New Music at the Green Mill (1) from julia miller/jseq_a ("jessica") on Vimeo.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
October 25, 2009 PROGRAM
Program October 25, 2009
Octet Tim AuBuchon
1. Old and New
2. Dark Window
3. Little Guy
4. Pink Fedora
5. The Dirge
6. Personal Multipalities
Marc Landes, trumpet
Mitch Paliga, alto and soprano sax
Tim AuBuchon, tenor sax
Steve Schnall, bari sax and bass clarinet
Ryan Shultz, bass trumpet
Jeff Kowalkowski, piano
Dave Smith, bass
Doug Bratt, drums
Sonata for Flute and Piano Tom Stevens
Laura Koeple-Tenges, flute
Tom Stevens, piano
little rootee tootee (after Thelonius Monk) Frank Abbinanti
Frank Abbinanti, piano
the time inside a year David McDonnell
Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone
Jeff Kowalkowski, piano
Chris and Nancy Lemons Chris Lemons
Olivia Marita Bolles
Blake Taylor, percussion
Gimlet Eye Julia Miller
Julian Berke, keyboards
NIck Alvarez, drums
Julia Miller, guitar
Vibraphone Journal (excerpts) Eric Roth
Katie Wiegman, vibraphone
{Improvisation} lead by: Jason Adasciewicz/Dave McDonnell
NOTES
Octet--Tim AuBuchon
I have wanted to write for a jazz group of this size for several years. The idea started right before I left Chicago to take a teaching position at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO in the fall of 2002. Since then, the demands of a full-time job and my growing family (three kids, currently 6, 4, and 1 ½ ) have kept the octet plans on hold. I was very fortunate in the spring of 2009 to receive a Truman Faculty Summer Research Fellowship, which allowed me to study with noted jazz composer Joey Sellers for a week this past July. Much of the writing for this project was completed during that week.
In working on the octet music, I generally wanted to avoid the usual melody/solos/melody format and instead attempted to develop longer forms. Improvisation is very important to me, so rather that just write more material, I tried to integrate the improvised solos and written material in a way that would still allow the musicians to stretch out and shape the music. To varying degrees, you may hear the influence of Ornette Coleman, Dave Douglas, Ben Allison, and Thelonious Monk.
Sonata for Flute and Piano--Tom Stevens
little rootee tootee (after Thelonius Monk)--Frank Abbinanti
I've studied composition with Richard Teitelbaum, Ralph Shpaey and Ben Johnston. I've been active on the new music scene since 1983. I don't get many commissions anymore but when I did I had opportunities to write for large orchestras and chamber groups, as the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Pro Musica, Harper Symphony, New Valley Symphony, Asusa Pacifica Orchestra, Trio Hernadi, and AMM. Now I'm putting into final form three chamber concerti called "power clowns", one for English Horn, another for Contrabass and another for Bb Clarinet;and also piano solos,"Deep South" "African Kinderszenen" for prepared piano; duets, and chamber pieces, a piano concerto "Mudmarch" and pieces for orchestra as "femmes de la revolucion". I'm also journal Editor for Contemporary Music Review (England), one devoted to Frederic Rzewski. This will be published in a year or so.
The challenge in playing Monk's music for piano solo is that you simply cannot play what you like, when you like, and not all his pieces are doable as a piano solo, so I'm thrilled whenever I can add a new tune. I've reached the ends of the fruitful lands now, I play everything there is to play of Monk as a piano solo, and "little rootee tootee" is a less serious,more playful etude-piece than say "Bright Mississippi",or "Crepuscule with Nellie" where thoughts of exodus and lifeworld are part of what the music says.
the time inside a year--David McDonnell
This duo is an expansion of the concepts used in a computer piece called Song of Overtones, in which I attempted to combine the compositional approaches of Charles Wuorinen and Tristan Murail. In fact much of the form, notes and rhythms are taken from that piece, but adapted both for the instruments themselves and human capability. The concept behind the title refers to the technique I used to generate the formal and rhythmic attributes of the piece: using the series of notes which form the melodic backbone of the music, taking the proportions inherent in that series and using those to determine the formal and rhythmic aspects of the music. As I was writing the music however, certain parts seemed as if they needed to be expanded within the already finite form of the music. This reminded me of the way memory can perceive a finite block of time as having parts within that are disproportionally longer in relation to other parts. It also recalled to me the replicant character Rutger Hauer plays in Phillip K. Dick's Blade Runner and the speech he gives at the end of the movie about the passing of time and memory.
David McDonnell received his Bachelor of Music in Composition from De Paul University. He plays saxophone, keyboards and electric bass. He spent most of his 20's playing in avant-rock and jazz ensembles such as Bablicon, Michael Columbia, Icy Demons, Need New Body, Herculaneum and The Hats. Music by these groups, excepting The Hats, can be found on the Misra label, Chicago's 482 and Alabaster labels and Europe's Clean Feed, Leaf and Pickled Egg labels. David's solo project, "the diminisher", was put out by Portland Oregon's Unsound Records in 2006. He completed his Masters in Composition at De Paul in 2009, and is currently pursuing a DMA in composition at the College Conservatory of Music at University of Cincinnati. While continuing activities on the Chicago scene, he lives in Cincinnati with his wife and dog; they help him write his music.
Chris and Nancy Lemons--Chris Lemons
Olivia--Marita Bolles
Marita Bolles is a Chicago-based composer whose music has been commissioned and performed internationally by performers who share a commitment to newly composed and experimental music. She completed her undergraduate at the University of MIchigan, and received her MA and PhD from the University of California, San Diego where she studied with Roger Reynolds. She is recently back from residencies at Ragdale and Yaddo where she completed a commission for the St. Paul-based new music ensemble Zeitgeist. Future projects include the production of objects de la musique--sound objects that incorporate her original music into interactive environments (books, boxes, etc.); she is currently designing a prototype of these objects with funds from the Chicago Artists Assistance Program. Her music is available on itunes.
Olivia is a percussion solo underwritten by the American Composers Forum with funds from the Jerome Foundation. It was composed percussionist Patti Cudd and is the first in a series of five pieces belonging to the suite Cities and Signs, inspired by Italo Calvino's book Invisible Cities. The score is notated in a way that has an increasingly open architecture, therefore each interpretation by a percussionist is unique and beyond the usual expectations of the performer's interpretive voice.
Gimlet Eye--Julia Miller
Vibraphone Journal--Eric Roth
ericrothmusic.com
Octet Tim AuBuchon
1. Old and New
2. Dark Window
3. Little Guy
4. Pink Fedora
5. The Dirge
6. Personal Multipalities
Marc Landes, trumpet
Mitch Paliga, alto and soprano sax
Tim AuBuchon, tenor sax
Steve Schnall, bari sax and bass clarinet
Ryan Shultz, bass trumpet
Jeff Kowalkowski, piano
Dave Smith, bass
Doug Bratt, drums
Sonata for Flute and Piano Tom Stevens
Laura Koeple-Tenges, flute
Tom Stevens, piano
little rootee tootee (after Thelonius Monk) Frank Abbinanti
Frank Abbinanti, piano
the time inside a year David McDonnell
Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone
Jeff Kowalkowski, piano
Chris and Nancy Lemons Chris Lemons
Olivia Marita Bolles
Blake Taylor, percussion
Gimlet Eye Julia Miller
Julian Berke, keyboards
NIck Alvarez, drums
Julia Miller, guitar
Vibraphone Journal (excerpts) Eric Roth
Katie Wiegman, vibraphone
{Improvisation} lead by: Jason Adasciewicz/Dave McDonnell
NOTES
Octet--Tim AuBuchon
I have wanted to write for a jazz group of this size for several years. The idea started right before I left Chicago to take a teaching position at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO in the fall of 2002. Since then, the demands of a full-time job and my growing family (three kids, currently 6, 4, and 1 ½ ) have kept the octet plans on hold. I was very fortunate in the spring of 2009 to receive a Truman Faculty Summer Research Fellowship, which allowed me to study with noted jazz composer Joey Sellers for a week this past July. Much of the writing for this project was completed during that week.
In working on the octet music, I generally wanted to avoid the usual melody/solos/melody format and instead attempted to develop longer forms. Improvisation is very important to me, so rather that just write more material, I tried to integrate the improvised solos and written material in a way that would still allow the musicians to stretch out and shape the music. To varying degrees, you may hear the influence of Ornette Coleman, Dave Douglas, Ben Allison, and Thelonious Monk.
Sonata for Flute and Piano--Tom Stevens
little rootee tootee (after Thelonius Monk)--Frank Abbinanti
I've studied composition with Richard Teitelbaum, Ralph Shpaey and Ben Johnston. I've been active on the new music scene since 1983. I don't get many commissions anymore but when I did I had opportunities to write for large orchestras and chamber groups, as the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Pro Musica, Harper Symphony, New Valley Symphony, Asusa Pacifica Orchestra, Trio Hernadi, and AMM. Now I'm putting into final form three chamber concerti called "power clowns", one for English Horn, another for Contrabass and another for Bb Clarinet;and also piano solos,"Deep South" "African Kinderszenen" for prepared piano; duets, and chamber pieces, a piano concerto "Mudmarch" and pieces for orchestra as "femmes de la revolucion". I'm also journal Editor for Contemporary Music Review (England), one devoted to Frederic Rzewski. This will be published in a year or so.
The challenge in playing Monk's music for piano solo is that you simply cannot play what you like, when you like, and not all his pieces are doable as a piano solo, so I'm thrilled whenever I can add a new tune. I've reached the ends of the fruitful lands now, I play everything there is to play of Monk as a piano solo, and "little rootee tootee" is a less serious,more playful etude-piece than say "Bright Mississippi",or "Crepuscule with Nellie" where thoughts of exodus and lifeworld are part of what the music says.
the time inside a year--David McDonnell
This duo is an expansion of the concepts used in a computer piece called Song of Overtones, in which I attempted to combine the compositional approaches of Charles Wuorinen and Tristan Murail. In fact much of the form, notes and rhythms are taken from that piece, but adapted both for the instruments themselves and human capability. The concept behind the title refers to the technique I used to generate the formal and rhythmic attributes of the piece: using the series of notes which form the melodic backbone of the music, taking the proportions inherent in that series and using those to determine the formal and rhythmic aspects of the music. As I was writing the music however, certain parts seemed as if they needed to be expanded within the already finite form of the music. This reminded me of the way memory can perceive a finite block of time as having parts within that are disproportionally longer in relation to other parts. It also recalled to me the replicant character Rutger Hauer plays in Phillip K. Dick's Blade Runner and the speech he gives at the end of the movie about the passing of time and memory.
David McDonnell received his Bachelor of Music in Composition from De Paul University. He plays saxophone, keyboards and electric bass. He spent most of his 20's playing in avant-rock and jazz ensembles such as Bablicon, Michael Columbia, Icy Demons, Need New Body, Herculaneum and The Hats. Music by these groups, excepting The Hats, can be found on the Misra label, Chicago's 482 and Alabaster labels and Europe's Clean Feed, Leaf and Pickled Egg labels. David's solo project, "the diminisher", was put out by Portland Oregon's Unsound Records in 2006. He completed his Masters in Composition at De Paul in 2009, and is currently pursuing a DMA in composition at the College Conservatory of Music at University of Cincinnati. While continuing activities on the Chicago scene, he lives in Cincinnati with his wife and dog; they help him write his music.
Chris and Nancy Lemons--Chris Lemons
Olivia--Marita Bolles
Marita Bolles is a Chicago-based composer whose music has been commissioned and performed internationally by performers who share a commitment to newly composed and experimental music. She completed her undergraduate at the University of MIchigan, and received her MA and PhD from the University of California, San Diego where she studied with Roger Reynolds. She is recently back from residencies at Ragdale and Yaddo where she completed a commission for the St. Paul-based new music ensemble Zeitgeist. Future projects include the production of objects de la musique--sound objects that incorporate her original music into interactive environments (books, boxes, etc.); she is currently designing a prototype of these objects with funds from the Chicago Artists Assistance Program. Her music is available on itunes.
Olivia is a percussion solo underwritten by the American Composers Forum with funds from the Jerome Foundation. It was composed percussionist Patti Cudd and is the first in a series of five pieces belonging to the suite Cities and Signs, inspired by Italo Calvino's book Invisible Cities. The score is notated in a way that has an increasingly open architecture, therefore each interpretation by a percussionist is unique and beyond the usual expectations of the performer's interpretive voice.
Gimlet Eye--Julia Miller
Vibraphone Journal--Eric Roth
ericrothmusic.com
Monday, August 24, 2009
Program for Upcoming Concert! Sunday, October 25
Sunday, October 25, 2009
[durations approximate]
2PM--3PM
Tim Aubuchon--Octet [45']
Tom Stevens "Sonata for Flute & Piano" [11' ]
Frank Abbinanti "little rootee tootee" (after Thelonius Monk) [10']
3PM--4PM
Dave McDonnell--The Time Inside a Year [10']
Chris and Nancy Lemons--[10']
Marita Bolles--Olivia [10']
Julia Miller--[10']
4PM--5PM
Eric Roth--Vibraphone Journal
Open Improvisation...
MUSICIANS
Laura Koepele-Tenges, flute
Tom Stevens, piano
Nancy Lemons, piano
Chris Lemons, guitar
Katie Wiegman, vibraphone
Blake Taylor, percussion
Tim AuBuchon, tenor sax
Steve Schnall, bari sax and bass clarinet
Ryan Shultz, bass trumpet
Doug Bratt, drums
Jeff Kowalkowski, piano
Dave Smith, bass
Eric Roth, voice and/or percussion
Dave McDonnell, sax, etc.
Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone, etc.
[durations approximate]
2PM--3PM
Tim Aubuchon--Octet [45']
Tom Stevens "Sonata for Flute & Piano" [11' ]
Frank Abbinanti "little rootee tootee" (after Thelonius Monk) [10']
3PM--4PM
Dave McDonnell--The Time Inside a Year [10']
Chris and Nancy Lemons--[10']
Marita Bolles--Olivia [10']
Julia Miller--[10']
4PM--5PM
Eric Roth--Vibraphone Journal
Open Improvisation...
MUSICIANS
Laura Koepele-Tenges, flute
Tom Stevens, piano
Nancy Lemons, piano
Chris Lemons, guitar
Katie Wiegman, vibraphone
Blake Taylor, percussion
Mark Landes, trumpet
Mitch Paliga, alto and soprano saxTim AuBuchon, tenor sax
Steve Schnall, bari sax and bass clarinet
Ryan Shultz, bass trumpet
Doug Bratt, drums
Jeff Kowalkowski, piano
Dave Smith, bass
Eric Roth, voice and/or percussion
Dave McDonnell, sax, etc.
Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone, etc.
Jeff K: 10 ? for Charles Lipp
"Generate as much music as you can and discard what you dislike."---Debussy
1. Were you trained traditionally in music?
Traditional academic training leading to a doctorate in composition from the University of Illinois, Urbana and Fulbright Fellowship in Poland. Formative experiences: composition studies with Brun and Martirano (Urbana), Schaeffer and Lutoslawski (Poland).
2. When did you first compose a piece of music? What is your earliest opus?
In high school, composed pieces for jazz band (now lost). Pieces for Bassoon (1970).
3. When did you first use computers for composing music?
About ten years ago I used Finale to prepare a score and parts for a chamber piece.
4. Who are the living composers (both in Chicago and abroad) that you feel deserve attention? Marek Choloniewski in Krakow, Poland, is relatively unknown in the United States. See a video of one of his pieces at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NAmCFCPQIQ
5. What is good and bad about the new music scene here in Chicago?
It's large enough and varied enough to be called Good. Interaction between groups and collective promotion would be less Bad than the ever-present self-promotion.
6a. What is your opinion about the intersection of political ideas and new music?
Music and political ideas must intersect since they take place in the same social sphere, but it's beyond the analytical powers of sociologists and anthropologists to make definitive statements about this intersection. Philosophers draw conclusions that are more or less convincing depending on their presentation skills.
6b. Do you think it is futile for composers to be socially engaged?
No more or less futile than the social engagement of any other worker.
6c. Do you consider your work to be political in any way?
No more or less than the product of any other worker.
7. Describe your compositional process at the current time.
"Generate as much music as you can and discard what you dislike."---Debussy
8. What is your prediction for the use of computers in the future of music?
As computing power increases, the likelihood of generating good music increases and the likelihood of generating bad music increases.
9. If you had to pick one work, or collection of works by a single composer to bring with you to a desert island, what would it be?
Beethoven last quartets.
10. What is your advice to young composers studying today, what do they absolutely need to know?
When composing, follow your Plan A. When generating financial security, follow Plan B.
1. Were you trained traditionally in music?
Traditional academic training leading to a doctorate in composition from the University of Illinois, Urbana and Fulbright Fellowship in Poland. Formative experiences: composition studies with Brun and Martirano (Urbana), Schaeffer and Lutoslawski (Poland).
2. When did you first compose a piece of music? What is your earliest opus?
In high school, composed pieces for jazz band (now lost). Pieces for Bassoon (1970).
3. When did you first use computers for composing music?
About ten years ago I used Finale to prepare a score and parts for a chamber piece.
4. Who are the living composers (both in Chicago and abroad) that you feel deserve attention? Marek Choloniewski in Krakow, Poland, is relatively unknown in the United States. See a video of one of his pieces at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NAmCFCPQIQ
5. What is good and bad about the new music scene here in Chicago?
It's large enough and varied enough to be called Good. Interaction between groups and collective promotion would be less Bad than the ever-present self-promotion.
6a. What is your opinion about the intersection of political ideas and new music?
Music and political ideas must intersect since they take place in the same social sphere, but it's beyond the analytical powers of sociologists and anthropologists to make definitive statements about this intersection. Philosophers draw conclusions that are more or less convincing depending on their presentation skills.
6b. Do you think it is futile for composers to be socially engaged?
No more or less futile than the social engagement of any other worker.
6c. Do you consider your work to be political in any way?
No more or less than the product of any other worker.
7. Describe your compositional process at the current time.
"Generate as much music as you can and discard what you dislike."---Debussy
8. What is your prediction for the use of computers in the future of music?
As computing power increases, the likelihood of generating good music increases and the likelihood of generating bad music increases.
9. If you had to pick one work, or collection of works by a single composer to bring with you to a desert island, what would it be?
Beethoven last quartets.
10. What is your advice to young composers studying today, what do they absolutely need to know?
When composing, follow your Plan A. When generating financial security, follow Plan B.
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