An AAJ Interview with Larry Ochs

AAJ: The Angelica 95 CD includes three brief portions of ROVA performing Fred Frith's "Freedom In Fragments." Are there any plans to record and/or release this work in its entirety? For those readers who are unfamiliar with this work, would you please briefly elaborate on it?

LO: That Angelica CD is a drag—my opinion only—the sound is lousy. If I could do it again, I wouldn't let them include those fragments. The entire 75 minutes piece is now being edited and mastered for release on Black Saint sometime in 2000. "Freedom In Fragments" is 23 sections of music ranging in length from 11 seconds to about 10 minutes. We commissioned Fred to write the piece in 1994, but, for various reasons, we've never ever performed it in it's entirety, so it was very rewarding recording the piece over the first 8 months of 1999, bit by bit, and then—after I mixed it and Steve Adams edited it—finally hearing the piece. A lot of surprises. In fact, the final order of the fragments was changed quite a bit after Fred and I heard it back in order for the first time. But I'm at a loss as to how to describe the work, because it goes to so many musical places over the course of the 75 minutes. Let's see: beautiful melodies, interesting rhythmic figures, improvised solos over vamps, lush harmonic passages, wry humor, passionate anthems, up-tempo marches, free jazz blows, California dreaming?it's all there. Frith spent six months with his family on the coast of California near Big Sur. He wrote the piece during that stay, and some of that environment rubbed off on the piece too.

AAJ: Are there any plans to release the soundtrack to Letters Not About Love? For those readers who are unfamiliar with this work, would you please briefly elaborate on it?

LO: This is a one-hour film shot and directed by my sister Jacki Ochs. I could try and describe the film, but maybe the press release information will do a better job. It follows:

Ochs builds visual bridges out of words by combining home movie clips, archival images, and stunning new footage. LETTERS NOT ABOUT LOVE reads like a documentary and flows like rivers of paint on an expressionist canvas. The director combines narrative, travelogue, and memoir in a fusion of image, sound and word that is a total sensual experience. Shot in and around the poets' homes in Northern California and the former Soviet Union, the camera focuses on farmers markets, park benches, beauty contests and demolition derbies; zooms into the food on the table at a typical family dinner and finds a bug sipping nectar off a flower. What Ochs discovers in these ordinary events is precisely what makes them extraordinary.

LETTERS NOT ABOUT LOVE presents a challenging meditation on the meaning of language and culture. The filmmaker initiated the correspondence by giving both poets a list of ordinary words (e.g., "home," "book," "violence," "neighbor") and asking them, in each letter, to reflect on one of the words—its conventional meaning, as well as what it means to them. As an unfolding examination of their lives, the film becomes a dynamic expression of cultural differences and the art of mutual understanding.

That's really not a bad description of the film. I think it's a beautiful piece, and I was happy to lend music to it. Jacki had ?no? budget for the film; as it was, it took years to raise what she could for it to happen, which is typical of independent film with no commercial potential. So I couldn't go into the studio and create totally new music. So I watched a video of the film a ton of times and imagined parts of pieces already recorded that would work with the images. It came out really well. But because all the music is parts of already released pieces, there will not be an independent release of the movie's music. Those pieces collected together would make a nice compilation of my work, but that's another story.

The movie just showed at Museum of Modern Art in New York. The next known general public showing is May 2 and 3 in San Francisco. But it is available to universities, museums, theaters and perhaps general public.

AAJ: are there any plans to reissue the Metalanguage lps by ROVA?

LO: No. I don't have time to think about it. I'm waiting for a producer to call.

AAJ: As conclusion, what other projects can we expect from Larry Ochs in 2000-2001?

LO: I'm spending a lot of time on the business side right now. Rova has been more than a performing group for some time—over 15 years. And I've been the point man for most of the producing we've done here in the Bay Area. I can't do it anymore—or want out—so I have more time for music, especially composing and thinking. But I'd like to see the music events continue, which means we need to find money to pay someone to do all the shit I've been doing for free. More work. We're looking for foundations, art patrons, board members who want to help. That'll be a big part of the first half of 2000.