Scale of the Day: E 7, Cube-root-of-2, Construct #1, Lydian Mode - in Square-root-of-2-space

The E 7, Cube-root-of-2, Construct #1, Lydian Mode - in Square-root-of-2-space - Scale. Some of the smallest scales have such long names. That's my fault, since I choose to give these things such descriptive names. The "Square-root-of-2" space denotes that this is an intervallic sequence that repeats at the 600-cent "tritone," which serves as the interval of harmonic equivalence. The reason this scale is said to be in square-root-of-2-space - as opposed to "mapped to the square-root-of-2" - is because this particular construction is adapted directly from a harmonic space that collapses everything within the square-root-of-2. Which is conceptually different from taking a scale from another harmonic space and mathematically adjusting all the interval sizes to fit the new confines. Many of these minimal scales with "construct" labels attached to them are cut from an entirely different cloth than the adapted Lydian, Ionian, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aeolian, Phrygian, Locrian, Whole-tone, Octotonic and Chromatic scales that dominate the "scale of the day" entries.

HurdAudio Rotation: Taking the Holiday to Listen to Dave Douglas and Dutch Jazz

Dave Douglas: Sanctuary. 1996. Avant: Avan 066.

Left channel:
Hilliard Greene: bass
Yuka Honda: sampler
Dave Douglas: trumpet

Center channel:
Chris Speed: tenor saxophone, clarinet
Dougie Bowne: drums

Right channel:
Cuong Vu: trumpet
Anthony Coleman: sampler
Mark Dresser: bass

Sanctuary is my all-time favorite Dave Douglas sound/project/composition. It's an unusual part of the Douglas oeuvre. With clear roots in the Ornette Coleman Free Jazz double quartet, Dave Douglas puts a twist on the "double" instrumentation by placing a single drummer in the center channel who plays with (and against) the smattering of sampled drum loops introduced by the samplers at the left and right channels. Structurally, this expansive free improvisation texture thrives within the expansive horizons of these two, hour-long expressions as intriguing ideas and performances wash in and out of the overall picture.

Clusone Trio: Clusone 3. 1992. Ramboy: 01.

Michael Moore: alto saxophone, clarinet, melodica
Ernst Reijseger: cello
Han Bennink: percussion

The Clustone Trio is the flip side of Sanctuary's large ensemble long-form free improvisation. And Clusone 3 reveals the pleasure of small group improvisation in a series of short, intense, energetic compositions. On this particular pass through this great CD I'm struck by the parallel - in sound, spirit and instrumentation - to Third Person (particularly when Kazutoki Umezu was the "third person" on reeds) a trio active in the same era on this side of the Atlantic. Ernst Reijseger captures that funky, beautiful cello improvisation in much the same way as the sorely missed, late Tom Cora. The difference in sound, and approach, is that the Clusone Trio attacks compositions by other composers (notably Hermeto Pascoal and Misha Mengelberg) with the same intensity and serious whimsy that they bring to their free improvisations.

Dave Douglas: Charms of the Night Sky. 1998. Winter & Winter: 910 015-2.

Dave Douglas: trumpet
Guy Klucevsek: accordion
Mark Feldman: violin
Greg Cohen: bass

Charms of the Night Sky is a great CD that doesn't spend nearly enough time spinning in the tray for my tastes. It features a drummer-less quartet bathed in near-ECM levels of reverb playing painfully beautiful arrangements of Dave Douglas' klezmer-inspired compositions. The range of timbral color pouring out of this combination of instruments is stunning as the sequence of pieces frequently shifts between introspective, arching solos and rollicking, odd-meter forays.

Scale of the Day: E 7, Square-root-of-2, Construct No. 1 - Lydian Inversion

The E 7, Square-root-of-2, Construct No. 1 - Lydian Inversion - Scale. It's time for a few 2-note scales. These stripped-down scales expose just the barest of harmonies and are a creative opportunity to focus the ears on a restricted set of intervals. This particular example features a sharp minor sixth.

Scale of the Day: E Flat Chromatic 1% narrow

The E Flat Chromatic 1% narrow Scale. This time the octave is compressed down to 1188.00-cents. Which pushes it toward a dissonance equal to the 1% wide stretched version.

HurdAudio Rotation: Wassermonde, Li Po and Braxton on the Ivories

Gunda Gottschalk: Wassermonde. 2002. Free Elephant Records: 002.

Gunda Gottschalk: violin, viola

There's something eerily human about the utterances GundaGottschalk conjures up from horsehair and string. Some of the fragile, quiet sounds that she achieves from varying the amount of bow pressure take the form of cries and near-spoken gestures that speak of the human condition without the hindrance of words and language. At other times, when the sounding tone from her violin is strong, she'll add her own wordless vocalizations to reinforce the overall sound. This is intense, focused free improvisation with a strong sense of formal structure.

Harry Partch: 17 Lyrics of Li Po. Composed between 1931 and 1933. Recorded in 1995. Tzadik: TZ 7012.

Stephen Kalm: intoning voice
Ted Mook: tenor violin

It's almost unnerving how much Stephen Kalm's voice resembles Harry Partch's own intoning voice. This definitive recording of these earliest of Partch's surviving compositions is an ear opening experience into the "Genesis" of Partch's musical vision. With the rhythm of spoken text preserved and reinforced with these arrangements, the beauty of the poetry itself takes on a ringing clarity. These troubadour compositions are some of the most impressive "songs" of the 20th century - filled with humor and unexpected turns.

Anthony Braxton: Piano Quartet, Yoshi's 1994 [disc 1]. 1994. Music and Arts: CD 849.

Anthony Braxton: piano
Marty Ehrlich: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet
Joe Fonda: bass
Arthur Fuller: percussion

The rough sound of Braxton's piano playing troubled me when I first listened to this collection and I haven't returned to it since. And yet his music and ideas are so deeply compelling that I decided to bring fresh ears to this difficult listening. Ehrlich, Fonda and Fuller are great musicians and they follow Braxton's lead beautifully and turn in several great solos of their own in this set of jazz standards. But the center of the sound remains Braxton's thorny piano playing and solos. The frustrating thing is that Braxton's musical ideas are solid and adventurous. But his limited piano chops confine him to a narrow dynamic range as he plods through the full set. The other challenge, as a listener, is that these familiar standards serve as launching pads for the rich creative universe that Braxton has devised and he wastes no time shedding most traces of the original melodic and harmonic framework attached to these pieces. If one listens to these pieces as modular entities - in the same manner that Braxton's original compositions are - then things begin to sound cohesive. And there are some brilliant moments on this disc. By the end of this set I was even starting to "get" Braxton's solo on "Cherokee." It just takes a full hour to get acclimated to his piano sound and hear the ideas behind his playing. Even so, his piano sound is the first real challenge to my normally sympathetic ears.

Scale of the Day: E Flat Chromatic 2% wide

The E Flat Chromatic 2% wide Scale. With stretched octaves nearly 1/8-tone wider than the standard 1200-cents, the process of widening adds new dissonance where strong consonance is taken for granted.

Interval of the Day: Unisons and Octaves 1% wide

Unisons and Octaves 1% wide. The unison remains at 0.00-cents when made "1% wider" (because 1% of zero is zero). While the same operation on the octave results in a stretched-octave that is 12-cents sharp. By pairing these intervals together I'm suggesting a harmonic space where this now dissonant "octave" can be treated as "harmonically equivalent" to the unison.