Kris Davis is a Calgary-born pianist who has followed a path from the University of Toronto to the Banff Centre, eventually to settle in New York in 2001. There she has gradually established herself as a musician who happily resides in the special terrain that has arisen between free jazz and improvised music, working regularlyContinue reading “Kris Davis. Aeriol Piano.”
Genre Archives
Vivienne Spiteri. Jalsaghar.
The highlight of Vivienne Spiteri’s fascinating and finely executed new CD comes in the final third of the recording, with two pieces for harpsichord and—wait for it—banjo! Within fifteen seconds my initial scepticism of this unlikely combination evaporated. It is clear that Spiteri has conjured some magic from composers John Beckwith and Kirk Elliot toContinue reading “Vivienne Spiteri. Jalsaghar.”
Adam Linson, Systems Quartet. Figures and Grounds.
Currently working in Montreal, Adam Linson is a bassist with a highly developed interest in improvisation that combines the real-time integration of acoustic instruments and sound processing. In the past he’s recorded as a soloist, in duo with sound processor Joel Ryan, and with Evan Parker’s Electro-Acoustic Ensemble. First gathered and recorded in Berlin, Linson’sContinue reading “Adam Linson, Systems Quartet. Figures and Grounds.”
Bill Dixon. Envoi.
American trumpeter Bill Dixon began composing his moody, darkly abstract music in the mid-60s, fusing free jazz with modernist chamber music elements touching on Stravinsky and Schoenberg. Envoi is the last of these works, recorded at the FIMAV festival in Victoriaville just three weeks prior to Dixon’s death in June 2010. Dixon’s failing health requiredContinue reading “Bill Dixon. Envoi.”
Daniel Kernohan, Editor. Music is Rapid Transportation… From The Beatles to Xenakis.
I’m an avid music collector with wildly eclectic tastes, and this book spoke to me like few books have before. I instantly connected with the accounts by the seven individuals involved in the project. In the book’s first section, music enthusiasts and contributors Lawrence Joseph, Dan Lander, Donal McGraith, Bill Smith, Alan Stanbridge, Scott Thomson,Continue reading “Daniel Kernohan, Editor. Music is Rapid Transportation… From The Beatles to Xenakis.”
Montreal’s Constellation Records
Montreal’s Constellation Records rose to prominence around the turn of the millennium, following the explosion of Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s popularity. While it’s sometimes tempting to allow that band and similar acts on the label’s roster to sum up Constellation’s identity, a more-than-cursory glance at its lineup of artists indicates an interest in far moreContinue reading “Montreal’s Constellation Records”
Montreal New Music International Festival: 5th Edition. Montreal, Canada. February 18–26, 2011.
Being assigned to cover a new music festival such as Montréal/Nouvelles Musiques is somewhat like being thrown into a different space-time (and sound) continuum—one suddenly has the impression that new music is all there is to be heard all over the city, with ensembles, performances, and venues filled with enthusiastic audiences experiencing nothing but newContinue reading “Montreal New Music International Festival: 5th Edition. Montreal, Canada. February 18–26, 2011.”
Alvin Lucier. Almost New York.
Although Alvin Lucier is known primarily for his work with waveforms and spatial acoustics, Almost New York features compositions written for conventional musical instruments. In these pieces, he adapts some of his explorations in reverberation, providing a different way of approaching his long-term fascinations. On the first CD of this two-CD set, three different compositionsContinue reading “Alvin Lucier. Almost New York.”
Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa. Cosmophony.
The word cosmophony is an amalgam of Greek roots that translate literally as “sound of the universe.” It’s also the rubric under which the outrageously talented Vancouver pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa has united her favourite composers for this adventurous debut album inspired by the heavens. Completed over three years, Cosmophony begins with Denis Gougeon’s fiercelyContinue reading “Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa. Cosmophony.”
Martin Arnold. Tam Lin.
Slow but dense, with ripe, colourful gestures and murky tonality, the title composition of Martin Arnold’s Tam Lin inspires a sense of bated-breath wonder, yet utter confusion. But what other results could one achieve by setting the improvisatory and vocal quirks of the Draperies—Ryan Driver, Eric Chenaux, and Doug Tielli—against Arraymusic’s distinctive instrumentation, in anContinue reading “Martin Arnold. Tam Lin.”