New York: Anthony Braxton
So my brother and I ventured to NY over the weekend to check out Anthony Braxton 12tet (+1) at the Iridium. Mary Halvorson and Jessica Pavone were both in the group, and I had never seen Braxton before...So I had to go. I had always been fascinated by the sounds of his groups. I never knew what was going on, but I always thought the sound was at least interesting. When I stayed with Mary (while playing/recording the Branca 100 guitar piece), I got to see some of the scores, and was instantly amazed. They were so perfect looking (all hand written by Braxton), and there were no traditional bar lines, but instead everything was written out in relation to a pulse. In addition, some of the notes were written in different colors, some morphed off the music page (Dali-style), while still other notes had circles and triangles drawn over them.
So now I had to see Braxton, and I was not disappointed, but highly blown away when the band took the stage at the Iridium on Friday. His music is like seeing a Christopher Guest film for the first time: it introduces you to a completely new way of approaching and accomplishing the goal of interesting content. The band started playing his new piece, and throughout, anyone in the band could cue anyone else to play parts from his other pieces, or to improvise. Everyone in the band was armed with an array of gestures and hand-signals, as well as dry-erase boards to make cuing that much easier.
And the music was always thoroughly entertaining.
There was so much going on...But never too much as to make it hard to follow. The concert really opened my eyes to different ways of organizing live performance, and the importance of freedom and restraints therein. I will definitely steal every idea I saw there...Okay, maybe I'll just borrow or rent out the ideas.
Afterwards, I got a little drunk off the 7 and 7 (thanks Jess), and talked very briefly with Braxton. He was so enthusiastic to hear that my brother and I were musicians, and reminded me instantly of Santa Claus at the old Miller and Roads...Very jolly!
Links
Mary Halvorson
Jessica Pavone
Iridium NY
Anthony Braxton
Santa Claus
So now I had to see Braxton, and I was not disappointed, but highly blown away when the band took the stage at the Iridium on Friday. His music is like seeing a Christopher Guest film for the first time: it introduces you to a completely new way of approaching and accomplishing the goal of interesting content. The band started playing his new piece, and throughout, anyone in the band could cue anyone else to play parts from his other pieces, or to improvise. Everyone in the band was armed with an array of gestures and hand-signals, as well as dry-erase boards to make cuing that much easier.
And the music was always thoroughly entertaining.
There was so much going on...But never too much as to make it hard to follow. The concert really opened my eyes to different ways of organizing live performance, and the importance of freedom and restraints therein. I will definitely steal every idea I saw there...Okay, maybe I'll just borrow or rent out the ideas.
Afterwards, I got a little drunk off the 7 and 7 (thanks Jess), and talked very briefly with Braxton. He was so enthusiastic to hear that my brother and I were musicians, and reminded me instantly of Santa Claus at the old Miller and Roads...Very jolly!
Links
Mary Halvorson
Jessica Pavone
Iridium NY
Anthony Braxton
Santa Claus
posted by Scott Burton at 12:13 PM
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