Sonic Frontiers 2018–19
Milo Fine
Tuesday, April 9th, 7:30 PM
University of Alabama School of Music
Moody Concert Hall
810 Second Avenue Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Free Admission
“...a prodigious intellect and visceral sense of sound” Jazz da Gama
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers Concert Series presents Milo Fine on Tuesday, April 9th at 7:30 pm as its final concert, after nearly a decade of world-class adventurous music events in Tuscaloosa. Legendary improviser Milo Fine is equally adept on percussion, clarinet and piano. The Minneapolis-based maverick has pursued his multi-faceted approach to spontaneous composition since 1969, when he founded the group Blue Freedom. Since then, Fine has performed with an A-list cast of musicians including Derek Bailey, Gavin Bryars, Viv Corringham, Peter Kowald, Vienna’s Reform Art Unit, and many more. Mr. Fine is also a pioneer in the DIY community, having practiced a rugged, self-deterministic approach to the presentation of his work for fifty years, including publishing and managing his own record label (Shih Shih Wu Ai Records) since 1972, mentoring generations of young musicians, and organizing regular community-centered, under-the-radar performances in Minneapolis throughout his long career.
2019 marks Milo's 50th year working exclusively in the field of free jazz/improvised music. More to the point (and co-opting bassist/composer Kent Carter’s autobiographical liner note on the 1966 LP 'Jazz Realities'), he states: “I was born January 22, 1952 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and am not yet dead.”
This will be the final event of the Sonic Frontiers concert series. Series founder Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar kicked off the series in August 2010 with a two-hour long outdoor concert in the Moundville Archeological Park. Sonic Frontiers presented over 30 events, including well over 100 performers from around the world (e.g. Ghana, Germany, Greece, the UK), and two MacArthur “genius” fellows. The series received national and international press accolades on multiple occasions for its adventurous programming, as well as a major grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more info: https://milofine.com/
Video : https://youtu.be/UrZqqipOE7w
University of Alabama School of Music
Moody Concert Hall
810 Second Avenue Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Free Admission
“...a prodigious intellect and visceral sense of sound” Jazz da Gama
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers Concert Series presents Milo Fine on Tuesday, April 9th at 7:30 pm as its final concert, after nearly a decade of world-class adventurous music events in Tuscaloosa. Legendary improviser Milo Fine is equally adept on percussion, clarinet and piano. The Minneapolis-based maverick has pursued his multi-faceted approach to spontaneous composition since 1969, when he founded the group Blue Freedom. Since then, Fine has performed with an A-list cast of musicians including Derek Bailey, Gavin Bryars, Viv Corringham, Peter Kowald, Vienna’s Reform Art Unit, and many more. Mr. Fine is also a pioneer in the DIY community, having practiced a rugged, self-deterministic approach to the presentation of his work for fifty years, including publishing and managing his own record label (Shih Shih Wu Ai Records) since 1972, mentoring generations of young musicians, and organizing regular community-centered, under-the-radar performances in Minneapolis throughout his long career.
2019 marks Milo's 50th year working exclusively in the field of free jazz/improvised music. More to the point (and co-opting bassist/composer Kent Carter’s autobiographical liner note on the 1966 LP 'Jazz Realities'), he states: “I was born January 22, 1952 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and am not yet dead.”
This will be the final event of the Sonic Frontiers concert series. Series founder Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar kicked off the series in August 2010 with a two-hour long outdoor concert in the Moundville Archeological Park. Sonic Frontiers presented over 30 events, including well over 100 performers from around the world (e.g. Ghana, Germany, Greece, the UK), and two MacArthur “genius” fellows. The series received national and international press accolades on multiple occasions for its adventurous programming, as well as a major grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more info: https://milofine.com/
Video : https://youtu.be/UrZqqipOE7w
Tuscaloosa premiere of Icepick to the Moon with Filmmaker Skizz Cyzyk in attendance!
Fri. March 22nd, 2019 @ 7:30pm
University of Alabama, Russell Hall 159
504 University Blvd, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/236663650
SYNOPSIS: 19 years in the making, ICEPICK TO THE MOON is a feature length documentary about obscure stripmine crooner, Fred Lane, the pants-less, Band Aid-adorned performer who achieved a worldwide cult following starting in the Eighties when the Shimmy Disc label made Lane’s records easier to find.
http://www.fredlanedoc.com/
http://www.facebook.com/IcepickToTheMoon/
University of Alabama, Russell Hall 159
504 University Blvd, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/236663650
SYNOPSIS: 19 years in the making, ICEPICK TO THE MOON is a feature length documentary about obscure stripmine crooner, Fred Lane, the pants-less, Band Aid-adorned performer who achieved a worldwide cult following starting in the Eighties when the Shimmy Disc label made Lane’s records easier to find.
http://www.fredlanedoc.com/
http://www.facebook.com/IcepickToTheMoon/
Ben Vida
The UA Dept. of Art & Art History Visiting Artist and Scholar Lecture Series & Sonic Frontiers presented renowned visual artist and composer Ben Vida in two appearances.
Vida delivered a public lecture Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at 7:00 p.m. in Gorgas Library 205 and a performance Thursday, Feb. 21, 7:30 p.m. at the Recital Hall of Moody Music Building.
On Wednesday, Feb. 20, Vida spoke about his work in sound and visual art. On Thursday, Feb. 21, he presented a new piece for live and fixed electronics that examines the physical dimensionality of sound. Utilizing analog and digital synthesizing systems, Vida's work foregrounds the spatialization, morphology and mutability of sound objects through the use of psycho-acoustic processes.
Ben Vida lives and works in New York, and has been an active member of the international experimental music community for two decades. In the mid-1990s, Vida co-founded the minimalist quartet Town & Country and released solo records under the moniker Bird Show. He has released records on numerous labels including Alku, PAN, Future Audio Graphics and Kranky, and his most recent LP Damaged Particulates was released on Shelter Press. His work has been featured in Artforum, Modern Painters, The Paris Review, The New York Times, Art Review, The Wire, The Creators Project, and WIRED, among others. In addition to his musical endeavors, Vida has exhibited his work as a visual artist with recent solo exhibitions at Lisa Cooley Gallery in New York and 356 S. Mission Rd. in Los Angeles. His work has also been presented at the Guggenheim Museum; the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London; PRESENCES électronique, GRM/INA, Paris; The Kitchen, New York; Performa Biennial, New York; EMPAC, Troy, New York; LEAP Gallery Berlin; Lampo, Chicago; Cricoteka, Kraków, Poland; The Artist’s Institute, New York; Sydney Opera House, Australia; LiveArtsWeek at Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna; the Borderline Festival, Athens, Greece; and the Royal Festival Hall as part of the Meltdown Festival in London. He received his MFA from Bard College in Vermont.
Vida delivered a public lecture Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at 7:00 p.m. in Gorgas Library 205 and a performance Thursday, Feb. 21, 7:30 p.m. at the Recital Hall of Moody Music Building.
On Wednesday, Feb. 20, Vida spoke about his work in sound and visual art. On Thursday, Feb. 21, he presented a new piece for live and fixed electronics that examines the physical dimensionality of sound. Utilizing analog and digital synthesizing systems, Vida's work foregrounds the spatialization, morphology and mutability of sound objects through the use of psycho-acoustic processes.
Ben Vida lives and works in New York, and has been an active member of the international experimental music community for two decades. In the mid-1990s, Vida co-founded the minimalist quartet Town & Country and released solo records under the moniker Bird Show. He has released records on numerous labels including Alku, PAN, Future Audio Graphics and Kranky, and his most recent LP Damaged Particulates was released on Shelter Press. His work has been featured in Artforum, Modern Painters, The Paris Review, The New York Times, Art Review, The Wire, The Creators Project, and WIRED, among others. In addition to his musical endeavors, Vida has exhibited his work as a visual artist with recent solo exhibitions at Lisa Cooley Gallery in New York and 356 S. Mission Rd. in Los Angeles. His work has also been presented at the Guggenheim Museum; the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London; PRESENCES électronique, GRM/INA, Paris; The Kitchen, New York; Performa Biennial, New York; EMPAC, Troy, New York; LEAP Gallery Berlin; Lampo, Chicago; Cricoteka, Kraków, Poland; The Artist’s Institute, New York; Sydney Opera House, Australia; LiveArtsWeek at Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna; the Borderline Festival, Athens, Greece; and the Royal Festival Hall as part of the Meltdown Festival in London. He received his MFA from Bard College in Vermont.
Strike and Alloy Orchestra: Silent Film, Live Musical Score
Tuesday, October 30th, 7:30 PM
Bama Theatre
600 Greensboro Avenue
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
Free Admission
“The best in the world at accompanying silent films.” Roger Ebert
Alloy Orchestra composes and performs original scores to accompany classic silent films. Their unusual combination of found percussion and state-of-the-art electronics gives the Orchestra the ability to create any sound imaginable.Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the US and abroad (The San Francisco Silent Film Festival, The Telluride Film Festival, The Louvre, Lincoln Center, The Academy of Motion Pictures, the National Gallery of Art and others), Alloy has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era. The Alloy Orchestra began scoring films in 1991 with Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. In the intervening years, the group has written scores for 32 feature length film presentations.
Alloy Orchestra is:
Terry Donahue – Junk percussion, musical saw, accordion
Ken Winokur – Director, percussion, clarinet
Roger C. Miller – Keyboard
For more info: http://www.alloyorchestra.com/
Video: https://vimeo.com/97846733
Bama Theatre
600 Greensboro Avenue
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
Free Admission
“The best in the world at accompanying silent films.” Roger Ebert
Alloy Orchestra composes and performs original scores to accompany classic silent films. Their unusual combination of found percussion and state-of-the-art electronics gives the Orchestra the ability to create any sound imaginable.Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the US and abroad (The San Francisco Silent Film Festival, The Telluride Film Festival, The Louvre, Lincoln Center, The Academy of Motion Pictures, the National Gallery of Art and others), Alloy has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era. The Alloy Orchestra began scoring films in 1991 with Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. In the intervening years, the group has written scores for 32 feature length film presentations.
Alloy Orchestra is:
Terry Donahue – Junk percussion, musical saw, accordion
Ken Winokur – Director, percussion, clarinet
Roger C. Miller – Keyboard
For more info: http://www.alloyorchestra.com/
Video: https://vimeo.com/97846733
Sonic Frontiers 2017-18
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series presents its final concert of the 2017-2018 season on Monday, March 26th at 7:30 pm. Celebrating their 40th anniversary as an ensemble, Rova Saxophone Quartet is one of the longest-standing groups in the music movement that has its roots in post-bop, free jazz, avant-rock, and 20th century new music.
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series presented Downbeat Magazine's 2017 Artist of the Year Wadada Leo Smith’s evening-length jazz suite Ten Freedom Summers! Ten Freedom Summers is inspired by the activity of the civil rights movement from The Niagara Falls Congress in 1905 and 1948, when President Harry S. Truman signed the Executive Order 9981 and up to Dr. Martin Luther King's Memphis speech in 1968. The composition was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music.
Performers included Smith’s Golden Quartet, the RedKoral string quartet, and live video projections by Jesse Gilbert & Maryam Kashani.
Performers included Smith’s Golden Quartet, the RedKoral string quartet, and live video projections by Jesse Gilbert & Maryam Kashani.
Sonic Frontiers 2016-17
“California Experiments”
Sonic Frontiers’ seventh season of programming includes four concerts organized with a curatorial focus on “California Experiments” – presenting innovative and experimental artists based in California.
“California Experiments”
Sonic Frontiers’ seventh season of programming includes four concerts organized with a curatorial focus on “California Experiments” – presenting innovative and experimental artists based in California.
Gino Robair with the University of Alabama Percussion Ensemble and Special Guests
April 1, 2017 7:30pm
Moody Music Building Concert Hall
In partnership with the School of Music’s Master’s Series, Sonic Frontiers presents a weeklong residency and performance by world-renowned composer/percussionist Gino Robair. Robair will rehearse and perform his original compositions in collaboration with student musicians and area professional musicians. In addition, Mr. Robair will give a workshop to percussionists (and any other interested instrumentalists) on finding and using new sounds with a wide range of objects, both traditionally musical and otherwise. Mr. Robair will also give a “coffee hour” talk with interested University of Alabama students about crafting a career in music based on his experience as a world-renowned experimental artist and session musician (with artists such as Tom Waits), and also as Editor-in-chief of Keyboard magazine and Technical Editor of Electronic Musician magazine.
For more info: http://www.ginorobair.com/
April 1, 2017 7:30pm
Moody Music Building Concert Hall
In partnership with the School of Music’s Master’s Series, Sonic Frontiers presents a weeklong residency and performance by world-renowned composer/percussionist Gino Robair. Robair will rehearse and perform his original compositions in collaboration with student musicians and area professional musicians. In addition, Mr. Robair will give a workshop to percussionists (and any other interested instrumentalists) on finding and using new sounds with a wide range of objects, both traditionally musical and otherwise. Mr. Robair will also give a “coffee hour” talk with interested University of Alabama students about crafting a career in music based on his experience as a world-renowned experimental artist and session musician (with artists such as Tom Waits), and also as Editor-in-chief of Keyboard magazine and Technical Editor of Electronic Musician magazine.
For more info: http://www.ginorobair.com/
Vinny Golia with the University of Alabama Jazz Ensemble
February 12-14, 2017 (Concert is Feb. 14th @ 7:30pm)
Moody Music Building Concert Hall
In partnership with the School of Music’s Jazz Studies program, Sonic Frontiers will present a residency by the legendary Los Angeles-based musician Vinny Golia in a concert that will include a set of Golia’s incredible large ensemble music performed by the University of Alabama Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Prof. Chris Kozak and a second set of small ensemble music by Golia.
For more info on Golia: http://www.vinnygolia.com/bio.html
February 12-14, 2017 (Concert is Feb. 14th @ 7:30pm)
Moody Music Building Concert Hall
In partnership with the School of Music’s Jazz Studies program, Sonic Frontiers will present a residency by the legendary Los Angeles-based musician Vinny Golia in a concert that will include a set of Golia’s incredible large ensemble music performed by the University of Alabama Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Prof. Chris Kozak and a second set of small ensemble music by Golia.
For more info on Golia: http://www.vinnygolia.com/bio.html
Electronic Music Pioneer Tim Perkis
January 27th, 2017 7:30pm Moody Music Building Recital Hall Electronic music pioneer Tim Perkis has been working in the medium of live electronic and computer sound since the 1970s, performing, exhibiting installation works and recording in North America, Europe and Japan. His work has largely been concerned with exploring the emergence of life-like properties in complex systems of interaction. Ongoing groups he has founded or played in include the League of Automatic Music Composers and the Hub, which in the late 1970s were pioneering live computer network bands. He has taught at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and the California College of the Arts (CCA); has been composer-in-residence at Mills College in Oakland California, artist-in-residence at Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center, and designed musical tools and toys at Paul Allen's legendary thinktank, Interval Research. For more info: http://www.perkis.com/_site/about/index.html |
CHERYL LEONARD: Antarctica: Music from the Ice
Friday, November 4th, 7:30 PM
University of Alabama School of Music Moody Recital Hall
810 Second Avenue
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Free Admission
Cheryl Leonard’ s music finds its raw materials just about anywhere: glass shards and glaciers, pinecones and boxspring mattresses, a flock of accordions, a pod of whales. From these diverse sources come works that embrace the spectrum of musical possibilities: improvised to composed, acoustic to electronic, diaphanous to bombastic, notes to noise. Over the last decade the San Francisco Bay area-based artist has focused on investigating sounds, structures, and objects from the natural world. Her projects cultivate stones, wood, water, ice, sand, shells, feathers, and bones as musical instruments, and feature one-of-a-kind sculptural instruments and field recordings from remote locales. Leonard is fascinated by the subtle textures and intricacies of sounds, especially very quiet phenomena. She uses microphones to explore micro-aural worlds hidden within her sound sources and develops compositions that highlight the unique voices they contain. Leonard’s musical forms reflect, model, or demonstrate themes connected to natural phenomena and processes. Most of her recent projects relate to climate change in the polar regions and California.
Antarctica: Music from the Ice is an evening-length concert featuring sound and video from Antarctica. Leonard will perform on instruments crafted from objects she collected in Antarctica including rocks, feathers, shells, penguin bones, and icicles. These sounds are combined with field recordings Leonard collected onsite. The work grew out of a residency supported by the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. Detailed information about Leonard’s Antarctica: Music from the Ice project can be found at http://musicfromtheice.blogspot.com/
Friday, November 4th, 7:30 PM
University of Alabama School of Music Moody Recital Hall
810 Second Avenue
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Free Admission
Cheryl Leonard’ s music finds its raw materials just about anywhere: glass shards and glaciers, pinecones and boxspring mattresses, a flock of accordions, a pod of whales. From these diverse sources come works that embrace the spectrum of musical possibilities: improvised to composed, acoustic to electronic, diaphanous to bombastic, notes to noise. Over the last decade the San Francisco Bay area-based artist has focused on investigating sounds, structures, and objects from the natural world. Her projects cultivate stones, wood, water, ice, sand, shells, feathers, and bones as musical instruments, and feature one-of-a-kind sculptural instruments and field recordings from remote locales. Leonard is fascinated by the subtle textures and intricacies of sounds, especially very quiet phenomena. She uses microphones to explore micro-aural worlds hidden within her sound sources and develops compositions that highlight the unique voices they contain. Leonard’s musical forms reflect, model, or demonstrate themes connected to natural phenomena and processes. Most of her recent projects relate to climate change in the polar regions and California.
Antarctica: Music from the Ice is an evening-length concert featuring sound and video from Antarctica. Leonard will perform on instruments crafted from objects she collected in Antarctica including rocks, feathers, shells, penguin bones, and icicles. These sounds are combined with field recordings Leonard collected onsite. The work grew out of a residency supported by the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. Detailed information about Leonard’s Antarctica: Music from the Ice project can be found at http://musicfromtheice.blogspot.com/
2015-2016 Season
Greg Stuart with the University of Alabama Percussion Ensemble Sunday April 17 7:30pm University of Alabama School of Music - Moody Concert Hall Free Admission Sonic Frontiers welcomes percussionist and improviser, Greg Stuart, who performs music of his frequent collaborator, Michael Pisaro. Stuart performs Pisaro’s solo Closed Categories in Cartesian Worlds, for crotales and sine tones. He also collaborates with members of the University of Alabama Percussion Ensemble in staging Hearing Metal 3, for sixteen suspended cymbals and sine tones. |
Work in Progress
A weeklong collaborative performance/exhibition/intervention by Andrew Raffo Dewar
with Sarah Barry, Adrienne Callander, Brad Davis, Tim Feeney, and Pete Schulte.
29 February — 4 March, 2016 from 9am-5pm each day
Ferguson Student Center Gallery, The University of Alabama
Throughout this weeklong art performance/intervention, composer and musician Andrew Raffo Dewar will work alongside different artists each day (sometimes in parallel, sometimes in collaboration) from 9am-5pm in the University of Alabama's Ferguson student center gallery.
Each day, from 9am-noon, the artists will create a new piece to be performed that afternoon, preceded by a “lunch intermission" from 12pm-1pm during which people can visit, eat lunch, and talk to the artists about their day’s work. From 1-5pm, the new work will be performed, however, since the gallery is open to the public all day, the entire day’s creative process is part of the performance.
Work in Progress schedule:
A weeklong collaborative performance/exhibition/intervention by Andrew Raffo Dewar
with Sarah Barry, Adrienne Callander, Brad Davis, Tim Feeney, and Pete Schulte.
29 February — 4 March, 2016 from 9am-5pm each day
Ferguson Student Center Gallery, The University of Alabama
Throughout this weeklong art performance/intervention, composer and musician Andrew Raffo Dewar will work alongside different artists each day (sometimes in parallel, sometimes in collaboration) from 9am-5pm in the University of Alabama's Ferguson student center gallery.
Each day, from 9am-noon, the artists will create a new piece to be performed that afternoon, preceded by a “lunch intermission" from 12pm-1pm during which people can visit, eat lunch, and talk to the artists about their day’s work. From 1-5pm, the new work will be performed, however, since the gallery is open to the public all day, the entire day’s creative process is part of the performance.
Work in Progress schedule:
- Monday 2/29 - electronic musician Brad Davis and Andrew Raffo Dewar
- Tuesday 3/1 - visual artist Pete Schulte and Andrew Raffo Dewar
- Wednesday 3/2 - choreographer/dancer Sarah Barry and Andrew Raffo Dewar
- Thursday 3/3 - textile artist Adrienne Callander and Andrew Raffo Dewar
- Friday 3/4 - percussionist Tim Feeney and Andrew Raffo Dewar
Olivia Block
Monday January 25 6:00pm - workshop - Blount Lobby
Tuesday January 26 7:30pm - solo concert
University of Alabama School of Music - Moody Recital Hall
Sonic Frontiers is pleased to present sound artist and composer Olivia Block in a solo concert of music for inside piano.
Olivia Block will perform an original, partially improvised composition for inside piano. Block will utilize microcassette players, walky-talkies, and contact mics to reveal the resonant tones of the piano. Additionally, she will create aural textures with soft mallets, pieces of metal and broken glass, emphasizing the materiality of the piano itself by sounding out the wood and metal timbres with and against other materials.
Block creates electroacoustic sound compositions for performance, recordings, installations, cinema, orchestra and chamber music concerts. In addition to her original pieces for inside piano, Block’s solo performances include partially improvised pieces for electronics and amplified objects, presented in a slow and deliberate gestural style that Steve Smith of the New York Times described recently as having “palpable sensations of volition and emotional involvement.”
Block often combines field recordings, chamber instruments and electronic textures, creating mysterious and vivid electroacoustic sound pieces. In addition to her compositions for solo recordings and performances, Block creates multimedia works for sound and video. Block also writes scores for large ensemble, string quartet, and orchestra.
Block’s work reflects her interests in site specificity, ethnographic sound and listening practices, found materials including recordings and texts, sound for cinema, and additional themes.
Block has performed, premiered and exhibited her work throughout Europe, America, and Japan in tours in festivals including Incubate (Tilburg), Festival del Bosque Germinal (Mexico City), Sonic Light (Amsterdam), Kontraste (Krems), Dissonanze (Rome), Archipel (Geneva) Angelica (Bologna), Sunoni per il Popolo (Montreal), and many others. Additionally, she has presented work at the ICA (London), MCA (Chicago), La Biennale di Venezia 52nd International Festival of Contemporary Music, The Kitchen (NYC), ISSUE Project Room and Experimental Intermedia (Brooklyn).
She has completed residencies and premiered works at Mills College of Music, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and The Berklee College of Music. Block has presented talks at additional universities in film, music, media arts, and anthropology departments, including Yale University, University of Chicago, and Indiana University.
Block has created sound installations for public sites and exhibition spaces including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the library at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, the Lincoln Conservatory Fern Room in Chicago, and at the “Echoes Through the Mountains” exhibit at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Her 2013 LP/download release, Karren (Sedimental, 2013) was chosen as “Best of 2014″ by The Wire, Pitchfork, and Artforum, among other publications. She was selected as a 2014 “Person of the Year” in the Chicago Reader. Aberration of Light, her latest solo release, is now available on NNA tapes. She recently presented a large public sound installation during the Chicago Architecture Biennial, featuring sounds from Harry Bertoia's Sonambient sculptures.
Block will conduct a workshop for University of Alabama students on Monday January 25 at 6:00pm in the Blount Lobby.
Monday January 25 6:00pm - workshop - Blount Lobby
Tuesday January 26 7:30pm - solo concert
University of Alabama School of Music - Moody Recital Hall
Sonic Frontiers is pleased to present sound artist and composer Olivia Block in a solo concert of music for inside piano.
Olivia Block will perform an original, partially improvised composition for inside piano. Block will utilize microcassette players, walky-talkies, and contact mics to reveal the resonant tones of the piano. Additionally, she will create aural textures with soft mallets, pieces of metal and broken glass, emphasizing the materiality of the piano itself by sounding out the wood and metal timbres with and against other materials.
Block creates electroacoustic sound compositions for performance, recordings, installations, cinema, orchestra and chamber music concerts. In addition to her original pieces for inside piano, Block’s solo performances include partially improvised pieces for electronics and amplified objects, presented in a slow and deliberate gestural style that Steve Smith of the New York Times described recently as having “palpable sensations of volition and emotional involvement.”
Block often combines field recordings, chamber instruments and electronic textures, creating mysterious and vivid electroacoustic sound pieces. In addition to her compositions for solo recordings and performances, Block creates multimedia works for sound and video. Block also writes scores for large ensemble, string quartet, and orchestra.
Block’s work reflects her interests in site specificity, ethnographic sound and listening practices, found materials including recordings and texts, sound for cinema, and additional themes.
Block has performed, premiered and exhibited her work throughout Europe, America, and Japan in tours in festivals including Incubate (Tilburg), Festival del Bosque Germinal (Mexico City), Sonic Light (Amsterdam), Kontraste (Krems), Dissonanze (Rome), Archipel (Geneva) Angelica (Bologna), Sunoni per il Popolo (Montreal), and many others. Additionally, she has presented work at the ICA (London), MCA (Chicago), La Biennale di Venezia 52nd International Festival of Contemporary Music, The Kitchen (NYC), ISSUE Project Room and Experimental Intermedia (Brooklyn).
She has completed residencies and premiered works at Mills College of Music, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and The Berklee College of Music. Block has presented talks at additional universities in film, music, media arts, and anthropology departments, including Yale University, University of Chicago, and Indiana University.
Block has created sound installations for public sites and exhibition spaces including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the library at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, the Lincoln Conservatory Fern Room in Chicago, and at the “Echoes Through the Mountains” exhibit at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Her 2013 LP/download release, Karren (Sedimental, 2013) was chosen as “Best of 2014″ by The Wire, Pitchfork, and Artforum, among other publications. She was selected as a 2014 “Person of the Year” in the Chicago Reader. Aberration of Light, her latest solo release, is now available on NNA tapes. She recently presented a large public sound installation during the Chicago Architecture Biennial, featuring sounds from Harry Bertoia's Sonambient sculptures.
Block will conduct a workshop for University of Alabama students on Monday January 25 at 6:00pm in the Blount Lobby.
Tetuzi Akiyama, Bryan Eubanks, Jason Kahn, Toshimaru Nakamura
November 11 7:30pm
University of Alabama School of Music - Moody Recital Hall
Sonic Frontiers is pleased to present the improvising quartet of Tetuzi Akiyama, Bryan Eubanks, Jason Kahn and Toshimaru Nakamura performing together for the first time as part of a 16-date U.S. tour.
Tetuzi Akiyama // guitar
Bryan Eubanks // saxophone, electronics
Jason Kahn // drums, percussion
Toshimaru Nakamura // no-input mixing board
Tetuzi Akiyama is one of Japan's most active experimental guitarists. He manages to successfully bridge many directions in his music, ranging from Texas boogie and free noise to highly restrained acoustic work.
Toshimaru Nakamura has made a name for himself since the late 1990's in improvised and experimental electronic music with his use of the no-input mixing board, an instrument yielding a wide range of sonic possibilities within the framework of a chaotic feedback system he has developed over many solo and collaborative concerts.
Bryan Eubanks is active as a composer of electronic music and as an improviser. He plays the soprano saxophone both as acoustic instrument and as part of a unique feedback system built and designed by himself, using open circuit boards and custom analog circuitry.
On drum set, Jason Kahn's playing swings across a wide spectrum of approaches, ranging from ecstatic propulsion and rhythmic drive to abstract sound textures using a variety of found metal objects and cymbals.
Together, these musicians will fuse free improvisation, noise, experimental electronics and the uncategorizable in a fresh and vibrant approach to group playing and spontaneous music creation.
Supported by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program.
November 11 7:30pm
University of Alabama School of Music - Moody Recital Hall
Sonic Frontiers is pleased to present the improvising quartet of Tetuzi Akiyama, Bryan Eubanks, Jason Kahn and Toshimaru Nakamura performing together for the first time as part of a 16-date U.S. tour.
Tetuzi Akiyama // guitar
Bryan Eubanks // saxophone, electronics
Jason Kahn // drums, percussion
Toshimaru Nakamura // no-input mixing board
Tetuzi Akiyama is one of Japan's most active experimental guitarists. He manages to successfully bridge many directions in his music, ranging from Texas boogie and free noise to highly restrained acoustic work.
Toshimaru Nakamura has made a name for himself since the late 1990's in improvised and experimental electronic music with his use of the no-input mixing board, an instrument yielding a wide range of sonic possibilities within the framework of a chaotic feedback system he has developed over many solo and collaborative concerts.
Bryan Eubanks is active as a composer of electronic music and as an improviser. He plays the soprano saxophone both as acoustic instrument and as part of a unique feedback system built and designed by himself, using open circuit boards and custom analog circuitry.
On drum set, Jason Kahn's playing swings across a wide spectrum of approaches, ranging from ecstatic propulsion and rhythmic drive to abstract sound textures using a variety of found metal objects and cymbals.
Together, these musicians will fuse free improvisation, noise, experimental electronics and the uncategorizable in a fresh and vibrant approach to group playing and spontaneous music creation.
Supported by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program.
New York jazz bassist and composer Ben Allison
October 27 7:30pm Ben Allison with the UA Jazz Ensemble
October 28 7:30pm The Ben Allison Band
University of Alabama School of Music - Moody Concert Hall
Sonic Frontiers and UA Jazz Studies present bassist, composer and band leader Ben Allison. Allison is a multiple winner of the Downbeat Critics Poll for bassist and composer.
October 27 7:30pm Ben Allison with the UA Jazz Ensemble
October 28 7:30pm The Ben Allison Band
University of Alabama School of Music - Moody Concert Hall
Sonic Frontiers and UA Jazz Studies present bassist, composer and band leader Ben Allison. Allison is a multiple winner of the Downbeat Critics Poll for bassist and composer.
"A New York under- ground jazz scene mainstay, bassist Ben Allison has broken away from traditional jazz into crossover hybrids and developed a distinctive voice."
— Billboard
2014-2015 Season
UK FREE JAZZ PIONEERS TREVOR WATTS (SAX) & VERYAN WESTON (PIANO) DUO
Sunday, April 12th, 2014, 7:00 PM
UA School of Music - Moody Recital Hall
810 Second Avenue Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Free Admission
Click here for a video preview
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series presents UK free jazz pioneers Trevor Watts (saxophones) and Veryan Weston (piano) on Sunday, April 12th at 7:00 pm in the Moody Music Building Recital Hall on the University of Alabama campus.
Watts and Weston, two major figures in the history of improvised music in Great Britain, have played together for decades, crafting a telepathic music all their own. This is their first concert in Alabama and the last concert of the Sonic Frontiers 2014-2015 season, following the series’ historic weeklong Anthony Braxton residency in February.
Trevor Watts is a founding member of the seminal English group Spontaneous Music Ensemble that began in 1965 with John Stevens & Paul Rutherford, and subsequently included Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Dave Holland & Kenny Wheeler, amongst others. Watts incorporates a wide variety and range of playing areas within his style, from purely improvised music to his more jazz-oriented smaller groups.
Veryan Weston was born in 1950 and moved from Cornwall to London in 1972 where he began playing as a freelance jazz pianist, as well as developing as an improviser at the Little Theatre Club. Throughout the 1980s and early 90s he worked with the Eddie Prévost Quartet, Trevor Watts' Moiré Music and with Lol Coxhill and Phil Minton. Major festivals appearances have included Zurich, Berlin, Nickelsdorf, Karlsruhe, Warsaw, Wroclaw, San Sebastian, Bombay, Vancouver, Nancy, Auckland, Nevers, Washington, Lille, Houston, Le Mans, Strasbourg, Bologna and Victoriaville.
Sunday, April 12th, 2014, 7:00 PM
UA School of Music - Moody Recital Hall
810 Second Avenue Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Free Admission
Click here for a video preview
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series presents UK free jazz pioneers Trevor Watts (saxophones) and Veryan Weston (piano) on Sunday, April 12th at 7:00 pm in the Moody Music Building Recital Hall on the University of Alabama campus.
Watts and Weston, two major figures in the history of improvised music in Great Britain, have played together for decades, crafting a telepathic music all their own. This is their first concert in Alabama and the last concert of the Sonic Frontiers 2014-2015 season, following the series’ historic weeklong Anthony Braxton residency in February.
Trevor Watts is a founding member of the seminal English group Spontaneous Music Ensemble that began in 1965 with John Stevens & Paul Rutherford, and subsequently included Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Dave Holland & Kenny Wheeler, amongst others. Watts incorporates a wide variety and range of playing areas within his style, from purely improvised music to his more jazz-oriented smaller groups.
Veryan Weston was born in 1950 and moved from Cornwall to London in 1972 where he began playing as a freelance jazz pianist, as well as developing as an improviser at the Little Theatre Club. Throughout the 1980s and early 90s he worked with the Eddie Prévost Quartet, Trevor Watts' Moiré Music and with Lol Coxhill and Phil Minton. Major festivals appearances have included Zurich, Berlin, Nickelsdorf, Karlsruhe, Warsaw, Wroclaw, San Sebastian, Bombay, Vancouver, Nancy, Auckland, Nevers, Washington, Lille, Houston, Le Mans, Strasbourg, Bologna and Victoriaville.
The Grocery and Sonic Frontiers Team Up for Experimental Music Workshop Series
The Sonic Frontiers Workshop Series was presented in partnership with The Grocery, a community artspace in Northport, AL. Whereas the concert series brings world-class visiting artists to our community to perform, the Sonic Frontiers Workshop Series explored and cultivated experimental musical practices from within the local community.
Conceived as a combination of open rehearsal, community sound workshop, critical music discussion space, and sonic laboratory for works-in-progress, the sessions will be facilitated by West Alabama’s own Andrew Raffo Dewar, Tim Feeney, and Holland Hopson, collaborating together with those in attendance. Each session will highlight a different aesthetic take on musical experimentalism.
These casual monthly exploratory music sessions allowed the local community of sound makers to workshop, perform, and discuss new ideas as well as work through existing scores in an open and low-pressure environment that also invites interested attendees to investigate these musical practices through focused listening, discussion, and hands-on engagement.
This spring 2015 series encompassed the following events:
The workshops took place at 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month at The Grocery, an artist-run studio, exhibit, and performance space located at 900 Main Avenue, two blocks north of the main intersection in downtown historic Northport.
The Sonic Frontiers Workshop Series was presented in partnership with The Grocery, a community artspace in Northport, AL. Whereas the concert series brings world-class visiting artists to our community to perform, the Sonic Frontiers Workshop Series explored and cultivated experimental musical practices from within the local community.
Conceived as a combination of open rehearsal, community sound workshop, critical music discussion space, and sonic laboratory for works-in-progress, the sessions will be facilitated by West Alabama’s own Andrew Raffo Dewar, Tim Feeney, and Holland Hopson, collaborating together with those in attendance. Each session will highlight a different aesthetic take on musical experimentalism.
These casual monthly exploratory music sessions allowed the local community of sound makers to workshop, perform, and discuss new ideas as well as work through existing scores in an open and low-pressure environment that also invites interested attendees to investigate these musical practices through focused listening, discussion, and hands-on engagement.
This spring 2015 series encompassed the following events:
- 1/14, Tim Feeney: new work & conversations
- 2/11, Andrew Raffo Dewar: an introduction to Anthony Braxton’s music & “Language Music” and improvisations with attendees
- 3/11, Holland Hopson: an introduction to and interactive performance of John Zorn's “Cobra,” celebrating the work's 30th anniversary
- 4/8, Andrew Raffo Dewar: An introduction to analog modular synthesis
- 5/13, Tim Feeney: new work & conversations
- 6/10, Holland Hopson: new work for performers & interactive electronics and improvisation with workshop attendees
The workshops took place at 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month at The Grocery, an artist-run studio, exhibit, and performance space located at 900 Main Avenue, two blocks north of the main intersection in downtown historic Northport.
Anthony Braxton at The University of Alabama
Feb. 18-25, 2015
Anthony Braxton “Falling River Music” art exhibit of Braxton’s graphic music scores
Feb. 6th - 27th
University of Alabama Gallery at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center
620 Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
This art exhibit running throughout the month of February showcases Anthony Braxton's unique "Falling River Music" graphic music scores.
Braxton writes, “Falling River Musics is the name of a new structural prototype class of compositions in my music system that will seek to explore image logic construct ‘paintings’ as the score’s extract music notation.” Falling River scores consist of large, colorful drawings (reminiscent of the titles of Braxton’s earlier compositions) alongside other notational symbols.
Braxton refuses to assign any specific meanings to the notations of his Falling River scores, since part of their purpose is to allow each performer to find her own way through them. He explains, “I am particularly interested in this direction as a means to balance the demands of traditional notation interpretation and esoteric inter-targeting.”
The exhibit will also include new work by University of Alabama art students from Prof. Pete Schulte's ART444 "Advanced Concepts in Drawing" studio class that responds to Braxton's work. The exhibit will include work by UA students Ausharea Adams, Mitchell Griest, Brittany Gunnells, Ali Hval, Patrick O'Brien, Jennifer Ocampo, and Seth Saunders.
“Falling River Music” Exhibit Opening Reception
Friday 2/6 6-9pm
University of Alabama Gallery at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center
620 Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
This reception will include performances of Braxton “Falling River Music” scores by UA faculty and students. Featuring UA faculty members Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone), Tim Feeney (percussion) and Holland Hopson (electronics).
Anthony Braxton, Solo Saxophone
Wednesday 2/18 7:30pm
The Historic Bama Theatre
600 Greensboro Ave, Tuscaloosa AL 35401
Braxton will present the singular solo saxophone music he has been developing for nearly fifty years. Mr. Braxton was the first musician to release a full album of unaccompanied saxophone music with his 1970 double-LP “For Alto.”
The University of Alabama Percussion Ensemble & Jazz Orchestra Play Braxton
Thursday 2/19 7:30pm
Moody Music Hall, UA School of Music
810 Second Ave, Tuscaloosa AL 35487
UA percussion ensemble + UA jazz orchestra perform Braxton compositions #134, 100, 58, 59 and 174.
Anthony Braxton Quartet + Falling River Music Septet (world premiere)
Friday 2/20 7:30pm
Moody Music Hall, UA School of Music
810 Second Ave, Tuscaloosa AL 35487
Anthony Braxton Quartet (world premiere): Anthony Braxton (reeds), Davey Williams (guitar), LaDonna Smith (viola), and very special guest, Alvin Fielder (drums).
Falling River Music Septet (world premiere): Anthony Braxton (reeds), Taylor Ho Bynum (brass), Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone), Tim Feeney (percussion) Mary Halvorson (guitar), Holland Hopson (electronics), Ingrid Laubrock (reeds).
Anthony Braxton Diamond Curtain Wall Music Quintet + Trillium Opera Excerpts
Saturday 2/21 7:30pm
Moody Music Hall, UA School of Music
810 Second Ave, Tuscaloosa AL 35487
Anthony Braxton Diamond Curtain Wall Music Quintet: Braxton (reeds, electronics), Taylor Ho Bynum (brass), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ingrid Laubrock (reeds), Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone)
With his Diamond Curtain Wall Music, Anthony Braxton combines intuitive improvisation with interactive electronics. The musicians in the ensemble respond both to the evocative graphic notation of his Falling River Music, and the unique and responsive electronic patches the composer designed using the SuperCollider programming software. Recent recordings of Diamond Curtain Wall Music include Trio (Victoriaville) 2007 (Victo) and Quartet (Moscow) 2008(Leo).
Anthony Braxton Trillium Opera excerpts featuring: Roland Burks, Christopher DiMeglio, Kyoko Kitamura, Anne Rhodes (voices), Taylor Ho Bynum (brass), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ingrid Laubrock (reeds), Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone), Marcos Santos (violin), Matthew Madonia (violin), Wendy Richman (viola), Laura Usiskin (cello).
Braxton describes The Trillium Project as an opera complex of autonomous one-act settings interconnected through twelve recurring character archetypes that illustrate the basic components of his logic system, represented both by the twelve singers and by the same number of improvising instrumental soloists. Each act occurs within a specific dramatic context, but there is no overarching narrative structure; rather, the interest is in how the characters interact within the parameters of a given situation. (These situations range from a corporate board meeting to interplanetary space travel.) Braxton does not shy away from the melodramatic potential of traditional opera: there are swordfights and chases, giants and plagues. However, the “apparent story” is just one of three levels; underlying each act are the “philosophical” and “mystical” dynamics that so deeply inform Braxton’s libretto and music.
Anthony Braxton Falling River Music Trio
Monday 2/23 7:30pm
University of Alabama Gallery @ The Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center
620 Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
Falling River Music Trio: Anthony Braxton (reeds), Taylor Ho Bynum (brass), Kyoko Kitamura (voice)
Anthony Braxton Pinetop Aerial Music
Wednesday 2/25 7:30pm
Morgan Auditorium, Stadium Drive, University of Alabama Campus
Braxton’s newest music system for music and movement, featuring: Anthony Braxton (reeds), Taylor Ho Bynum (brass), Ingrid Laubrock (reeds), Andrew Raffo Dewar (reeds), Anne Rhodes (voice), Melanie Maar (movement), Rachel Bernsen (movement), and eight UA student dancers: Shaun Leary, Morgan Bryant, Bob McClure, McKay House, Victoria Beale, Brianna Milner, Mallory Herring, and Lindsey Henderson, coordinated by UA Prof. Sarah Barry from the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Feb. 18-25, 2015
Anthony Braxton “Falling River Music” art exhibit of Braxton’s graphic music scores
Feb. 6th - 27th
University of Alabama Gallery at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center
620 Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
This art exhibit running throughout the month of February showcases Anthony Braxton's unique "Falling River Music" graphic music scores.
Braxton writes, “Falling River Musics is the name of a new structural prototype class of compositions in my music system that will seek to explore image logic construct ‘paintings’ as the score’s extract music notation.” Falling River scores consist of large, colorful drawings (reminiscent of the titles of Braxton’s earlier compositions) alongside other notational symbols.
Braxton refuses to assign any specific meanings to the notations of his Falling River scores, since part of their purpose is to allow each performer to find her own way through them. He explains, “I am particularly interested in this direction as a means to balance the demands of traditional notation interpretation and esoteric inter-targeting.”
The exhibit will also include new work by University of Alabama art students from Prof. Pete Schulte's ART444 "Advanced Concepts in Drawing" studio class that responds to Braxton's work. The exhibit will include work by UA students Ausharea Adams, Mitchell Griest, Brittany Gunnells, Ali Hval, Patrick O'Brien, Jennifer Ocampo, and Seth Saunders.
“Falling River Music” Exhibit Opening Reception
Friday 2/6 6-9pm
University of Alabama Gallery at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center
620 Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
This reception will include performances of Braxton “Falling River Music” scores by UA faculty and students. Featuring UA faculty members Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone), Tim Feeney (percussion) and Holland Hopson (electronics).
Anthony Braxton, Solo Saxophone
Wednesday 2/18 7:30pm
The Historic Bama Theatre
600 Greensboro Ave, Tuscaloosa AL 35401
Braxton will present the singular solo saxophone music he has been developing for nearly fifty years. Mr. Braxton was the first musician to release a full album of unaccompanied saxophone music with his 1970 double-LP “For Alto.”
The University of Alabama Percussion Ensemble & Jazz Orchestra Play Braxton
Thursday 2/19 7:30pm
Moody Music Hall, UA School of Music
810 Second Ave, Tuscaloosa AL 35487
UA percussion ensemble + UA jazz orchestra perform Braxton compositions #134, 100, 58, 59 and 174.
Anthony Braxton Quartet + Falling River Music Septet (world premiere)
Friday 2/20 7:30pm
Moody Music Hall, UA School of Music
810 Second Ave, Tuscaloosa AL 35487
Anthony Braxton Quartet (world premiere): Anthony Braxton (reeds), Davey Williams (guitar), LaDonna Smith (viola), and very special guest, Alvin Fielder (drums).
Falling River Music Septet (world premiere): Anthony Braxton (reeds), Taylor Ho Bynum (brass), Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone), Tim Feeney (percussion) Mary Halvorson (guitar), Holland Hopson (electronics), Ingrid Laubrock (reeds).
Anthony Braxton Diamond Curtain Wall Music Quintet + Trillium Opera Excerpts
Saturday 2/21 7:30pm
Moody Music Hall, UA School of Music
810 Second Ave, Tuscaloosa AL 35487
Anthony Braxton Diamond Curtain Wall Music Quintet: Braxton (reeds, electronics), Taylor Ho Bynum (brass), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ingrid Laubrock (reeds), Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone)
With his Diamond Curtain Wall Music, Anthony Braxton combines intuitive improvisation with interactive electronics. The musicians in the ensemble respond both to the evocative graphic notation of his Falling River Music, and the unique and responsive electronic patches the composer designed using the SuperCollider programming software. Recent recordings of Diamond Curtain Wall Music include Trio (Victoriaville) 2007 (Victo) and Quartet (Moscow) 2008(Leo).
Anthony Braxton Trillium Opera excerpts featuring: Roland Burks, Christopher DiMeglio, Kyoko Kitamura, Anne Rhodes (voices), Taylor Ho Bynum (brass), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ingrid Laubrock (reeds), Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone), Marcos Santos (violin), Matthew Madonia (violin), Wendy Richman (viola), Laura Usiskin (cello).
Braxton describes The Trillium Project as an opera complex of autonomous one-act settings interconnected through twelve recurring character archetypes that illustrate the basic components of his logic system, represented both by the twelve singers and by the same number of improvising instrumental soloists. Each act occurs within a specific dramatic context, but there is no overarching narrative structure; rather, the interest is in how the characters interact within the parameters of a given situation. (These situations range from a corporate board meeting to interplanetary space travel.) Braxton does not shy away from the melodramatic potential of traditional opera: there are swordfights and chases, giants and plagues. However, the “apparent story” is just one of three levels; underlying each act are the “philosophical” and “mystical” dynamics that so deeply inform Braxton’s libretto and music.
Anthony Braxton Falling River Music Trio
Monday 2/23 7:30pm
University of Alabama Gallery @ The Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center
620 Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
Falling River Music Trio: Anthony Braxton (reeds), Taylor Ho Bynum (brass), Kyoko Kitamura (voice)
Anthony Braxton Pinetop Aerial Music
Wednesday 2/25 7:30pm
Morgan Auditorium, Stadium Drive, University of Alabama Campus
Braxton’s newest music system for music and movement, featuring: Anthony Braxton (reeds), Taylor Ho Bynum (brass), Ingrid Laubrock (reeds), Andrew Raffo Dewar (reeds), Anne Rhodes (voice), Melanie Maar (movement), Rachel Bernsen (movement), and eight UA student dancers: Shaun Leary, Morgan Bryant, Bob McClure, McKay House, Victoria Beale, Brianna Milner, Mallory Herring, and Lindsey Henderson, coordinated by UA Prof. Sarah Barry from the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Photo credit: Carolyn Wachnicki
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series, organized by the University's New College, is proud to host saxophonist/composer Anthony Braxton, an NEA Jazz Master and MacArthur “genius” fellow, for a landmark one-week residency in advance of his 70th birthday.
"Mr. Braxton, the saxophonist and composer, [is a] rebel abstractionist, a builder of original languages combining composition and improvisation."
--New York Times
All events are free and open to the public.
Anthony Braxton's residency at the University of Alabama is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, The University of Alabama’s New College, the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Music and Jazz Studies program, the Blount Undergraduate Initiative, Honors College, Graduate School, University Programs, Crossroads Community Center, Student Affairs, UA Housing, and the departments of American Studies, Telecommunications & Film, Gender & Race Studies, and Theatre & Dance.
Composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton will spend a week at the Capstone in February 2015 in part thanks to a major National Endowment for the Arts "Art Works" grant awarded to Sonic Frontiers Artistic Director Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar, an Associate Professor in New College and the School of Music (and a regular performer with Braxton's ensembles since 2005), and Prof. Holland Hopson, a New College Instructor and Sonic Frontiers' Managing Director.
Braxton’s musical career spans more than five decades. His many awards include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, a 2009 honorary doctorate from the Université de Liège in Belgium, a 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and a 2013 New Music USA Letter of Distinction. He is also a 2014 NEA Jazz Master.
The residency will be Braxton's first project of this scale in the southern United States, and one of the largest retrospectives of his work ever produced. Braxton’s residency will include both world premiere performances and a retrospective overview of the singular compositional system he has been developing for nearly fifty years.
Braxton is one of the most prolific and eclectic American composer/performers of the past fifty years, composing over 400 pieces, ranging from small ensemble works to operas, works for multiple orchestras, and a piece for 100 tubas. Braxton's work appears on nearly 200 recordings. Drawing inspiration from avant-garde composers Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage, to jazz experimentalists John Coltrane, Sun Ra, and Ornette Coleman, and the global sounds of traditional Native American and African ritual musics, his work organically synthesizes his diverse influences into a singular music wholly his own. In Braxton's own words, "I know I’m an African-American, and I know I play the saxophone, but I’m not a jazz musician. I’m not a classical musician, either. My music is like my life: It’s in between these areas."
"Mr. Braxton, the saxophonist and composer, [is a] rebel abstractionist, a builder of original languages combining composition and improvisation."
--New York Times
All events are free and open to the public.
Anthony Braxton's residency at the University of Alabama is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, The University of Alabama’s New College, the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Music and Jazz Studies program, the Blount Undergraduate Initiative, Honors College, Graduate School, University Programs, Crossroads Community Center, Student Affairs, UA Housing, and the departments of American Studies, Telecommunications & Film, Gender & Race Studies, and Theatre & Dance.
Composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton will spend a week at the Capstone in February 2015 in part thanks to a major National Endowment for the Arts "Art Works" grant awarded to Sonic Frontiers Artistic Director Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar, an Associate Professor in New College and the School of Music (and a regular performer with Braxton's ensembles since 2005), and Prof. Holland Hopson, a New College Instructor and Sonic Frontiers' Managing Director.
Braxton’s musical career spans more than five decades. His many awards include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, a 2009 honorary doctorate from the Université de Liège in Belgium, a 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and a 2013 New Music USA Letter of Distinction. He is also a 2014 NEA Jazz Master.
The residency will be Braxton's first project of this scale in the southern United States, and one of the largest retrospectives of his work ever produced. Braxton’s residency will include both world premiere performances and a retrospective overview of the singular compositional system he has been developing for nearly fifty years.
Braxton is one of the most prolific and eclectic American composer/performers of the past fifty years, composing over 400 pieces, ranging from small ensemble works to operas, works for multiple orchestras, and a piece for 100 tubas. Braxton's work appears on nearly 200 recordings. Drawing inspiration from avant-garde composers Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage, to jazz experimentalists John Coltrane, Sun Ra, and Ornette Coleman, and the global sounds of traditional Native American and African ritual musics, his work organically synthesizes his diverse influences into a singular music wholly his own. In Braxton's own words, "I know I’m an African-American, and I know I play the saxophone, but I’m not a jazz musician. I’m not a classical musician, either. My music is like my life: It’s in between these areas."
TRANSCONTINENTAL CONCERT: DANS LES ARBRES + DEWAR/FEENEY/HOPSON TRIO
Wednesday, November 5th, 2014, 8:30 PM
University of Alabama School of Music - Moody Recital Hall
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series presented its first transcontinental, telematic concert!
Norwegian-French quartet Dans les arbres will perform at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs simultaneously with the Dewar/Feeney/Hopson Trio at the University of Alabama, connected via high-speed internet2.
Telematic concerts unite artists over the web in real-time, creating new forms of collaborative art and conjoining multiple communities. This concert is jointly presented by Sonic Frontiers, The University of Colorado Colorado Springs Music Department, and the Peak FreQuency Creative Arts Collective.
Dans les arbres is a collaborative quartet made up of one Frenchman and three Norwegians: Xavier Charles (clarinet, harmonica), Ivar Grydeland (acoustic guitar, prepared banjo, sruti box), Christian Wallumrød (piano), and Ingar Zach (percussion, bass drum). Their music has been called, humorous, exotic, electronic (although they are an entirely acoustic ensemble), mesmerizing, dark, nuanced, dense and open. Their unique yet accessible music is at once peaceful and challenging, gripping and boundless.
The Dewar/Feeney/Hopson Trio is an improvising group made up of University of Alabama professors Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone), Tim Feeney (percussion), and Holland Hopson (electronics). The three musicians have extensive international expertise in a range of genres of music, from new music, to electronic music and jazz.
Video preview of Dans les Arbres: http://youtu.be/ddC7C3Rlm_8
Wednesday, November 5th, 2014, 8:30 PM
University of Alabama School of Music - Moody Recital Hall
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series presented its first transcontinental, telematic concert!
Norwegian-French quartet Dans les arbres will perform at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs simultaneously with the Dewar/Feeney/Hopson Trio at the University of Alabama, connected via high-speed internet2.
Telematic concerts unite artists over the web in real-time, creating new forms of collaborative art and conjoining multiple communities. This concert is jointly presented by Sonic Frontiers, The University of Colorado Colorado Springs Music Department, and the Peak FreQuency Creative Arts Collective.
Dans les arbres is a collaborative quartet made up of one Frenchman and three Norwegians: Xavier Charles (clarinet, harmonica), Ivar Grydeland (acoustic guitar, prepared banjo, sruti box), Christian Wallumrød (piano), and Ingar Zach (percussion, bass drum). Their music has been called, humorous, exotic, electronic (although they are an entirely acoustic ensemble), mesmerizing, dark, nuanced, dense and open. Their unique yet accessible music is at once peaceful and challenging, gripping and boundless.
The Dewar/Feeney/Hopson Trio is an improvising group made up of University of Alabama professors Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone), Tim Feeney (percussion), and Holland Hopson (electronics). The three musicians have extensive international expertise in a range of genres of music, from new music, to electronic music and jazz.
Video preview of Dans les Arbres: http://youtu.be/ddC7C3Rlm_8
SONIC FRONTIERS FOURTH SEASON KICK-OFF EVENT - DAVE DOUGLAS QUINTET
Friday, October 3rd, 2014, 7:30 PM
University of Alabama’s Moody Concert Hall
810 Second Avenue Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
The University of Alabama Jazz Studies program in partnership with the Sonic Frontiers concert series presented the Dave Douglas Quintet, featuring a stellar lineup including Troy Roberts/tenor saxophone, Bobby Avey/piano, Linda Oh/ bass, and Anwar Marshall/drums.
Dave Douglas is a prolific trumpeter, composer and educator from New York City. His unique contributions to improvised music have garnered distinguished recognition, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aaron Copland award and two Grammy nominations. Since 2005, Douglas has operated his own record label, Greenleaf Music, releasing his own recordings as well as albums by other artists in the jazz idiom. Douglas has held several posts as an educator and impresario. From 2002 to 2012, he served as artistic director of the Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music at The Banff Centre in Canada. In 2013, he begins his second year as International Jazz Artist in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Friday, October 3rd, 2014, 7:30 PM
University of Alabama’s Moody Concert Hall
810 Second Avenue Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
The University of Alabama Jazz Studies program in partnership with the Sonic Frontiers concert series presented the Dave Douglas Quintet, featuring a stellar lineup including Troy Roberts/tenor saxophone, Bobby Avey/piano, Linda Oh/ bass, and Anwar Marshall/drums.
Dave Douglas is a prolific trumpeter, composer and educator from New York City. His unique contributions to improvised music have garnered distinguished recognition, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aaron Copland award and two Grammy nominations. Since 2005, Douglas has operated his own record label, Greenleaf Music, releasing his own recordings as well as albums by other artists in the jazz idiom. Douglas has held several posts as an educator and impresario. From 2002 to 2012, he served as artistic director of the Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music at The Banff Centre in Canada. In 2013, he begins his second year as International Jazz Artist in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
2013-2014 Season
DAWN OF MIDI
Thursday, April 17th, 2014, 7:30 PM
Bryant-Jordan Hall, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa AL
Critically-acclaimed New York City-based piano trio Dawn of Midi performed music from their dizzying and daring album "Dysnomia." This was the final event of Sonic Frontiers' third season.
Dawn of Midi is a critically-acclaimed New York City-based acoustic jazz trio comprised of Akaash Israni on bass, Amino Belyamani on piano and Qasim Naqvi on drums. Drawing on their roots in Morocco, Pakistan and India, and such wildly divergent influences and interests as Aphex Twin, the Police, Can and Ms. Pac-Man, these eclectic musicians create acoustic minimalism with a driving edge and dance floor-friendly beat.
Their second album, "Dysnomia," locks into one long, seemingly endless groove with complex textures and interplay that resembles a seamlessly mixed DJ set of cutting-edge electronic music.
Dawn of Midi performed at The University of Alabama fresh from their appearance at the 2014 Big Ears Festival that Rolling Stone magazine singled out as “one of the most arresting sets of the weekend… brainbending [and] seemingly impossible.
Video sample: http://vimeo.com/59969222
Thursday, April 17th, 2014, 7:30 PM
Bryant-Jordan Hall, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa AL
Critically-acclaimed New York City-based piano trio Dawn of Midi performed music from their dizzying and daring album "Dysnomia." This was the final event of Sonic Frontiers' third season.
Dawn of Midi is a critically-acclaimed New York City-based acoustic jazz trio comprised of Akaash Israni on bass, Amino Belyamani on piano and Qasim Naqvi on drums. Drawing on their roots in Morocco, Pakistan and India, and such wildly divergent influences and interests as Aphex Twin, the Police, Can and Ms. Pac-Man, these eclectic musicians create acoustic minimalism with a driving edge and dance floor-friendly beat.
Their second album, "Dysnomia," locks into one long, seemingly endless groove with complex textures and interplay that resembles a seamlessly mixed DJ set of cutting-edge electronic music.
Dawn of Midi performed at The University of Alabama fresh from their appearance at the 2014 Big Ears Festival that Rolling Stone magazine singled out as “one of the most arresting sets of the weekend… brainbending [and] seemingly impossible.
Video sample: http://vimeo.com/59969222
LONNIE HOLLEY
"THE WHOLE MINE"
Thursday, March 13th, 2014, 7:30pm
Paul R. Jones Gallery
2308 6th Street, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Visual artist/musician Lonnie Holley performed his beguiling music for voice and electronic keyboards, surrounded by an exhibit of his art and new pieces by University of Alabama students responding to his work.
Atlanta-based visual artist and musician Lonnie Holley performed Thursday March 13, 2014 at 7:30pm in the Paul R. Jones Gallery. Holley, who was for many years based in Birmingham, Alabama, was known to locals as “The Sandman,” and has created an internationally recognized body of sculptures, paintings, and art environments. In addition, Mr. Holley has also been a longtime performer of unique, soulful, improvised songs. His first album of original music, “Just Before Music” was released to critical acclaim in 2012 by Atlanta’s Dust to Digital. Holley recently performed his music at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City and has been featured in the New York Times magazine.
THREE VIEWS OF VIOLA
LADONNA SMITH, JESSICA PAVONE, WENDY RICHMAN
Monday, February 10, 2014, 7:30pm
Bama Theatre Greensboro Room
600 Greensboro Ave. Tuscaloosa, AL
This concert featured three world-class performers of the viola, an often misunderstood instrument of the orchestra, whose unique colors and beauty will be showcased at this all-star event.
LaDonna Smith, a Birmingham-based, world-renowned improviser, will perform her solo music for voice and viola. Ms. Smith, a founding figure of "free improvisation" in the United States, has been on the international new music scene for over 30 years and has created a style of improvisation uniquely her own. Alternating classical and extended techniques, she explores her instrument, painting sound pictures as she plays. She is an active performer, as well as an educator and native of Birmingham, Alabama. By networking with organizers and musicians from other cities, and through her work with the improvisor publication, she has been responsible for keeping improvised music alive in the southeastern United States. She has performed at practically every major improvisation festival and many of the world's New Music Festivals. Her travels have taken her to the former USSR, Siberia, and Japan. Her music is documented on dozens of CD and LP recordings.
Jessica Pavone, a composer/performer based in New York City, will perform her music for solo viola, voice, and electronics that reveals an interest in repetition, song form, understated melodies and sympathetic vibration. Pavone has performed in countless improvisation, avant jazz, experimental, folk, soul, and chamber ensembles since moving to New York City in 2000. She currently plays with the band Normal Love, in a duo with guitarist Mary Halvorson, with Anthony Braxton's ensembles and as a solo artist. As a composer, The Wire magazine praised her “ability to transform a naked tonal gesture into something special,” and The New York Times has described her music as "distinct and beguiling...its core is steely, and its execution clear."
Wendy Richman will perform works for solo viola and voice by Salvatore Sciarrino and Giacinto Scelsi. Richman has performed across the U.S. and Europe, receiving praise for her “absorbing,” “fresh and idiomatic” interpretations with a “brawny vitality” (The New York Times, The Washington Post). Notable solo and chamber music appearances include the international festivals of Berlin, Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Helsinki; New York City’s Mostly Mozart Festivals, Lincoln Center and Guggenheim Museum; and the American Academy in Rome. She can be heard on Albany Records, AURec, Between the Lines, Bloodshot Records, BMOP/sound, Mode Records, NAXOS, and Tzadik. Richman is a founding member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), a New York-based collective of 35 leading instrumentalists uniting new music and new audiences.
Video preview: Free Improvisation by LaDonna Smith http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds7y4qS2EpM
Audio preview: Walking, Sleeping, Breathing by Jessica Pavone http://jessicapavone.bandcamp.com/album/walking-sleeping-breathing
LADONNA SMITH, JESSICA PAVONE, WENDY RICHMAN
Monday, February 10, 2014, 7:30pm
Bama Theatre Greensboro Room
600 Greensboro Ave. Tuscaloosa, AL
This concert featured three world-class performers of the viola, an often misunderstood instrument of the orchestra, whose unique colors and beauty will be showcased at this all-star event.
LaDonna Smith, a Birmingham-based, world-renowned improviser, will perform her solo music for voice and viola. Ms. Smith, a founding figure of "free improvisation" in the United States, has been on the international new music scene for over 30 years and has created a style of improvisation uniquely her own. Alternating classical and extended techniques, she explores her instrument, painting sound pictures as she plays. She is an active performer, as well as an educator and native of Birmingham, Alabama. By networking with organizers and musicians from other cities, and through her work with the improvisor publication, she has been responsible for keeping improvised music alive in the southeastern United States. She has performed at practically every major improvisation festival and many of the world's New Music Festivals. Her travels have taken her to the former USSR, Siberia, and Japan. Her music is documented on dozens of CD and LP recordings.
Jessica Pavone, a composer/performer based in New York City, will perform her music for solo viola, voice, and electronics that reveals an interest in repetition, song form, understated melodies and sympathetic vibration. Pavone has performed in countless improvisation, avant jazz, experimental, folk, soul, and chamber ensembles since moving to New York City in 2000. She currently plays with the band Normal Love, in a duo with guitarist Mary Halvorson, with Anthony Braxton's ensembles and as a solo artist. As a composer, The Wire magazine praised her “ability to transform a naked tonal gesture into something special,” and The New York Times has described her music as "distinct and beguiling...its core is steely, and its execution clear."
Wendy Richman will perform works for solo viola and voice by Salvatore Sciarrino and Giacinto Scelsi. Richman has performed across the U.S. and Europe, receiving praise for her “absorbing,” “fresh and idiomatic” interpretations with a “brawny vitality” (The New York Times, The Washington Post). Notable solo and chamber music appearances include the international festivals of Berlin, Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Helsinki; New York City’s Mostly Mozart Festivals, Lincoln Center and Guggenheim Museum; and the American Academy in Rome. She can be heard on Albany Records, AURec, Between the Lines, Bloodshot Records, BMOP/sound, Mode Records, NAXOS, and Tzadik. Richman is a founding member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), a New York-based collective of 35 leading instrumentalists uniting new music and new audiences.
Video preview: Free Improvisation by LaDonna Smith http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds7y4qS2EpM
Audio preview: Walking, Sleeping, Breathing by Jessica Pavone http://jessicapavone.bandcamp.com/album/walking-sleeping-breathing
JUDY DUNAWAY - MUSIC FOR BALLOONS
Wednesday, November 20, 2013 7:30 PM
UA School of Music - Moody Recital Hall
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Wednesday, November 20, 2013 7:30 PM
UA School of Music - Moody Recital Hall
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UNCANNY VALLEY - POETRY AND PIANO WITH ELECTRONICS
Oni Buchanan, piano, Jon Woodward, poetry, John Gibson, composition
Wednesday, October 30, 2013, 7:30 PM
UA School of Music - Moody Recital Hall
This event was co-presented by the UA English Department's Bankhead Visiting Writers Series and Sonic Frontiers. “Uncanny Valley” features a performance of poet Jon Woodward's serial poem with music by composer John Gibson. Gibson provides a concert-length sonic environment for Woodward's poetry that reflects the poem's text in ever-changing ways. Pianist Oni Buchanan and author Jon Woodward perform while audio samples triggered by the reader enmesh the piano and spoken text with echoes of itself.
Video preview: http://youtu.be/P1hyPKvwhfY
Concert pianist Oni Buchanan brings grace and intensity to an incredible range of piano literature, from exceptional music by women composers of the 21st century, to French music ranging from Couperin to Fauré to Ravel to Messiaen, to the works of such established masters as Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Prokofiev, and Bartók. A published poet as well as a pianist, Ms. Buchanan's concert programming is often interdisciplinary in nature, directly engaging the intimate connections between the arts. http://www.arielartists.com/artists/oni-buchanan/
Jon Woodward was born in Wichita, KS, and has lived in Denver and Fort Collins, CO, as well as Boston and Quincy, MA, where he currently resides. His books are Uncanny Valley (Cleveland State University Poetry Center), Rain (Wave Books), and Mister Goodbye Easter Island (Alice James Books). Other recent projects include a 40-foot-long Möbius strip poem, called "Mockingbird," which was typed on adding machine tape; a suite of time-dependent visual poems called "Poems to Stare At;" and an ongoing poem called "Copyleft," to which quatrains are added at the rate of one per day. He works at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, where he specializes in digital imaging and a variety of other curatorial activities.
John Gibson’s works have been performed across the world by groups like London Sinfonietta, the Da Capo Chamber Players, the Seattle Symphony, the Music Today Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, and Ekko! He writes sound processing and synthesis software, and has taught composition and computer music at the University of Virginia, Duke University, and the University of Louisville. He is now Assistant Professor of Composition at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. http://john-gibson.com/
Oni Buchanan, piano, Jon Woodward, poetry, John Gibson, composition
Wednesday, October 30, 2013, 7:30 PM
UA School of Music - Moody Recital Hall
This event was co-presented by the UA English Department's Bankhead Visiting Writers Series and Sonic Frontiers. “Uncanny Valley” features a performance of poet Jon Woodward's serial poem with music by composer John Gibson. Gibson provides a concert-length sonic environment for Woodward's poetry that reflects the poem's text in ever-changing ways. Pianist Oni Buchanan and author Jon Woodward perform while audio samples triggered by the reader enmesh the piano and spoken text with echoes of itself.
Video preview: http://youtu.be/P1hyPKvwhfY
Concert pianist Oni Buchanan brings grace and intensity to an incredible range of piano literature, from exceptional music by women composers of the 21st century, to French music ranging from Couperin to Fauré to Ravel to Messiaen, to the works of such established masters as Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Prokofiev, and Bartók. A published poet as well as a pianist, Ms. Buchanan's concert programming is often interdisciplinary in nature, directly engaging the intimate connections between the arts. http://www.arielartists.com/artists/oni-buchanan/
Jon Woodward was born in Wichita, KS, and has lived in Denver and Fort Collins, CO, as well as Boston and Quincy, MA, where he currently resides. His books are Uncanny Valley (Cleveland State University Poetry Center), Rain (Wave Books), and Mister Goodbye Easter Island (Alice James Books). Other recent projects include a 40-foot-long Möbius strip poem, called "Mockingbird," which was typed on adding machine tape; a suite of time-dependent visual poems called "Poems to Stare At;" and an ongoing poem called "Copyleft," to which quatrains are added at the rate of one per day. He works at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, where he specializes in digital imaging and a variety of other curatorial activities.
John Gibson’s works have been performed across the world by groups like London Sinfonietta, the Da Capo Chamber Players, the Seattle Symphony, the Music Today Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, and Ekko! He writes sound processing and synthesis software, and has taught composition and computer music at the University of Virginia, Duke University, and the University of Louisville. He is now Assistant Professor of Composition at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. http://john-gibson.com/
Them Natives & Tuscaloosa Monorail TV Shoot - Green Bar - 8:00pm, September 24th
The joyfully unpredictable music from this Birmingham-based band veer from freak folk banjo with harmonized vocals to neo-psychedelic rock and "walls of sound" that would make Phil Spector blush, but that would make Captain Beefheart feel right at home. This concert will also be a live video shoot for Tuscaloosa’s deviously inventive lo-fi music TV show, Tuscaloosa Monorail.
Them Natives has been active in central Alabama and touring nationally since 2006. Originating with the trio of Jasper Lee, Milton Ragsdale and Turner Williams Jr., the group evolved over time to encompass a variety of revolving players which now include Leah Hamby, Amber Locke and Carter Glascock. While rooted in the folk history and mythology of the Deep South, their music is informed by a desire to communicate with distant cultures, both in space and time. Them Natives explores their geographical landscape and genetic inheritance through a mixture of ritual, improvisation, songwriting and visual presentation.
Watch the Tuscaloosa Monorail show at http://youtu.be/JKGZSk70E3Y
The joyfully unpredictable music from this Birmingham-based band veer from freak folk banjo with harmonized vocals to neo-psychedelic rock and "walls of sound" that would make Phil Spector blush, but that would make Captain Beefheart feel right at home. This concert will also be a live video shoot for Tuscaloosa’s deviously inventive lo-fi music TV show, Tuscaloosa Monorail.
Them Natives has been active in central Alabama and touring nationally since 2006. Originating with the trio of Jasper Lee, Milton Ragsdale and Turner Williams Jr., the group evolved over time to encompass a variety of revolving players which now include Leah Hamby, Amber Locke and Carter Glascock. While rooted in the folk history and mythology of the Deep South, their music is informed by a desire to communicate with distant cultures, both in space and time. Them Natives explores their geographical landscape and genetic inheritance through a mixture of ritual, improvisation, songwriting and visual presentation.
Watch the Tuscaloosa Monorail show at http://youtu.be/JKGZSk70E3Y
2012-2013 Season
Aaron Siegel and UA Percussion Ensemble - Manderson Landing Park - 6:00pm, April 8th
A very special outdoor performance on the Black Warrior River at the Manderson Landing Park at 6:00pm on Monday, April 8th of New York City based composer Aaron Siegel’s “Science is a Sometimes Friend” by the UA percussion ensemble led by Dr. Tim Feeney.
Siegel’s composition is a gorgeous, entrancing piece of music for eight glockenspiels and audience participation. Bring a blanket and an instrument, and prepare yourself for a memorable one-of-a-kind sunset concert.
Siegel’s composition is a gorgeous, entrancing piece of music for eight glockenspiels and audience participation. Bring a blanket and an instrument, and prepare yourself for a memorable one-of-a-kind sunset concert.
Funded in part through New Music USA's MetLife Creative Connections program.
Justin Peake and Holland Hopson - Bama Theatre - March 7th, 2013
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series is pleased to present new music composer/performers Holland Hopson and Justin Peake at 7:30pm on Thursday, March 7th in the The Bama Theatre’s Greensboro Room, 600 Greensboro Ave, Tuscaloosa, AL. Hopson and Peake will each perform solo sets of original compositions and improvised music. Hopson and Peake fuse acoustic and electronic music into entrancing new music appealing to both traditional and contemporary sensibilities.
Hopson’s music, grounded in appalachian folk traditions, and Peake’s, exploring new territory in jazz and dance musics, showcase the musicians’ Alabama roots and connection to regional music traditions. In conversation with these traditions, Hopson and Peake allow electronic elements of their work to envelop both listener and performer for intimate and often hypnotic music.
Hopson’s music, grounded in appalachian folk traditions, and Peake’s, exploring new territory in jazz and dance musics, showcase the musicians’ Alabama roots and connection to regional music traditions. In conversation with these traditions, Hopson and Peake allow electronic elements of their work to envelop both listener and performer for intimate and often hypnotic music.
Funded in part through New Music USA's MetLife Creative Connections program.
Meridian Percussion Trio - Moody Concert Hall - February 25th, 2013
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series is pleased to present Meridian, a percussion trio featuring UA faculty member Tim Feeney with Nick Hennies (Austin, TX) and Greg Stuart (Columbia, SC) at 7:30pm on Monday, February 25th at the Moody Music Building Concert Hall, 810 2nd Avenue,Tuscaloosa AL. Meridian will perform finely crafted, glacially-paced, otherworldly soundscapes using experimental techniques on traditional percussion instruments.
In creating this music, Meridian reimagines or “primitivizes” its materials, eschewing their training as classical percussionists in favor of exploring acoustic phenomena, so an instrument like a snare drum becomes a cylindrical shell with a flexible membrane. Viewed from this perspective, their instruments become unique sound-making and filtering objects to be set into vibration by resonant metals, scraping implements, fingers, bows, or feedback circuitry. In performance, each musician invents a new method for producing sound, a new aggregate instrument, in real-time.
In creating this music, Meridian reimagines or “primitivizes” its materials, eschewing their training as classical percussionists in favor of exploring acoustic phenomena, so an instrument like a snare drum becomes a cylindrical shell with a flexible membrane. Viewed from this perspective, their instruments become unique sound-making and filtering objects to be set into vibration by resonant metals, scraping implements, fingers, bows, or feedback circuitry. In performance, each musician invents a new method for producing sound, a new aggregate instrument, in real-time.
Raudelunas Pataphysical Redux - Ferguson Center Theater - February 2nd, 2013
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series and Trans/Productions is pleased to present the Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Redux, featuring legendary Alabama experimentalists LaDonna Smith, Anne LeBaron, Craig Nutt, Davey Williams and many special guests on Saturday, February 2nd at 7:30pm in the Ferguson Center Theater, 751 Campus Drive, Tuscaloosa, AL. The performance will follow a 5:00pm - 7:00pm closing reception of the Raudelunas Exposition at the Ferguson Art Gallery.
The Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Redux brings together many of the original members of this groundbreaking Alabama art collective, including internationally acclaimed composer/harpist Anne LeBaron, avantblues guitar master Davey Williams, world renowned violinist/violist LaDonna Smith, big band leader & wood sculptor Craig Nutt, and many special guests, as they return to the site of one of their most infamous recordings, the Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Revue, recorded at the Ferguson Theater in 1975 and listed in The Wire magazine's "100 Records That Set The World On Fire While No One Was Listening."
The Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Redux brings together many of the original members of this groundbreaking Alabama art collective, including internationally acclaimed composer/harpist Anne LeBaron, avantblues guitar master Davey Williams, world renowned violinist/violist LaDonna Smith, big band leader & wood sculptor Craig Nutt, and many special guests, as they return to the site of one of their most infamous recordings, the Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Revue, recorded at the Ferguson Theater in 1975 and listed in The Wire magazine's "100 Records That Set The World On Fire While No One Was Listening."
George Cremaschi - Paul R. Jones Gallery - January 17th, 2013
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series is pleased to present Czech Republic-based bassist, improviser and composer George Cremaschi on Thursday, January 17th at the Paul R. Jones Gallery, 2308 Sixth Street,Tuscaloosa AL. Cremaschi will perform a solo set of original compositions and improvisations for acoustic bass and electronics. The second half of the concert will feature the world premiere trio of Cremaschi, and UA’s own Dr. Tim Feeney (percussion) and Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone).
George Cremaschi was born in New York City, where he studied music and composition. Utilizing mostly contrabass and electronics, his work attempts to dissolve the boundaries between music, sound art, and noise.
Mr. Cremaschi has made music for dancers, improvisers, installation artists, poets, film, folk musicians, theater groups, orchestras, rock bands and pop divas, and has worked with a long list of fantastic artists including Nicolas Collins, Evan Parker, Franz Hautzinger, Gino Robair, Christof Kurzmann, dieb13, Mats Gustafsson, Lê Quan Ninh, and many others.
George Cremaschi was born in New York City, where he studied music and composition. Utilizing mostly contrabass and electronics, his work attempts to dissolve the boundaries between music, sound art, and noise.
Mr. Cremaschi has made music for dancers, improvisers, installation artists, poets, film, folk musicians, theater groups, orchestras, rock bands and pop divas, and has worked with a long list of fantastic artists including Nicolas Collins, Evan Parker, Franz Hautzinger, Gino Robair, Christof Kurzmann, dieb13, Mats Gustafsson, Lê Quan Ninh, and many others.
Ullman/Swell 4 - Moody Recital Hall - October 17th, 2012
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series is pleased to present the Ullman/Swell 4 featuring German multi-instrumentalist Gebhard Ullman (reeds) and NYC-based musicians Steve Swell (trombone), Barry Altschul (drums) and Hill Greene (bass) on Wednesday, October 17th in the University of Alabama School of Music’s Recital Hall. Both Ullman and Swell compose for the group, which explores the many possibilities of jazz, from the traditional to the experimental.
This high energy quartet of veteran master musicians has collectively performed with an incredibly diverse range of major jazz figures. Trombonist Steve Swell cut his teeth in the 1970s and early 1980s with mainstream jazz artists Buddy Rich and Lionel Hampton before coming into his own with avant-garde composer and saxophonist Makanda Ken McIntyre, pianist Cecil Taylor, saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Joey Baron, and others. Legendary drummer Barry Altschul worked for many years with giants as Art Pepper, Sam Rivers, Anthony Braxton, and Paul Bley. Bassist Hill Greene has also worked with the full spectrum of the jazz tradition, from influential bebop legend Kenny Barron and young modernist Vijay Iyer.
This high energy quartet of veteran master musicians has collectively performed with an incredibly diverse range of major jazz figures. Trombonist Steve Swell cut his teeth in the 1970s and early 1980s with mainstream jazz artists Buddy Rich and Lionel Hampton before coming into his own with avant-garde composer and saxophonist Makanda Ken McIntyre, pianist Cecil Taylor, saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Joey Baron, and others. Legendary drummer Barry Altschul worked for many years with giants as Art Pepper, Sam Rivers, Anthony Braxton, and Paul Bley. Bassist Hill Greene has also worked with the full spectrum of the jazz tradition, from influential bebop legend Kenny Barron and young modernist Vijay Iyer.
Tim Daisy's "Vox Arcana" - Moody Recital Hall - September 28th, 2012
Tim Daisy’s Vox Arcana trio will perform at the University on Friday, September 28th at 7:30 pm in UA’s School of Music Recital Hall. The Chicago-based trio is led by percussionist/ composer Tim Daisy and includes James Falzone on clarinet and Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and electronics. These internationally-acclaimed musicians have worked with an extraordinary range of artists, including legendary American minimalist composer Morton Feldman, Chicago avant-jazz icon Ken Vandermark, and the alt-rock band Wilco.
The group’s off-kilter instrumentation contrasts soaring, lyrical clarinet melodies with pleasantly burbling marimba figures and spiky electronic textures. The result is a lilting, gently swinging combination of contemporary chamber music and improvised music.
The group’s off-kilter instrumentation contrasts soaring, lyrical clarinet melodies with pleasantly burbling marimba figures and spiky electronic textures. The result is a lilting, gently swinging combination of contemporary chamber music and improvised music.
2011-2012 Season
Ghana’s Nii Noi Nortey, with Tatsuya Nakatani & Andrew Raffo Dewar
Ferguson Center Theater - April 25th, 2012
Nii Noi Nortey, the acclaimed saxophonist and saxophone inventor from Accra, Ghana, will offer a two-day residency including a concert
of solos, duos and trios with UA faculty member and saxophonist Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar and renowned Japanese-American percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani.
of solos, duos and trios with UA faculty member and saxophonist Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar and renowned Japanese-American percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani.
Film Screening of “Accra Trane Station: The Music and Art of Nii Noi Nortey.”
132 Lloyd Hall - April 23rd, 2012
A public screening of eminent ethnomusicologist Steven Feld’s 2009 documentary film about Ghanaian musician, inventor and visual artist Nii Noi Nortey, “Accra Trane Station: The Music and Art of Nii Noi Nortey.”
Endangered Blood Quartet - Ferguson Center Theater - April 6th, 2012
An exciting NYC-based quartet of internationally acclaimed musicians: Chris Speed & Oscar Noriega (saxophones), Trevor Dunn (bass), and Jim Black (drums). Chris Speed’s compositions for the group are the “most melodically generous, accessible and warm he’s yet to produce” (Downbeat). Be prepared for “corkscrew ditties and dreamy laments...fans of post-rock clatter will dig the way the rhythm section puts the pedal to the metal.” (Village Voice) “You were wondering where a rock aesthetic has improved jazz rather than compromising it? Here.” (New York Times).
Jack Wright, Solo Saxophone - Alabama Art Kitchen - March 21st, 2012
Saxophonist Jack Wright, the legendary “Johnny Appleseed of free improvisation,” will visit a New College seminar and perform a community outreach solo saxophone concert at the Alabama Art Kitchen. “Jack Wright remains one of the most indispensable musicians of his generation...a true catalyst of energy, and an indefatigable explorer” (Jazzosphere) “In the rarefied, underground world of experimental free improvisation, saxophonist Jack Wright is king.” (Washington Post).
Harris Eisenstadt’s “Canada Day” Quintet - Ferguson Center Theater - February 27th, 2012
Harris Eisenstadt and his critically acclaimed quintet Canada Day lead off Sonic Frontiers, a cutting-edge avantgarde
jazz series on The University of Alabama campus. Eisenstadt and Canada Day’s first album, released in 2009, received four stars in Downbeat magazine and made its way into several end-of-the-year top 10 lists. The band itself debuted in 2007 and has received high praise from critics since its inception. Jazz.com says, “An accessible blend of inside and outside traditions delivered by an empathetic young ensemble, Canada Day is a welcome addition to the burgeoning discography of one of the new generation’s leading composers.”
jazz series on The University of Alabama campus. Eisenstadt and Canada Day’s first album, released in 2009, received four stars in Downbeat magazine and made its way into several end-of-the-year top 10 lists. The band itself debuted in 2007 and has received high praise from critics since its inception. Jazz.com says, “An accessible blend of inside and outside traditions delivered by an empathetic young ensemble, Canada Day is a welcome addition to the burgeoning discography of one of the new generation’s leading composers.”
2010-2011 Season
The Music of Anne LeBaron - Moody Recital Hall - August 20th, 2011
This concert presented a small window into the remarkable musical work of distinguished New College alumna, Dr. Anne LeBaron. Dr. LeBaron returns to the University of Alabama in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the University of Alabama's New College, an interdisciplinary liberal arts program where students craft individualized courses of study consistent with their interests, aptitude, temperament, and skills. Featuring performances of LeBaron's "Four (2009)" by violinist Dr. Jubal Fulks, "Fantasy on Doggone Catact (2011)" by harpist LeBaron herself, "Solar Music (1997)" by Sarah Crocker, harp with Whitney O'Neal, flute, and improvisations with LeBaron, LaDonna Smith (viola and violin), and Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone).
Ken Vandermark & Tim Daisy Duo - Green Bar - July 28th, 2011
Chicago-based MacArthur "genius" grant fellow saxophonist Ken Vandermark and stalwart drummer Tim Daisy have been performing, recording, and touring together in a number of groups based in Chicago since 2001 including: the Vandermark 5, The Resonance Ensemble , The Frame Quartet, and Topology. Performing as a duo they concentrate on investigating the possibilities of free improvisation through their combined experiences working within a wide variety of improvised and composed musical settings over the years. Drawing on numerous influences including: American and European free jazz, experimental rock, free improvisation, soul and funk as well as 20th century contemporary music and visual art, they combine their creative energies to further explore and assemble sound in an improvised context.
Greece & Global Culture - Moody Recital Hall - April 21st, 2011
A very special concert by musicologist and pianist Dr. Danae Stefanou of Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece, this concert featured performances of compositions by young Greek composers and intercultural improvisation with Stefanou and Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone).
Thirteenth Assembly - Ferguson Center Theater - December 2nd, 2010
The New York-based collective Thirteenth Assembly is Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet), Jessica Pavone (viola), Mary Halvorson (guitar), and Tomas Fujiwara (drums).
In performances, Thirteenth Assembly produces a sound that’s a mix of “the classic R&B and soul revues of the 1960s” and “a post-modern traveling circus.” Overall, this combination of musical forms creates an outstanding listening experience.
“This is a group with an admirably relaxed sense of self and a shared conviction to keep all options open,” wrote Nate Chinen in The New York Times in March 2009.
“This is a group with an admirably relaxed sense of self and a shared conviction to keep all options open,” wrote Nate Chinen in The New York Times in March 2009.
Music & Movement at Moundville - Moundville Archaeological Park - August 23rd, 2010
Featuring Andrew Raffo Dewar (soprano saxophone), LaDonna Smith (viola), Jill Burton (voice), Claire Elizabeth Barratt (dance), and Evan Lipson (bass), this was a two-hour long outdoor performance of improvised sound and movement in the unique and breathtaking setting of Moundville Archaeological Park.