Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

dear all

went to warmer by the stove concert on friday night and saw a wonderful performance of improvised music by 4 outstanding musicians each coming from completely different traditions except the current practice of improvised new music

watching the flow of intention between the 4 players as they sensed as exactly as possible  in the present was intoxicating

when each player entered forefront of expression their background became visible so the listener had the experience of traveling in the present time carying the musical history of the player with their sounds

m. frasconi was the leader and instigator of the ensemble and he mentioned that the direction for at least some of the work came from imagining movements of the body sideways, forward and backward with some metaphoric implications to such imagination

at the end of his explanation he deferred to the completeness and indefineable experience of listening, as i write now i remember how deeply the 4 listened to each other

to sound freely and listen at the same time

c. dufallo played the violin with the weight of european classical music as a virtuoso might (perhaps russian) which at first seemed strange but he managed to blend oganicaly and emerge  with  beautiful melody and harmony

t. kajiwara with turntables and electronics provided the ever shifting ground for everybody, all most pure atmosphere of shifting light and dark space

p. gelb blowing shakuhachi shifted between the atmosphere and the figure of melody  illuminating the possibilities and subtleties of the shakuhachi in the contempory improvised music setting

went because of phil's posting and yesterday my playing showed some changes because of phil's deeply gentle aproach while remaining so connected to the traditional work that we study

so the short is that practice, practice, practice is even more joyfull

thankyou to the musicians, warmer by the stove,  the space, lotus music and dance

indigo

Thank you for the review, Indigo! Are you Bruce Gremo, by chance?

I enjoyed this project very much and hope Miguel brings it together again! What a treat to play to play with these 3 musicians, 2 of them for the first time.  My duet with Cornelius on violin was my favorite part of the evening.

What is this thin sharp edge that i have been on for a while, Edosan? Curious!

Coincidentally, while walking up 6th avenue, on my way to the performance at Lotus, i walked past shakuhachi player and composer, Elisabeth Brown. She was heading up a few blocks to meet Ralph Samuelson for a rehearsal.  Nice to bump into her on the streets. Wish i could hear the concert in NYC, next week that her, Ralph, Ned Rothenberg and other shakuhachi players are doing. Alas, i am already back home in California.

phil