David Krakauer Photo by Bogdan Krezel, courtesy Aleba Gartner Improvising in Klezmer Music falls basically into two categories. One is the ornamenting of set (traditional or original) melodies. The other is improvising in an open, rhapsodic form—most often the “doina” (a kind of cross between a Rumanian shepherd’s song and cantorial singing). In both instances… Read more »
Russell Peck What’s the only thing better than a performance of a new piece by an American composer? Two performances. And even better – two performances by two different ensembles. How about up to three performances by forty ensembles? That’s what’s happening with Russell Peck’s timpani concerto, Harmonic Rhythm, commissioned by a consortium of more… Read more »
Regina Carter Photo courtesy Verve Music Group The point of improvisation is for it to come off the top of your head. None of my solos are worked out. Even though we play a lot of the same tunes every night and it could get easy to get locked into a comfort zone, you’re working… Read more »
Photo by Lourdes Delgado February 8, 2001 at The Jazz Standard, NYC Members: Ben Allison Frank Kimbrough Ted Nash Michael Blake Ron Horton with Frank J. Oteri Conversation transcribed by Karyn Joaquino Precedents for the Collective Mutual Influence Ken Burns What is Jazz? Jazz Composition Herbie Nichols Reactions to Other People’s Interpretations Rights and Wrongs… Read more »
Regina Carter “…If you try to do the same thing again, you wind up sounding forced and then it’s not improvisation anymore…” David Krakauer “…each improvisation develops a certain “worked out” quality that comes from the effort to achieve an emotional arc within a particular piece…” Tony Trischka “…I’ll often let my fingers lead my… Read more »
It’s a funny thing how our weaknesses work, sometimes. My improvising abilities are pitiful – put something down on paper, I’ll play it, but ask me to make it up, and I’m just reading the inside of my eyeballs. The good aspect of the situation is this: I stand in awe of composer-performers who improvise.… Read more »
Howard Mandel Photo by Melissa Richard Improvisation and composition are two sides of one coin alloyed in the medium of form. At least it’s how it is in jazz — though maybe a coin is too static an image for anything so dynamic as music or so fluid as the relationship of improvisation and composition.… Read more »
What exactly is a jazz composer and what constitutes a jazz composition?
Frank, Do you have some kind of standing order, or trial by fire, where you encourage NewMusicBox staff to take radically offensive positions as a way of gaining experience in billboard exchanges – kind of like adversarial lawyer debates – and generating “discussion” and hits? Everyone seemed to agree that new music was chamber music,… Read more »
Speaking directly to the importance of the places in which we make and listen to music
Katherine M. Shao Photo by Susan Scott, courtesy of American Baroque American Baroque’s adventures in new music began close to home. Our viola da gamba player, Roy Whelden, is a fine composer, and we were lucky to count a couple of other composers among our friends. After that, we had to start looking a bit… Read more »
Larry Ochs Photo by Dennis Letbetter, courtesy of the Rova Saxophone Quartet Rova got going in 1978 … seems like a million years ago …. And our unstated but definite goal was to create a group voice like no one else’s. As a result, we wrote all our own music with the goal of having… Read more »
William Anderson Photo courtesy of William Anderson The first and foremost reason for the success of Cygnus’ adventurous programs is that all of the six core members (Tara Helen O’Connor, flute; Jacqueline Carrasco, violin; Susannah Chapman, ‘cello; Jacqueline Leclair, oboe; Oren Fader and William Anderson, plucked strings) have input in our programming. Each player has… Read more »
Since eighth blackbird is essentially a cover band, we are completely dependent on composers to keep our sound, our passion, our concretizing experiences alive. So finding the right composers, people excited about what we do who are saying something in a way we haven’t heard before, is critical to our career. Two methods of connecting… Read more »
The very expression “chamber music” designates music that is site specific more than anything else.
Frederick Kaimann Photo by Melissa Richard Entering history on the ground floor is an exciting thing, but over time new floors get added beneath as you’re jacked high above the street where you entered. Eventually the hot dog vendors and beggars forget what you look like even if you’re, say, ridiculously fat. So it goes… Read more »
Matthew Albert “…Two methods of connecting with composers have worked extremely well for us so far: new music festivals and the Internet…” William Anderson “…We meet composers through our work with Cygnus, and also through our freelance work in New York and elsewhere…” Larry Ochs “…we took a tip from Kronos, went non-profit, and started… Read more »
Joan Jeanrenaud Photo by Marion Ettinger, courtesy New Albion Records Joan Jeanrenaud talks with NewMusicBox editor Frank J. Oteri at her home in San Francisco, CA, about her unusual post-Kronos career Friday, November 9, 2000 Transcribed by Lisa Kang The Role of the Performer A Fourth Approach to Performing Music: Excerpt #01 FRANK J. OTERI:… Read more »
Maybe wherever you are—listening, composing, performing, writing and talking about it—is the center of American music.
William Butler Yeats, one of the richest and deepest poets to ever write in the English language, is said to have requested only three words for his tombstone, “Horseman, ride by!” His odd request, I believe, was meant to indicate that though a human life is rich and deep, once gone, it is a disservice… Read more »
Virginia Danielson of the Archive of World Music at Harvard Photo by Jim Hardin Hundreds of thousands of historic ethnographic audio recordings are in serious danger, according to a recent survey conducted by the Library of Congress. Of the 300 respondents to the Library of Congress national survey, more than three-fourths reported that 25 to… Read more »
Tracey Sterne Photo by Gene Maggio The record producer Teresa Sterne died on December 10th at her Manhattan home. Ms. Sterne had been suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was 73. A pioneer of classical recording, one of her most notable successes was with the small budget label Nonesuch,… Read more »
On December 6, 2000, the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers announced the winners of the 33rd annual ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards for outstanding print and media coverage of music in 1999. The winners were honored at a special reception hosted by ASCAP President and Chairman Marilyn Bergman at Lincoln Center‘s Kaplan Penthouse in New… Read more »
The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts announced awards of nearly $400,000 on December 5, 2000. The $50,000 John Cage Award for Music, given biennially, went to Gordon Mumma. Eleven grants of $25,000 each were awarded to artists in the United States and abroad. $59,500 was distributed among 20 arts organizations. Selected by the Foundation Directors… Read more »
