“Working with forces unknown to me has always been an exciting challenge,” says Elliott Sharp, “especially when those forces are in the form of younger musicians, highly skilled and enthusiastic.” For his work with the musicians of the Veni Academy, he chose three previously composed works that would be easily adaptable to a large ensemble whose instrumentation was not the result of prior design plus one newly composed for the occasion. The chosen pieces were based on well-defined processes that made use of instant decision-making on the part of both the players and the conductor, and finally, some graphic notation. Composed in 2003 for string quartet, The Dispersion of Seeds uses a simple algorithm of arpeggiation of nine chords throughout its arc to create shifting verticalities. The piece would be different with every performance yet would retain its distinct identity.
New release on zOaR Bandcamp: Sakuraza - Jim O'Rourke - Elliott Sharp. The 2nd album in the E#@70 series, Sakuraza presents a conversation in sound between two iconoclastic adventurers. O'Rourke and Sharp first met in Chicago in 1989 and their paths have crossed many times since then with a number of collaborations in Japan including guitar trios with Otomo Yoshihide and large algorithmic orchestras. This set of electroacoustic duos was performed in an intimate setting in Kofu, Japan in 2019 with O'Rourke using synthesizers and electronics and Sharp on bass clarinet,Strandberg Boden 8-string, and electronics. The sound ranges from quiet intensity to swirling turbulence unmoored from genre and style.
Joe Morris, William Parker, and Gerald Cleaver are among the most gifted instrumentalists & improvisers in the world today—natural and consistent innovators, always sharing, igniting new ideas, and seeking something beyond description. They have performed & recorded together in different configurations on numerous occasions over the last 15 years. Altitude documents their first communion together as a trio, and they gripped it by creating timeless music rife with invention fully in the moment.