Rowley Gallery Blog
David Murray is for me the undisputed king of the saxophone, the living, breathing, embodiment of the music. I’ve seen him many times, in small groups, big bands, but most memorably playing solo. He is a force of nature, and every time it seems like his saxophone is connected directly to my heart.
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This video is one of a series, The Lullaby Project, from Opera North.
Colin Stetson‘s breathtaking pump-it-up saxophone fuelled by apparently effortless circular breathing turning the instrument into an extension of the body like some kind of external hand-held bronchial tree summoning music in the shape of a transcendental endurance sport is quite a good warm-up act.
Ralph Carney, a saxophonist and jokingly self-described “man of a thousand instruments” heard on albums by Tom Waits, the Black Keys, St. Vincent, Elvis Costello, the B-52’s and Allen Ginsberg, died on December 16 in Portland, Oregon. He was 61. This video and the text below date from June 2015.
Ralph Carney is from Akron, Ohio and currently lives in San Francisco. He’s a multi-instrumentalist who was in the popular band Tin Huey in Akron in the ’70s, and since then has done everything from making curious solo recordings to collaborating with Tom Waits, Jolie Holland, Elvis Costello, the B-52s, and dozens of others. I myself am particularly fond of his work with Daved Hild and Mark Kramer in the 1980s alt-rock band Carney-Hild-Kramer.
And one week ago today, just two days after the horrible events in Charleston, SC, Mr. Carney posted a solo recording of multi-tracked saxophones to his bandcamp and Facebook. “Lament for Charleston” is a remarkable, strong work. I spoke with Carney on the phone today about how it came together, what the inspirations were, and future plans for the song.
It’s worth noting that “Alabama” by John Coltrane was written in response to a brutal church bombing undertaken by members of the KKK in 1963 in Birmingham, Ala. which killed four young black girls. Continue reading “Lament For Charleston”
A short film from 1990 about John Lurie and his Strange and Beautiful Music.
It’s part one of three. Watch them all then watch Bob The Bob once or twice too.
Nubya Garcia is one of the leading figures in the recent resurge of jazz-influenced sounds in the UK. Born and raised in London, at 25, she is starting to make headway as a composer and saxophonist. Her signature style combines the use of live electronics with a traditional band format. Using a Korg Kaoss pad interface combined with a Boss vocal effects pedal, she manipulates the natural sound of her saxophone. She also creates custom patches through Ableton Live and Max MSP to add new dimensions to her performance and composition. Alongside her on keys is Joe Armon-Jones, a musician/composer/producer part of an exciting new wave of London-based talent.
I recently stumbled upon this video, if that’s what you call a static image with a soundtrack attached, and now I find it’s stuck on repeat, I can’t shake it. There’s no title for this piece and no telling where it’s from, except that it’s played by Gary Windo, one of my all time favourite saxophone heroes. I had heard him play with Carla Bley and Robert Wyatt and Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath, and circa 1974 he gave an earbending performance in a tiny lecture theatre at Maidstone College of Art. I was mesmerised and immediately afterwards went straight out and bought a saxophone of my own.
I’m not entirely sure what I’m watching here, it came via Twitter. The artist is Haruka Nakamura and the piece is called ゆくさき or Yukusaki (Destination). It may or may not be an advert for Japanese fashion company Evam Eva but it looks inviting and sounds intriguing and vice versa.
I couldn’t resist this. A new video of Hackney Colliery Band performing at KOKO in Camden Town. A reminder of the time we saw them at Wilton’s Music Hall, another great night of breath-fuelled music.
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More here – Hackney Colliery Band
The Ghost Cat Phantom Revue (to give the full title) is an annual Darktown cabaret, part of the Cadaver Clamjamphrie, held at the Starlight Hotel, every halloween. The revue have also been known to perform around St. Within’s Day too.
The Cat People, Domino & Rufus, inspired by the great Jacques Tourneur film, will appear on stage and tell polite jokes, which the audience may or may not find amusing. Continue reading “The Phantom Revue”
Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Kronos Quartet perform Black MIDI by Nicole Lizée.
“The goal is to create portals into other dimensions.”