Downbeast - music blog

CRYPTONIGHT AND THE MUSEUM OF NEON ART Present:

Nels Cline, Jeff Gauthier, Andrew Pask & David Witham plus performance painter Norton Wisdom Create Neon Soundscapes at MONA!

Guitarist Nels Cline, violinist Jeff Gauthier, woodwind player Andrew Pask and keyboardist David Witham will improvise while performance painter Norton Wisdom creates spontaneous works of art on his light board. Watch images and scenes magically come into being in response to the improvised music, suddenly shifting and changing according to the whims of the artist, and the creativity of the musicians. Now imagine all this surrounded by neon sculptures and unusual neon signs at the wonderfully eclectic Museum of Neon Art in Downtown LA's burgeoning arts district.

Nels Cline - electric guitar, electronics
Jeff Gauthier - electric violin, electronics
Andrew Pask - woodwinds, electronics
David Witham - piano, keyboards, electronics
Norton Wisdom - performance painting

FRIDAY NIGHT SEPTEMBER 5TH - 8PM
Museum of Neon Art
136 W. 4th St., LA 90013
Tel. (213) 489-9918
Tickets are $10 at the Door

For more information and a map, please go to: www.neonmona.org

This weekend, our pal Nels Cline -- fresh off a tour with Das Viclo and a mother-of-invention of a performance of the music of Jimmy Giuffre at the Angel City Jazz Festival last week (read Greg Burk's live diary here) -- will play a group improv at MONA and solo set for his bro Alex Cline's Open Gate Theatre Concert Series.

On the latter bill is Nels' frequent collaborator, guitarist Jeremy Drake [pictured above], who himself dabbles in concert curating as a board member of SASSAS (The Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound). Drake, along with Cindy Bernard, Danny Gromfin, Joe Potts and Tom Recchion, is behind the vanguard sound. at the Schindler House summer series. Their next event on Saturday, Sept. 20th, proves to be a doozy.

"Exquisite Corpse II", billed as "L.A.’s only surrealist/improvisational concert," is based on the Surrealist technique of Cadavre Exquis, in which words or images (or in this case, sounds) are assmbeled in a group context. Six Los Angeles area improvisers will present a series of overlapping solo performances that will "explore the mystique of accident." According to the press release: "In a musical interpretation of this technique, the musicians will separate into groups of three positioned in the two rooms flanking the main courtyard of the Schindler House. The first musician plays solo for a brief period of time, and is then joined in a duet with a musician in the other room. After approximately five minutes the first musician will drop out, leaving the second musician to perform solo. The process repeats, alternating solo and duet and room to room, until all musicians have performed."

The 2008 concert will be performed by six acclaimed Los Angeles improvisers that includes some names from the extended Crypto Famdamily: Joe Baiza, electric guitar; Dan Clucas, coronet; Alicia Mangan, tenor saxophone; Dwight Trible, voice; Kira Vollman, voice and multiple instruments; Rich West, percussion.

For reviews of the first Exquisite Corpse concert from 2004, go here. Tickets for the Sept. 20 show may be purchased online at www.soundnet.org. Go here for archived recordings from the sound. series.

There are also two CDs available of sound. performances from Gregg Bendian, Carla Bozulich, Alex Cline, Nels Cline, Extended Organ, Vinny Golia, Kraig Grady, Lynn Johnston, Pauline Oliveros, The Polar Goldie Cats, Rod Poole, Joe Potts, Rick Potts, Devin Sarno, Solid Eye, Mike Watt, Rich West and more.

Hah-hah hee-hah ho-hah. Well, no, of course not. But we did get some more love last week:

"L.A. is home to one of the world's most adventurous jazz labels (Cryptogramophone)."
-L.A. Times (9/01/08)

ON TOUR: Our pal Todd Sickafoose, currently on his Tiny Resistors mini-caravan (and playing Santa Monica's Temple Bar tonight with Nels Cline and Kneebody), was just profiled by Sign On San Diego.

TOUGH CHOICE: Don't miss the upcoming Creative Music Festival at Redcat next week (Sept. 19-20), featuring Wadada Leo Smith [above], Vinny Golia, Thomas Buckner, Anthony Davis and Mark Dresser, among many other participants. Only problem: Friday night's show, which also features Amina Claudine Myers Trio with the CalArts Choir, dovetails with the Sacred Music Festival show over at the Aratani/Japan America Theatre.

Crypto master percussionist Alex Cline [above] will fulfill a lifelong dream performing as a member of Kinnara Gagaku/Bugaku in Hirokazu Kosaka’s performance piece Mare Serenitatis ("Sea of Serenity") Besides Kosaka himself (a Zen archer/
performance artist), other participants are Oguri, Tetsuya Nakamura, Kaoru Watanabe, bodyTRAFFIC, Majikina Honryu, Koyasan Buddhist Priests, and IKKYU Zen Archers. Wow. "Needless to say, this is my first (and possibly only) gig playing Gagaku music," Alex writes. "Something I love but never imagined I’d get an opportunity to do." What to do, what to do...

Check out the short film by Morleigh Steinberg called Height of Sky, which profiles Oguri and has striking scenes shot not only in the California desert but at Venice's Electric Lodge performance space, home to many a concert by many of Crypto's extended famdamily. The film also uses music from Lajko Felix and Wadada Leo Smith.

BLOGGY NOTIONS: Check out the David Berman Interview on Zolius; the Peter Evans profile courtesy of Greenleaf Music; the Paul Motian Trio review on Visionsong; the interesting news on the Free Jazz Research Project from Bagatellen; cool info on "aural artists" Bernhard Gal on Just Outside and Trimpin on PostClassic; the Tanglewood Festival coverage from The Jazz Session's Jason Crane; and the enduring vinyl tirade on Running the Voodoo Down.

And finally, Sunburned Hand of the Man's Adam Nodelman, Rest in Tempo

We recieved an open invite from one of L.A.'s great jazz masters (not to mention jazz storytellers), Buddy Collette. Apparently, he's just finished scoring the music for a documentary called The Eastsiders. It celebrates, with interviews (including Jackie Kelso, Clora Bryant and Mr. Collette) and archival footage, exceptional people from the east side of Los Angeles (not East L.A., but the area around Central Avenue) from 1920 through 1965.

Here's the skinny on the screening:

THE EASTSIDERS
A Documentary of the Eastside of Los Angeles 1920 to 1965
Free Admission! Light Snackies!
Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008 1:00 PM
Auditorium of L.A. Trade Tech College
400 W, Washington Blvd. (Administrative Bldg)
(facing Washington Blvd at Grand Ave.)
Downtown Los Angeles, CA 90015

If you can't make the screening, The Eastsiders will be broadcast on October 14, 2008 at 9pm on KLCS-TV/DT.

LISTENING:

Neko Case - Live from Austin, TX [New West] 2006

DNA on DNA [No More] 2004

Gang of Four - Entertainment! [Rhino] 2005 reissue

The Gathering - Leimert Park: The Roots and Branches of L.A. Jazz [self-released] 2008

Vinny Golia Quintet - One, Three, Two [Jazz'halo] 2003

M.I.A. - Kala [Interscope] 2007

No Age - Nouns [Sub Pop] 2008

Pearl Jam - Live at the Gorge [Rhino] 2007

The Sea and Cake - Everybody [Thrill Jockey] 2007

Horace Tapscott/Roberto Miranda/Sonship Theus - Live from Lobero Vol. 1
[Nimbus West] 2006

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is EP [Interscope] 2007

READING:

What Is The What by Dave Eggers

Zeroville by Steve Erickson

Warlock by Oakley Hall

That Devilin' Tune: A Jazz History by Allen Lowe

Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor

WAX ON: The music journal Wax Poetics has lately been poking its nose into the bramble patch of L.A. jazz (i.e, "a tangled and complex network of subterranean vines"), with it's recent profile of trombonist Phil Ranelin and now with a upcoming 5500-word (!!) piece on Horace Tapscott written by Andy Thomas. No word as to when the latter will appear in print, but keep your eyes out for it. Wax Poetics has just released Anthology Vol. 2 of archival articles; you can buy a copy here.

NELS KNITS: Jon Pareles of The New York Times reviews the 50th Anniversary Tribute to the Fender Jazzmaster at the Knitting Factory last Friday night featuring our axe man in the field Nels Cline and some other guys.

GONE BABY GONE: Portland loses its Jazz Festival; Santa Monica loses its Temple Bar.
From the latter's press release: " September will be the last month of live music at our current location, so we invite you to please come out and shut the house down with us in creativity, fun and style. The month will be jam packed with the livest music and DJs in town so we welcome all old friends and new friends. And when you get here, please make sure to pick-up a commemorative copy of the farewell brochure calendar which includes September events, a photo collage of Temple Bar friends and family and personalized letter from Temple Bar owners and visionaries, Louie & Nettie. But that’s not all! - we want to invite you to continue to enjoy the experience of Zanzibar and Little Temple which will remain open and booming with business. You will continue to see some of your favorite Temple Bar music presented at these venues from time to time in addition to the amazing residencies you have grown to love. We would also like to present our ‘newest’ venture - The oldest and original speakeasy in Venice – The Townhouse with the Del Monte Speakeasy, located at 52 Windward Ave in Venice."

[Amusing Nugglette: we remember the pre-gentrified days of the Townhouse -- located near where the old St. Mark's "jazz club" used to be -- when it was referred to as "The Piss House" because of the pervasive stench of urine that the owners/staff were unable to scrub out of the pool hall-cum-dive. What's more, the bartenders kept a white dildo sitting in full view by the bar-back. As the story went, a deranged elderly homeless woman wandered in one day yelling obscenities and threw it at the bartender. I wonder if they'll keep it around?]

FLEA'S CIRCUS: The Silverlake Conservatory of Music has announced its 4th annual Hullaballoo 2008 concert on Sept. 27 at Los Angeles' Union Station (800 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles, CA 90012). From 5pm-11pm attendees at will be treated to an evening of eclectic musical performances featuring SCM students, co-founder Keith Barry, faculty, and of course, the school's other co-founder, Flea. Special guests confirmed at press time include famed trumpeter Roy Hargrove, jazz singer Roberta Gambarini and members of the LA Philharmonic (more TBA)." Tickets (they ain't cheap) are available online here.

LASTLY, NOT LEASTLY: Pink Floyd's Richard Wright, Infinite Jest's David Foster Wallace and composer Hector Zazou -- REST IN TEMPO

Somehow, someway, in the midst of heavy touring behind Ani DiFranco, bassist Todd Sickafoose has snuck in some extra dates on his Tiny Resistors mini-tour AND managed to get corralled by All About Jazz's Rex Butters for a brief profile. How does he do it?

Alex Cline and Nels Cline have a new drop-date for their respective solo albums Continuation and Coward: February 10, 2009.

And, to the great L.A. session drummer Earl Palmer -- Rest In Tempo