My Conversation with Anthony Braxton

Even though as Americans we tend not to be able to see our country. Our people are spoiled. Our people are the recipients of some of the greatest advances on this planet, but nobody sees it. Everybody in America is angry about something. At the same time, looking at the continent of Africa, looking around the planet, this country has more abundance than any other spot on the globe and somehow, we have to find a way to help our people understand we need to take advantage of our possibilities and find a fresh attitude and find a way to unify and to get ready to move into the future because the challenges are still there. It is worth it to be alive.

AAJ: I am told you're known to enjoy chess now and then.

AB: I love chess, but I must say, at this point, when my son sits down in front of me, I start to shake and tremble like a man in total terror. My son is moving on towards grandmaster status. The way I see it, I will have to hire professionals to rough this guy up before each game. Otherwise, I won't have a chance (laughing).

AAJ: What are the lessons that can be derived from chess into life and your art form?

AB: The beautiful thing about chess for me is the ability of the game to help one start to sense forces, geometric forces, pressures, resolving complexities, setting up propositions, backing up propositions, playing for target positions to set up the next psychological and force parameter. Chess is so beautiful. There is a poetic dimension to the game in terms of transformation of materials. There is something very tri-centric about the game of chess. It teaches you about the beauty of mutable experiences. It teaches you about the beauty of fixed position targets and strategies. It teaches you about the transitory components of logic constructs, military constructs, propositions, and throughout the whole game, there is a very beautiful dance taking place. I was very excited to discover a game like chess because it kind of totally connected to the model railroad sets I was building in that period. And more and more, I start to understand that I was interested in circuitry and distribution. So for me, the game of chess relates to everything, just like everything related to everything.

AAJ: And the future?

AB: Right now, I am working on several parts of my system. One, I am working on "Trillium J." I am trying to correct the libretto. Once summer vacation started and I had a chance to go through the new libretto, I discovered so many problems that I've been working with that for the last week or so. Using this summer for me will involve working on "Trillium J" and getting the libretto correct and defining the components of "Trillium J." At the same time, I'm working on the "Ghost Trance Music," the fourth species compositions. I feel at this point, I can be finished with the "Ghost Trance Musics" in maybe another twenty compositions.

Finally, I hope this summer is to go back to sound edit and sound deck and start to try to move towards electronic music. It has been an area that I've wanted to work in all my life. I'm very unhappy where I'm at right now in the world of electronic music. Things have not worked out in the way I originally intended. I'm still recovering from the last five years after the performance of "Trillium R." I am recovering in the sense of trying to rebuild my life and trying to put things together. To answer your question, at this point in my life, the basic outline of the music system has been defined and I am working to flush out those components, that being the solidification of a tri-centric thought experience, a cult unit or esoteric unit or transcendent unit. I am seeking to flush out what this means, the components of the system, whether those components are reflected upon a quadrant space proposition, all the way to a tri-galactic space proposition. What I want to do is to fulfill the components in my system in a way where it will be as much fun as possible. It will be as positive as possible. It will have the components for positive curiosity and it will hopefully have the kind of documentation or literary component documentation that will be friendly and positive.

AAJ: The fire still burns within.

AB: I feel very lucky that I'm still alive. I'm fifty-six years old. I've outlived my older brothers. My brother Joe died at forty-two. Lafayette died at something like fifty-one. I'm very much aware in this time that time has gone by very quickly and I feel fortunate that there are things that I want to do and there is music. There is the wonderful discipline of music and the ability of music to keep on opening up fresh prospects. I must say, what a discipline!

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