Guitar Studio Recital on Youtube.

The Capital University guitar studio recital was this last Sunday November 15th. Thanks to youtube user q1com, we have video recordings of a few of the pieces that were played. Due to some weird coincidence (no joke), the only videos I've found online include myself performing. If I find others I'll post them as well, but for now here's what we have. Ignore the typo on "In the wee small hours" ... It's actually Thelonious Monk's "Let's cool one."

"A Child is Born" (Thad Jones) Duo with William Flynn


"Let's Cool One" (Monk) Trio with Ben Johnson (b) and Zach Compston (dr)


"Corcovado" (Jobim) Quartet with Ray Brooks (g), Ben Johnson (b), and Zach Compston (dr)


That's what I've found so far, if anyone finds more from the same date, please let me know so I can put them up here as well. I promise I'm not only posting videos of myself because I'm an egotistical bastard.

"peex"

David Ornette Cherry visits Columbus, OH.

This week I was lucky enough to get another chance to hear the music of David Ornette Cherry. Cherry is a brilliant musician who I have had the privilege to work with in the past. Not only does his music combine many different elements of various types of musics from around the world, but his sheer presence as a player and ensemble director always makes for exciting performances. David performed at Zanzibar brews this last Tuesday (11/10) with Stan Smith, Roger Hines, and Danny Aguilar (all Columbus based musicians).
When I was able to work with him, I was on the student side of a student-teacher relationship. His approach to teaching an ensemble provides an extremely natural way to familiarize students with concepts of the early free jazz movement, and helps people unfamiliar with certain aspects of improvisation to get comfortable and just play.

Check out some of his music here.

http://www.davidornettecherry.com/

List of Jazz Clubs

Vijay Iyer (don't ask, just click and check him the fuck out if you don't know him) has had a few posts on facebook regarding the number of jazz venues in the world or the lack thereof ...

To put it simply, this is an open invitation to help expand this Wikipedia list of jazz venues. If you've got some in your hometown that aren't on the list, please add them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_jazz_clubs

Rosemary Malign - The Violet Time

I just recently found a copy of Rosemary Malign's "The Violet Time" which I have spent a long time searching for. Much thanks to Tyrsson K at Revuelta Sonora for sharing this and granting me permission to pass it on. Rosemary Malign is (to me) one of the strongest voices in Power Electronics. Very serious brutally honest music and subject matter. This is the definition of sincerity in music.

An Excerpt from Plague Haus's Interview with Rosemary Malign on the album:

"I love the study of history, especially American History, and specifically folklore and the history of American history. I’ve managed collect many books over the years and there was one specific folk lore book written in the 1960’s which had a chapter on secret songs of sororities and fraternities. The language and outright dirty sexuality of the songs floored me. Specifically the songs “The Violet Time” and “Fascinating Bitch”. The Violet Time is a song about a girl wanting to be violated (deflowered) in a seemingly rape-like fashion, the second about a girl wishing she were a prostitute rather than a student. They’re cute, wonderful little songs. I started looking up sheet music and trying to find field recordings. I found a ton of great stuff, and managed to get some live recordings of little old men and women actually singing them! The whole project took about 3 years, and I’m still discovering new material. I absolutely love it and cannot wait for the second installment. You’d be amazed at what’s out there. The album is vulgar and lovely. We’re led to believe, as a society that “the state of things” are getting worse and worse, that everything is over-sexualized etc. But the reality of it is that men and women have always been obsessed with sex and have been expressing it in one way or another. That the human is a dirty, horny animal! The thing about the field recordings though, is although some of the language seems absolutely shocking by “normal” standards”, the tone of those singing is quite cute and innocent. Almost as if they were singing, “Mary had a little Lamb” or something. Of course, there are some seriously violent feeling tracks on that album, which is my misanthropy leaking through. "

Read the full interview at Plague Haus.

Rosemary Malign - The Violet Time

See the original blog post here.

Comfest '09

Although this is kind of late (Comfest being the last weekend of June ... ) there is an artist whose performance this year I wanted to mention.

One of the first groups I heard this year is a solo project by Garth Harrison Shack. The former Starving Goliath member has been writing and playing in the solo singer/songwriter vein since the collapse of his last band. With a couple years of working on his set and playing lots of shows (most notably a weekly stint at Victoria's Midnight Café) under his belt, his musical voice has naturally evolved into a very unique sound that still fits in the "singer/songwriter" bin at your local record store. I guess that's what happens when you take a great guitar player with lots of good writing and experience and put it in that box.

For his ComFest set. Garth was joined by drummer and also former SG member, Forest Christenson. It sounded like Forest was asked to play last minute, and was playing a stripped down drumset consisting of just a few items. After noticing a large amount of cueing during the first few songs, I realized that Forest was indeed improvising drum parts to Garth's songs ... not an easy task! It had been a while since I had last heard Garth, and his writing just keeps evolving with no signs of slowing down. He still has that novel harmonic approach that is hard to find in his style of music, which is one of my favorite aspects of his music.

Check out Garth Harrison Shack on the internet at these locations:

Home Page

MySpace

Sëptikkk kills people!

Oldfields on High was the epicenter of an earthquake of events last sunday night, with a soundtrack provided by Sëptikkk (with an umlaut and three k's). Bombs were dropped, people died, cars were towed, shit got stolen, more people died ... you get the idea.

Anyways ... Sëptikkk is a group from Columbus, Ohio, assembled by Billy Wolfe in the early summer of 2009. A few people in the group have definite plans to leave Columbus after the summer, so the group exists to play some challenging music and "hit it and quit it" so to speak ... They play mostly originals with a few other tunes thrown in, all of which might be called "Nü-Jazz" if you're into that sort of thing ... (I just said that so I could use another umlaut in the same post). The gig at Oldfield's was a success, as in they played music and stuff ... that's what's supposed to happen, right? It was packed, a bunch of hippy bullshit happened on stage, people drank too much, etc. And to celebrate Sunday night's victory, anyone who came to the gig on sunday night will get a free beer from Billy Wolfe if they go to the upcoming gig this thursday (8/20/09) at Scarlet & Grey. That's right! Free beer and weird music!

All jokes aside, the music was good the next couple gigs should be good fun. And yes, my car got towed along with three other people's cars that night (two of which are in the group). And considering my car was the ride for two people from the group, 4/6 septikk members lost their rides. Like I said, they caused a goddamn earthquake.

As far as I know, Sëptikkk has no web presence, due to the fact that they will no longer exist after a couple more gigs, but you can visit any of the individual musician's pages for info.

Billy Wolfe - Saxophones
Tom Davis - Guitar
Robert Holliday - Keyboard
Aaron Quinn - Guitar
Dan DiPiero - Drums
Larry Cook - Bass

Peter J Woods 7/11/09 Video

Below is a live video of Peter J Woods live in Allston, MA 7.11.09, courtesy of Noise Vision. See the original post and related performances here, and yes, that is a Realicide t-shirt.




Watch PETER J WOODS - LIVE AT THE BUTCHER SHOP - ALLSTON,MA - JULY 11TH 2009 in Music | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Top 25 Albums/Pieces

So a while back, it seemed like the new big craze all over Facebook was to come up with a list of your top 25 favorite and/or most influential albums/pieces. I never thought much of it until a conversation I had with a friend of mine, I thought it would just be too hard to whittle it down to just 25 and kind of pointless anyways. What I got from that conversation was that, hey why the fuck not just try it? Especially if you just sit down with a pencil and paper, not looking through CD collections, not looking through iTunes, so everything you come up with for the list is something that really means that much to you, or had that much influence on you. It definitely proved to be a very interesting experience. The first problem: Where do I start????? Seriously ... I found myself thinking "Should I really put that one down now? Maybe save it for later?" It really is much harder than it sounds. Just because of the way it makes you think about your experience with music over your entire life and what sticks out as the 25 strongest experiences seems like something that would be good and healthy to do maybe every five years or so. And boy, does it get hard to think of albums/pieces once you get to the late teens and you're struggling to make sure the things you're thinking of really fit in the top 25, and that you aren't forgetting anything and/or putting things down that don't quite make the cut. I think that's exactly why it's so important to do this away from your iTunes or CD collection, and literally have nothing in front of you but pencil and paper.

Anyways, I encourage everyone to give this a try if they haven't already. If you make a playlist of all the music on the list you come up with, you'll be in EMO!!! sappy! heaven for a long while .... And so, without any further adieu, here is my list (in no particular order besides the order in which I remembered and wrote each entry down):

1. Hermeto Pascoal - Mundo Verde Esperança
2. Eugenics Council - Think Machine
3. Olivier Messiaen - Quatour por la fin du temps
4. Igor Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
5. Igor Stravinsky - Petrouchka
6. Hermeto Pascoal & Aline Morena - Duo Chimarrão com Rapadura
7. Ahmad Jamal - At The Pershing
8. Anton Von Webern - Six pieces for Orchestra Op. 6
9. Alfred Schnittke - String Quartets 2 & 3, performed by the Kronos Quartet
10. Henryk Górecki - Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)
11. Dmitri Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 8, Performed by the Emerson String Quartet
12. Arnold Schönberg - Verklärte Nacht
13. Maurice Ravel - String Quartet in F
14. Chet Baker - The Best of Chet Baker Sings
15. Luciana Souza - Brazilian Duos, Duos II
16. Hermeto Pascoal - So Não Toca Quem Não Quer
17. YMCK - Family Music, Family Genesis
18. John Coltrate & Johnny Hartman
19. Baden Powell - Tristeza on Guitar
20. Maria Rita - Sambe Meu
21. Gene Bertoncini - Quiet Now
22. Masonna - Ejaculation Generator
23. Anton Von Webern - All Lieder (Or the lieder disc from Boulez conducts the complete works of Webern)
24. Chick Corea - Light as a Feather
25. João Gilberto - The Complete Bossa Nova Recordings

Well, there you have it. I'm very interested to see how the list would evolve if this exercise was to be repeated every five years or so. What would stay the same? What would change? Maybe that says something about how much of an influence certain things really had, and what things were just very emotionally intense phases. Who knows ... music is dumb anyways, right?? Feel free to add a comment with your own top 25 or a link to it or whatever ...

Performance Calendar

I have now switched to using Google Calendar to list my upcoming performances. Please scroll to the bottom of the main page to see the calendar.

Nós.

Chimarrão com Rapadura is the latest (as far as I know) release from Hermeto Pascoal. For those of you that know Hermeto's music (and haven't heard this album), you know that this is a big deal. For those of you that don't know Hermeto's music: I'm not going to try to give a summary of all he has done so please get some background info here, and please listen to some of his music. (I highly recommend So Nao Toca Quem Nao Quer and Mundo Verde Esperança)

I really can't say anything about this album (or maybe I just can't say enough ...). Dan DiPiero gave it a very nice review, which can be found here. My own review of the album would probably be to take every good thing you've heard about it, put them all together, and multiply by about 10,000,000, and that's essentially how I feel about it. I find myself thinking, "I think this one might be my favorite" at the beginning and end of every single track.

Anyways, the whole point of this post was to share one specific track (yeah, I know ...) titled "Nós". Nós is a hauntingly beautiful (something ... I don't know what to call it) that essentially builds up to a climax at the very end. It is also very textural in nature. During the "intro" section, you hear Hermeto playing some kind of brass mouthpiece into the end of a tea kettle and Dense voicings on Melodica provided by Aline Morena, who also gives us a melody somewhere in the nether regions of her seemingly endless range. The main body of the piece consists of chords on a synth patch with little piano flourishes. Aline Morena sings her original lyrics, and Hermeto takes a solo on Melodica. I was hoping to find a video to post, but the closest thing I could come up with was the page linked below. There are a bunch of really great videos in that list, and Nós is the very last one. (You can just hit back as soon as the player loads, or better yet, watch them all with Nós being the last one)

http://www.hermetopascoalealinemorena.com.br/escute_dvd.asp

I'd like to take a closer look at the text as well. if anyone knows where I can find it, please let me know as I would like to take a stab at translating it.

Edit: I just found a nice interview with Jovinos Santos Neto. Check it out!

Updates / Shameless Plug

I have just updated my myspace page with new recordings and gig information (gigs!? .... what gigs??) I'll add a calendar of some sort to this site/blog of my performances at some point. Myspace works fine for now. Below is a description/information about the recordings I currently have up. If you've managed to find yourself at my Bandcamp page, there's a good chance you've heard most of these already.

_________________________________

Bobagem:

Original composition, featuring Aaron Quinn also on guitar, Roger Hines on bass, and Dan DiPiero on drums. Recorded live at James' 88 Club 3/20/2009.

Burning Bridges - Nardis:

Another original composition which transitions into Nardis. From the same gig (and same musicians) as Bobagem.

Lush Life:

Original solo arrangement of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life", inspired by Robert Holliday. Recorded during the winter of 2007-2008.

Iron Man - Modinha:

A medley showcasing the stark contrast (or the lack thereof) between violence and beauty: Eric Dolphy's "Iron Man" and Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Modinha". From the same gig (and same musicians) as Bobagem and Burning Bridges.

Pra Que Discutir Com Madame:

Recorded at Jayanthi's Half (Junior) Recital. Featuring Maggie Green on voice.

My One and Only Love arr. Bertoncini:

Solo arrangement by Gene Bertoncini. Recorded in the winter of 2008.


_________________________________

Hooray for shameless self-promotion.
Check it ... http://www.myspace.com/ajayanthi.
Don't forget to check out the links I have for all the other great musicians I've been lucky to work with.

Keeril Makan - In Sound

I recently stopped by the Downtown Music Gallery in lower Manhattan to check out the new store/location after a somewhat recent move. The Downtown Gallery is a great place to look for hard-to-find CDs and LPs of what they call "Underground & Avant Jazz, Art Rock/Pop, Contemporary Classical, and the Completely UnCategorizable". As they were nearing their closing time, I rushed to grab something before I left. What I found was a relatiely new release from John Zorn's Tzadik label from a composer I had never heard of, Keeril Makan. The album, In Sound, features three pieces written between 2002 and 2007 from this young composer. The track listing is as follows:

1. The Noise Between Thoughts. 2003.
for string quartet, performed by the Kronos Quartet

2. Threads. 2002.
for electro-acoustic sextet, performed by the Paul Dresher Ensemble.

3. Washed By Fire. 2007.
for string quartet, performed by the Kronos Quartet.

Although this may not need to be said, being the year 2009 and all, this is some very fine and dare I say, "Cosmopolitan" writing from an American Composer (Yeah I said it, crucify me if you must ...). What I've heard thus far are very fresh and expressive sounds and a truly unique voice coming through both a traditional ensemble as well as a non-standard one. The writing is very textural, yet not lacking in other areas. I have only given it one listen so I don't want to say too much about it yet, but I can confidentely say that this recording will soon be a strong recommendation to anyone interested in hearing it. I look forward to hearing more from this composer. His bio follows, as printed in the liner notes.

"Trained as a violinist, Keeril Makan has received degrees in both music and religion from Oberlin and the University of California at Berkeley, and subsequently studied in Helsinki and Paris. He is currently Assistant Professor of Music at MIT and makes his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has received commissions from Bang on a Can All-Stars, Kronos Quartet, Paul Dresher Ensemble and Carnegie Hall, and he has received awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fromm, Gerbode and Hewlett Foundations, Meet The Composer and ASCAP. Makan's work has been featured at the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco and the MATA Festival in New York, and internationally at the Gaudeamus Festival in the Netherlands, Le Domaine Forget in Canada and Voix Nouvelles in France. In 2008, he was awarded the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome. For more information, visit www.keerilmakan.com."

Mick Goodrick w/ Jimmy Mosher

This may be old news ... but here are a few bootlegs of Jimmy Mosher with Mick Goodrick (Scroll down). You can find some info about them on the other side of that link. I've got nothing else to say, so I'll leave you with a few Goodrick quotes.

"If a metronome clicks in the forest and there's no one to hear it, does it swing?"

"(I once saw a squirrel carrying a miniature soprano sax ...)"

"Beware of beavers bearing baritones,
but promote peacocks practicing pianos and
trust turkeys tooting tenors."

"We're all stupid people, that's why we play the guitar"

I think you get the idea ...

... it's time to whack off to kiddie porn.

The Eugenics Council. What can I really say about this group? Nothing really. A group whose principles and beliefs may relate to violence directed towards myself. A group who I feel I cannot mention to many people for that same reason. Yet, when it comes to sincerity in music, their music might be some of the strongest stuff I have ever heard. I was introduced to the Eugenics Council when I found Rosemary Malign's Myspace page. My reaction to the music was complete awe, I listened to the Myspace player repeat itself three times in a row: the first time not realizing that I was hearing the same tracks again, and the last times not wanting to turn it off. When I finally got my hands on a copy of The Eugenics Council's "Think Machine", I must have listened to it at least once a day for two months or so. For music in the "noise" vein, I am still in awe over the sounds and sheer power they have behind their music. For all music in general, I have completely surrendered to the impact of their sincerity and consider them one of my favorite artists, and one of my biggest musical influences (in all types of music I am a part of).

In this .zip file titled "Rarities and Remixes", there are a collection of tracks that may or may not appear on other releases of theirs (I unfortunately still haven't heard a few of their releases), as well as different mixes of tracks, and renamed tracks that can be heard elsewhere.

1. Again (Remix)
2. Auschwitz Fuck
3. Babes (Remix)
4. Our World (Remix)
5. Denial
6. Funny
7. Mossy
8. Go Away
9. Dirty Girl
10. Walls
11. Tell Me
12. Best Friends
13. I Am The Hate
14. Think Machine
15. Untitled

Get it here.

6/6/09

So I'm not too sure what direction I want to take this blog. I was thinking of making a blog as my homepage for myself as a musician but I'm also getting more interested in the idea of just keeping a blog. I just saw the blog of a friend of mine (who happens to be a great drummer who I've had the pleasure to work with) earlier today/tonight which gave me the idea to keep a blog of stuff I've been checking out. I just also thought that this could include things that are not music. Please be sure to check out Dan DiPiero's blog here. Now, way back in the dark ages, I used to keep a livejournal blog which was basically a journal/diary of nonsense. It actually was more of a nice writing exercise for myself in a style which isn't really a style but one that I enjoy writing in none the less. I don't want this to go in that direction, partly because I would like to keep something public, but I'll see what I can do to bridge the gap. So, with that said, here's something I was just checking out tonight, Freedom Tunnel. Some really beautiful artwork is and is still being done at that location.

Now as far as music goes, this Luiz Bonfá album is one I first heard about a year ago. I knew from the first listen that it was going to be a staple of my listening diet, and did indeed listen to a portion of it tonight. O Violão e o Samba showcases Bonfá's playing in a very relaxed, yet refined manner. It's not overly guitar-oriented, but Bonfá's genius clearly shines through. The album features him (absolutely drenched in reverb) with a rhythm section and vocals on a few tracks. As usual for his albums, each track presents virtuosic guitar playing that sounds so relaxed and easy to play. As my friend (and wonderful bass player) Robin Cain once said while listening to this album, "I'm sure that everyone, no matter who they are, would hear brazilian music and say it sounds like waves. *as he makes a waving motion with his hands*" One interesting moment to note is on the track "Amor em Brasilia" in which Bonfá plays an out of tempo portion that seems as though it should be a solo guitar section, but the rhythm section continues playing time until Bonfá re-establishes the time. Try twisting your head around that once you hear it, and then just realize that it's just great, like the entire album. The album closes with a tune with a beautifully simple melody being passed back and forth between violão and flute. I can't say anything to really do the album justice, so please check it out if you haven't already.

This is Luiz Bonfá - O Violão e o Samba

1. Inquiatação
2. Nossos Momentos
3. Meu Nome ... Ninguém
4. Lamento no Morro
5. Pastorinhas
6. Você Chegou Sorrindo
7. Murmúrio
8. Liberdade Demais
9. Amor em Brasília
10. Saudade da Bahia
11. Copacabana
12. Amor de Solidão

Get it here.

That's all for now, tune in for more later.

New Album "Fibonacci"

New noise album from "aje" now available at Bandcamp. Initially intended to be an experiment with the use of computer-generated sounds, the computer was scrapped and only analog sounds are heard on the album. Just over 20 minutes of exploring the push and pull of time.

Visit http://ajemusic.bandcamp.com/ for other aje-specific "releases".