Scale of the Day: B Whole-tone 1% narrow

The B Whole-tone 1% narrow Scale. The standard, equal tempered whole-tone scale systematically detuned by compressing each interval a small amount.

HurdAudio Rotation: Romance with the Razumovsky

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Complete Quartets, Volume IV. Recorded in 1994. Delos: DE 3034.

String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59 No. 2 ("Razumovsky")
String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 95 ("Serioso")

Orford String Quartet
Andrew Dawes: violin
Kenneth Perkins: violin
Terence Helmer: viola
Denis Brott: cello

Note to self: get a score for these "Razumovsky" quartets and analyze the Molto adagio movement from Op. 59 No. 2. These Russian Quartets have every Beethoven quality that draws the ears and mind in and then some, and that movement in particular is worth some analysis. The later "Serioso" quartet is also an intense curiosity. It's hard to beat the Beethoven quartets for sheer density of substance.

Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost (box set) [disc 3]. 2004. Revenant Records: 213.

Albert Ayler Quintet at La Cave, Cleveland, Ohio - April 16 - 17, 1966
Albert Ayler: tenor saxophone
Don Ayler: trumpet
Michel Samson: violin
Mutawef Shaheed/Clyde Shy: bass
Ronald Shannon Jackson: drums

These La Cave recordings are a strong draw to this box set of rare Ayler recordings. And I've had plenty to say about Michel Samson's violin sound in previous listenings to this disc. This time around I'm hearing Ronald Shannon Jackson's drum work in a positive light. In may ways, he's the engine driving so much of this music. This sounds like it was a great show in Cleveland. I wish I could have seen it.

Don Byron: Romance with the Unseen. 1999. Blue Note Records: 7243 4 99545 2 6.

Don Byron: clarinet
Bill Frisell: guitar
Drew Gress: bass
Jack DeJohnette: drums

I remembered this one getting lukewarm reviews when it came out in 1999 and it passed me by. But it seemed improbable that this quartet could be anything less than amazing so it was an easy grab from the used bin. Not everything from Don Byron has been pure gold, but he's rarely off and a chance to hear him focus on clarinet with Frisell, Gress and DeJohnette backing him up is spot on. In many ways this disc feels like a precursor to the excellent Ivey Divey - another excellent Byron session featuring DeJohnette on drums - with the focus on interpreting a mix of originals and standards (and a John Lennon tune in the case of Romance with the Unseen). It's possible that jazz fans of 1999 were expecting less subtlety or hadn't yet negotiated the multiple curve balls Byron has been known to bring with each endeavor. This isn't music that screams for attention, but it rewards attention with confidence and fine interplay between four of the finest musicians to record for the Blue Note Label.

HurdAudio Rotation: Postcards from Napoleon

Joe Henderson: Mode for Joe. 1966. Re-released in 1988. Blue Note Records: CDP 7 84227 2.

Joe Henderson: tenor saxophone
Lee Morgan: trumpet
Curtis Fuller: trombone
Bobby Hutcherson: vibes
Cedar Walton: piano
Ron Carter: bass
Joe Chambers: drums

For those not yet smitten by Joe Henderson's tenor saxophone this one makes for a good introduction. And for those who have already fallen for his tone and inventive improvisations this disc is a knockout. My ears are fascinated by the Henderson originals "A Shade of Jade" and "Caribbean Fire Dance" and wonder why he isn't given more due for his compositional side. The chemistry of this 7-piece is unbelievable in the same way these 1960s Blue Note sessions seem to leave one's jaw on the floor.

James Tenney: Postal Pieces. 2004. New World Records: 80612-2.

Performed by The Barton Workshop
James Fulkerson: director

Maximusic (1965)
Swell Piece (1967)
A Rose Is a Rose Is a Round (1970)
Beast (1971)
Swell Piece #2 (1971)
Having Never Written a Note for Percussion (1971)
Koan (1971)
For Percussion Perhaps, Or...(night)(1971)
Swell Piece #3 (1971)
Cellogram(1971)
August Harp (1971)

Conceptual simplicity captured by notated scores no larger than post cards. Simplicity that unfolds in startling detail as the Barton Workshop applies earnest ears and sensibility to put this music in motion. The complex harmonic partials of the steady, rumbling crescendo played on a gong for Having Never Written a Note for Percussion is an endless source of awe and reward for the attentive ear. The unhurried pace of August Harp or the deliberate beating dissonance of Beast are persistent reminders of what sound - and by extension - music is and could be.

Ludwig van Beethoven: The Symphonies [disc 5]. Recorded in 1994. The International Music Company: 205299-305.

Symphony No. 7 in A major (op.92)
Barry Wordsworth: conductor
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Symphony No. 8 in F major (op. 93)
James Lockhart: conductor
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Composed in close proximity to one another, these two symphonies are widely regarded as the "anti-Napoleon" symphonies written as a response to the self-appointed emperor's betrayal of the ideals of the French Revolution. One rarely sees these works promoted as such in current times. Current political disillusionment would be a deep well for expressive intent of all forms with a spiritual forbearer in these works.

The first movement of the seventh symphony packs far more bombast than I've acquired a taste for. But more than makes up for it with three fascinating movements in its wake. Upon this listening it occurs to me that the eighth symphony is perhaps the most neglected of the nine. I know I'm guilty of not spending enough time with it. It feels like the calm before the brewing storm of the ninth.

Shipp Shape

Matthew Shipp Trio @ An Die Musik, Baltimore, MD
December 1, 2007

Matthew Shipp: piano
Joe Morris: bass
Whit Dickey: drums

Once Matthew Shipp sits before a piano he wastes little time attacking the keyboard. In two sets of continuous medley through the Shipp oeuvre he began each simply by plunging into an immediate intensity with his instrument. His unique talent for playing deep within an improvisational energy hooked these thirsty ears with rare immediacy. Soon, Joe Morris and Whit Dickey dove into the sound as a clear augmentation of Shipp's intense sensibility. The interplay between the bass lines from the piano and the mid to high range plucking from the bass made for a dynamic, beautiful sound. Whit Dickey added strokes to the sounding canvas with a percussive flair that kept time propelling forward with barely a nod toward the pulse.

Hearing all acoustic interpretations of Shipp's electronica laced Nu Bop and Harmony and Abyss material was a particular treat as the rhythmic force and odd turns of phrase revealed a creative mind moving the improvised music tradition forward while maintaining deep roots. The thick layers of sound from the drum kit and double bass added a richness and interactivity missing in the electronic takes of this music as the compositional substance came into the foreground. This is an outstanding piano trio.

Scale of the Day: B Whole-tone 2% wide

The B Whole-tone 2% wide Scale. The slight variation on the equal-tempered version of the whole-tone scale allows for a wide range of enharmonic spellings of this scale. I chose to have the diminished third fall between the third and fourth degrees for no particular reason.

Spoken and Red: The Pool and the Soup at the Red Room

Alessandro Bosetti @ The Red Room, Baltimore, MD
November 30, 2007

"The Pool and the Soup"

Andrea Hayes, Melissa More, Gina Denton, Ciat-Lombarde, John Berndt, Charlotte "Blessed" Benedetto, Audrey Chen, Jenny Graf, George Martin, Alessandro Bosetti: voices

Longtime readers of HurdAudio should be familiar with my long-standing issues with - and aversion to - speech and words in music. Even within excellent compositions such as The Pool and the Soup there is still a lingering reluctance to embrace the heavy concrete materials of language. With the additional focus on stretching the interactive dynamic through conversation to include the audience this was an amazing piece that touched upon several raw nerves.

Alessandro Bosetti crafts this music by drawing upon the improvised stories and words brought into play by the performers and expertly manipulates several pre-determined parameters from the prompter's chair. The prompter determines who speaks, who they speak or respond to, how fast they speak, if they sing or intone what they say, repeat phrases or build sentences by systematically adding one word at a time. The prompter even has the option of selecting a new prompter from the performer pool and physically switching places with that individual. The density and jumble of words varies dramatically and attempts to literally draw the audience into the conversation - and resulting sonic space - adds an unusual tension to the performance. This included a brief period when I simply couldn't come up with anything interesting to say in response to Melissa Moore's attempt to strike up conversation. My fixed-state audience-stage sensibility proved too difficult to suspend after a hard work week.

The comparisons to other text-compositions are inevitable. The sense of story telling shared many similarities with Randy Hostetler's wonderful Happily Ever After. The live realization and absence of electronic manipulation makes The Pool and the Soup into something strikingly dynamic and pleasantly unpolished.

John Berndt indicated that this composition was being "work shopped into existence," and one could sense the quality of the performance as a reading at a retreat for artists. The rough edges were left intact for sympathetic ears and minds to mull over. For these ears and this mind there was plenty of space to ponder why words and language are both riveting and repelling at the same time. The layering of multiple conversations along with material in spoken Italian and Chinese successfully drained "meaning" by overdosing on it. By treating social interaction as a compositional parameter Bosetti crafts music from the very materials that are the most challenging: meaning and audience. The fact that The Pool and the Soup is successful has these ears and intellect deeply intrigued.

Scale of the Day: E Flat Whole-tone 1% wide

The intervallic content of the E Flat Whole-tone 1% wide Scale. Even when systematically de-tuned, this whole-tone scale retains the restrictive non-variation of interval quality - just one kind of second, third, etc. that works well for harmonic transition points.