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Friday, February 28, 2014
Augustin Brousseloux 13 Questions
Augustin Brousseloux is a french musician (born 08.06.1999 in Reims). He began with classical guitar at the age of 5, followed by electric guitar at the age of 9. With 11, He starts to play some village festivals and forms his very first psychic rock band. Two years later he changes directions to create Tómur (June 2013), an experimental-noise project.
He released his first album this January 2014 - Expérimental Sessions #1 – P., and joins the project Native Sounds of Friendship for one track. In February 2014 he releases a dozen albums on his own label (http://tomur.bandcamp.com/), including a trio with Chris Silver T & Matthias Boss and an EP duet with Noël Akchoté - Today he explores all sorts of musical genres, experiments many sounds the guitar and also took up Alto Saxophone.
What was the first album you bought with your own money?
My very first album bought on my own was « The Wall », by Pink Floyd.
Some acoustic guitar miniatures, inspired by Noël Akchoté, Derek Bailey and Fred Frith. Free music, free guitar, free download !
And what is the last one you bought?
The fabulous « Boot » by The Thing (Matts Gustafsson's Trio), on Vinyl right after seeing them live and meeting them.
What was the very first solo you transcribed, do you remember it today still ?
Jimmy Page's solo on Stairway to Heaven by by Led Zeppelin, and I think I still can play it today (but better check...).
What's you favorite playing from your own albums until now?
Something is Coming, by the Tómur project, an album to be released next month.
Is it different for you to record in studio or play live?
Yes, its very different because in studio I'm on my own, without any pressure, and I can any time erase the take and start all from zero again.... On Stage, your barely don't have the right to mistake – But in fact, I really enjoy both.
What makes a good improvisation differ from a bad one ?
A Good Improv's is an improv that you feel, that moves you inside, that sets the artist close to trance, deep and gone in his own trip.... if that doesn't happen, its rather a bad improvisation, at least for me, that's the way I feel it.
What's the difference between a good and a bad guitar?
A good guitar sounds good anywhere, whatever amps you play on, and gives you more pleasure and makes you hear and feel the music better.
Do you approach acoustic and electric differently?
Yes. Its a different approach because, once again, I don't feel the same thing on each of these instruments. The Acoustic guitar has a warmer tone, a larger range too, but the Electric opens you more possibilities.
Do you feel more yourself on Electric or Acoustic?
At the moment I love electric because of all the Sound manipulation I can use, like effects or distortion for example.
What kind of else guitars or instruments would you like to have and play?
I will soon buy a resonator (Dobro) guitar from Fender, and I would like to have a Sitar and a Bouzouki too.
Which Musicians would you love to play with?
I'm dreaming to play in a saxophone 4tet with John Zorn, Matts Gustafsson and Peter Brötzmann, and also to set a gigantic free-jazz orchestra that would melt bands such as Big Four, Electric Masada, Rob Mazurek Octet & the Fire Orchestra.
Why did you choose The Guitar?
I choose it because since earliest age i was fascinated by this instrument, this stack of frets, strings and knobs....in fact I started to hustle my parents about learming guitar with the age of 3, but I only started two years later with 5. Today its the same, i'm still absolutely fascinated by the instrument and by all its nuances and infinite possibilities.
What are your upcoming projects?
I want to arrange for guitar Johann-Sebastian Bach's Cantatas BWV 30, to pursue
my series of Miniatures for Guitar, also my other series (NÖYZ & †). I want to collaborate with other musicians too, and already may projects are in preparation. I also want to record more albums, particularly a fusion between Free-Jazz and Celtic Music.
Discography
January 2014 : Experimental Sessions #1 – P
February 2014 : Expression de Liberté
February 2014 : Öxi
February 2014 : Abus d'excès
February 2014 : NÖYZ
February 2014 : Never Again (with Chris Silver T & Matthias Boss)
February 2014 : † - Vol.1
February 2014 : Miniatures for acoustic guitar – Vol.1
February 2014 : Experimental Sessions #2 – L
February 2014 : NÖYZ – Vol.2
March 2014 : Something is coming
http://augustinfloyd.wix.com/tomur
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett, London, 1963. Photo by Dmitri Kasterine.
― Alejandra Pizarnik
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Celeste Boursier-Mougenot
“Like Duchamp, (Céleste) seems to understand the creative potential of random acts and non-directed participation. He's already proved in this artwork that while Keith Richards and Eric Clapton might be masters of the Gibson Les Paul, even they cannot play it like 40 wild birds - not a chance.” Will Gompertz, BBC
Some people don’t like the finch’s music, Boursier-Mougenot has noted. Others, he said, stay for hours, perhaps mesmerized not only by the sounds they hear, but also by the ever-moving flock’s spontaneous swooping around the room.
Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, “From Here to Ear” installation for The Curve, Barbican Art Galler, 2010. (Courtesy Peabody Essex Museum via Paula Cooper Gallery/Lyndon Douglas)
“Please don’t step on the birds!” she implored with a smile. “Watch your feet.”
Born in 1961, Nice, France. Life and work in Sète, France.
Formation, Prix et Bourses
2010
Nominé du Prix Marcel Duchamp. Pour participer au projet de Céleste Boursier-Mougenot : http://www.transhumus.net/
2009
Lauréat du Prix Les David pour l'art contemporain.
2004
Bourse FIACRE.Expositions personnelles
2014
Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Aubette 1928, Strasbourg, France (21 juin – 14 septembre)perturbations, Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France (31 janvier – 4 mai)
2013
Galerie Mario Mazzoli, Berlin, Allemagne (7 septembre - 2 novembre)Clinamen, National Gallery Victoria, Melbourne, Australie (3 mai - 8 septembre)
2012
Galerie Xippas, Paris Portraits, FIAF Gallery, New York, Etats-Unis
Expositions de groupe
2013
NUAGE, Musée Réattu, Arles, dans le cadre de Marseille-Provence 2013 (16 mai - 31 octobre)Le Frac se met au vert en Chalosse, Musée de la Chalosse, Montfort-en-Chalosse, France (5 août - 27 novembre)
2012-2013
The Great South, Montevideo Biennial, Uruguay (23 novembre 2012 - 30 mars 2013)Art & Music - Search for New Synesthesia, Tokyo Art Meeting (III), Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japon (27 octobre 2012 - 3 février 2013)
Par Nature, Centquatre, Paris, France (22 septembre 2012 - 17 mars 2013)
2012
Mobile Immobile, Musée de Picardie, Amiens, France CELEBRATION / Rêves de nature, Musée des beaux-arts et d’archéologie, Valence, France
Notations: Cage Effect Today, Hunter college, New York, Etats-Unis
Collections
2008
Musée national d'art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.MONA FOMA, Tasmanie, Australie.
2007
The Marieluise Hessel Collection, CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, Etats-Unis.
2006
F.N.A.C, France.F.R.A.C Champagne-Ardenne, reims, France.
Domaine de Chamarande, France.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
R.I.P. Paco de Lucia
R.I.P. Paco de Lucía, God of the Flamenco Guitar
Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia has died aged 66 in Mexico, reportedly of a heart attack while playing with his children on a beach.
Paco de Lucía (born Francisco Sánchez Gómez on 21 December 1947, died February 2014) is a Spanish flamenco guitarist, composer and producer. A leading proponent of the New Flamenco style, he is one of the first flamenco guitarists who has also successfully crossed over into other genres of music such as classical and jazz. Richard Chapman and Eric Clapton, authors of Guitar: Music, History, Players, describe de Lucía as a "titanic figure in the world of flamenco guitar", and Dennis Koster, author of Guitar Atlas, Flamenco, has referred to de Lucía as "one of history's greatest guitarists".
De Lucía is noted for his innovation and colour in harmony and his remarkable dexterity, technique, strength and fluidity in his right hand, capable of executing extremely fast and fluent picados. A master of contrast, he often juxtaposes picados with rasgueados and other techniques and often adds abstract chords and scale tones to his compositions with jazz influences. These innovations saw him play a key role in the development of traditional Flamenco and the evolution of New Flamenco and Latin jazz fusion from the 1970s.
De Lucía achieved acclaim for his recordings with flamenco singer Camarón de la Isla in the 1970s, recording 10 albums together. Some of his best known recordings include "Río Ancho" (later fused with Al Di Meola's "Mediterranean Sundance"), "Entre dos aguas", "La Barrosa", "Ímpetu", "Cepa Andaluza" and "Gloria al Niño Ricardo". His collaborations with guitarists John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Larry Coryell in the late 1970s saw him gain wider popularity outside his native Spain.
De Lucia formed the Paco de Lucía Sextet in 1981 with his brothers, singer Pepe de Lucía and guitarist Ramón de Algeciras, and collaborated with jazz pianist Chick Corea on their 1990 album, Zyryab. In 1983 he appeared in Carlos Saura's film Carmen, for which he was also nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film Score. In 1992, he performed live at Expo '92 in Seville and a year later on the Plaza Mayor in Madrid.
In 2004, he won the Prince of Asturias Awards in Arts and in 2010, was awarded an honorary doctorate by Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since 2004 he has greatly reduced his live performances in public, has retired from full touring, and now typically only gives several concerts a year, usually in Spain and Germany and at European festivals during the summer months. In 2005, he was nominated for producer of the year by the Latin Grammy Award for La Tana's Tu, Ven a Mi album.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Bill Horist, Jakob Riis
Bill Horist is a Seattle based guitarist, composer and improviser. In addition to his remarkable solo prepared guitar endeavors and time with Master Musicians of Bukkake, he has collaborated with a wide range of esteemed artists including John Zorn, Secret Chiefs 3, Ruins, Eyvind Kang, Bill Frisell, KK Null, Alan Bishop, Kawabata Makoto, Kinski and many more.
Jakob Riis is a pioneer of the Danish experimental scene and the former trombonist now primarily makes electronic, noise and electro-acoustic music. He uses solo laptop performances to improvise within open structures and has played with people like Philipp Wachsmann, Axel Dörner, Pål Nilssen-Love, Lotte Anker and Mats Gustafsson.
Horist and Riis embarked together on a short tour of the Northwest US in the Summer of 2009.
Although they had known each other for years (having first met at a festival in San Diego and soon after, performed together in a larger ad hoc group in Tijuana, Mexico) they had never before worked together as a duo.
The plan was simple; each would do a solo set and then they would perform as a duo, wherein Jakob would process, manipulate and extrapolate Bill’s prepared guitar work.
It seemed like a good strategy, but neither expected such a synergistic result and ‘The Cessation Elegy’ is the culmination of this brief encounter. It explores broad sonic boundaries, finding footholds in a wide array of sounds - drone, raag-infused acoustic exploration, straight up noise, abstract folk, doom, electro-acoustic excursions and dolorous ambience.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Tampa Red
Tampa Red (January 8, 1904[1] – March 19, 1981), born Hudson Woodbridge but known from childhood as Hudson Whittaker, was an American Chicago blues musician.
Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band
Kingfish Blues
Mess Katie Mess (1929)
Pretty Baby Blues
Seminole Blues
Sho' Is Hot (1929)
What's That Taste Like Gravy 1929
My Daddy Rocks Me With One Steady Roll (1929)
Black Eye Blues
DESCARGA Ogg Vorbis
84 videos of TAMPA RED
Tampa Red is best known as an accomplished and influential blues guitarist who had a unique single-string slide style. His songwriting and his silky, polished "bottleneck" technique influenced other leading Chicago blues guitarists, such as Big Bill Broonzy and Robert Nighthawk, as well as Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Mose Allison and many others. In a career spanning over 30 years he also recorded pop, R&B and hokum records. His best known recordings include the "classic compositions 'Anna Lou Blues', 'Black Angel Blues', 'Crying Won't Help You', 'It Hurts Me Too', and 'Love Her with a Feeling'".
Slide guitarist Tampa "Red" Whittaker, born in Smithville, Georgia, was raised in Tampa, Florida, and became one of the most prominent blues musicians in Chicago, Illinois, during the 1930s and 1940s. Though little known today, he was a popular and influential performer whose recording career extended from 1928 to 1960.
Born Hudson Woodbridge on January 8, 1904, in Smithville, Georgia, he was raised in Tampa, Florida, by his grandmother's family, the Whittakers, whose name he adopted. He was already known as Tampa Red when he arrived in Chicago in the mid-1920s, fresh from the southern theater circuit. He worked a day job but played guitar on street corners and in clubs, looking for a break.
It came when he was hired to accompany Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, through whom he met pianist Georgia Tom Dorsey. In 1928 Tampa Red and Georgia Tom recorded "It's Tight Like That."
A jaunty, ragtime-influenced number with whimsically bawdy lyrics, it was a national hit on the Vocalion label. Tampa Red and Dorsey recorded several successful follow-up songs as the Hokum Boys, and the "hokum" style became a depression-era fad. Such early recordings demonstrate Tampa Red's already sophisticated slide guitar technique. Playing a metal-bodied National Tricone guitar and sliding a bottleneck along the strings, he created a clear and pure sound, marked by deft single-string solos. His session work appears on many recordings by other artists, including Sonny Boy Williamson and Memphis Minnie. His urbane musicianship stood in sharp contrast to earlier slide-guitar blues and would help set the direction for the postwar style.
In 1928, Tampa Red became the first black musician to play a National steel-bodied resonator guitar, the loudest and showiest guitar available before amplification, acquiring one in the first year they were available. This allowed him to develop his trademark bottleneck style, playing single string runs, not block chords, which was a precursor to later blues and rock guitar soloing. The National guitar he used was a gold-plated tricone, which was found in Illinois in the 1990s by music-shop owner and guitarist Randy Clemens and later sold to the "Experience Music Project" in Seattle. Tampa Red was known as "The Man With The Gold Guitar", and, into the 1930s, he was billed as "The Guitar Wizard".
By the 1940s he was playing electric guitar. In 1942 "Let Me Play With Your Poodle" was a # 4 hit on Billboard's new "Harlem Hit Parade", forerunner of the R&B chart, and his 1949 recording "When Things Go Wrong with You (It Hurts Me Too)", another R&B hit, was covered by Elmore James. He was 'rediscovered' in the late 1950s, like many other surviving early recorded blues artists such as Son House and Skip James, as part of the blues revival. His final recordings were in 1960.
He became an alcoholic after his wife's death in 1953. He died destitute in Chicago, aged 77.
Tampa Red was one of the most prolific blues recording artists of his era. It has been estimated that he recorded 335 songs on 78 rpm records, with 251 recorded between 1928 and 1942, making him the blues artist with the most recordings during that period. The bulk of his singles were released before Billboard magazine began tracking blues (and other "race music") in October 1942 and accurate sales records are not available. However, Red had four singles that placed in the R&B top ten between 1942 and 1951.
Slide guitarist Tampa "Red" Whittaker, born in Smithville, Georgia, was raised in Tampa, Florida, and became one of the most prominent blues musicians in Chicago, Illinois, during the 1930s and 1940s. Though little known today, he was a popular and influential performer whose recording career extended from 1928 to 1960.
Born Hudson Woodbridge on January 8, 1904, in Smithville, Georgia, he was raised in Tampa, Florida, by his grandmother's family, the Whittakers, whose name he adopted. He was already known as Tampa Red when he arrived in Chicago in the mid-1920s, fresh from the southern theater circuit. He worked a day job but played guitar on street corners and in clubs, looking for a break.
It came when he was hired to accompany Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, through whom he met pianist Georgia Tom Dorsey. In 1928 Tampa Red and Georgia Tom recorded "It's Tight Like That."
A jaunty, ragtime-influenced number with whimsically bawdy lyrics, it was a national hit on the Vocalion label. Tampa Red and Dorsey recorded several successful follow-up songs as the Hokum Boys, and the "hokum" style became a depression-era fad. Such early recordings demonstrate Tampa Red's already sophisticated slide guitar technique. Playing a metal-bodied National Tricone guitar and sliding a bottleneck along the strings, he created a clear and pure sound, marked by deft single-string solos. His session work appears on many recordings by other artists, including Sonny Boy Williamson and Memphis Minnie. His urbane musicianship stood in sharp contrast to earlier slide-guitar blues and would help set the direction for the postwar style.
In 1928, Tampa Red became the first black musician to play a National steel-bodied resonator guitar, the loudest and showiest guitar available before amplification, acquiring one in the first year they were available. This allowed him to develop his trademark bottleneck style, playing single string runs, not block chords, which was a precursor to later blues and rock guitar soloing. The National guitar he used was a gold-plated tricone, which was found in Illinois in the 1990s by music-shop owner and guitarist Randy Clemens and later sold to the "Experience Music Project" in Seattle. Tampa Red was known as "The Man With The Gold Guitar", and, into the 1930s, he was billed as "The Guitar Wizard".
By the 1940s he was playing electric guitar. In 1942 "Let Me Play With Your Poodle" was a # 4 hit on Billboard's new "Harlem Hit Parade", forerunner of the R&B chart, and his 1949 recording "When Things Go Wrong with You (It Hurts Me Too)", another R&B hit, was covered by Elmore James. He was 'rediscovered' in the late 1950s, like many other surviving early recorded blues artists such as Son House and Skip James, as part of the blues revival. His final recordings were in 1960.
He became an alcoholic after his wife's death in 1953. He died destitute in Chicago, aged 77.
Tampa Red was one of the most prolific blues recording artists of his era. It has been estimated that he recorded 335 songs on 78 rpm records, with 251 recorded between 1928 and 1942, making him the blues artist with the most recordings during that period. The bulk of his singles were released before Billboard magazine began tracking blues (and other "race music") in October 1942 and accurate sales records are not available. However, Red had four singles that placed in the R&B top ten between 1942 and 1951.
In 1928, Tampa Red became the first Black Blues artist to record with a National steel resonator-type guitar, which eventually became one of the classic blues instruments. Shortly afterwards, a parade of National players followed on 78, all of whom are among the early Blues elite.
That group included Tampa Red, Son House, Bukka White, Bo Carter, Blind Boy Fuller, Walter Vincent (who was with the Chatmon Brothers), Peetie Wheatstraw, Scrapper Blackwell, Bumble Bee Slim, and Black Ace.
Oddly enough, Tampa Red didn't play the type of music most Blues fans associate with the National Steel bodied guitar. His music was smooth and sophisticated, using playing techniques (such as string damping) which were quite advanced for the era. Lyrically, he often did novelty numbers that contained double-entrendres, which can make his music seem slight at times to the modern listener. However, a fairer statement would be that the blues songs of today are often lyrically narrow, and artists avoid the risqué sense of humor that a generation of young Black males and females enjoyed back then.
84 videos of TAMPA RED
In other words, you're not going to hear many Blues artists singing about putting their juicy wieners into hot buns these days. Which is sad in a way?
In contrast to the smooth styling’s of a Tampa Red were the harder Delta sounds of Son House and Bukka White. Both were artists who didn't do well commercially in the 20's, but created music that 60's folk and rock audiences related to. Powerful rhythm’s and vocals, with intense slide work adding a second voice. In the case of Bukka, a definite precursor to the later Bo Diddley Beat.
The interesting thing is that all of the above played the same type of guitar, but with some important differences. The model Tampa used was called a "Tricone" and Son's was called a "single resonator" type. Each had a distinctive characteristic (aside from being incredibly loud) that suited each particular player.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Preston Reed 13 questions
Preston Reed has virtually reinvented how the acoustic guitar is played. Reed practices a flamboyant self-invented style, characterized by percussive techniques and simultaneous rhythm and melody lines that dance and ricochet around each other, giving his music a level of excitement that is unparalleled among today's guitarists.
Playing an array of guitars from acoustic to electric to classical Reed's vast range of explosively original music will forever change your expectation of a guitarist.
First-time listeners find it impossible to believe that they're hearing just the one musician, in real time. Reed attacks the entire instrument in a never-ending search for the orchestra he knows is lurking inside. At full tilt, his fingers, thumbs, fists and hands at once suggest a drummer, keyboardist, bassist and several guitarists at work.
The most impressive thing about Reed's technique, though, is that it doesn't draw attention to itself. His compositions are far from abstract virtuosic displays; even without lyrics he creates vivid, engrossing scenes. Sometimes the effect is almost onomatopoetic. Reed generates visual stimuli with every tweak of his instrument, thus augmenting his wordless compositions with an aura of the poetic. Each tune is a story in itself with a potent, cinematic atmosphere and an almost tangible thread of communication between Preston Reed and the listener.
Reed's entry into this guitar odyssey was inauspicious enough, his path thereafter largely self-discovered. A few chords learned from his guitar playing father, a brief, very brief, flirtation with the ukulele, clandestine practice sessions of his favourite Beatles and Stones songs on dad's guitar .... and then a too-strict classical guitar teacher led to premature retirement.
At 16, however, Reed heard Jefferson Airplane's rootsy blues offshoot, Hot Tuna. His interest was rekindled big time. Acoustic guitar heroes John Fahey and Leo Kottke were studied, their styles absorbed but not imitated, and at this point things really begin to get interesting because, at 17, Reed, by now precociously proficient, played his first live gig, supporting beat poet Allen Ginsberg at the Smithsonian Institute.
Just getting on a train from his native Armonk in New York State to Washington was a cool adventure. And it was just the first of many, not least of which was the one which resulted from his signing his first deal with a major record company, MCA, through the auspices of his friend, country singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett.
Determined to make the most of this opportunity, Reed pushed himself to go beyond the standard fingerpicking styles he'd perfected. The result was the beginnings of Reeds startlingly innovative style, with its percussive, two-handed fretboard attack, that you hear today and which has caused guitar luminaries such as Al DiMeola and the late Michael Hedges to describe Reed as "phenomenal" and "inspiring". His playing has spawned a generation of imitators, yet Reed remains one of a kind.
Reed's compositional talents extend to film soundtracks and prestigious commissions for the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, and as well as appearances alongside Bonnie Raitt and Linda Ronstadt his major performances include an historic live satellite broadcast on Turkish National Television in 1997 with renowned saz player and composer Arif Sag which reached an audience of 120 million in 17 countries, prompting a flood of international telephone calls to the station from stunned viewers.
Since 1979, he has recorded thirteen albums and three videos and charmed audiences on three continents. He continues to tour with the same hunger and relish that informs his guitar playing. The secret, he says, is to relax and let the guitar patterns run by themselves. Which explains how, at full tilt, he may sound like a full-on heavy metal band but he still won't have broken sweat.
What do yo remember about your first musical instrument?
It was a small (soprano?) ukelele made of a kind of brown wood. My father bought it for me at a music store in Mount Kisco, New York when I was eight years old. I am left-handed and wanted a left-handed one, but the store did not sell left-handed ukeleles, so I agreed to learn to play a right-handed one.
Which was the last record you bought with your own money?
Bill Evans, "Conversations With Myself". Although Bill Evans is one of my favourite musicians of all time and I own many of his records, I found this "experimental" album (piano duets with himself) to be disappointing.
Why do you love the guitar?
I love its versatility, its dynamic capabilities and it compositional possibilities. Like the piano, the guitar has both harmonic (chord-making) capabilities and single-line melodic capabilities....but unlike the piano you can directly control the sound of the strings with your fingers which allows for greater dynamic control, intimacy and emotional expression. I love being able to change tunings, and the ability to use it as a multi-voiced compositional vehicle that can incorporate a wide variety of percussive sounds. It is an unlimited platform of creativity and discovery.
Which work of your own (or as a sideman) are you most proud of, and why?
Although I am equally proud of all my albums, my 2000 album
"Handwritten Notes" holds a special place for me for its compositional exploration and new guitaristic thinking. It is perhaps my most compositionally complex album, heavily influenced by both jazz and classical harmony. I think "First Summer Without You", "Crossing Open Water" and "After A Rain" represent some of my best work.
Do you play electric and acoustic, do you approach the two differently?
Yes, I play electric and acoustic. They are very different in terms of tone, texture and dynamics. As a solo player performing my own music, I find the acoustic guitar to be more versatile and useful most of the time, but I love electric for the special atmosphere it gives to certain tunes. I play both types of guitar in multiple ways based on the style and techniques called for by the composition. Some of my tunes work equally well on either type of guitar and my choice of which to play is based on the mood I am looking for -- acoustic is warmer and more emotional, electric is edgier and more aggressive.
Which is the main pleasure of the guitar?
Telling a story. Developing a compelling narrative and an evocative landscape within a composition. Communicating emotionally with an audience through your music.
What’s the difference between a good guitar and a bad guitar?
A good guitar is one that you enjoy playing, that speaks to you in your voice, that embraces you emotionally and delights you physically, that feels like it's an extension of you.
A bad guitar? One that doesn't communicate to you emotionally no matter what you play on it, no matter how you try to interact with it.
How would you define the present time in musical terms?
Struggling to find its groove.
Define the sound you're still looking for.
Across a distant bridge
To a land on other side
Where my home lies
Why and how do you use extended techniques in guitar?
I invented the approach I use to get a bigger, more interesting, more dynamic, more orchestral sound from the acoustic guitar. My approach makes full use of the guitar as both a polyphonic instrument and a percussion instrument -- solo, in real time. My approach involves starting out with a combination of rhythm, bass and percussion (a "groove") and adding in the melody and harmony around that groove -- in simplest terms, adding the sound of the strings into a drum groove.
Why do you need music?
Music has always been a source of freedom for me. It is a pleasure that I enjoy deeply...but it is also a creative laboratory, an environment where I can explore myself and discover new realities.
Where are your roots? What are your influences?
My roots are in American popular music of the 1960's which included a lot of rock, jazz and blues, TV show themes, Hollywood film music, the classical music my parents had on the radio in our living room...and in everything I absorbed around me as I was growing up.
My early guitar influences included classical pieces by Fernando Sor that I played when I took lessons (briefly) at age eight, and Jorma Kaukonen, John Fahey and Leo Kottke, whose recordings I learned alternating bass fingerpicking from when I was in my late teen years.
Later guitar influences include Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Mike Stern and many others.
But my biggest influences are not guitar players: Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Astor Piazzola, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays (as composer/arrangers), Yellowjackets and many others.
What’s your next project about
Possibly an ensemble recording with some wonderful international musicians I met at a festival in France last year. They played cello, clarinet, bass clarinet and flute. We did an arrangement of my tune "Love In The Old Country". It sounded tremendous. Would love to do a whole album of my music with that configuration and sound.
| DISCOGRAPHY | |||
| In Here Out There Released: 2013 Buy Now: U.S. iTunes | U.K. iTunes | CD-Baby | BandCamp | Amazon | Amazon UK | |||
| Spirit Released: 2007 Buy Now: iTunes | CD-Baby | CANdyRat | BandCamp | Amazon | |||
| History Of Now Released: 2005 Buy Now: iTunes | CD-Baby | CANdyRat | BandCamp | |||
| Handwritten Notes Released: 2000 Buy Now: iTunes | CD-Baby | CANdyRat | BandCamp | Amazon | |||
| Ladies Night Released: 2004 Original release: 1997 Buy Now: iTunes | CD-Baby | CANdyRat | BandCamp | Amazon | |||
| Groovemasters, Volume 1 Released: 1997 Duet with Laurence Juber Buy Now: iTunes | |||
| Metal Re-released: 2002 Original release: 1995 Buy Now: iTunes | CD-Baby | CANdyRat | BandCamp | Amazon | |||
| Acoustic Guitar Released: 1979 Buy Now: BandCamp | |||
VIEW EARLY RECORDINGS | |||
| Preston Reed in Concert Released: 1997 Concert DVD , 60 minute solo performance, Performer Buy Now: Homespun Preston Reed live in concert, creating the amazing sounds that have given his playing such notoriety around the world. Songs include:
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| The Guitar of Preston Reed: Expanding The Realm Of Acoustic Playing Released: 1994 Instructional DVD Buy Now: Homespun Preston Reed has reinvented how the acoustic guitar is played with his dynamic use of percussive devices and unusual playing ideas. You'll learn to create a multitude of sonic and rhythmic effects with Preston's "rim shots," "bongo hits," slap harmonics, double hammer-ons, two-hand tapping, right-hand fretting and other techniques. In "Slap Funk," "Border Towns" and "Tribes," he shows new ways of generating sounds and offers a myriad of ideas for this exciting solo guitar style.  | |||
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Aram Bajakian
Aram Bajakian is quickly becoming recognized as one of the most exciting post Ribot/Frissell guitarists on the scene. After releasing his first record, Kef, to critical acclaim on Tzadik, the guitarist spent two years cutting his teeth with Lou Reed, all while remaining active as a noise maker in NYC's exciting downtown scene.
When I was 10 I remember my Uncle came over with a 1940s Steel guitar and played some slide blues on it. He's a master slide player, and throughout my teenage years, he would take me to blues shows. We sat on the side of the stage at a BB KING show, and you could feel his sound in your chest. And I'll never forget the immense vibrato of Clarence Gatemouth Brown. While I'm not an old school blues player, this music has left a deep impression on me. I originally set out to make a blues record, but with Shazhad and Jerome playing in their beautiful way, it turned into something very different. At times it's funny, at times it's regal, and times it's dense and chaotic like the city I live in. I still think it's a blues record. It's just a blues that comes from living in Queens and raising a family in this great crazy city.
Guitarist Aram Bajakian has performed/recorded with rock legend Lou Reed, Grammy winners Diana Krall and Yusef Lateef, saxophonist John Zorn, guitarists Marc Ribot and Nels Cline, saxophone virtuoso James Carter, bass legend Jamaaladeen Tacuma, violist Mat Maneri, and the original Can singer, Malcolm Mooney. Bajakian is also a member of bassist Shanir Blumenkranz’s group Abraxas. Bajakian leads several of his own groups, including Kef, a chamber string trio that plays arrangements of traditional Armenian Songs. His latest album, there were flowers also in hell, has received universal praise, and was called "One of the best instrumental rock records of recent years," by New York Music Daily.
Aram Bajakian - Guitar
Shahzad Ismaily - Bass
Jerome Jennings - Drums
BANDCAMP
ITUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the...
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I...
LIKE: https://www.facebook.com/aram.bajakian
WEB: http://www.arambajakian.com
ITUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the...
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I...
LIKE: https://www.facebook.com/aram.bajakian
WEB: http://www.arambajakian.com
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