Thursday, September 19, 2013, at 10:00pm: a performance by Evan Parker (saxophones) and Han-earl Park (guitar), as part of Parker’s residency (September 17–22), takes place at The Stone (16 Avenue C, New York, NY 10009). Admission: $15 $20 (students 13–19: $10; children <12: free).
With the change in the curatorial policy, I didn’t think I’d get back onstage at The Stone for a long while, never mind being asked to play by Mr Parker. I feel enormously privileged to have the opportunity to play a duo set with—the singular, remarkable, incomparable—Evan Parker.
Metis 9 is a collection of improvisative tactics, and higher-level interactive macros for ensemble performance designed, designated and specified by Han-earl Park.
Metis 9 has ‘glorious noise’ or ‘frenzy’ at its root, yet it is not so much structuring the noise as it is a meta-layer of complexity that performers can introduce at will. Metis 9 does not tell the performer what to play, or provide all the details of how to interact, but it is an additional network protocol for interactive possibilities. Group improvisation is always the primary protocol; Metis 9 provides secondary or tertiary tactics that create an additional focused complexity. The decision for each bloop and bleep is still retained by the ensemble. These macros enable specific interactionist schemes to be expressed in an open improvisative context; it is improvisative play channeled by group consent.
Like I said last time, necessity is the mother of invention. Two things sparked this second duo*3 event at DSMC: Gerald Cleaver was going to be available (been trying to corner him with a gig since January), and Viv Corringham had just moved to New York. I then asked Chris Pitsiokos if he’d like to contribute a set after Anna Webber had to drop out (as much as I enjoyed Chris and Philip White’s set, and I wouldn’t substitute it for anything else, would loved to have heard what Anna might have brought to the table—next time). And like the last duo*3 event, because of the performers, the results were unimaginably better than the minimal curatorial hand I played.
So big, big thanks to all the performers at the August 13 event: to Chris and Philip White for their sense of play (and for consistently hitting the resonance frequency of the DSMC buzzer); to Viv and Andrea Parkins for a performance full of humor, and a kind of cargo-cult elegance; and to Gerald for his limitless imagination, for the 45 minute creative, musical and physical workout, and for making the set sound just that much better. And kudos again to Don Mount for the indefatigable work as video documentarist [watch/listen…].
I’m looking forward to, in particular, hearing Viv, who’s recently relocated to NYC, with Andrea, and of course playing with Gerald Cleaver for the first time. If you only come to… two of my gigs this year, make this one of them!
Seeking performances in Europe, 2014 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…]
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the noise at the July 26 event. I was bowled over by the awesome time-and-motion-studies of Patricia Franceschy and Kate Gentile (Kate’s composition, in particular, was a highlight). I take my hat off to Swim This (Nick Didkovsky, Gerry Hemingway and Michael Lytle) for their playfully raucous set, and for inviting me to join them on stage. Thanks again to Don Mount for the videography. Last but not least, thanks to all who came to witness the noisy bodies in motion!
Seeking performances in Europe, 2014 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…]
I don’t expect my approach to real-time, interactive play and improvisative noise overlaps much with Richard Pinnell’s tastes, but Pinnell takes time to write a short overview of some of my download releases in the July issue of The Wire:
Four ‘name your price’ downloads from… guitarist Han-earl Park in various improv formations situated at the more traditional, loquaciously active end of the spectrum…. The sense of energy and joy in Park’s playing spills over into this flurry of online activity… fans of the talkative brand of improvised music will find something of value.
Traditional? Talkative? Vague? Relentless? Claustrophobic? What do you think?
Seeking performances in Europe, 2014 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…]
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. Towards the end of “Nova” on Cork 3-26-09, Park even plays chords with voices that lead. 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. [Read the rest…]
Meanwhile, citing the recording as an “equally, if not more convincing, aspect of Park’s musicality,” Zappa describes the ensemble with Jin Sangtae and Jeffrey Weeter as a context of:
…Minimal tonal or harmonic sticking points to derail the listening experience—an experience not to be missed by Park agnostics and believers alike. Jeffrey Weeter on percussion and Jin Sangtae on what are most likely hard drives in varying states of repair… could very well be the perfect counterpoint to Park’s active, strident departure from the last 100 years of the prevailing guitar morality.
Sangtae’s post-human sonic contribution makes Park’s departure seem less heretical…. Here is unanimity of method and likeness of function. Motility of gesture and dynamics of phrase are celebrated with sound, neither antiquated harmonic stricture nor pre-Civil-Rights-era tropes. There is a directness, a paucity of fluff, which, more than any other quality or attribute, is what separates jazz from music that emerged from and ultimately supplanted it as the ‘art music’ of our day. Sangtae deserves special mention for his vision (as does Park for including scripting him in to the group). While likely not the first to use the staccato grrrr of a hard drive for musical gesture, none have used it with as much imagination or in a setting as sympathetic as Cork 1-24-11. Sangtae’s contribution underscores the collective nature of improvisation and creates a feeling of want, where and when he is not present. Without question, Cork 1-24-11 is a conceptual and aural high-water mark few will ever reach. [Read the rest…]
