site update: farewell music.calarts.edu/~hpark

The original home of buster & friends’ d’da, music.calarts.edu/~hpark (originally shoko.calarts.edu/~hpark, latterly adagio.calarts.edu/~hpark) has shut down. That shouldn’t affect the majority of visitors to this site, but some of the older media files stored on adagio (mostly linked via the scrapbook, guitar-guitarist duet pages, and the archived io 0.0.1 beta site) have now been migrated to busterandfriends.com.

That, I think, clears out the final relics of the pre-September 2007 buster & friends’ d’da. Thanks to Clay Chaplin and Tom Erbe for keeping the server(s)/service going all these years.

Revue & Corrigée: Numbers: Richard Barrett + Han-earl Park

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

Sporty and dynamic! The September 2012 issue of Revue & Corrigée prints a review of Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park’s ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd):

Je connais de nombreuses pièces de Richard Barrett enregistrées, écrites ou improvisées. C’est une figure importante de la musique contemporaine, malheureusement sous-estimée en France. Je vous invite vivement à écouter ce répertoire et vous plonger dans cette solide radicalité: l’écoute de la pièce symphonique Vanity (1996) devrait remettre de nombreuses pendules à l’heure. Lorsqu’il improvise (compose en temps réel), m’avec un dispositif électronique lui autorisant avec souplesse les parcours les plus inattendus.

Nous connaissons déjà plusieurs disques avec Furt, où il intervient avec Paul Obermayer, se jouant lui aussi d’un système électronique.

Je découvre ici sa collaboration avec le guitariste Han-Earl Pak [sic] (un autre créateur plutôt discret sur les scènes hexagonales), qui s’inscrit dans la tradition “post Derek Bailey” avec une saine volonté d’en découdre (cet artiste est aussi concepteur de systèmes interactifi originaux).

Sportif et dynamique.

Thanks to Lê Quan Ninh for helping source the text of the review.

‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) is available from Creative Sources Recordings. [More info…] [All reviews…] [Get the CD…]

video recordings: YouTube playlist updates

As part of the general house keeping duties, I’ve updated the playlists at my YouTube channel. The ‘Han-earl Park’ playlist, at this time, features performances with Sean Ali, Chris Chafe, Chris Corrigan, Nick Didkovsky, Andrew Drury, Paul Dunmall, Michael Evans, Jonathan Goldberger, Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, Will McEvoy, Manuela Meier, Jonathan Moritz, Pauline Oliveros, Gascia Ouzounian, Pedro Rebelo, Bradford Reed, Mark Sanders, Franziska Schroeder, Catherine Sikora, Jamie Smith, Doug Van Nort, Ben Wright, Jack Wright and Justin Yang, and videography by Don Mount, Kevin Reilly and John Hough.

And Eris 136199 now has its own playlist.

io 0.0.1 beta: In Conversation with an Automaton

Leonardo Electronic Almanac Archives (Copyright 2012 Leonardo Electronic Almanac)
Image © 2012 Leonardo Electronic Almanac

Originally posted at www.io001b.com:

The Leonardo Electronic Almanac’s archives, a project to reissue articles that document over fifteen years of techno-cultural activity, has caught up with ‘My Favorite Things: The Joy of the Gizmo’ (Volume 15, No. 11-12, November–December 2007). That issue of the LEA, a companion to Leonardo Music Journal, Volume 17, featured my article, ‘In Conversation with an Automaton: Identities and Agency in a Heterogeneous Social and Musical Network’…. [Read the rest…]

[‘In Conversation with an Automaton’…]

available 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).

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

in preparation: Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08–2011)

artwork for Murray Campbell, Randy McKean with Han-earl Park, plus Gino Robair and Scott R. Looney: Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08-2011)
Next download release will be of Gargantius Effect (Murray Campbell: violins, oboe and cor anglais; and Randy McKean: saxophones, clarinets and flutes) with Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Gino Robair (energized surfaces, voltage made audible) and Scott R. Looney (hyperpiano). Recorded during a tour of Northern California, August 2011, the album features tracks recorded at The Tin House (Grass Valley) on August 25th, at Studio 1510 (Oakland) on August 30th. The recording will be available in a variety of formats (including lossless), and as a ‘name your price’ album.

Super excited about this one. It has documents a fun tour, and features outstanding playing from some very, very fine musicians. More info to follow…

Also available for download…

Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray (Cork, 07–29–10)
Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11)
Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder (Cork, 03–26–09)
Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park (Cork, 04–04–11)
Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders (Birmingham, 02–15–11)
Han-earl Park and Richard Scott (Berlin, 10–23–10)

thanks: Perkis-Park-Eisenstadt (The Stone, NYC) and Evans-Jensen-Park (DSMC, Brooklyn)

Tim Perkis, Han-earl Park and Harris Eisenstadt (The Stone, NYC, September 7, 2012). Photo copyright 2012 Tom Djll.
Harris Eisenstadt, Han-earl Park and Tim Perkis (The Stone, NYC, September 7, 2012). Photo © 2012 Tom Djll.

Big thanks to all the performers over the weekend: Harris Eisenstadt, Michael Evans (drums), Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, and, especially for the initial invite to perform at The Stone, to Tim Perkis, one of the very finest computer performers, and one of the few who understands the nuts’n’bolts of musicianship and performance.

Thanks also to Miguel Frasconi for curating the series at The Stone, and to Josh Sinton and Prom Night Records for putting together Save The Date #8 at the Douglass Street Music Collective; and to Kevin Reilly and Don Mount for the documentation. And, nothing to do with my own performances, but I want to mention Tom Djll who, with Andrew Drury (thanks for the transport back home, Andrew!) and Tim, presented borderline genius deconstructions—diabolical combinations of intelligent critique and humorous pastiche—that followed our set at The Stone.

And, as always, thanks to everyone who came to listen and witness real-time music in motion… including the one person in the audience who really did not dig what I was doing… at all %^}

audio recordings: downloads and recommendations

download album artwork: Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray (Cork, 07-29-10); Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11); Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09); and Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park (Cork, 04-04-11)
A couple of more download releases in the pipeline after which I’m planning to take a short break. The releases so far—all Creative Commons licensed, and free or ‘name your price’—are collated here.

I’ve also listed my recommended Bandcamp albums that have accompanied the releases. There are some very fine, inspiring creative, improvised, experimental music on Bandcamp, but it isn’t always easy to find the recordings. Here’s my small contribution to help people get started. Enjoy, download, share—support creative musicians!

Keywords: improvised music, creative music, jazz, free jazz, free improvisation, experimental music, electronic music, electroacoustic.

Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray

A solo performance by guitarist-constructor Han-earl Park exploring, with feedback and resonant buzzes, the complex, cavernous acoustics of the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, and the interactions between artifact (guitar) and the body (guitarist). For ‘Strokes and Screwballs,’ Park is joined by violinist-improviser Marian Murray for a conversational improvisation. [More info…]

Accompanying Recommended Albums

Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter

A stark, real-time evolution of on-stage relations. The performance took place during Seoul-based experimental electronic musician Jin Sangtae’s European tour. Featuring clanking hard drives, buzzing electronics, noisy guitars and machine gun percussion, this recording captures Jin’s meeting with guitarist-improviser Han-earl Park, and composer, drummer and intermedia artist Jeffrey Weeter. [More info plus the 24-bit edition…]

Recommended Albums

Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder

Áine Sheil (from the liner notes): “The Glucksman Gallery is one of the finest buildings to have been built in Ireland in recent times, but it is a tricky space for any musician to negotiate. Sounds reverberate and carry in unexpected ways, and music improvised here runs the risk of losing all definition. That [Han-earl] Park and his co-improviser Franziska Schroeder gracefully avoided this testifies to their alertness, sensitivity and experience working together in other spaces…. Indeed the evening had the feeling of conversation, with the instrumentalists demonstrating the improvisatory give-and-take of a convivial exchange of ideas.” [More info…]

Recommended Albums

Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park

This was a rare performance in Ireland by Catherine Sikora (New York-based, originally from West Cork), a saxophonist with a striking, compelling sound. She has been described as “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). Sikora was joined by cofounder of the London Improvisers’ Orchestra, trumpeter Ian Smith (London-based, from Dublin), and guitarist Han-earl Park (then Cork-based, currently Brooklyn-based, from California). Smith and Park had just come off the tour as part of the power-trio Mathilde 253 (with Charles Hayward) with the legendary composer-improviser Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith. [More info…]

Recommended Albums

also available by Han-earl Park

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).

© + ℗ 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).

© 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).

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

rerelease: Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray (Cork, 07–29–10)

artwork for Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray: Park+Murray (Cork, 07-29-10)
The complete recording of the July 29, 2010 performance by guitarist, improviser and constructor Han-earl Park plus violinist and improviser Marian Murray, is now available for download via Bandcamp. [Bandcamp page…] [Download now…]

Originally released in December 2010, it was the second of a series of download releases hosted at busterandfriends.com. This bandcamp-hosted edition offers the option to download the recording in multiple formats including lossless.

Recommended price: €5+

Unlike some of the past download releases from busterandfriends.com, this one, like the newer series of downloads (Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01-24-11), Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09) and Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04–04–11)), is hosted at Bandcamp, and available as a ‘name your price’ album. Although you can download the recording for free (name €0 as your price) with certain restrictions, please consider paying at least the recommended price. Your generosity will help support the performers and their work.

description

Cork 7-29-10, much of it solo, might be the best way into Park’s protean guitar syntax. The space is huge, which allows for exploration of resonance, but the recording is also fairly close, facilitating clarity of detail. The latter proves especially important as Park slams through blocks of sound and these deteriorate into shreds and scraps, punctuated with what can only be described as ululations, which become more prominent as things proceed. Park’s often-distorted fingerwork, much of it conjuring shades of the human voice, also references Derek Bailey’s rapid-fire volume shifts and Joe Morris’ fleet runs while sounding like neither. While violinist Marian Murray does not exactly speak Park’s language, there is certainly a shared interest in brief but pithy phrases and space that keeps communication at a high level.

— Marc Medwin (The New York City Jazz Record)

A solo performance by guitarist-constructor Han-earl Park exploring, with feedback and resonant buzzes, the complex, cavernous acoustics of the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, and the interactions between artifact (guitar) and the body (guitarist). For ‘Strokes and Screwballs,’ Park is joined by violinist-improviser Marian Murray for a conversational improvisation.

personnel

Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Marian Murray (violin).

track listing

Snares, Sympathetic (19:34); Strokes and Screwballs (5:29); Recursion, Closure (10:41). Total duration: 35:45.

recording details

All music by Han-earl Park, except ‘Strokes and Screwballs’ by Marian Murray and Han-earl Park.

Recorded live July 29, 2010 at the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork.
Performance presented by the Lewis Glucksman Gallery.
Recorded and mixed by Han-earl Park.
Artwork by Han-earl Park.

The recordings (Snares, Sympathetic; Strokes and Screwballs; and Recursion, Closure) and artwork released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. Please attribute the album to Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray, ‘Strokes and Screwballs’ to Marian Murray and Han-earl Park, ‘Snares, Sympathetic’ and ‘Recursion, Closure’ to Han-earl Park, and the artwork to Han-earl Park.

about the performers

Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park has been working within/from/around traditions of fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, mostly open improvised musics for over fifteen years, sometimes engineering theater, sometimes inventing ritual. He feels the gravitational pull of collaborative, multi-authored contexts, and 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.

He is part of Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, and is involved in collaborations with Bruce Coates, Franziska Schroeder, Alex Fiennes and Murray Campbell. He has recently performed with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Lol Coxhill, Pat Thomas, Paul Dunmall, Mark Sanders, Matana Roberts, Richard Barrett, Pauline Oliveros, Thomas Buckner and Kato Hideki. Festival appearances include Sonorities (Belfast), Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), VAIN Live Art (Oxford), and the Center for Experiments in Art, Information and Technology Festival (California). His recordings have been released by labels including Slam Productions and DUNS Limited Edition.

Park founded Stet Lab, a monthly improvised music space in Cork, Ireland, and taught improvisation at the UCC Department of Music.

“Guitarist Han-earl Park is a musical philosopher…. Expect unexpected things from Park, who is a delightful shape-shifter….”

Brian Morton (Point of Departure)

Marian Murray completed a degree in music at University College Cork. While there she became heavily involved in improvised music within the college and without. Mainly focusing on small group improvisations she has also collaborated with contemporary composers and multimedia artists. She has performed in a variety of settings from the Irish National Concert Hall, to the Cork Opera House, to art galleries, and with musicians such as Han-earl Park, Alexander Hawkins, Bruce Coates, Ian Smith, Murray Campbell and Charles Hayward.

Also available for download [more…]

‘A Little Brittle Music’ with Han-earl Park, Dominc Lash and Corey Mwamba (artwork copyright 2015, Han-earl Park)

A Little Brittle Music [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass) and Corey Mwamba (vibraphone and flute).

© 2015 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2015 Park/Lash/Mwamba.

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.

Murray Campbell, Randy McKean with Han-earl Park, plus Gino Robair and Scott R. Looney: Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08-2011)

Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08-2011) [details…]

Performers: Murray Campbell (violins, oboe and cor anglais), Randy McKean (saxophone, clarinets and flutes) with Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Gino Robair (energized surfaces, voltage made audible) and Scott R. Looney (hyperpiano).

(cc) 2012 Murray Campbell/Randy McKean/Han-earl Park/Gino Robair/Scott R. Looney.

Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter: Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11)

Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01-24-11) [details…]

Performers: Jin Sangtae (electronics), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Jeffrey Weeter (drums and electronics).

(cc) 2012 Jin Sangtae/Han-earl Park/Jeffrey Weeter.

Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder: Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09)

Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophone).

(cc) 2012 Han-earl Park/Franziska Schroeder.

Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park: Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11)

Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11) [details…]

Performers: Catherine Sikora (saxophone), Ian Smith (trumpet) and Han-earl Park (guitar).

(cc) 2012 Catherine Sikora/Ian Smith/Han-earl Park.

updates

10–24–12: add recommended price.
05–20–13: updated the ‘also available for download’ list, and updated reviews.
11–01–15: add A Little Brittle Music to downloads list, and change currency from USD to EUR.

Download of the Day at All About Jazz: Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park (Cork, 04–04–11)

artwork for Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park: Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11)

A live recording from ‘Saturday The Fringes’ mainstay Han-earl Park. This is quality improv jazz, the kind I often feature on ‘Saturday The Fringes,’ but something about this album, I dunno, just seemed to have crossover appeal. Plus, I’m addicted to the album. So, we’re giving it a weekday slot on the download schedule. The kind of album filled with tunes that reward patience and open-mindedness.

All About Jazz

‘바르트’ by Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park is today’s featured download at All About Jazz! Thanks to AAJ downloads editor Dave Sumner for selecting the recording.

[Track at AAJ…] [Download full performance and album info…]

Previous All About Jazz featured downloads

Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders: ‘shoapnxoe gutair dmurs a.ii’
Han-earl Park and Richard Scott: ‘Carrier’
Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder: ‘Chorale’

Also available for download…

Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11)
Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder (Cork, 03–26–09)
Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders (Birmingham, 02–15–11)
Han-earl Park and Richard Scott (Berlin, 10–23–10)
Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray (Cork, 07–29–10)

Video of the Day at All About Jazz: Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora)

The video of Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky: guitar; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Catherine Sikora: saxophones) is Video of the Day at All About Jazz. The video was captured at the May 27, 2012 performance presented by COMA: Citizens Ontological Music Agenda at ABC No Rio, NYC.

[AAJ page…] [YouTube…]
[About Eris 136199] [Performance diary entry…] [About this performance…]

SLAM Productions featured in The New York City Jazz Record

SLAM Productions featured in The New York City Jazz Record, 08-2012. Copyright 2012 The New York City Jazz Record.
© 2012 The New York City Jazz Record (click to view PDF…)

This month, The New York City Jazz Record puts a spotlight on the record label SLAM Productions. In the article, Ken Waxman quotes label owner and curator George Haslam as saying:

When a recording is offered to me, I listen to it and consider, is SLAM the right place for it? I don’t have a style template to which the music must fit. The SLAM slogan has always been ‘Freedom of Music’. I remember years ago playing a concert with Lol [Coxhill]. He was asked to play a solo piece and was going to play ‘Autumn Leaves”. “But this is a free gig, Lol” someone said. “So,” said Lol “Am I free to play what I want?” What ties the SLAM catalogue together is the objective of preserving music that may otherwise be lost and making this music available to a listening public. To try to ‘educate’ or lead a public would be counterproductive but the music is there to be discovered. [Read the rest…]

It’s really great to see George Haslam and his label get some well deserved recognition, and I am honored that a couple of my recordings are available on SLAM. Thanks, George, for your support over the years, and especially for taking a gamble with a recording of a machine improviser! (And, incidentally, Paul Dunmall, who initially recommended SLAM to me, and the late Lol Coxhill, who guested on my first recording on SLAM, also make appearances in the article.)

Available 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).

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

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

Mathilde 253 (SLAMCD 528) is available from SLAM Productions [details…]

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

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

audio clip: Mark Hanslip, Dominic Lash, Phillip Marks and Han-earl Park at The Oxford, London

The Oxford (London) 05-07-12: “LIVE JAZZ This Way”
Mark Hanslip has posted up an audio excerpt from the May 7, 2012 performance by Mark Hanslip (saxophone), Dominic Lash (double bass), Phillip Marks (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar) which took place at The Oxford, London, presented by Jazz @ The Oxford.

[SoundCloud page…]
[Performance diary entry…] [About this performance…] [Jazz @ Oxford page…]