Program 683: Solo & Group Improvisers
KALW Broadcast Date: January 16, 2022 | Host: Ed Herrmann
This program presents improvised music, what Derek Bailey called “the most widely practiced and least documented aspect of music.” Improvisation is a wide field of individual and group expression, covering many styles and traditions, and this program is by no means a comprehensive survey. Rather, a selection of solos and small groups playing and exploring in their own way.
The first hour of the program features music from Chicago, starting with a piano solo by Jim Baker; and a track by Extraordinary Popular Delusions (Jim Baker with Brian Sandstrom on bass, Steve Hunt percussion, and Mars Williams, sax.) Then four performances from Experimental Sound Studio’s Option series – a piano / bassoon duet with Wayne Horvitz and Sara Schoenbeck; a tenor sax solo by Ingrid Laubrock; LaDonna Smith playing violin and viola; and a solo by Norwegian pianist Håvard Wiik.
The second hour opens with an alto sax solo by Jack Wright, then a piece by Tender Buttons (Tania Chen, Tom Djll, and Gino Robair). Phil Dadson, an instrument designer and improvisor from New Zealand, is joined by Paul Winstanley and Tom Nunn for an improvised session at the Headlands Center for the Arts in which an entire building is used as an instrument. The show ends with a meditative solo by Douglas Ewart playing a shakuhachi of his own design.
Program Audio
30-Second Spot
Track Info & Links
Title: Watching the Interstate (2005)
Composer: n/a
Performers: Jim Baker
Recording Title: More Questions Than Answers
Record Label: Delmark Records
Catalog Number: DE 560
Title: Devil May Care (2007)
Composers: n/a
Performers: Extraordinary Popular Delusions (Jim Baker / Steve Hunt / Brian Sandstrom / Mars Williams)
Recording Title: Extraordinary Popular Delusions
Record Label: Okkadisc
Catalog Number: OD 12056
Title: piano & bassoon improvisation (2018)
Composers: n/a
Performers: Wayne Horvitz & Sara Schoenbeck
Recording Title: Option 1
Record Label: CvsD
Catalog Number: CD059
Title: tenor sax improvisation (2018)
Composers: n/a
Performers: Ingrid Laubrock
Recording Title: Option 1
Record Label: CvsD
Catalog Number: CD059
Title: violin & viola improvisation (2018)
Composers: n/a
Performers: LaDonna Smith
Recording Title: Option 1
Record Label: CvsD
Catalog Number: CD059
Title: piano improvisation (2018)
Composers: n/a
Performers: Håvard Wiik
Recording Title: Option 1
Record Label: CvsD
Catalog Number: CD059
Title: alto sax improvisation
Composer: n/a
Performers: Jack Wright
Recording Title: You Haven’t Heard This
Record Label: Spring Garden Music
Catalog Number: SGM 26
Title: Bargaining for a little, bargain for a touch (2021)
Composer: n/a
Performers: Tender Buttons (Tania Chen, Tom Djll, Gino Robair)
Recording Title: an established color and cunning
Record Label: Rastascan
Catalog Number: BRD 072
Title: Accretion, Portal Two (South), Mantle, Portal Three (West) (2019)
Composers: n/a
Performers: Phil Dadson, Paul Winstanley, Tom Nunn
Recording Title: 961
Record Label: Rattle
Catalog Number: RAT-D091
Title: Blue Mountain (1994)
Composer: n/a
Performers: Douglas Ewart
Recording Title: Bamboo Meditations at Banff
Record Label: Arawak
Catalog Number: AA 003
