Full Concert Video & MP3 Posted

[jbenzola]

Just in case you haven't noticed, I have been out of musical commision for the past year or so. Unlike Jeff Harrington, (rightly or wrongly), I am very down on the online music scene for a multitude of reasons. I have also been in the throngs of terrible job choices ( which has been rectitfied) and also buying a bookstore...a metaphysical book store in Sag Harbor NY which as it turns out has been one of the best things that I have ever done. Anyway, I have just recently thought about music again and have decided to post a concert of my piece Ritual In Four Parts that my band Crippled Symmetry performed at the Ought One Festival in Vermont in August of 2001. It is the full set which we performed. What amazes me about this piece is how full we sounded as a trio. It actually proves that music this multidirectional can be performed live From the concert notes:

Ritual in Four Parts is a trio piece, which continues my examination of directed open creative improvisation. There are many diverse elements in this piece including the merging of both acoustic and electro-acoustic elements in a live format. There is much juxtaposition in this piece such as rhythmic ostinatos against free rhythm, stasis against energetic activity, sound and timbre used as harmony and melody. Another striking aspect of the piece is the constant changing of instruments among the three musicians, which creates an ever-changing sound environment. This gives the trio a large sound palette and offers a constant shift in both texture and colors. Instrument functions are also challenged, i.e. the guitar becomes a rhythmic instrument and percussion becomes the main source of musical material. The trio consists of:

Joseph Benzola: Composer, drums, percussion, sheani, flute, piano, electronics
John Asta: Electronic and acoustic drums and percussion
Doug Kolmar: Guitar and electronics

The concert footage is raw and direct from the DV that my wife taped. There are some very funny angles and perspectives but she did it for free... Hopefully this will stream ok!

The full streaming video is here.

I am also posting an mp3 file for the full concert. This was recorded via DAT from a different stage location so the sound is a bit clearer than the video. This can be found here.

I hope you enjoy the music. All comments are welcome.

[editor's note: I made a couple of cosmetic changes to your URLs so they wouldn't stretch the page. -mosc Nov 24, 04]

[mosc]

Joseph, welcome back, and thanks for posting this. I'm listening to the mp3 now. It sounds really great. I love it. This is very good music.

[jbenzola]

Thanks Howard for the listen and comments! I think that this is one of my most succesful pieces on many levels. It's a synthesis of many of my influences (Sun Ra, Stockhausen, Cage, Lamonte Young, AACM, Coltrane, the musics of Sub-Saharan Africa and India) into a individualized language. The piece is highly structured but can sound very different depending on the circumstances of the performance...it can be taken into many different directions while still maintaining the structure of the four parts. I think (though it is a bit hard to hear on this recording) that the intergration of the taped drone and live elements in part one really sets up the rest of the 3 parts. Part one is key, very much like the Alap in Raga...it is the emotional and symbolic basis for the rest of the piece.

[mosc]

I watched the video and listened to the mp3. The mp3 sounds much much better. I appreciate what you say about structure. I'm big into that myself. The structure in your piece sounds very natural and it's not obvious.

Structure is a funny thing. There is structure in everything whether it is conscious or not. Any extended improvisation will have strucuture.

[jbenzola]

My two favorite quotes on structure:

"If a man plays for a certain amount of time...eventually a kind of order asserts itself, whether he chooses to notate that personal order or engage in polemics about it, it's there. That is, if he is saying anything in his music. There is no music without order if music comes from a mans innards."
-Cecil Taylor

"It is conceivable that what is unified in form to the author or composer may of necessity be formless to his audience."
-Charles Ives

That is my feeling exactly about structure...it needs to sound natural and organic...it needs to breathe and not be frozen in stone...it needs to change when called upon to do so...it needs to communicate and not draw attention to itself!

[mosc]

Good quotes...

When musicians are sensitive to structure, it becomes part of the medium of musical expression. The music is usaully more interesting to me. If one is not sensitive to it, then the structure is still there, but only as an artifact, much like the acoustics of the space in which it is performed.

[jbenzola]

Music ( and any type of art for that matter) needs to have some structure whether it is so called free improv, stream of conscioness writing, abstract painting, etc. I have heard some experiments in true free improv (in particular Derek Bailey's Company concerts) and while some of the music can be interesting from an intellectual standpoint, much becomes very boring. It is also interesting to note that even in such an ultimate free setting, the players after awhile begin to use the same devices over and over again...you cannot escape totaly from structure or individual devices! Also, while thinking of Cage's Indeterminate pieces and Stockhausens pieces based on one line instructions ( Play the Universe, Play your breath,etc), the pieces that these processes produce sound just like a typical Cage or Stockhusen piece! The order of the universe prevails...

[mosc]

Cage and Stockhusen were great writers. I love to read about their music, but I don't listen to it. IMHO, both were lousy composers.

[jbenzola]

I don't agree with your assessment on Cage and Stockhausen but I understand why someone would make it To me, Cage and Stockhausen are of the utmost of importance to my musical sensibility. Some of their experiments/compositions can be a bit silly...others are incredibly profound. What I respect is their ability to always see to the future...to peer into the void and stand on the ledge about to fall but recovering in time to make a great musical statement. Whether one likes them or not, their contributions to modern music (of all types) is undisputable. I cannot imagine electronic music...both studio and live without Cage or Stockhausen. Willams Mix, Gesang der Jungerlinge, Mixtur, Prozession, Cartridge Music, HPSCHD, etc point the way to every procedure used today. Some of the elements and tools have changed but the concepts and procedures are pretty much all based on their innovations. Stockhausen (Stupid statements aside) is a great composer. His series of Klavierstuckes alone would guarantee him a place in post Webern continuum and Cage's series of prepared Piano Sonatas are among some of the most important pieces composed in the 20th century. As they say, different strokes for different folks! BTW...thanks for the dialouge. It seems that it is just you and I in the deep end.

[mosc]

I agree these are important composers. No argument. I just don't like to listen to their music.

I was lucky enough to meet John Cage serveral times in the early 70s. He was a wonderful person, and very wise. The memory of these converstions is precious to me, and I think he's had a profound infuence on me.

I know some people who were "students" of Stockhausen and heard some upsetting stories about him. That may bias me against him. He was a marketing mavin and a contemporary music business executive.

Oh well, here in the deep end... not a bad place to be...

Did the music of Charles Ives make much of an impression on you?

[jbenzola]

I love Ives, in particular his piano music especially The Concord Sonata. There is a great version of this piece played by the preeminent interpreter of Ives piano music John Kirkpatrick that was on Columbia Records which has not made it to the digital age yet. Everytime I listen to an Ives piece I hear something that I have not heard before.

[jeff harrington]

Cool, Joe! Downloading now...

I had to miss this performance at OughtOne cuz I was baby-sitting the 'dream room.'

You up on things for 2005?

[jeff harrington]

Wow... that's amazing seeing you in action. The depth of your musicianship is just mind-boggling. And Doug and John are amazing too...

Really reminded me of that whole OughtOne scene. It was 2 weeks before 9/11, in Montpelier Vermont. All experimental musicians gathered to play and party. Hope they can do it again this year!

[mosc]

Maybe at electro-music 2005 in May or June...

[jbenzola]

Thanks to all for the listens. Well...to at least Jeff and Howard

[elektro80]

Hey, this concert is great! The audio file has a better sound of course, but I really enjoyed seeing you guys play!

[seraph]

[jeff harrington]

Yeah, all the concerts at Ought One were in churches in Montpelier Vermont. It was around 10:30 I think.