John McDonough and Kurt Gottschalk present a night of John Cage’s music, in preparation for their upcoming CD of Cage’s compositions for radio, to be released in 2009 on Mode Recordings.
Indeterminacy / Variations I
(For two guitars and voice, using text by Gertrude Stein. Performed by Twiceband: Kurt Gottschalk, Kristen Persinos and Russell Scholl)
Cartridge Music
(For four phonograph needles)
Radio Music
(For 1 to 8 radios)
Landscape Under Construction
(For between 1 and 45 CD players playing John Cage CDs)
Kurt Gottschalk writes about music and plays music on stringed instruments and, occasionally, the radio. His music journalism is regularly published in All About Jazz, Signal to Noise, Time Out and Wire, as well as publications in Canada, France, Portugal and Russia. He plays guitar, banjo, bouzouki and other stringed instruments, and his duo Ecstasy Mule has released two CDs on the Batterrie label. A longtime fascination with the music of John Cage led him to organize Twiceband as a way to work through and explore the scores.
Kristin Carney plays for the Gotham Girls Roller Derby’s Queens of Pain, enjoys yowling with the Original Punk Metal Karaoke Band at Midway, and is the hair-covered owner of three cats.
Robert Hardin is a member of the improvising group caledonia & laughing bag, as well as being a member of an industrial band called Church of the Toad of Light. He records solo albums as Laughing Bag and DJs as Grandmaster Pwca. In his spare time, he makes art and is a graphic designer.
New Jersey guitarist Barry Chabala, influenced as much by Jimmy Page and Pat Metheny as he is by Derek Bailey, plays music that mixes equally melodic invention with atonal free play. Past partners range widely from electronic artist John Hajeski to Hail/Snail & and lots of stops in between. Currently collaborators include pianist Dan DeChellis, contrabassist Reuben Radding, multi-wind free jazzer Matt Lavelle as well as being a founding member of The Philadelphia Company.
Scott Lydon took piano lessons when he was younger, which was the groundwork for an interest in ways to avoid traditional music. He is comfortable with pieces that involve turning knobs and moving levers and has the utmost respect for the musicians who spent years studying theory to get to this performance, even though he will somehow go home with the same amount they will. When possible, he prefers to write.
John McDonough is a composer/improviser/trumpeter based in NYC. He was born and raised in Pelham, NY. He received his B.S. in Jazz & Commercial Music in 1990 from Hofstra University, where he studied composition with Herb Deutsch and jazz arranging with Dave Lalama. He studied briefly at Manhattan School of Music with David Berger and Ludmila Ulehla. Since running out of money for higher education, he has tried his hand at a number of projects. His main focus is Brilliant Coroners, a band that plays Thelonious Monk songs in a wide variety of styles, including punk, funk, heavy metal and techno. Their eponymously titled debut album appeared on Yeah Man records in 2001. He has a number of improvisational outfits, including McDonough Warren & Sparke (trumpet/guitar/drums), phYsYcacKle (trumpet/cello/keyboards) and Dr. Benstock (turntable duo). He has played with Joe Gallant’s Illuminati and Drew Gardner’s Flash Orchestra. He was also a regular at the Punk Rock/Heavy-Metal karaoke at Arlene Grocery, where he usually sang Bad Brains songs.
Recent compositions/arrangements have been an arrangement of Mingus’ Goodbye Porkpie Hat, Tracheotomy for 8 vocalists, Landscape Under Construction, for between 1 and 42 CD players playing John Cage CDs and a piece for solo viola. He has worked with Anthony Braxton recently recorded a duo CD this past July. He is currently working on a piece for 25 saxophones, an album of standards, and is collaborating with Canadian singer-songwriter Tony Hightower. He has played at a number of venues in NYC including the Blue Note, the Knitting Factory, Northsix, Arlene’s Grocery, Chashama Theater’s window (on 42nd between 6th & Broadway), and ABC No Rio.
Disillusioned Boston University acting major turned jaded rock star wanna be turned…whatever is next, Kristen Persinos is happy to conspire with fellow Springfield High School graduate Kurt Gottschalk. Go Solons.
Tubist/Composer/Improvisor Jay Rozen has played in many diverse groups. From 1977-1980 he was the principal tubist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. During his ‘Texas years’ (1984-1999), he performed regularly with the Creative Opportunity Orchestra (jazz ensemble), the Austin Klezmorim, and the European Tuba Quartet. Rozen has played at such eclectic venues as the Bang-On-A-Can Marathon Concert in NY and the Zappanalle Festival in Germany where it was his pleasure to perform with ex-Zappa band members Ike Willis and Jimmy Carl Black, as well as Frank’s sister Candy . A long-time champion of new music, Rozen has had works written for him by many composers including Virgil Thomson and David Lang. He is a published composer and arranger and has appeared on over 25 CDs, including his own Killer Tuba Songs, , David Lang’s Are You Experienced? (on which he plays the electric tuba) and Anthony Braxton’s mega- 9 CD/1 DVD set 9 Compositions (Firehouse 12 Records).
Since moving to New York Rozen has played with the Orchestra of the SEM Ensemble, his tuba trio Three, the Lennon/Tobacco/Zappa Band and the PJs with clarinetist Perry Robinson and drummer Jay Rosen. He has also performed with such jazz luminaries as Ray Anderson, Charli Persip, Hamiett Bluiett, Wadada Leo Smith, Butch Morris and Burton Greene. He currently plays with Anthony Braxton.
Russell Scholl has recorded with 99 Hooker’s pop music project, Generica along with producing pieces and touring with rev.99 (Olympia Experimental Music, Portland, San Francisco), and is a member of the bluegrass band The Brooklyn Playboys. He also curates and screens film/video programs on a wide variety of subjects (the history of animation; early jazz shorts; burlesque; educational and propaganda films; etc.) at venues in and around New York City.
Paul Spencer has played music in a variety of styles for 25 years, from Broadway standards to rock ‘n roll. Usually he is behind the turntables but can also be found playing alto saxophone, guitar, vocals and occasionally theremin. He has played many stages around New York including Tonic Underground, the Pourhouse, Downtown Beirut II, Roulette and the indestructible ABCnoRio, with groups ranging from the infamous Death in a Box to current favorites Floyd and Lula and Dr. Benstock. Paul is currently helping make a number of short film subjects and is a notary public for New York State.
Gregory John Wildes is a graduate of Wesleyan University where he studied with composers Ron Kuivila and Alvin Lucier. He was the founding member of electro-acoustic improv groups the Ski-A-Delics and Gas Tank Orchestra. Mr. Wildes is currently Director of Exhibits at the Staten Island Children’s Museum.
Peter Zummo has been composing for ensemble since 1967, and for trombone since 1971, in pursuit of the evolving boundary of music-making and brass culture. From 1975 to the present, he has performed and recorded for composers, ensembles, bands, film, theatre groups, and dance companies worldwide. As a professor of music at Ohio Wesleyan University, he teaches in the New York Arts Program, a program of the Great Lakes Colleges Association. Since 1978, he has been artistic director of The Loris Bend Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit presenter of music, dance, and media. Professional studies were with Carmine Caruso, Stuart Dempster, James Fulkerson, Dick Griffin, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Roswell Rudd, and Sam Rivers.