Scale of the Day: D Sharp Locrian mapped to the Cube-root-of-2

The D Sharp Locrian mapped to the Cube-root-of-2 Scale. The equal-tempered "half diminished" scale packed into the confines of an equal-tempered major third.

Scale of the Day: D Sharp Locrian diminished 4 mapped to the 3/2

The D Sharp Locrian diminished 4 mapped to the 3/2 Scale. The so-called "super-diminished" scale resized to fit within a just perfect fifth.

Scale of the Day: D Sharp Pythagorean Locrian mapped to the Triative

The D Sharp Pythagorean Locrian mapped to the Triative Scale. This is where the half-diminished stretched to fill the just perfect twelfth gets interesting with the Pythagorean proportions. The utonal quality of this scale is lost in the re-mapping. But the coloring of this harmonic terrain is unique nonetheless.

HurdAudio Rotation: Doctor Badguy

Albert Ayler: New Grass. 1968. Re-released in 2005. Impulse!: A-9175.

Albert Ayler: tenor saxophone, recitation, vocals, whistling
Bill Folwell: electric bass
Burt Collins: trumpet
Joe Newman: trumpet
Garnett Brown: trombone
Seldon Powell: flute, tenor saxophone
Buddy Lucas: baritone saxophone
Bert DeCoteaux: arrangements, conductor
Call Cobbs: electric harpsichord, piano, organ
Bernard Purdie: drums
Rose Marie McCoy: vocal
Mary Maria Parks: vocals

1968 was the same year Albert Ayler recorded Love Cry - possibly one of the most perfect free jazz recordings of all time. New Grass is cut from an entirely different cloth. And to call it flawed would be generous. With Ayler literally begging listeners to give this music a chance right in the first track it still remains a struggle to understand why he invested so much creative energy into this endeavor that he clearly believed in. Perhaps the understanding of how Ayler's abilities to channel a fierce primal improvisational style toward a more progressive and free sound places too much of a filter on this music - making it sound imprisoned and regressive by comparison. I try to imagine what I would think of this sound if I didn't know it was Ayler and doubt it would have come to my attention at all.

William Parker Double Quartet: Alphaville Suite: Music Inspired by the Jean Luc Godard Film. 2007. Rogue Art: ROG-0010.

William Parker: bass
Rob Brown: alto saxophone
Lewis Barnes: trumpet
Hamid Drake: drums
Mazz Swift: violin
Jessica Pavone: viola
Julia Kent: cello
Shiau-Shu Yu: cello
special guest - Leena Conquest: vocals

Conceptually, and in execution, this disc is a complete artistic success. I'll have to see the Godard film that inspired this suite, but anything that inspires a track called "Doctor Badguy" can't be anything less than outstanding. If only more film soundtracks followed this kind of smart, inspired writing and improvisation. If only more film soundtracks had Hamid Drake's drumming peppered throughout the sound along with the conceptual sense of individuality and poetry William Parker brings to this music. It's hard to imagine a visual equal to this accomplishment.

Kenny Dorham: Quiet Kenny. 1959. Re-released in 1992. Prestige/New Jazz Records: OJCCD-250-2.

Kenny Dorham: trumpet
Tommy Flanagan: piano
Paul Chambers: bass
Arthur Taylor: drums

This 1959 session isn't as adventurous as the Trompetta Toccata disc that holds such immediate appeal for these ears. But there is that trumpet tone and improvisational quality in sharp focus that only deepens the fascination with Dorham's sound.
Quiet Kenny is an apt description of the way Dorham's appeal sneaks up on the senses. He's a classic example of substance triumphing over flash.

Scale of the Day: D Sharp Locrian major 2 mapped to the Square-root-of-2

The D Sharp Locrian major 2 mapped to the Square-root-of-2 Scale. This one is a simple re-mapping of an altered equal-tempered Locrian.

Signing Off on the Twentieth Century

Alex Ross @ An Die Musik, Baltimore, MD
December 4, 2007

Discussing and signing The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century.

The magical Rest is Noise book tour finally made its way to Charm City as Alex Ross drew a sizable crowd of Peabody staff, mid-Atlantic based composers, bloggers and classical music enthusiasts. The fact that the New Yorker music critic and celebrated new music blogger has drawn so many accolades and enthusiastic response for this labor of love is an inspiration that I shall read with great anticipation.

My initial impression is that this book succeeds at telling a compelling narrative of the history of twentieth century "classical" music by making difficult choices on which key figures to focus upon. Ross indicated that he consciously made the decision to write one chapter about Jean Sibelius and one chapter about Benjamin Britten as two figures who have been overlooked in the standard narrative of twentieth century music that favors "innovation" and "progress" at the expense of composers who did not abandon tonality or compose music that was overtly radical. He also indicated that he could easily have written chapters on similar "outsider" composers such as Vaughn Williams or Carl Nielson and countless others and ended up with a more encyclopedic work as a result. And given the depth and range of music in the last century it is tempting to become lost in such vast depths when telling the story. I hope other writers with similar passion and different perspectives will provide equally compelling tales as the twentieth century continues to be re-assessed.

Sibelius and Britten are two composers I have not studied beyond casual hearing. I am partially guilty of the dismissive attitude that has placed them at the periphery of twentieth century music history. Ross is entirely correct to suggest applying a new listening to this music along with a re-evaluation of the attitudes that marginalize such figures.

As the discussion turned to the music of John Adams I began to realize why I find the enthusiastic reception of Adams' music seems so puzzling. The synthesis of the 19th century Romantic aesthetic into his overall sound is not one I had picked up on and is probably the element that I find most difficult to digest. As my own ears slowly unfold to embrace the music of Richard Strauss and other Romantically inclined figures I may eventually come around to appreciate Adams' music more fully.

Scale of the Day: D Sharp Pythagorean Locrian diminished 4

The D Sharp Pythagorean Locrian diminished 4 Scale. In theory, the severely utonal 8192/6561 diminished fourth should shade this scale toward an even darker harmony than the standard Pythagoroean Locrian scale could provide (an already dark scale even if the 4/3 perfect fourth is the "brightest" of the utonal members). In practice, however, at 384.36-cents the 8192/6561 is likely to be interpreted by the contemporary ear - unaware of the 3-limit context - as the otonal 5/4 at 386.31-cents given the mere 1.95-cent difference between them.