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.
I’m honored to have been part of a fantastic iteration of Gowanus Company (November 26), and feel enormously blessed to have been welcomed into such an incredible community. 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!
This Tuesday (November 26, 2013), at 7:00pm: My last gig in Brooklyn before the Big Move!
In the spirit of Derek Bailey’s Company week, the evening will feature a series of never-before-seen and never-to-be-seen-again groups. [Read the rest…]
weirderation wir-də-ˈrā-shən noun. process that results in something just that little bit weirder with each iteration. [compare examples A and B]
I am greatly indebted to Catherine Sikora and Josh Sinton for doing the heavy lifting, and turning my barebone sketches and speculations into music; for engageing intelligently, adventurously and imaginatively with the context at hand. These past months have been a learning experience for me as tactician, and I couldn’t have asked for better teachers.
Thanks to Bruce and Manny at the World’s Best Record Store for hosting us, and for their unshakable advocacy of new music. Thanks to Carol Parkinson, Hans Tammen, Kevin Ramsay, Emilio Vavarella and everyone at Harvestworks for hosting our performance, their enthusiasm, and for their support. Thanks again to Kevin Reilly for his video documentation of the DMG performance [watch/listen…], and, as always, thanks to all who came to listen and witness the musicking—real-time and interactive.
Performance by Anna Webber (saxophone) and Han-earl Park (guitar). Also performing: Joe Moffett (trumpet), Carlo Costa (drums) and Dan Peck (tuba). $10 suggested donation.
[Details…]
Free play meets social engineering? ‘Glorious noise’? Anti-structures? Willful complexity? An orchestrated, real-time, interactive collision between the cyborgism of guitarist Han-earl Park, and the incomparably original melodic and timbral sensibilities of saxophonist Catherine Sikora and saxophonist-clarinetist Josh Sinton. The trio will render into music, Metis 9, a collection of improvisative tactics, and higher-level interactive macros for group improvisation.
An orchestrated, real-time, interactive collision between the cyborgism of guitarist Han-earl Park, and the incomparably original melodic and timbral sensibilities of saxophonist Catherine Sikora and saxophonist-clarinetist Josh Sinton. The trio will render into music, Metis 9, a collection of improvisative tactics, and higher-level interactive macros for ensemble performance designed, designated and specified by Han-earl Park.
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 auxiliary 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.
Three gigs; and I couldn’t ask for a more varied and musically valuable seven days.
I learned a heck of a lot (about my capabilities as an improviser, and about the social dynamics of interactive play) performing with Evan Parker. Still reeling from the experience, I’m grateful for the opportunity to play with Mr Parker again, and to have sat in with the Bleeding Edge Trio.
The performance with Catherine Sikora and Josh Sinton was the most craftily accomplished. We’ve been engineering, navigating and negotiating these improvisative, tactical considerations since February, and it’s been a pleasure and a privilege to be working with two imaginative and gutsy performers. I expect our performance at Harvestworks in October will be something else. (Plus thanks to Josh for the post-gig reflections.)
If I had to choose just one of these gigs as a stand-out though, it might have to be the duo with the stupendously creative Andrea Parkins. Insanely fun! Despite (or perhaps becuase of) severe technical limitations, I found myself in some very odd places. (Andrea was one of the first NYC people I contacted before moving here, so this performance was looong overdue.) Let’s play again. I had a blast.
