Tonight (Sunday, March 20, 2022), at 8:00pm: Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone) and Pat Thomas (keyboards) perform at Cafe OTO (18–22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL). [Get tickets…]
Han-earl Park is also performing a solo set in Leeds (March 22), and, with rit. and Una Lee, in Dublin (24), Letterkenny (25), Derry (26) and Belfast (27). See the performance diary for details.
This Saturday (March 19, 2022), at 7:00pm (doors: 6.30pm): Han-earl Park performs as part of The Sound of Science event at Gosforth Civic Theatre (Regent Farm Road, Gosforth, Newcastle NE3 3HD). The event is free, but booking is recommended. [Get tickets…]
Han-earl Park is also performing in London with Lara Jones and Pat Thomas (March 20), performing a solo set in Leeds (22), and, with rit. and Una Lee, in Dublin (24), Letterkenny (25), Derry (26) and Belfast (27). See the performance diary for details.
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Peculiar Velocities (BAF002) [details…]
Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (saxophone) and Nick Didkovsky (guitar).
Track listing: Ballad of Tensegrity I (≥ 5:12), Ballad of Tensegrity II (2:28), Peculiar Velocities I (3:46), Peculiar Velocities II (3:36), Sleeping Dragon (5:22), D-Loop I (≥ 6:16), D-Loop II (5:13), Polytely I (≥ 5:01), Polytely II: Breakdown (5:33), Anagnorisis I (2:09), Anagnorisis II (2:19). Total duration ≥ 46:54.
© + ℗ 2020 Han-earl Park.
| date | venue | time | details |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 19, 2022 | Gosforth Civic Theatre Regent Farm Road Gosforth Newcastle NE3 3HD England |
7:00pm (doors: 6:30pm) | Han-earl Park (guitar). A solo performance, plus a discussion (with Corey Mwamba) as part of The Sound of Science. Also performing and presenting: Johnny Hunter’s Pale Blue Dot with Mark Hanslip, Seth Bennett, Gemma Bass, Aby Vulliamy and Michael Bardon. Presented by Jazz North East. Free but ticketed. [Details…] [Gosforth Civic Theatre page/tickets…] |
| March 20, 2022 | Cafe OTO 18–22 Ashwin Street Dalston London E8 3DL England |
8:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone) and Pat Thomas (keyboards). £12, £10 advance, £6 members. [Details…] [OTO page/tickets…] |
| March 22, 2022 | Hyde Park Book Club 27–29 Headingley Lane Leeds LS6 1BL England |
8:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar). Also performing: James Banner and Stephanie Lamprea. Presented by Fusebox. £5 (free to Leeds Conservatoire students). Details to follow… |
| March 24, 2022 | Unit 44 44 Prussia Street Dublin Ireland |
7:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Una Lee (voice and electronic) and rit. (voice and electronics). Presented by Northern Lights Project. [Details…] [Get tickets…] |
| March 25, 2022 | Regional Cultural Centre Cove Hill, Port Road Gortlee Letterkenny Ireland |
7:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Una Lee (voice and electronic) and rit. (voice and electronics). Presented by Northern Lights Project. [Details…] [Get tickets…] |
| March 26, 2022 | Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin 37 Great James Street Derry BT48 7DF N. Ireland |
7:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Una Lee (voice and electronic) and rit. (voice and electronics). Presented by Northern Lights Project. [Details…] [Get tickets…] |
| The Black Box 8–22 Hill Street Belfast BT1 2LA N. Ireland |
7:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Una Lee (voice and electronic) and rit. (voice and electronics). Presented by Northern Lights Project. [Details…] [Get tickets…] EVENT CANCELLED. |
Saturday, March 19, 2022, at 7:00pm (doors: 6.30pm): Han-earl Park performs as part of The Sound of Science event at Gosforth Civic Theatre (Regent Farm Road, Gosforth, Newcastle NE3 3HD):
Cyborgs, bodies, chaos, simulation and improvisation…
Han-earl Park will visit Newcastle to perform solo, and discuss [with Corey Mwamba and Graeme Wilson] his ongoing interest in chaotic systems, computation, and the collision of physiology and physics in his music, from guitar technique to the construction of musical automata.
Also performing will be Johnny Hunter’s ‘Pale Blue Dot’ Sextet (Johnny Hunter: drums; Mark Hanslip: saxophone; Seth Bennett: bass; Gemma Bass: violin; Aby Vulliamy: viola; and Michael Bardon: ’cello).
The event is free, but advance booking is strongly recommended. [Get tickets…]
See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [Gosforth Civic Theatre page…] [Facebook event…]
To celebrate British Science Week 2022 music promoters Jazz North East are proud to present ‘The Sound of Science.’ With additional support from Newcastle University’s Faculty of Science and Gosforth Civic Theatre, audiences are welcomed to experience a series of concerts and discussions drawing connections between science and music.
Programmed events will specifically explore the interplay of chemistry, physics, ecology and biology, and the ways in which these disciplines have been employed by, and communicated through, composers and musicians. We will hear from 28 musicians, artists and scientists across the four day event.
“From climate change to vaccines, the importance of science to the way we live has never been clearer. Its relationship to music however is rarely explored and it is for that reason we have assembled those working in and between these two seemingly disparate fields. Our events shine a spotlight on the role of science within music composition and improvisation, with a view to inspiring audiences new to one or both subjects.
“Presented and discussed through music making practice, this project aims to increase understanding of science and its social implications, and build audience confidence in discussing these issues. Inviting all ages and every level of expertise, the festival will spark new ideas around how science and music can be communicated and combined.” — Wesley Stephenson (Festival Producer)
Jazz North East gratefully acknowledges and thanks the support of Arts Council England, Golsoncott Foundation, Scops Arts Trust, the Royal Society of Chemistry, Newcastle University Faculty of Science, British Science Association, Soapbox Science, Euan Preston and Palace of Science, Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Fonds Podium Kunsten Performing Arts Fund NL, Jazz North, Sound and Music, Sunderland Culture, New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings and Gosforth Civic Theatre.
Han-earl Park is also performing in and Leeds, and in London with Lara Jones and Pat Thomas, and, with rit. and Una Lee, in Dublin, Letterkenny, Derry and Belfast. See the performance diary for details.
Hear the improvisers Han-earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas guide, and be guided by, sounds—map Lost Inland Stations; evoke phantom cavernous clubs; coax Sleeping Giants to dance a new dance—the shifts and signals in the real-time networks and relationships of interaction.
Sunday, March 20, 2022, at 8:00pm: Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone) and Pat Thomas (keyboards) perform at Cafe OTO (18–22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL). £12, £10 advance, £6 members. [Get tickets…]
See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [Cafe OTO page…] [Facebook event…]
I’m also performing in Newcastle and Leeds, and, with rit. and Una Lee, in Dublin, Letterkenny, Derry and Belfast. See the performance diary for details.
Expect “a cyborg virtuosity in which mind, body and artifact collide noisily” (Han-earl Park), “tempestuous, syllable-timed glossolalia” (rit.) and “sounds, stories and sensations” (Una Lee).
Coming up in March 2022: performances by Han-earl Park, rit. and Una Lee in Dublin, Letterkenny, Derry and Belfast. See the performance diary for up-to-date info.
Big, big thanks to Peter O’Doherty at Northern Lights Project for putting these events together. I’m very excited to share the stage again with rit., and, for the first time, with Una!
Presented by Northern Lights Project in partnership with Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, and supported and funded by PRS Foundation, Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, and Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.
I’m also performing in Newcastle, London (with Lara Jones and Pat Thomas), and Leeds. See the performance diary for details.
The Sampler has just published ‘Broken Families: Collectivism, Violence, Imagined Utopias and Improvisation,’ my piece about the possibilities of improvisation—sometimes profound, radical and creative, sometimes regressive, hegemonic and abusive—about trust, consent and power, and how the denial of violence may itself be damaging to the project of building better communities and practices:
These are stories about failures. Failures of imagination, of peoples and groups, of how lofty goals can be deceptions. And those deceptions can be limiting, and affect violence. I want to move to a point where we can discuss, critically, both the utopian promises of the practices, processes, tribes and communities surrounding improvisation, and their destructive and violent potentials.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the above stories of improvisation-in-crisis are from events with self-professed lofty goals…. I think, in both cases, those of us involved took community, solidarity, resilience, trust and empathy for granted. It’s not just that the groundwork of trust and safety was never established for the group (although that’s part of it), but that we lazily subscribed to the dogma that the nature of improvisation would itself somehow save us. [Read the rest…]
Thanks to Laonikos Psimikakis-Chalkokondylis at The Sampler for asking me to write the piece. In writing this piece I’m indebted to exchanges and conversations with several improvisers. Big thanks, in particular, to Caroline Kraabel, Corey Mwamba, and Lauren Sarah Hayes.
03–19-24: update URL for article as the thesampler.org is being shuttered.
I feel blessed and enormously privileged to find Of Life, Recombinant (NEWJAiM9) among the year’s end ‘best of’ lists. Selecting my album for aJazzNoise’s picks-of-2021, Dave Foxall writes:
Han-earl Park digs deep into techniques and sounds and presents a fresh palette for the guitar. Pyrotechnics abound, but not in any kind of traditional sense. [Read the rest…]
Plus, with the inclusion of Catherine Sikora’s corners (“absorbing, pushing against and playing off the natural reverb”), and Nick Didkovsky’s CHORD IV, aJazzNoise’s selection almost like an informal Eris 136199 reunion!
Keith Prosk also chooses Of Life… for his Top 10 at Free Jazz, and in his review at harmonic series, Prosk writes of a music that “explores and rearranges material, or things whose characters seem similar though never the same, through its durations”:
Along with what’s kept there is always something left and something new. The country twang tune with popping harmonics from ‘Naught Opportune.’ The unsettling mandolinesque trill or quivering sustain in hazy delay from ‘Are Variant.’ The distorted suck, psychedelic and ecstatic, in slow crescendo from ‘Of Life, Recombinant.’ In its representation of real-time activity that ruminates on its material, it is as if it provides a glimpse into the improvising process, whose hushed reality of painstaking practice might often be misinterpreted as something closer to strokes of inspiration out of the ether. In between chaos and composure, it is something closer to the complexity of life. [Read the rest…]
And I’m super proud to find my album on Avant Music News’ Best of 2021. As Mike Borella previously wrote:
Park’s approach changes, from jangling notes, to ambient passages, to twangy folk themes, to long-held chords. In doing so, he incorporates extended techniques into more conventional practices to the point where the former guide and direct the latter. [Read the rest…]
[About this album…] [Get the CD/download from NEWJAiM (Bandcamp)…] [All reviews…]
This Thursday and Friday (January 6 and January 7, 2022): QLH (Quentin Tolimieri: organ; Luca Marini: drums; and Han-earl Park: guitar) with guest artist Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen (saxophone) perform in Berlin.
It’s been far, far too long since I played with Louise, and I’m excited to be performing with her again (and you should be too)!
Above video from the performance by Han-earl and Louise with the late Michael Evans, Downtown Music Gallery, New York.
| date | venue | time | details |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 6, 2022 | Sowieso Weisestraße 24 12049 Berlin Germany |
8:30pm (doors: 8:00pm) | QLH (Quentin Tolimieri: organ; Luca Marini: drums; and Han-earl Park: guitar) with Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen (saxophone). [Details…] [Reserve seat…] |
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| January 7, 2022 | Secret Location* Berlin Germany * Contact me for details. |
9:00pm (doors: 8:00pm) | QLH (Quentin Tolimieri: organ; Luca Marini: drums; and Han-earl Park: guitar) with Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen (saxophone). Also performing: Dirar Kalash. [Details…] |
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| January 13, 2022 | Au Topsi Pohl Pohlstraße 64 10785 Berlin Germany |
8:00pm | QLH (Quentin Tolimieri: organ; Luca Marini: drums; and Han-earl Park: guitar). Also performing: Jasper Stadhouders (guitar) and Christian Marien (drums). [Au Topsi program…] |
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| January 14, 2022 | Petersburg Art Space Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101 10553 Berlin Germany |
8:00pm | QLH (Quentin Tolimieri: organ; Luca Marini: drums; and Han-earl Park: guitar) with |
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Wiesbaden Germany |
Details to follow… |
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| March 19, 2022 | Gosforth Civic Theatre Regent Farm Road Gosforth Newcastle NE3 3HD England |
7:00pm (doors: 6:30pm) | Han-earl Park (guitar). A solo performance, plus a discussion (with Corey Mwamba) as part of The Sound of Science. Also performing and presenting: Johnny Hunter’s Pale Blue Dot with Mark Hanslip, Seth Bennett, Gemma Bass, Aby Vulliamy and Michael Bardon. Presented by Jazz North East. Free but ticketed. [Details…] [Gosforth Civic Theatre page/tickets…] |
| March 20, 2022 | Cafe OTO 18–22 Ashwin Street Dalston London E8 3DL England |
8:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone) and Pat Thomas (keyboards). £12, £10 advance, £6 members. [Details…] [OTO page/tickets…] |
| March 22, 2022 | Hyde Park Book Club 27–29 Headingley Lane Leeds LS6 1BL England |
8:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar). Also performing: James Banner and Stephanie Lamprea. Presented by Fusebox. £5 (free to Leeds Conservatoire students). Details to follow… |
| March 24, 2022 | Unit 44 44 Prussia Street Dublin Ireland |
7:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Una Lee (voice and electronic) and rit. (voice and electronics). Presented by Northern Lights Project. [Details…] [Get tickets…] |
| March 25, 2022 | Regional Cultural Centre Cove Hill, Port Road Gortlee Letterkenny Ireland |
7:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Una Lee (voice and electronic) and rit. (voice and electronics). Presented by Northern Lights Project. [Details…] [Get tickets…] |
| March 26, 2022 | Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin 37 Great James Street Derry BT48 7DF N. Ireland |
7:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Una Lee (voice and electronic) and rit. (voice and electronics). Presented by Northern Lights Project. [Details…] [Get tickets…] |
| March 27, 2022 | The Black Box 8–22 Hill Street Belfast BT1 2LA N. Ireland |
7:00pm | Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Una Lee (voice and electronic) and rit. (voice and electronics). Presented by Northern Lights Project. [Details…] [Get tickets…] |
Of Life, Recombinant (NEWJAiM9), my latest disc and my first solo* album, is out now on New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings.
This suite might be my first self-consciously poetic work if not for the fact that I couldn’t have told you that’s what it was when I was in the middle of it (visibility low; uncertain, uncertain, uncertain). Of Life, Recombinant is the work in which I most want listeners to hear, in it, themselves.
I always hope that my music reflects and diffracts very human truths; that they depend, and perform, and engage with them. But with Of Life, Recombinant, I think, (I hope) that the work is fueled by, and has in its core, compassion.
Thanks again to the project director at NEWJAiM, Wesley Stephenson, for inviting me to have my work represented on this most awesome label. Thanks also to Annette Krebs for helping me, with one simple question, to decide to release these listening guides to my listeners.
[About this album…] [Get the CD/download from NEWJAiM (Bandcamp)…]
* Ostensibly solo. It’s complicated.
