[NewMusic] recent shows

Tue Nov 14 01:33:34 PST 2006

Dear bListers,

Well, I was out of town, so I missed Zorn and Mori (huge fan of hers,
let me tell you).

I will report on the Portland scene - I was up there this weekend and
have much to say.

I took part in Kathleen Keough's "Food and Shelter Festival" - the
second annual. It was an exquisite event - lots of great performances
and fun workshops and a great vibe traveling through it all. Not
surprising given that it was all set up and run smoothly by Kathleen,
who ranks up there with Karen Stackpole for top listing in the All-Time
Total Sweetheart Hall of Fame.

Along with myself, Mr. Bob Marsh and Mr. Ron Heglin were up there
representin' the bay area. Allow me a little re-cap of the weekend's
events:

I showed up a day early and played a trio gig at Dunes with drummer Tim
DuRoche and a young bassist by the name of Bob Jones. Jones couldn't
have been more than 25, but has a lot of nice things going on - I
probably don't have to tell you about Tim's playing - it's wonderful -
he's one of the few drummers that is always swinging no matter what kind
of sounds he's producing (not unlike Gino - but different!). Jones'
playing was pretty rooted in tonal playing, so I had to keep it in the
world of melody, but was able to slip some fun textural elements in. We
played two sets to a fairly small, but very appreciative house that grew
in numbers through the evening. Brad Winter and his wife Laura (formerly
of the Portland New Music Guild board of directors) showed up and
lavished much joy on us.

Friday night was the first night of the festival and I played solo, as
did dancer Lauren Tietz (Austin resident). The evening events took place
at Center Space - a fantastic space (usually used for dance I think)
perfect size, great acoustics, nice floor, etc. Lauren and I also
collaborated in an improvised duo, which I enjoyed very much. She had a
lot of nice movement ideas that seemed to counterpoint my contribution.
We presented a workshop together and had some great conversations on an
emerging language that could hopefully bridge the gap of improvising
musicians and dancers and I learned a lot about the technical aspects of
"contact improv" (improvised discipline for dancers). In the second set,
saxophonist Heather Vergotis (who was out from Brooklyn) was to
collaborate with dancer Emily Stone but Emily was sick, so she came with
a video project that she has been working on - this was the highlight of
the evening for me: her film bounced back and forth between forest,
performance space and city streets - and in each location she was
working on some ideas with a fellow collaborator - lots of movement,
gestures, text pieces, and some of the most uniquely funny dialogues
about the use of "space" ever - I loved it! Heather's solo saxophone
piece focused more on movement than sound. I liked her ideas, but her
sound seemed a bit unfocused. She was a gas to hang out with all weekend
and we got to play some more on Sunday where she really shined in a few
collaborative pieces with locals.

Saturday night included a trio of solo pieces by Bob Marsh, Ron Heglin
and Nora Hajos (Hungary).

Folks absolutely rolled in the aisles for Marsh's "Mr Mercury Tap and
Tie" routine - (Bob was outstanding the whole weekend) - I missed part
of his workshop, but arrived in time to do two exercises that still have
me filled with joy.

Ron's solo was absolutely stunning - it was a series of short pieces,
intertwining both his trombone and vocal work - all of which was really
nicely paced - great explorations of sound and melodies. Ron went on to
Seattle on Sunday to play with Gust Burns, and Gust came down on
Saturday to play a late afternoon early/evening duo with Wade Matthews
(from Madrid - Wade will be here this week to play at the LSG along with
some other shows - check the calendar - he's a really nice improviser on
bass clarinet, flute and electronics). Wade and Gust's duo was a nice
exploration of quiet sounds - extremely minimal - so patient, so nicely
counter-pointing each others ideas. This show was presented at Reed
College - a real treat to hear in a great chapel space like that.

The highlight for me on Saturday was Nora's solo - I have rarely enjoyed
a solo dancer piece so much. She integrated humor, sincerity, movement,
narrative, audience participation and a wonderful exploration of the
space itself so naturally that she left me completely hypnotized. Her
work had a depth to it that doesn't come easily - as if Tarkovsky
himself was up there improvising. She has incredible control of her body
- every movement was rooted from the ground up - a magical performance.

The trio of Ron, Bob and Nora was to do an improvisation in the second
set and they asked me to join in a very playful improvisation - what a
gas!

On Sunday night there was a party at Dunes for everyone that
participated in the festival and the workshop participants and local
musicians and dancers. I started it off with two improvisations with
DuRoche and Jones - we definitely seemed to have a better hook up than
Thursday night - nice to play with them again. Then lots of folks came
up and played with us, and the combinations changed and morphed
throughout the evening. I got to play duo with Jonathan Sielaff, and
another with our friend Andrew Wilshusen, who sounded great on the few
pieces he played with me and others. Later, Heather, Andrew and Tim
DuRoche and I played a delirious quartet improvisation. Bob Marsh did a
tap and tie dance with Tim DuRoche that killed me - and everyone
else...I tell you, Bob was in rare form this weekend.

All in all the whole weekend had an incredible vibe of friendliness easy
attitudes. No bad vibes to be found anywhere - I came home completely
energized and glad to be alive.

Cheers to Kathleen and everyone who helped out over the three days
(which is a lot of folks, really). Portland continues to play its own
unique hand of improvisation and community up there - if any of you up
there are reading this - thanks for all the support and great vibes!

Peace,
PG

Phillip Greenlief
c/o Evander Music
PO Box 22158 Oakland, CA
94623-9991
www.evandermusic.com

-----Original Message-----
From: newmusic-bounces at music.mills.edu
[mailto:newmusic-bounces at music.mills.edu] On Behalf Of Stephen B. Hahn
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 12:48 AM
To: Bay Area New Music Discussion Group
Subject: Re: [NewMusic] Zorn-o-rama and recent shows

As usual Damon zeros in on the essence with a minimum of effort.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "damon" <damon at balancepointacoustics.com>
To: "Bay Area New Music Discussion Group" <newmusic at music.mills.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 1:09 PM
Subject: Re: [NewMusic] Zorn-o-rama and recent shows

> Good string trio Piece.
> On Nov 13, 2006, at 12:51 PM, Sarah - 21 Grand wrote:
> 
>> Anyone have any thoughts on or reviews of the Zorn shows or anything 
>> else
>> recently?
>>
>> sl
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Bay Area New Music Discussion Group
>> NewMusic at music.mills.edu
>> http://music.mills.edu/mailman/listinfo/newmusic
>>
>>
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Bay Area New Music Discussion Group
> NewMusic at music.mills.edu
> http://music.mills.edu/mailman/listinfo/newmusic
> 
> 
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