Pulse

Rhythm is a Dancer

Lately I've been reading a fascinating post and discussion on Kyle Gann's blog about rhythm, Time for Theory Class, Where are the Bulgarians? I like the comments on the blog about feeling the music and not always intellectualizing by furiously and relentlessly counting meters. I've always used movement during composing to help know when a passage "feels" right (I think I'm a wanna-be modern dancer) and it also reminded me of something I read composer Maria Schneider saying about always dancing/moving during the composing of her works.

Good to see you jumping into the fray, Darcy (I hadn't heard of Sufjan Stevens and Broken Social Scene before, but I'll be sure to check them out).

Joe

Various info & gigs

We just got some excellent news. Our Eloquent Light project was selected to perform at the International Association of Jazz Educators Convention in January of 2007 in New York City. It's a great opportunity for us to present ourselves, our music, and our fabulous musicians to
a somewhat international community. Stay tuned for more details as they develop.

Other Pulse-related gigs:

Tonight (July 6) at Merkin Hall at 8pm, the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop presents its annual concert showcasing this year's best works. Among the featured composers are Pulse's own Darcy James Argue . Other composers include Sherisse Rogers, Tom Goehring, Javier Arau, Jon Schapiro, Asuka Kakitani, Jeff Fairbanks, Bryan Knox, Ann Belmont, Andrew Rathbun, and Michele Caniato.

The concert is free to the public.

Then tomorrow, on Friday, July 7 at 8pm, Darcy's Secret Society appears at Bowery Poetry Club. 

And as always, remember every Sunday at 8:30 at Night & Day in Park Slope, Brooklyn, the John McNeil/Bill McHenry Quartet performs.

More later. Thanks for tuning in.

jc

Eloquent Light 2 reviewed in All About Jazz

David Adler reviewed our June 8 Galapagos hit for the "New York @ Night" page of this month's All About Jazz:

Not often does one hear a 12-piece group without bass and drums. But it happened at Galapagos (Jun. 8th), where the Pulse composers' federation performed its second installment of “The Eloquent Light: Music Inspired by Photography”. Trumpeter John McNeil and guitarist Pete McCann were the guest soloists, augmenting an ensemble of strings, reeds, low brass, keyboard (Gary Versace) and vibraphone/percussion (Tom Beckham). Pulse's constituent members took to the stage one by one to conduct their own works, each with a respective photograph displayed on an overhead screen. Heedless of genre distinctions, the pieces combined the rigorous craft of ‘new music’ with the improvised flow of jazz and even the sonic explosiveness of rock. In order, the rundown: Darcy James Argue’s "Milk", Jamie Begian’s "A Simple…", Joseph C Phillips Jr's "Race", Joshua Shneider’s "Sending and Receiving", John McNeil’s "Riot", Yumiko Sunami’s "Wise Women" and JC Sanford’s "An Attempt at Serenity". These were concise but well-developed statements, full of harmonic and rhythmic tension, beautifully complemented by the visual images. McNeil and McCann contributed to the richness of the ensemble passages, but they also sailed over, under and through, even playing as a duo at times. Pulse brought "The Eloquent Light" to St. Peter’s Church three days later. Watch for ongoing developments at pulsecomposers.typepad.com.

Audio and photos from the Eloquent Light Part 2 will be available soon -- it's a busy week for me, but watch this space for updates.