Conductive Structures
SMO partners with Earshot Jazz and Seattle icon Wayne Horvitz as part of a multi-night festival at The Royal Room celebrating the innovations and musical philosophies of three mid-century African American musical conceptualists. What’s Going On: Conduction, Improvisation, and the Culture of Structure features conduction techniques pioneered by Lawrence “Butch” Morris, a string quintet by Julius Hemphill, plus a world premiere of a new conduction tribute to Sun Ra created by Horvitz. Our featured guest CHARI extends the resonance of these giants, creating a new work for SMO and performing and improvising alongside our core ensemble with featured performers James Falzone and Greg Campbell. An Emmy-nominated composer/performer known for their progressive experimental soundscapes centered on the archive, social justice, healing, listening, and time, CHARI embraces the tradition of improvisation, while building soundscapes up over time utilizing their voice and field recordings.
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PROGRAM:
WAYNE HORVITZ: 188 Sullivan: Varèse meets Bird (2019)
JULIUS HEMPHILL: One Atmosphere (1992)
NEW CONDUCTION/WAYNE HORVITZ: Worst Planet Yet (2024) – A Sun Ra-inspired World Premiere
~ intermission ~
CHARI: Breaking Time (2024) – World Premiere
PERFORMERS:
Wayne Horvitz, guest conductor/electronics
CHARI, Moog Subsequent 37 Analog Synthesizer
Julia Tai, conductor
James Falzone, clarinet
Greg Campbell, percussion/drumset
Bonnie Whiting, vibraphone
Cristina Valdés, piano
Eric Rynes and Luke Fitzpatrick, violins
Erin Wight, viola
Maria Scherer Wilson, cello
Abbey Blackwell, bass
Marcin Pączkowski, electronics
PROGRAM NOTES:
WAYNE HORVITZ: selections from 188 Sullivan: Varèse meets Bird (2019)
The Meeting
Long thought to be an admirer of Varèse, Parker met with him several times in 1954 at his residence at 188 Sullivan Street to discuss the possibility of lessons. “Take me in as you would a baby,” Parker implored, “and teach me music. I only write one voice. I want to have structure. I want to write orchestral scores.” Parker himself had been influenced by the tumultuous music of Stravinsky and had a dream to unify jazz and classical music into a new genre; he loved the idea of playing with a string section and recorded Charlie Parker with Strings, a session of six ballads recorded with chamber and jazz orchestras. Varèse recalled that “[Parker] was so nice, and so modest, and he had such a tone. You could not know if it was an angelic double bass, a saxophone, or a bass clarinet … I promised myself I would try to find some time to show him some of the things he wanted to know.” Unfortunately, the lessons never occurred: Varèse returned to Paris to complete work on his piece Desèrts, and Parker suffered a heart attack and died of complications prior to Varèse’s return in 1955. While we may never know what collaborations may have arisen from their lessons, Varèse continued to be influenced by jazz throughout the remainder of his career, and attended jazz sessions with Charles Mingus, Art Farmer, Teo Macero, and other illustrious contemporaries of Parker.
The Piece
Charlie Parker was perhaps the greatest icon in the history of American jazz music. Brilliant and controversial, an inordinate amount of attention was paid to his excesses in lifestyle and the blazing tempos of his improvisations. This belied what we know of him from many accounts — his deep intelligence and intellectualism, his broad taste in music and art, his brilliant wit, and his keen observation of the world and its inhabitants. Parker’s musical influence on improvisers in the jazz idiom was almost inexplicable. As brilliant as he was, it was not as if he wasn’t surrounded by wildly inventive peers and elders. For every alto player who aspired to become the next Johnny Hodges, thousands more imitated Bird. I assume there are multiple factors, including some degree of serendipity. Some have suggested that Parker’s innovations were not easy to imitate, but perhaps easier to analyze. From a musicological perspective, Parker’s approach to resolving to chord tunes, his use of leading tones and “enclosures” wasn’t that far from melodic devices found in Mozart — much like Coltrane shared approaches to intervals also found in Messiaen, Stravinsky and Schoenberg.
In addition, Charlie Parker died just as the idea of a formal jazz pedagogy began to emerge — and a tremendous amount of that pedagogy was based directly on the harmonic, melodic and rhythmic approaches that emerged from be-bop. Of course, the idea of Jazz Education holding equal status with European traditions has been the victim of historical racism, and still is today. We still see music departments divided in two, and fundamental attitudes about jazz, and even improvisation, persist. Even the notion of Parker knocking on Varèse’s door to study with him creates the wrong impression. Igor Stravinsky went to hear Charlie Parker play, Varèse was stunned to find this genius pursuing him, and Toru Takemitsu famously stated “my teachers are Duke Ellington, and nature”. With the possible exception of Schoenberg and the Viennese school, almost all the seismic changes in 20th century Euro-centric music were a result of non-European influences, many of them related to jazz and Afro-centric American idiomatic forms.
To me, the story of Varèse and Charlie Parker is really the story of urban America, and especially New York City. Who wouldn’t you go see the premiere of an experimental composer at 7:30 and then go to the Five Spot later that evening? I know I would have! The institutions may have been slow to change, but this was the story of human beings — actual musicians with deep passions and curious, open minds. Varèse meets Bird, Gunter Schuller champions Ornette, and Charles Mingus and Earle Brown are hanging out in a loft in lower Manhattan, working out graphic scores and structures for improvisation. The rest is just left to the squares.
Parker was famous for his catholic taste in music. It not only came as a surprise to some that Parker was engaged with 20th century new music, but also that he loved the Tommy Dorsey band. And by all accounts he was a fan of Hank Williams. Why would that be a surprise? What sort of soul wouldn’t love Hank Williams? Parker was an extremely literate musician, he appreciated great musicianship, and great artistry. Despite some revisionist history, Charlie Parker with Strings was not a record company’s attempt to increase sales, but Charlie Parker’s idea (Mitch Miller was the producer, who had also produced Hank Williams). And he plays like an angel, soaring above the Jimmy Carrol arrangements.
Analysis:
I: The first movement is directly inspired by Charlie Parker with Strings, and the initial four-note motif is the opening melody to “Out of Nowhere”, the famous ballad performed so elegantly on the original recordings. Hints of percussion and electronics are my way of imagining New York City at that time, and the incredible concurrence of sound in the music and on the street.
II: Is inspired by the dramatic changes in the tempo of life in urban America, and the tempo of be-bop.
IV: The subtitle of this movement is “995 Fifth Avenue”, which was the address of the Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter — Charlie Parker’s great patron, friend, and confidant. As Parker became ill, “Nica” insisted that he come to her apartment, and summoned her Upper East Side physician. Parker died shortly thereafter. Her neighbors were so outraged that a black man died in her apartment, as was the press and the rest of “high society”, that the baroness was forced to move.
VII: The final movement is subtitled “Electronic Poem” as in Varèse’s completely revolutionary composition Poème Électronique. I only wish Varèse had collaborated with Parker. I would have liked to hear Charlie Parker play with Hank Williams! There is a story that Bob Dylan sat in with Cecil Taylor once! These are the reasons I love music.
-Wayne Horvitz
JULIUS HEMPHILL: One Atmosphere (1992)
“One Atmosphere” for piano quintet (piano, two violins, viola, and cello), was written for Ursula Oppens and the Arditti Quartet. This work was premiered in 1992, and was recorded on the album One Atmosphere (2003), performed by Oppens (Hemphill’s partner near the end of his life) and the Pacifica Quartet. While he was best known for his groundbreaking work with the World Saxophone Quartet as a composer and improviser, Hemphill’s compositions for non-improvising musicians equally telegraph his rich, evocative dissonances and playful contrapuntal textures. Alongside his works “Mingus Gold” and “Parchment,” written for musicians trained in the eurocentric classical model, this is one of Hemphill’s most extensive through-composed works. In an artist statement from the late 1970’s, Hemphill writes: “Since it is my understanding of the matter that instrumental music is not readily capable of delivering specific imagery and messages under our cloak of anonymity, it appears that one must be content to resort to titles and style to convey what might be termed ‘probable intent.’” The driving fuge that closes One Atmosphere conveys exactly this wry and biting humor. -BW
NEW CONDUCTION/WAYNE HORVITZ: Worst Planet Yet (2024) – A Sun Ra-inspired World Premiere
“Worst Planet Yet” is a conduction event based on 10 motifs, 3 each from the sun Ra compositions Space is the Place, Enlightenment, and Images, plus one piece of text without melody.
The phrase “worst planet yet” comes from a story I heard from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from a member of Sun Ra’s band. Like any game of telephone, this story may be distorted, inaccurate, or entirely apocryphal. If the latter, if it is truly just myth, then so be it. Sun Ra loved to create story, to play with language, and he relished changing spellings and putting words in different contexts. Creating myth was an enormous part of his artistic identity – in his song titles, poems, costumes, and the stories he told in interviews and public interactions.
I never met Sun Ra, although I shared a stage with him, and his band, a few times, and heard him perform many, many times. The “conduction” technique I use in this piece, I learned from Lawrence “Butch” Morris. I did know Butch – we were good friends, and he was a kind of mentor to me. Neither Butch nor Sun Ra are with us anymore. I don’t know if this really is the worst planet, but it is undeniably worse off without their presence.
CHARI: Breaking Time (2024) – World Premiere
Breaking Time is an experimental work which pushes, pulls, rewrites the concept of time. Inspired by Julius Eastman’s Stay on It, the piece investigates temporal conventions, expectations, and perceptions through repetition, polymeters, improvisation and experimental techniques. A piece which began as an experiment in polymeter composition transformed into an introspective invitation to investigate the ways in which time is made real through action, and how action can also unravel it. This piece is a departure from my most recent and notable works, which typically sound like longform experimental soundscapes. In some ways, it’s a return to my earlier pieces composed during my time at Mills College. Breaking Time is dedicated to Julius Eastman, with love and admiration. – CHARI
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS:
Recipient of the 2019 American Prize in Orchestral Composition, composer Wayne Horvitz performs extensively throughout Europe, Japan, and North America. In addition to creating work for his own ensembles, he has created new work for The Kitchen, BAM, Seattle Symphony, Berlin Jazz, Nocco, Vienna Radio Orchestra, Centrum, and ACT among others. He has received awards from, MAP, McKnight Foundation, the NEA, Meet the Composer, and The Shifting Foundation. among others. Narrative works include pieces centered around the life of Joe Hill, the story of the Everett Massacre, and the poems of Richard Hugo. Installation work has been presented at Ft. Worden, SAM and Arizona State Museum of Art. He is the recipient of the 2016 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. Collaborators include Robin Holcomb, Bill Frisell, Reggie Watts, Butch Morris, Alex Guy, Ikue Mori, George Lewis, Steve Swallow, Yukio Suzuki, Billy Bang, Carla Bley, Eyvind Kang, John Zorn (Naked City etc.), Bill Irwin, Gus Van Sant, Paul Taylor, Beth Fleenor, Rinde Eckert, Yohei Saito, Barbara Earl Thomas, David Moss, Carey Perloff, Paul Taylor, Dayna Hanson, and Gus Van Sant. He has produced recordings for the WorldSaxophone Quartet, Human Feel, Fontella Bass, Marty Ehrlich, John Adams, Bill Frisell, Robin Holcomb, and Eddie Palmieri.
Chari Glogovac-Smith (CHARI) is an Emmy Nominated composer, performer, and intermedia artist.
Using an evolving mixture of traditional and experimental techniques, Chari is dynamically exploring and illustrating various counterpoints between the human experience and society. Chari’s recent works have posed questions about empathy, conflict, landscapes and cultural connections, the archive, social justice, healing, listening, and time. As a composer, Chari is known for creating progressive experimental soundscapes, and experimental orchestral compositions. They have composed and created commissioned recent works for The Center of the Art of Performance at UCLA, Emmy Nominated Black Iris Project Ballet Company (NY, USA), New Music USA, the multi-award winning independent film “Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Color. As a mixed media artist, Chari’s work includes video, data art, archival footage and sound, maps, and machine learning systems. As a sound performer, Chari embraces the tradition of improvisation, building soundscapes up over time utilizing voice, field recordings, and a collection of their favorite electronic and acoustic instruments. As a theatrical performer, Chari stages experimental performance works that test the limits of audience performer dynamics, and investigate social norms.Chari is a McNair Scholar, a Nevada Art Council Fellow, a UW Black Opportunity Fund Awardee, a New Music USA Creative Development Fund Awardee, a UW Howard P. Dallas Fellow and a Henry Arts Gallery Ritual Fellow. Chari holds a B.S. in Health Ecology from the University of Nevada, Reno, an M.F.A. in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College in Oakland, CA, a D.M.A. in Experimental Arts and Digital Media from the University of Washington, and an Assistant Professor in Film and Digital Media at UC Santa Cruz.
Julius Hemphill (1938-1995) was best known for his work with the World Saxophone Quartet — he was arguably the band’s most distinctive writer — but his work as an improvising saxophonist and composer encompassed a variety of other contexts over the course of his career. Hemphill was a vigorous force in American music from his first public performances and recordings in the late 1960s until his death, at 57, in 1995. Whether playing saxophone or flute — or even, as on his overdubbed solo “Blue Boyé,” both at once — he blended folk traditions with a joyous avant-garde edge. Hemphill worked with everything from big bands to duos; he especially excelled at composing for unusual instrumental combinations. Hemphill’s primary instrument was the alto; he had a huge, somewhat harsh tone, almost as if he were playing a horn made out of a steel pipe with a sax mouthpiece attached. He possessed a formidable technique and a fertile imagination. The latter probably best manifested itself in his compositions, in which he merged his jazz roots with European classical and African influences. Hemphill’s first instrument was the clarinet. He played bari saxophone in high school; purportedly, he fostered a musical infatuation with Gerry Mulligan. In Fort Worth, he studied with the renowned jazz clarinetist John Carter and played with local rhythm & blues bands. Hemphill joined the army in 1964. Upon his discharge, he played for a time with Ike Turner, then moved to St. Louis in 1968. There he became involved with the Black Artists Group, a new music collective that also included Oliver Lake, Hamiet Bluiett, Joseph Bowie, and Baikida Carroll, among others. Hemphill formed his own record company, Mbari, to document his music. His ’70s Mbari releases, Dogon A.D. and Blue Boyé, proved to be quite influential, affecting the later work of such disparate artists as Dave Sanborn and Tim Berne. Hemphill moved to New York in the mid-’70s. There he became active in loft sessions and recorded as a sideman with Anthony Braxton and Lester Bowie. Around this time, he also recorded for the Arista/Freedom label. In 1976, he formed the World Saxophone Quartet with Lake, Bluiett, and David Murray, which would prove to be the most commercially successful and long-lasting of his performing units. In the ’70s and ’80s, Hemphill played and recorded fairly often for several labels, almost always under his own leadership. His 1980 album, Flat Out Jump Suite (Black Saint), with cellist Abdul Wadud, cornetist Olu Dara, and percussionist Warren Smith, was critically praised, as was his concurrent work with the WSQ. In the late ’80s, Hemphill and the WSQ began an association with the Elektra label, which led to a number of well-distributed and aesthetically rewarding albums. In 1988, Hemphill got his one and only chance to record his big band compositions, on the album Julius Hemphill Big Band (Elektra/Musician). Hemphill also had a strong interest in theatre. He incorporated theatrical elements into his 1977 album Roi Boyé and the Gotham Minstrels and in the ’80s he composed an extended work entitled Long Tongues, which he called “a saxophone opera.” Hemphill’s death in 1995 prematurely curtailed the career of one of free jazz’s most visionary composers.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:
Praised by The Seattle Times as “poised yet passionate,” Julia Tai has conducted orchestras around the world. Recognized as a prominent innovator of the contemporary music world, she has worked with legendary composers, performers, and ensembles such as Seattle Chamber Players, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Ensemble Modern. She is currently the Music Director of Missoula Symphony Orchestra & Chorale, and the Co-Artistic Director of the Seattle Modern Orchestra.
James Falzone is a clarinetist, composer, and improviser whose work in the jazz and creative music scenes has won him international acclaim. A veteran contemporary music lecturer and clinician, as well as an award-winning composer who has been commissioned by chamber ensembles, dance companies, choirs, and symphony orchestras around the globe, Falzone leads his own ensembles and has released a series of critically-acclaimed recordings on Allos Documents, the label he founded in 2000. Falzone performs throughout North America and Europe, appears regularly on Downbeat Magazine‘s Critics’ and Readers’ Polls, and was nominated as Clarinetist of the Year by the Jazz Journalist Association. He has been profiled in The New York Times, The Seattle Times, The Chicago Tribune, New Music Box, and Point of Departure, among many other publications. A respected educator and scholar, Falzone has been on the faculty of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Deep Springs College, and was a fellow at The Center for Black Music Research. He is currently the Dean and Professor of Music at Cornish College of the Arts.
Based in Seattle, Greg Campbell plays drums, percussion, French horn, and other instruments. He works in the broader jazz and classical traditions, performing with groups ranging from Seattle EXperimental Opera to saxophonist Don Menza and clarinetist Bill Smith, and with artists such as steel pan virtuoso Ray Holman, violist Eyvind Kang, Ali Birra, Vinny Golia, Lori Goldston, Christian Asplund, guitarist Nels Cline, and clarinetist James Falzone. Campbell’s studies with Asante palmwine guitarist Koo Nimo led him to Ghana in 2017; he has worked with Koo Nimo’s son Yaw Amponsah in the traditional Asante drumming group Anokye Agofomma for twenty years. After earning a doctorate at the UW in percussion performance and ethnomusicology, Greg is currently a faculty member at both the Cornish College of the Arts and at Cascadia College.
Bonnie Whiting’s work centers on the relationship between percussive sound and the voice, performing, commissioning, composing, and championing music for the speaking and singing percussionist. You can hear her solo work on the New Focus Recordings and Mode Records labels. She is Co-Artistic Director of Seattle Modern Orchestra and she has performed with the country’s leading new music groups: Ensemble Dal Niente, International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, and red fish blue fish percussion group. She is Chair of Percussion Studies an Associate Professor at the University of Washington School of Music.
Recently hailed by Fanfare Magazine as “excellent” and “clearly sensitive,” pianist Cristina Valdés is known for presenting innovative concerts with repertoire ranging from Bach to Xenakis, has toured extensively with the Bang On a Can “All Stars,” and has performed with Seattle Chamber Players, the Mabou Mines Theater Company, the Parsons Dance Company, and Antares. She is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Washington, and Director of the UW Modern Music Ensemble.
Founding violinist Eric Rynes has performed in all 15 SMO seasons. Coached in Europe by Maryvonne Le Dizès (Ensemble Intercontemporain) and Irvine Arditti, he has performed hundreds of works from the past 100 years. He has performed at June in Buffalo, ICMC (Havana), the Rotterdam Music Biennial, Aspen, and other festivals, and in recital in Berlin, Barcelona, Stanford, Belfast, and many other locations. His solo album on Albany Records was praised in The Strad and called “a marvelous CD [by] a marvelous musician” by Helmut Lachenmann. More info: ericrynes.com
Luke Fitzpatrick is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and artistic director of Inverted Space, a Seattle-based new music collective. He has performed as a touring member of the Harry Partch Ensemble as well as with Deltron 3030, Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective and has appeared on recordings released by Ablaze and Centaur records. Luke is currently concertmaster of Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, Seattle Festival Orchestra and Federal Way Symphony. He is a founding member of the String Quartet Pure Flavor and performs with Temple Mozaic, an improvisational music and dance collective alongside Smerk, Orb and Free. Besides music related things, Luke is an avid dancer and enjoys biking, eating sushi and collecting shoes.
Giving performances the New York Times describes as “surehanded,” “engrossing,” and “rich,” violist Erin Wight is an enthusiastic proponent of the music of our time. She has appeared as a contemporary music soloist on four continents, and is happiest when collaboratively imagining and creating new sound worlds with her friends. Deeply committed to community engagement, Erin’s decade-plus in NYC found her in Teaching Artist roles for the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. From her present home-base of Seattle, Erin continues to develop exploratory music curricula for preeminent arts organizations including the New York Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and her alma mater The Juilliard School’s K-12 Programs and Initiatives. When not busy performing in stadiums, orchestra pits, or cozy venues in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest, Erin enjoys looking for tide-pool creatures on rocky beaches, reading novels while drinking coffee, and spending time with her three children and composer-turned-hospitalist partner.
Violoncellist Maria Scherer Wilson brings healing and education through her work as a performer, teacher, recording artist and spiritual guide. Her career began classically, evolving over the years into alternative styles of rock, pop and free jazz, becoming a highly recommended artist in Austin, Hollywood and now Seattle. Maria has worked with talents Florence Henderson, Bernadette Peters, Ahamefule J. Oluo, Jherek Bischoff, Sigur Ros, Eyvind Kang, Graham Reynolds, Hauschka, Samantha Boshnack and Wayne Horvitz. Her studies in self-realization led her to the healing arts, and is now a Certified Yoga Teacher (200-RYT), Meditation Teacher, Sound Healer and Reiki Master. She also holds a Master of Music in Violoncello Performance from The University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Evansville.
Primarily known as a bassist with groups like Grammy-nominated band Alvvays, and surf pop band La Luz, Abbey Blackwell is a member of many scenes in Seattle’s varied music community, ranging from rock to the avant-garde. Since making her home in Seattle in 2009, Abbey has played with a wide array of artists in Seattle and beyond, like Wayne Horvitz, Jonathan Wilson, Alvvays, and Haley Heynderickx. In the last handful of years, she has begun to focus more on composing and leading groups of her own. Abbey holds a master’s degree in Jazz and Improvised Music and a bachelor’s of music in Double Bass Performance from the University of Washington.
Marcin Pączkowski (pronounced `marr-cheen pawnch-`koav-skee) is a composer, conductor, digital artist, and performer, working with both traditional and electronic media. As a composer, he focuses on exploring new methods of creating and performing computer music using gestural control. In his role as Music Director of the Evergreen Community Orchestra, he presents concerts of diverse repertoire to local communities. He also collaborates with numerous ensembles in the Seattle area as an electronic music specialist and is active in the local improvised music community, performing on a range of instruments.