Primary responsibilities include teaching in the areas of Internet technologies and web development within the context of Music Industry Studies. Must be able to teach usage of HTML 5, CSS, and PHP or other dynamic languages. Emphasis on marketing using social media and other platforms required. Secondary duties may include teaching in other areas of music industry technology including smartphone/tablet apps, new approaches to content delivery, and related areas of expertise, potential for the development of distance learning programs, work in a collaborative manner and fulfill various roles in college and university activities, serve as an academic advisor and mentor to students, assist with departmental websites and student workers, and other duties as assigned.

Other specifics can be found here: http://finance.loyno.edu/human-resources/faculty-employment-opportunities. The full consideration date is June 15, 2013 and the gig starts in August. If you or someone you know want to live in New Orleans and teach aspiring young musicians and entrepreneurs, in a setting with a good bunch of colleagues, please apply. I’d be happy to answer any questions as well.

2 cent cell phone fee riles governor; House ignores Jindal’s plea to kill bill | The Lens:

“‘There’s no question that it was an important statement that the speaker made with that vote about doing the right thing rather than how it’s going to be scored by some outside group,’ Robideaux said in an interview Wednesday.

Jindal’s administration warned lawmakers that Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington, D.C.-based group headed by Grover Norquist, would flag it as a tax increase, lawmakers said.”

I agree with Rep. Robideaux. Who cares what Grover Norquist thinks. Do what is right for the people of Louisiana. Good job fellas.

The thing that I haven’t heard any one say in the gun control debate is that the advances in military technology have negated the reason for the existence of the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment guaranteed that we (The People of the United States) could bear arms so that we would be able to defend ourselves against oppressive government. Like we did when we fought for our independence from Britain. This made perfect sense when the government-supported-military used the same weapons that citizens used.

This is no longer the case. Hand guns, or even assault rifles and machine guns, will do us no good against drones, B1 bombers, and F16s. We as individual citizens are technologically incapable of defending ourselves against our own military, therefore the argument that we must have the right to buy a gun over the internet or at a gun show without a background check because we need to be able to defend ourselves from the possibility of our government going bad is a fallacious argument.

What we need to do to defend ourselves from our government going bad is to quit electing self-serving, egotistical idiots who value a rating from a lobbying group more than the wishes of their constituents. We need to quit electing people who value staying in office more than doing the right thing.

Dusted Reviews: Jeff Albert’s Instigation Quartet – The Tree on the Mound:

“By the time the four align on the first of Albert’s four ‘Instigation’ pieces (inexplicably out of numerical sequence and missing two in the order), everybody sounds as if they’re more comfortably on the same page. The last three tracks in particular find the group really hitting a galvanizing stride and crafting a series of bracing contrapuntal passages. ‘Instigation Quartet #6’ unfolds as a succession of duets, the first an explosive dialogue between Jordan and Abrams, the next a slow burn from Albert and Drake before moving on to an invigorating ensemble section and roof-raising solo by Jordan. Tenor and trombone converse and cavort in ornate arcs with a level of close confluence complemented by bass and drums. It’s a consensus that carries over into the closer, a collective leap through the indelible finger-snapping groove of Anderson’s ‘The Strut.’”

Since this is my blog, I will explain the inexplicable. The numbers on the IQ pieces are just a way to identify each one. I could have just as well called them Sue, John, Paul, George, and Ringo. They aren’t a suite meant to be played in order, just a collection of similar pieces. They are out of numerical order because that order made a better CD, and they aren’t all there because some of the recordings didn’t make the CD. Just like if they were five improvisations that had non-similar abstract names.

Interestingly, in an attempt to give the pieces names that created no baggage, expectations were still created. There may eventually be a longer post based on that dilemma.

Get more information on the label website. Ordering direct from the label will give the most support to the people who work hard and take risks to release good music. Order here, especially if you are in Europe.

The CD is also available in finer stores and online outlets like JazzLoft, Dusty Groove, Downtown Music Gallery, and Squidco among others.

Thanks for listening.

I will be performing at the Inaugural ICIT Symposium at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at UC Irvine on Friday March 1, 2013 at 8 pm. More info at http://music.arts.uci.edu/icit/symposium13/

We are nearing Mardi Gras. You should watch this short film by my friend John Worthington. It will help it makes sense…a little.

Dan Tepfer // Rhythm / Pitch Duality: hear rhythm become pitch before your ears

A Simple Reason Why Audiences Are So Small For New Music Concerts « Elissa Milne:

“Live concerts (or any live events) are built on a fan-base, so if you have no fans you have a limited chance of attracting an audience. This holds true for a pub band as much as it does for a purveyor of experimental sound art. Any performer needs to build an audience if they want to have an audience.

Now I do appreciate that there has been an aesthetic of writing with no thought for connection with listeners, but seriously people, if you write with no consideration of how you are building your audience you can hardly be surprised when you don’t have one.

And yeah, it’s your audience. It’s not the audience for ‘new music’ or ‘experimental music’ or ‘art music’. It’s the group of people in your neighbourhood, community, workplace, internet forums, facebook groups and twitterfeed who are interested in what you do. That’s what an audience is: it’s a bunch of people who care about your work so much that they want to participate. By being there. By being close to the action. By giving you money so you’ll keep doing what you do.”

(Via @pbailey.)

There were other sets by Jeb’s trio and The Engines.

More fun tonight, when I get to guest with the trio.

People often ask me when I will be on the show, and I usually chuckle and respond that the show doesn’t have “my kind of music.” I say this partly tongue in cheek, but it is true that the show focuses on the aspects of New Orleans music that are generally perceived as specifically representative. My regular musical/professional/social circles are largely tangential to those of the featured musicians in the show. I’m cool with that. I still like watching the show, and a track that I played on was the closing credits for one show in the first season, so I have gotten a little taste of the Treme gravy train.

I guess I should add here, that if I made the show, I wouldn’t have any Open Ears/New Orleans improv community scenes. It does’t fit with the story, and it isn’t very mainstream music. BUT, this past week we did get a little second order mention. The character LaDonna said, “They ain’t gonna shut me down like they did King Bolden’s!” (or something to that effect).

That line acknowledges the genesis of the Open Ears Music Series. King Bolden’s was a club on Rampart St. They only did jazz on Tuesdays (they had DJs and other music on other nights), and it was usually left of center jazz. Mario, the owner, seemed to like me and my band, because he called once a month and asked what night I wanted to play. When that club got shut down, my regular easy gig went away, and I needed a new place to play. That was the catalyst that led to the founding of the Open Ears Music Series, which is now 5 years old and has presented nearly every great New Orleans improviser, and many of the world’s great improvisers. So, you won’t see or hear any of the New Orleans improvised music community on Treme, but there was an inside reference to one of the clubs that features prominently in our history.

The blame game | Mass Comments | Blogs | Loyola University New Orleans:

“It struck me that, in the many years I’ve been teaching, I’ve heard a thousand things blamed for a student’s lack of success, mostly from students themselves. In fact, some of the reasons for missing class, turning in poor work or no work or some variation on failure to handle responsibilities were so bizarre I’ll never forget them (and these are all true):

‘I got arrested because my roommates were growing pot at our house.’
‘I was trying to decide if I should marry my fiancee…and it took a lot of time.’
‘My girlfriend cut up all my clothes and threw them away. I didn’t have anything to wear to class.’”

“Speaking as a consumer and a jazz fan, I gotta say, with all due respect…f–k you guys. You wanna know why jazz albums don’t sell for shit? Because labels release recordings of lazy, entitled old-timers coasting on name recognition, sleepwalking through tunes everyone who’s into jazz has already heard 500 times before. “

Don’t hold back, Phil. Tell us how you really think.

Please, read the whole thing.

The first day involved driving from New Orleans to Dallas, and performing that night. Aaron Gonzalez presented our concert at The Oak Cliff Cultural Center, and the trumpet/effects/drums duo Swirve (from Dallas) was also on the show. The Oak Cliff Cultural Center has a very nice, if quite resonant space, in which we performed.

We were hosted by Dennis and Carol Gonzalez (Aaron’s parents) who provided us with a place to sleep, two beautiful home cooked meals, and some wonderful fellowship. Of course Dennis is also a renowned improvising musician himself.

Dennis cooking eggs.

Carol’s world famous biscuits.

On Sunday, we drove to Austin, and played Sunday night on the Church of the Friendly Ghost concert at the Salvage Vanguard Theater. We stayed at the home of my friend and colleague John Worthington. Thanks, John.

The show in Austin also included sets from SYSTM, and Lunch Money. It was nice to get to hear and hang with some of Austin’s improvisers, who also offered excellent post gig taco truck suggestions.

The venue.

Sound check/set-up and the COTFG logo.

Monday we drove from Austin to Houston, and played at the fabulous “They, Who Sound” series at The Avant Garden. Dave Dove organizes the series, and they have a very cool scene happening there. Nice venue, great audience, the real thing. Damon Smith opened the show with a solo bass set, that was excellent.

Just to make sure the tour was grueling enough, we drove back to New Orleans after the concert on Monday night. By the time I dropped every one off and got back to my house, it was about 7am on Tuesday. The tour was fun and the music was good, but it was nice to be back in my own bed.

» SIX YEARS OF DEST: OUT Our Beginner’s Guide to Free Jazz destination: OUT:

“2. I DON’T KNOW HOW TO LISTEN TO FREE JAZZ.
OR: HOW DO YOU TELL THE GOOD STUFF FROM THE BAD?
Relax and trust your instincts. Most people automatically assume that there’s something in Free Jazz they’re not getting. Like you need conservatory training to appreciate what the musicians are doing. Or that there’s some secret content you’re not privy to. Nonsense: It’s just sound. Sometimes complex and abrasive, sometimes funky and buoyant. There’s no code to be broken.”

On Monday June 11, we played at The Big Top in New Orleans, as a trio with Tim on drums, Justin Peake on sampler, and me on my trombone/computer/sci-fi instrument rig. There are video of excerpts of that show here: http://jeffalbert.com/tim-daisy-jeff-albert-justin-peake/.

My computer/trombone/etc rig

Tim also played at Open Ears with dave Cappello, Ray Moore, and myself; at the AllWays Lounge with Brad Walker and Helen Gillet; and at Cité des Art in Lafayette with Josef Butts, and myself. Audio documentation of some of these gigs may appear at some point.

On Friday, Tim got schooled at Wii tennis by my daughters.

On Monday June 18, Rob Cambre, of Anxious Sounds, put together a show of ad hoc improvisations at the AllWays Lounge featuring Joe McPhee and the members of The Thing with some local musicians, including Will Thompson, Rob Cambre, Donald Miller, and me. It was a lot of fun, and Rob did a great job of grouping musicians in a way that made for a good show.

The set list for Monday June 18.

On Tuesday June 19, The Thing and Joe McPhee performed on the Open Ears Music Series. It was the last gig of the tour, and they brought it hard. It was a fabulous close to a busy but musically rewarding 9 days.

l to r: Paal Nilsson-Love (behind cymbal), Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten, Mats Gustafsson, & Joe McPhee

(Via @musikFabrik.)

‘It Can’t Be Done’: The Difficulty Of Growing A Jazz Audience : A Blog Supreme : NPR: “Jazz simply needs to continue doing what made it great in the first place: engage with popular culture in an intelligent, nuanced and sophisticated manner, as some successful groups are doing today. If there is any hope of audience building, this is where it lies. It must be organic, visceral and culturally relevant, qualities which cannot be consciously conjured by an audience development committee.”

(Via @tedgioia.)

This is from the Search & Restore NOLA Round Robin Duos concert. I like the fact that once Helen comes on stage I am heard more than seen.

Search And Restore: New Orleans is a 3 day festival (April 30th-May 2) celebrating the incredible new jazz musicians, creative composers and improvisers operating in New Orleans today, organized by Adam Schatz (founder of Search & Restore), Justin Peake (founder of the Merged series @ the Dragon’s Den) and Jeff Albert (founder of the Open Ears series @ the Blue Nile)

There is a Kickstarter campaign in place. I know I am always curious about how the Kickstarter money will be used. Your donations will help us guarantee a fair fee for every musician performing in the festival, with equal pay going to every artist in an effort to truly value the work. This financial security will allow us to go above and beyond with promoting the event, so that we can expose bigger and newer audiences to this vital community, and we hope you will be a part of it too!

Please pledge at the $600 level. It is the only way my wife will let me have my favorite summer hair style…

Horn section (l to r): Brian Graber, Khris Royal, Tracy Griffin, Mark Mullins, Jeff Albert. Front row (l to r): Art Neville, Dr. John, Cyril Neville, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, David Berard, Stanton Moore, Papa Mali, & Brint Anderson (out of picture to the right).

What Does Practice Look Like for You? – ProfHacker – The Chronicle of Higher Education:

“At the heart of Newport’s writing is the simple idea that success doesn’t require courage, it requires working hard in the right way. There are a number of ideas that follow from that: for example, you have to “become so good that they can’t ignore you” and becoming that good requires “hard focus.” The idea I’ve found most helpful is that to become good you have to practice deliberately.”

I should have info about the release of the music some time soon(-ish).

Like much of the day, I was talking, and Kidd was practicing. Or maybe he was just trying to drown out my talking.

When he wasn’t practicing, he was laughing, or making us laugh.

Here we are with Wesley Fontenot, our fabulous recording engineer, checking out some playback.

Co-producer Benjamin Lyons and Hamid in (I’m sure rather deep) discussion.

We did actually record some music too. There are more action photos here.

But the post that has been waiting to get written was actually instigated by an interview with Nicholas Payton on The Jazz Session. If you are unfamiliar with Nicholas or The Jazz Session (hosted by Jason Crane), go ahead and click through that link. It will be worth it.

In the interview, they were talking about Nicholas’ New Orleans roots, and he mentioned playing for dancers. I don’t know that I agree that “none” of the young jazz musicians have played much for dancers. I think anyone who has tried to make a living as a musician and isn’t a nose-in-the-air purist or jazz snob has had to play for dancing at some point. I know I spent large portions (read “almost all”) of my early career playing for dancing. Of course most of my career has been in new Orleans, so maybe I am making Nicholas’ point.

I do completely agree with his point however, that playing for dancers changes the way we play and the way we view what we do. This is in line with a view that has been articulated to me by others whom I also respect greatly.

At the 2006 Chicago Jazz Festival, I was walking from the Velvet Lounge to the festival hotel, with Dutch cornetist Eric Boeren. We were making small talk, and I asked what else he did. He asked what I meant. I said, “what other sorts of things do you play?” He responded that he didn’t do anything else. He was paid by the Dutch government to write and perform his own music. I said I was jealous, and I did all sorts of weddings, and anything else to get paid. He casually commented, “I sometimes wonder if I am missing out on something.”

My friend and colleague Benjamin Lyons has often stated that he feels like the musicians in New Orleans have an interesting take on improvised/creative/free/whatever music because we all do other things as well. We all play music that has a social meaning that can outweigh the pure musical meaning. Second line parades, jazz funerals, weddings, parties, etc. in New Orleans all have music as an integral part of the overall social meaning, but it isn’t so much about the music, as the music is about the event. The fact that we expect music to have this more important social meaning in these contexts, affects the way we make music in our more artistically centered endeavors. Even when we are being artists, we want to see people move.

I am sure that this is not a phenomenon unique to New Orleans, but it is definitely present here. If we all understand how to make a booty shake, or as Jimbo says “make the party happen” then we will all have a better idea of how to make art that connects with and moves people.

I agree strongly with these sentiments, not because I have two daughters and want them to feel comfortable becoming critics or musicians or whatever else they might like to become (although that is also true), but because as Nate and Nick each point out, the feminine perspective is different and important and good.

Last year I took part in a group called New Generation that was organized by Georg Graewe. We did two nights of shows in Dortmund, Germany. There were 12 of us in the group, although we broke down into smaller units as part of each show, and 7 of the 12 of us were women. It was the first time that I can recall I had ever been in the sexual minority in a musical situation. I have been in the racial minority in many musical situations, but never had I been in a group with fewer men than women. It was great. The energy was absolutely different than had the group been all men, and different in a positive way. It is hard to be specific about how the musical and social vibes were different, but they definitely were, and I think all of our musical, and critical, experiences would be well served to have a better balance of masculine and feminine energy.

Enrico Sartori (alto clarinet), Domenico Caliri (guitar), Silvia Bolognesi (bass), Simone Padovani (percussion), Marcello Benetti (drums) & Jeff Albert (trombone)

This was recorded at UDIN&JAZZ 2011 XXI EDIZIONE on
Monday, June 20, 2011 in Cervignano del Friuli, Italy

Wow, two posts in row pointing out friends who are asking for money. I guess such is the world in which we live. The truth of the matter is that the old system of media/entertainment/art/whatever is dying. It no longer does any sort of good job at producing interesting and fulfilling material. The job of producing good stuff has fallen to the artists themselves, and other people who are personally vested in quality. That is why we have artists making and funding their own records now, and that is why some of our best music journalism is done by independent bloggers and podcasters.

This stuff has to be paid for in one way or another. With artists making CDs, the answer is fairly easy: buy their CDs. Jason Crane, who produces the fabulous music interview podcast called The Jazz Session, has adopted a somewhat public radio style way of trying to make his show economically feasible. He is seeking members, people who will make an ongoing commitment to financially support the show. We do these things (produce podcasts, run music series, etc) because we love to do them, but it does cost money to make them happen. Sometimes we can subsidize it from our personal lives, and sometimes we have to ask the people who enjoy this work to step up and help pay for it.

I love Jason’s show. I listen to it regularly and have learned a lot from the interviews. Jason has a wide ranging aesthetic and does a great job of giving exposure and forum to artists whose work falls left of the mainstream. I am a member.

I would recommend that you go to the website and listen to a show or two. There is a long list of artists from which to choose. I particularly enjoyed the Ken Filiano and David Weiss interviews. If you like what you hear and feel it deserves your support, you can join here: http://thejazzsession.com/join/

The show needs about 15 more members by the end of Thursday August 11 for it to continue.

Recently Kickstarter, and similar sites, have become a popular way of trying to finance recording projects. It is not difficult to see how this could seem more appealing than the personal savings method of financing. There has been a good bit of reaction to this trend, both positive and negative, and some insight as well.

All of this brings me to a new Kickstarter project I was recently asked to support. It is Steve Swell’s Nation of We. Steve has taken the curious angle of running the campaign to pay his band. It is not uncommon for artists to make a recording on their own, and then have a label pick it up. It is also not uncommon for the label to pay the musicians in product, i.e. the musicians provide the master, the label pays for pressing and distribution, and the musicians get paid in product (CDs they can sell themselves to make their money). Unless the CD really sells a lot, there is often no exchange of cash between the label and the musicians. NB: I don’t know that this is Steve’s deal on this CD, I just know it is common practice.

Part of me wants to complain about what a shame it is that we have to resort to organized begging to pay musicians for their creative work. The other part of me thinks it is cool that Steve wants to do right by his band, and that using Kickstarter to offer what amounts to CD pre-orders is a great idea. I’ll save the long form rant for a time when my thoughts on the matter or better organized.

I supported this project, and recommend that you check it out and see if it is something you would like to support as well.

Read the Time-Picayune’s preview of the show.

Tim (on left) and Ken rock their excited look.

Ken Vandermark plays woodwind instruments, composes, and makes things happen. He’s had a number of groups, and is probably best known for his long running quintet The Vandermark 5. In 1999 he won a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant.

Tim Daisy is a composer and percussionist. He has been a member of several of Ken’s bands and on top of that is a busy member of the Chicago scene. I have heard a rumor that Tim is a Slovenian free jazz rock star, and I know he knows where to find the best pho in Chicago.

These guys are special, don’t miss it.

Of course this post about New Orleans musicians in the poll is just an excuse to mention that I am listed in the Rising Star Trombone category this year. While I could name a number of other trombone players whose work I admire greatly who are not on the list, it does feel good to know that people are noticing what I am doing. And apparently some other New Orleans musicians are getting noticed as well.

We have our already world renowned musicians who still live in New Orleans, like Terence Blanchard, Herlin Riley, and Nicholas Payton, who got their expected mentions in the Jazz Group, Drums, and Trumpets lists. Our clarinet scene is well represented by Evan Christopher, Dr. Michael White, and Tim Laughlin. NOLA placed 3 trombonists in 4 spots on the Trombone and Rising Star Trombone lists. Delfeayo Marsalis and Trombone Shorty made the grown-ups tableTrombone list, and Trombone Shorty and I were at the kid’s table on the Rising Star Trombone list. It was also nice to see Kidd Jordan get some critic’s love, along with Jason Marsalis on vibes, John Boutté (Rising Star Male Vocalist), and Matt Perrine on sousaphone. I was especially pleased to see Jonathan Freilich on the Rising Star Guitar list and Aurora Nealand on the Rising Star Soprano Saxophone list, both well deserved.

The magazine lists the critics who vote in the poll, and I believe that only two of the voters in this year’s poll are New Orleans residents. The way the scoring works, one must appear on the ballots of at least three critics to make the list, so it is nice to know that critics from outside of New Orleans are aware of what we are doing here, and not just the stereotypical “New Orleans Music” version of what we are doing here, but some of the more creative aspects as well. I got 32 points, which means that at least six critics had my name on their ballot. To those of you who have noticed what I have been doing, thank you, I deeply appreciate the attention.

I hope I can handle the huge influx of CD orders. That is what happens after one makes one of these lists, right?

I hadn’t heard Astral Project live in quite some time. I was nice to be reminded how great they are. When I was about the age of Blake and Taylor, I spent a lot of time listening to Astral Project. Many of my early musical inspirations and revelations happened at Astral Project shows. I hadn’t thought about that music much recently, but tonight I was reminded how much the sound of this band is a foundational aspect of my musical and aesthetic DNA. I realized that most jazz drummers leave me flat, because I want them to be Johnny Vidacovich. I remembered a night in Dixon Hall at Tulane, when I heard Tony Dagradi, and his sound made me want to find a voice on trombone that is that personal and vibrant. They are really a special band, and it was nice to be reminded of that tonight.

I have been trying to do a good job of exposing Blake to good music, and giving him a chance to find the things that he likes. He returned the favor tonight by asking me to take him to a show that left me feeling just as inspired as it left him. I love the nights that remind us that music is fun.

I have tended towards direct control instruments in my own work. I think this is largely due to my trombone player DNA. I am used to playing an acoustic instrument (direct control) and so much of my performance world view has been formed by that experience. One of the difficulties with designing new direct control instruments is that it often takes a significant amount of time to learn to play them well. Like any instrument, one must spend some time with it to develop any technique or sense of musical connection to the instrument.

On the other hand, process controlled instruments allow for the creation of highly complex musical expressions with little or no time spent learning technique, but they lack the intimacy of control, especially in terms of timing, that one gets from direct control.

Tonight I was reading an article (from 1991) by David Wessel called “Improvisation with Highly Interactive Real-Time Performance Systems.” In this article, he describes a system that seems to be a direct process control system. He launches the processes (I use the term process to be consistent with my categories, I don’t know that he would use that word) from a direct control instrument. This returns the control of low level timing to the performer, yet allows the performer to still take advantage of what the computer processes have to offer. He also talks about mapping expressive gestures to entire phrases as opposed to single notes.

These ideas have started some wheels turning about my next computer instrument.

I love it when I discover that someone solved my current dilemma twenty years ago. That’s why we should always be attentive in history class.

Supuesto Blue bassist, Silvia Bolognesi during sound check before our performance at the UDIN & JAZZ Festival.

Our fabulous lunch at a privata near Cervignano, Italy. All of the meat, cheese, salad, and wine was a product of the farm at which we were eating.

The view from Castle Runkelstein, looking back down the valley towards Bolzano.

The main course of our meal before the gig at the Mirano Oltre Festival. I called them tuna-scicles, which doesn’t come anywhere near doing them justice.

When we got back from Italy, I had a day and a half at home, before I left for a week long music information retrieval workshop hosted by the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University.

The Knoll – Home of CCRMA

The week was great. On top of the beautiful weather, the instructors were fabulous. They were each among the best in the world in their specialties, and came from a healthy mixture of academic and industrial situations. There is a course wiki that has lecture slides, and a wealth of material about what we learned over the course of the week.

Course participants and instructors, from left: Chris Colatos, Jeff Albert, Kamlesh Lakshminarayanan, Sean Zhang, Doug Eck, Eli Stine, David Bird, Gina Collecchia, Stephen Pope, Steve Tjoa. Not pictured: Jay LeBoeuf, Rebecca Fiebrink, George Tzanetakis, Leigh Smith, Dekun Zou, Bill Paseman, John Amuedo.

On the last afternoon of the workshop we took a tour of the CCRMA facility. They have a great vibe going there and some super cool stuff. There is a bit of a museum aspect to it at times, but also some state of the art gear for making sonic art.

One of Max Matthew’s Radio Batons that had recently been revived and played at Max’s memorial.

The view from the front of the Knoll, looking across Stanford’s campus.

The Improvisation of Musical Dialogue
A Phenomenology of Music
Bruce Ellis Benson, Wheaton College, Illinois
Paperback
ISBN: 9780521009324
Publication date: February 2003

This is the one book I finished during my many hours on airplanes in the past few weeks. I highly recommend it for those of you who like to look for the realities of musical practice, and not settle for the myths that we have adopted about what we do. It isn’t so much about improvisation, but it is quite interesting as a phenomenology of music.

Click the link above to hear an interview of me by Jonathan Freilich. Jonathan has been doing podcast interviews with New Orleans musicians, and he has a great knack for getting us to say things we didn’t know we knew.

I have always had trouble separating my perceptions of an individual human, from my perceptions of the art he or she makes. I am predisposed to like the work of people who I have met and like on a personal level, just as I have trouble enjoying the work of people who I have met and determined to be jerks.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Jon Appleton. He spent a week at Loyola University as guest composer. The New Orleans electroacoustic scene is littered with Appleton students…well, ok, Paul Botelho at Loyola, and Tae Hong Park at Tulane, were both Appleton students. Paul brought Jon to town for a week of teaching and a concert. I had several chances to spend some time with him, and it just confirmed that the famous guys are famous for a reason. He premiered a new piece, and his mastery was obvious. His thoughts on music and life as a musician were both clear and inspiring. And, he is equally fun to talk with about pizza, bourbon, and removing chili stains from pink shirts.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of hearing Lukas Ligeti. Lukas is a composer and percussionist, and he performed a solo concert of his works at Zeitgeist in New Orleans. The stuff he did that night was all electronic, and was a cool mix of sampled and synthesized sounds. He spent an extra day in New Orleans after his show, and ended up back at Zeitgeist the next night, when I played a duo show with Dave Cappello. Dave, Lukas, René (from Zeitgeist) and I ended up having a nice post gig meal/hang. Lukas has done a lot of travelling and has some interesting political ideas, so it made for a great night of conversation. It was so interesting, that we didn’t even talk about his famous father, although I did learn the correct way to pronounce the name.

Meeting cool people is far and away one of my favorite things about the life I am blessed to lead. I now have an even greater enjoyment of the works of Jon and Lukas.

Read the whole article here: http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/Music-from-things–you-touch-every-day.html

It’s funny, I have played trombone in venues all over North America and Europe with some of the world’s greatest musicians, but it is the gig on which I play glowing orbs and wiimotes that gets these two pictures on the front page of the paper.

Photos by Adam Lau/The Advocate

Nick wrote the piece that produced that wiimote pic. I blame him.

Dig the lederhosen wearing, serpent playing horn section. Spencer’s favorite part was the record scratching parrot voice. It’s like a modern day Officer Krupke…sort of.

Anyway, last Tuesday the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana (LOLs) played a concert in Free Speech Alley at LSU. It was fun. There was sunburn. Someone shot video.

We did a number of pieces that day. The piece in this footage is something we called “own instrument improv.” It is an improvisation, in which we each play an instrument of our own design. I was playing a joystick instrument that I designed for a piece called Forbidden Butch and another instrument that I call R2D2 because it sounds a little bit like the droid. They were both made in Max/MSP. The forbidden butch instrument uses a Logitech Joystick, and the R2D2 instrument uses an AKAI LPD8 as a controller, although it can be played without the LPD8. If you want to check out the patches, send me an email, and I’ll send them to you.

http://www.inbflat.net/

As described on the site:

In Bb 2.0 is a collaborative music and spoken word project conceived by Darren Solomon from Science for Girls, and developed with contributions from users.

The videos can be played simultaneously — the soundtracks will work together, and the mix can be adjusted with the individual volume sliders.

Such lapses in attention turn out to be a crucial creative skill. When we’re faced with a difficult problem, the most obvious solution—that first idea we focus on—is probably wrong. At such moments, it often helps to consider far-fetched possibilities, to approach the task from an unconventional perspective. And this is why distraction is helpful: People unable to focus are more likely to consider information that might seem irrelevant but will later inspire the breakthrough. When we don’t know where to look, we need to look everywhere.

My wife always busts my chops because I am an unrepentant eavesdropper. I can’t help but to listen to interesting conversations that are happening in my vicinity. Maybe that is just a sign of my creativity, and not some moral deficiency.

(h/t @tedgioia)