Intermedia artist Phill Niblock discusses his early years in NY and the beginnings of his art making at Judson Church and the founding of the Experimental Intermedia Foundation by Elaine Summers. Phill discusses his thick, loud drones and microtones as we listen to Feed Corn Ear and Hurdy Hurry. He says, “What I am doing with my music is to produce something without rhythm or melody, by using many microtones that cause movements very, very slowly.”
Interview - Part 2
The New York Times wrote, “His work has influenced Brian Eno and other musicians associated with the rock world… Pitches scrape against other pitches like a speeding automobile sideswiping a row of parked cars. Sum and difference tones pile up until they sound like an orchestra of strings or an immense chorus of voices. So much is going on that one finds oneself listening first to one level of detail, then to another, and only gradually learning to hear everything at once.” In Part 2 we also listen to two of his compositions spanning forty years.
Jen discusses her remarkable background and music studies around the world and we listen to six pieces of hers that have received wide critical acclaim. Jen Shyu is “…one of the most creative vocalists in contemporary improvised music…” (The Nation)
Improvising composer/saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock talks about her various ensembles with Tom Rainey, Kris Davis & others as well as her compositional activity. She’s worked with Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richards Abrams, Dave Douglas, Kenny Wheeler, Jason Moran, Tim Berne, William Parker, Tom Rainey, Mary Halvorson, Kris Davis, Tyshawn Sorey, Craig Taborn, Luc Ex, Django Bates’ Human Chain, The Continuum Ensemble, Wet Ink and many others.
“Laubrock's yelping lines over Rainey's battering percussion, her contrasting murmurings over damped piano strings and arrhythmic tappings, windy multiphonic sounds amid cowbell chimes and ghostly chords reveal an increasingly distinctive soundscape. (The Guardian)
Voted #1 Rising-Star Guitarist in the 2013 DownBeat Critics Poll and subsequently placed in the “Top-Ten Guitarists” alongside luminaries Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny, guitarist and composer Rez Abbasi is one of the most original voices on the current scene. Abbasi has performed and recorded with many jazz luminaries including Peter Erskine, Kenny Werner, Greg Osby, Marilyn Crispell, Vijay Iyver, Kadri Gopalnath, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Tim Berne and many others. During the interview Rez discusses several of his releases including A Throw of Disc, Oasis and Unfiltered Universe.
“An amazing guitarist…unique and beautiful music – and best of all – very original…I’m really impressed.” Pat Metheny
Kyoko discusses her work as an improvising vocalist, composer, band leader & Executive Director of Anthony Braxton’s Tri-Centric Foundation and we also listen to several of her recordings. She is a former journalist (Fuji Television Network Japan) with childhood piano training at Juilliard Pre-College, a stint as Paris-based foreign news correspondent and Gulf War reporter on her résumé working in Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabi. Kyoko Kitamura is an oddball vocalist, composer and bandleader who has worked with many distinguished musicians, most notably with the community of Tri-Centric musicians including Anthony Braxton and Taylor Ho Bynum.
“…Kitamura’s voice is an amazing instrument, with great range. […] If you’re someone who likes to be challenged, who has to go back and listen until what you hear makes sense (or begins to make sense), look no further." (Hartford Courant)
Composer/saxophonist/educator Zenon discusses his new release Sonero: The Music of Ismael Rivera and is joined by Frank Delgado discussing Rivera’s impact on salsa music. He has garnered multiple Grammy nominations as well as a Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundation grant.
“(Zenon) A consistently brainy improviser, he often engages in blistering lines that zigzag as if compositions were sonic schematic diagrams.” (Downbeat) The Boston Globe has written, “As a composer, he’s forged a unique voice that fuses Puerto Rican folk forms, jazz, and classical modernism.
Composer/bassist/jazz musician Mario Pavone discusses his collaborations with Anthony Braxton, Paul Bley, Bill Dixon, Wadada Leo Smith and an emerging generation of new improvisers. Mario’s various ensembles have included Matt Wilson, Gerald Cleaver, Joshua Redman, Tony Malaby, Dave Douglas, Steven Bernstein and Craig Taborn among others.
“His work has never been less than compelling.” (NY Times). “Mario Pavone works his strings with the force and persistence of a sculptor chipping away at granite. The sheer dynamism of his playing is matched by the lustre of his writing and arranging for small bands” (The New Yorker).
Radio Host Joseph Celli interviews composer/improviser/pianist Matthew Shipp about his upcoming concert and his approach to jazz and improvisation. Matthew was a longtime member of saxophonist David S. Ware’s quartet with bassist William Parker. He has released innumerable recordings including with Joe Morris, Evan Parker, Wadada Leo Smith, Roscoe Mitchell, Michael Bisio, David S. Ware, Daniel Carter, Ivo Perelman and others.
“Mr. Shipp punctuated two-fisted chords and hyperspeed runs with ringing single notes, or turned a welter of harmony into a transparent, rippling ostinato, and every so often he dropped in a bluesy chord. The music never doubted its direction, no matter how frenetic it became.” (New York Times)
Joseph Celli Interviews Gustavo Matamoros – Composer, sound artist and founding director of the Subtropics Experimental Music and Sound Arts Festival. Gustavo discusses several of his electroacoustic compositions and we listen to his Seagulls Tango. He has received commissions from Adrianne Arsht Performing Arts Center, Knight Foundation, Art In State Buildings,Vizcaya Museum and is the recipient of a cultural Consortium Visual and Media Arts Fellowships. Recent projects and sound installations have been exhibited at Miami Art Museum, Bass Museum of Art, MoCA and the Hollywood Art and Culture Center.
