July 18 - ♪gd - My first simultaneous descriptions: Oliver Lake + Leroy Jenkins, Yannick Rieu + Paul Bley, Lisle Ellis + Paul Cram, October 1990
Three duos in live play-by-play written descriptions of their entire sets, all from October 1990, all never previously published or posted, two as French originals with translations
SIMULDESCRIP - noun, compounding “simultaneous” and “description” and used to describe the process where I create(d) real-time texts describing music improvisers via the filters of secretarial note taking, speed typing, NMA training and hockey play-by-play.
SIMPLEST POSSIBLE DESCRIPTION:
When they start to play, I start to write and when they stop playing, I stop writing. I have been a speed typist and writer all my life and usually wind up with 3000 words describing what I heard while I was typing my descriptions on a laptop.
October 1990: the last New Music America was in about a month’s time. I was attempting to write about three new music festivals on the Canadian East Coast where I lived, all within 100 days, and the only time this many performances had/has been available to the area in the same time frame.
I had hoped on writing three articles for each festival with a tenth being an overall view of “the scene” based on what I “had seen”. To do this, I had returned to live with my parents in Moncton, New Brunswick and hoped to find a place in “new music journalism”, and maybe even leave Moncton, New Brunswick for bigger cities where such things happen on a regular basis.
But the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville was jazz-heavy, something I’d not thought of writing about before.
I knew I had to write something, notes maybe that could help me write something afterwards. But there were 22 performances that I’d take in over five days and I feared they’d all blur into one mass of brain tonality. Luckily, the FIMAV’s quality extended to the programming and even today I can pretty well distinguish the differences of artistry from that long fall weekend.
At the beginning of my first concert featuring Paul Bley and Yannick Rieu, I thus relied on my secretarial abilities, taking out a notepad and writing a description of everything I perceived and heard, moment by moment in the same way that I took live minutes at a board meeting as a secretary. Maybe sped up by my having been a fan of radio hockey play-by-play where fluid physical movement get described as they happen. And graced by a high tolerance for the new and/or unknown, a talent fine tuned by the 400+ performances I had witnessed at New Music America.
This was basic notetaking and first experiments, here and at the NMA Montreal festival one month later, but the handwriting took me away from thepaying attention and so I set the process aside until I’d get my first laptop in 1994. That upgrade would lead to around 56 simuldescrips between 1994 to 1996, and back then, I was hoping that what follows today would have been part of a book I was trying to pitch tentatively titled:
“Simuldescrips: The First Bunch”
But nope, after 1996 no interest. So I do believe that what follows to the end of this substack are all world premieres, as they’ve never been published or even shown to others. All texts unchanged except for spelling, punctuation and removal of a phrase or two where I can’t figure out what that meant 33 years later. Français flush left, Anglish indented.
Octobre, 1990 Victoriaville (Québec)
Handwritten in full sentences during the performance
Paul Bley from the Jazz Music Archives website
https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/paul-bley
Bley-Yannick:
L'église Ste-Victoire est une cathédrale splendide avec un dôme d'à peu près de 60 pieds de haut en devant, le Christ portant un enfant à la gauche, entouré par des roses et décorations et une grande statue du Christ, sa tête regardant directment la scène où se trouve le grand piano utilisé. Un grand panneau de bois encercle la scène. L'ange gardienne, à peu près de 4 pi de haut, est à la marque de 40 pi. C'est une église qui domine plutôt qu'inspire, à cause de nombreux conflits artistiques (Christ rose, tapis en velours rouge, le brun chocolat des murs), mais c'est aussi comme le manque importatif de salons confortables.
The Ste-Victoire church is a spendid cathegral with a dome of around 60 feet in height with at the front, the Christ holding an infant to the left, surrounded by roses and decorations, as well as a great statue of the Christ, his head looking directly at the scene where we find the grand piano located. A large wood paneling surrounds the scene. The Guardian Angel, around four feet in height, is at the 40 foot mark. It’s a church that dominates rather than inspired, maybe due to the numerous artistic conflicts of interest (pink Christ, red velvet carpet, chocolate brown on the walls), but it’s also along the line of the reasoning that forbids comfortable sitting in the pews.
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From the tourismeregionvictoriaville.com website, this photo of the interior of the Cathedrale Ste-Victoire de Victoriaville by copyright holder Guy Samson. Can’t you just imagine when Sun Ra and the Arkestra played here?
Peut-être le début d'un festival (au milieu d'une tempête de plus en plus) c'est l'effort de Vic d'exiger un respect, un thème, le thème d'un festival à l'exigence d'attention.
"Solidarité est le thème pour Levasseur"
Maybe it’s due to the beginning of the festival (in the middle of a storm getting bigger and bigger), and an effort from Victoriaville to require respect for the theme, the theme being a festival requiring attention.
“Solidarity is the theme for Levasseur”
gd note 2023 - Though I remember there being some kind of political festival opening, my writing was a reference to a dispute between the town and the public funders of the festival (I think that’s who I mean by “Victoriaville” in the above sentence), feeling in part under siege because of the upcoming New Music America festival, and also because they were on the point of losing their city arena venue because it became no longer available in the fall. The festival has survived New Music America to this day, with no sign in the diminishing of quality choices and performances but in 2023 there was a further spat that forced organizers to (finally?) ditch the arena which apparently offered greater flexibility and control over the new arts complex in the city.
I was nervous writing this, realizing that my writing-about-jazz chops were not finely honed. But using my basic tools of description, I think it came out well, though you can hear me in the vein of “what the fuck do I think I’m doing here, trying to describe this, and why?” in the first paragraph upon Paul Bley opening with a solo set.
Bley: solo
1. La dernière fois que j'ai entendu et admiré ce style ce fut Jarrett, et en termes de musiques actuelles, où se trouve-t-elle, ce style de jazz? Ainsi, cette forme de composition, prend-t-on la autant au sérieux que du sérialisme?
Le placement dit que Victo le veut - le chant harmonique, n'est-ce pas comme du Gould ou du Jarrett? Et le jazz, et c'est ça que c'est, se trouve-t-elle en confort ou en attraction avec la musique actuelle?
La terminologie, et même la description de ce qui est ceci pour moi, est dans un domaine qu'on ne prend pas le temps d'entrer en analyse, et l'on devrait. Il court, il contrebalance, c'est une salve, une poésie improvisée, et n'oublions pas que c'est un géant de jazz qui nous offres ses méditations accumulées.
Veut-il simuler la complexité de ce qu'on entend dans nos avant-gardistes préférés? Là l'on trouve un homme qui est en possession de trois voix - sa voix est notre lien et c'est nous qu'il chante pour. Et deux notes brèves ajoutant une ponctuaison précise.
The last time that I heard and admired this style was Keith Jarrett, and in terms of “musiques actuelles” [gd - Victoriaville’s preferred term/translation for new music], where does jazz place itself? Thus, this form of composition, should we take it as seriously as serialism?
The positioning of the concert says that Victo wants that. The harmonic choir, isn’t it like Gould or Jarrett? And jazz, and that’s what it is, does it find itself within the comfort or at least attracted to musique actuelle?
The terminology, and even the description of what this is for me, is in a domain that we don’t tend to take the time to enter and analyse, and we should. It runs, it counterbalances, it’s a salve, an improvised poetry and of course don’t forget it’s a giant of jazz who is offering us his accumulated meditations.
Does [the festival] want to stimulate the complexity of what we are hearing in our preferred avant-gardists? Here we find a man who is in possession of three voices - his voice is our link and it’s us who he is singing to and for. And two brief notes add a precise punctuation.
2. Calme - note par note, echo d'église résonnance d'une caverne. C'est une examination de liens de tonalité, et ça me fait penser à Morton Feldman. Quand la pièce dépasse l'introduction, elle se flexe sur de notes basses. Et les notes se séparent, flottant en union. Si c'était intentionel de vraiment présenter ceci comme "musique actuelle", c'est une exercise stimulante en comparison. Mais les deux émissions officielles n'oseraient jamais insérer telle pièce dans leur répertoire. Labels, encore. Flottant, résonnant
Calm - note by note, the echoes of a church sounding like a cavern. It’s an examination of the ties of tonality and makes me think of Morton Feldman. When the piece moves past its introduction, she flexes herself on low bass notes. The notes separate, float in union. If it was his intention to present this set as “musique actuelle”, it’s a stimulating exercise in comparison. But the two official [radio] programs would ever dare insert such a piece in their repertoire. Always labels. Floating, resonating.
3. Yannick entre et il prend la position du jazzman: Bley devient percussioniste, tenant la corde en jouant le rythme en notes uniques dans le bas du clavier. C'est un maître qui accompagne, mais Rieu ne remplit pas tous les passages - contraponcualité, partage de rhythme. rien dominant les couleurs, Bley dominant le tambour. Et voilà qu'on perçoit Bley comme joueur de piano préparé (par sa propre main).
Yannick enters and he assumes the jazzman position. Bley becomes percussionist, holding on to the piano strings while playing the rhythm in single notes to the low end of the keyboard. It’s a master who plays accompanist, but Rieu doesn’t fill in all of the passages left for him to choose - contra punctuality, sharing of rhythms, nothing washing out the colors, Bley playing the drum. And here’s where we perceive Bley as a one handed prepared piano player.
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Yannick Rieu from his current profile on the Yari Productions artist profile website
https://www.yariproductions.com/fr/artistes/
4. Bley encore en piano préparé. Cette fois, il joue le dedans, comme si Leng-Tan était ici - c'est le piano comme harpe. Rieu souffle et chante, des respirations. Bley joue avec une subtilité qui après ferait jaser qu'il était dans une salle en arrière, pendant que Rieu pompe et chiale, lentement, comme un klaxon de bateau stimulé par les goelands. Bley revient au piano préparé, mais sur les hautes notes qu'il resonnait avec subtilité.
Bley joue certaines notes et phrases distinctes.
Bley again on the prepared piano. This times, he’s really playing the insides, as Margaret Leng-Tan would do, it’s the piano as a harp. Rieu blows and sings, breaths. Bley plays with a subtlety that would allow someone to be heard muttering at the back of the room, while Rieu pumps and howls, slowly, like a boat horn that was tickled by seagulls. Bley returns to prepared piano, but on the higher notes which he again resonates with subtlety, then adding a few particular distinct notes and phrases.
5. Rieu en solo, cascades furtives - c'est son solo en total; Bley s'est enlevé de la scène. Les echos sont subtiles mais ajoute une pédale que les dernières notes des phrases. Utile et beau - C'est des échos dans la nuit, cascades et resonnances. Chant jazz, langage qui s'exprime en phrases longues et courtes, par rapport aux pièce du début de Bley, c'est un second echo. Il se démontre compatible. Il faudra que je lis avec précision ce qu'aura à dire Miller et Downbeat.
Rieu solo - nervous furtive cascades and we note that it’s his complete solo spot - Bley has removed himself from the stage. The echos are subtle but speed up only on the last notes of the phrases. Useful and pretty - it’s like echos in the night, cascades and resonances. Jazz singing, a language which expresses itself in long and short phrases, as opposed to Bley’s opening: it’s a second echo. He shows himself worthy. I’ll have to read with precision what [Mark] Miller and Downbeat have to say about this.
6. Rieu solo encore avec une variation à une mélodie précise. Variations qui décompose et multiplie les relations entre tonalités simples des mélodies répétés. Sonne un peu comme "Do not forsake me oh my lonely"
Rieu solos again with a variation on a precise melody. Variations which break apart and then multiply the relations between simple tonalities and repeated melodies. Sounds a bit like '“Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin’ .”
7. Retour du duo. Bley commence avec une dance dans la basse octave et Rieu entre dans les fortes regroupements de notes basses. Section 2 est l'arpeggio qui est envelopé en tas de notes rhythmiques avec le sax qui l'encercle, comme du minimalisme et l'environnemental. Bley ne perd jamais ses rhythmes de 16 notes pendant que Rieu en pousse une, quatre, 32. C'est une harmonisation qui s'improvise mais sans qu'on n'échappe à l'autre.
Return of the duo. Bley starts with a dance in the bass octave and Rieu enters with large doubling of those same low notes. The second section is an arpeggio which is smothered by a cluster of rhythmic notes with the sax encircling the lot, simultaneously like minimalism and environmentalism. Bley never loses his rhythm pattern of 16 notes while Rieu pushes on one, four, thirty two. It’s an improvisation that hold the harmonizations without one escaping the other.
Et pourtant Bley pourrait être Rzewski ici si qu'on lui permetterait le contexte. Mais un Rzewski qui n'aurait jamais en un complexe d'emprisonnement. Un si-- qui se passe au delà d'une ponctualité et une répétition constante. Et voilà que Rieu devient silent et Bley lui remplace en voix, suivi par la troisième voix, Rieu. Toujours en trio ici. Et toujours les notes claires de finission.
And yet Bley could be Rzewski here if we gave him the context. But a Rzewski would never find himself in a imprisoning complexity. One which surpasses a punctuality and constant repetition. And here Riau becomes silent and Bley himself replaces the voice, followed by a third voice, Rieu’s. A duo always in trio configuration, and always with clear notes to finish.
8. Bley redevient méditatif, comme au début, mais insère des phrases qui pourraient originer de Gershwyn. Slow tempo Bley, encore plus lent Rieu: c'est quasiment une marche funéraire. Ca revient une dance à 2, Bley prenant la parole, les cascades s'insèrant sur les notes basses pesantes - nous ne sommes pas venus ici encore. Rieu pourrait être marocain dans son chant. Et nous voilà avec Bley qui danse un rhythme lent et complexe pendant que Rieu les couleur. Bley solo et reprend son chant, c'est #1 et #7 en aspects variés. Et rieu souffle doucement, ne dérangeant pas les deux Bley. Bley chante fort, doucement, le silence respecté domine la conclusion de cette pièce. Cageian silence (à la fin).
Bley becomes meditative, as he was at the beginning, but inserts phrases which could have come from Gershwin. Slow tempo Bley, again slower Rieu: it’s almost a funeral march. It returns to a dance in the second secion, Bley taking over the voice, the cascades inserting themselves over heavy low notes - we have not been here before. Rieu sounds Moroccan in his chant. And here we are with Bley dancing a slow and complex rhythm while Rieu adds colors. Bley solo and reprises his chant, and it’s like the first and seventh pieces with different shading. And Rieu blows gently, not trying to disrupt the two sides of Bley. Bley sings loudly, softly, with the respectful science becoming the conclusino of this piece with a Cageian silence at the very end.
9. Encore: Rieu joue un boogie, mais calme en volume, incluant une harmonisation de souffles. C'est drôle mais je vois Rieu comme laissant les phrases qu'il joue déterminer les limites. Et en voilà Bley qui répète le refrain; c'est très très vite, mais jamais jamais violent. Oops. En voilà une séquence qui aurait pu être Oppens, mais en cascades à de Taylor. Rieu ponctue avec des notes constantes, Bley répond en minimalisant, Rieu s'envole. Nous observons les virtuoses sans être vantards; avons nous des leçons à apprendre ici?
Encore: Rieu opens with a boogie but calms down in vocal strength, including a harmonization of his own blowing. It’s funny but I see Rieu dropping phrases that he decides have reached their limits. And here’s Bley repeating the refrain, quite fast but never violent. Oops - and here’s a sequence that could have been [Ursula] Oppens, but in {Cecil] Taylor cascades. Rieu punctuates with constant notes, Bley replies with minimalism and Rieu flies. We see the two virtuosos not being braggards - do we have lessons to learn from this?
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That simuldescrip was created at the end of the first day of my first time at the FIMAV. Five days later, I had enough for three articles, none which got to publication (until now…).
On the last day, I would write about the appearance of Leroy Jenkins and Oliver Lake in the same cathedral, and the quality of the writing shows that my nerves had calmed from the worries about being able to communicate properly what I had witnessed, and I actually sound poetic in bits and pieces.
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Oliver Lake and Leroy Jenkins
C'est quoi ce jazz contemporain? Est-ce de gens brillants qui puissent communiquer dans un langage autre que celui des êtres communs? Non.
What is this contemporary jazz? Is it a bunch of briliant artists who can comunicate in a language other than those of ordinary mortals? No.
La première tranche de 5 heures du nouveau jazz c'est le violoniste Jenkins et le saxophoniste Lake.
My first slice of five hours of new jazz and it’s violinist Jenkins and saxophonist Lake.
Leur première oeuvre cherchait à créer des mélodies en tourbillon, se décorant avec chaque révérbération, et un violon qui agit en echo et qui crée des jetons lumineux tout en agissant comme contrepartie.
Their first piece sought to create melodies out of swirls, decorating each with a their own reverberations, and a violin that acts as an echo, creating luminous shots all while acting as a counterpoint.
Le violon agissait comme une ombre avec des couleurs, répondant au sax mais répondent à lui-même en même temps.
The violin behaves like a multicolored shadow, replying to the sax but to himself as well.
Deux hommes s'amusant sérieusement.
Two men having serious fun.
Oeuvre 2 employa de mélodies au sax et le violon utilisa des notes tirées qui agissait en percussion de contre pointe, mais à la fin de chaque phrase, Jenkins joue un arc-en-ciel décoratif qui fut l'effet de calligraphie décorative à des variations précise. Le sax de Lake était comme la phase et le violon les vagues dans une mer de mélodies variées - nous sommes tous dans cet eau ici à l'église.
Work number two has the sax making use of a melody from which the violin pulls notes away from him, acting as a counterpoint percussion but at the end of each phrase, Jenkins throws a decorative rainbow which has the effect of becoming a decorative calligraphy with precision variations. Lake’s sax is like the phase and the violin makes waves from it in a sea of varying melodies - we are all in this water of sound here at the church.
C'est un zen de passage qui crée l'harmonie - les unions harmoniques sont tellement variées qu'on ne peu qu'accepter sa beauté lors des secondes passantes. Lake joue un rhythme et mélodie répétitive et Jenkins flotte autour avec de lignes délicates et intimes.
It’s a zen of movement that creats the harmony - the moments of harmonic union are so varied that one can only appreciate its beauty in the mere seconds of its existance. Lake plays a rhythm and repeats the melody and Jenkin floats around with delicate and intimate lines.
Une prochaine crée une parallèle de timbres et couleurs - union parfaite et ça passe encore, comme la beauté d'une éclipse qui place le soleil et la lune ensemble. Une section devient morne et c'est autant précis qu'un quatuor qui change de mouvement.
A next morphing creates a parallel of timbres and colors - perfect union and again it’s a passing one, like the beauty of an eclipse which places the sun and the moon together. One section becomes mournful and it’s as the four members of a string quartet perfectly timing a movement change.
Retour final de notes tirées contre sax et deux notes de clôture heureuses.
Final return to stretched notes against the sax and two closing and happy notes.
Oliver Lake by Dirk Neven from Wikipedia Commons 2014
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Et à mesure que j'aperçoit que je commence à décrire la prochaine pièce comme les autres, je me met à écouter.
And to the extent that I am able to perceive what I am starting to describe the next piece, I center myself to a listening.
C'est intéressant qu'ils travaillent à partir de partitions: ces réponses, ces parallèles, ces croisement de chemins, cet établissement de deux solistes jouant un double concerto sans orchestre, semblerait être bête improvisée. mais ce qui a rendu ce jazz visible à l'étude académique, au prestige classique, c'est qu'ils ont pu dévlopper un langage qui peut être défini. Et répété si qu'on en trouverait autres comme eux.
It’s interesting how they work on the delineation of their differences: those responses, those parallels, those crossing of paths, this established shared home of two soloists playing a double concerto without an orchestra, hardly seeming like an improvisation at all. What makes this jazz visible to an academic student, maybe even to the prestigious classical level, is that they’ve developed a language which can be defined. And repeated if we were able to find others like them.
Solo de Lake. Il crie, prend tous les coins de l'église pour répandre sa voix qui claxone, voltige à pleine vitesse en petites phrases (son utilise d'espace, de repos, de silences, indique que c'est un langage semblable à celui parlé). Il chante pendant qu'il change de sax; c'est la voix qui est nue, par l'intermédiaire de son outil. L'alto chante... dans une octave plus haute? C'est évident, ais dans cette caverne d'église, il assume sa propre contrepointe. C'est une résonnance fine appropriée pour une orgue et les longues notes nous restent à l'esprit longuement.
Lake solo. He cries, uses every corner of the church to spread out his voice, horn bleets, flyign at full speed in small phrases (his use of space, rests and silences indicate that this is a language close to a spoken one). He sings while he switches saxophones; it’s a naked voice, from the intermediary of his tools. The alto sings… in a higher octave? It’s obvious that in this cavernous church, he creates his own counterpoint. The room gives a very thin resonance, perfect for an organ and that long notes that are to rest in our spirits after the mass.
Jenkins revient. Il joue un rythme constant que Lake décore. Ca me donne de la difficulté à expliquer, et quand deux musiciens collaborent de façon si méticuleuse, l'écriture ne suffit jamais.
Jenkins returns. He plays a constant rhythm which Lake decorates. It gives me a bit of difficulty to explain and when two musicians collaborate in such a meticulous manner, the writing never suffices.
Lake continue le rhythme ponctuel et Jenkins comme ses décorations. C'est autant naturel que l'ouverture d'une fleur au soleil - mais comment décrire la beauté de même cette analogie? Ils sont vites, ils sont compliqués, il ne se perdent jamais, ils sont en union constante. Mais rarement partageant les tonalités, comme parallèles mais séparés par la distance qui ne serait jamais brisée.
Lake continues with the punctual rhythm and Jenkins as well in the decorative fashion. It’s as natural as the opening of a flower to the rays of the sun - but how to describe the beauty even within this analogy? They are fast, they are complicated, they never lose themselves but they are in constant union. But rarely do they share the same tonalities, like parallels but seaprated by the distance that will never be broken.
C'est aussi le 3e duo que j'ai vu aujourd'hui, montrant une belle interrelation comparative. Les deux précédants furent homme-femme, jeune et blancs; ces deux ont des décennies d'expérience entre eux.
It’s also the third duo that I’ve witnessed today, presenting to me a very nice chance to compare the interrelations. The two previous sets were man-woman, young and White; these two have decades of experience between each other.
"Clone for a tone" A clone tone. Vocal par Lake, leçon de musique scientifique, voix compliquant le contexte simple avec une rapidité de l'explication. Violon qui accompagne texte. Sax qui ajoute ponctuaison au texte.
“Clone for a Tone” - A Clone Tone - vocal by Lake, a scientific music lesson, a voice complicating the simple context with a rapidity of explanation. A violin which accompanies the text. A sax which adds punctuation to the text.
Solo Jenkins. Ouverture rapide qui imite du classique mais plus vite, beaucoup plus de mélodie. C'est pas un jeune compétitif classique - c'est arondi, virtuose sans prétension, calme d'accomplissement. Ce qui joue le minimalisme exige la question, où sont les morceaux qui ont commandités pour des solistes de jazz?
Solo Jenkins. Rapid opening which imitates classical but also faster, with way more melody. It’s not one of those young competitive classical stances, it’s rounded out, virtuoso with pretention, with the calm that comes after the accomplishment. The one playing what is authoritatively minimalism forces the question, where are the commissions for jazz soloists?
La voix de notes basses est pure comme chorale. Ici une section qui serait honoré par des conseils de musique s'il s'agissait d'un Avro Part - mais la délicatesse de son minimalisme vient de près de chez nous.
The voice of the low notes is like choral purity. Here is a section which would be lauded by music councils if it came attached to a name like Avro Part - but the delicate nature of his minimalism is closer to the public’s than the academic’s.
Incroyable! Il vient de frapper sa table à partition et en plein mouvement, poussant un grondement épeurant, toujours en ne penchant jamais le fil de l'action - porte sur le cerveau et son intensité durant l'action?
Incredible! He just hit his music stand and in one single movement while pushing out a scary grunt, always without leaning out of the flow of the action - maybe a reflection of his brain work during the intensity of the action?
Duo. Des paires de notes; cette fois les deux solistes sont plus en union, mais seulement plus plutôt que souvent. C'est moins en vitesse pour le sax qui jog pendant que le violon court, mais le premier est le seul qui poursuit le chemin en ligne directe.
Duo. Notes in pairs, this time the two soloists are closer in union, but only as a “rather” than an “often”. It’s less of a speed thing for the sax which jobs while the violin sprints, but the first is the only one who draws a straight line.
Cette double liberté est sous la contrainte de l'autre - rarement ce soir l'on poussa un éclat qui cacha l'autre; c'est l'amour en tonalités indépendantes.
This presentation of double liberties is within the framework of each other - rarely this evening did we see a blast that obsured the other - it’s love in the sharing of independent tonalities.
Et c'est impossible pour moi de me fatiguer d'écoute pour ces deux forces, comme un enregistrement de quatuor de la même pièce qui mérite ètre entendue à plusieurs reprises.
And it’s impossible for me to get tired listening to these two forces, like a string quartet recording of the same work that merits several listens.
Flute et violon. Part sax bruyant mais pas méchant. Une phrase, deux uniques, contrôlées. Mais c'est le silence qui leur donne leur forces (entendez-vous Monsieur Zorn?). Tous les instruments sont joués dans cette pièce où le violon vibre et les vents chantent simplement.
Flute and violin. Part noisy sax but not mean. A phrase, two unique ones, controlled. But it’s the silence which gives them their force (are you listening, Mr. Zorn?). All of the instruments are played in this piece where the violin vibrates and the winds simply sing.
J'ai tant à apprendre dans le domaine de la musique dont je ne suis pas capable à communiquer. L'écoute ici c'est la première étape.
I have so much to learn in the world of music that I am not able to communicate. Listening here is the first step.
Leroy Jenkins - Wikipedia photo by Brian MacMillen
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Lisle Ellis photo by Joly MacFie in Wikipedia Commons
Lisle Ellis and Paul Cram 20 octobre 1990
"We got lost". Nerd stopped by the police - 118 km/hour?" Clarinet & bass.
1. Début sobre, la clarinette remplit la chambre, tons à la Gershwin, lent et triste, chant autant aux flèxes du moyen-orient, Ellis accompagnant classiquement (!) comme en quatuors à cordes. Bref, fanfare et prologue. (Cran) (Bowed bass)
Sober beginnig, the clarinet fills the room, tons of Gershwinese, slow and sad, a chant with Middle-Eastern inflections, Ellis bringing in classical (!) accompaniment as if he were a string quartet. Brief, fanfare, prologue.
2. "Short Shot" (Raphé Molik, known for playing with Cecil Taylor). Sax-basse: Long lead notes, bass with Mingus, inflections, rolls and long notes with pointillistic accompaniment. Moves into quick interplay, floating freely, excitedly, bass fluctuating with precise line punctuations, acting as percussive with lower fare anchor.
Section where Ellis sticks with a rhythm in which Cram slices against in cutting waves, medium length phrases. Ellis bent over bass, close to the minimalist plucking. Ellis bridge, hum-strumming an attack which revolves around chordal (?) action. Cran returns, smoother, longer phrases, slowing down until both are united on the theme, together on the last note.
3. Lisle Ellis: Life
Happy, slow, sax lead with bass underpinning, shadowing and decorating the soft, confident statements. Sax starts emphasizing, whispering (loudly) tones, continual anchoring of notes, careful decoration.
Ellis solo. Bent notes, strong rhythm, pronounced bridge. Sax joins in, strong, low, happy or drifting, breezy and joyful, Ellis climbing and descending gently and firmly in counterpart. Room's resonance working nicely.
Bow introduced, slicing frenetically as sax starts screeching, which the bass takes over in microtonal waves, crashing and vibrating interactive vibrations, sax and bass accelerations, bowing strongly rhythmic, then long strides, then strong intercutting of long lines, drifting up at melodicality and then unison, trading of phrases.
Ellis slices gently and unison again, as lower united theme having returned, micro bass-bow vibration, and final drifting away.
4. Marilyn Crispell "Brown"
Fast intro, Ellis running signal notes as Cram slides through octaves effortlessly. This is indeed Crispell speed, both racing at increasing speed. When one slows, the other jogs.
Smooth, very slow second section, twirling sax through soft bass and suddenly resuming the race, Ellis running single notes up and down, Cram speeding virtuoistically against the bass set up by Ellis. Slow bridge again, bow picked up, Ellis in shadow phrasing then leading with accentuated lines, heavily decorated reproducing tones that spin in central circles, increasing in harder, darker circles, with rasping shadow sax. Double fluctuations, vibrations around tonal centres, Ellis reaching into frenzied microtones, dual wailing and screeching, high frenzied wailing, Ellis adding subtle vocalizing, matching sax crying, throwing back and forth of phrases, and then gentle return to slow thematic bridge, evolving into fluttering (and Ellis fluttering) between strings with his bow handle. Barely touching strings with bow, pencil thin decoration of deep sax phrases, short then medium. Ellis starts screeching like modern guitar. Solo which evolves with hummingbird fluttering and slapping, then the exploration of both extremities, sharp plucking almost sounding electronic, then bowing and plucking interaction, humming and granting playfully added, violent strumming, and soft until barely perceptible vibrating, and end.
5. Clarinet and bass
Bowed bass buzzing in melodic phrases, clarinet punching lines which break down in accelerated phrases, bass softly, gently adding a grey time to the fractured flying of clarinet lines, flourishes in a solo that hovers, bass rejoining again in, long clarinet solo in descending scales, and finally climbing around tonal centers.
Return of Ellis on ascending scales, ending in parallel lines
Part 2 "Casey's Green Fleck Cords": World premiere!
Gentle opening, theme in dual soft note explanation at a slow tempo. Ellis establishes thematic centre, Cram floats, and Ellis lays on a playing that is almost oriental. Evolves into duet of line playing which features Ellis watching in anchoring emphasis. Almost a lullabye, talking to a child (piece written for Cram's daughter).
2. (second section?) (new song) Ellis playing a hesitant rhythm while Cram sings and phrases ending with a dual buzzing evolving into a meditative reflexiveness, a walk through colorful tonality. Alternating between bowed and plucked rhythm with sax dominating on strong willed phrases - a slow skipping movement with someone singing at the top of their lungs.
Hard bridge on lower octaves with crying bowed bass accompaniment, sharp togetherness, another colorful theme and then soft slow sax over slicing, screeching but quieter decoration, hard high chordal accompaniment and finally return to theme, then bowing as would bass in a string quartet. And gentle ending.
3. (SF Sax - Glen Spearman) "Nine parted..."
Wailing into and out sax and bass, ecstatic phrasing, unison again, sharp and Debussy-like strides leading into loud wailing.
Breaks into fast breaking temp, linked phrases over sax over hard and certain bass rhythm. Sax rolls evolve into loud and then screeching modality, excited playing without being intense.
Breaks into walking and then running tempo, sax into circular wailing with bass sharply squaring careers, a jogger and a runner, wailing over static, rhythmic tempo, gentle wailing over bass fluctuation.
Bass solo, strong and plucking with deep resonance. Under the bridge plucking providing counterpoint. Humming and chordal picking over exploration of rapid fire rhythm. Slap notes, harmony phrases, return of Cram on a joyful thematic counterpoint. Evolving quickly into strong sax playing, joined thematically on shadow bowing, long phrase-note endings, evolving into rapid fire sax rolls over hummingbird and parallel shadowing. Vibrato duet ends piece on the exploration of an ending note.
The crowd really likes all of this...
4. Ellis solo: Stretched tones, slow an twistful opening. Clarinet joins in in whispers, bass lead here, meditative bass, clarinet returns with the same wistfulness, bass climbing, decorating, descending and holding rhythm over gliding clarinet tones. Walking tempo with floating winds. Floating over repetitive note ascending's descending, rasping over slow modulation, bridge with same atonality, but deep note anchoring, strumming with his own harmonic accompaniment, funky phrasing, and return of clarinet in gentle shadowing of deep bass lines. Gentle, slow sharing of phrases, ebbing softly into a whispered clarinet end.
5. Anxious, frenetic (but not intense) openings, short, sharp, high clarinet phrases over bass bowed rhythm which provide tonal backbone. Floating and singing tones over deep coloristic intensity on bass. Ecstatic chirp-screeching duality over rapid fire bass screeching which includes under the strings bowing. Gentle return to thematic union. Atonal screech-held tone ending.
6. Deep bass over rapid plucking, picking establishing phrases centerings. joyful and/or anxious wailing over continuous tempo bass anchoring phrases which glide, float and run away and back to tempo. Sax bridge which circles in the air before being caught by bass tempo, solo sax again in the alri like a helicopter checking out landing possibilities, bass declaring where the ground is but moving it around, and then saying that the sax can land anywhere, and it's like a moving landing - both sky and earth are revolving forward. breaking into short phrases, gulp!, silence, and then moving together in rapid dancing and sudden finale flash.
7. "Stillness" Soft duet opening, bowed bass repeating gently statements sung. Counterpoint creating its own echos, sombre against playful, both evolving into double darkness, slow and hard exploration of modulations in harmony. Menacing the gentleness in same sequence, then stillness with untuning of low chord until rumble becomes nothingness.
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Afterwards, I took the notes from a little black book and joined Cram and Ellis at a local tavern with some of the Art Gallery folks that had brought them to Moncton. I got along great with Lisle, our even talking about a concept I had about creating an entire baseball game that never existed, splicing artistically nine innings of radio programs.
Ellis paid me a compliment that would always stay with me in the face of a lot of confusion and/or indifference over the next few years about my writings. I read him the first hundred of words or so and he said, “Man, that’s exactly what we did!” Unfortunately, emails to Cram (who passed away in 2018) and Ellis thus far haven’t produced responses, but it could have been that I was also writing from a point of frustration of getting my words out, somewhere, anywhere. Marketing ain’t my forté.
The Galerie Sans Nom, where I would briefly be a board member a couple of years later, appreciated my writing the texts, but it being a heavily Québecois-en-Exil-en-Acadie and/or monolingual dominant francophonie setting, in addition to their being visual artists, my writing this particular text in English pretty well stunted its ability to be shared around in Moncton.
This simuldescrip has never been published prior to this (if this counts as “published”), but I do believe I read a portion of it when doing an obituary for Paul Cram during my fill in for a jazz program at The Station in 2018.
Source of this Mark Miller photograph of Paul Cram as well as an obituary written by Stuart Broomer in 2018 here: