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From:      [e-mail]
To:        [e-mail]
Subject:   zorn-list Digest V2 #52
Reply-To:  [e-mail]
Errors-To: [e-mail]
Precedence:


zorn-list Digest          Monday, 20 January 1997      Volume 02 : Number 052

In this issue:

    Re: Zorn a fake?
    Re: Voodoo
    Re: Zorn a fake?
    Re: Voodoo
    Steve Beresford - Cue Sheets
    Mr Bungle list?
    State of the Union
    Re: Zorn a fake?
    Re: State of the Union
    Re: Zorn a fake?
    Re: Steve Beresford - Cue Sheets
    Re: Steve Beresford - Cue Sheets
    Re: Zorn a fake?
    Tim Berne
    OrkestRova
    Trio Fungus
    Re: Zorn a fake?
    Frith and early NYC downtown scene

See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the zorn-list
or zorn-list-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 23:02:55 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Zorn a fake?

In a message dated 97-01-14 19:24:00 EST, [e-mail] (Patrice
L. Roussel) writes:

> > Saying someone plays and writes poorly, is just an opinion.  These things

> are
>                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>  I can tell you that if I try to play clarinet and somebody says that I
play
>  poorly, this would not be an opinion at all, but just stating a (sad, but
>  nevertheless true) fact.

It sounds to me like you are saying you CAN'T play the clarinet, and
obviously you would think that you play poorly.

So if I think "Joe Schmoe" is a good clarinet player, but you think he plays
poorly, and maybe even he himself thinks he plays poorly, then is my original
opinion that he plays well totally negated??

It sounds to me like you have already defined the parameters... of what is
GOOD and what is BAD... and that there is no such thing as an opinion.
I guess I just don't get it... maybe you should be a tad less cryptic with
your posts.  Please, tell me, what is an opinion, and how do I form one??

Jody McAllister
[e-mail]



------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 97 22:07:56 -0600
Subject: Re: Voodoo

On Fri, 17 Jan 1997, Jeff Schwartz <[e-mail]> wrote:
>Sorry to have shocked anybody by bringing up Voodoo. I think it's a cool
>record. I was just trying to imagine how some bop head might hear it and
>find it inept rather than original, the same way a lot of reviewers dogged
>Braxton's In the Tradition.
>Like, I haven't seen any reviews saying Zorn can't play, but I've hardly
>seen any reviews in proportion to his prolific output. Last year Downbeat
>reviewed what? I saw one Masada CD review. It was very positive, but geez!
>One review. How are Cadence and Option? Option always has a ton of
>reviews, but they seem to have become more and more of a so-called
>alternative rock thang. Cadence used to have loads of reviews too and
>probably still do, but no store in town carries it (I need to subscribe!).
>Same deal with Bill Laswell-I never seem to see reviews of his dozens of
>projects. I guess small labels don't have much promotion money, but
>whenever I'm in L.A. I see lots of Axiom promos in used stores...
>
>
>
>
>Last Spring Downbeat reviewed several Laswell related projects... The ambient
stuff faired well....e.g. Jonah Sharp/Laswell, Namlook/Laswell.. Sacred
System..etc.. Arcana w/Derek Bailey and Tony Williams received 3 or 3 1/2 stars
in Downbeat. Other than a few negative comments...Arcana was generally well
recieved. Also, Pulse (Tower Records Rag) reviews Laswell related stuff from
time to time...

glenn

------------------------------

From: SUGAR in their vitamins? <[e-mail]>
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 20:37:01 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: Zorn a fake?

On Fri, 17 Jan 1997 [e-mail] wrote:

> your posts.  Please, tell me, what is an opinion, and how do I form one??

you're already there.

hasta.

Yes.  Beautiful, wonderful nature.  Hear it sing to us: *snap*  Yes.  natURE.


------------------------------

From: Jeff Spirer <[e-mail]>
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 20:41:45 -0800
Subject: Re: Voodoo

At 10:02 PM 1/17/97 -0500, Jeff Schwartz wrote:

>whenever I'm in L.A. I see lots of Axiom promos in used stores...

Probably sold by Polygram employees in LA.

Jeff Spirer
http://www.hyperreal.com/axiom/
Axiom Records/Material Communications


------------------------------

From: "[e-mail]" <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 00:20:16 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Steve Beresford - Cue Sheets

Just a quick note to let everyone know how fantastic I think this record
is.  I just finished listening to it while I was reading my e-mail.  It is
part of the film series on Tzadik, and it's all over the map.  The CD
contains music from several movies and television shows, and it ranges
from jazz to improv to cartoon music to more traditional film music to
Masada-ish pieces to squealing pigs to a dance music song about stationary
sung by a Luther Vandross type singer, as well as pieces that trancend or
go beyond all these stupid catagories and just are :)  Quite an enjoyable
record.  So, the question becomes - what else has Beresford done?  I have
the record on Avant upstairs but have not listened to it yet, but that
will soon be rectified.  So what else is there?

Stationery moves me,

Paul
[e-mail]
           -------------------------------------------------------------------
  GROOVE             O(+> (the artist formerly known as Prince) <+)O
- ----------            e - m - a - n - c - i - p - a - t - i - o - n
one nation            The Exodus Has Concluded - Welcome 2 The Dawn
           -------------------------------------------------------------------


------------------------------

From: Gary Gnu <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 12:52:57 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Mr Bungle list?

Does anyone have the address for the Mr Bungle list?

Thanks.

- ------------------------------+----------------------------------------
Gary M. Gettier - [e-mail] | "Think for yourself and feel the walls
                              |  become sand beneath your feet."
! Don't Buy CDs at Wal-Mart ! |  - Queensryche

------------------------------

From: Greg Mills <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 13:39:28 -0700
Subject: State of the Union

All --

i came across this two cd set, State of the Union, that was produced by
Elliot Sharp and includes, among others, JZ, Marc Ribot, Frith, Yamatsuke
Eye, Alan Ginsburg (!), Hakim Bey (!!), Henry Kaiser, A. Lindsay, ad
nauseum (it has 147 tracks).

The label is ATAVISTIC.

What the hell is this thing?



Greg Mills
Copywriter

ADVERTISING:

The bastard offspring of Art and Commerce kill their parents and go watch
roller derby.



------------------------------

From: "Patrice L. Roussel" <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 13:35:27 -0800
Subject: Re: Zorn a fake?

    Jody,

On Fri, 17 Jan 1997 23:02:55 -0500 (EST)  [e-mail] wrote:
>
> In a message dated 97-01-14 19:24:00 EST, [e-mail] (Patrice
> L. Roussel) writes:
>
> > > Saying someone plays and writes poorly, is just an opinion.  These things
>
> > are
> >                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> >  I can tell you that if I try to play clarinet and somebody says that I
> play
> >  poorly, this would not be an opinion at all, but just stating a (sad, but
> >  nevertheless true) fact.
>
> It sounds to me like you are saying you CAN'T play the clarinet, and
> obviously you would think that you play poorly.

That's exactly the situation.

> So if I think "Joe Schmoe" is a good clarinet player, but you think he plays
> poorly, and maybe even he himself thinks he plays poorly, then is my original
> opinion that he plays well totally negated??

It is a little bit more complex. Some very good players think there are bad
because instead of looking around them, they focus on the best players, and
hence their judgement uses a different reference point.

If you are very indulgent with yourself and compare your playing with
somebody who does not even know what end of the instrument to put in his
mouth, yes, I guess, you are a good player. But I am personally not
interested by such "artists". In fact, buy a clarinet and spend a week
working on it and I guarantee that you will be among the 100,000 best
players in the world :-). Are you thinking about such case? If yes, we
are definitely using a different threshold and reference point.

> It sounds to me like you have already defined the parameters... of what is
> GOOD and what is BAD... and that there is no such thing as an opinion.
> I guess I just don't get it... maybe you should be a tad less cryptic with
> your posts.  Please, tell me, what is an opinion, and how do I form one??

I am not sure that I follow you but there is something I am sure of: I play
clarinet very bad. Hence, the concept of playing bad is not an abstract
one in the sense that the producer (me) even agrees with :-). Now, yes, I
am sure I can find an indulgent and confused audience that will claim that
I am a good player (for reasons I will gently not ellaborate on -- my mom
thought that was a good player, even a girlfriend... but before we split :-)).
Will it change the quality of my playing? Not for me, unfortunately. The fact
that a technical skill can range continuously from bad to excellent and that
putting the threshold for a binary decision (good versus bad) is subjective,
should not lead to a philosophical position that good and bad are
subjective attributes that should be removed from the dictionary. When
there is enough evidence on a quantitative level (complete lack of elementary
control of the instrument), we should not feel affraid of making a qualitative
judgement.

In fact, if you refuse to use the qualifier bad, it seems to me that it makes
the other one (good) completely useless. Because I want to keep using the
attribute "good", I cannot remove the other one.

To use a parallel with a similar problem, the day hate will disappear from
the world, I am affraid that there  won't love left either.

I personally use good and bad when dealing with "the tails" of the distribution
for which regardless of where you put the threshold, you know if you are on
the left (bad) or on the right (good). Of course, most of the interesting
musicians are in the middle of the distribution where judgements can be
very subjective.

Now, as anybody can claim being an artist (no law prohibits it, right?). I
could also decide tomorrow to make clarinet records. If a critic decides
to say that my playing is awful, he will be right (and I will have respect
for him).

    Patrice.

------------------------------

From: "Patrice L. Roussel" <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 13:52:43 -0800
Subject: Re: State of the Union

On Sat, 18 Jan 1997 13:39:28 -0700  Greg Mills wrote:
>
> i came across this two cd set, State of the Union, that was produced by
> Elliot Sharp and includes, among others, JZ, Marc Ribot, Frith, Yamatsuke
> Eye, Alan Ginsburg (!), Hakim Bey (!!), Henry Kaiser, A. Lindsay, ad
> nauseum (it has 147 tracks).
>
> The label is ATAVISTIC.
>
> What the hell is this thing?

This is an ongoing project.

    1982 - Zoar Records (USA), ZOAR 10 (LP)
    1992 - Arrest Records (USA), AR 003 (CD)
    1993 - Muworks Records (USA), MUW 1016 CD (CD)
    1996 - Atavistic (USA), ALP69CD (2xCD)

It was a LP in 1982 with about 40 x 1mn tracks. Then it became a CD in 1992
with the same tracks (from the LP) plus about 40 more. Then, few months
ago, it mutated to a 2xCD containing the 1992 CD plus 70 new tracks.

The record is really an amazing sampler that most of the people on this
list should check out. The CD pressing was a little bit annoying because of
its lack of numbering, making it hard to know who plays what. This has been
fixed on the 2xCD (specially great for people who know how to use the random
selection).

    Patrice.


------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 20:53:09 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Zorn a fake?

Patrice,

Originally, I said that wether or not someone thinks Zorn plays or writes
poorly is something that is subjective, as opposed to someone calling him a
fake. (Which I think can be validated, somewhat anyway)  I wasnt talking
about someone who had never played an instrument before, I was talking
specifically about Zorn.

I still think it is a matter of opinion, wether or not you think Zorn can or
can't play (or write).  And there are probably as many people out there who
think he sucks, as think he is great.  Hence-- subjectiveness.  BUT, to say
that he is a "fake", based solely on the premise that he can't play or write,
is really ludicrous!!  (And that was the original statement that started this
thread.)  If someone could say that Zorn ripped off a particular aspect of
his sax playing from "Joe Saxman", and point that out somehow, by a
reference, his point that Zorn is a fake would be valid.

But so far, no one has been able to prove to me that Zorn is a fake.

Thanks,
Jody




------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 22:59:43 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Steve Beresford - Cue Sheets

Beresford released last Fall "Fish of the Week" (Scatter UK) which also
features Alexander Balanescu, John Butcher and Clive Bell among others.
 Quite rowdy & interesting improvs.

Lang Thompson

------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 23:47:03 -0800
Subject: Re: Steve Beresford - Cue Sheets

Picked up cue sheets about a week ago myself and I'm quite pleased with it
too.  Don't really care for the style of the lyrical piece, but as always,
Andrew Brenner's lyrics are great.  Actually, I have never heard AB stuff
outside of records with Beresford.  Does anyone know if Brenner has any
other outlets for his lyrics.  You can't do much better than a guy who
likens cynicism to "living with ants in your anus, or refusing to swallow
your flegm".  Yes, I do love "Signals for Tea" on Avant almost as much as I
love the Misha Mengelberg disc on Avant, so now you know where I'm coming
from.

Beresford has done a ton of other stuff, some of it quite silly (and in my
opinion only occassionally effective) like the couple of 10" records that I
used to have by him on Chabada:  "L'Extraordinaire Jardin de Charles
Trenet" and the one about Doris Day (can't remember the exact title).  Both
of these had one song apiece which I really liked and where otherwise
mediocre.  SB has also done plenty of improv oriented stuff like The Bath
of Surprise" on Piano Records which is pretty cool and playful.  There was
also a record with Tristan Honsinger from 1980 which was just too dificult
for me (and which I'm pretty sure is still in my box full of sale records,
not that anyone would be interested).  But by far my favorite Beresford
record was the old General Strike cassette on Touch (about '84, but
recently reissued on CD, though I haven't seen it yet).  A collaboration
with David Toop and David Cunningham, this is dub heavy tinkertoy stuff,
very musical with a several Sun Ra covers and quite a few guests like Lol
Coxhill.

Alexander



------------------------------

From: "Patrice L. Roussel" <[e-mail]>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 1997 12:40:14 -0800
Subject: Re: Zorn a fake?

On Sat, 18 Jan 1997 20:53:09 -0500 (EST)  [e-mail] wrote:
>
> Patrice,
>
> Originally, I said that wether or not someone thinks Zorn plays or writes
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^

Your statement was more general than that.

As usual with Internet, we know what we write but not always phrase it in
such a way that our thinking get accurately set (it would take hours and
multiple checking to be sure that what we write exactly conveys what we
think), hence everlasting threads like this one. I reacted to the general
statement, not to the statement applied to Zorn.

On the Zorn issue we agree totally.

> poorly is something that is subjective, as opposed to someone calling him a
> fake. (Which I think can be validated, somewhat anyway)  I wasnt talking
> about someone who had never played an instrument before, I was talking
> specifically about Zorn.
>
> I still think it is a matter of opinion, wether or not you think Zorn can or
> can't play (or write).  And there are probably as many people out there who
> think he sucks, as think he is great.  Hence-- subjectiveness.  BUT, to say
> that he is a "fake", based solely on the premise that he can't play or write,
> is really ludicrous!!  (And that was the original statement that started this
> thread.)  If someone could say that Zorn ripped off a particular aspect of
> his sax playing from "Joe Saxman", and point that out somehow, by a
> reference, his point that Zorn is a fake would be valid.
>
> But so far, no one has been able to prove to me that Zorn is a fake.
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
And fortunately :-). And if this was possible, I doubt that this list would
be the good one.

    Patrice.

------------------------------

From: "ALAN E. KAYSER" <[e-mail]>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 1997 18:25:45 -0500
Subject: Tim Berne

To Zorn fans of taste
I have no connection to Tim Berne in any way, but I'd like everyone to
know about his excellent 3 CD package of live recordings from 1996.
These were recorded in March and April in Germany, and feature
Bloodcount.  Berne on alto and baritone, Chris Speed tenor and clarinet,
Mike Formanek bass, and Jim Black drums. His earlier live Paris
recordings on JMT  included Marc Ducret on guitar, but he is not present
here.  Too bad, though I think his absence inspired Berne, whom I
believe has never sounded this good.  Speed, Black, and Berne should be
familiar to JZ folks.  Black really stands out on every piece.  As usual
with Berne, the band stretches out; there's over 200 minutes of music,
but only eight tunes.  Get it before it's gone.
It is a Screwgun Records release, 104 St. Marks Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217
$32 including shipping.
Thanks Tim!
Alan E Kayser
[e-mail]

------------------------------

From: Tom Benton <[e-mail]>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 1997 23:23:34 -0600 (CST)
Subject: OrkestRova

I found this on another mailing list, thought there might be some interest
here.  I certainly hope someone makes it down to this and comes back with
a report, there's a small ice cube in hell chance I might be in SF this
weekend, but I don't think it's gonna happen.  Oh well, enjoy everybody:

- ------------------------------------------------------

Rova Saxophone Quartet
presents

OrkestRova
music for electric big band

February 15, 1997
9:00 p.m.
Slim's
333 11th Street

with
Henry Kaiser, Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn, John Schott, Lisle Ellis, William
Winant, Scott Amendola, Jon Raskin, Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, and Larry
Ochs.



------------------------------

From: BIRD BRAIN <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 09:14:22 -0500
Subject: Trio Fungus

Just thought I'd make a shameless plug for a buddy of mine.  For those who live
here in the Denver area - you should check out the group Trio Fungus.  They're
playing this Wednesday the 22nd at bar called Seven South, located at
7 South Broadway. The band consists of the following:
Brett Sexton - alto sax (you'll definately hear the Ornette influence)
Tom Sublette - electric bass (I've never heard a better e. bassist in this town)
Tim ? - guitar (this dude can lay it down)
Matt Homan - drums (another excellent musician)

These guys keep getting better every time I hear them. You really shouldn't
miss it.  They usually start at 9 o'clock and hey, there's no cover!

------------------------------

From: DANIEL BITTON <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 12:41:06 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Zorn a fake?

Just listen to Masada, him and Douglas are dancing in and out of
eachother, the melodic ideas (and squawks) are fresh and well executed
and it's full of boppy licks, the jack knows his sack.  As
for the guy who said he was the least impressive Masadite in concert, he was probably
tired or something, I saw him in Burlington kind of taking it easy and
giving Joey all the solos. In Victoriaville the man was holy like Rebbe
Schneerson. Cosmojizzmatic.  Probly the best show I ever saw. Someone said
there was a Radio Canada tape of it? How do I get it?

------------------------------

From: "Patrice L. Roussel" <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 12:37:33 -0800
Subject: Frith and early NYC downtown scene

    Somebody asked a few weeks ago about Frith and the NYC scene.
Following is an article Frith wrote for the late MUSICS. It might be
one of the very first testimonies on the scene we are covering on this
list.

    Hope you enjoy,

    Patrice.

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From MUSICS, No.23, November 1979

       2000 STATUES AND ZU MINI-STATUES, by Fred Frith

New York, 5-9 June, 1979.

  The Zu-place -- 3 small lofts and a basement full of junk in W.24th St. On
the top floor Giorgio Gomelski is picking up the pieces in the final stages of
a 34-date tour by GONG, MOTHER GONG, YOCH'KO SEFFER and the ZU BAND;
economically disastrous and unthinkably chaotic, but nonetheless the first
attempt to bring 'European' rock music to America on a co-ordinated
'alternative' basis and as such worthy of admiration. Actually he is asleep
and remains so throughout most of the day.

  On the middle floor his deprived dog stalks around, no doubt contemplating
the final solution.

  Below, a large orchestra of improvisors, assembled by guitarist Eugene
Chadbourne to play two of his pieces and one by reed-player John Zorn, limber
up for the first time.

  The Orchestra consists of some students and alumni of Karl Berger's Creative
Music Studio in Woodstock -- 'cellist Tom Cora, Chuck ver Stracton (trombone)
and Mark Kramer (trombone and organ) -- plus Bob Ostertag (synthesizer) and
Jim Katzin (violin) of Fall Mountain, Evan Gallagher, a percussionist from
Mississippi, Davey Williams (guitar, banjo, mandolin) and LaDonna Smith
(viola) from Alabama, John Zorn and Polly Bradfield (violin), Andrea Centazzo
(drums), Toshinori Kondo and Lesli Dalaba (trumpet), Wayne Horvitz (piano and
double bass), Mark Miller (percussion), myself, Steve Beresford and
Chadbourne, presiding with his usual manic enthusiasm, jovial insults and
energetic vagueness. The excitement in the air verges at times towards the
atmosphere of a Boys Brigade Summer Camp.

  The Schedule is 4 days rehearsal, with 3 concerts in the evenings at ZU.
These will consist of small groups and solos in which nearly all the orchestra
members are featured (why not all?). Finally a day in a recording studio to
put down Eugene's 'English Channel', and a concert at Columbia University of
the fruits of our work.

Rehearsals
The Three Pieces: The English Channel.

  The players are numbered. The score consists of boxes with appropriate
numbers in them. The boxes themselves are numbered and one proceeds in a
relatively orderly fashion from box to box until the end of the piece, which
is in 3 sections. Contained in this structure are solos of almost everyone,
some seen as final events in a box, others as whole boxes. It's difficult
to make out if there is supposed to be a quantitative or qualitative
difference between these two types of solo, but it's scarcely important.

  The only other written instructions are directions as to which instrument
to play (for those with more than one) and hints as to ambience -- 'Texas
Chain Massacre', 'I Walk The Line', 'An imitation of Anthony Braxton',
'Swing', 'R & B Trades', 'Noodling', etc. There are 3 more or less set pieces
- -- a fragment of West Coast jazz, a loony calypso entitled 'I am the Dentist'
which Eugene sings inaudibly into a contact microphone, and the inevitable
Disco section. Oh yes, and an Incus Records takeoff.

  In the last 'movement', the idea is that a melody line moves around from
instrument to instrument, but a melody line generated spontaneously by the
musicians themselves. When the piece was performed by an orchestra of
students at Woodstock, this was apparently very successful; here it remains
unclear and Eugene decides to cut it from both the record and the concert.

  There are some inevitable contradictions at work, especially the old
favorite of the composer saying that fundamentally he'd like us to do what
we want in the improvised sections, only later to reveal that he has quite
specific ideas about what it should sound like. Why not write them down?
Attempts to discuss this and related issues during and after rehearsals were
generally unsuccessful. A popular response was to questions about structure
and improvisation seems to be 'This is the way I work'. Frustrating.

  The most helpful description of the piece for me was when Eugene said that
what he was really after was for it to sound like him if he happened to be
an orchestra. As such, it sounds pretty good in the end.

Psychology

  This appears to be based on the idea of strip comics, and presents words
or phrases for players to interpret freely, like 'plumbing', 'Miami',
'domesticity', 'Only one-horrible!', 'escape', 'dressing-up'. The orchestra
is divided into 3 simultaneously unravelling strands, a Song Band, the Brass
Section and Andrea Centazzo (Everything Italian).

  For me, this piece contained both too many instructions and too few. I mean
I'd rather have had more specific things to do as in 'Stripsody' or just
completely improvised a strip comic, which I've also seen done successfully.
Anyway, we got bogged down and Eugene withdrew the piece after one rehearsal.

Archery (John Zorn)

  'Archery' is a complex set of instructions with a tendency towards the
mathematical. We only barely had time to rehearse it with any degree of
success, and it would take several performances for it to achieve any real
coherence in my opinion.

  Players are identified by their initials. The 3 basic strands of the piece
are clock events, duos-and-trios and solos. Every time the clock reaches
zero, any number of players can 'improvise', in however sparse or dense a
manner they please, for up to 60 seconds (in practice, it was usually between
5 and 20). These events take place during the first and last thirds of the
piece, but not the middle third.

  Duos-and-trios occur in order, by sections. The sections are labelled A to
O and each is divided into 14 sub-sections (O has 12). Each sub-section
corresponds to a specific duo or trio combination from the Orchestra. The
duos-and-trios proceed in strict consequence, but they can overlap and be of
any duration (in practice, mostly pretty short). They can also consist of,
or end with 'fixed points' or 'help points'. Solos can be taken up at any
moment in the piece, but only one at a time -- the soloist stands up or
indicates to the 'prompter' that s/he is taking a solo.

  That's the basic structure; there's a lot more, to do with 'divisi' --
other sections of 'clock events' (variously timed free sections), or other
duos-and-trios, or events which divide the orchestra into different equal
numbers of musicians who then improvise as a sequence of soloists (one at a
time, each cuing the next). These 'divisi' are cued to the 'prompter' by
specific players holding up cards; they override the basic structure
(Archery), which has to stop at the next clock-zero to allow the cued section
to happen; they are in turn overridden by any breaking of the rules (but in
practice usually by a soloist standing up to signal a return to 'Archery'
which happens, in theory, at once).

  Since durations of duos-and-trios, cues of divisi, solos and choice of
whether or not to play 'clock events' are all in the hands of the musicians,
there are inevitable struggles; we only begin to touch on the possibilities.
During rehearsals there's a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that this
could be a lot more fun to play than to listen to; plus incomprehension at
some of the claims John makes for his piece in his notes to us on
improvisation. Can it be said, for example, that this piece constitutes 'an
analysis of an improvisation' anymore that an improvisation constitutes an
analysis of an improvisation? And shouldn't any improvised piece require the
same alertness and care in making choices as we were required to exercise in
'Archery'?

  The rehearsals are good-humoured but concentrated, intense; they have to be
to enable us to play the thing at all. I think this concentration has a
tangible effect on the concerts at Zu -- I've seldom seen such consistently
good, diverse, surprising improvised music as there was over those three
nights. It was as if we all felt the constraints of the days lifted, a sense
of release.

The concerts

  I can't review the Zu concerts properly; it would be difficult as I was
involved to some extent each night, and not having intended to write all this,
I didn't make notes. However, I'll try and pick out some details.

  For example, the solo performance by John Zorn. He used silence effectively
and often, but it was not one of those tense, cerebral affairs. The tension
has its element of wit, the technique, rather than hingeing on simultaneity
of sound was linear, consisting of a rapid succession of quite different
timbres and variations of dynamics, crammed into short moment's and
interspersed with pauses, shuffling noises, quick changes from mouthpiece to
mouthpiece. Rivetting.

  I also really liked Davey Williams and LaDonna Smith's duo. They've reached
a rare degree of telepathy and manage to be fiery without being aggressive,
delicate without being ephemeral. LaDonna also manages beautifully to suggest
the tension between the degree to which she is in command of her instrument
and the degree to which it wilfully carries her off to some other planet.

  Polly Bradfield's solo playing was quite different -- harder, less lyrical
and treading a tightrope between controlled and contrived. I thought she had
a lot of bottle actually, because she's chosen a difficult path; her playing
is austere and uncompromising, a little stiff; she takes chances; her use of
silence is similar to John Zorn's, though her humour's dryer (it's there
though). After she'd played I felt mentally excited but earthbound.

  Chadbourne, Centazzo and Kondo cropped up together and in various
combinations with those already mentioned at Zu. The three of them fit
together in my mind, seem to represent a particular side of what was going
on, inseparable from each other. Chadbourne and Centazzo in particular rest
in my memory of that week as a kind of joint venture in bad taste, colossal
and hilarious, refined in the former case and crude in the latter,
energetically imposing their obsessive and quite singular ideas on whatever
context they found themselves in, playing jokes and insulting at least each
other and simultaneously carrying the music headlong and head-on. Kondo
perfectly suited their schemes in his sensitive, extrovert way and managed
to hold the balance, preventing them from ever sinking into meaningless jive
by his timing and talent, while appearing on the contrary to encourage their
excesses. His performances were real tours de force. The sextet with these
three, Zorn, Bradfield and Tom Cora was particularly good I thought.

  Steve Beresford sat in with various groups. I like his playing very much
when it's in shord burst like that, it becomes more concentrated and he
doesn't have so much opportunity to get bored, an important factor in his
longer concerts I always think. In the recording and at the final concert
he played two great piano solos which gave me as much pleasure as anything
that happened during the rest of the week.

  Bob Ostertag is the first synthesizer player I've heard (Sun Ra always
excepted) with any kind of an interesting approach to the instrument. He
derives a lot of his raw material from the radio, and is careful and
discriminating.

  (It's clear that in remembering the concerts I've concentrated pretty
much on personalities; but that's because for me, the concerts came across
more sharply on that level than any other. Or is it a function of my memory?
Of not having made notes about precise musical occurences at the time?)

The recording

  A very strange experience, engineered with great skill in a small
professional studio by the genial Les Paul Jnr. A whole album in a day, with
a 17 piece band; problems like the brass sitting next to the strings in the
same room, acoustic and electric guitars playing at the same time, three
percussionists... the mixing was never likely to be anything less than
erratic, but Les did a remarkable job.

  Eugene entered into his mad genius persona ("That's really awful --
fantastic!"), pressing on in the face of our murmuring voices wanting to do
things again. In the end there were no 2nd takes of anything at all. It
probably wouldn't have made much difference under the circumstances. Lesli
Dalaba played two fined trumpet solos, quiet, slow, subtle, sure; in fact
all the solos went much better than the ensemble improvisations, which was
entirely predictable as a lot of us couldn't hear what half of us were doing!

  On leaving the studio I inadvertently broke a door. It cost us $100. I
could have mended it myself for 2...

The concert

  Eugene's piece in the first half, John's in the second. On the way to the
theatre Tom Cora and I walk out of the subway and find ourselves in the middle
of Harlem. A mistake. Thirty seconds of another world. We are firmly directed
into the subway again by an amused local.

  100 people in the audiences (it is a 1000 seater). There's a week-long
festival of new music downtown, pretentiously packaged and extensively
covered in the press, which has no doubt diverted many of the potentially
curious.

  It's hard not to be inhibited by the structure of the music. We have fun,
there are stirring moments, but the contrast with the energy of the first
night and now is clear. It never quite takes off. Eugene's piece seems
entertaining but lightweight. Is this a criticism?

  What most strikes me about John's magnum opus in its 1 1/4 hour performance
is on the one hand the importance of the visual element, constant patterns
of hand-gestures, holding-up of cards, eye-contact, concentration on the
clock; and on the other, the degree to which the bones of the game dominate
the flesh, players hurrying to exercise control, to counteract each others'
cues, with little apparent thought as to the intended effect, what it will
sound like.

  Not that that mattered -- in fact it led to a few moments of hair-line
humour when the prompter found himself desperately juggling pieces of card
and paper while simultaneously trying to keep an eye on the clock, to the
accompaniment of a strained and puzzled silence from the musicians and
giggles from the audience. I enjoyed that bit!

  By the end, when we all tiring, I felt that there was a tendency to respond
to cues by making a noise, any noise, just to fulfil our obligations to the
score on a minimal level, to bring it to a close. It was as if we were trapped
inside the piece with a long slog ahead to get out of it. This was an obvious
drawback, though a surmountable one -- provisions for ending could be much
clearer. I'm looking forward to hearing the tape.

  Reactions varied. A critic friend found it over-weight, old-fashioned and
boring but enjoyed individual performances. Others thought it visually
compelling, often startling to listen to, but much too long. It needs to be
played some more. I can't make up my mind, not only about the piece but about
the philosophy of this approach to improvising. Should we merely be 'open' to
all different kinds of improvisation, or should we at least develop some kind
of critique to discover what processes are at work and to discuss them? Is
this imposition of structure an anachronism? A contradiction in terms? Are
restrictions placed on improvisors legitimate means to specific ends or are
they just interfering with a richer creative process? Does free improvisation
relate to anarchy in the same way that structured improvisation relates, say,
to democracy? These are other questions...


------------------------------

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