Rudresh Mahanthappa’s new CD “Gamak” is…out!

Gamak300Artist: Rudresh Mahanthappa
Title: Gamak
Label: ACT Music & Vision
Genre: jazz

Indian-American alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa‘s who’s a Guggenheim fellow and 2012 Downbeat International Critics Poll alto Saxophonist of the Year, new CD Gamak came out this week fusing jazz, progressive rock, heavy metal, country, American folk, go-go, and also incorporating traditions of Indian, Chinese, African, and Indonesian music. Gamak, coming from the South Indian term for melodic ornamentation gamaka, is a musical concept or guideline how a composer and improviser can approach melody.
This is his second release on ACT Music & Vision featuring David “Fuze” Fiuczynski (on guitar), François Moutin (on acoustic bass) and Dan Weiss (on drums).

Recomennded post: David Fiuczynski Interview: Blowin’ A “Fuze” At BAM Cafe!

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Remembering Butch Morris best known for his conductions

Text by Matt Cole

The world lost an outstanding and original musician yesterday when conductor, composer, cornetist, educator, and writer Lawrence “Butch” Morris passed away a few weeks shy of his 66th birthday. Morris got his start as a cornetist in the ’70s, playing with saxophonist David Murray, and others, but is best known for his conductions, live conducted improvisations of often large ensembles, in which he created compositions in real time by directing musicians (and/or poets) with a set of several dozen hand signs and gestures. Morris developed this system (which he has described as an exploration of the overlapping space between improvisation and composition) as an outgrowth of an attempt to devise a more flexible musical notation.

Over a 25+ year span, Morris taught and conducted over 5,000 musicians in 200 or so conductions in New York, Europe, South America, and Asia; often the concerts followed intensive workshops. Morris also wrote about his conduction and musical philosophy in a complex, information-rich style that reminds me of none other than R. Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome. In addition, Morris had, from time to time, some ongoing projects which included the Chorus of Poets, the Lucky Cheng Orchestra, and the Nublu Orchestra.

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Recommended Concert: Bark and Scream Series – Frank London / Jeremiah Lockwood’s SONG’S OF ZEBULON

Photo by courtesy of Firehouse Space

Photo by Anna London

Date: January 31, 2013
Time: 8pm
Venue: The Firehouse Space (246 Frost St., East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211)
Ticket: $10
Genre: Jewish music and mysticism

The Klezmatics’ Frank London and Sway Machinery’s Jeremiah Lockwood have long been trespassing on sacred ground. For this special collaboration, Lockwood & London resurrect the sounds and spirit of the golden age of khazones – Ashkenazic religious singing – and explore the music of Zebulon Kwartin. Both artists are adept at exploring Jewish music and mysticism, bridging tradition and modernity. This new collaboration allows them to explore their mutual obsession with Cantorial music, and is part of the current zeitgeist resurgence of interest in classic Cantorial music.

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Montréal/Brookyn Exchange event “The Detours of the Possible” @ A.I.R. Gallery (Brooklyn)

Re-Source II (installation) by Barbara Seigel (photo by courtesy of artist)

Re-Source II (installation) by Barbara Siegel (photo by courtesy of artist)

Artists: Barbara Siegel, Aimée Burg, Julie Côté, Véronique Ducharme, Bang-Geul Han, Minna Pöllänen, Kathleen Schneider and Catherine Tremblay

Curators Saada El-Akhrass, Julie Lohnes, Marie-Josée Parent

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Guest Commentary by Marc Ribot: Piracy, Profit & Music

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Today I want to introduce you to  a musician, Marc Ribot, who’s not “just” a musician but also a music activist. For a couple of years he’s been fighting for musician rights, i.e. seeking better pay and conditions for musicians playing at the Winter Jazz Fest 2012. Since coming to NY I’ve been meeting Marc and found out that this gentleman is quite different from other NY musicians I know. So for a while I’ve been trying to find the right entree and timing to feature him as music activist and not as a musician.

Last week by chance I found an article written by Marc in Allegro and a video interview of him at allaboutjazz.com. which made me decide to make this feature.  I’m very sure what he writes in his article and says in the interview might be very interesting and inspiring for musicians and very informative  for music lovers.

As I’ve said and written a couple of times since becoming a music activist myself: to play and compose music is like any other job. We musicians should be paid for our “creative” work in the same way like a medical doctor, lawyer, worker, etc. We can’t play for free all the time. I think the time has come that the public and also people and companies who hire musicians and composers should start to understand that musicians and also composers are “really” workers like them. They need the same kind of respect for their work.

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