The Transbay Creative Music Calendar is a volunteer-produced free monthly journal for non-commercial creative new music in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to our comprehensive listing of upcoming events, we publish arti- cles and reviews about local music and the people who create it. We talk about a wide range of modern music, including: experimental, impro- vised, noise, electron- ic, free-jazz, outrock, 21st century composi- tions, and sonic art. Each month, 1000 copies of the Transbay are mailed to individu- als and hand-delivered to over 45 performance venues and public locations throughout the Bay Area. Contact us for a FREE sub- scription! Your kind donations help keep the Transbay alive and growing. Please send checks [payable to “Transbay Music Calendar”] to: Transbay Accounting, 106 Fairmount, Oakland, CA 94611. Please visit our web site or contact us directly for more infor- mation about getting your FREE subscrip- tion, submitting con- tent, listing an event, advertising, viewing archives, or volunteer- ing. feb uaRy [email protected]sponsored in part by AMOEBA Music 2455 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley 1855 Haight Street, San Francisco 1510 8th Street, Oakland, CA 94607 Submission deadline for the February 2005 issue is ¡ February 15 ! This means on or befor e Februar y! Calendar Listings must be submitted using the online form at: transbaycalendar.org/submit.html http://transbaycalendar.org 2005 R There’s No Place Like Home sfSound Group @ ODC It was easy to enjoy the recent sfSound concert at ODC in the good old Mission District of San Francisco (especially pleasant that a few gems from a once plen- tiful crop of arts spaces weren’t ground to powder during the good ole’ dot.com blunder). The producers of the series (David Bithell, Chris Burns, Matt Ingalls, and Chris Jones) have put a lot of energy into this series and anyone with even a lump of gray tissue between their ears will be pleased to learn that the effort has earned them a new home at ODC Theater. Ingalls mumbled plaintively that ODC will likely move in a year (to a larger and nearby nest). One might dream that ODC will remember to bring sfSound along for the ride – the new space has the makings of an even finer performing arts complex. Audience: Snap out of that trendy complacency immediately and let ODC know it’s the right stuff to retain sfSound in their little shop of horrors! Shout at them directly through your telephone device, or try lurking near the ticket counter and pass notes to them at upcoming shows. I imagined while driving through the pouring rain on a Monday night that the audience would be slight, but there was a near full box of glamorous misfits milling about the place. The evening opened with a performance of John Cage’s Imaginary Landscape no. 1 (1939). This most satisfying effort of suppressed sound was realized on piano (Christopher Jones), percussion (Russell Greenberg) and electronics (Christopher Burns) (electronics originally com- posed for “record player” – how peanut butter and jelly is that?). The perfor- mance was appropriately drier than an above-average Pinot Grigio and equally tasty in all its visionary brilliance (would there be a “new” reductionist move- ment if Cage had not opened the door?). Landscape comes from his early pieces for percussion, which helped to define a medium slice of his stylistic aesthetics by removing expressive qualities while retaining formal substance through the proliferation of rhythm. Diametrically opposed to his more emotive works of the same period, there was an urge in these sketches to erase the sonic trail leading back to the 19 th century. The trio admirably squeezed great slices of cit- ric sound from the score, which emerged into the evening’s program with a clear and concise opening statement. It is possible that Christopher Jones’ transcription shoplifted one too many sparklers from the timbral spectrum that illuminates Anton Webern’s miracu- lous 5 Pieces for Orchestra. (Students: was it Jones’ intent that his arrangement echo the minimalist concerns Cage played with in his Imaginary Landscape?) On the other hand, the quartet’s luminous performance revealed Webern’s motivic brilliance in all its meticulous innocence. The reluctant Second Viennese Schoolmaster’s work is never easy to realize, and it is a worthy testament to Kyle Bruckmann (oboe & English horn), Matt Ingalls (clarinet), Christopher Jones (piano) and Russell Greenberg (percussion) that they employed a stable performance of this particularly thorny work on what I’m sure was an impossi- bly narrow rehearsal path. san francisco bay area monthly publication for experimental/improvised/noise/electronic/freejazz/ outrock/21st century transgendered music and sonic art continued on page 2
Transcript
The Transbay CreativeMusic Calendar is avolunteer-producedfree monthly journalfor non-commercialcreative new music inthe San Francisco BayArea. In addition toour comprehensivelisting of upcomingevents, we publish arti-cles and reviews aboutlocal music and thepeople who create it.We talk about a widerange of modernmusic, including:experimental, impro-vised, noise, electron-ic, free-jazz, outrock,21st century composi-tions, and sonic art.Each month, 1000copies of the Transbayare mailed to individu-als and hand-deliveredto over 45 performancevenues and publiclocations throughoutthe Bay Area. Contactus for a FREE sub-scription!
Your kind donationshelp keep the Transbayalive and growing.Please send checks[payable to “TransbayMusic Calendar”] to:Transbay Accounting,106 Fairmount,Oakland, CA 94611.
Please visit our website or contact usdirectly for more infor-mation about gettingyour FREE subscrip-tion, submitting con-tent, listing an event,advertising, viewingarchives, or volunteer-ing.
feb uaRy
BflatEflatAflatD
sharp@transbaycalendar .org
sponsored in part by
AMOEBA Music
2455 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley1855 Haight Street, San Francisco
1510 8th Street, Oakland, CA 94607
Submission deadline for the February 2005 issue is¡ February 15 !
This means on or before February!Calendar Listings must be submitted using the online form at:
transbaycalendar.org/submit.html
http://transbaycalendar.org
2005 R
There’s No Place Like HomesfSound Group @ ODC
It was easy to enjoy the recent sfSound concert at ODC in the good old MissionDistrict of San Francisco (especially pleasant that a few gems from a once plen-tiful crop of arts spaces weren’t ground to powder during the good ole’ dot.comblunder). The producers of the series (David Bithell, Chris Burns, Matt Ingalls,and Chris Jones) have put a lot of energy into this series and anyone with evena lump of gray tissue between their ears will be pleased to learn that the efforthas earned them a new home at ODC Theater. Ingalls mumbled plaintively thatODC will likely move in a year (to a larger and nearby nest). One might dreamthat ODC will remember to bring sfSound along for the ride – the new space hasthe makings of an even finer performing arts complex. Audience: Snap out ofthat trendy complacency immediately and let ODC know it’s the right stuff toretain sfSound in their little shop of horrors! Shout at them directly throughyour telephone device, or try lurking near the ticket counter and pass notes tothem at upcoming shows.
I imagined while driving through the pouring rain on a Monday night that theaudience would be slight, but there was a near full box of glamorous misfitsmilling about the place. The evening opened with a performance of John Cage’sImaginary Landscape no. 1 (1939). This most satisfying effort of suppressedsound was realized on piano (Christopher Jones), percussion (RussellGreenberg) and electronics (Christopher Burns) (electronics originally com-posed for “record player” – how peanut butter and jelly is that?). The perfor-mance was appropriately drier than an above-average Pinot Grigio and equallytasty in all its visionary brilliance (would there be a “new” reductionist move-ment if Cage had not opened the door?). Landscape comes from his early piecesfor percussion, which helped to define a medium slice of his stylistic aestheticsby removing expressive qualities while retaining formal substance through theproliferation of rhythm. Diametrically opposed to his more emotive works ofthe same period, there was an urge in these sketches to erase the sonic trailleading back to the 19 th century. The trio admirably squeezed great slices of cit-ric sound from the score, which emerged into the evening’s program with aclear and concise opening statement.
It is possible that Christopher Jones’ transcription shoplifted one too manysparklers from the timbral spectrum that illuminates Anton Webern’s miracu-lous 5 Pieces for Orchestra. (Students: was it Jones’ intent that his arrangementecho the minimalist concerns Cage played with in his Imaginary Landscape?)On the other hand, the quartet’s luminous performance revealed Webern’smotivic brilliance in all its meticulous innocence. The reluctant Second VienneseSchoolmaster’s work is never easy to realize, and it is a worthy testament toKyle Bruckmann (oboe & English horn), Matt Ingalls (clarinet), ChristopherJones (piano) and Russell Greenberg (percussion) that they employed a stableperformance of this particularly thorny work on what I’m sure was an impossi-bly narrow rehearsal path.
outrock/21st century transgendered music and sonic art
continued on page 2
transbay creative music calendar • FEBRUARY 2005 • 2 transbay creative music calendar • FEBRUARY 2005 • 7
My favorite episode was a new work byAnthony Braxton (Composition 341 ). Icould have listened to the whole thing,which would have taken an hour beforespringing the irresistible open sections onan impossibly patient audience.Composition 341 is a familiar yet terrifyingtightrope routine of rhythm and intervalliceruption that has graced Braxton’s latework. The improvising and on the spotarrangement strategies were effective,offering everyone lots of space to inventand infect, and the ensemble’s sound fabrichad an ample supply of sumptuously eviltextures. It was chaotic at times, but neverso dense that you couldn’t pull out any ofthe strands and examine them. A double-Dutch legion of props to David Arend(bass), Bruckmann, Ingalls, Greenberg,John Ingle (saxophone), Jones, ToyojiTomita (trombone), John Shiurba (electricguitar), and Erik Ulman (violin) for a fun-house full of trap doors, geeky buzzers,flashing colors, extended techniquewhoopee cushions, and scary sound mon-sters.
The performance of the extended worklumen was most pleasurable on everyaccount. Composer & choreographerDavid Bithell achieved a great deal ofmileage from simple visual/sound motifs,and it all moved admirably forward with afresh breeze of humor that took the audi-ence captive and nuzzled them into sub-mission. The live music interacted with thetaped music about as seamlessly as youcould possibly expect. All was beautifullysounded throughout the space. And lo andbehold: a flock of clever gadgets floated allabout the place and repeatedly stole theshow. Oversized gloves and a host of asso-ciated icons floated on the air and insulted,teased, and aggravated a trumpet, a com-poser, his (and others) shadow(s), andmany a clever cue card. Information drift-ed through the experience like junky hum-mingbirds – gamelan vibrations soothedthe receptors and urged the audience totrance their way through a uniquely sparsesurrealist landscape. Yumsky, yumsky!
— Phillip Greenlief
Jon Raskin, solo at Trinity Chapel1 /15/04For the benefit of our wider readership, Jon Raskin is the guy that’sput the ‘R’ in the ROVA saxophone quartet for the past 28 years.The exceptional longevity and originality of the venerated ensem-ble sometimes makes it hard to separate the group and the player.This solo performance, as part of Berkeley’s Trinity ChamberConcert Series, gave air to Jon, the individual. When I wasinevitably reminded of ROVA at points, it was as gentle insights intohis contributions, grand and subtle, to one of my all time favoritegroups.
The concert series, now in it’s 31 st year, is managed by flautist DianeGrubbe, and coordinated by Ryk Groetchen. One block off the UCcampus, it’s presented in an airy, vaulted chapel on the grounds ofthe Trinity United Methodist Church. I enjoy the reverberant soundof music in chapels, though it can sink some instruments. Raskinstayed well in front of his echoes, but on faster pieces, they dobecome a presence in the music. This is not necessarily a bad thingfor a wind soloist, and from the first piece, Jon got the measure ofthe room. His program consisted of compositions for improviser(by Anthony Braxton, Ben Goldberg and himself) interspersed withimprovisations of the moment. It was also incredibly well paced inits moods and instrumentation.
sfSound continued
continued on page 3
Goldberg’s lovely piece “Evaporate”, ren-dered on alto. This was a moody ruminationamong disparate intervals, and strategicallyan emotional bookend to the bittersweet ofthe piece opening the concert.
Raskin closed not with the programmedimprovisation, but with Ornette Coleman’sdown home hoedown “Ramblin’” done onsopranino and dedicated to the late SteveLacy. His baritone sized wind engine easilyfilled out the bottom of the tiny horn, mak-ing a convincing portrait of the iconoclasticicon of the larger Bb soprano. I really appre-ciated how he found ways to play Ornette’stune with Lacy’s methods, another greatidea I’ve never thought of. After nailing Lacyso well, I was actually relieved when Jon’sleft hand got hung up momentarily in thetricky out head. Everything else in the pre-ceding two hours had been executed flaw-lessly, which can raise some doubts aboutthe humanity of your subject. It beingOrnette (after all), performance variationsof this sort do not stop the show, and Raskinwent on to completely blow right throughthe horn and out into the cosmos for hiscoda, visiting circular breathing sheets-of-sound from another soprano icon, to end ona very bright, high note.
Jon Raskin continued
photo by Aaron Schmookler
Liz Albee, Jen Baker and Damon Smith:Improvised Music and Sausage
photo by Aurora Rising
This was the real deal, folks. Anyone attempting a tour deforce should look no further for where the bar is set. JonRaskin’s solo performance was incredibly well prepared, wellthought out, and well delivered. Find out more about theseries at: http://trinitychamberconcerts.com
— Dave Slusser
Sound image of the winds of Titan, transmitted by Huygens probe.
Pauline Jennings performing David Bithel's "Lumen" on sfsound series, 1/10/05
transbay creative music calendar • FEBRUARY 2005 • 6
improvised pieces on jaw harps from his collection.Commonly called “Jew’s Harp” in our enlightened culture,they’re found all around the world, and as Jon pointed out,you get to deal with music in the terms of the earliest peopleto play. These specimens from Rajistan, Hungary, South Chinaand Siberia all shared the aspect of a narrow metal tineplucked over the open mouth cavity, modulated most of thetime by a focused column of air blown over the vibrating tine.It’s similar to Tuvan throat singing with the shaping of oralresonance and its play of overtones. The plucking gave a nicerhythmic lift to the evening, with occasional effects with thelips and air adding accents. It’s a truly weird and wonderfulsound, sometimes voice-like, capable of articulating words,then again, eerily electronic. Jaded ears can do well by hearinghow large some folk music of the world deals in sound.
He opened on baritone sax, the large horn yousee him anchoring so much of ROVA’s workwith, announcing that all of his improvisedpieces throughout the evening would be linkedas studies in time. I took his word for it and justlistened, as melodious long toned waves ofsound swept the room; in some wistful Locrianor Phrygian mode at times. I was immediatelyreminded of Ghandarva, a spacey Beaver &Krause record that had baritonist GerryMulliganplaying the same way in Grace Cathedral around1970. Raskin’s tone, of course, is much lessburry, tighter, like a tenor, but this is a guy thatcan get as burry as a buzz saw, so I knew he wassetting us up for the contrasts to come.
Switching to alto, which he’s also performedincredibly on over the years, he presented hisown composition for improvisers that itself wasa study in contrasts. Written for a trio of saxistsFrank Gratowski, Phillip Greenlief and himself, itholds the players to accompany each other indistinctly different methods of playing, sectionby section. Jon played it as one of the threeplayers. This was a great showcase for hisimmense vocabulary and instrumental control,as well as the self discipline to lay out a wellordered, coherent set of changes. Now he hadpresented more challenging material, but in aform most lay people could follow and be enter-tained by.
Jon Raskin continued
Jon Raskin
Phillip Greenlief and Theresa Wong at the Improv Garage, aphoto entirely unrelated to the article you are reading.
transbay creative music calendar • FEBRUARY 2005 • 3
Third piece, back to baritone for an improvisa-tion, and this time he pulled no punches, Startingjazzy and jaunty, he took on more crazed aban-don and unleashed growls, ticks, sighs, blaps, andstaccato slap tonguing in great dynamic array, atone point sounding like a drummer working outwith brushes on a snare. He came pretty close toplaying bass, melody and percussion all at once,but this was not to be a Charlie Hunter circuspiece.
The very next thing Raskin did was to literallyaccompany himself, though. He had pre-record-ed three short improvised pieces to improviseagainst live. Starting on the tiny, straight Ebsopranino sax, he intertwined and dovetailedwith a disembodied twin. This was the best ofthe three, and it should be noted what absolutewind power the lower horns give a player on thesopranos. A duet for altos, and one for baritonesfollowed, but the difference in the canned soundwas too apparent not to bring a distractingkaraoke aspect. The baritone piece was a goodconcept in subtle shading and rigorously per-formed, though. One solution would be to runthe live horn through the same amplification rig.
As his break piece for intermission, and yetanother mindful effort of programming, Jonrevealed the fruits of what started as a hobby afew years ago. He did five astonishing short
continued on page 6
Jon Raskin continued
It was at intermission that I began to realize what an ambitiousundertaking two solo sets must be. I’m ready to go runningfrom the stage after only 10 minutes. Clearly Raskin can countprogramming among his many skills. The distribution of meth-ods and instrumentation maximized contrasts and minimizedfatigue for both performer and audience.
The second set began with Jon’s Graphic Notation Suite, music for improvisers,“inspired by the graphic language of Wassily Kandinsky” according to the programnotes. We were treated to “Lines Paths & Fields”, “Note Patterns and Lines”, and“Kandinsky Graphics” as audible music, but not shown the graphic scores. I thinkRaskin’s work in this area deserves further exploration, because he delivered suchdeliberate and focused accounts of what he was looking at. It may not be relevantfor the listener to see it, and in fact, the composer might prefer that we don’t. Thenotation is written to get a result. The composer wants us to experience the result,not second guess the performer’s interpretation of the funny lines and squiggles.Playing his pliant alto on all three, Raskin sold it with his studied intent. As in pure-ly improvised pieces, the mere presence of intention goes a long way to making itcompelling and convincing.
Wayne Grim at his birthday concert
The next two pieces were compositions forimprovisation by two reed players. Heintroduced “40(0)” by Anthony Braxton (anacknowledged influence and someone he’srecorded with), mentioning first hearing it25 years ago in North Berkeley at a clubcalled Mapenzi. Truly an incredible spot,Mapenzi was actually on Adeline betweenwhere the Jazzhouse was and Alcatraz, andyes, I was there. Jon did it on sopranino, hisenjoyment of playing the piece clear in hissprightly, rollicking treatment. Once againI pondered the nature of just how much isreally written in a piece of this nature, andhad to accept the clearly coherent result asa moot point. Following was Ben
