the ends and the means are never confused as in the case of other businesses." Here's a situation where the salesmanship is so all-inclusive and so much remain at stake that only a hawk - a night hawk, a hardboiled one at that - can reap a profit and stay in business for any length of time.<br />
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Night club operators had their heyday during the bustling "twenties" and "thirties". This was the period that witnessed prohibition with its speakeasies and bath-tub gin. Money flowed freely and was made all up and down the line.<br />
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How it was made is another matter. Earnings came under the heading of various fees. How else could they be explained? Many bootleggers owned speakeasies and supplied these with their own liquor. This was an illegal but highly profitable and effective example of the vertical combination. On looking back on all this you wonder how it all came to pass.<br />
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There are two ways that a night club may take in money: by means of a cover charge and by selling various services. A night club is allowed to charge you its own fixed price for services rendered. This is legal. The government does not control retail prices, except in cases of emergency.<br />
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To start a night club you get in touch with License Commissioner Moss. Right away you're fingerprinted and mugged (photo taken). You'll have to take out cabaret and liquor licenses. There is also a license issued for the sale of cigarettes. The fire, health and police departments must give you a clean bill of health. And then there are the musicians' and performers' unions that may compel you to sign contracts with them. Bear in mind that we have only cited the licenses that must be gotten, which also call for periodic renewals. It is no wonder that some clubs blackball roustabouts and other ne'er-do-wells. They simply aim to insure a good night's receipts.<br />
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Many cliques are formed in this business. Because of the higher rents that are expected of night clubs and the seasonal rise and fall of business, a dependable clientele must be assured. Whatever is made during a good season which in some instances lasts for several weeks or months may have to be depended upon to tide one over a slack period which may last several times as long.<br />
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The night club visitor looks forward to the floor show as the climax of the night's entertainment. To the manager, this comes as an anti-climax. He depends on eagle-eyed, sure-footed waiters with a gift of gab to bring in large orders between those periods of loud entertainment. All that he seeks in a floor show is brevity, bounce and balance.<br />
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A successful operator strives for individuality in his club. From the tableware to the way the band stand is set up, nothing is overlooked. This calls for a versatile person who may be called upon at times to play the role of interior decorator and stage hand, accountant and efficiency expert, chorus director and dancer, and who, moreover, is expected to be the social glad-hander on all occasions.<br />
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Night club operation is a singular vocation. The main commodities are glamour and gayety. Fashion and style changes are first seen in the niteries. They are the show places of the nation - the social marts. It is the night club operator's business to supply the fanfare and to reap any and all possible profits.</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE JAZZ LIFE</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;">by Herbert H. Nichols</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The New York Age</i></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7218621/2-aug-1941-herbie-nichols/" target="_blank">Saturday August 2, 1941</a> (p. 10)</b></div>
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War is a boom time for songwriters. We recall that it was during and following the last war that the jazz life came into being. Entertainers did all right for themselves during that period. It was the goal of the average musician to cross the big pond, and many of them did just that. And it was during that period that Harlem became known as the bohemian section of New York. This situation almost brought a permanent vogue in literature. Such writers as Carl Van Vechten, Langston Hughes, and Claude McKay did much to publicize this era.<br />
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It was during that era that the first efforts to organize Negro musicians got under way. Local 310 was a Negro Musicians' local. The Clef Club was on the downgrade, but still maintained its headquarters in West 53rd Street. Such other clubs as the Bandbox and the Rhythm Club, operated by the late Bert Hall, came into being.<br />
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The parlor social era, which followed, won't be soon forgotten. During that period the kazoo became a full-fledged instrument, right alongside the venerable violin. At the average party you would find the kazoo player teamed with the pianist, the drums or some other instrument being added if the sponsors felt like oversporting themselves. The great parlor social piano player was "Fats" Waller. If you listen to his Bluebird recording of "The Joint is Jumpin'" you'll see what I mean.<br />
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The whole complexion of show life has changed in a few years. From dramatic stock, the Lafayette went to colored musical revues, with such names as Leroy Smith, Sam Wooding, Drake and Walker, the San Domingans and the Smarter Set Shows featured. The old Lincoln Theater brought out Mamie Smith and other blues singers of that day.<br />
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The small cabarets and dance halls were twice as active during this period. Everybody had a job and belonged to some social club. Some of the orchestras that catered to these groups were the Congo Knights, Ernie Ferguson and his Midnight Ramlers, Gus Creigh.<br />
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Harlem used to hum in those days with the social activity centered in the neighborhood from 133rd to 136th street - Baron Wilkins Club, the Pirates Cove, the Dunbar, the Nest, the Turf Club, the Checker Club, the Saratoga Club, Connie's Inn, the Bronze Studio, and the 101 Ranch are a few of the night spots that are no more.<br />
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Will history repeat itself in this direction?<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE JAZZ LIFE</span></b></div><div>by Herbert H. Nichols</div><div><i>The New York Age</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7218697/9-aug-1941-herbie-nichols/" target="_blank">Saturday August 9, 1941</a> (p. 10)</b></div>
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Chappie Willet, head of the only Negro booking agency on Broadway, would like to see colored sets multiply and become more varied in text. From his advantageous position in the heart of the downtown theatrical district he is able to realize and appreciate the growing bemand for colored acts more than anyone else.<br />
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The "Bye Sisters," young singing and dancing trio now appearing nightly at the Elks Rendezvous, are under his personal management. In a fast stepping revue, headed by the inimitable Willie Bryant, they more than hold their own. These girls have personality plus, and after you hear their hep musical version of "Fuzzy-Wuzzy" and "It's Hurry, Hurry, Hurry with a Solid Jive" you'll agree that they are a welcome addition to the entertainment world.<br />
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Chappie Willet's business office and studios are located at 156 West 44th street. Besides the booking agency angle, which takes up a lot of his time, he personally supervises a recording studio and a music school. All this in addition to being [among] the most prolific arrangers in the music business. Because of his policy of treating the little fellow and the big fellow alike, he has been able to build a reputation for himself that is unique in music circles.<br />
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He has kept pretty busy these last few years. He has written the music for many musical comedy shows and night club revues, including those of the Cotton Club, the Plantation and "The Hot Mikado." He has had wide experience with bands, having done much arranging for Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Lucky Millinder and many others. He has also done work for Gene Krupa, including the writing of his theme song.<br />
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Chappie Willet does most of his arranging for stage acts, practically dominating this field in particular. Such acts as the Nicholas Brothers and the dancing DeMarcos got Chappie Willet for new arrangements whenever they're in town. Whenever you hear the famed Peters Sister or Avia Andrew bringing down a critical Broadway audience with applause, the chances are that the fine accompanying arrangement to which they are singing was written by and rehearsed in conjunction with Chappie Willet.<br />
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Mr. Willet deserves a lot of credit for his pioneering efforts in many fields of the jazz life, also for his avowed interest in all newcomers.</div><div><span face=""open sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">𝄇</span></div>
<br /></div></div>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-61591664973880882032017-09-14T19:04:00.004-07:002022-02-14T21:50:04.645-08:00The Strange Case of Ella MaloneBy the late 19th century, improvisation in "classical" music was relegated to composers, organists, and a few virtuoso performers. In general, it was not taught as a part of standard music education, until Emile Jacques-Dalcroze began his influential work in Switzerland. So for most Americans it was quite a spectacle to hear someone improvise music, especially if the end result sounded as if it had been planned all along.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-bawv2DDbYoDsV83ZAcquWXrgMypIXrLTjeFF67yNaoGHyZeKMwwRsrPrOnSUmMR_fyxEt6qzx1w2SVfd9YzlMnhyphenhyphenr2TDcc9_8e3O8Sc_sGg8b7Us-dhCzmgnSivIK1mM8BgmV6X7B1I/s696/img.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-bawv2DDbYoDsV83ZAcquWXrgMypIXrLTjeFF67yNaoGHyZeKMwwRsrPrOnSUmMR_fyxEt6qzx1w2SVfd9YzlMnhyphenhyphenr2TDcc9_8e3O8Sc_sGg8b7Us-dhCzmgnSivIK1mM8BgmV6X7B1I/s320/img.jpeg" width="251" /></a></div>
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I recently searched newspapers.com for the phrase "improvises music" and turned up the interesting story of <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13751459/improvisation-via-trance-ella-malone/" target="_blank">Ella Malone from San Jose, CA</a>. Ella was a teenager who was first reported in the San Jose Mercury as having extraordinary experiences in which she channeled spirits while playing the piano. Her story is worth quoting at length (author is unknown)<br />
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"She goes into a trance, in which she claims to be, not Ella Malone, but a man named Charles S. Evans, who died several years ago, but who was, while living, a musician and a member of a minstrel troupe. While in this state she is said to execute difficult music on the piano with her eyes closed, she being evidently in an abnormal condition. After a few performances of this kind she is able to give the same music in her normal state. In this way, in less than a year, without any previous knowledge of music, and without any present knowledge of written music, she is able to execute many difficult pieces with the skill and precision of an artist. At times her 'control', as the influence is called, <i>improvises music</i>, and has composed several pieces in which Ella plays in her normal state. In this way she is acquiring her musical education independent of books of earthly instructors."</blockquote>
Malone's story made a small splash in the fall of 1877, with her story being retold in newspapers in Reno NV, Detroit MI, Milwaukee WI, Holton KS, Davenport IA, and Pulaski TN. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch dismissively wrote that "If the spirits' music is no better than their literature, she might do better to learn from a dog with a tin kettle tied to his tail."<br />
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Ella Malone is known to have given a concert at <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13751695/ella-malone-20-sep-1877/" target="_blank">Little Music Hall on 19 September 1877</a>, which was very well reviewed. The Batesville Guard (Batesville, AR) reprinted the report from the San Jose Mercury (author, again, unknown) :<br />
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"The so-called trance medium, Miss Ella Malone, of this city, assisted by the Parkman family, gave a concert at Little Music Hall last evening. The attendance was not large. Shortly after 8 o'clock, an overture having been played by Professor Parkman, the medium was introduced ... she rubbed her eyes a few minutes, after the style of Fannie Allyn and other "trance mediums" who have appeared here in public, turned to the master of ceremonies, who bound her eyes with a handkerchief, after which she was apparently seized with a fit of trembling and jerking. This continued a minute or two and the agony was over; she was then, as the Spiritualists say, "possessed, or under control." Without more ado she turned to the piano, a Weber furnished by Morton & Co., and commenced her execution, and, in the language of a bystander, proved before five minutes had passed that she was a "lightning striker." Her movements were all characterized by the same irresistible nervous twitching, and the way she clawed the keys while executing some of the lively Irish reels, was simply marvelous ...</blockquote>
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She then executed a piece which she informed the audience was the "Wrecked Daughter," and another entitled "The Soldiers Crossing the Plains," followed by the "Arkansas Traveler." The latter was perfect. After this she played a piece not in print, called the "Spirit March," which came from the "Higher Powers," whoever they may be. After this exertion, she asked that the band would play while she rested ...</blockquote>
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At the close she asked that the boy violinist play what he pleased and she would accompany him. He did so, and gave a musical medley which in the main was accompanied correctly. At times she was at fault as if finding the keys, and in one instance she failed, and listened for the time to end. She then sang "Come to that Beautiful Shore," with much expression. The "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane," was next, but the lines were given as if by spasmodic effort. The "Blue Danube Waltz" and "John Brown's Body" followed, both of which were rendered in first-class style.</blockquote>
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A Mr. Hughes, a violinist, in the audience then asked to be permitted to take the boy's violin and see if she could accompany him, and the test was satisfactory. We allow all who were present to draw their own conclusions, as to whether the girl is an expert musician, figuring to be controlled, or is controlled, by a supernatural power. Suffice it to say that, taken throughout, the entertainment was pleasing and well worth the admission fee."</blockquote>
I was unable to find any information about "Professor Parkman" or "Charles S. Evans".<br />
<br />
An Ella Malone was reported to have committed suicide in Los Angeles in 1907. Perhaps it's the same person. In any case, I couldn't find any other leads to what happened to her. If this is the same Ella Malone, it is a tragic end to what could have been a remarkable career. <span face=""Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">𝄇</span>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-15207885279942022152017-07-17T09:31:00.005-07:002021-04-08T09:25:12.086-07:00Extempore Music - A Precarious Survival (1920)<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><b>Earlier this year</b> I came across <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9911952/4-dec-1920-extempore-music-a/">this piece from </a></span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9911952/4-dec-1920-extempore-music-a/">the Times of London</a>, published December 4th, 1920. Prompted by an upcoming visit by the great French organist Marcel Dupré, the anonymous author takes the opportunity to write a bit about improvisation, its similarities and differences to the creative process involved in composition, and its decline as a practical part of a musician's toolbox by the early 20th century. It was clearly written from a perspective of familiarity and sympathy with improvisation, and it's especially interesting that it was written before improvisation became a "hot topic" for composers, yet foreshadows some of the discussions which continue to this day.</span></span><br />
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"> Here are some highlights.</span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">"Composition is one thing, extemporization another. The one is a man's considered thought independent of the circumstances of any given moment; the other is his comment on circumstances, is influenced by his environment and by the sympathy of his hearers."</span></li>
<li><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">"[T]he pleasure of real improvisation, like real conversation, is that it is not foreseen by the creator of it. It surprises him as much as the listener. It may develop in sonata form, or fugue, or any other strict style - that depends on how far the artist's mind has been disciplined by the externals of musical design. It will certainly have form of some sort, because form is the musician's means of communication with others."</span></li>
<li><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">"</span>Improvisation [is] clearly carried on by an altogether different mental process from that by which the same man acts when he sits down to his music-paper to compose, although the initial impulse towards musical invention may be the same."</span></li>
<li><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">"Composers have their rights, and the first of them is that what is performed as being by them should be what they have really written. Yet there was something generous about the old plan of the concerto in which the composer, having developed his theme to his heart's content, said in effect to his interpreter, 'Now what do you think about it?'"</span></li>
</ul>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">(<i>Disclaimer</i>: </span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">I mulled for a while about whether to make this available. Obviously I didn't write it, so I don't claim authorship. But I think its historical importance to the subject of improvised music, and organ improvisation in particular, make it worthy of sharing in cyberspace. </span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">To me, the internet is about sharing information with other interested parties. I don't, and never will, monetize this blog. If you claim a copyright and would like this content removed, feel free to contact me.)</span><br />
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">(<i>Also</i>: The author, in keeping with the sexist parlance of his day, assumes that all people involved with music are "men", and exclusively uses the male-gendered pronouns. I transcribed the article as-is, but I do not condone this kind of speech.)</span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><b>Extempore Music - A Precarious Survival</b></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">The Times - London - Saturday 4 December 1920</span></h3>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><i>Author unknown</i></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"></span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Jyl18SuMxNX7JyyMY653suZ-aacDymskrZjM-DRzCZhRN4M5dLVx1Ci_2yKS_gIde0UgHMDZcfYFLag7hn1EynP0xtIIJYGH-fuPcL4oMY2635W0_IIXJW_M0MtfY1FJl98ZFEeLLhU/s1600/dupre.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="500" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Jyl18SuMxNX7JyyMY653suZ-aacDymskrZjM-DRzCZhRN4M5dLVx1Ci_2yKS_gIde0UgHMDZcfYFLag7hn1EynP0xtIIJYGH-fuPcL4oMY2635W0_IIXJW_M0MtfY1FJl98ZFEeLLhU/s320/dupre.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Marcel Dupré (1886-1971)</span></td></tr>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">The report of M. Marcel Dupré's skill in improvisation on the organ, which London is to have the opportunity of appreciating at the Albert Hall next Thursday [9 Dec, 1920] naturally raises the question of extempore music, and its place, actual and possible, in the developed condition of modern music.</span><br />
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">A correspondent writes to us to tell of an improvisation by Mr. Alfred Hollins, the well known blind organist, which was recorded on a mechanical instrument and subsequently transcribed and replayed by another organist, Mr. Arthur Sims, at a recent recital. We seem to remember that years ago, before the gramophone records were the commonplace they are to-day, the phonographic record of some improvisations by Mr. E. H. Lemare, then organist at St. Margaret's, Westminster, caused a similar sensation. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh29XAPsF8IyULwl_JqssmjxAWvQBEZ99VJ0CGnkUm39eqGUS3Sfft3tFF6-rurCmLn9Gm5OiIhUNnrdb_tS9rjzj2kZLlnE5I0zXJ-S4iugZg8Wak7-qRQ8SPwGDUdsbnDRlTU6C9XjNc/s1600/Edwin_Lemare_004.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1149" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh29XAPsF8IyULwl_JqssmjxAWvQBEZ99VJ0CGnkUm39eqGUS3Sfft3tFF6-rurCmLn9Gm5OiIhUNnrdb_tS9rjzj2kZLlnE5I0zXJ-S4iugZg8Wak7-qRQ8SPwGDUdsbnDRlTU6C9XjNc/s320/Edwin_Lemare_004.jpg" width="221" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edwin H. Lemare (1865-1934)</td></tr>
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We do not know whether M. Dupré has ever submitted his art to the same ordeal, but no doubt it will be demanded of him sooner or later. It may be that mechanical reproduction is going to attack the last stronghold of improvisation by making it permanent. One can well understand why an artist of this kind will be shy of the recording room. </span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Composition is one thing, extemporization another. The one is a man's considered thought independent of the circumstances of any given moment; the other is his comment on circumstances, is influenced by his environment and by the sympathy of his hearers. If it is recorded for future use it runs the risk of becoming inapt. A good improvisation may or may not stand the test of reproduction for permanent use, and the artist who improvises with the knowledge that whatever he says will be expected to stand this test is acting under a restraint which may be fatal to the spirit of his work.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIk8Fg18CdH27aMBqEk7q5D6n6qTQ0cvs2hgkD61K-9Lfb-yYzb6P0FcXKuyEZGLgEBGjs3EtT9ANrEUQbZWsajro3KBGPcURUC1LiPXi-1mGHy7oxeJiKLvAHESF03wKI7rygVvJigAc/s1600/Organ-and-orchestra_ea67b32509d6d9ec82e70f1b00b84cce.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><img border="0" data-original-height="1082" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIk8Fg18CdH27aMBqEk7q5D6n6qTQ0cvs2hgkD61K-9Lfb-yYzb6P0FcXKuyEZGLgEBGjs3EtT9ANrEUQbZWsajro3KBGPcURUC1LiPXi-1mGHy7oxeJiKLvAHESF03wKI7rygVvJigAc/s320/Organ-and-orchestra_ea67b32509d6d9ec82e70f1b00b84cce.jpg" width="236" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: xx-small;">The Royal Albert Hall, London. Source: <a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/tales-archives/pulling-out-all-the-stops-henry-cole-and-royal-albert-halls-grand-organ" target="_blank">The Victoria and Albert Museum.</a></span></td></tr>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">We remember once hearing a learned musical professor improvise in strict sonata form before a class of students. As he did so he analysed his own work, calling out in a high-pitched voice, "This is the second subject," "Now the development begins," "Now the <i>reprise</i>," and so on. The result was something exactly like a great many sonatas; it was fluent, expected, apparently foreseen from first to last. But t</span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">he pleasure of real improvisation, like real conversation, is that it is not foreseen by the creator of it. It surprises him as much as the listen. It may develop in sonata form, or fugue, or any other strict style - that depends on how far the artist's mind has been disciplined by the externals of musical design. It will certainly have form of some sort, because form is the musician's means of communication with others. </span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Listening to M. Dupré and watching him at the organ, one is convinced that at the beginning of an improvisation he is as unconscious as anyone else of where the thought may lead him. He is starting out on an adventure. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2EN_bZWHgvhDm-7GRfrhLrSp25gM18Tkk6Eze2szcH7IZT5S8bbwV_r-aSaTpRJzyQZPXmsiOxCJ0pP6KPwjnEjVbKY93e9db1JlBWzlRfEFGH4rPo_yzzHbzDB6N4BKoMmdjgQo3ums/s1600/Samuel_Sebastian_Wesley_Engraving.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2EN_bZWHgvhDm-7GRfrhLrSp25gM18Tkk6Eze2szcH7IZT5S8bbwV_r-aSaTpRJzyQZPXmsiOxCJ0pP6KPwjnEjVbKY93e9db1JlBWzlRfEFGH4rPo_yzzHbzDB6N4BKoMmdjgQo3ums/s320/Samuel_Sebastian_Wesley_Engraving.jpg" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Samuel Wesley (1766-1837)</td></tr>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">The same was the case with S. S. Wesley, </span></span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">greatest of English church musicians in the last century. Those who remember him in the organ loft say that Wesley would extemporise the most unheard-of-things, harmonic progressions which he would never have written, but through which he groped his way almost as though he were under the control of some hypnotic influence. Whatever it is, in such an instance improvisation clearly carried on by an altogether different mental process from that by which the same man acts when he sits down to his music-paper to compose, although the initial impulse towards musical invention may be the same.</span><br />
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">When the art of music was in a comparatively primitive condition, there was much more room for the exercise of this faculty [extemporization] than there is to-day. Even after notation had made it possible for composers to express themselves with fair accuracy, and printing had secured a wide distribution for their ideas, they were still loath to forgo the fascination of yielding to the impulse of the moment. The scores of Corelli's violin sonatas, for example, merely contain as much of the music as will keep the solo player and the accompanist in touch with one another. Both are free to improvise the details. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_LwFwZHjTYGO5cLkgtRkD0PAPTJk3GxVaCa4yhUk1rEwEQOJ2BzuoZQeA20t1tqyA1tupjg_elnitsyp6n0ff-VGEmgr0rxHbJ7CnKxiV8YMci1SdF34cQj5WgBjk2BjsH7TJLFNZp2Q/s1600/Arcangelo_Corelli%252C_portrait_by_Hugh_Howard_%25281697%2529.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1417" data-original-width="1056" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_LwFwZHjTYGO5cLkgtRkD0PAPTJk3GxVaCa4yhUk1rEwEQOJ2BzuoZQeA20t1tqyA1tupjg_elnitsyp6n0ff-VGEmgr0rxHbJ7CnKxiV8YMci1SdF34cQj5WgBjk2BjsH7TJLFNZp2Q/s320/Arcangelo_Corelli%252C_portrait_by_Hugh_Howard_%25281697%2529.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)</td></tr>
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Corelli and other artists of his generation were generally their own interpreters, but even after the point when the process of specialization had separated composer from performer is was felt that a solo work of any size would not be complete in expression unless the latter was given an opportunity of giving rise to his own imagination at some point or other. Hence the <i>cadenza</i>. Brahms was the last of the great composers to leave this open door, but Joachim shut it by writing his own <i>cadenza</i> to the violin concerto and by his own frequent performance associating it with the work. It would be a bold fiddler indeed who would stand up in Queen's Hall today and improvise a <i>cadenza</i> before the coda of Brahms's first movement, or, indeed, in any other classical concerto, but it is the refusal to attempt it which has made that point in the concerto the futile thing it is. It places all the great virtuosi of the concert-room in the absurd position of pretending to improvise something which they have really learnt by heart beforehand. Of course, there is no actual deception; every one knows that they have learnt it by heart; sometimes they have written it themselves, sometimes it has been composed and published by somebody else, but in any case it is an effect carefully arranged to suggest a counterfeit spontaneity.</span></span><br />
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">So it comes about that improvisation has been forced out of the concert-room altogether, as at an earlier stage it was forced out of the opera-house when autocratic composers insisted that singers should confine themselves strictly to the notes written down for them. Composers have their rights, and the first of them is that what is performed as being by them should be what they have really written. Yet there was something generous about the old plan of the concerto in which the composer, having developed his theme to his heart's content, said in effect to his interpreter, "Now what do you think about it?" The practical position is that the only class of executant who has any opporunity of using his powers in this direction is the organist, and the example of M. Dupré and others of the French school shows that it is a power which thrives on opportunity. If it is strangled by the conventions of modern music, it will be so much the worse for the art. </span></span></div><div><span face=""open sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""open sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">𝄇</span></div>
Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-44531573175931788462016-02-10T12:37:00.008-08:002021-03-04T23:07:53.616-08:00Lennie Tristano - What's Right With The Beboppers<div style="text-align: left;"><b>
After two and a half years</b> I have finally gotten my hands on the July 1947 issue of Metronome Magazine, which has the sequel to Tristano's <a href="http://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2013/09/lennie-tristano-whats-wrong-with.html" target="_blank">What's Wrong With The Beboppers</a>. It provides an interesting glimpse into the pianist's thought process. Tristano's characterization of "Dixieland" is unfair, but it gives us an idea of how sharply divided some members of the jazz community were over the new music of Parker, Gillespie, Davis, and Tristano.<br />
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In this installment, Tristano foreshadows free improvisation: "Perhaps the next step after bebop will be collective improvisation on a much higher plane because the individual lines will be more complex."</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">What's Right With The Beboppers</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the provocative pianist concludes his evaluation of a provocative school of jazz</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>by Lennie Tristano</i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS62skSn47Y-ZdyklfrB2nB9hxZd65QaAhmYzSCtgLPFaAoEBHVHVMwNYyP0mps_aWHHQ-cEFmHrwpK0oTQEzX6UTZpc2MhLRH224c8COMuvuc8Ylmpgf5pNCEPjtTAC0xa9tt68ShgSM/s1600/lennie-tristano-playing-piano-1950s-billboard-650.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS62skSn47Y-ZdyklfrB2nB9hxZd65QaAhmYzSCtgLPFaAoEBHVHVMwNYyP0mps_aWHHQ-cEFmHrwpK0oTQEzX6UTZpc2MhLRH224c8COMuvuc8Ylmpgf5pNCEPjtTAC0xa9tt68ShgSM/s320/lennie-tristano-playing-piano-1950s-billboard-650.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tristano, mid 1950's. Source: <a href="http://www.lennietristano.com/">www.lennietristano.com</a></td></tr>
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The music of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker constitutes the first major break with Dixieland. While bebop is not an end in itself, it is unquestionably a great means.<br />
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Though Dixieland presents a single and crude form of counterpoint, its contrapuntal development ends in a blind alley. Each line is governed by the end result which is collective improvisation. Collective improvisation is limited by a small number of chords, perhaps six or seven. A good melodic line is sacrificed completely. The music strives to induce an aphrodisiac mood which for many years has been considered the essence of jazz. Anything that requires a degree of <i>intelligent</i> comprehension is ruled out. Therefore the means becomes the end. Artistic development is unnecessary - in fact, detrimental. This is precisely why Dixieland music is so appallingly stagnant. Like French Impressionism, it destroys itself.<br />
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The soloist emerging from this idiom plays with the same disregard for artistic development. Though his style is somewhat individualized, and his facility is increased, his music is merely an elaboration of the part he played in collective improvisation.<br />
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The boppers discarded collective improvisation and placed all emphasis on the single line. This is not unfortunate, since the highest development of both would probably not occur simultaneously. Perhaps the next step after bebop will be collective improvisation on a much higher plane because the individual lines will be more complex.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigdC-yVS-UNvW06S6gjg6p3QKMnr-xQiZObPTmKE7KHj1zyGTG0L_FcykhrwiH9ODPobunpy7xEDzgnBqd4ER2ZE5lqtK0LoxjGM-I6H81icISBaPIlb1Z_na40na8AoZEbanmnANlyTY/s1600/Charlie_Parker.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigdC-yVS-UNvW06S6gjg6p3QKMnr-xQiZObPTmKE7KHj1zyGTG0L_FcykhrwiH9ODPobunpy7xEDzgnBqd4ER2ZE5lqtK0LoxjGM-I6H81icISBaPIlb1Z_na40na8AoZEbanmnANlyTY/s320/Charlie_Parker.jpg" width="286" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charlie Parker, late 1940's</td></tr>
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Bebop has made several contributions to the evolution of the single line. The arpeggio has ceased to be important; the line is primarily diatonic. The procedure is not up one chord and down another, nor it is up one scale and down another; the use of skips of more than a third precludes this seesaw motion. The skillful use of scales fosters the evolution of many more ideas than does the use of arpeggios, since an arpeggio merely restates the chord. Instead of a rhythm section pounding out each chord, four beats to a bar, so that three or four soloists can blow the same chord in arpeggio form in a blast of excremental vibrations, the bebop rhythm section uses a system of chordal punctuation. By this means, the soloist is able to hear the chord without having it shoved down his throat. He can think as he plays. A chorus of bebop may consist of any number of phrases which vary in length. A phrase may consist of two bars or twelve bars. It may contain one or several ideas. The music is thoughtful as opposed to the kind of music which is no more than an endless series of notes, sometimes bent.<br />
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The Dixieland idea of a ballad is a hot melody with the bends. The tempo ranges from just a little to slow to just a little too fast, generally skipping the happy medium. When Diz plays a ballad, he makes full use of altered chords and substitutions in a series of well-articulated phrases. This is not to be confused with a superficial use of altered <i>tones</i> which results in an embellishment rather than an integral part of the style. His complex melodic structure becomes more intense because of the intricate rhythm patterns which are its basis. The melody does not bog down under a vulgar load of sentiment, bravado, and vibrato.<br />
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Given a long series of eighth notes, the Fig would play them as dotted eighths and sixteenths, which effects an underlying shuffle beat. A bopper would accept every up-beat, producing a line which pulsates with a modern, a more exciting feeling. This type of accenting also prevents the soloist from stumbling into a boogie groove, a musical booby-trap.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU_pf4jMKzD_rFV7iihPyZ9GAFoK9r5_Tdp43UREeJwo_T6F6V1r8BQCHRDtiE0ymIdt6Of3QqfGCavdbaD0L2wg3dMtbVmOqbeZyAmW3iMyVC9wrq8Jno38R8xTw-dW4Hb_L3w_PN_uE/s1600/Thelonious_Monk_Mintons_Playhouse_New_York_N.Y._ca._Sept._1947_William_P._Gottlieb_06191.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU_pf4jMKzD_rFV7iihPyZ9GAFoK9r5_Tdp43UREeJwo_T6F6V1r8BQCHRDtiE0ymIdt6Of3QqfGCavdbaD0L2wg3dMtbVmOqbeZyAmW3iMyVC9wrq8Jno38R8xTw-dW4Hb_L3w_PN_uE/s320/Thelonious_Monk_Mintons_Playhouse_New_York_N.Y._ca._Sept._1947_William_P._Gottlieb_06191.jpg" width="305" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thelonious Monk, ca. 1947</td></tr>
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Bebop is a valiant attempt to raise jazz to a thoughtful level, and to replace emotion with meaning. It is successfully combatting the putrefying effect of commercialism. It has been called mechanical, "over-cerebrative," sloppy, technical, and immoral. Beboppers have been accused of willfully promoting juvenile delinquency. These studied inanities of the pseudo-psychiatrist have created ill-feeling against musicians. All this prattle is due to a lack of understanding not only of the musicians who play bebop, but of the emotionally immature listeners.<br />
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It is true that the younger musicians have gone overboard in attempting to emulate their idols, the originators. They need re-direction and guidance. On the other hand, with few exceptions, the so-called giants of jazz have remained untouched. They have absolutely refused to be influenced. The feeling of security which comes from playing in a well-worn and worn-out groove, and an unwillingness to admit that jazz has advanced beyond their personally-generated auras suggest an imminent degeneration. The big names are important because they command large followings. If they persist in retrogressing, the inevitable result is the concomitant stagnation of the listeners.<br />
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The development of jazz must be the concern of every musician who attempts to play it. Jazz is not a form of popular entertainment; it is art for its own sake. Its popularity or unpopularity is coincidental. The man who plays to entertain is not as objectionable as the man who plays to entertain and at the same time protests that he is playing jazz. This overwhelming pleasure that some bandleaders experience in pleasing the people is a rather poor camouflage for their desire to increase their bank accounts. Perhaps if the people had more opportunity to hear good jazz, they might learn to like it.<br />
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And here society has a real obligation. It must foster the arts and encourage the artists even if understanding is not immediate. Bebop, one of the more mature levels of jazz, must be listened to, scrutinized, supported. That way it will assure progress and all the inevitable maturation of jazz will be one large step further along. <span face=""open sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">𝄇</span>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-6624707943749234532014-09-14T20:01:00.002-07:002021-03-04T23:10:01.515-08:00Interview with the Red Krayola - 1968<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>
This interview appeared</b> in the 2nd issue of <i>Mother: Houston's Rock Magazine</i>, a short-lived periodical (three issues in all) put together by <a href="http://www.larrysepulvado.com/home.html" target="_blank">Larry Sepulvado</a>.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Third Eye video was put together by <a href="http://vimeo.com/user18708354/videos">Jeff Hill</a>.</div>
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Thanks to Paul Drummond for providing me with the scans of the article.<br />
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Reprinted here with permission of Larry and Mayo.<div><br />
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(Once an audible circumstance occurs, that material which will have been registered in memory may yield to executive and stylistic concerns; yet this static documentation of recalled impressions is necessarily subsequent to the continually changing instance of our music in relation to linear, sequential time. It is the case that we will make our music, period.)<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
The group as it is today was established in September, 1966. At that time most of the music (rock) was written by the group. By December, 1966, all of the group's material was original, including distinct sections of improvisation which in performances were begun freely by mutual assent. These "free pieces" were a definite part of any performance, and while at the beginning were rock derivative, they gradually became freer as the members began to question the concept of rhythmic structure as well as dependence on traditional rock instruments. By February, 1967, these "free pieces" were the staple of the group and had been extended by inviting all interested parties to participate in performance. A minimum of control was exercised over this now companion group (The Familiar Ugly), and all unrehearsed activity was encouraged and accepted. While working with this performance-group structure, the group was approached by International Artists Producing Corporation and contracted to produce their first LP. In March 1967, with the Familiar Ugly, the group recorded a three-hour "free piece" and this forms the base of the album, PARABLE OF ARABLE LAND. Currently, the Krayola has returned to using three pieces (the original group). The present preoccupation is with sound as structural element and system simultaneously.</blockquote>
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<u>N O T E S</u> </div>
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Rhythm deals with intervals which are set by duration of individual sounds. Indeterminate sounds, yielding to no directives in respect to length of the sounds themselves, are not concerned with honoring any correspondence with a recurring, designated beat. If a performance is actually a forward progression, correspondence is viewed only in retrospect. This has been true of all music and, in fact, of life itself. The distinction being that now the performer himself, aware solely of his presence, enjoys a disregard for any circumstance other than that which his presence addresses.</div>
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Rhythm deals with the arrangement of sounds, a regular or irregular "style" or "structure" which limits the number of possible products that may obtain. These limitations have occasioned the group's present disregard for a rhythmic base and have prompted a focus on the critical juncture that is proper. This focal change (accepting all products but not addressing them as determinate), leads to the recognition of all sound as unit, the integrity, all of which is preserved. The importance of this decision is that a new musical structure is implied, a structure based on sound in lieu of rhythm.</div>
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In the confrontation of one by a present circumstance, there is a de-emphasis on movement, a tendency toward immobility.</div>
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Music is that which is proposed as music.</div>
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We free the sounds and we free ourselves of responsibility to them or for them. Total irresponsibility (we possess nothing) allows music to be made in a measure of freedom.</div>
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What is not actual (physically current) is illusion. Illusion is born at the construction of a relationship between the present time and any other moment prior to the present time. It is reborn continually at each juncture of conscious necessity. Its food is literal sequence and asks only that is be questioned. Our concern is with that which is physically current.</div>
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Motion occurs as a mental process arrived at apart from the continuous now, which is the way the music occurs audibly. Audibility is then separate from motion. The music is heard now, and now, and now continually until it is heard no longer. Motion is an implication which is extra-audible, extra-musical.<br />
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Music is about itself. (We are not interested in portraying, conversing, filling, completing, interpreting, identifying, or conjuring.)<br />
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Music is made, sounds will continue, whether we perform or not. In this understanding, we produce that which we produce.<br />
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The music is made, desirous of a certain degree of attention. It can be dealt with an incidental sound, but the production derives from an intensity that the reception could emulate.<br />
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The primary characteristic of every production is its singularity and the attendant requirement to change, consistent with the intellectual-emotional process. The intensity of the process here is critical.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
What follows is an interview conducted by Jack Villagomez and me on January 16, 1968. Below, left to right, Steve Cunningham, Mayo Thompson, and Rick Barthelme, who is at present absent. Tommy Smith is the new drummer. -- Larry Sepulvado</blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L to R: Steve Cunningham, Mayo Thompson, Frederick Barthelme</td></tr>
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MOTHER: Why was the chaos, the freak out, separated from the order, the structured music, on the album instead of being integrated?<br />
MAYO THOMPSON: If you wish, the album tends to visually orient itself. It's like a continuous line where there are small blips like on a graph and these songs with simple structures appear in the more complex structures.<br />
MOTHER: Who wrote the structured parts?<br />
MAYO: Well, all three of us. Rick wrote the music and I wrote the words to "Pink Stainless Tail" and "Transparent Radiation". Steve wrote "Former Reflection Enduring Doubt", and we all worked on "Parable of Arable Land" while Rick and I wrote the words to "War Sucks" and we all wrote the music.<br />
MOTHER: Will the Familiar Ugly and the free-form freak out be a part of your next album?<br />
MAYO: Though they don't appear, we do have some good tapes which we might distribute if anyone is interested in hearing them. We have a new drummer, Tommy Smith, and he is good.<br />
MOTHER: What is the name of your next album?<br />
MAYO: One side will be called <i>God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail With It</i> and the other side will be called <i>Coconut Hotel</i>. It should be out in March.<br />
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MOTHER: What kind of effect will you be trying to create with the new album?<br />
MAYO: We're not trying to create an effect. I personally am not trying to create visual effects. I'm trying to have sound exist by itself as sound which it does without my help.<br />
MOTHER: Do you consider the first album a kind of evolutionary stage or is the second album completely different or just a natural progression from the first?<br />
STEVE CUNNINGHAM: It is definitely a natural progression. We feel that we are now doing the right thing, having in the past done likewise.<br />
MOTHER: How many songs will the next album have?<br />
STEVE: So far we have twenty pieces to go on, plus several one second pieces. We have a lot of listening time planned for this album. As much as possible.<br />
MOTHER: Why one second pieces?<br />
STEVE: We came upon these pieces when we were trying the experiments in sound. They are compression of time with sound. They are just moments of different duration, all very short and of different composition than the longer pieces.<br />
MOTHER: What idea are you trying to put on record?<br />
STEVE: These pieces can be conceived of as part of another piece, part of the last thing you heard, or as the beginning of the next piece, or as an island in the middle of no sound. It'll come out with a position that could be changed and put into another position. It works from the outside in and its environment will depend upon where you want to put it.<br />
MAYO: In the first album the songs appeared in the midst of more complex spontaneous pieces composed by over 60 players. This next album has more complex songs in barer structures.<br />
MOTHER: How significant have John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Frank Zappa been in influencing your music?<br />
MAYO: I've listened to them since we got into this thing. Steve buys some Cage, Feldman, Van Dyke Parks, and people like Stockhausen and Zappa. Rick is very familiar with Cage and knows him personally.<br />
STEVE: So we are all aware of the work of these composers and we are therefore aware of several unique classical ways of thinking about music.<br />
MAYO: As to how they have influenced us, I don't know. They serve as a reference point within the framework of music composition. We have been influenced by the sounds of modern day America as well as the sounds and music of other countries. But our music is a different thing because it is ours.<br />
STEVE: We offer the term International Sound to be taken as a recognition of the way man makes a piece of music and sums up everything he is involved in.<br />
MAYO: We are on a line with the intimacy with which jazz musicians play but without that manifested active consciousness of what the other is playing and those little improvisational things "that fit".<br />
MOTHER: How much time was spent in the studio on the first album and how much will be spent on the second?<br />
MAYO: About thirty hours on the first and as long as it takes for this one.<br />
MOTHER: Where were some of the first places you played?<br />
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MAYO: The first place we played was the Living Eye and we got $75 for one hour and then we played at Mark Froman's club, Love. This was when we were playing rock music. Stuff like "Hey Joe" and "Eight Miles High". After the Familiar [Ugly] became a part of the act, we played the Catacombs and there were about ten people on stage with us and the Gentrys were there. We played "War Sucks" and a fight broke out on the dance floor...laughter...stuff like that.<br />
MOTHER: What were the circumstances surrounding your invitation to play at the Berkeley Folk Festival this past summer?<br />
MAYO: We got invited because we knew Kurt Von Meier from California. He heard these tapes we were doing for a second album then (still no plans to be released) which were very new. We had dropped the drums and were playing what he called classical music. Out there, we played a concert at the Venice Pavillion at the Angry Arts Festival. Then we went to Berkeley.<br />
MOTHER: What happened after that?<br />
MAYO: I was on this panel with Country Joe, Ralph Gleason, the leaders of the Kaleidoscope, and the Crome Syrcus... A dog wandered into the ball during one of our concerts and heard us. Some people covered its ears and walked it to this door where it collapsed, paralyzed and I heard they had to put it to sleep.<br />
MOTHER: Any other anecdotes from the coast?<br />
MAYO: One night we played with John Fahey at the New Orleans House, played twenty minutes and they asked us to leave.<br />
MOTHER: Did they pay you?<br />
MAYO: We got ten dollars to split three ways... laughter.<br />
MOTHER: Generally what is the audience reaction?<br />
MAYO: It's always mixed unless it's our friends or something. We've gone over best at art galleries. We played the Louisiana Gallery and the Dryer Gallery and at those places everybody was going like "that's good stuff". One night we played at the U of H and it was terrible. They didn't seem to like us.<br />
MOTHER: Where did you play at the University of Houston?<br />
MAYO: It was at the Jeffrey House; a dormitory dance for the girls there. We started playing our own material because we didn't want to play anybody else's. After a while they formed a half circle about fifty yards away and sort of looked at us for a long time. We kept playing and there was quite a bit of hostility exchanged and the girls kept pleading with us to play something they could dance to. We tried a bunch of stuff. We tried "Satisfaction"...laughter...and I didn't even know the chord progression. Later a lot of people showed up and we out numbered them and we had the dance to ourselves. We played what we wanted to. When we left they were waiting for us outside and this police sergeant was staring at the clouds. Then the dormitory gave us our $100 and we said no. But we had amplifier payments and we took it. Someday when we can afford it, I intend to pay the Jeffrey House back their $100.<br />
STEVE: Those were the days when we thought we could guarantee satisfaction.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love Street Light Circus and Feel Good Machine.<br />
Photo: <a href="http://www.scarletdukes.com/st/tmhou_venues2.html" target="_blank">1960's Texas Music</a>.</td></tr>
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MOTHER: What were the circumstances surrounding your opening Love Street (Love Street Light Circus and Feel Good Machine - Houston's first psychedelic night club at Allen's Landing.)<br />
MAYO: We knew David Addicks, the owner, and he knew Rick because he was in the art thing. We used to crash his openings and drink wine and stand around. He got us one time to play this happening. He did a little light show and impromptu number and told us he was opening this club and we hinted about being the house band. So the last time he saw us we were doing semi-rock music. The next time he saw us, we had dropped the drums and the Familiar Ugly. We were doing this three piece thing with clarinets, trumpets, guitars, razors on cymbals, phonograph turntables, and tapes etc. But he had already asked us to play this press opening for Love Street and we played our music. He hired another band.<br />
MOTHER: Did you play opening night?<br />
MAYO: We played opening night and he knelt down front, wanting us to get off stage. I'm not knocking him but I don't think he liked us too much. He has provided a certain class to Houston that it just didn't have before. Our first set that night was incredible.<br />
MOTHER: Where else have you played?<br />
MAYO: We've played at the Living Eye once, the Catacombs once, Love Street once...<br />
MOTHER: You don't play anywhere twice?<br />
MAYO: We rarely play anywhere twice. I can't think of anywhere we have played twice except Mark Froman's place, Love... laughter.<br />
MOTHER: What happened at Gulfgate's "Battle of the Bands"? A friend of mine, Charles Isherwood, played Indian taxi horn with you that night. He also left for Vietnam that night.<br />
MAYO: Yeah, I remember him. He was out there honking this thing and I asked him to come up on stage. He played next to Haden Larson who played the spoons. Our first night at Gulfgate someone in the audience pulled the plug because we were playing so loud and long. So we kept playing till they plugged us back in and we finished up. Lelan Rogers who is our excellent producer saw us that night.<br />
MOTHER: In the finals in the tent, do you feel you fulfilled an obligation to the audience by playing "Hey Joe"?<br />
MAYO: ...no...laughter.<br />
MOTHER: I was going to ask you if you thought you had influenced the Fever Tree's ..laugh.. arrangement of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkijnWhOFz8">"Hey Joe"</a> that had everybody standing on their heads this summer.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fever Tree, s/t 1968 UNI Records<br />
Photo: <a href="http://www.discogs.com/Fever-Tree-Fever-Tree/release/555802">discogs.com</a></td></tr>
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MAYO: Well... we played it very fast ...laugh... when we first got started, we played Channelview High School and Smiley for K-NUZ. The Fever Tree were on the same show except they were called the Boswick Vine then. I think they are really an incredible group. They are very smooth professional people.<br />
MOTHER: They are developing very well.<br />
MAYO: I would like to hear them again. The last time I heard them was at the Jefferson Airplane show and they were very good then.<br />
MOTHER: The group has really progressed to almost frightening proportions for a local band, especially their lead guitarist and the addition of the new guy who plays organ and flute.<br />
MAYO: Yes, Rob Landis, he is one of my mother's former students.<br />
MOTHER: As a performer, do you intend to entertain your audiences; because obviously more people are offended than pleased at your concerts.<br />
MAYO: It so happens we are now doing material somewhat more suited to current tastes. As you know we have a new drummer, Tommy Smith. We like to play for people. We plan appearances for promotion of our new album.<br />
MOTHER: Where will you be playing to promot it?<br />
MAYO: We will play some places in Houston. We're with AMG, Artists Management, Mason Romans.<br />
MOTHER: Where is the last time you performed as a group?<br />
MAYO: Berkeley, this past summer.<br />
MOTHER: What are your chances of getting booked now? Do you have to audition or does the agency set the bookings and then you show up and the people find out what you are doing?<br />
MAYO: We have Mason who does that now. Mason gets on the phone and says, "I got the Red Krayola... oh no, no they aren't doing the kind of music they were doing... yeah, they are sort of playing more like rock music..." and then he explains that we have gone straight or something... laugh... and tells the kids we play music they can dance to or listen to... those conversations are really weird sometimes. We hope to be able to perform all of our music; both structured songs and instrumentals, the experimental structures and random compositions, all of it.<br />
MOTHER: How much do you charge to perform?<br />
MAYO: ...Mason should know.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2msjnN5RaIYaGyK1WXZQNeXnfesNEdlwut-x_Hxy49WVMIRKHGJtljs8hIcMkiWgMurRxzgMa8aPyiktNrwR-Je6PmH6UYMPFvwBalwxbZ_y9j5tQRUTFgaNRmR0tyqnXXO-L3CVc3A/s1600/10428216_10152983291937942_5159873425652917341_o_miamhn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2msjnN5RaIYaGyK1WXZQNeXnfesNEdlwut-x_Hxy49WVMIRKHGJtljs8hIcMkiWgMurRxzgMa8aPyiktNrwR-Je6PmH6UYMPFvwBalwxbZ_y9j5tQRUTFgaNRmR0tyqnXXO-L3CVc3A/s1600/10428216_10152983291937942_5159873425652917341_o_miamhn.jpg" width="262" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Rick Barthelme on the cover of<br />
Mother: Houston's Rock Magazine, issue #2<br />
Credit: <a href="http://www.houstoniamag.com/arts-and-entertainment/music/articles/have-you-seen-your-mother-baby-june-2014" target="_blank">Houstonia</a><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">:<u>Source</u>:</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">
Sepulvado, Larry. "Red Krayola." <i>Mother: Houston's Rock Magazine </i>2 (1968): 22-26. Print.<br />
<br />
All issues available (library use only) at the <a href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/about/librarymap/cah.html">Briscoe Center</a>, <a href="http://catalog.lib.utexas.edu/search/0?searchtype=o&searcharg=10062453">UT Austin</a>.</div>
</div>Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-55426121352238094432014-08-15T04:03:00.000-07:002020-04-29T19:01:23.587-07:00Interview with Stan Lunetta<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }</style>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>UPDATE (March 2016)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I was very sad to learn today of Stan's passing on March 3rd. In my interactions with him he was jovial and courteous, and his presence will be missed by many. The text below is my original post in 2014.</i><br />
<br />
I had the pleasure of interviewing Stan Lunetta in July 2012 while I was researching the New Music Ensemble. Lunetta, who retired in 2008, had been an active performer, composer and teacher since the 1950's. He played percussion with Larry Austin in the New Music Ensemble in the 1960's, assisted in the publication of <a href="http://brickbatbooks.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-arrivals-source-music-of-avant.html" target="_blank">SOURCE magazine</a>, experimented with homemade synthesizers in a distinctive style which is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lunetta+synth" target="_blank">still imitated today</a>, and was the principal tympanist for the Sacramento Opera for nearly thirty years.<br />
<br />
In our conversation, we talk about his work with Larry Austin, his studies with John Cage, his performance at ICES 1972, his love of Thelonious Monk, and many other topics.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix1a3DthRCZMW6OzT_1eV2V0yzWDwFtr_xqlO4BkrrOvk90RPmXm6b9yA2FU8ZNL3sxKjhMOj07-fzo6bjrSv_QjI7rC3G1iMjQ8E-ARZ8QMBS0rQ2dNN4ExpjZf3FKtI39FYnSQc64Cs/s1600/Stan-Lunetta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix1a3DthRCZMW6OzT_1eV2V0yzWDwFtr_xqlO4BkrrOvk90RPmXm6b9yA2FU8ZNL3sxKjhMOj07-fzo6bjrSv_QjI7rC3G1iMjQ8E-ARZ8QMBS0rQ2dNN4ExpjZf3FKtI39FYnSQc64Cs/s1600/Stan-Lunetta.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Stan Lunetta; image from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stan-Lunetta.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia</a>.</span></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Lunetta has granted permission for only this publication of the interview: share this blog post as a link, but please do not share the text without asking permission first.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Can you tell me about the Concert Jazz
Quintet?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
My participation
in things like that started in the Concert Jazz Quintet and went on
into the New Music Ensemble, and then went on into Amra/Arma: three
different kinds of improvisation. The CJQ was myself (I played
drums), Richard Maloof (who later went on to be Lawrence Welk's bass
player), Robert Schilling (who has unfortunately passed on) played
piano; he was a wonderful pianist. And the horn players were Wayne
Johnson, who still lives here in Sacramento, and Brian Bredberg, who
we've lost contact with; whether he's still alive or not, nobody
knows.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSQEOtthta3jOyW5UxVPgElRzUdUhQD2nnyBKbkukcZoIgt5ozbulKX45BscS3yGJIABHUMolJV07CfE9XoaOV7-tcvfSfCZ4zVCZUOlnfICNEXEtgGQEzp3fVBIoLBkCk13f7hHqnC8c/s1600/black-hawk-jazz-club.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSQEOtthta3jOyW5UxVPgElRzUdUhQD2nnyBKbkukcZoIgt5ozbulKX45BscS3yGJIABHUMolJV07CfE9XoaOV7-tcvfSfCZ4zVCZUOlnfICNEXEtgGQEzp3fVBIoLBkCk13f7hHqnC8c/s1600/black-hawk-jazz-club.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Black Hawk. Photo: <a href="http://sfbayview.com/2009/04/wandas-picks-for-april-10/" target="_blank">SF BayView</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At the time, in
Sacramento, there was a lot of jazz playing. There were jazz <i>clubs</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
actually: after-hours jazz places. Everybody in the group wrote songs
that the group did. We gave concerts at a small theater here in town,
and we'd do all these pieces, and the newspaper would come and review
it; that sort of thing. We went through quite a lot of different
things using some free improv, some very structured, some pieces that
were just plain... old blues-type things. There was a lot of freedom.
In those days you could go to San Francisco and go to the Blackhawk
or the Jazz Workshop or various clubs like that, and see all of the
major jazz players that existed. Somedays you could go to San
Francisco and see Thelonious Monk at one club, Miles Davis at another
club, and Charlie Mingus at another, all on the same night. Those
days are gone. So that's sort of what that group did.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>When was the
group founded?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'd say... late 50's. Because we were all working musicians, doing
casuals, dances, shows, this and that. And the group didn't last a
real long time. I've still got copies of the charts that we wrote.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The newspaper
clippings on your website date mainly from 1962. Is that when things
were taking off?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yeah. I think we started in the late 50's and kept working at stuff
until we got something happening. It never morphed into anything
famous and wonderful.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Are there any
recordings of the CJQ?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yeah. I've got some on reel-to-reel that I'm afraid to touch. I don't
have a reel-to-reel player either, but I'm afraid that the minute you
tried to play them that the tape would disintegrate. Wayne Johnson,
the saxophone player, may have some, because he was also a recording
engineer.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>What brought the
CJQ together?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I guess, just on casuals. Someone would call you to play a gig, and
you'd meet people, and find that you have things in common. At least
Wayne and I, and Bob and Richard were attending the State college, so
we knew each other from there too. We also grew up in the same
neighborhood, sort of.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>When did that
group end?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Around the time that the New Music Ensemble thing started [summer of
1963]. From the time that the CJQ faded into nothing, we did various
things that were involved with the people at UC Davis. Larry Austin
and myself, Art Woodbury and his wife had a little jazz group. Art's
wife is a really good jazz singer. Then Wayne would be in and out of
that. Then when the NME began, those same people (Austin, myself, Art
Woodbury, Wayne Johnson, Pat Woodbury [Billie Alexander]) and a
couple other people from the University who came and went, like Jon
Gibson. I'm sure Larry told you lots about what the New Music
Ensemble did, but it was the next step up in improvisation, in that
the group practiced improvising.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW25Lw16i7PSNhGui4o9gFPwSIhZ9qCaCVjzuZ7c_WVo4-LTc7Wq8ZGssoRkiwU2hr6mxKHGo8eHlZdh8rk7C8WiiQPX_vUZtORmAbQIPGaCvZ5uzeL8FzUF9_qgLUmSHGmsuMpxQLD1g/s1600/Stockhausen-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW25Lw16i7PSNhGui4o9gFPwSIhZ9qCaCVjzuZ7c_WVo4-LTc7Wq8ZGssoRkiwU2hr6mxKHGo8eHlZdh8rk7C8WiiQPX_vUZtORmAbQIPGaCvZ5uzeL8FzUF9_qgLUmSHGmsuMpxQLD1g/s1600/Stockhausen-001.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stockhausen. Photo: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/may/24/premierleague" target="_blank">The Guardian</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-style: normal;">One
year at UC Davis, we had Stockhausen for a semester, and John Cage
for a semester. During Stockhausen's semester, he couldn't believe
that we were just improvising stuff. He said, “No, you must know
what you're doing. You must have planned this out.” So we're doing
this one concert, and either myself or Larry said “Okay Karlheinz.
</span><i>You</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> pick who goes up
next, and we'll go up and do a piece.” And so [Stockhausen] says,
“Okay: you, you, you and you.” Those four people started to walk
out on stage to do the piece, and he said “Wait, you come back...
and </span><i>you</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> go up!” He
did everything he could think of to make sure that we didn't know
what we were gonna do. And then the group went up and did the piece.
We came back down and Stockhausen said, “You're still lying to me.”
He didn't believe that we were improvising. So the New Music Ensemble
was </span><i>really</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> good at
that. We would give concerts where we would just go there and say,
“First piece; second piece; third piece; fourth piece, etc” and
then whoever wanted to go up and play would do that. By then, we had
such a group mind that we could do that without any problem.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Then after that group, the group Amra/Arma was yet another type of
improv, because I played nothing but electronics in that group. I
played electronic instruments that I designed and built. We had three
drummers and a bass player, and we did these ritual pieces. And that
group went to London in 1972 for the ICES festival. Our concerts were
all-improvised, but it was improvised according to a ritual, sort of
based on Robert E. Howard, the fantasy/science fiction writer, on
things that he said in his books. So we would do this Hyborean
ritual, so to speak.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It all had to do with the drummers interpreting what was coming out
of the electronic things. We would always start the ritual with me
going out on stage in this wizard costume, and slowly patch together
the synths, so that they were playing something. We would set up four
channels of sound so that it would surround the audience. Then the
drummers would join in when they felt it was time to play. So when
you go from the Concert Jazz Quintet at one end, which was doing jazz
songs, and then you get to the New Music Ensemble in the middle,
which was doing free improvisation with kind of a group mind, and you
get the Amra/Arma group on the other end, which was doing these
rituals based on all of these factors which, once set in motion, the
piece is sort of self-determining... it's an interesting journey!</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Can you talk about how you met Larry Austin?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Larry and I go back a long, long ways. I graduated from State college, then I thought I was going to be a school teacher, and I realized, “No I don't like that.” So I went back to playing bars and things like that. When the Concert Jazz Quintet was active, I was starting to write music. So I decided to study composition at UC Davis, where Larry taught. And that's where we met.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>What did you learn from him?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihuqNfOWM20kGm5fjZ9RgDCPgJ51WkiYNNjIiKlHlUuKGVzv6yH-r3qVfrcag76GfzfMtp-xpciNXphyUCxjTjih5_V9EL16Kr2romdxl8kVNmst6szYjG83x-XL1BH13Mcbq-EsMOguI/s1600/3775102285_a0d4490556.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihuqNfOWM20kGm5fjZ9RgDCPgJ51WkiYNNjIiKlHlUuKGVzv6yH-r3qVfrcag76GfzfMtp-xpciNXphyUCxjTjih5_V9EL16Kr2romdxl8kVNmst6szYjG83x-XL1BH13Mcbq-EsMOguI/s1600/3775102285_a0d4490556.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Larry Austin. Photo: <a href="http://issueprojectroom.org/artist/larry-austin" target="_blank">Issue Project Room</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Oh, a lot. Our families were very close together; we got fellowships at SUNY Buffalo, and Larry and his family and our family went there. We lived in Buffalo, and Larry's family lived on the other side of the river in Canada. All we had to do in the fellowship was write music and get it performed. So we worked together a lot. We would discover things together about composition and such. Like that piece of mine, <i>Spider Song</i>: I was into comic books at the time, hence the Spiderman aspect... the idea was, since Larry and I worked together so much, our communication was really good. So the idea of the piece was that on stage, we would write this piece, multi-track record it, and give a performance. That was the whole piece. Before we ever did it, I explained the piece to Jeff Karl, who was one of the Amra/Arma drummers, and he illustrated how it was supposed to work. So the part that's in SOURCE was actually the first realization of the piece: it was realized first as a comic book.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We did it at one of the small concert halls of Carnegie Hall, and Larry and I wrote a piece called <i>Carnegie Hall, </i>with real corny lyrics like “Carnegie Hall, we're havin' a ball,” and all that sort of stuff. While the piece was being written on stage, we had slide and movie projections of Larry and I writing the piece as well. So it was like a time-travel thing, because you saw us in various guises: we were really there, and were slides and movies of us doing the piece. And then we had Jan Williams, who was one of the fine percussionists in the Buffalo Philharmonic, and also taught at the school... he went out into the audience and get a row of ten people, bring them up on stage, and say “Okay, Stan's going to try to do the drum part, and Larry's going to do the bass part...” and he'd take everyone back and bring another row up and explain to them what was going on. So it took place in and out of time.<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Larry was gone on sabbatical for a year. Did Stockhausen and Cage replace him?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
No, he was there when Cage and Stockhausen were there. Larry went to Italy on a fellowship for a year. There are two records that the NME made; the second record was made at the time that Larry was in Italy. The NME at that point didn't have much of the craziness that it had when Larry was there. Then when Larry came back, it got crazy again.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>What kind of musical influence was he to the group?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Well, Larry was the one who would try anything. He wasn't held back by convention. Not that anybody else was; but a lot of times you are and you don't realize it, and it takes someone like Larry to point it out. He was the one who would break the barrier. Whereas other people would be a little more careful.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>What do you remember about Billie Alexander?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Well that's Art's wife: Pat Woodbury. She was a good jazz singer. Larry and I, Art and Pat had a band where I would play drums or vibes, Larry would play bass, Art would play piano, and Pat would sing.<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEoKzRz0S6Dbl1e7i6y7iBhr3okQWxEK46amEIKWqo8zpx0OPlCFGyRKMuNFMhSfaZMTlIUYl3oGkH3H1Xg4oE8klLP9y0YZSp1FJfwxn70Vby85vKRPbsyFpYzGy7VDTR0HhyphenhyphenSg6_L0k/s1600/628x471.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEoKzRz0S6Dbl1e7i6y7iBhr3okQWxEK46amEIKWqo8zpx0OPlCFGyRKMuNFMhSfaZMTlIUYl3oGkH3H1Xg4oE8klLP9y0YZSp1FJfwxn70Vby85vKRPbsyFpYzGy7VDTR0HhyphenhyphenSg6_L0k/s1600/628x471.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Swift. Photo:<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Richard-Swift-composer-UC-Davis-professor-2526296.php" target="_blank"> SF Gate</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Can you talk about studying with Richard Swift?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Richard Swift was much more academic, but a really marvelous person. There was this group of performers who made up the New Music Ensemble who<b> </b>were all composers in one sense or another. Dick played piano, I played percussion, Larry played bass and trumpet, Art Woodbury and Wayne Johnson played various woodwinds, and Pat Woodbury sang, and Robert Bloch played violin. That was the basic group. Jon Gibson was in it for a time, as was John Mizelle. Both of them are pretty well-known as new music people. Dick was always the more academic person, but he was a wonderful improviser. He didn't play jazz, but he was a good improviser.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
One time we went to San Francisco to go see Miles Davis' group. Cannonball Adderly was in it at the time. My wife and I, with Dick, we went into the club; Cannonball sees Dick, and we didn't know this, but he and Dick had been in the Army together. Cannonball is not, what you would call a quiet person, and he's a big dude. He puts his saxophone down, runs off the stage, picks Dick up and swings him around in circles. I guess he hadn't seen him in a long time! It was a completely different side of Dick than you would see in the University where he was “Professor Swift”.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Like I said, the New Music Ensemble was a real family.</div>
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>How did the NME transition from an improvising group to a group that played new compositions?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Well, Larry and I and Pat were doing dance and combo gigs, and I'm not sure when the NME became what it was. John Mizelle and myself were both studying composition. We were the composition master's degree guys. So Jon and I got composition lessons from Larry, from Dick Swift, from Jerome Rosen, from Stockhausen, from John Cage. But I was also part-time faculty at the time. So we were working together at all sorts of things. We would get together practice improvising, like “Let's do a 30-second piece.” And we'd go back and listen to it and say “My god, it was a minute-and-a-half!” Or, “Let's do an avoidance piece” where you try to play when no one else was playing. Or, “Let's try and do a piece where we all play together at the same time, and then there's silences.” We had all sorts of exercises like that that we were doing. We all learned all sorts of things like that.</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Could you talk
about your studies with John Cage?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Well
that year at UC Davis when we had Stockhausen for a semester and Cage
for a semester, we had David Tudor for </span><i>both</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
semesters. I had a lot of time with David because he's such a
marvelous person. Wonderful piano player. We did pieces by
Stockhausen and pieces by Cage. When Karlheinz was teaching the
composition classes, it was almost like a charicature of what people
think Germans are like! Everything was really complicated, and he
nailed down everything about everything, detailed notes, this and
that... Cage's classes were just the opposite. We talked about a lot
of things. He has this one piece called </span><i>Water Music</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
which is for piano. It's not hard to do the piano part. The art
department (which was next to the music department) was going to
flood this one room in the building and then have it be a water art
display. So when John found out about this, he said “Ooh, Stan! Do
you want to go do the </span><i>Water Music</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
piece? We can take one of the old uprights in the music building...”
and I said “Yeah, let's do it!” And the music department said,
“No no no, we don't want to damage the piano.” So we didn't get
to do it.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A few days later, they were going to have a concert in Cage's honor
at the music department. A noon concert, not a big deal. Before the
concert, John and I were having a cup of coffee next to the creek,
and I said, “Hey, shouldn't we be getting over to the concert in
your honor?” Cage said, “They wouldn't let us do the piano piece,
so I'm not going to go to their concert.” And then he laughed. He
was a wonderful teacher; he had all sorts of ways of looking at things
that other people didn't think of.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">At
that same time, we were doing SOURCE magazine, and we published the
silence piece [</span><i>4'33''</i><span style="font-style: normal;">].
I was in charge of that portion of the magazine, so I talked to him a
lot about the silence piece. People don't really understand the
silence piece; people always do versions of it that are really not
what the piece was meant to be.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhClTk-0jUv7l9ONQ4QY8TbgICUYc9YpVR9HIVdklXuEnt-LnIpYX89TqgdNVfCHWF282mGMmIJSJv1QjeT3IdJbzgD3-BGsw5tJuSyOOnSREOe6bSP13_0he5HGFgFwOIpOFJZ1eeLL4g/s1600/Cage_433_3-1200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhClTk-0jUv7l9ONQ4QY8TbgICUYc9YpVR9HIVdklXuEnt-LnIpYX89TqgdNVfCHWF282mGMmIJSJv1QjeT3IdJbzgD3-BGsw5tJuSyOOnSREOe6bSP13_0he5HGFgFwOIpOFJZ1eeLL4g/s1600/Cage_433_3-1200.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Performance instructions (left) and page 1 (right) of Cage's <i>4'33''</i>.<br />
Full score available at <a href="http://hyperallergic.com/85779/the-original-john-cage-433-in-proportional-notation-19521953/" target="_blank">Hyperallergic</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>To you, what is
the silence piece about?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Well,
he points out that in a Rachmaninoff concerto, near the end of the
piece, when the pianist has this big ol' honking cadenza, and then
when the cadenza finishes and he lifts his hands up in the air to
bring the orchestra back in... there's this moment of silence there
that's really tense, and it's part of the music. Then the orchestra
comes back in and “bango!” The silence is essential to the music.
What John wanted to do in the silence piece is to articulate silence,
but not with sound. Everyplace else in music, sound articulates the
silence. If there's silence in a piece of music, it's articulated by
sound on either end. So the silence piece is 4'33'' of silence, and
there are three specific-length silences in that four minutes and
thirty-three seconds. They are separated by unmeasured lengths of
silence. So between the first two silences, there's a silence that's
unmeasured. So how do you articulate the end of the first silence,
the beginning of the second, and the one in between? I think what
John liked about things like that is, “Yeah, how </span><i>do </i><span style="font-style: normal;">you
do that?”</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
David Tudor used to perform the piece with two stopwatches: one for
the total length and one to measure the individual silences. Then he
would silently open and shut the keyboard cover of the piano, to
articulate the silences. Then people got into hearing what was in the
silences... but still, trying to find a way to articulate the silence
without sound hasn't yet been solved.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The version of
the score in SOURCE seems to be lesser-known.</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Right:
the one published in SOURCE is </span><i>the </i><span style="font-style: normal;">original
one. I may be mistaken, but what I've always remembered, he sent it
to someone as a birthday greeting. That's exactly what it looked
like. The original score was duplicated in SOURCE magazine.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Can you talk
about the relationship between improvisation and composed elements in
your work?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We all (at least Larry and I) tried to include improvisation into
what we wrote. For instance, I wrote an orchestra piece that the
Philharmonic here did, and it had all sorts of things in it that were
improvisatory in nature, even though the overall piece was
more-or-less through composed. But there would be things like,
telling the trumpet player “If the flute player is playing
something soft, try to drown it out.” Or, “Play a bunch of fast
notes, but avoid Eb.” Or things like that, that would give people a
task that was improvisatory in nature but would be controlled in
certain ways. In Larry's piece for three jazz soloists and symphony
orchestra, we had lots of stuff that was written, but also places
where we could improvise.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>When did you start building electronics?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Probably in the mid-60's. I couldn't afford a Moog or a Buchla, or things like that. Here in Sacramento, there was this nice old guy who had an electronics surplus store. Bud Kocher was his name. His store was in this shack on Franklin Blvd. He had all kinds of stuff: resistors, capacitors, transistors, and chips of all sorts. I don't know where he got them, but a lot of them were unidentifiable. He would sit there behind his counter and [classify them]: “Oh, this is an up-down counter. Oh, this is a ...” Things that he had figured out, you could get for a buck; things that he hadn't figured out, you could get a handful for a buck. So I would get stuff from him.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE175fjbC-8GMg11j3uOwKbPQ55m4Bc-ikTDBrVCtcK0DcaEniR6TPAjhFOkUZZfbLQmGFA20-JTq8QrrtvKwWqGYFfE2hZqSUtk5dVaVGHX4z22Jcer-XDe1Obh54idedwWjRwpkQ-qI/s1600/P2160126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE175fjbC-8GMg11j3uOwKbPQ55m4Bc-ikTDBrVCtcK0DcaEniR6TPAjhFOkUZZfbLQmGFA20-JTq8QrrtvKwWqGYFfE2hZqSUtk5dVaVGHX4z22Jcer-XDe1Obh54idedwWjRwpkQ-qI/s1600/P2160126.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunetta with one of his synthesizers. <br />
Photo: <a href="http://timetestedbooks.blogspot.com/2013/08/august-sacramento-living-library-stan.html" target="_blank">Time-Tested Books</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I started out making an oscillator, then a ring modulator, then I got more into the digital stuff. If you Google “Lunetta Synths”, you find all sorts of people who have carried this thing on; now they know more about this stuff than I do. But they're all called “Lunettas”, which is... nice. People make all sorts of versions of the stuff that I did. I've still got all the stuff, although I don't really use it. And some of them, like the cube thing that I built, which was a really good synthesizer, but now I look at it and thing, “Hm, I wonder what that switch does.” Unless you keep up with it, you don't remember. And since nothing is labelled... I took it apart and tried to figure out what everything was, but it was pretty much a failure. But it still works! It still makes noises.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>So for the Amra/Arma shows, would you have machines like that playing independently, and the group would improvise based on whatever these machines happened to do?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sort of. What would happen is that I would have this big wall of boxes which all would make various sets of sounds, including this one obelisk that looks kind of like the Transamerica building in San Francisco (except I made this before that building, so I didn't copy the building.) I would start sounds going, and once certain things got underway, that would set the tone for what would go on after that. We would have segments where there would be fixed things: “Okay, when we get here, we're gonna do this kind of thing. When we get there, we're gonna do this kind of thing.” But not anything really specific. One section would be rhythmic, another arhythmic, things of that sort.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
At the start, maybe I would get a little sequence of tones from the back-left speaker, and it would echo to the front-right speaker, then I would make something else come out of the others, until there was enough happening for one of the drummers to decide, “Okay that's enough, I can add to that.”</div>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Who else played
with Amra/Arma?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
That was myself, Ken Horton, Kurt Bischoff, and his brother Karl.
Kurt's son, Jerrich Bischoff, is making a name for himself. Then Jeff
Karl, who has passed on; he was the cartoonist. It was a close-knit
group. Both Kurt and Ken were students of mine, and Jeff was a
student of mine. So it was three of my students, a bass player, and
me. But at that point they had all progressed beyond being students,
and were colleagues.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9mRDc-acp4v9GAqz71OHsGtyvpKLr0dRo1SfWLuORtg43aSwGCbwwfxEoJ5kkjLBhCRI3iGckQCreB3UwdahdeNehuqxBJ4xpBu6FHO9bRGBKJsQAA94oYJOHxp76_RArLzvO6rknAkI/s1600/tumblr_ml7tc7h7Ry1s960fro1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9mRDc-acp4v9GAqz71OHsGtyvpKLr0dRo1SfWLuORtg43aSwGCbwwfxEoJ5kkjLBhCRI3iGckQCreB3UwdahdeNehuqxBJ4xpBu6FHO9bRGBKJsQAA94oYJOHxp76_RArLzvO6rknAkI/s1600/tumblr_ml7tc7h7Ry1s960fro1_1280.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poster for ICES. Thanks to <a href="http://johncagehpschd.tumblr.com/post/48116279332/one-of-the-more-storied-performances-of-hpschd" target="_blank">HPSCHD</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Did Amra/Arma
make any records?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">No.
On my website, there's a little recording. It sort of reached its
peak when we did that trip to London in 1972 at the ICES festival,
which just had its 40</span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;">th</span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;">
anniversary. That festival was really crazy because it was put on by
Harvey Matuso. Harvey testified before Congress and said “Yeah this
guy's a commie, this guy's a commie...” and he called all these
people commies back in the McCarthy era. Then after he caused all
sorts of trouble, he put out a book that said, “Haha, I was lying
all along.” So, not a real reputable character. He was married to
Charlotte Moorman, an English composer, who was famous for burning
pianos, or pushing pianos off the top of buildings, things like that.
So they put on the ICES Festival, International Carnival of
Experimental Sound. Just about </span><i>everybody</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
was at that. Stockhausen was there, Cage was there, all these people
had their pieces played. Charlotte Moorman was there, she played a
cello made out of ice while she was naked. There was an article in
WIRED magazine about the ICES Festival anniversary. That was the last
big thing that Amra/Arma did; I think after that, we stopped playing,
went on to other things.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
For us to play at ICES, I had to bring all of my electronic gear. I
couldn't just go there and borrow some synths. Getting them back from
England, we got off the plane in Toronto, got the equipment, put it
in the car, and drove it to the United States through Detroit. The
guy at the border said, “US citizens?” We said “Yeah.” “How
long have you been in Canada?” We said, “Eh, a couple hours.”
He said, “Okay, go on through.” Inside the car was all this
bizarre electronic equipment. Nowadays it wouldn't get past any
border!</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Did you have
contact with the San Francisco composers, like Pauline Oliveros, when you
were at UC Davis?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yeah. Pauline and Mort Subotnick, and Ramon Sender. Yeah, Ramon is
famous for figuring out how to get certain music programs to work on
the Mac in the early days. And Don Buchla was there; I think the
original Buchla synthesizers are still at Mills College.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But yeah, the San Francisco Tape Music Center: we had a definite
connection with them. At that time, it was called the Tape Music
Center, because all the electronic music people were doing there was
on tape: manipulating tape! In one room there were all these tape
recorders, so you could go from the first one to the eighth one, and
do time delay, looping stuff back on itself, splicing tape in
different ways... Their stuff eventually moved on to Mills College.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I think Pauline is still kickin', her website is still up. I did hear
something from Subotnick a long time ago. Where Ramon Sender went, I
don't know.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Were the
recordings of Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry influential to you and
the members of the Concert Jazz Quintet?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yeah, definitely. People like that opened things up, like “Oh! You
can do that!” Of all the jazz people that were happening then, the
most influential to me was Thelonious Monk. He was so outside of
everything else; he was the one that I really admired. Nowadays, if
someone is interested in whatever's going on, you don't get to go see
it. I used to play at nightclubs here in Sacramento, and we'd take a
break and the cook left some food out that the musicians might get,
and if you go to the Jazz Workshop, you see Thelonious do the same
thing.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
One time, Miles' group was playing. It was a slow night, Miles wasn't
even playing, he was just sitting at the bar, drinking a glass of
champaign. This was before he got into the next stage: he was still
wearing a suit and tie, and being very elegant. Philly Joe Jones was
playing drums. Miles decided, “Well nobody's gonna be here” so he
left. Then Philly Joe said to me, “Okay well, Miles is gone. You
wanna sit in?” So I got to sit in with JJ Johnson, and that time
Wayne Shorter. When Miles was there, Wayne never got to solo, because
he hadn't learned the ropes yet or whatever.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>One of my
favorite records from the period is Thelonious Monk Live at the
Blackhawk, 1960.</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yes!</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Were you at that
show?</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Might have been. We saw him there then, yeah. It was interesting to
watch Thelonious play, because there were lots of things that he did
that were just so... I don't know whether he was a savant or not ...
he sure did some neat things.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>I wish I could
have seen him play.</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Yeah.
That's why I say, maybe you could only see these people at a big-deal
kind of concert. Although... the English group Gentle Giant... the
guitar player and the bass player from that group were doing a van
tour, playing up and down the West coast, stopping in various cities.
Not necessarily big cities. They stopped in Sacramento, and played at
this relatively small club. It cost ten bucks to get in, they did a
whole set, they did all sorts of really neat stuff. And that doesn't
happen enough anymore.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQOeCM4AkgA0q7D2tuwhC_7y3tVB9eP_ZrEARnCWN50LYnVgHzERcKPM7M2h4zFO-YEFoIUqehO2FsVEiLKzTSXaceSy-16mSE0POsNUm4X3ST6qhZ2nIqjrXxfJ9Ilj0X8DzUiXb9ks/s1600/Stanley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQOeCM4AkgA0q7D2tuwhC_7y3tVB9eP_ZrEARnCWN50LYnVgHzERcKPM7M2h4zFO-YEFoIUqehO2FsVEiLKzTSXaceSy-16mSE0POsNUm4X3ST6qhZ2nIqjrXxfJ9Ilj0X8DzUiXb9ks/s1600/Stanley.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Lunetta in 2005; photo by <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/File:Stanley.jpg" target="_blank">Noisebridge</a></span></div>
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;"></span><br />
<a href="http://moosack.net/" target="_blank">Lunetta's website</a> contains a wealth of information about his past projects, including newspaper clippings and rare photographs. Drop by for a visit!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-27426417855554185812013-09-14T18:25:00.005-07:002021-03-04T22:36:27.949-08:00Lennie Tristano - What's Wrong With The Beboppers<style type="text/css"></style>
<br />
In the late 1940's, Lennie Tristano was receiving roughly similar commercial success as the young trumpeter Miles Davis. <span style="font-size: 100%;">He was performing on major radio shows, winning awards from magazines, and was recording for Capitol records.</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> For more about Tristano in this period, read my <a href="http://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2011/06/free-improvisation-lennie-tristano.html" target="_blank">previous article</a> about his innovative <i>Intuition</i> and <i>Digression</i> recordings.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">In 1947, Tristano was named “Musician of
the Year” by Metronome magazine, and was invited to write two articles
for the monthly periodical. </span>These articles were critiques of modern jazz, one describing the pros and one describing the cons of the "bebop" movement. In the first article, "What's Wrong with the Beboppers", Tristano criticizes those who thoughtlessly copycat the style and mannerisms of Dizzy Gillespie and others.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: large;">What's Wrong With The Beboppers</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>a great musician analyzes, defines and questions</b></span></div>
<br />
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">by Lennie Tristano</span></div>
<br />
BEBOP is a definite step forward in the art of jazz. As with any
art form, this progress has met with multiple and varied opposition.
Jazz has not yet found acceptance with the American public; and
bebop, an advanced and complex outgrowth of that jazz, exists
precariously above the uncomprehending ears of the average person.
But it is the musicians themselves, the vendors of jazz, who in many
cases make their own lives difficult. The protagonists of Dixieland
regard bebop as a war-time fad. However, the supercilious attitude
and lack of originality of the young hipsters constitute no less a
menace to the existence of bebop.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwdx6wfgn_DJVN14AEJLCMVS5Mdi8SrN2tPuwstmhsDbIYSWoSdNYN5Z-5vOJU6boZo4b4QGxZL8y3wM1HiXA8OFYYSiFM3N5KB_wUtMDM5iGgF3eeGy1XsM3tzU2Wb-NafYKzswYjqJY/s1600/stilyagi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwdx6wfgn_DJVN14AEJLCMVS5Mdi8SrN2tPuwstmhsDbIYSWoSdNYN5Z-5vOJU6boZo4b4QGxZL8y3wM1HiXA8OFYYSiFM3N5KB_wUtMDM5iGgF3eeGy1XsM3tzU2Wb-NafYKzswYjqJY/s320/stilyagi.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An approximation of Tristano's pseudo-hip bopper. <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=9v3niDPOhqClGM&tbnid=4_tKhPVj94iqlM:&ved=0CAQQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fborderland-chronicles.com%2Fcategory%2Frussia&ei=XAo1UsTeK-Su2QXqvIEQ&psig=AFQjCNHQyyeir-7UCMRi8B_ysBx5h_cyPw&ust=1379293839104966" target="_blank">Source</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These young boppers spend most of their time acquiring pseudo-hip
affectations instead of studying and analyzing modern jazz with the
aim of contributing something original to it. A typical manifestation
peculiar to them is their <i>effort</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
to appear completely relaxed. Sitting implies muscular tension, so
they slouch. They don't walk; they amble—with a delayed beat. They
gaze indifferently at the uninitiate through drooping lids,
muttering, “It's cool, Daddy-o.”</span><br />
<br />
There is an unfortunate belief that to
play like the great jazzmen, you must live like them. Close
examination might reveal that the productivity of these creative
minds has often been stagnated by self-destructive habits.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ8yZNyFR13fQ-Jphb4Ah8qnFEQ3qNGhPu1BVKwi94gsMsSbTM3EGgEyecM4FJuNPqnjulshYE0_igY0oyZRtXT6q9ud3gHQIQ0kaV5TsWwpoJ3htdJZ8Ost_2l-jH9tG1bEQKowtSL8M/s1600/MI0002748978.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ8yZNyFR13fQ-Jphb4Ah8qnFEQ3qNGhPu1BVKwi94gsMsSbTM3EGgEyecM4FJuNPqnjulshYE0_igY0oyZRtXT6q9ud3gHQIQ0kaV5TsWwpoJ3htdJZ8Ost_2l-jH9tG1bEQKowtSL8M/s320/MI0002748978.jpg" width="312" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Dizzy" Gillespie</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Artistically the situation is just as
deplorable. These little monkey-men of music steal note for note the
phrases of the master of the new idiom, John Birks “Dizzy”
Gillespie. Their endless repetition of these phrases makes living in
their midst like fighting one's way through a nightmare in which
bebop pours out of the walls, the heavens, and the coffeepot. Most
boppers contribute nothing to the idiom. Whether they play drums,
saxophone, piano, trombone, or glockenspiel, it still comes out
Gillespie. Dizzy probably thinks he's in a house of mirrors; but, in
spite of this barrage of dead echoes, he still sounds great. They
manage to steal some of his notes, but his soul stays on the record.<br />
<br />
A better approach for boppers would
consist of studying, then analyzing the idiom. This would determine
its harmonic structure, unique inflections, and phraseology. The next
step is the use of these components in improvisation. Since
lightness, fleetness, and facility are attributes of modern jazz,
they should be integrated with originality and knowledge to form an
expression which may be similar in style but different according to
individual personalities. Even the phraseology may be utilized if it
is done with inventiveness rather than through plagiarism.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6nsQ_xZNGxj098LUR95kXOJXGykwlaQWB6nFYwghMWw5Y3w1bDRZBTT66zItifidY9cjKRIhgfMWZDh5S-2E4fEUKA6kos5EAQNi2927_P6RZprwlJFznoSLfPk-BD5ZZ8ZlwfWmWcBc/s1600/black-history-1947-Charlie-Parker-Miles-Davis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6nsQ_xZNGxj098LUR95kXOJXGykwlaQWB6nFYwghMWw5Y3w1bDRZBTT66zItifidY9cjKRIhgfMWZDh5S-2E4fEUKA6kos5EAQNi2927_P6RZprwlJFznoSLfPk-BD5ZZ8ZlwfWmWcBc/s320/black-history-1947-Charlie-Parker-Miles-Davis.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and others. <a href="http://hearingvoices.com/news/covers/black-history-month/black-history-1947-charlie-parker-miles-davis/" target="_blank">Source</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A fashion of present-day erudition is
the procedure of pigeon-holing. People and things are divided and
sub-divided and placed in groups, classes, and categories.
Accordingly, this idiom had to be labeled. It was tagged “bebop.”
For the purpose of identification and articulate discussion, this
labeling is helpful if not accurate. It must be understood that bebop
is diametrically opposed to the jazz that preceded it (swing as
applied to large groups, and Dixieland as applied to small ones).
Swing was hot, heavy, and loud. Bebop is cool, light, and soft. The
former bumped and chugged along like a beat locomotive; this was
known in some quarters as drive. The latter has a more subtle beat
which becomes more pronounced by implication. At this low volume
level many interesting and complex accents may be introduced
effectively. The phraseology is next in importance because every note
is governed by the underlying beat. This was not true of swing; for
example, the long arpeggios which were executed with no sense of
time, the prolonged tremolos, and the sustained scream notes.<br />
<br />
There are many people who refuse to
let jazz grow beyond their capacity to hear and understand it. There
are others whose response to jazz is so completely emotional that
they are unwilling to concede the aesthetic and intellectual progress
that is demonstrated in bebop. There is a group of critics whose
inability to understand and discuss bebop forces them to cling
violently to the old familiar patterns. This is the most difficult
group to combat in the battle to educate the public. They prove their
vulgar and unintelligent approach by the innocuous patter they
inflict on the trade papers. The musicians who refuse to yield to the
new are a little less objectionable since a feeling of security forms
such an important part of any man's existence. On the other hand, if
these same musicians deny the validity and the necessity of progress,
then they must be ruthlessly disregarded.<br />
<br />
Jazz will eventually become an art
form which will be taken seriously by those hitherto unappreciative
of it. It will not be held back by the dancing public, profaned by
the deified critics, or restricted in its growth by its poor
imitators, even when they imitate jazz at its best.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
----------------------------------------</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I'll make another post soon, when I have access to the second article, "What's Right with the Beboppers". To make sure you see the post when it's made, make sure to subscribe to this blog. </div>
Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001315899878121849.post-1477377454264382032013-07-03T11:23:00.005-07:002022-08-01T23:23:17.439-07:00Free Improvisation Series: Stuff Smith & Robert Crum (part two)<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><b>Part Two: Two Souls Touch - The Robert
Crum / Stuff Smith Collaboration</b></span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">(<a href="https://mattendahl.blogspot.com/2013/06/free-improvisation-series-robert-crum.html">Read Part One here</a>)</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> In October 1944 Robert Crum
began an innovative collaboration with the violinist Stuff Smith.
Smith (Sept. 14, 1909 – Sept. 25, 1967) was a popular jazz musician
and would become of the most influential violinists in jazz history.
By the 1940's he was well-known and respected, and something of a
music industry darling. He played Alphonso Trent's territory band
on-and-off from late 1927 until 1931.<sup><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote16sym" name="sdfootnote16anc"><sup>16</sup></a></sup>
He played with Jelly Roll Morton for a brief period in 1928. After
marrying, he settled for a time in Buffalo, NY. In 1936, he had a hit
recording with <i>I'se a Muggin'</i>, and worked steadily at the Onyx
Club in New York City. Smith played with Fats Waller's band and
travelled to Hollywood, CA for several months in 1943. Smith returned
to New York in August 1944 for a stint at the Onyx Club.<sup><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote17sym" name="sdfootnote17anc"><sup>17</sup></a></sup></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><sup><sup> </sup></sup><sup>
</sup></span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> Prior
to his move to New York, Smith had played a steady gig at Chicago's
Garrick Stage Bar. Smith and Crum met during this period, and the two are
known to have played together at the Hamilton Hotel's Sunday
afternoon jam sessions in the summer of 1943. In a Billboard article,
Crum and Smith are given mention in a long list of other
participants, including Muggsy Spanier and Baby Dodds.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote18sym" name="sdfootnote18anc"><sup>18</sup></a>
(There is a photograph from the Otto Flückiger collection which
shows Smith and Crum sharing the bandstand.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote19sym" name="sdfootnote19anc"><sup>19</sup></a>)</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ3okdCf6HioiMGRbxCC3GgAFRNheAzO-p2sbrhfM9X3dVaruqvbVII0wJEZIZQxtFxJaXAWIBVBbk87WH6BaQaXLog3tdIReK10juCgfDi0eZxEUaDtgYxw3seGN2Vr9bZjM0bIKI8G0/s1600/redjam.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ3okdCf6HioiMGRbxCC3GgAFRNheAzO-p2sbrhfM9X3dVaruqvbVII0wJEZIZQxtFxJaXAWIBVBbk87WH6BaQaXLog3tdIReK10juCgfDi0eZxEUaDtgYxw3seGN2Vr9bZjM0bIKI8G0/s1600/redjam.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crum on-stage
(left) with Smith (right) at Chicago's Garrick Stage Bar. Photograph
from the Otto Flückiger collection; used by permission of Robert Campbell and the <a href="http://myweb.clemson.edu/~campber/rsrf.html" target="_blank">Red Saunders Research Foundation</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">Smith and Crum made at least three visits to the apartment of Timme Rosenkrantz and Inez
Cavanaugh in 1944: one on October 21</span><sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">st</span></sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">,
and one each on December 16</span><sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">
and 18</span><sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote20sym" name="sdfootnote20anc"><sup>20</sup></a> Like the recordings that became Erroll Garner's <i>Overture to Dawn, </i>the music that Smith and Crum played at these visits was experimental and very different from publicly-performed jazz of that period. In the words of Dr. Billy Taylor, it was “exciting, adventurous jazz, but very much ahead of its time.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote21sym" name="sdfootnote21anc"><sup>21</sup></a> Most of
the pieces from the October session do not appear to follow any
repeating or linear structure at all. They begin with brief
melodic or harmonic sketches, then trail off into improvised
counterpoint. Crum and Smith's level of invention and empathy is
impressive and engaging. Portions of harmonic commonality and
beautiful lyricism give way to moments of abstract association,
where the musical fabric threatens to unravel completely. But fear is
always abated, as the Smith and Crum skillfully connect to another
segment of music with taste, inevitability, and often humor.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyDTZPBQsmA36Asj2-ruQ1ozdZn5C_ETSfY0qTa4Si7tXp8-jpCi0rfb0kZuWXx4iMjFVXNqRAODBVEDriqL8kTOAXdFMA2cEoVhrIQFqpTy61b0nN_jOLKYGk-KgrpddiGCTQX0czdXM/s973/pedersen.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyDTZPBQsmA36Asj2-ruQ1ozdZn5C_ETSfY0qTa4Si7tXp8-jpCi0rfb0kZuWXx4iMjFVXNqRAODBVEDriqL8kTOAXdFMA2cEoVhrIQFqpTy61b0nN_jOLKYGk-KgrpddiGCTQX0czdXM/s320/pedersen.jpg" width="230" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harmonica player Pete Pedersen. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">Crum had experimented with this
type of freely-associative playing before. During his Chicago years, Crum played regularly with Pete Pedersen, who would
later become famous as a member of Jerry Murad's Harmonicats, who remembered their collaborations fondly: “We would make up songs together. We were
never booked to do this … but we'd say 'Give us a story' and we'd
make a song to it … He would play piano, I would play harmonica and
we'd just improvise.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote22sym" name="sdfootnote22anc"><sup>22</sup></a>
(Interestingly, P</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">ederson
also knew Smith in Chicago, and remembers that “[Smith] would show
me licks and things, and that's how I got started. That was the first
person I ever heard that really put an influence on me.”)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote23sym" name="sdfootnote23anc"><sup>23</sup></a></span></span><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote23sym" name="sdfootnote23anc"></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote23sym" name="sdfootnote23anc"><sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><i></i></span></sup></a></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> The Crum/Smith collaboration
would have been significant even if these Rosenkrantz apartment
sessions were the end of the story. But as it happened, a major
effort was undertaken to publicly present their musical innovations.
In December 1944, Barry Ulanov organized the first of a series of
concerts at New York's Times Hall, which were to present “The New
Jazz”. This “First Series” featured headliners Pearl Bailey,
Barney Bigard, Erroll Garner and Stuff Smith. Don Byas and Red Norvo
were also featured. The concert was organized with assistance from
Rosenkrantz, Cavanaugh, and Paul Rosen (about whom I know nothing).</span><sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote24sym" name="sdfootnote24anc"><sup>24</sup></a></span></sup></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipW6eo6PEHY48-C9u29gURY-x2Av9yPh60_JlgZjJ2TKF5woK66rcxoskXc3Atl6DUCE0ch8_3vnOW4r6Ny11DnWOfHiqXUKeSm1jh6T-Y7j7jPYs32e0cjkCTOMlYnAnPjMXdj5FiKWc/s1600/ViewMagazine1.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipW6eo6PEHY48-C9u29gURY-x2Av9yPh60_JlgZjJ2TKF5woK66rcxoskXc3Atl6DUCE0ch8_3vnOW4r6Ny11DnWOfHiqXUKeSm1jh6T-Y7j7jPYs32e0cjkCTOMlYnAnPjMXdj5FiKWc/s320/ViewMagazine1.png" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An advertisement for the December 20th 1944 Times Hall concert.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">The concert was arranged under
the auspices of <i>View: the Modern Magazine</i>, a quarterly periodical,
specializing in modern art, film and literature.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote25sym" name="sdfootnote25anc"><sup>25</sup></a>
Ulanov, who was also the editor of <i>Metronome</i> magazine, contributed a
column to each issue called “Jazz Of This Quarter”. (Ulanov would
be a significant proponent of Lennie Tristano's career a few years
later.) The impressive list of concert patrons and sponsors boasted
many prominent artists and philanthropists, including millionaires
Mary Cushing and Helena Rubenstein, ballet choreographer George de
Cuevas, sculptor Alexander Calder, composer Aaron Copland, artist
Marcel Duchamp, and many others.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote26sym" name="sdfootnote26anc"><sup>26</sup></a>
By all accounts, it was a major undertaking: certainly the highest
profile concert to date that Robert Crum had participated in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> In the evening's concert notes,
Ulanov provided the following description of the duo pieces to be played by Smith and Crum:
“Should [these] improvisations be confined to jazz? In a series of
deliberations, first canonic, then less rigorously formal, the
violinist with the jazz background, the pianist with a classical,
offer a provocative answer, as they extend the resources of the
improviser to those of all music.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote27sym" name="sdfootnote27anc"><sup>27</sup></a>
Rather than downplaying Smith and Crum's differing musical
backgrounds, Ulanov drew attention to them, implying that “The New Jazz”
may very well draw more explicitly from other styles of music.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote28sym" name="sdfootnote28anc"><sup>28</sup></a>
A radical departure from traditional jazz, in terms of
instrumentation, style, form, and the <span style="font-size: small;">definitions</span> of
composition/improvisation, a performance of this music at this kind
of event constituted a major statement about the present (and future) state of American music.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> </span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> Although Ulanov wrote a
predictably glowing review of the concert in the March 1945 issue of
<i>View</i>,<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote29sym" name="sdfootnote29anc"><sup>29</sup></a>
most critics expressed skepticism, especially toward Crum. Leonard
Feather wrote, that although “Stuff was superb, unpredictable,
intensely rhythmic as ever … Crum, a frustrated classical pianist,
seemed out of place.”</span><sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote30sym" name="sdfootnote30anc"><sup>30</sup></a></span></sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">
<i>Downbeat</i> writer Frank Stacy called the improvisations “plain
disconcerting”, mentioning Crum's “disturbing nervous [on stage]
mannerisms”. Somewhat in contrast, the <i>Modern Music</i> quarterly wrote
a largely negative review, but noted that “The bright spot in the
[Smith & Crum] improvisation was a bitonal clash of personalities
… Neither would yield, and so the piece ended in a most peculiar
way.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote31sym" name="sdfootnote31anc"><sup>31</sup></a>
Smith's widow Arlene Smith illuminates Stacy's comments, remembering
that Crum was “dressed in formal wear with white tennis shoes which
was pretty strange in those days”.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote32sym" name="sdfootnote32anc"><sup>32</sup></a></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> The opinions of <i>View</i> magazine's
staff and editors is perhaps evident in that for the May issue,
Ulanov's column “Jazz of this Quarter” was taken over by Roger
Pryor Dodge, another well-respected writer of jazz. The year's
remaining two issues feature music articles, written by Lou Harrison
(October 1945) and Wilfred Mellers (December 1945), but there is
scarcely a mention of jazz in either. (Perhaps it's also worth noting
that <i>View</i> printed an advertisement for Ulanov's biography of Duke
Ellington in their December 1945 issue.)</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> Whether Ulanov's departure
from <i>View</i> was amicable or not remains a matter of speculation. He is nearly silent about the concert in his future recollections, but years later, he would
write that Crum's “curious combination of jazz and the classics
never entirely convinced me.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote33sym" name="sdfootnote33anc"><sup>33</sup></a>
Though his own thoughts on the performance are presently unknown,
Crum's discouragement at such negative reviews is palpable. By April
1945 he was back in Chicago working at the Hotel Sherman. Billboard
writer John Sippel wrote that Crum, now using three mirrors instead
of just one, was playing “symphonic jazz interpretations [that are]
too intricate for the average hearer. Crum plays half a chorus
straight and then goes into a wild malange [sic] of introductions and
arpeggios that don't mean much. Crum has affected weird mannerisms
and grimaces to accompany his 88-pounding (and the word is used
literally), but the old Crum who played at Elmer's two years ago
without these new additions was far more preferable.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote34sym" name="sdfootnote34anc"><sup>34</sup></a>
(The following month, Sippel would write that “Crum seems to have found
himself and is doing a nice job of selling from the keyboard.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote35sym" name="sdfootnote35anc"><sup>35</sup></a>) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1kgzSu1ayjxmrJosThad8KUMhluD0rLuaEeWrO1-cHUlHrupXd5YbTYpIS22CUfLjrRqawkBe56ad4qJJE1BQeRBlnU7tS2HgaFahXEKko9mQJFMHjA0z_IvFxPkdzJm5mkrTG4-Se8/s402/Poster+-+Soundies_04.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1kgzSu1ayjxmrJosThad8KUMhluD0rLuaEeWrO1-cHUlHrupXd5YbTYpIS22CUfLjrRqawkBe56ad4qJJE1BQeRBlnU7tS2HgaFahXEKko9mQJFMHjA0z_IvFxPkdzJm5mkrTG4-Se8/s320/Poster+-+Soundies_04.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An advertisement for Soundies. Image from <a href="http://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Summaries/S/Soundies.htm" target="_blank">Doctor Macro</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">Crum returned to New York in
November 1945 to film two Soundies called </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><i>Adventure
in Boogie Woogie</i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> and
</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><i>Our Waltz</i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">.
These were released in April and August the following year</span>.<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote36sym" name="sdfootnote36anc"><sup>36</sup></a></span>
But he continued to work in Chicago and around the midwest. In early
1946 he found some work at the Town House in Albany.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote37sym" name="sdfootnote37anc"><sup>37</sup></a>
In June 1946 he was working at Chicago's Hotel Continental, where he
was reported as going “all out to give his individual impressions
of everything, from the classics to boogie-woogie. His playing is
average or better, but his salemanship is nil.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote38sym" name="sdfootnote38anc"><sup>38</sup></a>
Later that summer he played for three weeks at the Radisson Hotel in
Minneapolis<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote39sym" name="sdfootnote39anc"><sup>39</sup></a>
and also found work at Circus Snack Bar in St. Louis.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote40sym" name="sdfootnote40anc"><sup>40</sup></a>
In mid-September 1946 he recorded six duets with the accomplished
drummer Barrett Deems, which were released by the Chicago label Gold
Seal.<sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote41sym" name="sdfootnote41anc"><sup>41</sup></a></span></sup>
Crum appeared on WNEW radio in December 1946 in an organ/piano duo
with fellow hotel circuit Bud Taylor (b. 1913, d. 1997)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote42sym" name="sdfootnote42anc"><sup>42</sup></a>.<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> In November 1947, Billboard
reported that Crum was “in a hospital for observation”.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote43sym" name="sdfootnote43anc"><sup>43</sup></a>
No more details are offered, and no further information on Crum's
life is known. To the best of current knowledge, Crum seems to have
made no further attempts at a public music career, living a private
life and passing away in Joliet, IL in May 1981.</span><sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote44sym" name="sdfootnote44anc"><sup>44</sup></a></span></sup></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> </span></sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">To
date, Crum is scarcely even a footnote in jazz history. But while
small, the legacy he has left behind is fascinating, and his
influence was perhaps not negligible. In addition to the glowing
description of their music as “ahead of its time”, Dr. Billy
Taylor places Crum alongside Erroll Garner, Bud Powell, and Al Haig as
being a notable pianist from the “Prebop and Bebop” style.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote45sym" name="sdfootnote45anc"><sup>45</sup></a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Garner himself was reportedly very impressed by Crum's playing at the
Times Hall concert, telling him “You know, I never knew what I
wanted to do until I heard you play.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote46sym" name="sdfootnote46anc"><sup>46</sup></a>
</span></span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">The recordings which were made
of the Crum/Smith collaboration have entered the digital age thanks
to <a href="http://www.abar.net/" target="_blank">Anthony Barnett's efforts</a>, but Crum's Gold Seal recordings and
some solo piano recordings from the Rosenkrantz apartment still
remain largely inaccessible </span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> Smith's career continued for
twenty more years until his death in 1967. Today he is regarded as
one of the most influential jazz violinists, working with some of the
most progressive jazz musicians of the 40's, 50's and 60's, playing
formally and informally with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Don
Cherry</span><sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote47sym" name="sdfootnote47anc"><sup>47</sup></a></span></sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">,
and Sun Ra. He was also a great influence on the contemporary
improvising violinists Leroy Jenkins and Billy Bang. From 1965 up to
his death in 1967, he led a quartet which featured pianist Kenny Drew
and bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pederson. A concert in Denmark was
held after his death, in which major violinists Stephane Grappelli
and Jean-Luc Ponty paid tribute to Smith.</span><sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote48sym" name="sdfootnote48anc"><sup>48</sup></a></span></sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;">The recordings of Smith and
Crum's duo improvisations offer glimpses into the private world of
jazz, where the creative process was free from the concerns and
interests of studios and clubs. The music frolics in and out of
tonality, seamlessly transitions from slow and fast sections, and at
every moment shows off the masterful creativity of Smith and Crum, as
they push their own and each other's technical and musical
boundaries.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><b>Footnotes</b> </span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div id="sdfootnote16">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote16anc" name="sdfootnote16sym">16</a> Barnett
1995, 57</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote17">
<div align="LEFT" style="border: medium none; break-after: auto; break-before: auto; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote17anc" name="sdfootnote17sym">17</a> The Billboard, “Music Grapevine”. July 8<sup>th</sup>, 1944, p.
19</span></div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote18">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote18anc" name="sdfootnote18sym">18</a> The
Billboard, “Chi Jam Session Backer Hopes For Early Frost; Hot Jazz
Finds Heat Tough Competish”. August 7<sup>th</sup>, 1943, p. 15</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote19">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote19anc" name="sdfootnote19sym">19</a><a href="http://hubcap.clemson.edu/%7Ecampber/saunders.html"> Red
Saunders Discography</a>. Accessed January 4<sup>th</sup>, 2013.</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote20">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote20anc" name="sdfootnote20sym">20</a> For
more on Timme Rosenkrantz and his role in 1930's and 40's jazz, see
my article about Erroll Garner.</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote21">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote21anc" name="sdfootnote21sym">21</a> Taylor,
Billy. “Jazz Piano.” p. 189</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote22">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote22anc" name="sdfootnote22sym">22</a> Rodack,
Jaine. “Be Of Good Cheer: Memories of Harmonica Legend Pete
Pedersen.” Authorhouse: 2006. p. 56.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote23">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote23anc" name="sdfootnote23sym">23</a> Ibid.</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote24">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote24anc" name="sdfootnote24sym">24</a> Barnett
1995, 123</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote25">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote25anc" name="sdfootnote25sym">25</a> “View:
the Modern Magazine” published between 1940 and 1947. It was
managed by Charles Henri Ford (editor) and Parker Tyler (assoc.
editor). Each issue featured a different contemporary artist:
Georgia O'Keeffe, Marcel Duchamp, and Rene Magritte to name a few.</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote26">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote26anc" name="sdfootnote26sym">26</a> Ford,
Charles Henri. “View – Series IV 1944”. Klaus Reprint: New
York. 1969. p. 107.</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote27">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote27anc" name="sdfootnote27sym">27</a> Quoted
in Barnett 1995, 125-126</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote28" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="border: medium none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.2in; padding: 0in; text-indent: -0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote28anc" name="sdfootnote28sym">28</a> In
doing so, he expresses a view which is prevalent in
contemporary discourse of improvised music. For instance, an
overview of the <a href="http://www.improvisedmusic.org/" target="_blank">International Society for Improvised Music </a>states
that “today’s musical world is increasingly characterized by
creative expressions that transcend conventional style categories.”
Improvisation is, among other things, “spontaneous interaction
between musicians from the most disparate backgrounds[.]”</span></div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote29">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote29anc" name="sdfootnote29sym">29</a><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"> “[The
New Jazz] sounded rich and full and vital, serene and joyful, beyond
my optimum optimism during the weeks of organizing the concert. This
was the way they wanted a jazz concert to go, these jazzmen said …
The Stuff Smith Trio, and individual artists, Erroll Garner, Pearl
Bailey, Don Byas, Robert Crum, were at peak form.” </span>Ulanov,
in <i>View</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, March 1945.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote30">
<div align="LEFT" style="border: medium none; break-after: auto; break-before: auto; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote30anc" name="sdfootnote30sym">30</a>
Quoted in Barnett 1998, 126</span></div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote31">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote31anc" name="sdfootnote31sym">31</a> Mercure,
in Modern Music, vol. 22 no. 2, Jan-Feb 1945, pp. 139-141</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote32">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote32anc" name="sdfootnote32sym">32</a> Barnett 1998, p. 29</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote33">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote33anc" name="sdfootnote33sym">33</a> Barnett 1995, p. 121 </div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote34">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote34anc" name="sdfootnote34sym">34</a> The
Billboard, “Vaudeville Reviews”. April 28<sup>th</sup>, 1945, p.
30</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote35">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote35anc" name="sdfootnote35sym">35</a> The
Billboard, “Night Club Reviews”. May 19<sup>th</sup>, 1945, p.
30</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote36">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote36anc" name="sdfootnote36sym">36</a> Barnett,
1998, p. 58. Soundies were short films of musical pieces, similar to
modern music videos. Music and film were recorded separately,
enabling choreography and cinematic techniques. They were shown in
jukebox-type machines. The first ones were made in 1940. Soundies
had seen a decline in popularity since 1941, and the company would
cease production in late 1946. See MacGillivray and Okuna, 2007.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote37">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote37anc" name="sdfootnote37sym">37</a> The
Billboard, “Off the Cuff”. February 9<sup>th</sup>, 1946, p. 36</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote38">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote38anc" name="sdfootnote38sym">38</a> The
Billboard, “Night Club Reviews”. July 6<sup>th</sup>, 1946, p.
44</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote39">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote39anc" name="sdfootnote39sym">39</a> The
Billboard, “Music – As Written”. July 27<sup>th</sup>, 1946,
p. 22</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote40">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote40anc" name="sdfootnote40sym">40</a> The
Billboard, “In Short”. September 28<sup>th</sup>, 1946, p. 38</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote41">
<div align="LEFT" style="border: medium none; break-after: auto; break-before: auto; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote41anc" name="sdfootnote41sym">41</a>
Campbell & Pruter. “Gold Seal” Available at
<a href="http://hubcap.clemson.edu/%7Ecampber/goldseal.html">http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/goldseal.html</a>
Accessed on 15 July 2012.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote42">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote42anc" name="sdfootnote42sym">42</a> The
Billboard, “WNEW Has Flock Of New Shows To Start After January”.
December 21<sup>st</sup>, 1946, p. 8</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote43">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote43anc" name="sdfootnote43sym">43</a> The
Billboard, “Music – As Written”. November 8<sup>th</sup>,
1947, p. 22</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote44">
<div align="LEFT" style="border: medium none; break-after: auto; break-before: auto; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.14in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote44anc" name="sdfootnote44sym">44</a>
Barnett, 2002</span></div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote45anc" name="sdfootnote45sym">45</a> Taylor,
p. 228</div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote46anc" name="sdfootnote46sym">46</a> Rosenkrantz,
178</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote47anc" name="sdfootnote47sym">47</a>
<span style="font-size: small;">Barnett 1998, 22</span></span></span></div>
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<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3001315899878121849#sdfootnote48anc" name="sdfootnote48sym">48</a> Barnett
1995, 273-274</div>
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Matt Endahlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10062822000994574386noreply@blogger.com0