James Coleman: Zuihitsu
SEDCD030 | Released in 2001 | $10
In our continuing quest to bring you new and young talented experimental musicians, sedimental is proud to release the debut cd from Boston improv heavyweight, Thereminist James Coleman. Featuring Bhob Rainey, Greg Kelley, Liz Tonne, Tatsuya Nakatani and Vic Rawlings this dynamic cd not only sheds new light on an instrument historically relegated to novelty but also provides a superb forum for experiencing an aesthetic that can be heard in much of Boston’s underground. These improvisational settings and collaborations, carefully selected by James himself, reach a place beyond their instrument individually and do so with subtlety and elegance. We recommend listening to Zuihitsu at several different volume levels to experience these qualities. This release also features the creativity of five other excellent improvisers (bios provided below).
James’ intense involvement in the Boston underground includes the six-piece free improvisatory group Saturnalia, and the experimental chamber music group, the undr quartet. He has also performed with Nmperign, Joe McPhee, John Voigt, Peter Kowald, Eddie Provost, Dan DeCellis, David Gross, Dave Bryant (Ornette Colemans’ Primetime) and composer & pianist John Thomas. He has presented lecture-performances and master classes at the Berklee College of Music, Tufts University & The George Eastman House Archive of Motion Pictures. He is also list owner and moderator of lowercase-sound, an internet discussion group devoted to low volume/low velocity experimental music & associated media, director of Autumn Uprising-a three-day annual festival of improvisatory practice in the greater Boston area, as well as producer of a weekly live contemporary music series at the Zeitgeist Gallery, Cambridge, MA. Before re-locating to Boston, James wrote and recorded numerous electronic sound environments & installations in Perth, Western Australia, including an architectural site/sound installation at Gotham Artists Studio, and Drone Piano, a collaborative sound installation at the Perth Institute Of Contemporary Arts with Chris Mann.
The music, the compositional strategies and origins of his work on this release are unique amongst current electro-acoustic improvisors in that it is very gestural. Coleman is working from a position of electronic music making as an activity of the body. It strives to fuse the intricacy of experimental technique with clarity & simplicity along with a sense of narrative.
Coleman draws inspiration from the unique spatial and timbral elements found in Morton Feldman, Giancinto Scelsi, John Cage and the British improvisatory group AMM; the stylistic and phrasing innovations of Miles Davis, traditional Japanese music, minimalist art forms, Fluxusism and the sounds and movements of birds and other animals. The artist has a long held interest in the austere compositions of Feldman, which often display the slow, unfolding of a single note(s) in space, which in turn, relates to the ‘quietness’ & spareness inherent in traditional Japanese art forms. The artist sculpted a particular Theremin sound for the recording of the two undr quartet pieces, Each Spire An Animal and Released To The Stars, incorporating Japanese aesthetic concepts of Wabi (rustic simplicity), and Sabi (loneliness, weathered surfaces). The Theremin in these two pieces has a burnt, irregular, grainy sound using amp noise to achieve this sensibility. This sound in combination with the sound of the undr quartet suggests vulnerability, beauty, potential of life, energy in transition, and epiphany.
Zuihitsu means ‘running brush,’ ‘miscellany’ in Japanese. Zuihitsu is a particular school of traditional and classical Japanese literature in the form of short paragraphs wandering from subject to subject. The title calls attention to the brevity of the tracks, as the artist sought to achieve compact, poetic forms and pieces for this release. He considers the ‘running brush’ description as being analogous with his personal improvisational practice as ‘spontaneous composition’.
notes on the musicians:
Bhob Rainey : Soprano saxophone Bhob Rainey, member of the highly acclaimed duo Nmperign (cd’s on Intransitive and Twisted Village , a split LP with Kevin Drumm on Fringes & a forthcoming cd on Selektion), has performed in venues across the U.S. including the Knitting Factory and the Empty Bottle in Chicago. He has performed with John Zorn, Joe McPhee, Pauline Oliveros, Michael Zerang, Bob Moses, Joe and Mat Maneri, as well as performing the works of John Cage and Pozzi Escot.
Tatsuya Nakatani : Percussion Tatsuya Nakatani is a free improvisational percussionist who has emerged as a key player in the jazz/improvisational music scenes of Boston and New York. In Japan, Tatsuya began playing drums at age fifteen and studied with Yasuhiro Yoshigaki of Altered States and Ground Zero. Since moving to the United States in 1995, Tatsuya has established himself as an indespensible colleague to many prominent improvisational musicians, including Sabir Mateen, Masashi Harada, and Saturnalia. Tatsuya’s collaboration with Nmperign has received much glowing praise as from Stu Vandermark of Cadence: “Discussing all that beauty would take more roses than would fill this space.”
Greg Kelley : Trumpet Since graduating from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in 1995, Greg Kelley has fast become an integral member of the Boston and New York new music and improvisation scenes, garnering much praise for his unique vocabulary of extended techniques and timbral manipulation. He has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan, working with, among others, Pauline Oliveros, Le Quan Ninh, Joe McPhee, Keiji Haino, Eddie Prevost, Kevin Drumm, Donald Miller, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Gino Robair and Michael Zerang. His collaborative recordings with Bhob Rainey in Nmperign, have earned much critical acclaim including Top Ten and Best of the Year accolades from The Wire(UK), Blow-Up(Italy), and Signal-To-Noise(USA). Their next CD will be released on the Selektion label. Greg has recorded for Twisted Village, Intransitive, Meniscus, RRRecords, Emanem, Tautology, Leo Lab, and 9Winds.
Vic Rawlings: Cello, Sarangi, Electronics Vic is a creative musician whose activities include sound designer for experimental theater, acoustic and electro-acoustic free improviser, instrument restoration and modification, open circuit experimental soundscapes, stringed instrument music teacher and scholar of traditional American music. He performs regularly in the Undr Quartet, Saturnalia, Lawrence Cooks Disaster Unit 2000, and in duos with Greg Kelley, Tatsuya Nakatani, Mike Bullock & others.
Liz Tonne: Voice Liz is a professional singer in demand from Boston’s event sector for performances in various settings. She has received much critical praise for her daring interpretations of traditional jazz vocal songs. An active member of Boston’s improvised music community, she takes inspiration from the vocal techniques of ethnic folk music and the unorthodox use of the human voice. She is a member of both Saturnalia and undr quartet and was vocalist for the now defunct rock outfit Mile Wide.