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

artwork for Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter: Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11)
Next download release will be the recording of the January 24, 2011 performance by Jin Sangtae (electronics), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Jeffrey Weeter (drums and electronics). In addition to being available in a variety of formats (including lossless), this recording will also be available in a 24-bit edition that preserves the wide dynamic range of the original performance.

More info to follow…

Also available for download…

rerelease: Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder (Cork, 03–26–09)
audio recordings: Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park (Cork, 04–04–11)
audio recordings: Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders (Birmingham, 02–15–11)
audio recordings: Han-earl Park and Richard Scott (Berlin, 10–23–10)
audio recordings: Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray (Cork, 07–29–10)

performance diary 07-01-12 (Brooklyn, New York)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
July 24, 2012 The Backroom @ Freddy’s Bar
627 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
8:30pm Performance by Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky: guitar; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Catherine Sikora: saxophones), plus Christine Bard (drums, percussion and electronics), Bill McCrossen (bass) and Mercedes Figueras (saxophones), presented by On The Way Out.
Recommended donation: $10.
[Details…]
[Freddy’s page…]
[facebook event…]
September 7, 2012 The Stone
16 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009
8:00pm Performance by Tim Perkis (electronics), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Harris Eisenstadt (percussion).
Admission: $10 (students 13–19: $5; children <12: free).
[Details…]
[The Stone calendar…]
[facebook event…]
September 8, 2012 Douglass Street Music Collective
295 Douglass Street
Gowanus
Brooklyn, NY 11217
8:00pm Performance by Michael Evans (drums), Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen (saxophone) and Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Brad Henkel (trumpet), and Angelika Niescer Quartet (Angelika Niescer: alto sax; Florian Weber: piano; Chris Tordini: bass; and Tommy Crane: drums) presented as part of Save The Date #8.
Recommended donation: $10.
[Details…]
[DSMC page…]
late 2012 North America Numbers (Richard Barrett: electronics; and Han-earl Park: guitar) is seeking performance opportunities in North America, late 2012.
Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch!
2013 Europe Seeking performances in Europe, 2013 for the cyborg ensemble of interactive, semi-autonomous, technological artifact and machine musician io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself) with human musicians Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophones). Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch! [Detailed proposal…]

Continue reading “performance diary 07-01-12 (Brooklyn, New York)”

Free 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)
Free Jazz Blog publishes a rare double review of the download release by Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park. In one review, Philip Coombs describes a “wonderful gem of a recording,” focussing, in particular, on Catherine Sikora’s sound:

These rare folk have the ability to spin a tale you have possibly heard before but can retell it with such clarity that you are captivated or better yet hypnotized. They can give you a new understanding of something you thought you already knew. This is a beautiful power and an ability that is rare to possess.

Catherine Sikora is such a person/player. She has a clean and colorful voice that could read me my autobiography and still have me in suspense….

The main story on the recording is track three. Clocking in at almost 25 minutes, Red Line Speed, is, to continue a theme here, the Shakespearian tragedy of the album. It starts with the chatter of a couple sitting at a table close to one of the microphones. The guitar comes in but the conversation continues in the background. Park changes up his percussive touch and somehow gets his guitar to sound like a tuba of sorts. The trumpet is next, adding to the subplot. By the time Sikora joins in, the stage has been set for quite the journey….

A wonderful gem of a recording. [Read the rest…]

Philip Coombs

Tom Burrisreview also puts the spotlight on ‘Red Line Speed’ while imaging hearing a lost “Sonny Rollins and Derek Bailey duet”:

…‘Red Line Speed,’ best represents the trio’s interplay and dynamics. There is a moment where you’d swear you were listening to a Sonny Rollins and Derek Bailey duet. Smith plays spastic trumpet figures with a mute, while Sikora plays fluid lines and Park darts in between them. Smith plays a short solo of hissing sounds. My favorite moment occurs when Smith sounds like a drunken bumblebee & Sikora plays spiral figures as if she’s waving her arms, shooing him away. Then Park appears with sonic smacks, clumsily chasing the bee with an oar. When the piece comes to an abrupt end, amid trilling saxophone, muted trumped, and guitar smears, it sounds like they ripped a peanut butter sandwich apart and smashed it back together with the captured bee inside.

Park is especially adept at steering the group down side streets they might have otherwise ignored and utilizes simple techniques to arrive at unique sounds, such as sticking a piece of metal between the guitar strings & then finger-picking to approximate an alien banjo. Sikora is often the anchor of the trio, grounding them in traditional sonic terrain while playing every bit as imaginatively as the more unconventional Smith and Park. Smith frequently surprises with blurts and burps in one second, and full open tones in the next. [Read the rest…]

Tom Burris

[More about this recording…] [All reviews…]

Also available for download…

rerelease: Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder (Cork, 03–26–09)
audio recordings: Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders (Birmingham, 02–15–11)
audio recordings: Han-earl Park and Richard Scott (Berlin, 10–23–10)
audio recordings: Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray (Cork, 07–29–10)

reminder: Jack Wright, Ben Wright, Andrew Drury and Han-earl Park, Brooklyn

Jack Wright, Ben Wright, Andrew Drury and Han-earl Park
Tomorrow (Sunday, June 24, 2012), at 7:00pm: a performance by Jack Wright (saxophones), Ben Wright (bass), Andrew Drury (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar) as part of Soup and Sound House Concert #12. Event takes place at Andrew Drury’s home in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, New York (contact him for the location).

reminder: Han-earl Park and Josh Sinton, Brooklyn

Andrew Drury, Han-earl Park and Josh Sinton
This Friday (June 22, 2012), event starting at 7:00pm: a performance by Han-earl Park (guitar) and Josh Sinton (saxophone and clarinet) takes place at Dustin Carlson’s home (285 Midwood Street, Brooklyn, NY 11225).

performance: Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora at On The Way Out, Brooklyn

Nick Didkovsky, Catherine Sikora and Han-earl Park
Tuesday, July 24, 2012, 8:30pm (set: 10:00pm): a performance by Nick Didkovsky (guitar), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Catherine Sikora (saxophones) presented by On The Way Out takes place at The Backroom @ Freddy’s Bar (627 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215) [map/directions…]. Also performing: at 8:30pm, Christine Bard (drums, percussion and electronics), Bill McCrossen (bass) and Mercedes Figueras (saxophones). $10 suggested donation.

Super excited about playing with the Ultimate Didkovsky and the Astonishing Sikora again. Come down to the gig; if it’s anything like the last time we played, it’ll be very, very special.

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [Freddy’s page…] [facebook event…]

details

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

Annihilator of the boundaries between heavy metal and the avant garde, Nick Didkovsky founded the avant-rock big band Doctor Nerve, and is a member of Swim This with Gerry Hemingway and Michael Lytle. He is a pioneer of small-systems computer music, and he has composed music for ensemble including Bang On A Can All-Stars and the California EAR Unit.

Described by Brian Morton as “a musical philosopher… a delightful shape-shifter”, Han-earl Park is drawn to real-time cyborg configurations in which artifacts and bodies collide. He has performed with some of the finest practitioners of improvised music, is part of Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, and Numbers with Richard Barrett.

Catherine Sikora is a “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). She has long-standing duo projects with Eric Mingus and with Ziv Ravitz, and performs as part of ensembles led by Elliott Sharp, François Grillot and Matt Lavelle.

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

artwork for Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder: Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09)
The complete recording of the March 26, 2009 performance by saxophonist, performer and theorist Franziska Schroeder and guitarist, improviser and constructor Han-earl Park, now with liner notes by Áine Sheil, is now available for download via Bandcamp. [Bandcamp page…] [Download now…]

Originally released in September 2010, the recording was the first in a series of download releases hosted at busterandfriends.com. This bandcamp-hosted edition adds liner notes by Áine Sheil, and 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 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

Though short, percussive, hard-to-notate sounds dominate Han-earl Park’s sound, he does utilize the totality of the guitar’s sonorities—just not in the proportions demanded by the nostalgic (retrospective, reactionary, etc.) owners of major media…. Franziska Schroeder’s… saxophone is an excellent counterpoint to Park’s electric guitar, mostly because her post-tonal sensibilities are conceived and executed so well. Very simply, contemporary improvisation has grown beyond the 12-note chromatic division of the octave. Buh bye! It is this extended tonal consciousness by which Schroeder achieves the elusive by keeping the narrative aspects to a minimum without regressing to that childish, abnegating HVAC morality holding hostage the imagination of so many wind and reed players in our improvising community.

Stanley Zappa (The New York City Jazz Record)

“I’m very happy to finally make these available. In many respects, all my playing subsequent to this duet has been in response to, and a follow-up on, the implications of this performance. Big thanks to Franziska for sharing the journey on this one.”

Han-earl Park (statement on first release).

“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.”

Áine Sheil (from the liner notes).

“Park and Schroeder are involved in ongoing collaborations enrolling human and machine musicians, public and laboratory situations, formal and ad-hoc environments, material and social technologies, in real-time, interactive play. Seeking to (re)engineer notions of virtuosity in the context of latter-day, trans-national experimentalism and improvised musics, their performances embrace the contingent and contradictory.”

Original blurb for the performance.

personnel

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

track listing

Chorale (11:58), Scatter (9:00), Nova (14:10). Total duration: 35:06.

recording details

All music by Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder.

Recorded live March 26, 2009 at the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork.
Performance presented by the Lewis Glucksman Gallery.
Recorded and mastered by Han-earl Park.
Liner notes by Áine Sheil.
Artwork by Han-earl Park.

The recordings (Chorale, Scatter, and Nova), liner notes and artwork released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. Please attribute the recordings to Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder, the liner notes to Áine Sheil, 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)

Franziska Schroeder is a saxophonist and theorist. She received her saxophone training in Berlin and Australia and later from Marie-Bernadette Charrier / Conservatoire Supérieure in Bordeaux.

With her trio FAINT Schroeder released a CD of improvised and electroacoustic music in 2007 with Pedro Rebelo (piano and instrumental parasites) and Steven Davis (drums), and a second CD, both on the creative source label. Schroeder has performed with many international musicians including Pauline Oliveros, Stelarc, the Avatar Orchestra, Chris Brown, John Kenny, Tom Arthurs, Nuno Rebelo and Evan Parker.

She holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and has written for many international journals, including Leonardo, Organised Sound, Performance Research, Cambridge Publishing and Routledge. Her book “Re-situating Performance Within The Threshold: Performance practice understood through theories of embodiment” appeared in 2009. Schroeder also published a book on user-generated content for Cambridge Publishing Scholars in 2009.

Schroeder is on the development committee of NMSAT (Networked Music & SoundArt Timeline), and has been on the programming committee for the DRHA (Digital Resources in the Humanities and Arts) conference since 2009. She was the Program Chair for the DRHA 2010. Schroeder has been an AHRC Research Fellow and is now a Lecturer/RCUK Fellow at the School of Music and Sonic Arts in Belfast, where she coaches 3rd year recitalists and MA performance students.

“Schroeder… constitutes a great addition in my book of favorite saxophonists, her attitude basically lyrical, sensitive competences just pouring out from whatever she chooses to release from a couple of soulful yet scientifically-oriented lungs. I’m not surprised to discover that she’s been active on the instrument since the age of nine—the perceived skill is indisputable.”

Massimo Ricci (Touching Extremes)

Also by Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder

‘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.

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.

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

Park+Murray (Cork, 07-29-10) [details…]

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

(cc) 2012 Han-earl Park/Marian Murray.

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.

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

09-24-12: correct error in dates in artwork and Bandcamp album data.
10-24-12: add recommended price.
05-20-13: updated the ‘also available for download’ list.
07-02-13: updated review.
11-01-15: add A Little Brittle Music to downloads list, and change currency from USD to EUR.

performance: Jack Wright, Ben Wright, Andrew Drury and Han-earl Park, Brooklyn

Jack Wright, Ben Wright, Andrew Drury and Han-earl Park
Sunday, June 24, 2012, at 7:00pm: a performance by Jack Wright (saxophones), Ben Wright (bass), Andrew Drury (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar) as part of Soup and Sound House Concert #12. The event takes place at Andrew Drury’s home in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn (contact him for the location). Recommended donation: $10.

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

reminder: Andrew Drury and Han-earl Park, Brooklyn

Andrew Drury, Han-earl Park and Josh Sinton
This Thursday (June 7, 2012), event starting at 7:00pm: a performance by Andrew Drury (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar) as part of Soup and Sound House Concert #11. Event takes place at Andrew Drury’s home in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, New York (contact him for the location).

performances: Drury-Park and Park-Sinton, Brooklyn

Andrew Drury, Han-earl Park and Josh Sinton
A couple of house concerts coming up in June with Andrew Drury, and with Josh Sinton, both in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, New York (see the performance diary for up-to-date info).

Should be a fun way to spend a couple of summer evenings in Brooklyn!

thanks: Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora at ABC No Rio, New York

Nick Didkovsky, Catherine Sikora and Han-earl Park
Thanks to Blaise Siwula of COMA: Citizens Ontological Music Agenda and everyone at ABC No Rio for hosting the performance on Sunday (May 27, 2012). Thanks to Jim Goodin, Frederika Kreier, and the Rocco John Iacovone ensemble for sharing the stage.

Mono kudos to the Ultimate Nick Didkovsky and the Astonishing Catherine Sikora for the noise, melody, rhythm, space, density, contrast, synchronicity, asymmetry, serendipity and contradiction. For forging a space where melody can be melody, noise can be noise, meter can be meter, bluegrass can be bluegrass, all there, all necessary without imploding under idiomatic pressures. To Nick’s noisy, unruly complexity, where ‘extended technique’ doesn’t mean you can’t jam-on-C. To Catherine with her big, big sound, formidable technique, and impeccable melodic sense, who to quote Michael Lytle’s description of the performance “sailed around and through” the “sound machines.” Let’s return to this trio soon!

And if you’re wondering what we sounded like…

reminder: Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora at ABC No Rio, New York

Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora
This Sunday (May 27, 2012), event starting at 6:00pm: a performance by Nick Didkovsky (guitar), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Catherine Sikora (saxophones) as part of COMA: Citizens Ontological Music Agenda takes place at ABC No Rio (156 Rivington Street, New York, NY 10002) [map/directions…]. Admission is $5. [Details…]