thanks: McMullen-Park (DMG) and Park-Sikora (Brecht Forum), New York

Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora (Brecht Forum, NYC, 01-08-12) photo copyright 2012 Melanie L. Marshall
Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora (Brecht Forum, NYC, 01-08-12) photo © 2012 Melanie L. Marshall

A quick note of thanks to all involved in the first two performances of 2012. Thanks to Bruce Lee Gallanter and Manny ‘Lunch’ Maris at the Downtown Music Gallery for the open invite, for hosting the performance, and for their support over the years. Seriously, go to the DMG and get yourself a record (maybe one of mine 😉 Thanks to Ras Moshe for organizing the performance at The Brecht Forum and for welcoming this newcomer to NYC. Thanks also to the other performers of the evening including G. L. Diana and Kyoko Kitamura [Kyoko’s take on the gig…] who brought Cardew to life in a way different from all the Cardews I’ve heard in the past—I’m very interested to hear how this project might continue to evolve—and Ras’ powerful and playful quartet (sorry, don’t have the full lineup details of the quartet—contact me, and I will update).

A big, big, big thanks to the two saxophonists who generously shared the stage with me: Tracy McMullen for her wit and imagination, pushing the music to unexpected places, and to Catherine Sikora for her big, beautiful sound and sense of space and drama.

And, as always, thanks to all who came to listen and watch.

tonight: McMullen-Park (DMG) and Park-Sikora (Brecht Forum), New York

Tracy McMullen, Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora

Tonight (January 8, 2012) in New York City, performances with Tracy McMullen and with Catherine Sikora:

See the performance diary for up-to-date info.

performance diary 01-04-12 (New York)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
January 8, 2012 Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street
New York, NY 10002-7351
6:00pm First of two guitar-saxophone duets of the evening.
6:00pm: G. L. Diana (electronics) and Kyoko Kitamura (voice).
7:00pm: Tracy McMullen (saxophone) and Han-earl Park (guitar).
Free admission.
[Details…]
[DMG page…]
January 8, 2012 The Brecht Forum
451 West Street
New York, NY 10014
9:00pm Second guitar-saxophone duet of the evening.
Han-earl Park (guitar) and Catherine Sikora (saxophones), plus others.
Admission: $10.
[Details…]
December 2011 New York As of December 2011, Han-earl Park is based in New York, and is seeking formal or ad-hoc playing opportunities. Interested musicians, promoters, venues, please get in touch!
April–May 2012 Europe Mathilde 253 (Charles Hayward: drums, percussion and melodica; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Ian Smith: trumpet and flugelhorn), plus Numbers (Richard Barrett: electronics; and Han-earl Park: guitar) are seeking performance opportunities in Europe, April to May 2012.
In addition, Han-earl Park (guitar) is available for formal or ad-hoc performances.
Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch!

Continue reading “performance diary 01-04-12 (New York)”

performance: Tracy McMullen and Han-earl Park at the Downtown Music Gallery, New York

Tracy McMullen and Han-earl Park

Sunday, January 8, 2012, at 6:00pm: performances by, starting at 7:00pm, Tracy McMullen (saxophone) and Han-earl Park (guitar), plus, at 6:00pm, G. L. Diana (electronics) and Kyoko Kitamura (voice) takes place at the Downtown Music Gallery (13 Monroe Street, New York, NY 10002-7351) [map…]. Free admission.

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [DMG page…]

about the performers

Beginning in Fall 2011, Tracy McMullen has been a Provost’s Postdoctoral Scholar in the Humanities at the University of Southern California. In 2007–2008 she was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the seven-year “Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice” (ICASP) research initiative at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. She received her Ph.D. in Music from UC San Diego in 2007 and was a faculty member in the Music and the Gender & Women’s Studies departments at UC Berkeley from 2009 to 2011. Her articles have appeared or are forthcoming in Current Musicology; Critical Studies in Improvisation; Big Ears: Listening for Gender in Jazz Studies; People Get Ready: The Future of Jazz is Now; Sounding the Body: Improvisation, Representation and Subjectivity; The Oxford Handbook of Critical Improvisation Studies; The Dictionary of African American Music; and The Grove Dictionary of American Music. As a saxophonist in the jazz and improvised music traditions she has recorded on Cadence Jazz and numerous other independent labels and maintains an active performance schedule.

McMullen received an M.A. in Music Composition and an M.M. in Jazz Studies (with an emphasis on saxophone performance) from the University of North Texas. As a jazz/experimentalist saxophonist, she has performed or recorded with George Lewis, Anthony Davis, Dana Reason, Mark Dresser, Pauline Oliveros, and many others.

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, is involved in collaborations with Bruce Coates, Franziska Schroeder, Alex Fiennes and Murray Campbell. Recent performances include Mathilde 253 with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith; duo concerts with Paul Dunmall, and with Richard Barrett; trios with Matana Roberts and Mark Sanders, with Catherine Sikora and Ian Smith, and with Jin Sangtae and Jeffrey Weeter; as part of the Evan Parker-led 20-piece improvising ensemble; and the performance of Pauline Oliveros’ ‘Droniphonia’ alongside the composer. Park has also recently performed with Lol Coxhill, Pat Thomas, Corey Mwamba, Mark Trayle, Pedro Rebelo, Alexander Hawkins, Mike Hurley, Chick Lyall, 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.

performance diary 12-06-11 (Brooklyn, New York)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
December 16, 2011 Roulette
509 Atlantic Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11217
8:00pm Performance as part of Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith’s Silver Orchestra.
Tickets: $15 ($10).
[Details…]
[Roulette page…]
January 8, 2012 Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe Street
New York, NY 10002-7351
6:00pm 6:00pm: G. L. Diana (electronics) and Kyoko Kitamura (voice).
7:00pm: Tracy McMullen (saxophone) and Han-earl Park (guitar).
Free admission.
[DMG page…]
December 2011 New York As of December 2011, Han-earl Park is based in New York, and is seeking formal or ad-hoc playing opportunities. Interested musicians, promoters, venues, please get in touch!
April–May 2012 Europe Mathilde 253 (Charles Hayward: drums, percussion and melodica; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Ian Smith: trumpet and flugelhorn), plus Numbers (Richard Barrett: electronics; and Han-earl Park: guitar) are seeking performance opportunities in Europe, April to May 2012.
In addition, Han-earl Park (guitar) is available for formal or ad-hoc performances.
Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch!

Continue reading “performance diary 12-06-11 (Brooklyn, New York)”