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RADIO // Improvisions

Frank Lyon & Bryce Hackford, Pearl Necklace

Hosted by Ted Gordon

Originally aired 10/1/12

This episode of Improvisions features a live, improvised set by Pearl Necklace, a project consisting of Bryce Hackford and Frank Gilbert Lyon II performing "post-contemporary" music on synthesizers, drum machines, samplers, and other electronics. Their music borrows tropes from electronica, house music, and field recordings, and synthesizes them into long-form improvisations. Host Ted Gordon sits down with them and talks about their influences, their thoughts on memory, sampling, dance music, and much more.

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Drone

Hosted by Ted Gordon

Originally aired 7/16/12

While not strictly improvised, the drone music in this episode draws the listener to the grey area between composition and improvisation, where perception and intention approach a liminal barrier beyond which lies an ecstatic, meditative aural event.

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New York Noise

Hosted by Ted Gordon

Originally aired 5/14/12

New York is a noisy place. This episode is focuses on noisy music that reflects a that world: a kind of one-to-one exchange, with a focus on the universe of musicians surrounding John Zorn, including Zorn himself, and numerous collaborators.

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Big Bands

Hosted by Ted Gordon

Originally aired 3/26/12

This show features “Big Bands” of improvisers from across the boundaries of genre, time, and place; including the Taj Mahal Travelers, the Promenade Theatre Orchestra, Horace Tapscott and the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Sun Ra, AMM, and more.

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"Free" Improvisation

Hosted by Ted Gordon

Originally aired 2/20/12

Musical freedom can mean freedom from rules, limits, structure, tonality or rhythm; but it can also mean freedom from an economic and legal system that stifles innovation. WFMU's Free Music Archive is the source for these legally free tracks.

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The Joy of Influence

Hosted by Ted Gordon

Originally aired 1/23/12

Leaving aside tracing influence in composed music, which is its own can of worms, this episode is a meditation on influence in improvised music, with Cecil Taylor, John Oswald, Anthony Braxton, Naked City, Sun Ra, John Fahey, Bill Frisell,more.

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Action/Reaction

Hosted by Ted Gordon

Originally aired 12/5/11

A look at improvisations that result from performers reacting to something - a set of instructions, a sound, a feeling, a genre - to form pieces of music that blurs the edges between improv and composition, with David Behrman, Robert Ashley, others.

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Free Japan

Hosted by Ted Gordon

Originally aired 10/31/11

A sampling of the influential cross-cultural current of avant-garde music in Japan in the early 70s, when it erupted, with tracks by Toshi Ichiyanagi, Takehisa Kosugi, Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi, Keiji Haino, Kaoru Abe, Yamataka Eye, and may others.

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Jams

Hosted by Ted Gordon

Originally aired 9/26/11

The "jam" is an emergent, instant, singular phenomenon. Here we have examples from Krzystof Penderecki, Masayugi "Jojo" Takayanagi, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Don Cherry, Peter Brötzmann/Fred van Hove/Han Bennick, Werner Lüdi Sunnymoon and more.

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Worlds Collide

Hosted by Ted Gordon

Originally aired 8/22/11

This episode looks at the collision/fusion/embrace between American Jazz and the established musical traditions of India and Africa. We’ll hear from Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry, Kadri Gopalnath, Shankar Jaikishan, Archie Shepp and more!

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Free Energy

Hosted by Ted Gordon

Originally aired 7/18/11

This show focuses on musicians who harness the energy of the world to use it for wild, ecstatic, electrifying improvisation-- both by themselves and with others. With tracks by John Fahey, John Zorn, Anthony Braxton, Sun Ra, Yamashita Yosuke, others.

RADIO // Improvisions Drone Hosted by Ted Gordon Radio show While not strictly improvised, the drone music in this episode draws the listener to the grey area between composition and improvisation, where perception and intention approach a liminal barrier beyond which lies an ecstatic, meditative aural event. While not strictly improvised, the drone music in this episode draws the listener to the grey area between composition and improvisation, where perception and intention approach a liminal barrier beyond which lies an ecstatic, meditative aural event... Originally aired 7/16/12 Listen Read More »	RADIO // Improvisions New York Noise Hosted by Ted Gordon Radio show New York is a noisy place. This episode is focuses on noisy music that reflects a that world: a kind of one-to-one exchange, with a focus on the universe of musicians surrounding John Zorn, including Zorn himself, and numerous collaborators. New York is a noisy place: subways, sirens, taxis, incoherent crazy people yelling at you on the street. For many musicians living here in the 1980s, it was even noisier: a time when crime, poverty, and urban decay pervaded the city, especially... Originally aired 5/14/12 Listen Read More »	RADIO // Improvisions Big Bands Hosted by Ted Gordon Radio show This show features “Big Bands” of improvisers from across the boundaries of genre, time, and place; including the Taj Mahal Travelers, the Promenade Theatre Orchestra, Horace Tapscott and the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Sun Ra, AMM, and more. The era of the popular Big Bands, led by the likes of Count Basie and Duke Ellington is long gone but the form of the Big Band saw another incarnation in form of free jazz and experimental improvisation. In America in the 1970s Jazz musicians such... Originally aired 3/26/12 Listen Read More »
RADIO // Improvisions "Free" Improvisation Hosted by Ted Gordon Radio show Musical freedom can mean freedom from rules, limits, structure, tonality or rhythm; but it can also mean freedom from an economic and legal system that stifles innovation. WFMU's Free Music Archive is the source for these legally free tracks. Musical freedom can mean many things: freedom from rules, limits, structure, tonality or rhythm; but it can also mean freedom from an economic and legal system that stifles innovation and interrupts the flourishing gift economy which has developed... Originally aired 2/20/12 Listen Read More »	RADIO // Improvisions The Joy of Influence Hosted by Ted Gordon Radio show Leaving aside tracing influence in composed music, which is its own can of worms, this episode is a meditation on influence in improvised music, with Cecil Taylor, John Oswald, Anthony Braxton, Naked City, Sun Ra, John Fahey, Bill Frisell,more. The literary critic Harold Bloom, who I was lucky enough to have as a professor for a brief stint in college, famously wrote of the anxiety of influence--the concept of every creative act really being a misreading of some previous text, going all... Originally aired 1/23/12 Listen Read More »	RADIO // Improvisions Action/Reaction Hosted by Ted Gordon Radio show A look at improvisations that result from performers reacting to something - a set of instructions, a sound, a feeling, a genre - to form pieces of music that blurs the edges between improv and composition, with David Behrman, Robert Ashley, others. This episode looks at improvisations that result from performers reacting to something - a set of instructions, a sound, a feeling, a genre - to form pieces of music that blur the edges of the definitions of improvisation and composition. Though... Originally aired 12/5/11 Listen Read More »
RADIO // Improvisions Free Japan Hosted by Ted Gordon Radio show A sampling of the influential cross-cultural current of avant-garde music in Japan in the early 70s, when it erupted, with tracks by Toshi Ichiyanagi, Takehisa Kosugi, Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi, Keiji Haino, Kaoru Abe, Yamataka Eye, and may others. This episode explores the cross-cultural current of the avant-garde in Japan, specifically in the early 70s, where it erupted in composition, free jazz, film, and where it would continue to influence countless future musicians, both in Japan and in... Originally aired 10/31/11 Listen Read More »	RADIO // Improvisions Jams Hosted by Ted Gordon Radio show The "jam" is an emergent, instant, singular phenomenon. Here we have examples from Krzystof Penderecki, Masayugi "Jojo" Takayanagi, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Don Cherry, Peter Brötzmann/Fred van Hove/Han Bennick, Werner Lüdi Sunnymoon and more. We've all experienced it: whether in your parents' basement at age 15, in a drum circle in the park, or on stage at a jazz festival, the "jam" is an emergent, instant, singular phenomenon. Some have rules to stick by; others can go in any direction... Originally aired 9/26/11 Listen Read More »	RADIO // Improvisions Worlds Collide Hosted by Ted Gordon Radio show This episode looks at the collision/fusion/embrace between American Jazz and the established musical traditions of India and Africa. We’ll hear from Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry, Kadri Gopalnath, Shankar Jaikishan, Archie Shepp and more! This episode looks at the collision/fusion/embrace between American Jazz and the established musical traditions of India and Africa. Though not without its share of orientalist and other slightly problematic implications, this early borrowing and... Originally aired 8/22/11 Listen Read More »