Results for "Terry Riley"

Terry Riley

Chet Baker: An Alternative Top Ten Albums To Get Lost In

By CHRIS MAY

Chet Baker was born to a farmer's daughter and a hard-drinking, weed-smoking singer and guitarist in a Western Swing band in Yale, Oklahoma in 1929. Like many Okies, the family fared badly during the Great Depression but did a little better after moving to Glendale, California in 1939. Largely self-taught as a trumpeter, Baker honed his ...

Markus Reuter Times Three: Oculus, Shapeshifters & Sun Trance

By MARK SULLIVAN

Markus Reuter wears many hats: touch guitarist; composer; improviser; soundscaper; and producer. This trio of simultaneous MoonJune Records releases (one technically a reissue) offer an opportunity to sample his music in all of those aspects. Markus Reuter Oculus Nothing is Sacred MoonJune Records 2020 “Oculus" is the name ...

Jon Hassell: Words with the Shaman

By CHRIS MAY

Jon Hassell is best known as the creator of Fourth World music, an acoustic-electronic blend of jazz, minimalism, drone, ambient, traditional African and Asian instruments and harmolodic signatures. Hassell has defined Fourth World as “serious music with transcultural appeal and a smile." He unveiled the concept on his debut album, Vernal Equinox (Lovely Records), in 1977. ...

Light Star Guiding: Light Star Guiding

By MARK SULLIVAN

Light Star Guiding is a Polish quartet which makes music collectively, with a seamless combination of composition and improvisation (all the music on this album is credited to the whole band). It is a very contemporary sound, frequently employing repetition and trance. Tenor saxophonist Ray Dickaty says he sees the project as an electric counterpoint to ...

Michael Robinson: Where Composition, Programming & Raga Meet

By MARK SULLIVAN

Los Angeles-based composer Michael Robinson's work is full of contradictions. It is produced via computer programming, a system which he refers to as “Meruvina." The name comes from the sanskrit word for musical instrument, “vina" and the name of the mountain where the Hindu gods reside, “Mount Meru," and consists of software, a computer, and a ...

Kronos Quartet/Terry Riley: Sun Rings

By MARK SULLIVAN

In addition to their performance of 20th century classics, modern music specialists The Kronos Quartet have a long history of commissioning new works from contemporary composers. But their relationship with minimalist pioneer Terry Riley is a special one. After composing the open-scored In C in 1964, Riley increasingly turned his attention towards improvised performances with tape-delay ...

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 ...

Terry Riley, Gyan Riley, Oliver Lake, Amir ElSaffar & Tommy Castro

By MARTIN LONGLEY

Terry Riley & Gyan Riley (le) Poisson Rouge April 3, 2019 Terry Riley and his son Gyan Riley enjoy an ongoing duo performance situation, in a forum where the elder composer places the emphasis on spontaneous improvisation, impromptu sonic texturing and intimate musical dialogue. Catching him in this setting, it's ...

Ustad Saami: God Is Not A Terrorist

By CHRIS MAY

God Is Not A Terrorist is by no stretch of the imagination a jazz album, but it contains deep and authentic music and will appeal to some AAJers. Ustad Saami is a master of the Pakistani vocal style known as surti, which is characterized by its use of microtones. Microtones are widely used in music throughout ...