Another summary of the updates to my scrapbook since the last review. A few newer clips from Brooklyn and New York which include some of the best music I’ve been involved in (the duo with Gerald Cleaver, in particular, has, for me, some of my best playing), plus a blast from the past: Mathilde 253 in Cork. With the latest updates, I’ve also taken the opportunity to split the scrapbook across two pages (with so much embedded media, it was getting near impossible for those with slower computers and/or connections to load the page).
Music by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Mike Pride.
Recorded live, April 2, 2014 at Spectrum, New York.
Recorded by Don Mount.
Evan Parker (saxophone) and Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Peter Evans (trumpet) and Okkyung Lee (’cello).
Music by Evan Parker and Han-earl Park, plus Peter Evans and Okkyung Lee.
Recorded live, September 19, 2013 at The Stone, New York.
Recorded by Don Mount.
For Miguel Copón, Prepared Guitar is a “metaphor about metamorphosis” and a “place to support independent artists”. Prepared Guitar recently published my response to Copón’s 13 Questions, so you can now read, among other things, about my first guitar, my musical roots (as contradictory as they may be), and what I’m currently working on:
But the thing that’s tugging at me right now is the possibilities of the score in the context of improvisative performance. Ideas, some specific, some nebulous, all as yet untested about what might be possible…
I’m not sure at all where this is leading, but having through some combination of ideology and necessity (ain’t it always the way?) found myself somewhat involuntarily in the ‘Total Improvisation’ camp, I’m beginning to look on the other side of the fence. Let me be clear, the, to borrow Lewis’ term, Eurological conception of the score and the practice that surrounds it (theorized in detail by Small, Cusick, Nicholas Cook and others), with its limited models of control and dogma of reproducibility, and naive notions of aesthetics, does not interest me at all.
However, I’m feeling a gravitational tug. Maybe it’s due to coming into close contact with musicians who have a much more sophisticated (if often, from an non-practitioners POV, misunderstood and under theorized) relationship with the score and the possibilities of notation. But it’s a distinct pull. Still working—struggling—through some ideas, and studies, and have far, far more questions than answers about the possible role notation and the score might have in an improvisative context, but that’s the new thing that’s exciting me at the moment. [Read the rest…]
You can also read my struggle with a question about the necessity of music, my take on the current digital music scene, and the politics of ‘extended technique’:
So what’s being ‘extended’ by ‘extended technique’? Is it akin to, say, a colonial explorer extending their influence and territory; ‘discovering’ a land (regardless of whether some other people were there first)?
Had an interested online exchange with Hans Tammen on the subject, and it struck me how much the term ‘extended technique’ is a way to distinguish pioneers from the rest of us. Where you draw those lines (between common practice and extended technique) says much more about your own history and prejudices than some essential quality of the technique in question.
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith once pointed out how Stockhausen claimed the invention of certain ‘extended techniques’ for the trumpet that were patently false if you had even a passing knowledge of practices outside of West European traditions. Did Stockhausen, and his supporters, claim these techniques because of a kind of ignorance, or as a deliberate erasure of other traditions? Either way, it requires a heavy dose of privilege to ignore, to justify your ignorance, or to mark peoples and cultures as irrelevant. [Read the rest…]
Looking through the list of respondents to the 13 Questions, I’m honored to find my name among those guitarists whose work I admire. I’m grateful that Miguel Copón asked me to participate.
Thanks to all involved in the April 2 and April 3 performances. Thanks to the hosts at Spectrum (Glenn Cornett and the multi-talented Lester St. Louis), and at Soup and Sound (I thank the Cosmos for people like Andrew Drury and Alissa Schwartz who open their homes, and welcome the arts and artists). Thanks to the efforts of the multiple documentarists at the events: Kevin Reilly, Don Mount, Michael Lytle, Adrian Knight and Lawrence de Martin (who provided the experimental speaker cabinet for the Spectrum performance).
Big, heart-felt thanks to Kyoko and Josh for organizing the event. I’m touched, and could not have asked for a better send-off. Thanks to everyone who made music, and for creating that welcoming, friendly vibe. (And a particular pleasure to finally perform with Kyoko, Ken and Fay!) And thanks again to Scott Friedlander for the documentation.
I moved to Brooklyn back in December 2011, and I’m grateful and privileged to have been part of, even briefly, such a gracious, vibrant, creative, fun and welcoming community.
I’m particularly indebted to Andrew, Jesse, Michael, Adam, Anna and Andrea for introducing me to the (cultural) geography/neighborhood(s); to Bruce, Wadada and Ras who gave me my first few gigs; and to Tim and Evan for offering me sideman gigs. And a very big thanks to Josh, Catherine and Nick for much of the above, and for collaborating on some long-term projects. To everyone, I hope to repay the your generosity (and hope to catch up when I’m back in Brooklyn/NYC).
Now back in Cork, and, for what feel like the first time in a long time, I’m arriving without a gig in town (and, to my surprise, I’m not too unhappy about that). Some plans ahead (solo performance at SARC for starters), fingers crossed, something will work out.
The opening track, ‘Helix’ contains some of my favorite moments of the recording. Sikora’s soprano sax sounds like it is drawing a line from each hit of the bass, with Park coloring in the spaces between. Park, with whom she also released Cork 04-04-11, is an understated and sympathetic accompanist throughout.
Feel the force of Sikora’s playing too—halfway through the second track, ‘The Chopping Block’ her soprano is clear and cutting, the melodic lines spinning and swirling around Park’s textures and Grillot’s rhythmic pulse. [Read the rest…]
Idiom, tradition, identity, history (personal or collective) are things that I value. I tend not to subscribe to the vanilla notion of a pure, non-idiomatic state. I value the meeting: I want to know who you are, who I am, and that fascinating stuff is when those things collide—what we have in common, and what separates us. Border crossings are always fascinating; full of contradictions and (potential) misunderstandings….
…Meetings and border crossings make me think of brief encounters, limited investment, not long-arc relationships. Is that what free improvisers are left with: connecting only in that moment? Is that initial collision potentially more interesting to hear than when musicians get to know each other intimately (and calculate accordingly)?
…I do value the band, of long-term collaborations. It allows for greater complexity of interaction, greater speeds of decision making, more oblique, unexpected, choices. We, Eris 136199, coined a new term—‘weirderation’—after our last performance, to denote something—a set of relationships, decision making process—getting just that little bit weirder with each iteration.
On the other hand, spaces such as Crucible Sound have their own value. I’m not sure ‘brief encounters’ necessarily equates to ‘limited investment’ in those relationships.
weirderation wir-də-ˈrā-shən noun. process that results in something just that little bit weirder with each iteration. [compare examples A and B]
I am greatly indebted to Catherine Sikora and Josh Sinton for doing the heavy lifting, and turning my barebone sketches and speculations into music; for engageing intelligently, adventurously and imaginatively with the context at hand. These past months have been a learning experience for me as tactician, and I couldn’t have asked for better teachers.
Thanks to Bruce and Manny at the World’s Best Record Store for hosting us, and for their unshakable advocacy of new music. Thanks to Carol Parkinson, Hans Tammen, Kevin Ramsay, Emilio Vavarella and everyone at Harvestworks for hosting our performance, their enthusiasm, and for their support. Thanks again to Kevin Reilly for his video documentation of the DMG performance [watch/listen…], and, as always, thanks to all who came to listen and witness the musicking—real-time and interactive.
As Dave Sumner describes it, Work Spaces is “a series of photos of artist work spaces… the places where the creative process takes shape and form,” and in this edition features:
Han-earl Park work space in his Kensington, Brooklyn apartment. According to Park, it is also where Gisel the cat performs her role as music critic. [More…]
