Capital New York

Cecil Taylor returns, and stuns the Issue Project Room

At the rough midway point, Taylor departed from the piano to recite one of his mystical-poetic texts. Not all of it was discernible at a textual or recitative level, or meant to be—though the word “radius!” was given several clear, enthusiastic shouts—but its rhythms were musical in a way that seemed inseparable from Taylor’s pianism: full of surprise pauses, repetitions, and revisions of articulation. More

Posted on May 21st, 2012 3:19pm

I talked to my favorite ex-new wave & current post-minimal musician, @MikelRouse, about his new album & @NYPL archive: http://t.co/8nPLXsqI

Trust David Byrne: '80s downtown veteran Mikel Rouse still has lots to say

You can trust David Byrne's ear on this one. Mikel Rouse (his first name is pronounced like "Michael") has made dozens of great records since coming to New York. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts acquired his archive in 2010—making it the easiest place for the public to see video recordings of Rouse's modern operas, like Dennis Cleveland, that have played at Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in recent decades. More

Posted on May 18th, 2012 2:43pm

Oh, a first recording of @VijayIyer's tribute to Detroit techno pioneer Robert Hood (titled, simply enough, "Hood"): http://t.co/X8wO1ghH

Office playlist: Killer Mike, "R.A.P. Music" http://t.co/ZBvXo89q; @NicoMuhly, "Drones & Piano" http://t.co/hzBaVQZU; MTT, Complete Ruggles

Ives' "Universe" / a new Terry Riley electric violin concerto / Nashville symphony / @CarnegieHall. Listen live in 5: http://t.co/bD9fgsmf

Terry Riley on giving up self-publishing and his new concerto for electric violin, being performed this weekend

In this way, you might think of Riley as a blue-chip modern-art stock. But once a listener moves beyond Riley’s sixties-era work, and the enduring pop-culture legacy it has earned him, the composer’s efforts can seem surprisingly ignored. Though his chamber music champions are notable, they have not been large in number (if not for the Kronos Quartet’s commissioning and performance activity, Riley’s latter-day catalogue might not amount to much), while his symphonic works are largely absent from the modern repertoire. This counter-intuitive, outsider aspect of Riley’s persona is what makes this Saturday’s concert at Carnegie Hall such a must-see event. More

Posted on May 11th, 2012 3:34pm

On the first Cecil Taylor tribute concert at Harlem Stage last night, with Amiri Baraka and trio of excellent pianists: http://t.co/QPcqxOaf

It's (unofficially) Cecil Taylor month in New York's jazz world

Next week, the 83-year-old avant-garde pianist is scheduled to play two different solo concerts —one each at Harlem Stage and Brooklyn’s Issue Project Room—which will be his first performances in his hometown since 2009. And while both of those dates have already sold out, a variety of other celebratory events have been scheduled around the margins of Taylor’s reemergence, suggesting that theaters and promoters and individuals were just waiting for an opportunity to celebrate the musician. More

Posted on May 9th, 2012 1:55pm

Ah thanks, @marathonpacks! Downside is I am occasionally annoying to watch TV with in real time (as the lady and her friends may attest).