Sunday the 13th I saw The Kronos Quartet at Hertz Hall with a special appearance by Joan Jeanrenaud, who left the quartet ten years ago. She played with them on the Vladimir Martynow piece Scubert-Quintet (Unfinished). Commissioned by Joan, the piece is essentially Martynow’s “take” on Schubert’s long flowing lines. It was lovely to hear Joan with the Kronos again. After the intermission, the new Kronos, with Jeffrey Zeigler on cello, performed Transylvanian Horn Courtship, by Terry Riley, who was in attendance.
The piece was performed by the Kronos on Stroh instruments which have horns attached as resonators. Stroh violins were invented before microphones to amplify the acoustic violin, and have a midrangey almost sitar-like buzz to them. These instruments were designed to sound a fifth lower than concert at Riley’s request. He has written 25 pieces for Kronos. Whether one likes his music or not (and I do) Riley is a consummate writer for string quartet. I’ve always admired the Kronos for building their own audience and careers from the ground up.
Gregory James
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Number 28 December 7, 2009
Why I’m changing the name Rogue Records to Valence Records
I started my own label, Rogue Records, in 1981, after having been on the Inner City label out of New York. To me Rogue represented rebellion, and also possibly the Rogue River. From time to time, other Rogue Records have surfaced. (One, an LA punk label with an elephant logo, sent me nasty letters 10 or 15 years ago for a few months, until they went out of business). Recently I’ve noticed a few Rogue Records around the world. They must not do very thorough internet searches. Because I’ve been in international commerce with the name for over 25 years, my attorneys are confident I would prevail in any legal proceedings. But the name seems tired to me. The eighties to me were about rebellion; I see the 21st century as about collaboration and co-operation. But the final straw for me is the title of Sarah Palin’s book, “Going Rogue”. I will not have my record label name associated with a woman who shoots wolves from helicopters for sport. Hopefully the former governor and her husband the first stud will take their royalties and retire.
Gregory James
I started my own label, Rogue Records, in 1981, after having been on the Inner City label out of New York. To me Rogue represented rebellion, and also possibly the Rogue River. From time to time, other Rogue Records have surfaced. (One, an LA punk label with an elephant logo, sent me nasty letters 10 or 15 years ago for a few months, until they went out of business). Recently I’ve noticed a few Rogue Records around the world. They must not do very thorough internet searches. Because I’ve been in international commerce with the name for over 25 years, my attorneys are confident I would prevail in any legal proceedings. But the name seems tired to me. The eighties to me were about rebellion; I see the 21st century as about collaboration and co-operation. But the final straw for me is the title of Sarah Palin’s book, “Going Rogue”. I will not have my record label name associated with a woman who shoots wolves from helicopters for sport. Hopefully the former governor and her husband the first stud will take their royalties and retire.
Gregory James
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Number 27 December 1, 2009
“Steal from everyone but yourself” Igor Stravinsky
How ideas travel. A couple of years ago Paco de Lucia released Cositas Buenas. Like Miles, Paco has changed the way players think about the music several times, and I always buy his recordings the minute they come out. It’s a marvelous record, as his records always are. Imagine my delighted shock, when the last track, Casita Bernardo, has a trumpet line that repeats the melody of my tune Jeanetta (from my Ananda recording) note for note throughout the tune as the main hook. I like to think I have a pretty healthy ego, but I don’t have a picture of Paco buying 15 year old Gregory James cds for inspiration. Then I noticed that the trumpet player (with the exception of some orchestral recordings, I don’t believe Paco has used a trumpet in a small group setting) is Jerry Gonzalez. Jerry is a New York avant-garde jazz player. The trumpet player on my recording Jeanetta, is Ron Miles, also a modern player who has recorded with Bill Frisell and has several recordings under his own name. My thinking is Jerry probably heard Jeanetta (which has overtones of the flamenco toque taranta) years ago, and somehow the melody stuck in the back of his mind. Many years later when asked to play over a similar harmonic structure (albeit a rumba), the melody came back to him. Again, I was delighted. I probably picked up the melody from somewhere myself.
Gregory James
How ideas travel. A couple of years ago Paco de Lucia released Cositas Buenas. Like Miles, Paco has changed the way players think about the music several times, and I always buy his recordings the minute they come out. It’s a marvelous record, as his records always are. Imagine my delighted shock, when the last track, Casita Bernardo, has a trumpet line that repeats the melody of my tune Jeanetta (from my Ananda recording) note for note throughout the tune as the main hook. I like to think I have a pretty healthy ego, but I don’t have a picture of Paco buying 15 year old Gregory James cds for inspiration. Then I noticed that the trumpet player (with the exception of some orchestral recordings, I don’t believe Paco has used a trumpet in a small group setting) is Jerry Gonzalez. Jerry is a New York avant-garde jazz player. The trumpet player on my recording Jeanetta, is Ron Miles, also a modern player who has recorded with Bill Frisell and has several recordings under his own name. My thinking is Jerry probably heard Jeanetta (which has overtones of the flamenco toque taranta) years ago, and somehow the melody stuck in the back of his mind. Many years later when asked to play over a similar harmonic structure (albeit a rumba), the melody came back to him. Again, I was delighted. I probably picked up the melody from somewhere myself.
Gregory James
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)