I attended only the preceding evening, where ROVA plus Yoshihide, Ikue Mori, and nels Cline performed Lacy's Saxophone Special. I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Not sure I can provide a helpful review... To my ears success was aided by the instrumental balance of 4 saxes against three non-saxophonists. Each non-saxophonist had their own distinct sonic palette. The audio balance in the room was excellent, thanks to sound-guy myles boisen and a thorough pre-show sound check. The Lacy themes were a joy to (re)hear.....ROVA's interaction with themselves and the guests was spirited and almost never tentative. ROVA and the others used their longstanding set of handsignals to nudge the proceedings along. Yoshihide was using early ROVA albums in some of his turntable maneuvers.....nels enlisted his full-blown arsenal from toys to old delay boxes and fuzz...I think Mori was running her drumsamples through max/msp on a laptop (as was recently discussed here). I liked the constant noisiness, the constant high-density of activity, with only a few brief moments of "calm". The continual reoccurrence of Steve Lacy's melodies took it from pretty damn good to almost exquisite. (superlatives for otomo and nels are redundant but......man!!) ROVA opened the evening with two saxophone 4tet pieces from the late seventies. I heard from others that on the following evening, for Ascension, Frith played bass. --G. Connah
From: "Arthur Gadney" <a_gadney@hotmail.com>
Hey!
Did anyone go to the ROVA concert with Otomo Yoshihide, Fred Frith and others playing John Coltrane?? I'd love to hear a review! That ought to be a killer show. Lets hope they release a live CD.
Thanks!
i attended both nights... though, the second sold out, they added some extra tickets last minute so i had the chance to go. the first set of the first night included flamingo horizons (opened by a completely insane soprano solo by bruce ackley) and paint another take of the shootpop... which featured the marvelous jon raskin baritone solo in the middle, as heard on 'as was' the first set of the second night was even better (for me)... they played testimony and the unquestioned answer. both beautiful pieces played incredibly tight. i've seen them a handful of times in the last year and this is the best i've seen 'em. the theme seemed to be resurrecting pieces they hadn't performed in a while. their playing was incredible... really emotional and always moving together as a unit. i don't know how else to describe it. saxophone special was already discussed. i second the "damn!!!" going to nels and otomo. the second night's main feature was ascension which casted chris brown and ikue on electronics, frith on bass, nels on guitar, carla kihlstedt and jenny scheinman on violin, otomo on the 1200s, don robinson on drums, and rova doin' the sax stuff. jon raskin was the bandleader... giving the hand signals to transition into the different phases. highlights for me include; carla kihlstedt's playing, especially when her and jenny improvised together (so so great!) with don and frith backing them... they pulled some amazing sounds out of their violins. carla's playing was really crazy, i had no idea where this dirty metallic feedback sound was coming from until everyone ceased playing their instruments except her... gently bowing overtones with a handful of effects on her violin. nels always impresses me... in a situation like this i'm reminded what a great listener he is and how brilliantly he compliments other people's playing when he's behind them... and when he steps in front, it's all over :) frith's bass playing was also fabulous... he was doing some pretty freaky stuff... percussive and textured but still solid in his role as the rhythm section... i saw some alligator clips go on and off his strings. there's a ton more to add... the piece lasted over 60 minutes. everyone seemed to be really into and having fun. beautiful clashing sounds! i hope someone else can give their thoughts on this show too. don't leave it up to lill' ol' me to give everyone on the list a smidge of input. i too, hope a cd of this surfaces. it was broadcasted over kfjc, so their should be some recordings floating around in the netherworlds. peace, __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day http://shopping.yahoo.com
Thanks for the description, Graham. I interviewed Ochs on Sunday night for an article I'm working on (right this minute, in fact), and he was still thoroughly gassed by the concerts. And yes, he said that Frith played bass. His description of 'Ascension' was pretty mind boggling - same band as 'Saxophone Special,' plus Chris Brown on electronics, Carla Kihlstedt and Jenny Scheinman on violins and Don Robinson (subbing for Hamid Drake, who couldn't make it at the last minute) on drums. As for a live CD, there's not much telling right now. Ochs said that a local college radio station mixed the 12-channel live sound down to stereo for a broadcast and supposedly recorded it, but he said he'll believe it when he hears it. Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com -----Original Message----- From: zorn-list-admin@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:zorn-list-admin@mailman.xmission.com]On Behalf Of nacho hargman Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 1:34 AM To: zorn-list@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: ROVA w. Frith, Otomo and others...? I attended only the preceding evening, where ROVA plus Yoshihide, Ikue Mori, and nels Cline performed Lacy's Saxophone Special. I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Not sure I can provide a helpful review... To my ears success was aided by the instrumental balance of 4 saxes against three non-saxophonists. Each non-saxophonist had their own distinct sonic palette. The audio balance in the room was excellent, thanks to sound-guy myles boisen and a thorough pre-show sound check. The Lacy themes were a joy to (re)hear.....ROVA's interaction with themselves and the guests was spirited and almost never tentative. ROVA and the others used their longstanding set of handsignals to nudge the proceedings along. Yoshihide was using early ROVA albums in some of his turntable maneuvers.....nels enlisted his full-blown arsenal from toys to old delay boxes and fuzz...I think Mori was running her drumsamples through max/msp on a laptop (as was recently discussed here). I liked the constant noisiness, the constant high-density of activity, with only a few brief moments of "calm". The continual reoccurrence of Steve Lacy's melodies took it from pretty damn good to almost exquisite. (superlatives for otomo and nels are redundant but......man!!) ROVA opened the evening with two saxophone 4tet pieces from the late seventies. I heard from others that on the following evening, for Ascension, Frith played bass. --G. Connah
From: "Arthur Gadney" <a_gadney@hotmail.com>
Hey!
Did anyone go to the ROVA concert with Otomo Yoshihide, Fred Frith and others playing John Coltrane?? I'd love to hear a review! That ought to be a killer show. Lets hope they release a live CD.
yes, both nights were broadcast live by KFJC 89.7 FM (www.kfjc.org) and recorded. ochs should check with his rova crew because definitely recordings were furnished. :) why the skepticsm, anyway? --dk On Tue, 11 Feb 2003, Steve Smith wrote:
As for a live CD, there's not much telling right now. Ochs said that a local college radio station mixed the 12-channel live sound down to stereo for a broadcast and supposedly recorded it, but he said he'll believe it when he hears it.
Yes. Beautiful, wonderful nature. Hear it sing to us: *snap* Yes. natURE.
participants (4)
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nacho hargman -
sooooo spicy -
Steve Smith -
SUGAR in their vitamins?