Apr 01 2007
Everyone is a critic!
Sheesh! I try to play my electric guitar when I’ve got the house to myself, but our dog Django sometimes feels moved to protest my lack of instrumental prowess:
Photo by Lauren! (Great Job, Lauren!!!)
Archive for the 'Music' Category
Jan 12 2007
Peter Blegvad: Taking Pride in the Craft
by Sander R Wolff
The Long Beach Union
(This interview was published sometime in the early 1990’s)
Next Saturday, March 28, McCabe’s (3101 Pico Blvd. in Santa Monica) will be presenting Peter Blegvad and Peter Holsapple. I spoke with Blegvad by phone as he was wrapping up concert dates on the East Coast. Holsapple is recently departed from the pop band REM and previously of the db’s.
“He’s a multi-instrumentalist of rare talent,” Blegvad said. “He’ll be playing guitar, mandolin, piano and also accordion. He’s just a fantastic accompanist, not to mention he’s also a song writer of the highest caliber himself. We’re doing some of his songs too.”
Jan 12 2007
David Harrington: Unexpected Discoveries
Published in the Union Newspaper on 9-11-92
by Sander R. Wolff
They are rebels with a cause. Their mission is to commission challenging new works from innovative composers and bring them to the world. Since 1973, when the Kronos Quartet began, the have been redefining the cutting edge and eliminating the restrictions placed on the traditional string quartet. They’ve worked with the big three modern classical minimalists: Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass, but they are always on the prowl for exciting new works by relative unknowns as well.
“As a matter of fact,” said David Harrington, 1st violinist and spokesman for the group, “we’re opening out concert with just such a piece and its called ‘Yiddishbbuk’ by a composer I’d never heard of until August. His name is Osvaldo Golijov. Its a stunning work.”
Golijov was a Fellow in composition at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1990. Earlier this year, while Kronos was performing at Tanglewood, Harrington came upon some written material by Golijov.
“It struck me that here was someone that, the way he spoke about his own work and music, attracted me immediately,” said Harrington. “I got his address and he sent me some tapes and immediately this piece just leapt out.”
The Kronos Quartet changed the entire program for their European tour so that they could include the piece.
“We try to be ready for an unexpected discovery at any point, and I know we tend to drive people who print programs slightly crazy because we’re always changing them up to the last moment but, in this case, I think it was worth any ink that may have been spent.”
Jan 12 2007
Steve Hackett: Music Without Props
by Sander R Wolff Steve Hackett has a new band and, in addition to performing old favorites from his numerous solo releases, will be premiering new material. He’s at ease playing progressive rock, pop, classical solo acoustic, Japanese koto and the blues. He balks at classifying his music, although he says that ‘Guitar Noir’ may come closest to describing what he does. His newest album, Time Lapse, was recorded live and features many of his best pieces from the last 17 years. “We have a 4 piece, paired down,” Hackett said in a phone interview. “It’s not the same guys that are on the album. We have Julian Colbeck, who’s on Time Lapse, but a new rhythm section and the rhythm section is dynamite. I’m very pleased about that” Joining them will be Dave Ball on bass and Hugo Degenhardt on drums. “It’s great to have a band again. It’s like, for years I’ve been doing tours with an acoustic guitar. I’ve been doing classical things. I’ve done things with orchestras, live things, but I hadn’t had a band for quite some time and it makes you realize… I think I was away from it for so long, it’s a bit like when something is withheld from you rather than personal choice. I think it was all part of a divine plan to make me hungry for it.” During his ‘acoustic’ period he released Bay Of Kings, and then had the opportunity to play a big festival in the U.S.S.R., with close to 90,000 people in attendance. The other acts played rock and roll and sang their lyrics in English. ‘The audience didn’t have a clue what was going on. There were all ages in the audience, from tiny tots to grandmas, and I played a piece of Bach right at the end and they all went absolutely bananas because I think they knew the piece. I managed to convert these people, as it were. Where rock had failed, music without props had succeeded.
The Long Beach Union
Published 9/8/92
Jan 12 2007
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic: Learning to Count
by Sander R Wolff
Published in the The Union sometime in the late 1980’s
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic stretches the boundaries of live performance. They work as a quartet, and almost all of the music they play is scored, but there’s this thing, this edge, this dangerous line they walk between classical structure and an auto accident.
Most of their pieces go through changes. Bits are calm, beautiful even, with their standard set-up of guitar, piano, keyboard and sax, but it never lasts for long. They switch back and forth, each playing drums, saxophonist Ken Field going between synthesizer and flute.
“So the fact that any one piece sounds like it has a lot of different styles in it is strictly due to the multiple personalities that the particular composer has,” Field said.
The second cut off their current Cuneiform C.D., Faultline, is “They Walk Among Us.” It has drumming that sounds a lot like “When the Levee Breaks,” and when asked, guitarist Martin Swope fessed up.
“Actually, all the things that Eric plays [on the piece] are sampled from the Beastie Boys, which are samples they stole from other people. The idea was if it was laundered through the Beastie Boys, it would be ok to do,” said Swope.
“Maybe I Will,” Rick Scott’s only composition on the record, jumped out at me when I first heard it. It’s complex, with a lot of interplay between the instruments. But again, there was this thing… just 4 notes in the whole piece.
“I work in the structure,” said Scott, “and also attempt to figure out how many melodic permutations that I can come up with to maintain peoples’ interest. I try to suggest some harmonic movement, even though it’s a little more dicey. I mean really, when you think about it, you’re dealing with a limited number of notes anyway, with 8 notes or 12 notes maybe. Probably not 12, maybe 11, so changing that to four is really just a matter of degree.”
Despite the debate on the number of notes, these guys really know what they’re doing. They’ve existed as a group for almost 10 years, and have been touring extensively on the East Coast. This tour is their first to the West Coast (having discovered that they could fly their equipment for free) and, after tomorrow’s concert at Bogart’s and Wednesday’s show at Club Lingerie in Hollywood, they’re gone.
So if you like challenging music, you’ll love these guys. This Great Religion will open the show, so get there early. And you know that you’ll see me there!
Jan 12 2007
Paul Richards: Crafty Guitarist
by Sander R Wolff
The Union
Published some time in the early 1990’s
As I sat, watching and listening to The League of Crafty Guitarists perform Sunday at Peppers in The City of Industry, I was struck by the eyes of the players; gazing into space, unfocused. They seemed the perfect example of calm assurance, sitting on folding stools, with perfect posture. When not playing, resting their left hands on their knees palm up and their right arms hanging at their sides.
I spoke at length with Paul Richards, a member of the L.C.G., and he told me of the Guitar Craft school, created by King Crimson founder Robert Fripp. Richards began the Level One course in ’86, and except for breaks to complete his college education, has continued studying and performing under the direction of Fripp.
“I knew that Robert had a different approach than a lot of other guitarists, more of an intellectual approach or maybe even a spiritual approach to playing the guitar,” Richards said. “The best thing [was] trying to let go of all that and just go for it, because actually when I came to the course it wasn’t anything like I could have imagined anyway.
“During that [first] week, the focus is on technique, on how to play the guitar rather than what to play, so there are a number of exercises that are presented, right and left hand techniques. In addition to that there are exercises in attention that are presented to develop and cultivate attention. It’s a beginning for developing a personal discipline in practice.”
The focusing of attention is central to the Guitar Craft training, and the work involved in learning the specific techniques moves beyond mere guitar playing.
“Everything is geared toward this type of work. Besides playing the guitar all day we each take our turn in helping prepare the meals and [taking] care of the house, things like that. This is also part of the course. Part of the Level Three course is to apply the same quality of attention and work we apply to our guitar playing to an ordinary mundane activity like cleaning the toilet or sweeping the floor or chopping onions for a meal. So it expands, in that sense, from just being a guitar player to doing things in general. At one point Guitar Craft becomes a way of life.”
Jan 12 2007
Bill Bruford: A Different Drummer
by Sander R Wolff
The Union
Published sometime in the early 1990’s
He was a founding member of the progressive rock bands Yes and King Crimson. He’s played with Genesis, and has toured or recorded with countless others. But Bill Bruford, drummer extraordinaire, really isn’t interested in recounting past glories, but in devoting his creative energies to his current group, Earthworks.
“[Jazz] is the thrust of my career right now, in that particular direction, ’cause there’s something I think I can do there with electronic percussion particularly. Taking that into jazz and having it taken seriously as a jazz instrument and trying to be creative on the chordal and pitched melody side of the instrument.”
Jan 12 2007
Defining The Edge: The Musical World of Fred Frith
by Sander R. Wolff The Long Beach Union Newspaper Fred Frith is a man whose work is not easily classified. His career as an improviser is only surpassed by his career as an instrumentalist, except for his career as a composer, which may, at this point, have surpassed both. His work with other groups and artists just adds to the confusion. He’s a fixture in John Zorn‘s Naked City, which is a jazz/be bop/hardcore cut-up band. He’s lent his distinctive guitar playing to The Residents, Brian Eno and The Violent Femmes, to name but a few. His own band, Keep The Dog, began as a retrospective group. “The group is constantly evolving into things we don’t expect,” Frith said. “In one sense, it’s a traditional group, in as much as it’s like bass, guitar, drums and keyboards, but on top of that, with the accordion, which is very important in the group, we have a quaint, Cajun influence sometimes. “We went through this business of me writing out all the parts for these old songs from Gravity and Speechless and we’d been performing that, but we don’t do that any more. We’re now concentrating on things I’ve written more recently, especially dance pieces I’ve written for Bebe Miller or old pieces I’ve written with Ferdinand Richard for a record of ours that just came out. We played some gigs in Switzerland a couple of weeks ago and it was the first time I really felt the group was really a band in the sense of something I could write for,” Frith said.
Aug 29 2006
Charlie Hind Sweet Potato – A Work In Progress
I can admit that I’ve always been a fan of ocarinas and, more specifically, sweet potatos. They have a sweet warm mellow tone, feel wonderful in the hand, and are easily portable. I’ve been preparing for a large scale recording that will use, primarily, acoustic instruments and have been aquiring instruments that have unique or interesting tonalities.
A while back I purchased an old Gretsch plastic sweet potato and, although it has a wonderful nostalgia to it, it doesn’t sound or play very well. While poking around on Ebay, I discovered a fellow by the name of Charlie Hind who hand builds wooden ocarinas and sweet potatos. His work, which can be seen on his web site, is really beautiful. He works, mostly, in walnut, a wood that I’m really fond of. In exploring his site, I noticed that he’d created a few instruments in mahogany, and I remembered that I had a rather large piece left over from my guitar project. I emailed him and asked if he’d be willing to work with my wood, and he said yes.
Charlie has been more than kind. He’s been photographing the process of creating the instrument for me, and has allowed me to post his pix here.
I’ll also include some of his comments.
Jun 13 2006
69 of 99 Bottles
Once again, I was invited to participate in a group project. This time, it is 99 Bottles of Beer. Each ‘chorus’ will be performed by a different group/individual, and then they’ll all be put together.
Here’s my first try:
If the player doesn’t work,
download the file
.