Alexander Hawkins Posted June 26, 2011 Author Report Posted June 26, 2011 Thank you for posting that! There was apparently a hold-up at the pressing plant, but I'm told it should be here ASAP - hopefully this week...fingers crossed! Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted September 22, 2012 Report Posted September 22, 2012 (edited) I see Alex is on BBC Radio 3 again this Monday: Jazz on 3 Edited September 22, 2012 by A Lark Ascending Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted September 23, 2012 Author Report Posted September 23, 2012 Hi Bev - yes - thank you for plugging it! I'm really proud of the session...it'd be really great if anyone felt like checking it out. There's around an hour's music, and a short interview. And available on iPlayer for the remainder of the week! Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted September 24, 2012 Author Report Posted September 24, 2012 Just upping this in case anyone can be persuaded to listen - the broadcast starts in just under 40 minutes (listen online here) - and should then be available to listen for 7 days afterwards at the same link...please enjoy Quote
docwilko Posted September 24, 2012 Report Posted September 24, 2012 This is so interesting, I shan't even be disappointed if there are no kazoos at the end. As I write, Dylan's twangy violin is wriggling around inside a little Blue Monk loop. Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted September 25, 2012 Author Report Posted September 25, 2012 Great - thanks! Yeah, Dylan's violin can do that Quote
mjazzg Posted September 27, 2012 Report Posted September 27, 2012 Nice session indeed. I think I saw this band sans Bates a while ago at Oto? The violin certainly compliments the overall sound but also fits nicely with the writing, I feel Intriguing titles too, pray shed light on "MO [-Ittoqqortoormit]" or am I missing something obvious? Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted September 28, 2012 Author Report Posted September 28, 2012 Yes - indeed, same band, but now with violin - I just felt it needed one more voice! Re that title - if you scroll down here, they've actually pinned some notes I wrote for the session when we were producing it...there's a Greenland connection, but I think it's fair to say you're not missing anything obvious p.s. if anyone can still be tempted to have a listen - it's still available online here until Monday night - then, to paraphrase Mr Dolphy, it's 'gone in the air'... Quote
Clunky Posted September 28, 2012 Report Posted September 28, 2012 I'll be giving it a listen this weekend..looking forward to it. Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted September 28, 2012 Author Report Posted September 28, 2012 Really kind - cheers Adrian! Quote
Clunky Posted September 28, 2012 Report Posted September 28, 2012 Really kind - cheers Adrian! always a pleasure, when's the duo with Louis Moholo Moholo due to be released ??? I thought you'd mentioned it might be this autumn Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted September 28, 2012 Author Report Posted September 28, 2012 Yes, definitely this Autumn - I think at the moment it's looking like late October/early November! Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted October 1, 2012 Author Report Posted October 1, 2012 Just 'upping' one last time - the music disappears from the 'Listen Again' in about 12 hours Quote
alocispepraluger102 Posted October 1, 2012 Report Posted October 1, 2012 Just 'upping' one last time - the music disappears from the 'Listen Again' in about 12 hours i've got to grab it. thanks. Quote
AllenLowe Posted October 1, 2012 Report Posted October 1, 2012 you gotta bring Moholo to the USA. I want to record with him. Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted October 1, 2012 Report Posted October 1, 2012 Excellent session, Alex. A real sense of moving through a wide range of textures and moods. Wrong to single out players but the drumming had my ear throughout (cymbals especially, maybe it was the car stereo!); and I loved the guitar playing. And that piano solo 2/3rds through was gorgeous. Really appreciated the explanations about the music before (and after!). Hopefully it won't be long before we hear these pieces on disc. Quote
NIS Posted October 1, 2012 Report Posted October 1, 2012 Terrific music, Alex, thanks very much. Thanks, A Lark Asending, also for bring it up. I hope to have another listen before it goes bye bye. The Crispel/Dresser/Hemingway piece was interesting also. Something else that will go on my "buy list". Sadly my music budget doesn't keep up with my wants. Thanks again. Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted October 3, 2012 Author Report Posted October 3, 2012 Thanks everyone for the kind words! Bev - really interesting you should single out the cymbals - as we mixed it, that was one of my first comments to the engineers - how beautifully they captured the cymbals. NIS - I really appreciate it, thank you. I know the feeling, budget-wise: that said, I'd really recommend the entire album... Allen - I would dearly love to...sadly visas to the US are phenomenally difficult to get...I think a festival gig is the only real solution, so I should get on the case... Quote
NIS Posted October 3, 2012 Report Posted October 3, 2012 The only chance the budget has is staying off this forum and the internet in general. The Louis Moholo Moholo CD mentioned above also has my interest. That's two CDs in five posts. Quote
Clunky Posted October 3, 2012 Report Posted October 3, 2012 A bit late to the party but various things have stopped me getting this off my DAB radio and onto a CD so I can listen to the session properly rather on my bedside radio !! Great session with immaculate playing by all. Bass clarinet is always appreciated and I like it here against the jabbing violin and piano. Certain figures and parts seem to recall bygone styles of swing. A shuffling grooves are hinted at yet never materialise. There is a forward rhythmic thrust which appears to rush each track by, as different configurations of what each instrument is tasked with doing continually seems to vary. My choice of words is poor but for those unlucky enough not to hear the session its sort of like Monk meets Bang meets Frisell meets ...AEC. Great sound too, pity I wasn't savvy enough to record the Hi-Res broadcast on the web because the 192bit R3 DAB broadcast sounds lustrous and suggests that it would sound even better in HD or vinyl for that matter Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted October 5, 2012 Author Report Posted October 5, 2012 Thanks for the kind comments Adrian! Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted March 24, 2013 Author Report Posted March 24, 2013 For anyone interested, I was recently commissioned to write a 50-minute work by the BBC, as part of their 'Baroque Season'. It's being broadcast for the first time tomorrow evening on Jazz on 3 - would love for you to check it out if time! And of course, it'll be on the iPlayer for the next week... Anyway, although there are only 8 musicians on stage, there are a lot of 'doublers', so it really I think feels like large ensemble music...so it's something of a rare foray for me... The band: Peter Evans - trumpet Percy Pursglove - trumpet/double bass Byron Wallen - flute/euphonium Oren Marshall - tuba Pete McPhail - flute/alto flute/sopranino/alto/baritone saxophones Chris Cundy - bass clarinet/contrabass clarinet Hannah Marshall - 'cello Mark Sanders - drums/percussion Quote
Clunky Posted March 24, 2013 Report Posted March 24, 2013 For anyone interested, I was recently commissioned to write a 50-minute work by the BBC, as part of their 'Baroque Season'. It's being broadcast for the first time tomorrow evening on Jazz on 3 - would love for you to check it out if time! And of course, it'll be on the iPlayer for the next week... Anyway, although there are only 8 musicians on stage, there are a lot of 'doublers', so it really I think feels like large ensemble music...so it's something of a rare foray for me... The band: Peter Evans - trumpet Percy Pursglove - trumpet/double bass Byron Wallen - flute/euphonium Oren Marshall - tuba Pete McPhail - flute/alto flute/sopranino/alto/baritone saxophones Chris Cundy - bass clarinet/contrabass clarinet Hannah Marshall - 'cello Mark Sanders - drums/percussion New compositions or arrangements of oldies. I've always wanted to hear your music in larger settings but there's no harm in leaving listeners wanting more and using their imagination. It must be more daunting working with a larger ensemble. Do you have to be familIar with each instrument ( ie do all this in your head) or do you somehow map things out using software to see if the combined sounds are what you're looking for? Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted March 24, 2013 Report Posted March 24, 2013 Looks good, Alex. Will listen via iPlayer next weekend - nice way to start Easter. Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted March 24, 2013 Author Report Posted March 24, 2013 Thanks for the interest! This is all new music...the parameter I set myself was that I wouldn't use anyone from my current working bands, in order to help try to make something distinctive from my sextet writing. I suppose it's true to say that there are a couple of structural models at various places which I've played around with with other groups - but substantively, it's all new material! As for the instrumentation/arrangement - personally, I only use software for presentation/legibility purposes...I always work in manuscript first; usually, although not exclusively after working at the keyboard). I never use software compositionally - I suppose one small exception being that if there's a passage which I just can't play at the keyboard (e.g. too many lines/too many rhythmic layers), then I may listen to it after scoring it out on the computer...but for me, there's a risk with composing at the computer that you 'do' because you 'can'. Also, I'm sufficiently basic with my software that the built-in sounds are fairly awful, so you can't really get the sense of what instrumental blends sound like. For me, I have these in my head, with reference points being recordings I know, or scores of works I know, etc. For example, there's a passage which floors me in the latest Threadgill/Zooid, where the bass flute and trombone are in unison, and make a wonderful sound...so this was a guide for me in a passage in the last movement of this piece, where I paired alto flute/euphonium. The other thing I'd say about software is that it's tyranically accurate, in terms of tuning and rhythm. I suppose it's obvious that living, breathing musicians inflect things, pull them around, get them slightly wrong even - but the more I hear computers, the more I realise how indispensable this is to the performance! Quote
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.