ep1str0phy Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 (edited) Hello, all- Scarce few of you will know that my secret identity is Karl Evangelista (www.karlevangelista.com) of the group Grex (www.grexsounds.com)--I'm a Bay Area music guy/frequent hustler in an artistically rich environment that is (at the same time) more or less a press vacuum. For "name" perspective (though I'm reluctant to do that, often), I've studied heavily under Fred Frith, Roscoe Mitchell, and Myra Melford, and I've played under some names that (occasionally) come up in these parts--Frith, Eddie Gale, Ben Goldberg, Damon Smith, and Francis Wong. That these guys are themselves not more well known is a shame unto itself, but there you go... Anyway, Grex recently released an album (entitled "Second Marriage") on my SUA label. I thought there might be some interest here. Some sound samples: Grex on Soundcloud... Grex is augmented on this date by drummer Jordan Glenn (a Bay Area staple, of the criminally unsung trio Wiener Kids), reedman Cory Wright, and bassist Jason Hoopes. The sound of the album is itself kind of difficult to summarize, but it's an amalgamation of the local lineage of free improv, the sort of chamber pop that still flourishes at Mills College, and the darker edges of free jazz that the band has come to love so much (Bill Dixon, some Mal Waldron, Sonny Sharrock's jazz projects, late Trane, etc.). For perspective, we were recorded by local "hyperpianist" Scott R. Looney and had the album mastered by Splatter Trio mastermind (and brilliant guitarist) Myles Boisen. If you're looking for a capsule of what the extremely fertile but inexplicably invisible Bay Area scene is like right now--or are simply looking for something new and weird to listen to--I'm unabashedly proud of this particular project. It'll be a second before our distribution channels float this album nationwide, but it's available via me right now (ep1str0phy@hotmail.com). I'll discount it for O people to $10 (and that includes shipping). Thanks! K/Ep1 Edited October 26, 2011 by ep1str0phy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 ...the sort of chamber pop that still flourishes at Mills College... Please elaborate on this...and how will you accept payment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted October 26, 2011 Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 PayPal or mailing address? I'm in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted October 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 Thanks for the interest, guys! PayPal works--send me your address via the email above (and I'll get you details)... As far as the chamber pop thing--one of the weird attributes of the Bay Area free jazz scene--and this seems to be the case with many of the younger scenes in the States--is a seeming ambivalence toward classification "as" jazz. A lot of the most creative territory is being tilled by folks who essentially play jazz but have limited interaction with the straight ahead scene (not a rule, just a common thread... and by "limited," I mean it's never anyone's bread and butter--just one of many things folks out here do). Mills College is sort of an axis of this kind of music making... a lot of nominal "jazz people" have come in and out of teaching situations at the institution (Braxton, most famously, but also Roscoe and a number of other people in stints--India Cooke, Wadada Leo Smith, Cecil Taylor, Muhal...). In fact, I don't think I ever heard the word jazz in one of Roscoe's classes--and we certainly didn't use any conventional jazz "texts" (though there was plenty of stuff out of classical pedgagoy--Adler's The Study of Orchestration, Read's Music Notation, Stick Control, a whole bunch of Schoenberg...). I think the "chamber pop" term came about as a means of classifying what is more or less a hybrid of mainstream pop and 20th century/new music tendencies (Joanna Newsom was a Mills person and seems to be the textbook practitioner of this), but I think of it as a catch all for a hybridization of general experimental tendencies (taking after both Western tradition and, at this point, kind of idiom-transcendent guys like Roscoe or Fred Frith) and any number of popular song traditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 you've got mail!!! I'm in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBop Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 Like at the Luggage Store? With 6th Street Stampede and Scott Amendola? A few months ago (June, May?) Dang, I didn't know. I'll check out the samples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted October 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 Whoa--yeah, I had a duo with Will Redmond. To be fair, that duo wasn't particularly well developed at the time (and the time constraints on that concert were kind of tense), but that gig was fun. Good to meet you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.:.impossible Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 I'm in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILLYQ Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 (edited) I just sent you $10 via Paypal, good luck on the disc. I'm listening to a sample right now and it's really good!I ordered the disc before I listened to the sample, purchase amply justified already. Edited October 27, 2011 by PHILLYQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted October 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 (edited) Wow--thanks for all the support, guys! BTW--orders ship tomorrow for receipts that are in before, well, around 10am PST tomorrow! And, to clarify, it's $10 USD after shipping and I do take paypal. Edited October 27, 2011 by ep1str0phy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 paypal sent!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted October 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 Looks like I'll be making some mailings tomorrow! Thanks for the response, guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Johnson Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 Paypal sent! Looking forward to it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILLYQ Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 The tune I heard on the sample was stuck in my head for hours, in a good way. Nice guitar playing!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 Thanks for the interest, guys! PayPal works--send me your address via the email above (and I'll get you details)... As far as the chamber pop thing--one of the weird attributes of the Bay Area free jazz scene--and this seems to be the case with many of the younger scenes in the States--is a seeming ambivalence toward classification "as" jazz. A lot of the most creative territory is being tilled by folks who essentially play jazz but have limited interaction with the straight ahead scene (not a rule, just a common thread... and by "limited," I mean it's never anyone's bread and butter--just one of many things folks out here do). I know it's like that in NY, probably not uncommon elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted October 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 (edited) All (received) paypal orders have shipped! Thanks for the interest and support, guys. This is music that we've bled out for on stage, and I'm glad to have the whole weird package out there and accessible. As for the phenomenon you mention, 7/4--part of it may just be a generational thing, a lot of it (on the West Coast) having to do with expanding horizons on the rock scene/overlap with jazz and experimental music. A musician will tend to absorb his or her surroundings, and a drummer (for example) will be playing straight ahead one day, accompanying a dance group the next morning, rehearsing electropop in the afternoon, and playing free jazz in the evening. There are people out here who tend to stick to specific idioms or practices (and this is not necessarily a generational/age-based phenomenon, since I've had both younger and much older friends espouse a bit of idiomatic "extremisim"--that is, I PLAY FREE MUSIC), and the current trend of people playing anything and everything creative isn't necessarily an evolve-or-die imperative--i.e., you can do well sticking to a very specific set of guns. I do think, however, that the music that comes out of this multidisciplinary slough tends to be some of the most consistently interesting and viscerally engaging made out here (e.g., the aforementioned Wiener Kids, the legendary Graham Connah's crazy big band, Ben Goldberg's hybridizations--I've played in a big band of his a couple of times and always wind up taking this screaming blues--and very much blues--solo--the wonderful electric piano trio Beep, work by the likes of Phillip Greenlief, Moe! Staiano, Dominique Leone, Aaron Novik, the list goes on...) I'm reminded of something that Ethan Iverson posted recently (regarding a duo with Marcus Belgrave)--I'm paraphrasing here, but it was something to the effect of "the musical decision should always be the correct one, and not the one dictated by convention." Exposure to Bay Area musical environment and extended work with guys as contrarian as Fred and Roscoe has altered my brain chemistry a bit--I would never have (maybe four years ago) devoted large chunks of a nominally "experimental" album to weird pop songs, but it felt profoundly right to do it on Second Marriage (as it feels profoundly right to play zydeco, polka, or jug band music alongside free jazz or free improv in the music that essays more or less nightly on the scene out here). Edited October 31, 2011 by ep1str0phy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted October 31, 2011 Report Share Posted October 31, 2011 My copy just arrived. Looking forward to the first listen - maybe after the Holloween Kids leave the neighborhood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.:.impossible Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Mine came today as well! Thanks! Will be listening tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Sent an email about non-paypal payment options last week, no reply yet, should I resend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted November 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Weird--I didn't get it. (I tried messaging you on the forum, but it seems like your mailbox is full!) Try sending again (or messaging me here, if somehow that works...) Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Man Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 (edited) E-mail sent for Paypal address. Update Payment sent! Edited November 1, 2011 by Head Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Weird--I didn't get it. (I tried messaging you on the forum, but it seems like your mailbox is full!) Try sending again (or messaging me here, if somehow that works...) Thanks! Resent email. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted November 1, 2011 Report Share Posted November 1, 2011 Just arrived in the mail - looking forward to digging in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 Received and listened to...I thank you for caring enough to ensure my listening pleasure, but I assure you it would have occurred anyway! I like this. It conjurs images of The White Album, ESP-label, Braxton GTM, Blue Cheer, some of the old Cantebury-school British things, and lots of other stuff as well. Yet the parts never stick out as being apart from the whole, which I think is the overriding object here, quite apart from compositional/musical specifics. For people my age, that's something most of us have to "try" at doing, at some level anyway. You guys sound like it comes naturally, like you'd have to think about not doing it this way. Nice, very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Yeah, an A-1 set. Many thanks Karl. More words soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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