Personnel
Act I
Act
II
Ed Chang
:guitar,
conductor Ed Chang
:guitar, conductor
Rich Gross :alto
sax
Christine Bard :drums,
perc.
David Nuss :drums,
perc. Elaine
Kaplinsky :piano
Reuben Radding :bass
Blaise Siwula :alto
clarinet, alto sax
Samara Lubelski :violin
Reuben Radding :bass
John McDonough :trumpet
Anastasia Cook :vocal
June, July 1994
Recorded at Sound
on Sound
Recorded at Baby Monster
Rec. Engineer: John
R. Reigart III Rec. Engineer:
Rick Rowe
Mixed at Sound on
Sound
Mixed
at Sound on Sound
Audio: Reigart and
Chang
Audio:
Reigart and Chang
Compositions by Ed
Chang, Interpretations by Performers
...concentrated on
improvisational structures based on certain classical musical concepts. These pieces are in effect platforms for
improvisation, to let a performer's own personality become a part of
the
composition. Yet the structures are
specific enough that the flow and development are preserved as well as
specific
ideas and 'sounds' I wanted to bring across.
One of the things that I like about modern jazz is the
attraction of the
live performer and the different sides which surface during the course
of a
song. The score for a jazz song is
incomplete without its performance by interpretive human beings, as
opposed to
a score by Beethoven, which some people have argued need not even be
performed,
because everything is for the most part already spelled out. Jazz songs tend to be fairly simple
structurally however, so a wedding between the un-notatable flair of a
good
improvisor and some more rigid musical guidelines seemed to be the
solution.
Performance
These guidelines are based on a language
of 39 symbols and instructions used in
various arrangements and combinations.
An example might be 'play quietly, using intervals of so and so
around a
pitch center of 'x' based on rhythm pattern 'y'. Beyond
these parameters, the performers could
play in any fashion they felt (with regards to how the other performers
were
playing their parts as well, of course).
Additionally a 'conductor' has the task of signalling the length
of each
segment as he/she sees fit (cutting the section at it's logical end)
and can
give additional input to the sound and flow of the piece.
Since the pieces are greatly colored in by
the interpretations of the performers, the conductor listens to the
uniqueness
of each performance and makes timely and tasteful decisions.
Composition
These pieces have a generic title of
'picture shows'. Originally this came
from the fact that the scores were all made up of small symbolic
pictures,
rather than noteheads and staves. Since
then the nature of the pieces aurally suggest to me a storyboard of
scenes
within scenes, with different instruments taking on the roles of
different
characters in a play. To me
improvisation is about conversation and social interaction expressed in
a
musical way, rather than a linguistic way.
Listening back to the music I heard sadness and joy, domination
and
submission, pride and humility, etc...
So in the end I ordered the pieces to tell a story in sound,
like a
soundtrack to a movie with the dialogue and sound effects left in. I think the music holds up well without the
story concepts, but at the same time they add another dimension of
appreciation
as well.