Category: Music

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

This is really good. There is deep insight here into how and why audiences exist, and my experience with the Open Ears Music Series affirms these ideas. Click the link to read the whole thing.

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.)

Jeb Bishop @ Green Mill

Last night I had the honor to be a guest at Jeb Bishop’s 50th Birthday Blowout at The Green Mill in Chicago. I sat in with the quartet of Jeb, Jeff Parker, Joshua Abrams, and Hamid Drake. We did some material from Hamid’s Bindu-Reggaeology project.

Bishop parker abrams

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

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

Running The Voodoo Down: WRITE A SONG

Running The Voodoo Down: WRITE A SONG:

“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.

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

The wonderful blog destination:Out is celebrating its 6th birthday with a great post. Good reading and great listening. Even for those of us who listen to “free jazz” often, it is a good read. If we all approached our friends and potential audience members with this attitude, the world would be a better place.

» 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.”

Good week for improvised music in New Orleans

From June 11 through June 19, there was quite a bit of improvised music with visiting musicians happening in New Orleans. Tim Daisy played 3 shows in New Orleans and one in Lafayette, each with a different combination of musicians.

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/.

Computer bone rig

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.

Tim wii

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.

Anxious thing setlist

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.

The thing wjoe

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