C Garden – Steve Layton (2011)
C Garden – Steve Layton (2011)
(feat. Paul Hertz, Diego Monroy, Jim Goodin, Paul Muller)
A mashup by Steve Layton from mid-2011. Paul Hetrz’s organ playing anchors this like a foghorn in dangerous waters. The other parts flow perfectly around this to form a beautiful texture, bubbling in a sort of reflective optimism – like a sunset the after the perfect day.
Steve Layton is a Dallas-based composer specializing in mixing and mashing of disparate pieces. C Garden was originally created for an ImprovFriday event on August 12, 2011.
Dan Kreiger (aka For Jerz): The Notorious B.I.G. & Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag: Just Playing/Dreams (NSFW)
Dan Kreiger (aka For Jerz): Just Playing (Dreams) ft. The Notorious B.I.G. & Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag (NSFW)
download mp3
The Notorious B.I.G. ft. Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” – Just Playing (Dreams) [pianist/pd: Dan Kreiger] by Dan Kreiger aka For Jerz
“One thing that I have always loved about The Notorious B.I.G. is the overall musicality and beauty of his voice. It is somehow simultaneously low and high in timbre, and also carries a passionate tone that I find indescribably gripping.
Because of his natural ownership of the meter, as well as the timeless quality of his voice, I believe that Biggie’s rapping invites different accompaniments. I decided play Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” in its entirety along with Biggie’s “Dreams (Just Playin).”
Perhaps the least organic aspect of this project was using ProTools. In other words, I close mic’ed a Boston acoustic grand piano, put on headphones, and played Joplin’s classic ragtime piece along with Biggie’s acapella vocal track.
John Coltrane once said that losing his place while playing with Thelonious Monk was like “falling down an empty elevator shaft.” Coltrane was commenting on the fact that Monk had a sense of time so unique and solid, that one must be completely engaged and immersed in the groove in order to follow along.
The challenge while creating this Joplin/Notorious B.I.G. piece was reminiscent of Coltrane’s quote. Biggie’s time is spot on and one wrong note or rhythmic error on my part meant “edit, undo, start over.” Therefore, I had to know Joplin’s piece well before I could play it with Biggie. BIG’s always in the pocket, and therefore I knew that as long as I stuck with him rhythmically and dynamically, then the music would hook up.”
http://www.dankreiger.de
http://www.dankreiger.com
soundcloud page
Bruce Hamilton-Glibs (2010)
“Glibs” is about trying to create a static yet floating or soaring environment. I use Paul Muller’s minimalist textures a lot in my IF (ImprovFriday) mashes and usually use most or all of his tracks, but this time i just took a few bars and looped them with some processing to create a pulsing, energized, harmonic pad.
To this groove I couldn’t resist adding and tweaking Jukka-Pekka Kervien’s glitchtronica, which is also very busy but ultimately a static texture. On top of these controlled fireworks Adam Kondor’s sparse string lines hover, providing an acoustic contrast with slow melancholic melodies and counterpoint. I manipulated these lines a fair amount to get them to sit right in the harmony and in the mix.
Finally I added some warm pizzicato bass tones to flesh out the spectrum and add harmonic nuance. So ultimately it’s the acoustic string elements that provide form, and the electronic parts ,both stable and chaotic, that serve as eternal and essentially unchanging presences.
I like the simultaneously human and otherworldly feelings thesecontrasts can provide, and love the fact that these elements were contributed from around the planet and remixed within a weekend.”
via Improv Friday Event June 17th-19th 2010
commentary via Improv Friday podcast August 18th 2010
Adam Kondor: Ildikó Vékony (2009)
Adam Kondor: Ildikó Vékony (2009)
Adam Kondor’s memorial to his ex-wife who died in a fall while rock climbing. The performance is a mashup of found sounds/field recordings and his wife performing his Six Sonate for Cimbalom Solo
“Ildikó was one of the world’s premiere cimbalom players (in Adam’s own words “She was the best cimbalom player in Hungary, and for classical music probably the best all over the world – not many people play Bach on cimbalom”), and a composer in her own right. She’s featured on all kinds of major recordings, and had worked with everyone from Kurtag to Ligeti to Eötvös (in fact she was soloist just last January in NYC at Zankel Hall, in a concert led by Eötvös)” http://bit.ly/6rMCcq
you can read more about the memorial here
Paul Muller: Fast Piece for Two Recorder (2010) + Bruce Hamilton: grass robot (2010)
Today is a double post featuring a two tracks from last weeks ImprovFriday Event (January 8th-9th 2009)
Paul Muller: Fast Piece for Two Recorders “Somehow this started out as Philip Glass and wound up as bluegrass…”
and the remix of it
Bruce Hamilton: grass robot “mini-minimaly-mashup + synth bass improv”
which also features music by Mike Crain and Jane Martin
