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!
Belated set of thanks for the performances earlier this month (June 5th and 9th). The biggest thanks to Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora who made this Eris 136199’s stragest performance so far, with unexpected and unpredictable turns and juxtapositions; and big thanks to Michael Lytle who invited me to join him for a duo performance at ABC No Rio. Thanks also to Blaise Siwula for organizing and curating COMA: Citizens Ontological Music Agenda, and to the other musicians who shared the bill and both events. In particular, kudos to Ras Moshe, Shayna Dulberger and John Pietaro for stepping up and contributing a fantastic set (plus John said one of the nicest things about my playing after Eris’ set: “You’re the Rashied Ali of the group!”); and to Craig Flanagin and Frank Marino for their great vibe on and off stage. Special thanks to Scott Friedlander for his indefatigable and expert documentation—audio, video and photographic—and a hat tip to Don Mount for helping Eris come up with a title for our first improvisation. Last but not least, thanks to all who came to listen and witness the noise, complexity and play.
Necessity is the mother of invention. Catherine Sikora initially approached me about a ‘cryptic gig’, saying that Stanley Jason Zappa would be in town. As a last minute event, with little time for organization, I proposed an evening of duos. Pragmatically, if I’d asked for larger ensembles, people would have to check the availability of a larger number of people; something that can be time consuming in this town. So I asked Ingrid Laubrock, who I’d just been talking about playing with when I saw her at Gowanus Company in April, if she’d be interested in a duo. I also asked Andrew Drury if he could put somthing together, and he got Kris Davis onboard. When the dust settled, catching my breath, I looked at the lineup of the evening, and realized what a kick-ass group of musicians we had for the event.
Thanks to all involved in the May 16 event. For the music: Ingrid, Catherine, Andrew, Stanley and Kris; and for pitching the initial idea for the event: Catherine; for the documentation: Don Mount and Kevin Reilly (what we may lack in other resources, we more than make up for in documentation 😉 ; and for the help: Kevin. Thanks for listening: all who came to witness music in real-time!
A audiovisual review of some of the performances in April. Including two contrasting duets with double bassists (Tom Blancarte and Dominic Lash), and a trio with Catherine Sikora (saxophones) and Eric Lyon.
Thanks for all involved in the performance on March 26. Thanks to Michael Evans and Anders Nilsson of On The Way Out, and to Freddy’s Bar, for hosting the event; to Michael Lytle’s ensemble (with Mari Kimura, Nick Didkovsky and Andrew Drury) for sharing the bill, and for the imaginary slow-burn cartoon Kafka nightmare music as might be edited by Tex Avery and orchestrated by Carl Stalling; to Don Mount for yet again documenting music in motion (above videography by Don Mount); and to all who came to listen.
And of course a very special thanks to Catherine Sikora and Josh Sinton for their imaginative leaps, surprises, left-field interventions, and for keeping me on my toes. I appreciate your impeccable choices, and the time and effort you’ve put into making music out of the broad tactical sketches that I brought to the rehearsals. Thanks for finding a play-space, and forging a living game.
Some exciting performances coming up in April with Catherine Sikora, Eric Lyon, Piotr Michalowski, Lominic Dash Dominic Lash, Joe Moffett, Andrew Drury, Ed Rosenberg, Owen Stewart-Robertson, Kate Pittman and others. See the performance diary for up-to-date info.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013, at 8:30pm (our set: 10:00pm): a performance of Metis 9 by Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (saxophones) and Josh Sinton (saxophone and clarinet) 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, Mari Kimura (violin), Nick Didkovsky (guitar), Andrew Drury (drums and percussion) and Michael Lytle (clarinet and analog electronics). $10 suggested donation.
An orchestrated, real-time, interactive collision between the cyborgism of guitarist Han-earl Park, and the incomparably original melodic and timbral sensibilities of saxophonist Catherine Sikora and saxophonist-clarinetist Josh Sinton. The trio will render into music, Metis 9, a collection of improvisative tactics, and higher-level interactive macros for group improvisation 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.
Kudos to Ras Moshe and everyone at The Brecht Forum, and to Bruce Gallanter (hey, it was good to talk and catch up, Bruce!) and Manny Maris of Downtown Music Gallery for hosting and curating the events. (And apologies to Ras and the other performers at The Brecht Forum for not being able to stick around for the other sets.) Thanks again to Kevin Reilly for the video documentation of the DMG performance, and thanks, as always, to all who came to listen and witness music in interaction and in real-time.
The performers were Mark Trayle (electronics), Gascia Ouzounian (violin), Chris Brown (piano), Paul Stapleton (percussion), Dan Goren (trumpet), Don Nichols (percussion), Simon Rose (saxophone), Gustavo Aguilar (drums), Han-earl Park (guitar), Ulrich Mitzlaff (’cello), Tasos Stamou (zither), Dominic Lash (double bass), Christopher Williams (double bass), Nuno Rebelo (guitar), Richard Scott (synthesizer), Steven Davis (drums), Pedro Rebelo (piano), Justin Yang (saxophone) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophone). Shortly after the performance, I wrote:
Thanks in to the members of my local trio (as Richard pointed out, it’s very hard not to feel the pull of tribalism), Ulrich Mitzlaff and Gascia Ouzounian; to the emergent section leader of the neighboring trio Pedro Rebelo (with whom, during the rehearsal/trial run, I would share looks when things (creatively) self-destructed); to the Simon Rose-Dan Goren-Paul Stapleton unit which, in the best possible sense, seemed to have an agenda entirely their own; to the two bass players, Dom Lash and Christopher Williams, who entertained my left ear; to the remarkable drummers, Gustavo Aguilar and Steve Davis, who always knew, better than the rest of us put together, how to push/pull such a large ensemble during free play; to Franziska Schroeder for soaring over the group; Chris Brown for the asymmetrical hocket between Pedro, Justin and myself; to the electro-dudes, Mark Trayle and Richard Scott, who always sounded like themselves (especially the bass sample, Richard) and who generously gave visual/physical cues in relation to their performance; to the other guitarist, Nuno Rebelo, who artfully avoided collisions—I think we played well together, even if we rarely played at the same time; and to Justin Yang for creating, with Gustavo, that all too brief Shepp/Sanders moment—a moment of ascension—that helped to remind me what this was all about.
And of course, thanks to Pedro, Steve and Franziska for hosting, organizing and inviting, and to Evan Parker for taking time to guide us and the music.
I feel privileged to have been part of a large ensemble of improvisers of that caliber… and to have, through necessity and accident, found myself seated in the ideal position on stage (right in the middle—between the two pianos, the two drummers). I’m still thinking through the implications of tactics within such a context (especially in open improvisation), and am itching to do it again. [Original article…]
I’ve finally updated and reorganized my scrapbook. It’s been a few years since I last made changes to this audio and video archive, so there’s a good few additions, and a few more tracks (with Richard Barrett, Paul Dunmall and Mark Sanders) will be added in the coming weeks. Below is a sample of some of the more recent additions. Enjoy!
Music by Murray Campbell, Randy McKean, Han-earl Park and Gino Robair.
Recorded live August 30, 2011 at Studio 1510, Oakland.
Recorded by Randy McKean. Mastered by Han-earl Park.
Music by Han-earl Park and Richard Scott.
Recorded Recorded on October 23, 2010 at Richard Scott’s studio, Berlin.
Recorded and mixed by Richard Scott.
Music by Han-earl Park, Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder.
Recorded May 25, 2010 at the Ó Riada Hall, UCC Music Building, Cork.
Audio clip courtesy of SLAM Productions. ℗ 2011 SLAM Productions.
Recorded and mixed by Han-earl Park.
Seeking performance opportunities; particularly in North America during 2012–2013; and Europe, late-2013 and 2014 onwards (contact us for other locations and dates): composer, computer artist and guitarist Nick Didkovsky, guitarist, improviser and constructor Han-earl Park, and composer and saxophonist Catherine Sikora (saxophones).
Eris 136199 plays on the crossroads of noise, melody, rhythm, space, density, contrast, synchronicity, asymmetry, serendipity and contradiction. Eris 136199 is the noisy, unruly complexity of composer, computer artist and guitarist Nick Didkovsky, the corporeal, cyborg virtuosity of constructor and guitarist Han-earl Park, and the no-nonsense melodic logic of composer and saxophonist Catherine Sikora.
A composer who enjoys blurry boundaries, 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 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 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 a long-standing duo project with Eric Mingus, and performs as part of ensembles led by Elliott Sharp, François Grillot and Matt Lavelle.
Together, Didkovsky, Park and Sikora 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.
Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora are also available for performance/improvisation/composition workshops and talks.
And, as always, thanks to everyone who came to listen and witness real-time music in motion… including the one person in the audience who really did not dig what I was doing… at all %^}
