Results for "John Cage"

John Cage

In 1952, David Tudor sat down in front of a piano for four minutes and thirty-three seconds and did nothing. The piece 4?33--written by John Cage, is possibly the most famous and important piece in twentieth century avant-garde. 4?33--was a distillation of years of working with found sound, noise, and alternative instruments. In one short piece, Cage broke from the history of classical composition and proposed that the primary act of musical performance was not making music, but listening. Born in Los Angeles in 1912, Cage studied for a short time at Pamona College, and later at UCLA with classical composer Arthur Schoenberg

Steve Beresford and Angharad Davies: Trwst

By JOHN EYLES

On March 6th 2020, Steve Beresford celebrated his seventieth birthday with a jam-packed three-day residency at London's renowned venue Café Oto, under the fitting heading “Piano, Noise, Music and Toys." (It was the last such event at Oto before its Coronavirus lockdown.) Across the residency, audiences saw a cross-section of performances which illustrated the breadth of ...

Ayman Fanous / Frances-Marie Uitti: Negoum

By KARL ACKERMANN

The very flexible tone systems of the Middle East and Southern Asia have influenced Western music for decades. From John Coltrane to Jimmy Page and George Harrison, the sounds of those regions have often successfully fused with the disciplined beat of the West. Egyptian-born, New York-based guitarist and bouzouki player Ayman Fanous and American-born, Paris-based cellist ...

Ostrava Days 2019

By MARTIN LONGLEY

Ostrava Days Various Venues Ostrava Czech Republic August 22-31, 2019 The biennial Ostrava Days festival rolled around again, and there's nothing quite like a once-every-two-years event to make time appear to flow even faster than normal. As a moderne composition festival, it is difficult to accurately ...

Russ Lossing: Motian Music

By ALBERTO BAZZURRO

Nato a Columbus, Ohio, nel 1960, Russ Lossing è un pianista che, anche proprio per anzianità di servizio, meriterebbe certo maggior fama di quella di cui gode. Influenzato dal lessico jazzistico come dai vari Bartok, Schönberg e John Cage (col quale ha anche intrattenuto un sia pur fugace rapporto personale), Lossing ha suonato con gente importante, ...

Jeanne Lee, Ran Blake: The Newest Sound You Never Heard

By ALBERTO BAZZURRO

Jeanne Lee e Ran Blake si conoscono a cavallo fra anni Cinquanta e Sessanta ai corsi del Bard College di New York, affacciato sul fiume Hudson. Si producono per la prima volta in duo in occasione di un concorso all'Apollo Theater, che vincono, cosicché, sul finire del 1961, incidono un primo album, The Newest Sound Around, ...

Angelika Niescier - Christopher Tordini - Gerald Cleaver (feat. Jonathan Finlayson): New York Trio

By TROY DOSTERT

After alto saxophonist Angelika Niescier's masterful live disc from 2018, Berlin Concert (Intakt), she decided to head into the studio to document her continually evolving compositions. It's a somewhat altered line-up from the earlier album. Niescier's go-to bassist, Christopher Tordini remains. However, instead of Tyshawn Sorey we have Gerald Cleaver occupying the drum kit; and we ...

Dexter Payne: All Things, All Beings

By CHRIS M. SLAWECKI

Clarinet, harmonica and saxophonist, composer and bandleader and musical globetrotter Dexter Payne is the type of musician who is most often categorized as “difficult to categorize." Profoundly influenced by physical and spiritual journeys through the cultures of America, the Middle East, Africa and Brazil, Payne's recorded output checks off every box from Mississippi delta blues to ...

Philipp Zoubek: Outside

By ALBERTO BAZZURRO

Inciso a Colonia nel dicembre 2017, questo album vede il quarantenne pianista austriaco Philip Zoubek, collaboratore fra gli altri di Paul Lytton, Frank Gratkowski, Ernst Glerum ed Herb Robertson, misurarsi con la prediletta formula del trio, nello specifico affiancato dal bassista tedesco David Helm e dal batterista elvetico Dominik Mahnig. Come principali punti di ...

Roland Dahinden: Talking with Charlie - An Imaginary Talk with Charlie Parker

By GLENN ASTARITA

There have been numerous Charlie Parker tributes over the years, which is to be expected, yet Swiss trombonist, composer Roland Dahinden is no stranger to thinking outside the box via his contemporary classical experience, performing pieces written for him by the likes of Anthony Braxton, John Cage and Daniel Wolf. He's also a jazz improviser and ...