Big Ears

More Scenes from Inside the WRTI Studios

oliver — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:03:49 +0000

Before J. Michael Harrison brought the Big Ears musicians into his broadcast studio last Friday night, he took them into the recording room for an impromptu performance session. Look for a cameo appearance from the Painted Bride’s music curator Lenny Seidman on tabla.

Video from Big Ears on WRTI

oliver — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:36:44 +0000

Nine of the Big Ears artists squeezed into the broadcast studio at WRTI in Philadelphia this past Friday for a conversation with J. Michael Harrison, host of the Bridge. In case you missed it, check out the video of the show:

Warriors of the Wonderful Sound Play Hemphill!

Bryan Rogers — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:35:26 +0000

Thursday February 26, 7:30pm at World Cafe Live, Big Ears member Bobby Zankel and his Warriors of the Wonderful Sound will be playing the music of Julius Hemphill. This concert is presented by Ars Nova Workshop and will feature special guest saxophonist Marty Ehrlich, an original member of Hemphill’s Sextet. Since 1997, Ehrlich has been actively conducting and performing the music of the late Julius Hemphill.

The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, who have been performing since 2001, also feature Big Ears members Bart Miltenberger, Matt Davis, and Bryan Rogers.

Purchase Tickets

Thursday, February 26 | 7:30pm
Composer Portrait: Julius Hemphill

Warriors of the Wonderful Sound featuring Marty Ehrlich
with
Marty Ehrlich, alto saxophone
Bobby Zankel, alto saxophone
Elliott Levin, tenor saxophone
Dan Peterson, reeds
Dan Scofield, alto saxophone
Bryan Rogers, tenor saxophone
Bart Miltenberger, trumpet
Adam Hershberger, trumpet
Patrick Hughes, trumpet
Tom Madeja, trumpet
Larry Toft, trombone
Dan Blacksberg, trombone
George Barnett, French horn
Adam Lesnick, French horn
Matt Davis, el. guitar
Tom Lawton, piano
Dylan Taylor, double-bass
Craig McIver, drums

World Cafe Live
3025 Walnut Street

$10 General Admission

Shot x Shot and Tintinabulus @ The Tritone 2/19

Bryan Rogers — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:03:05 +0000

On Thursday 2/19, 10pm Big Ears members Anio Soderhielm and Bryan Rogers will be playing at the Tritone.

Tintinabulus

Scott McDonald -Drums
David Bath -Guitar
Aino Soderhielm -Saxophone

Shot x Shot

Dan Capecchi -Drums
Matt Engle -Bass
Bryan Rogers -Tenor Saxophone
Dan Scofield -Alto Saxophone

Tritone

1508 South St
Philadelphia, PA 19146
(215) 545-0475

Thoughts on my Giuffre Concert

Bart Miltenberger — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:42:01 +0000

So last week I took my group The Chance Trio (w/fellow Big Ears participant Matt Davis on guitar and Michael Taylor on bass) to the Philadelphia Art Alliance for an Ars Nova Workshop concert that paid tribute to the late, great reedsman, composer, bandleader Jimmy Giuffre. Before going any further I must say thanks for the generous support and promotion of the Painted Bride/Big Ears which absolutely contributed to the success of the evening.

The concert featured my transcription and arrangement of Giuffre’s landmark “The Western Suite,” the premier of my “Suite for Giuffre,” and a presentation by UPENN music composition professor Jay Reise who studied with and was a lifelong friend of Giuffre. All in all I was pretty happy with how everything went. Having already played for three hours that day before the show, I wish that my chops could have been fresher – especially to take advantage of the gorgeous acoustics of the Art Alliance - but I think the Trio gave solid readings of the material. Both Suites presented very different but very real challenges that I thought we met head on. My bandmates Matt and Michael are real warriors for the effort they put into bringing this music to life – and so for that I am very grateful.

Looking back on the whole process - the transcribing/composing/arranging/rehearsing/organizing/promoting/performing - I definitely learned a lot. Some lessons are apparent to me already and I’m guessing that some will be revealed in time. But here’s some thoughts or reflections – in no particular order:

1. Transcribing is a lot of work - especially when one is transcribing music that is as full of subtleties and nuances as the Western Suite

2. Some of the parts of the music that I thought would be the hardest to transcribe were actually some of the easiest – and the what I thought would be easy and straightforward was quite challenging

3. Writing music is a lot of fun for me and I wish that I had more time to devote to it – it feels like therapy in many ways

4. It sure would be nice if I had music notation software and didn’t have to write out scores and parts by hand

5. It’s possible to get by on very little sleep for weeks on end. One can actually get quite used to it

6. Jimmy Giuffre is a sneaky bastard – seamlessly blending folk music, jazz, and classical counterpoint techniques into something that sounds so singular and individual

7. Jimmy Giuffre likes pentatonic scales and patterns – a lot

8. Jimmy Giuffre likes simple ideas put together in unique ways

9. Western Suite guitarist Jim Hall is a bad mother. But as soulful as he is, he makes mistakes all over the original recording. Nice to see that a giant can be human like the rest of us

10. Western Suite valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer is a master of subtle chromatic (and rhythmic) playing

11. It’s a challenge to maintain a solid rhythmic pulse with a group that has no drummer

12. It’s a challenge to play in a group in which each player is so boldly exposed

13. It’s a challenge to find time to rehearse when the three people in your band have incredibly busy and incongruous schedules

14. It’s a blessing to play with a band that is a real BAND – one that has a true sound

15. It’s a blessing to play in a band with people that are true friends – there is a trust and level of respect that is hard to replicate

16. Properly promoting a show is a lot of work – I am a big proponent of to do lists (thanks to my Virgo wife!)

17. I still get nervous performing – not very often, but if the show is mine, I do.

18. I need to work on not getting nervous. – or better yet, creatively harnessing my nerves

19. I have a lot of good friends who support me in my musical endeavors – feels good

20. After countless hours of listening to Jimmy Giuffre I am still not tired of listening to Jimmy Giuffre

So I guess that’s all I have for now. What’s next for this music that we played? I’d love to find an opportunity (and financial resources) to record it properly, put out a record, maybe play some concerts here in Philly and elsewhere. All in all it was a fabulous experience.

Relationship to my outside work

Patricia Franceschy — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:38:07 +0000

The residency has definitely related to my outside work and it has definitely reinforced most of it. I think I mentioned on a past blog that usually when I improvise in general I think a lot about what I’m going to play. Even in my daily life, I have a hard time doing things by impulse, I usually have to give a lot of thought to every decision I make whether it is musical or not.

I’ve been reading a book called: “Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell. This book talks mostly about how to follow our instincts and trust them. While I was reading this book I remember how I felt on the flash card exercise. Most of the time I had zero time to think, so I was basically put on the spot. So I had to just follow my “musical instinct” and trust in it.

I thought it was great because the situation forced me to avoid what I usually do when I improvise. I’ve been applying this experience to the way I play and also in general, to the way I live life.

Thoughts on the first week

Patricia Franceschy — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 20:48:43 +0000

The flash cards exercise was one of my favorites. Everything started when John Hollenbeck asked us to write a phrase, word that inspired us. We didn’t have a clue of what was the purpose of that. So, we all brought our phrases and that was the end of it at that point. One day John brought a bunch of cards that had “indications” on them. Things like: Accompany, Counterpoint and some them less conventional like: “the pet store is burning down”. We started experimenting with them on an improvisation exercise. The exercise consisted on one person going into the center of the circle, this person was sort of like a conductor. This person will choose a card and show to all the group, one person or just a couple and these people would have to play whatever the card said. There would be extra indications like dynamics (loud, soft, diminuendo and crescendo, etc.), cues so people would know when to start and end among others. Also at this exercise there was card that said: “play your phrase”, this was the moment when we incorporated the phrase-word that we wrote before. There was a sign that the conductor would do that meant that you had to “sing/speak your phrase” instead of playing it. Then the next day John brought a bunch of blank cards. We had to expand the collection. We did the same exercise again but now with way more instructions.

This exercise was really challenging because sometimes it was really hard to translate each phrase or word with a different sound and on top of that that the sound made sense with the word or phrase. Also, most of the time you didn’t have time to think ahead because the conductor will point at you out of nowhere and you had to start playing something right away. I think that this exercise forced me to open my mind to more sound possibilities in relationship to an idea or an image. I started to feel that sometimes you don’t even need your instrument to be able to make music. Sometimes we get so box in our instruments and we don’t go outside of it not only with exploring different extended techniques but also using what is around you. Anything counts! At the same time, usually when I improvise I put a lot of thought to it and in this case I had to do that thinking process in seconds which helped to get that process faster.

Answers to questions

Gabe Globus-Hoenich — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 04:35:00 +0000

Katt Hernandez and Matt Mitchell were two members of the group who really impressed me with their interesting use of extended techniques. Both of them had spent alot of time developing a palette of extended techniques which they improvised with. Katt said that most of her studies and performing over recent years had been devoted to making the violin emulate electronic sounds and effects. She really blew me away with the sounds she was able to create. She demonstrated everything from intense scratching sounds to precises quarter tones. One particular moment that impressed me was when we were playing John Hollenbeck’s piece “Paterna Terra.” John had put us into groups, and each group had a different assignment as to how to play through the piece. I was with Katt in a group and since she was sitting right next to me I had could hear everything she was doing. She seemed to be able to capture the John’s instructions perfectly (in this case to make high swirling sounds). I was so impressed by her boundless creativity as well as control regarding extended technique on the violin.

Matt Mitchell was another member of the group who seemed to have really developed a set of extended techniques for the piano. Matt brought a variety of objects that he played inside the piano. He used tins and metal plates to hit and scratch the strings, creating very interesting sounds. He also used walkie-talkies to create some crazy static and noise. Matt’s extended techniques were especially handy during the card improvisations.

Till next time.

Josh Roseman Extended Constellations Live at the Bride

Gabe Globus-Hoenich — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 23:45:53 +0000

2 weeks ago Patty and I had the pleasure of attending the Josh Roseman large ensemble concert at the Bride. It was great to return to the Bride, but a bit strange to be out in the audience instead of on the stage. Patty and I were especially psyched because the night before we had been in NYC seeing a show and had hung out with this young guitar player named Nir Felder, who as it turned out was going to be performing in Roseman’s band.

The concert was surprisingly good. The reason I say surprisingly is because I was not expecting Josh Roseman’s extreme casual manner or used to seeing people play so well after acting so entirely goofy as they spoke to the audience. Josh Roseman is a hilarious dude. He said so many funny things to the audience in between numbers. Here were my favorites:

“This next piece is going to feature the ensemble”

“This next number is dedicated.”

“We just played a piece and now we are going to play a composition”

“We have never played this today.”

“This next piece is dedicated to a very special person who is here today. And he’s in my band. GIVE IT UP! ” (doesn’t name the person)

“This next one is so complex. (in valley girl voice) Oh my god!”

And so on. Usually in my experience, people who are so tongue and cheek when they are playing “serious” music, are compensating for a lack of preparation or confidence in the music. Not the case with Josh. The band was killer. They weren’t super tight per say, but such strong players that the music went anywhere and sounded great, even if it was somewhere it wasn’t supposed to be. Of particular note was Peter Apfelbaum, who played at a drumset/percussion rig with a rhodes in the middle of it and took at least 3 tenor sax solos. That was a bit intimidating.

Another interesting aspect of the show was how Josh Roseman would conduct improvisations and transitions in a similar way to the card conducting exercises we did with John Hollenbeck. He would cue players in and use hand motions to signal different textures and vibes. That was very interesting and really sucessful. I hope John includes some conducted improvs in our concert.

All in all I was really glad I went to see the concert. It is one of the best I’ve seen at the Bride. I loved Josh Roseman’s vibe (after the initial surprise of it). I laughed my ass off. Also, Nir Felder, the guitar player we met was amazing. He was glad we had come out. Josh’s charts were unique and pretty complex. I especially loved a composition that was basically a ska groove gone wild.

Anyway, thank you Bride for a wonderful performance!