performance: Hilary Jeffery, Han-earl Park, Andrea Parkins and Simon Rose at Ma Thilda, Berlin

Thursday, March 26, 2015, at 9:00pm: Hilary Jeffery (trombone), Han-earl Park (guitar), Andrea Parkins (accordion and electronics) and Simon Rose (saxophone) perform at Ma Thilda (Wildenbruchstraße 68, Neukölln, 12045 Berlin, Germany). Admission free; donation recommended.

I had a blast performing with Andrea last time (as I said, “insanely fun!”); I look forward to playing with Simon in a small group context (last time was anything but); and, incredibly, this will be my first on-stage meeting with Hilary. I’m looking forward to this mightily.

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [Facebook event…]

Above audio clip: last time I performed with Andrea Parkins. (Music © + ℗ 2015 Han-earl Park and Andrea Parkins. Retroactive visuals/video © 2015 Han-earl Park.)

Anomic Aphasia

CD cover of ‘Anomic Aphasia’ (SLAMCD 559) with Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora, Nick Didkovsky and Josh Sinton (artwork copyright 2015, Han-earl Park)
‘Anomic Aphasia’ (SLAMCD 559) © 2015 Han-earl Park

February 23, 2015: SLAM Productions releases ‘Anomic Aphasia’ (SLAMCD 559) featuring the ensemble Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora), and rendering of improvisative tactics Metis 9 by Park, Sikora and Josh Sinton. [SLAM Productions catalog page…] [Discography entry…]

The CD is available from Downtown Music Gallery, Wayside Music, Disk Union… and all AWESOME record stores.

[Get the CD from SLAM Productions…]
[Downtown Music Gallery…] [Wayside Music…] [Disk Union…] [Improjazz…] [Crazy Jazz…] [Jazzcds…] [Proper Music (distributor)…] [More stores…]

[Download from iTunes…]* [eMusic…]*

* Downloads, in contrast to the physical CDs, do not include the liner notes.

news and updates

October 15, 2020: Peculiar Velocities (BAF002)

November 17, 2020: Eris 136199’s latest album is out now (compact disc and digital download)! Eris 136199 is the chaotic snap’n’pop of Han-earl Park’s cyborg virtuosity, the symphonies of power…

September 4, 2018: Eris 136199 (BAF001)

October 9, 2018: Eris 136199’s eponymous album is out now (compact disc and digital download)! Eris 136199 is the quick-reacting cyborg virtuosity of Han-earl Park, the mighty melodic imagination and…

[All articles on Anomic Aphasia…]

description

Challenging and phenomenal works with the musicians playing off of each others ideas…. A beautiful noise. [More…]

KFJC 89.7 FM

Putting this unlikely lineup together was almost as brilliant as the recording they have produced…. ‘Free’ is a barely sufficient to describe this approach, as the trios explore various angular constructs and effects. The vocabulary of sounds here is as broad as it is unconventional. [More…]

— Mike Borella (Avant Music News)

Impressive in scale, overwhelming in execution, it’s a cyclic frenzy of fragmented sounds without an ounce of entropy, yet somehow with a sense of clear movement and progression. Warning: close listening can produce altered states…. [More…]

— Dave Foxall (a Jazz Noise)

彼らは一緒になって、描き上げたばかりの集合肖像画に点を穿ち、所々に飛沫を散らし、時には引き裂く。そして切り取り、並べ替え、分割する。 [More…]

— Cisco Bradley (JazzTokyo)

Atmospheric as to become almost frightening [More…]

— Ken Waxman (The New York City Jazz Record)

Ein glorioser Bastard aus Noise und süßer Träumerei. [More…]

— Rigobert Dittmann (Bad Alchemy)

[More reviews…]

Anomic Aphasia documents two New York-based projects: the noisy, unruly complexity of the ensemble Eris 136199; and the interactive playbook Metis 9, a collection of improvisative tactics. Guitarists Han-earl Park (Mathilde 253) and Nick Didkovsky (Doctor Nerve), and reedists Catherine Sikora (Clockwork Mercury) and Josh Sinton (Ideal Bread) render a space of unexpected collisions, weaving orbital paths, and playful discord.

Eris 136199 plays on the crossroads of noise, melody, rhythm, space, density, contrast, synchronicity, asymmetry, serendipity and contradiction. Eris 136199 is the noisy, unruly complexity of composer, computer artist and guitarist Nick Didkovsky, the corporeal, cyborg virtuosity of constructor and guitarist Han-earl Park, and the no-nonsense melodic logic of composer and saxophonist Catherine Sikora.

Together, Didkovsky, Park and Sikora forges an improvisative space where melody can be melody, noise can be noise, meter can be meter, metal becomes metal, bluegrass turns to bluegrass, jazz transforms into jazz, all there, all necessary without imploding under idiomatic pressures.

Metis 9 is a collection of improvisative tactics, and higher-level interactive macros for ensemble performance designed, designated and specified by Han-earl Park in collaboration with Josh Sinton and Catherine Sikora.

Metis 9 has ‘glorious noise’ or ‘frenzy’ at its root, yet it is not so much structuring the noise as it is a meta-layer of complexity that performers can introduce at will. Metis 9 does not tell the performer what to play, or provide all the details of how to interact, but it is an additional network protocol for interactive possibilities. Group improvisation is always the primary protocol; Metis 9 provides secondary or tertiary tactics that create an additional focused complexity. The decision for each bloop and bleep is still retained by the ensemble. These macros enable specific interactionist schemes to be expressed in an open improvisative context; it is improvisative play channeled by group consent.

trailer

personnel

Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (tenor and soprano saxophones), Nick Didkovsky (guitar; tracks 1 and 5), and Josh Sinton (baritone saxophone and bass clarinet; tracks 2–4).

track listing

Monopod (27:19), Pleonasm (Metis 9) (17:08), Flying Rods (Metis 9) (7:41), Hydraphon (7:34), StopCock (10:54). Total duration: 70:33.

recording details

Tracks 1 and 5: music by Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora). Tracks 2–4: music by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Josh Sinton. Tracks 2–3: tactical macros (‘Metis 9’) devised and specified by Han-earl Park.

Tracks 1 and 5 recorded live at Douglass Street Music Collective, Brooklyn on June 5, 2013. Recording engineered by Scott Friedlander.
Tracks 2–4 recorded live at Harvestworks, New York City on October 29, 2013. Recording engineered by Kevin Ramsay. Mixed by Han-earl Park.
Design and artwork by Han-earl Park.

Thanks to Scott Friedlander, Kevin Ramsay, Carol Parkinson, Hans Tammen, Melanie L Marshall, Caroline Pugh, Richard Barrett, Ras Moshe, John Pietaro, Shayna Dulberger and Emilio Vavarella.

© 2015 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2015 SLAM Productions.

about the performers

Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park (박한얼) has been crossing borders and performing fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, always traditional, open improvised musics for twenty years. He has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries, concert halls, and (ad-hoc) alternative spaces across Europe and the USA.

Park engages a radical, liminal, cyborg virtuosity in which mind, body and artifact collide. He is driven by the social and revolutionary potential of real-time interactive performance in which tradition and practice become creative problematics. As a constructor of musical automata, he is interested in partial, and partially frustrating, context-specific artifacts; artifacts that amplify social relations and corporeal identities and agencies.

Ensembles include Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora, and Numbers with Richard Barrett. Park is the constructor of the machine improviser io 0.0.1 beta++, and instigator of Metis 9, a playbook of improvisative tactics. He has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Dunmall, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Mark Sanders, Josh Sinton, Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, Gino Robair, Tim Perkis, Andrew Drury, Pat Thomas and Franziska Schroeder, and as part of large ensembles led by Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker and Pauline Oliveros.

Festival appearances include Freedom of the City (London), Sonorities (Belfast), ISIM (New York), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), CEAIT (Los Angeles) and Sonic Acts (Amsterdam). His recordings have been released by labels including Slam Productions, Creative Sources and DUNS Limited Edition.

Park taught improvisation at University College Cork, and founded and curated Stet Lab, a space for improvised music in Cork.

Since making her way to New York City from West Cork, Ireland to study abstract improvisation, Catherine Sikora has become a well-known face and sound in New York creative music circles. She has worked with Elliott Sharp, Eric Mingus, Michael Evans, Enrique Haneine, Karl Berger, Matt Lavelle, Jeremy Bacon, François Grillot and Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, among many others. Her undeniably unique approach sets her apart from everyone else, even when surrounded by the most original and creative voices in New York City. Sikora is a contributing writer to the book “Silent Solos-Improvisers Speak” (Buddy’s Knife Publishing, Köln, DE).

Current working projects include Clockwork Mercury (duo with Eric Mingus) and an improvising duo with drummer Brian Chase; Sikora’s first solo recording will be released in fall 2015.

“Sikora is a free-blowing player’s player with a spectacular harmonic imagination and an evolved understanding of the tonal palette of the saxophone.”

— Chris Elliot (Seacoast Online)

With a musical career spanning 30 years, Nick Didkovsky is a guitarist, composer, and music software programmer. He founded the rock band Doctor Nerve in 1983 and is a member of the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet. He has composed for Bang On A Can All-Stars, Meridian Arts Ensemble, ETHEL, and others. His compositions and guitar work appear on over 50 records.

His Black Sabbath Guitar Lessons on YouTube have been received with great enthusiasm by metal fans all over the world. His metal band Häßliche Luftmasken premiered in June 2011.

With computer music pioneer Phil Burk, Didkovsky created Java Music Specification Language which is used by composers all over the world. He has taught JMSL at Dartmouth College, CalArts, Columbia University, and NYU. With composer Georg Hajdu, he has created MaxScore, an object that uses JMSL to bring music notation to Max/MSP.

His Punos Music record label serves up his more extreme musical projects.

Brooklyn-based saxophonist/clarinetist/composer Josh Sinton is probably best known as the leader of Ideal Bread, the Steve Lacy repertory band. He also performs regularly with Andrew D’Angelo’s DNA big band, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, the Nate Wooley Quintet and Anthony Braxton’s Tricentric Orchestra. He’s played with avant-garde luminaries such as Roswell Rudd, Karl Berger and John Butcher, newer voices Ingrid Laubrock, Matana Roberts and Jeremiah Cymerman and pop singers Michael Buble and Norah Jones.

In 2012, Sinton released his autobiographical album Pine Barren (featuring Jon Irabagon, Jonathan Goldberger, Peter Bitenc and Mike Pride) with accompanying essays on the Prom Night Records label to critical acclaim (“deeply confessional and emotionally revealing” – Shaun Brady, Downbeat, Nov. 2012). This year he will release another record on Prom Night, anomonous on which he freely improvises on the amplified contrabass clarinet with Denman Maroney (hyperpiano) and Ben Miller (electronics). Currently he’s in the midst of finishing arrangements for the next Ideal Bread record, an ambitious re-recording of all the material Steve Lacy put out on the Saravah label in the 1970’s and was recently repackaged as Scratching the Seventies. The working title of this work-in-progress is Beating the Teens.

Sinton grew up in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey, came of musical age attending AACM classes in Chicago and completed his classroom education in Boston at the New England Conservatory of music. Along the way, he’s toured and played in India, Israel, Japan, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland. Currently he happily resides in Brooklyn, NY with his wife Laura and daughter Zosia.

Also available as part of…

The Complete Eris 136199 on CD

The Complete Eris 136199 on CD

Limited number of Eris 136199’s two CDs at a special price.

Eris 136199 (BAF001, 2018).
• Anomic Aphasia (SLAMCD 559, 2015) with Josh Sinton.

[Get the set…]

Also by Eris 136199…

Cover of ‘Peculiar Velocities’ (BAF002) by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky (artwork copyright 2020, Han-earl Park)

Peculiar Velocities (BAF002) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (saxophone) and Nick Didkovsky (guitar). [About this ensemble…]

© + ℗ 2020 Han-earl Park.

Cover of ‘Eris 136199’ (BAF001) by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky (artwork copyright 2018, Han-earl Park)

Eris 136199 (BAF001) [details…]

Personnel: Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (saxophone) and Nick Didkovsky (guitar). [About this ensemble…]

© + ℗ 2018 Han-earl Park.

Also from SLAM Productions…

‘io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) CD cover (copyright 2011, Han-earl Park)

io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) [details…]

Performers: io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself), Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (alto and sopranino saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (soprano saxophone). [About this project…]

© 2011 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2011 SLAM Productions.

‘Mathilde 253’ (SLAMCD 528) CD cover (copyright 2010, Han-earl Park)

Mathilde 253 (SLAMCD 528) [details…]

Performers: Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and melodica), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Ian Smith (trumpet and flugelhorn) plus Lol Coxhill (saxophone). [About this ensemble…]

© 2010 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2010 SLAM Productions.

updates

03–06-15: add news and updates feed.
04–22-15: add purchase links (Improjazz, Crazy Jazz, Jazzcds, Proper Music, iTunes and eMusic).
06–02-15: add Disk Union link.
08–13-15: add Wayside Music link.
08–15-15: add new video trailer.
09–18-15: add Downtown Music Gallery link.
09–23-15: update Downtown Music Gallery link.
11–24-16: added reviews.
03–24-19: added BAF001 album.
11-02-20: update discography with the addition of Peculiar Velocities.

Happy New Year: 2015

Original photographs/images © 2014 Don Mount; © 2014 Dee Byrne/LUME; and (cc by-nc) 2014 Han-earl Park. Images/artwork pertaining to cuttlefish: design (cc by-nc) 2014 Peter O’Doherty; cover artwork © 2014 Ciarán Ó Dochartaigh; score/artwork © 2014 Han-earl Park; photo © 2013 Emilio Vavarella.
Original photographs/images © 2014 Don Mount; © 2014 Dee Byrne/LUME; and (cc by-nc) 2014 Han-earl Park. Images/artwork pertaining to cuttlefish: design (cc by-nc) 2014 Peter O’Doherty; cover artwork © 2014 Ciarán Ó Dochartaigh; score/artwork © 2014 Han-earl Park; photo © 2013 Emilio Vavarella. [Listen/watch 2014…]

thanks: Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash and Mark Sanders (Birmingham and London, October 2014)

Quick note of thanks to all involved in the October 28 and October 30 performances. Thanks mightily to Cath Roberts and Dee Byrne, instigators of LUME, and Andrew Woodhead, the new mastermind behind Fizzle, for hosting the performances, and for their support and enthusiasm. Thanks to Ben Lee (who also managed Fizzle on the night) and Roberto Sassi (and Roland Ramanan for the intro) for allowing this itinerant guitarist to borrow the use of their amplifiers. Thanks to the other ensembles who shared the bill: Lee Allatson, Stewart Brackley and Bruce Coates (Lee, Bruce, great to see you guys again!); and Sam Andreae and Rodrigo Constanzo.

Mondo kudos to Dom Lash and Mark Sanders. I am indebted to these two smart, perceptive, crafty and imaginative improvisers. They make every moment sound that much more brilliant, and every turn that much more unexpected. Looking forward to playing again! (tell your local music org to book us! 😉

Finally, as always, thanks to all who came to listen to the real-time noise, and to witness the jump-cuts between chaotic frenzy and delicate, pretty open spaces. It’s been a while since I performed in these two cities; always a pleasure.

excerpt: Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash and Mark Sanders at Fizzle, Birmingham

In anticipation of the performance tonight (October 30) with Dominic Lash and Mark Sanders, I’ve uploaded a short clip from our October 28 performance at Fizzle, Birmingham. Taken from the last few minutes of our first improvisation, I think the breadth of landscape the ensemble covers in that short time is impressive. [More about this performance…]

In a few hours, Han-earl Park, Dominic Lash and Mark Sanders will be performing at LUME (Long White Cloud, 151 Hackney Road, London E2 8JL). Come down for more real-time, interactive noise and serendipity.

video discography

I’ve created a video discography—a YouTube playlist of video ‘trailers’ for selected albums. (This now joins the video playlist of selected performances and 13 hours or so of ‘recent’ performances.)

The albums currently represented in the playlist are Numbers (CS 201 cd) with Richard Barrett [more info (get the CD)…]; io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) with Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder [more (CD/download)…]; and Mathilde 253 (SLAMCD 528) with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith plus Lol Coxhill [more (CD/download)…]; with more to come.

CD cover of ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) with Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park (copyright 2012, Creative Sources Recordings)

Numbers (CS 201 cd) [details…]

Performers: Richard Barrett (electronics) and Han-earl Park (guitar). [About this duo…]

© + ℗ 2012 Creative Sources Recordings.

‘io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) CD cover (copyright 2011, Han-earl Park)

io 0.0.1 beta++ (SLAMCD 531) [details…]

Performers: io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself), Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (alto and sopranino saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (soprano saxophone). [About this project…]

© 2011 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2011 SLAM Productions.

‘Mathilde 253’ (SLAMCD 528) CD cover (copyright 2010, Han-earl Park)

Mathilde 253 (SLAMCD 528) [details…]

Performers: Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and melodica), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Ian Smith (trumpet and flugelhorn) plus Lol Coxhill (saxophone). [About this ensemble…]

© 2010 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2010 SLAM Productions.

updates

09–22–14: embedded playlist starts with Numbers.

site update: Han-earl Park bio plus YouTube playlist

Although nowhere near a big a revision as the last major update, I’ve made some significant changes to my bio. Below is the new verbose, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink, 472 word version [shorter versions…].

Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park (박한얼) (www.busterandfriends.com) has been crossing borders and performing fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, always traditional, open improvised musics for twenty years. He has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries, concert halls, and (ad-hoc) alternative spaces in Austria, Denmark, Germany, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, Scotland and the USA.

Park engages a radical, liminal, cyborg virtuosity in which mind, body and artifact collide. He is driven by the social and revolutionary potential of real-time interactive performance in which tradition and practice become creative problematics. As a constructor of musical automata, he is interested in partial, and partially frustrating, context-specific artifacts; artifacts that amplify social relations and corporeal identities and agencies.

Ensembles include Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora, and Numbers with Richard Barrett. Park is the constructor of the machine improviser io 0.0.1 beta++, and instigator of Metis 9, a playbook of improvisative tactics. He has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Dunmall, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Mark Sanders, Josh Sinton, Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, Gino Robair, Tim Perkis, Andrew Drury, Pat Thomas and Franziska Schroeder. He has guested with Gargantius Effect (Murray Campbell and Randy McKean), the Mark Hanslip/Dominic Lash/Phillip Marks Trio, and Swim This (Nick Didkovsky, Gerry Hemingway and Michael Lytle); performed as part of large ensembles led by Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker and Pauline Oliveros; and participated in improvisative meetings with Gerald Cleaver, Andrea Parkins, Tom Rainey, Mike Pride, Anna Webber, Jack Wright and Ingrid Laubrock. He has studied with improviser-composers Wadada Leo Smith, Richard Barrett, Joel Ryan, Mark Trayle, Chick Lyall and David Rosenboom, composers Clarence Barlow and Marina Adamia, and interactive media artist Sara Roberts.

Festival appearances include Freedom of the City (London), Sonorities (Belfast), International Society for Improvised Music (New York), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), VAIN Live Art (Oxford), Center for Experiments in Art, Information and Technology Festival (Los Angeles) and Sonic Acts (Amsterdam). In addition to numerous self-released albums, his recordings have been released by Slam Productions, Creative Sources, Vicmod Records, FrImp, Owlhouse Recordings and DUNS Limited Edition. His music has been featured on anthologies released by Bridge Records, farpoint recordings and Frog Peak Music. He has performed live on Resonance FM (London), Drift Radio (Scotland), and KVMR 89.5 FM (Nevada County), interviewed on RTÉ Morning Ireland and RTÉ Nova (Ireland), and his recordings have been broadcast around the world.

Park taught improvisation at University College Cork (2006–2011), and founded and curated (2007–2011) Stet Lab, a space for improvised music in Cork. He is a recipient of grants from the Arts Council of Ireland (2007, 2008 and 2009) and Music Network (2009 and 2010), and of the Ahmanson Foundation Scholarship (1999) and the CalArts Scholarship (1999 and 1999–2000).

[Han-earl Park’s biography (16–472 words) plus press quotes…]

I’ve also taken the opportunity to create a new video playlist of selected performances. With 52 videos, and clocking in at around 13 hours, my previous playlist of ‘recent’ performances was no longer able to be an effective portfolio reel. Thanks as always to the videographers (Don Mount, Kevin Reilly and Scott Friedlander), and to all the performers.

online: Paul Dunmall and Han-earl Park, ‘Boolean Transforms’

The entire catalog of Paul Dunmall’s record label, DUNS Limited Edition, is now online:

Duns Limited Edition has ceased production, but during its lifetime it was pretty prolific. Having founded the label himself, Paul relished in the freedom to record and release on cdr a multitude of projects, playing with like-minded, creative musicians at his invitation. All the music is totally freely improvised. [Read the rest…]

[DUNS on YouTube…] [Facebook…]

And, as part of that catalog, you’ll find Boolean Transforms (DLE-067) by Paul Dunmall and Han-earl Park recorded way back in November 2009. Physical copies of this and some other DUNS albums are still available from Downtown Music Gallery and from Mind Your Own Music, and you can view some video footage from this concert.

Also by Paul Dunmall and Han-earl Park

Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders: Dunmall-Park-Sanders (Birmingham, 02-15-11)

Dunmall-Park-Sanders (Birmingham, 02-15-11) [details…]

Performers: Paul Dunmall (saxophones and bagpipes), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Mark Sanders (drums).

(cc) 2013 Paul Dunmall/Han-earl Park/Mark Sanders.

Han-earl Park, Paul Dunmall, Mark Sanders and Jamie Smith: Live at the Glucksman gallery, Cork (owlcd002) CD cover (copyright 2012, Owlhouse Recordings)

Live at the Glucksman gallery, Cork (owlcd002) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Paul Dunmall (saxophone), Mark Sanders (drums) and Jamie Smith (guitar).

© 2009 by Owlhouse Recordings.
℗ 2009 Han-earl Park/Paul Dunmall/Mark Sanders/Jamie Smith.

site update: scrapbook redux reboot

web audio player widget
Another summary of the updates to my scrapbook since the last review. A few newer clips from Brooklyn and New York which include some of the best music I’ve been involved in (the duo with Gerald Cleaver, in particular, has, for me, some of my best playing), plus a blast from the past: Mathilde 253 in Cork. With the latest updates, I’ve also taken the opportunity to split the scrapbook across two pages (with so much embedded media, it was getting near impossible for those with slower computers and/or connections to load the page).

Please note that all music and audio recordings © + ℗ their respective owners (i.e. these are not covered by a Creative Commons License).

Han-earl Park (guitar), Catherine Sikora (saxophones) and Mike Pride (drums).

Music by Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora and Mike Pride.
Recorded live, April 2, 2014 at Spectrum, New York.
Recorded by Don Mount.

Evan Parker (saxophone) and Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Peter Evans (trumpet) and Okkyung Lee (’cello).

Music by Evan Parker and Han-earl Park, plus Peter Evans and Okkyung Lee.
Recorded live, September 19, 2013 at The Stone, New York.
Recorded by Don Mount.

Gerald Cleaver (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar).

Music by Gerald Cleaver and Han-earl Park
Recorded live, August 13, 2013 at Douglass Street Music Collective, Brooklyn.
Recorded by Don Mount.

Mathilde 253 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Charles Hayward: drums; and Ian Smith: trumpet).

Music by Mathilde 253.
Recorded live, March 30, 2011 at Half Moon Theatre, Cork.
Presented with funding from the Music Network Performance and Touring Award, and support from the UCC School of Music and the Cork Opera House.
Recorded by John Hough. Live sound by Alex Fiennes.

[About this project…]

thanks: Park-Pride-Sikora (Spectrum, NYC) and Velez-Wright-Drury-Park-Tabuenca (Soup and Sound, Brooklyn)

Thanks to all involved in the April 2 and April 3 performances. Thanks to the hosts at Spectrum (Glenn Cornett and the multi-talented Lester St. Louis), and at Soup and Sound (I thank the Cosmos for people like Andrew Drury and Alissa Schwartz who open their homes, and welcome the arts and artists). Thanks to the efforts of the multiple documentarists at the events: Kevin Reilly, Don Mount, Michael Lytle, Adrian Knight and Lawrence de Martin (who provided the experimental speaker cabinet for the Spectrum performance).

I take my hat off to all the musicians who shared the stage: Javier Areal Velez, Jack Wright, Luis Tabuenca and Andrew Drury, and a big, big thanks to Mike Pride and Catherine Sikora for their awesome musicianship and peerless inventiveness. Finally, thanks to all who came to listen!

Next up: performance in Cork, May 3 as part of Sonic Vigil 8. See the performance diary for up-to-date info.

video: Gowanus Company at Douglass Street Music Collective, Brooklyn

Scott Friedlander has uploaded video recordings of Gowanus Company (November 26, 2013). As I wrote previously:

Big, heart-felt thanks to Kyoko and Josh for organizing the event. I’m touched, and could not have asked for a better send-off. Thanks to everyone who made music, and for creating that welcoming, friendly vibe. (And a particular pleasure to finally perform with Kyoko, Ken and Fay!) And thanks again to Scott Friedlander for the documentation.

From that vocal/guitar chorus (Kyoko, Viv, Fay, Nick and I) to the jazz racket of Ken and I joined by Tom and Ingrid… my spirits have been lifted!

Gowanus Company was curated by Kyoko Kitamura, Josh Sinton and Han-earl Park. Performers were Dan Blake (saxophones), Olie Brice (double bass), Viv Corringham (voice), Nick Didkovsky (guitar), Michael Evans (drums), Ken Filiano (double bass), Christopher Hoffman (’cello), Jason Kao Hwang (violin), Kyoko Kitamura (voice), Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone), Jeremiah Lockwood (voice and guitar), Russ Lossing (piano), Han-earl Park (guitar), Tom Rainey (drums), Josh Sinton (saxophone) and Fay Victor (voice). [Details…]

farewell, Brooklyn, it’s been a blast

Let’s start with a kind of personal Top Ten. In no particular order: Han-earl Park with Ingrid Laubrock; with Tim Perkis and Harris Eisenstadt; as part of Eris 136199 with Nick Didkovsky and Catherine Sikora; with Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen and Michael Evans; Gerald Cleaver; Tom Blancarte; Dominic Lash; Catherine Sikora and Josh Sinton; and with Evan Parker, Brooklyn and New York, 2012–2013. Videos by Scott Friedlander, Don Mount and Kevin Reilly.

I moved to Brooklyn back in December 2011, and I’m grateful and privileged to have been part of, even briefly, such a gracious, vibrant, creative, fun and welcoming community.

I’m particularly indebted to Andrew, Jesse, Michael, Adam, Anna and Andrea for introducing me to the (cultural) geography/neighborhood(s); to Bruce, Wadada and Ras who gave me my first few gigs; and to Tim and Evan for offering me sideman gigs. And a very big thanks to Josh, Catherine and Nick for much of the above, and for collaborating on some long-term projects. To everyone, I hope to repay the your generosity (and hope to catch up when I’m back in Brooklyn/NYC).

Now back in Cork, and, for what feel like the first time in a long time, I’m arriving without a gig in town (and, to my surprise, I’m not too unhappy about that). Some plans ahead (solo performance at SARC for starters), fingers crossed, something will work out.

Anyway, as posted earlier, I’m seeking performances for Numbers (Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park), Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora) and Mathilde 253 (Charles Hayward, Han-earl Park and Ian Smith). Interested promoters, venues, festivals and sponsors, please get in touch! [Details…]