Tomorrow (Sunday, June 24, 2012), at 7:00pm: a performance by Jack Wright (saxophones), Ben Wright (bass), Andrew Drury (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar) as part of Soup and Sound House Concert #12. Event takes place at Andrew Drury’s home in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, New York (contact him for the location).
reminder: Han-earl Park and Josh Sinton, Brooklyn
This Friday (June 22, 2012), event starting at 7:00pm: a performance by Han-earl Park (guitar) and Josh Sinton (saxophone and clarinet) takes place at Dustin Carlson’s home (285 Midwood Street, Brooklyn, NY 11225).
performance: Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora at On The Way Out, Brooklyn
Tuesday, July 24, 2012, 8:30pm (set: 10:00pm): a performance by Nick Didkovsky (guitar), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Catherine Sikora (saxophones) presented by On The Way Out takes place at The Backroom @ Freddy’s Bar (627 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215) [map/directions…]. Also performing: at 8:30pm, Christine Bard (drums, percussion and electronics), Bill McCrossen (bass) and Mercedes Figueras (saxophones). $10 suggested donation.
Super excited about playing with the Ultimate Didkovsky and the Astonishing Sikora again. Come down to the gig; if it’s anything like the last time we played, it’ll be very, very special.
See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [Freddy’s page…] [facebook event…]
details
The trio of noisy, unruly complexity of composer, computer artist and guitarist Nick Didkovsky, the coporeal, cyborg virtuosity of constructor and guitarist Han-earl Park, and the no-nonsense melodic logic of composer and saxophonist Catherine Sikora plays on the crossroads of noise, melody, rhythm, space, density, contrast, synchronicity, asymmetry, serendipity and contradiction. The group forges an improvisative space where melody can be melody, noise can be noise, meter can be meter, metal becomes metal, bluegrass turns to bluegrass, jazz transforms into jazz, all there, all necessary without imploding under idiomatic pressures.
Annihilator of the boundaries between heavy metal and the avant garde, Nick Didkovsky founded the avant-rock big band Doctor Nerve, and is a member of Swim This with Gerry Hemingway and Michael Lytle. He is a pioneer of small-systems computer music, and he has composed music for ensemble including Bang On A Can All-Stars and the California EAR Unit.
Described by Brian Morton as “a musical philosopher… a delightful shape-shifter”, Han-earl Park is drawn to real-time cyborg configurations in which artifacts and bodies collide. He has performed with some of the finest practitioners of improvised music, is part of Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, and Numbers with Richard Barrett.
Catherine Sikora is a “a free-blowing player’s player with a spectacular harmonic imagination and an evolved understanding of the tonal palette of the saxophone” (Chris Elliot, Seacoast Online). She has long-standing duo projects with Eric Mingus and with Ziv Ravitz, and performs as part of ensembles led by Elliott Sharp, François Grillot and Matt Lavelle.
rerelease: Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder (Cork, 03–26–09)
The complete recording of the March 26, 2009 performance by saxophonist, performer and theorist Franziska Schroeder and guitarist, improviser and constructor Han-earl Park, now with liner notes by Áine Sheil, is now available for download via Bandcamp. [Bandcamp page…] [Download now…]
Originally released in September 2010, the recording was the first in a series of download releases hosted at busterandfriends.com. This bandcamp-hosted edition adds liner notes by Áine Sheil, and the option to download the recording in multiple formats including lossless.
Recommended price: €5+
Unlike some of the past download releases from busterandfriends.com, this one, like Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04–04–11), is hosted at Bandcamp, and available as a ‘name your price’ album. Although you can download the recording for free (name €0 as your price) with certain restrictions, please consider paying at least the recommended price. Your generosity will help support the performers and their work.
description
Though short, percussive, hard-to-notate sounds dominate Han-earl Park’s sound, he does utilize the totality of the guitar’s sonorities—just not in the proportions demanded by the nostalgic (retrospective, reactionary, etc.) owners of major media…. Franziska Schroeder’s… saxophone is an excellent counterpoint to Park’s electric guitar, mostly because her post-tonal sensibilities are conceived and executed so well. Very simply, contemporary improvisation has grown beyond the 12-note chromatic division of the octave. Buh bye! It is this extended tonal consciousness by which Schroeder achieves the elusive by keeping the narrative aspects to a minimum without regressing to that childish, abnegating HVAC morality holding hostage the imagination of so many wind and reed players in our improvising community.
“I’m very happy to finally make these available. In many respects, all my playing subsequent to this duet has been in response to, and a follow-up on, the implications of this performance. Big thanks to Franziska for sharing the journey on this one.”
Han-earl Park (statement on first release).
“The Glucksman Gallery is one of the finest buildings to have been built in Ireland in recent times, but it is a tricky space for any musician to negotiate. Sounds reverberate and carry in unexpected ways, and music improvised here runs the risk of losing all definition. That [Han-earl] Park and his co-improviser Franziska Schroeder gracefully avoided this testifies to their alertness, sensitivity and experience working together in other spaces…. Indeed the evening had the feeling of conversation, with the instrumentalists demonstrating the improvisatory give-and-take of a convivial exchange of ideas.”
Áine Sheil (from the liner notes).
“Park and Schroeder are involved in ongoing collaborations enrolling human and machine musicians, public and laboratory situations, formal and ad-hoc environments, material and social technologies, in real-time, interactive play. Seeking to (re)engineer notions of virtuosity in the context of latter-day, trans-national experimentalism and improvised musics, their performances embrace the contingent and contradictory.”
personnel
Han-earl Park (guitar) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophone).
track listing
recording details
All music by Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder.
Recorded live March 26, 2009 at the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork.
Performance presented by the Lewis Glucksman Gallery.
Recorded and mastered by Han-earl Park.
Liner notes by Áine Sheil.
Artwork by Han-earl Park.
The recordings (Chorale, Scatter, and Nova), liner notes and artwork released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. Please attribute the recordings to Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder, the liner notes to Áine Sheil, and the artwork to Han-earl Park.
about the performers
Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park has been working within/from/around traditions of fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, mostly open improvised musics for over fifteen years, sometimes engineering theater, sometimes inventing ritual. He feels the gravitational pull of collaborative, multi-authored contexts, and has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries, concert halls, and (ad-hoc) alternative spaces in Austria, Denmark, Germany, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, Scotland and the USA.
He is part of Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, and is involved in collaborations with Bruce Coates, Franziska Schroeder, Alex Fiennes and Murray Campbell. He has recently performed with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Lol Coxhill, Pat Thomas, Paul Dunmall, Mark Sanders, Matana Roberts, Richard Barrett, Pauline Oliveros, Thomas Buckner and Kato Hideki. Festival appearances include Sonorities (Belfast), Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), VAIN Live Art (Oxford), and the Center for Experiments in Art, Information and Technology Festival (California). His recordings have been released by labels including Slam Productions and DUNS Limited Edition.
Park founded Stet Lab, a monthly improvised music space in Cork, Ireland, and taught improvisation at the UCC Department of Music.
“Guitarist Han-earl Park is a musical philosopher…. Expect unexpected things from Park, who is a delightful shape-shifter….”
Brian Morton (Point of Departure)
Franziska Schroeder is a saxophonist and theorist. She received her saxophone training in Berlin and Australia and later from Marie-Bernadette Charrier / Conservatoire Supérieure in Bordeaux.
With her trio FAINT Schroeder released a CD of improvised and electroacoustic music in 2007 with Pedro Rebelo (piano and instrumental parasites) and Steven Davis (drums), and a second CD, both on the creative source label. Schroeder has performed with many international musicians including Pauline Oliveros, Stelarc, the Avatar Orchestra, Chris Brown, John Kenny, Tom Arthurs, Nuno Rebelo and Evan Parker.
She holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and has written for many international journals, including Leonardo, Organised Sound, Performance Research, Cambridge Publishing and Routledge. Her book “Re-situating Performance Within The Threshold: Performance practice understood through theories of embodiment” appeared in 2009. Schroeder also published a book on user-generated content for Cambridge Publishing Scholars in 2009.
Schroeder is on the development committee of NMSAT (Networked Music & SoundArt Timeline), and has been on the programming committee for the DRHA (Digital Resources in the Humanities and Arts) conference since 2009. She was the Program Chair for the DRHA 2010. Schroeder has been an AHRC Research Fellow and is now a Lecturer/RCUK Fellow at the School of Music and Sonic Arts in Belfast, where she coaches 3rd year recitalists and MA performance students.
“Schroeder… constitutes a great addition in my book of favorite saxophonists, her attitude basically lyrical, sensitive competences just pouring out from whatever she chooses to release from a couple of soulful yet scientifically-oriented lungs. I’m not surprised to discover that she’s been active on the instrument since the age of nine—the perceived skill is indisputable.”
Massimo Ricci (Touching Extremes)
Also by Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder
io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) [details…]
Performers: io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself), Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (alto and sopranino saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (soprano saxophone).
© 2011 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2011 SLAM Productions.
Also available for download [more…]
A Little Brittle Music [details…]
Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass) and Corey Mwamba (vibraphone and flute).
© 2015 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2015 Park/Lash/Mwamba.
Dunmall-Park-Sanders (Birmingham, 02-15-11) [details…]
Performers: Paul Dunmall (saxophones and bagpipes), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Mark Sanders (drums).
(cc) 2013 Paul Dunmall/Han-earl Park/Mark Sanders.
Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08-2011) [details…]
Performers: Murray Campbell (violins, oboe and cor anglais), Randy McKean (saxophone, clarinets and flutes) with Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Gino Robair (energized surfaces, voltage made audible) and Scott R. Looney (hyperpiano).
(cc) 2012 Murray Campbell/Randy McKean/Han-earl Park/Gino Robair/Scott R. Looney.
Park+Murray (Cork, 07-29-10) [details…]
Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Marian Murray (violin).
(cc) 2012 Han-earl Park/Marian Murray.
Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01-24-11) [details…]
Performers: Jin Sangtae (electronics), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Jeffrey Weeter (drums and electronics).
(cc) 2012 Jin Sangtae/Han-earl Park/Jeffrey Weeter.
Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11) [details…]
Performers: Catherine Sikora (saxophone), Ian Smith (trumpet) and Han-earl Park (guitar).
(cc) 2012 Catherine Sikora/Ian Smith/Han-earl Park.
updates
09-24-12: correct error in dates in artwork and Bandcamp album data.
10-24-12: add recommended price.
05-20-13: updated the ‘also available for download’ list.
07-02-13: updated review.
11-01-15: add A Little Brittle Music to downloads list, and change currency from USD to EUR.
performance: Jack Wright, Ben Wright, Andrew Drury and Han-earl Park, Brooklyn
Sunday, June 24, 2012, at 7:00pm: a performance by Jack Wright (saxophones), Ben Wright (bass), Andrew Drury (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar) as part of Soup and Sound House Concert #12. The event takes place at Andrew Drury’s home in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn (contact him for the location). Recommended donation: $10.
See the performance diary for up-to-date info.
performance diary 06-11-12 (Brooklyn, New York)
date | venue | time | details |
---|---|---|---|
June 22, 2012 | Dustin Carlson’s home 285 Midwood Street Brooklyn, NY 11225 |
8:00pm (doors: 7:00pm) | Han-earl Park (guitar) and Josh Sinton (saxophone and clarinet), plus Anna Webber and Mariel Berger, and Natura Morta (F.L., Sean Ali and Carlo Costa). [Details…] |
June 24, 2012 | Andrew Drury’s home [Contact for location…] Lefferts Gardens Brooklyn, NY |
7:00pm | Soup and Sound House Concert #12 with Jack Wright (saxophones), Ben Wright (bass), Andrew Drury (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar). Recommended donation: $10. [Details…] |
July 24, 2012 | The Backroom @ Freddy’s Bar 627 5th Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11215 |
8:30pm | Performance by Nick Didkovsky (guitar), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Catherine Sikora (saxophones), plus Christine Bard (drums, percussion and electronics), Bill McCrossen (bass) and Mercedes Figueras (saxophones), presented by On The Way Out. Recommended donation: $10. [Details…] [Freddy’s page…] [facebook event…] |
September 7, 2012 | The Stone 16 Avenue C New York, NY 10009 |
8:00pm | Performance by Tim Perkis (electronics), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Harris Eisenstadt (percussion). Admission: $10. |
late 2012 | North America | Numbers (Richard Barrett: electronics; and Han-earl Park: guitar) is seeking performance opportunities in North America, late 2012. Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch! |
2013 | Europe | Seeking performances in Europe, 2013 for the cyborg ensemble of interactive, semi-autonomous, technological artifact and machine musician io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself) with human musicians Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophones). Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch! [Detailed proposal…] |
Continue reading “performance diary 06-11-12 (Brooklyn, New York)”
reminder: Andrew Drury and Han-earl Park, Brooklyn
This Thursday (June 7, 2012), event starting at 7:00pm: a performance by Andrew Drury (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar) as part of Soup and Sound House Concert #11. Event takes place at Andrew Drury’s home in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, New York (contact him for the location).
performances: Drury-Park and Park-Sinton, Brooklyn
A couple of house concerts coming up in June with Andrew Drury, and with Josh Sinton, both in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, New York (see the performance diary for up-to-date info).
- June 7, 2012: Performance by Andrew Drury (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Bow Duo (Adrian Knight and Chris Cerrone) as part of Soup and Sound House Concert #11. Takes place at Andrew Drury’s home (contact him for the location), and starts 7:00pm (Andrew and I are performing the second set).
[Performance diary entry…] - June 22, 2012: Performance by Han-earl Park (guitar) and Josh Sinton (saxophone and clarinet), plus Anna Webber and Mariel Berger, and Natura Morta (F.L., Sean Ali and Carlo Costa). Takes place at Dustin Carlson’s home (285 Midwood Street, Brooklyn, NY 11225), and starts 7:00pm (Josh and I are performing the final set).
[Performance diary entry…]
Should be a fun way to spend a couple of summer evenings in Brooklyn!
thanks: Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora at ABC No Rio, New York
Thanks to Blaise Siwula of COMA: Citizens Ontological Music Agenda and everyone at ABC No Rio for hosting the performance on Sunday (May 27, 2012). Thanks to Jim Goodin, Frederika Kreier, and the Rocco John Iacovone ensemble for sharing the stage.
Mono kudos to the Ultimate Nick Didkovsky and the Astonishing Catherine Sikora for the noise, melody, rhythm, space, density, contrast, synchronicity, asymmetry, serendipity and contradiction. For forging a space where melody can be melody, noise can be noise, meter can be meter, bluegrass can be bluegrass, all there, all necessary without imploding under idiomatic pressures. To Nick’s noisy, unruly complexity, where ‘extended technique’ doesn’t mean you can’t jam-on-C. To Catherine with her big, big sound, formidable technique, and impeccable melodic sense, who to quote Michael Lytle’s description of the performance “sailed around and through” the “sound machines.” Let’s return to this trio soon!
And if you’re wondering what we sounded like…
reminder: Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora at ABC No Rio, New York
This Sunday (May 27, 2012), event starting at 6:00pm: a performance by Nick Didkovsky (guitar), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Catherine Sikora (saxophones) as part of COMA: Citizens Ontological Music Agenda takes place at ABC No Rio (156 Rivington Street, New York, NY 10002) [map/directions…]. Admission is $5. [Details…]
Le son du grisli: Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders (Birmingham, 02–15–11)
Guillaume Belhomme (Le son du grisli) reviews the download release by Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders. In it, Belhomme describes a conversation of strength, skill and subtlety:
On sait les liens qui unissent Dunmall et Sanders – ce qu’ils ont pu donner par le passé : de Shooters Hill enregistré en sextette en présence de Paul Rutherford à I Wish You Peace du Moksha Big Band –, c’est donc la présence de Park – que l’on a pu entendre récemment auprès d’un autre britannique de taille, Lol Coxhill, sur Mathilde, et se fit remarquer déjà auprès de Dunmall et Sanders sur un Live at the Glucksmann Gallery – qui intéresse ici. Aux salves imparables du ténor, il oppose des nappes et quelques arpèges accrochés quand Sanders compte les points avec aplomb.
Plus loin, c’est à la cornemuse puis au soprano qu’intervient Dunmall : pour déjouer ses tours (de force et d’adresse), Park choisit une nouvelle fois la subtilité : ses accords étouffés renversent les échanges du trio, transformés bientôt en horizontalité sur laquelle les trois hommes s’entendent alors en apaisés.
[Read the rest…] [Download the recording…]
Thanks to Melanie L. Marshall for help with the French.
Also available for download…
audio recordings: Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park (Cork, 04–04–11)
audio recordings: Han-earl Park and Richard Scott (Berlin, 10–23–10)
audio recordings: Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray (Cork, 07–29–10)
audio recordings: Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder (Cork, 03–26–09)
thanks: London*2 and Scarborough
Thanks to Trevor Brent and everyone at Freedom of the City for a fantastic and welcoming festival; to Rob Mackay of the University of Hull-Scarborough Campus for being a wonderful, generous host—organizing the performance, housing and feeding the musicians; and to Jazz @ The Oxford for their open mindedness and enthusiasm. Special thanks to John Chantler and Hamish Dunbar at Cafe OTO for helping this itinerant musician step across the border, to John Coxon for the use of his lovely amplifier at FOTC, and to Seán Kelly for evolving into Mathilde 253’s official photographer!
Kudos to all the musicians involved: to Richard Barrett for pushing and pulling the music into new spaces, and for illuminating and exploring the possibilities of real-time interactive music; to Charles Hayward and Ian Smith—two musicians who never miss a beat—for the real rock-out (despite 1/3 of Mathilde 253 begin zombified by a cold); to Dom Lash, Phillip Marks and, in particular, to Mark Hanslip for inviting me to join in their spontaneous inventions and discoveries.
And finally, as always, thanks to all who came to watch/listen!
‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) is available from Creative Sources Recordings [details…]
Performers: Richard Barrett (electronics) and Han-earl Park (guitar).
© + ℗ 2012 Creative Sources Recordings.
Mathilde 253 (SLAMCD 528) is available from SLAM Productions [details…]
Performers: Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and melodica), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Ian Smith (trumpet and flugelhorn) plus Lol Coxhill (saxophone).
© 2010 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2010 SLAM Productions.