Time for something new

Just finished my quarter of school and am kind of re-evaluating what I'm doing right now. I need to start thinking about my thesis (a composition), but really need to determine the language I'm going to use for this. The movement that I did for septet worked for me at the orchestration level, but I'm not convinced by the harmonic and rhythmic things that I attempted.

Also, I'm beginning to think about synthesis, in an attempt to create a self-contained music where I can control all sounds, elements, etc. I don't think this is from a desire to become a control freak, but out of practicality. Whatever the reasons, I've found it a challenge to put together projects the way I want, so I'm going to try the total DIY path. We'll see how this goes, and I'm hoping to post my experiments here for you all to hear. I'd love to get your feedback on this as it progresses.

This is exciting

I was glad to see this article on the LA Phil's new conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, conducting the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles. Anything that makes kids more excited about music can only be good for our city and to give them access to someone like this along with the instruments, rehearsal space, etc. has the potential to take their musical pursuits to a whole other level. Let's hope the funding stays intact.

Vietnamese Music School in Little Saigon

This is one of the reasons that I love living in the greater Los Angeles area. The amount of music that we can take in is almost unlimited. I've been interested in Vietnamese music for a while now and would seek out a chance to study it if I had the time. Check out the Dan Bau, it's amplified! Instead, I'll be content with the following for now:

The Terry Riley Experience

On Monday November 24 John M. Kennedy directed the CSULA New Music Ensemble in a program titled the Terry Riley Experience, the name referring to the two showcase pieces, Terry Riley's In C and Eric Honour's Haze.

The first half of the performance began with Madelyn Byrne's Rain, Sea, and Sky, a piece for piano, vibraphone, and computer generated sounds. With the spare piano and the combined resonance of the bowed vibraphone and the recorded sounds this piece leaned towards the minimalist portion of the program. The totality of sound was the key here, with the vibraphone blending into the synthesised sound and the piano floating over the top, with no one sound source dominating. The harmonic stasis of the piece underscored the serenity suggested by the title.

Next was the piece for two pianos by Emma Lou Diemer, Homage to Cowell, Crumb, and Czerny. The piece showcased various extended piano techniques loosely linked to the composers that the it was dedicated to. Between these techniques and the orchestral quality of two pianos playing together the composer achieved a particularly massive sound. As in the Byrne piece, the pure sound of the instruments was up front here. With few melodic and harmonic reference points the piece was a nice contrast with the first.

After a quick set change a short film on guitarist Jimi Hendrix introduced one of the pieces that the evening's program was named for, Haze by Eric Honour. Loosely using Hendrix' Purple Haze as source material Honour essentially deconstructed the guitarist's music spreading motives and gestures across the different instruments. Particularly striking was the use of the cello as "feedback". Each motive was given ample time to develop, with the piece giving the listener a displaced Hendrix feel without overtly using material from it's source.

Last in the program was Terry Riley's In C. This is a piece that really doesn't need much comment at this point. However, the ensemble performed it well, dealing with the obvious challenges that the piece presented. Kennedy ably directed the group, managing the subtle changes in the music.

It's been a while

It's been a while since I've played straight ahead jazz, but I got to last night at CSULA's Fall Jazz Combos concert. Our combo was led by Cathy Segal-Garcia and included singers Margaret Adegboro, Bill Sinclair (primarily the combo's piano player), and Priscilla Stroud. The rhythm section was David Askren (bass), Omar Chaudhry (drums), myself, and JoAn Kunselman and Sinclair (piano).

The set started with Autumn Leaves played rubato between myself and Segal-Garcia. A nice little vamp in time led to each singer taking part of a chorus with solos by Kunselman and myself. Ending the song were some very nice three part harmonies between the singers.

Next up was a piece very closely associated with Billie Holiday, Lover Man, sung by Stroud. On this one the rhythm section created a slow groove that allowed her to dig in and get into the meat of the song. Bill and myself took solos, with some great rhythmic punctuations by Choudhry. Back to the bridge and out, with Priscilla really driving her point home.

While not usually a singer, Bill Sinclair decided to give it a go and sang When In Rome, styled after the great collaboration between Tony Bennett and Bill Evans. I got to play a solo over the bridge on this one.

Our set ended with a version of Sonny Rollin's St. Thomas, with original lyrics in Nigerian by Adegboro. This had a little bit of a fast bossa feel, with the choruses moving up in half steps. Margaret really sounded great singing in her native language and really brought a feeling of fun to the tune. A nice, upbeat way to end the set!