Braxton 12+1tet box set preview

[jasonguthartz]

I know you're all eagerly counting down the days & hours until the April 3

release of the Anthony Braxton 12+1tet's "9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006" box

set.

Here's a video preview:

Stay tuned for news of when orders will start being accepted at the

Firehouse 12 Records website.

[WD45]

Nine discs + DVD. That's a lot of ghost trance Braxton!

Dig the video!

[ep1str0phy]

Braxton marketed on youtube? Damn.

Digging the music, though. Wallet having phantom pains.

[jasonguthartz]

whoa... dude, who are you? is that yr label? that was a pretty badass video, i'm shocked. i heard this was upcoming & hey-- more Tony is more Tony, no complaints but i'll say this looks very imppressive. i had at moment in our collective time/space (dis)contininuum all the Braxton House sides & was never that trilled w/Ghost Trace but i have been digging more & more so... wuzzup?

edc

Firehouse 12 Records is a new label, co-run by Nick Lloyd (of the Firehouse 12 performance space & recording studio in New Haven, CT) and Taylor Ho Bynum (composer, cornetist, and frequent Braxton collaborator).

The DVD I put together for this box set includes a documentary (or an audio-visual essay/supplement) which juxtaposes clips of the Iridium performances with clips of a Braxton lecture/talk at Columbia University. Also included on the DVD is my video footage of the entire last set (aka Comp. 358).

As far as Ghost Trance Music goes... let me just say that if you think you've heard everything you need to hear, listen again, listen anew. This is "state of the state" tricentric "Accelerator/Whip" GTM: post-Ives, post-Ra, ultra-Braxton.

(btw, it's "Anthony", not "Tony" - we must give respect, yes, Elder Don?)

-Jason

Edited March 8, 2007 by jasonguthartz

[B. Clugston]

Great video.

I'm really looking forward to this. It will be great to hear the music develop over several nights.

[Chuck Nessa]

Wonderful stuff badly played. God save us from perfect performances (they will arrive for your children). Thanks for the link.

Gotta talk to AB!

[GregK]

I'm so glad there is a DVD with this. I have never seen Braxton play, and at least for me sometimes it is difficult to pick out who is playing what, when. Can't wait!

I understand he will be at Downtown Music Gallery signing copies of this box, and that some of those should be available from their web site.

[jasonguthartz]

I understand he will be at Downtown Music Gallery signing copies of this box...

Correct:

On Wednesday, March 28th from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m., legendary

musician/composer Anthony Braxton will autograph copies of his

forthcoming box set, 9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 (Firehouse 12

Records), at a special free signing event at New York's Downtown Music

Gallery. This will also be the first chance for fans to purchase this

set, which officially hits the streets on April 3rd. Braxton is in New

York to perform with his 7tet at the Iridium Jazz Club March 29th-April

1st.

The Firehouse 12 website will soon start taking orders.

[jasonguthartz]

Wonderful stuff badly played.

Hmm... don't know what you're referring to specifically.

But this 12+1tet music is indeed "bad"

more

[Alexander Hawkins]

I'm so glad there is a DVD with this. I have never seen Braxton play, and at least for me sometimes it is difficult to pick out who is playing what, when. Can't wait!

I understand he will be at Downtown Music Gallery signing copies of this box, and that some of those should be available from their web site.

I saw the gig which is now out on Leo as 'Quintet (London) 2004' and to see it was *something else* - just 'helped' me no end (I wasn't a naysayer or anything - it just gave me a bit of a 'handle' to get into the GTM (bounded rationality, etc )

[blind-blake]

Perhaps this is too much to ask for, but will there be any way to purchase the DVD without the CDs? 9 CDs is just way too much for me. Also, will there be any way to purchase certain performances? This might be easier to take in, and might also serve as a way for those of us who are relatively new to the more recent Ghost Trance stuff to sample it beforing diving in head first. Thanks!

[jasonguthartz]

Perhaps this is too much to ask for, but will there be any way to purchase the DVD without the CDs? 9 CDs is just way too much for me. Also, will there be any way to purchase certain performances?

Individual sets will be available for purchase via mp3 downloads; per the Firehouse 12 website:

All these titles will be available for order directly on the Firehouse 12 website, either as physical discs or as downloads. We will also make downloads available through all the other major on-line providers, and distribute the physical products through a handful of select stores and Amazon.com.

The DVD will not be sold separately - at least not right now - who knows what may develop...

Edited March 9, 2007 by jasonguthartz

[GregK]

are there any smaller combinations within this set, or does every performance feature the 12+1-tet?

[Larry Kart]

What Chuck said -- those kids sound and look like they're at sea. On the other hand, what they're trying to deal with obviously is something else. Braxton should come back to Chicago for a while; there are players here who could jump all over this music, joyfully. Haven't seen/heard Braxton talk in many years. Heartwarming.

[jasonguthartz]

What Chuck said -- those kids sound and look like they're at sea.

Again, I have to ask: what are you referring to specifically?

And who are you calling "kids"? Nicole Mitchell? Jay Rozen?

[Larry Kart]

What Chuck said -- those kids sound and look like they're at sea.

Again, I have to ask: what are you referring to specifically?

And who are you calling "kids"? Nicole Mitchell? Jay Rozen?

No, not Nicole Mitchell; Jay Rozen I don't know. But by and large they look like rather young people and sound and look like they're not that familiar with the music they're trying to play. Is that is so tricky to understand? Or do you think that they're on top of this music as much as Braxton himself is?

BTW, I certainly don't have anything against young musicians. It's just that I get spoiled listening to young musicians who can really play, and the ones who can usually don't shrug, wink, and the like while doing so.

[Larry Kart]

I should add that, as Chuck said, it does sound like wonderful stuff. And it might well be -- no doubt you'll tell me if this is so -- that a certain level of randomness and what might look to a semi-stranger like confusion is part of process. And yet did you hear that 16-piece work "Never Enough Hope" that Toby Summerfield recorded in Chicago in Jan. 2005? At once as loose as can be and built like the proverbial brick facility. I submit that this was in large part because those 16 players, though young (names upon request, but you probably know who they are), knew what they were doing.

[David Ayers]

I applaud the enterprise. I also wonder whether 9 CDs of this will stand up. Coltrane's Village Vanguard tapes came out only in selection on single LPs in the first instance. They were highly regarded and eventually the rest of the material was issued. In fact large segments of the complete VV material (as currently available on 4 CDs) are not really so good, but more of interest against the context of the best known tracks. My point is that large sets of live material *used* to be issued to cater to the fans who already loved the individual issues. I just wonder exactly who such a set will reach and why - whether a single CD of the best segment or segments of the concerts would have done better commercially and in terms of getting the music known - or whether the implicit message is that it is the whole project that counts, not really any particular outstanding part of the result, in which case perhaps the DVD is all anyone actually needs?

Anyway good luck - depending on price I will probably buy this myself.

Edited March 11, 2007 by David Ayers

[jlhoots]

I'll probably buy it too.

They could have gone the route of the recent Dave Douglas live material & released these as downloads only. That would have pleased some & presumably allowed selective choices to be made.

For me the CD format is preferable.

Full disclosure: I haven't purchased any downloads of the Douglas material, but would buy some or all of it if it was on CD. Just a Luddite I guess.

[jasonguthartz]

I applaud the enterprise. I also wonder whether 9 CDs of this will stand up. ... My point is that large sets of live material *used* to be issued to cater to the fans who already loved the individual issues. I just wonder exactly who such a set will reach and why - whether a single CD of the best segment or segments of the concerts would have done better commercially and in terms of getting the music known - or whether the implicit message is that it is the whole project that counts, not really any particular outstanding part of the result, in which case perhaps the DVD is all anyone actually needs?

some comments:

1. Each set is an continuous, hour-long (give or take) performance, an entity unto itself. Same as Bill Dixon's "Shrike" (< 1 min), or Morton Feldman's "String Quartet No. 2" (> 6 hrs).

2. Not only does each set feature a different composition -- the final batch of Ghost Trance Music compositions, Comp. 350-358 -- but the tri-centric approach to the material results in a wide variety of paths taken by the musicians as they navigate through each set. Besides the option of playing the main composition, the musicians (individually or in sub-groups) have the freedom/responsibility of choosing to perform any (part of any) other Braxton composition, to conduct language music improvisations, to improvise freely, or to not play at all (this last option provides some fascinating moments, which I hope the DVD helps illustrate). Multiply these options by 13 musicians and you can imagine how differently each set sounded. So, to my mind, just as Braxton's tri-centric approach rejects the notion of a "definitive" performance of these compositions, it is nearly impossible to identify one or two "definitive" sets from these performances. Each individual will have his/her preferences for particular sets, and while I expect others will share my experience of having their "favorites" change with each listen, perhaps a critical consensus will develop to help guide your purchasing decision. Which brings me to...

3. Individual sets will be available for purchase via download, so those with a more casual interest in Braxton's work, or with a more restricted budget, will have access to this music.

4. The DVD is intended to be an audio-visual supplement to the CDs and liner notes. It was not designed to be seen outside of that context, nor as a "best of" compilation of clips. It will hopefully provide information which can be useful to the "friendly experiencer" while listening to this music, to enhance the listener's understanding of what is happening, how it is happening, and why it is happening (not that there is a single, definitive answer to any of these issues).

-Jason

ps: Larry - I'm working on a response...

Edited March 11, 2007 by jasonguthartz

[JSngry]

The opening part of the YouTube video where Braxton describes the theory of GTM (getting away from sonata form, infinite options of free-association, building music of erector set components, etc.) makes it sound like he's a top-level house DJ putting together a non-stop club mix. I've heard more than a few such things about which you could say the exact same things.

Hold your fire . I know full well the difference. But if we're looking at music in terms of defining individual and/or "new" thought processes, definitions of time/space/place etc., then the parallel is striking, and certainly food for thought on a macrosocial plane. The "differences" are there, and real, but so are the "similarities".

Nothing exists in a vacuum.

[jasonguthartz]

are there any smaller combinations within this set, or does every performance feature the 12+1-tet?

As I mention above, "Besides the option of playing the main composition, the musicians (individually or in sub-groups) have the freedom/responsibility of choosing to perform any (part of any) other Braxton composition, to conduct language music improvisations, to improvise freely, or to not play at all (this last option provides some fascinating moments, which I hope the DVD helps illustrate). Multiply these options by 13 musicians and you can imagine how differently each set sounded."

So while the entire 12+1tet was on stage for all nine sets, not everyone played at all times -- you get everything from the full ensemble to a single musician playing at any given moment within a set.

[jasonguthartz]

But by and large they look like rather young people and sound and look like they're not that familiar with the music they're trying to play. Is that is so tricky to understand? Or do you think that they're on top of this music as much as Braxton himself is?

And yet did you hear that 16-piece work "Never Enough Hope" that Toby Summerfield recorded in Chicago in Jan. 2005? ... I submit that this was in large part because those 16 players, though young (names upon request, but you probably know who they are), knew what they were doing.

These musicians are extremely familiar with Braxton's music. About two-thirds of them have studied with Braxton, and a quarter of them (Fei, Lehman, Bynum) have been studying with and/or performing with Braxton for over a decade. Nicole Mitchell was the only real newcomer, and you will not be surprised to hear that Braxton said she was playing "as if she'd been with them for 10 years."

“Being on top of this music as much as Braxton himself”? That’s a tricky issue given the tri-centric, multi-hierarchical methodology I mentioned above. (For more insight into the tri-centric approach, check out the liner notes to 4 Compositions (Ulrichsberg) 2005.) Plus, Braxton himself claims to understand only 40% of what he's doing!

But in all seriousness, these musicians in the 12+1tet knew what they were doing. And they did it incredibly well.

(Unfortunately, I missed that Never Enough Hope project.)

BTW, I certainly don't have anything against young musicians. It's just that I get spoiled listening to young musicians who can really play, and the ones who can usually don't shrug, wink, and the like while doing so.

Are having fun and “really playing” mutually exclusive?

Others have commented on the level of musicianship in the 12+1tet:

Pat Frisco:

http://taylorhobynum.com/applications/word...=34#comment-927

Steve Smith:

http://nightafternight.blogs.com/night_aft...an_from_ut.html

http://nightafternight.blogs.com/night_aft...t_stand_a_.html

http://nightafternight.blogs.com/night_aft...haunting_r.html

and a certain trumpet player you may be familiar with:

http://www.greenleafmusic.com/#/blog/200611102640.php

In any case, this is all premature since you presumably haven’t heard the recordings.

I look forward to your thoughts after you hear them.

Edited March 12, 2007 by jasonguthartz

[7/4]

Organissimo sure is rough...

I'm on the fence about this one, I should get it...I should make the signing...we'll see.

[RDK]

Organissimo sure is rough...

But whatever we don't kill becomes stronger!