[NewMusic] Philip, Bruce, and Aurora do Tips!

[Phillip Greenlief]

-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of David Slusser
Subject: Re: [NewMusic] Philip, Bruce, and Aurora do Tips!

I have to heartily concur with praise for the Tips trio.  The  
presentation was very nicely
arranged, the wonderfully piquant songs interspersed with  
improvisations in all possible
configurations for the ensemble, involving the vocalist in the  
extemporizing, which the
original did not (but Steve didn't have Aurora).  They really got  
Lacy's sound concept
across in a heartfelt way.  They are performing it again next month  
in SF, in case you
missed the first two.  (impartial sausage)

PG:
Heartfelt thanks to Pamela, Jon, Damon and David for the kind
words...much appreciated! And thanks to all those who came out - we had
a nice crowd for a Thursday night at 1510...
 
We (Tippers) were really well-rehearsed for the first performance at the
LSG, and I feel we did a nice job of delivering the written material in
a well-paced set on that night. We were a bit more ragged on the written
material on Thursday night, but the improvisations went somewhere new
and I felt really good about that. We will certainly be well-rehearsed
for our Noe Valley Ministry show in October...so hopefully it will all
come together then.
 
The thing I think Bruce and I learned on this performance is to let
Aurora really be the centerpiece of the written material and let her
guide us through the material and let the words ring out a bit more in
future performances. Lacy's music for voice is often problematic - he
almost always doubles the voice line with the soprano saxophone...and
any soprano player handling Lacy's music is going to have to be mindful
of those big wide notes he writes for the instrument...it's easy to
cover up the voice in that context.

I really enjoyed the Raskin group as well - brilliant instructions! In
the continuing conversation of "how much is enough information for a
composer to give an improviser", I would say Jon hit the jackpot - such
simple instructions! I wasn't aware of the instructions before I heard
the music, but when Jon told me what they were afterward, it was
perfectly clear that I had experienced those approaches (work a riff;
play a melody/tell a story; play a solo) in the performance. The freedom
really allowed these excellent players (Slusser had some absolutely
brilliant moments in the first piece, Jen and Spirit were intrinsically
linked throughout, it was fantastic to hear Richard out on the scene
playing in this context - he always offers his idiosyncratic approach to
whatever situation he finds himself in - and Jon's direction, which
emerges beautifully in the way he plays, created a real cohesion for the
freely improvised music. There were times when I heard circus music,
jazz, marching band music, and so many other sources in the first piece
in particular - I felt like Braxton and Tom Waits had somehow come
together in an elixir that everyone must have consumed beforehand.

Wow, what a fun night. Thanks to Jeremy and Micaela for opening the
doors and for really putting energy into making things happen at 1510.