Anthony Braxton in Pittsburg, May

[Lazaro Vega]

(Begin Forwarded Message):

I think it's finally time for me to officially announcement the big

Braxton project I've been organizing. I am helping to bring Anthony to

Pittsburgh in late May. As with most things Braxton, it's grown and

grown in scope since its inception.

We're staging a mini-festival if you will, under the banner "Braxton

Plays Pittsburgh Plays Braxton". There will be four public concerts, a

private workshop with Anthony and my high school avant garde ensemble,

and a recording session planned with him and myself.

The public concerts planned are:

May 30: Braxton Septet at the Manchester Craftsman's Guild, 8pm

May 31: Syrinx Ensemble with Braxton, National Aviary 10am (+/-)

also May 31: The Three Rivers Tri-Centric Orchestra plays Braxton

(CAPA Antithesis opening), CAPA High School Theater

June 1: Syrinx Ensemble with Braxton, National Aviary 10am

A few details:

CAPA Antithesis is the aforementioned HS avant garde ensemble I coach;

Syrinx Ensemble is an improvising group which specifically works with

birds; the Three Rivers Tri-Centric Orchestra (or should I make it the

Tri-Rivers-Centric Orchestra? whatever...) will be essentially a

pickup ensemble of local talent playing Braxton. So far I have a group

of thirteen players, we may go a few higher than that.

And as for the Manchester Craftsman's Guild, this is the "jazz palace"

of Pittsburgh, an amazingly nice hall with superb acoustics.

I have 2/3 of my funding in place, and feel confident that the

remaining portion will come through (or I'll have some serious bills

to pay).

I don't have a website in place yet, but will probably set up a

MySpace page before a week has gone by.

So if any of you Braxtophiles are in neighboring communities, I think

you won't want to pass up the opportunity to catch all of these events.

I'll post more information when and if necessary.

-Ben

[AndrewHill]

Man that's great news! Keep us posted please! I only live a couple of hours away from Pitt!

[LWayne]

As a Pittsburgh resident, MCG Jazz subscriber, and Braxton fan I cannot wait for these events. I hope that I might have a chance to meet the man himself and thank him for his music. I saw him last time he played in Pittsburgh at the Three Rivers Arts Festival which might have been 12 years ago.

Regards,

LWayne

[Tom Storer]

A high school avant-garde ensemble--you gotta love the idea. Who is the guy organizing all this? Ben who?

[Lazaro Vega]

Ben Opie.

Quote:

Yes, that would be me. If you have any questions, direct them to my

home email address: opek.music@verizon.net.

Part of this weekend will be spent taking care of some major business

for this mini-festival to happen: book flights, sign contracts, etc.

There's no website yet, but I will probably set up a MySpace page for

simplicity's sake.

I can elaborate on a few details since my previous posting.

There will (probably) be only one concert with pre-sales, and that

would be at the Manchester Craftsman's Guild. That's the Braxton

Septet, May 30, 8pm. I don't even know for sure yet, I have to ask

them about that. Price will be below the $20 range. It's arguably one

of the nicest halls in the US.

For the May 31st concert, we have dubbed our group the Three Rivers

Tri-Centric Ensemble. We're at thirteen pieces, with a small chance

we'll add one or two more. No word yet on what compositions we'll play.

There may be as many as three National Aviary appearances, each around

10am or so, on May 30, 31, and June 1.

If this all seems vague or in the abstract, I'll repost the overall

schedule when I get this on a webpage.

Ben

(unquote)

[LWayne]

Heard today at the MCG Jazz Concert that Anthony Braxton is a "go" for May 30th. I am really looking forward to this!!

LWayne

[AndrewHill]

Thanks!

[Lazaro Vega]

Begin forwarded message:

(Start)

Hello:

Here's a little more information on the Braxton Pittsburgh weekend.

The Braxton Septet performance at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild does

have pre-concert sales available here:

http://www.instantseats.com/index.cfm?r=1E...&VenueID=13

Tickets are $20 apiece. This is, I think, the only event with pre-sales.

A recap of the events:

May 30: Braxton Septet at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, 8pm

May 31: Syrinx Ensemble & AB, National Aviary, 10am (http://www.aviary.org/)

May 31: AB & Three Rivers Tri-Centric Ensemble, with CAPA Antithesis,

CAPA Theater 7pm ($10)

June 1: Syrinx Ensemble & AB, National Aviary, 10am (+/-)

Contact and information: www.myspace.com/braxtonplayspittsburghplaysbraxton

-Ben

(End)

[AndrewHill]

I'm going to try to make the Friday show, but I can't stay the whole weekend. What are the directions to the Craftsman's Guild if one was getting off of Veteran's Bridge (579)? or is it near Squirrel Hill (376)?

[AndrewHill]

Would this be a more appropriate question at the myspace site (I am a "friend" there ). But when I looked at the blogs, there's no directions. Anyone from the Pitt area maybe can help me out?

[AndrewHill]

So did anyone go to the Friday show? I was planning on going but I got slapped with $3000 worth of plumbing/sewage repairs last Saturday, which pretty much tapped my spending money to make the trip to Pitt.

[B. Clugston]

There's a few updates here: www.myspace.com/braxtonplayspittsburghplaysbraxton

[LWayne]

I was fortunate enough to attend two of the events of the weekend long "Braxton Plays Pittsburgh Plays Braxton" celebration. On Friday night, May 30th, the Braxton Septet played an intriguing set at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild (MCG) featuring prominent New York players such as trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, guitarist Mary Halvorson, and violinist Jessica Pavone.

While the set seemed to be derived from Braxton's recent "Ghost Trance" endeavor, as Taylor Ho Bynum (trumpets) explained to me and my wife afterwards, the musicians have the freedom to signal one another and play selections culled from over 40 years of Braxton compositions. As he described it, the musicians have ultimate freedom of expression to create a new work every time they play by choosing which passages to play in combination with which other musicians on stage. While there is a common composition that the group follows at the beginning, the piece grows organically in many directions at once, with seemingly no beginning, middle, or end.

While the composition was very dense in style; with alternating passages that were both compelling and melodic and other sections that seemed contrapuntal and freer in nature, the resulting work was ultimately satisfying. Granted, it is difficult to continuously focus your attention for some 75 minutes on such a sprawling composition, as your concentration tend to ebb and flow; but taken in pieces, the overall impact is astounding.

On Sunday, June 1st, my wife and I attended the second of two weekend performances at the National Aviary. The performance was being billed as the "first opportunity at inter-species music" by Braxton and the Syrinx Ensemble and was an enjoyable hour of the musicians playing to the birds assembled in the Wetlands Room at the Aviary. The musicians strolled around the enclosure playing a wide variety of sounds, squeaks, and honks in an interactive concert with the birds. While this performance was a little less coherent than the Friday show, it was nonetheless enjoyable as it provided a forum for the musicians to spontaneously play and interact with the birds who sporadically reacted to certain passages. Afterwards, Braxton was a very engaging and interesting host as he spent considerable time interacting with and talking to the concertgoers.

Overall a very enjoyable weekend that I will not soon forget.

LWayne

[7/4]

Afterwards, Braxton was a very engaging and interesting host as he spent considerable time interacting with and talking to the concertgoers.

Overall a very enjoyable weekend that I will not soon forget.

LWayne

The time I met him, I thought he was a real nice guy.

[stuartjewkes]

If Braxton comes to the UK again I am going without a doubt

[Alexander Hawkins]

You must! I've seen him on the last two occasions he's been to England (I believe he's also done Glasgow more recently) - quintet at the RFH and quartet with Cecil Taylor, also at the RFH - and they've both been among the best gigs I have ever, ever seen.

[AndrewHill]

Damn plumbing

It seems like the Pitt shows were pretty cool. Thanks for sharing

[Lazaro Vega]

From Ben Opie:

Hello:

I'm still recovering from my extra-extended weekend with Anthony. What

can I say, it was pretty freakin awesome. (I can probably say

something better than that.) We had a fun duet session, rehearsed and

actually pulled-off a smoking creative music orchestra concert, my

high school students got to work with him, we played at the Aviary

with the birds, etc etc. Everything was recorded and we could see as

many as six CDs and a DVD of *good* stuff come out of this weekend.

I am posting photos and a narrative of the time at

www.myspace.com/braxtonplayspittsburghplaysbraxton. While I make no

assumptions, if you have any accounts of photos to contribute, please

let me know.

-Ben

More pictures from Pittsburgh, courtesy of Michael Pestel, hopefully

more to come:

http://flickr.com/photos/prouthillfarm/set...57605406757947/

Edited June 9, 2008 by Lazaro Vega