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jbenzola
Joined: Dec 11, 2003
Posts: 77
Location: NY
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 Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2003 11:39 am Post subject:
Portraits of the Dead Posted In Total |
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I have just uploaded a series of sonic protraits entitled Portraits of the Dead. This series dates back to 1993 and has been continuous project of mine. The pieces are not generic rip-offs and they don't utilize quoutes, riffs,etc of the composer but they are rather personal sonic portraits of the indidual. The series includes:
Kurt and Jaco are Dancing in Heaven (For Kurt Cobain and Jaco Pastorius)
Frank Zappa
Sun Ra
John Cage
Miles Davis
Edgard Varese
Ayler Weeps in Blackwell's Soul (For Albert Ayler and Ed Blackwell)
Lester Bowie
Tony Williams
Kerouac-Gysin Burroughs
I have also inlcluded For John Coltrane (which pre dates the series. This was recorded in 1992) and Mystic Dance for E. Ghent which was recorded while Ghent was quite alive! These pieces will only be up for a limited time (between 7-10 days) so grab them while they're hot!! Comments, rants, tirades, money, etc are always appreciated.
You can find these pieces in order at www.electronicscene.com/jbenzola
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Joseph Benzola
Amanita Music |
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mosc
Site Admin
Joined: Jan 31, 2003
Posts: 18247
Location: Durham, NC
Audio files: 225
G2 patch files: 60
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| Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2003 12:26 pm Post subject:
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Very cool idea to write those pieces. I like the Zappa one the most. Kinda reminds me of The Girl in the Titanium Dress.
The Edgar Varese piece really made me think of his music.
John Cage is very interesting.
Sun Ra brought to mind Sun Ra, but it doesn't sound like his music to me. From your explaination of these pieces, that's to be expected. The impression is the objective; not imitation. Still, I expected to hear a trumpet with Miles Davis.
I'n mot familiar with the music of Albert Ayler and Ed Blackwell, Lester Bowie, and Tony Williams. |
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Michael Chocholak
Joined: Nov 27, 2003
Posts: 305
Location: Cove, Oregon, USA
Audio files: 2
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| Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2003 9:00 pm Post subject:
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Had to check out the Varese & Miles pieces first, of course. Cool. I think Edgard would have liked this piece (as well as your other work), and you can kinda hear Miles trumpet inside your head, maybe even his organ. This is deja vu... did you have some of these pieces posted at your previous Mp3.com site? Glad you resurrected them, even if only for a few days. 
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Que la musique sonne - Edgard Varese
I was seriously tempted to give up everything and go be a farmer or something... - Jack Endino, Seattle record producer |
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jbenzola
Joined: Dec 11, 2003
Posts: 77
Location: NY
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2003 7:50 am Post subject:
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| mosc wrote: |
Sun Ra brought to mind Sun Ra, but it doesn't sound like his music to me. From your explaination of these pieces, that's to be expected. The impression is the objective; not imitation. Still, I expected to hear a trumpet with Miles Davis.
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Thanks for the listen and ultimate compliment! I was trying very hard with these pieces not to sound like generic rip-offs as mentioned before. What I wanted to do was to distill the essence of their influence and spirit and redirect it to my vocabulary. The Sun Ra piece was setup with piano and Nord Lead. I wanted to use his two main insruments as a symbolic gesture. The piano portion sounds more like Ives Concorde Sonata than Sun Ra, though his spirit is there. The Nord Lead was setup for more orchestral textues as I was thinking about his main solosist: John Gilmore, Marshall Alan, Danny Davis, and Pat Patrcik. I was trying to achive the extended techniques that they use on reeds as opposed to trying to play Sun Ra solo moog, though that is there in spirit!
The Cage piece is for prepared sampled piano (prepared with various textures and harmonics which are controlled by aftertouch and the modulation wheel). The Zappa piece is an investigation of playing the rhythms and spaces in between.
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Joseph Benzola
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jbenzola
Joined: Dec 11, 2003
Posts: 77
Location: NY
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2003 7:57 am Post subject:
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| Mezmer wrote: | | Had to check out the Varese & Miles pieces first, of course. Cool. I think Edgard would have liked this piece (as well as your other work), and you can kinda hear Miles trumpet inside your head, maybe even his organ. This is deja vu... did you have some of these pieces posted at your previous Mp3.com site? Glad you resurrected them, even if only for a few days. |
Thanks for listening! Yes...these were up on my the old mp3.com site so you are not loosing your mind! The Miles pieces uses midi percussion played on a drum kat and the main voice is a mutialted reed sound played via a Casio wind controller. I wanted to get the spirit of Miles later electric pieces from the mid 1970's (On the Corner, Get Up With It, etc) and distill the textural and rhythmic elements that have been very influential to me. The Varese piece used a Nord Lead and some "found" Monty Python bits processed and run backwards. I don't know if Varese was a John Cleese fan or not... 
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Joseph Benzola
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elektro80
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Joined: Mar 25, 2003
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Location: Norway
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