I've been listening to some new stuff again, particularly the inscrutable Luigi Nono's La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura. Kevin Parks floated it my way. The liner notes are fantastic, too...both hippy-dippy/experimentalist and grandiloquent, in the way that only the European avant-garde can be. Snappy music, beautiful recording, smell the love, kidz. Also in my hopper is a recording from Kelvin Pittman's Owl In Daylight live at the Tug Boat brew pub in Portland. It's half music/half audience chat, all at once. Tim Duroche acquits himself admirably on the piano, though I only know him as a drummer. JP Jenkins has made some new electronic/laptop recordings under the name Bird, and Taupe Pill is a ride I won't soon fergit.
Ah I just returned to Seoul from a 6-day working vacay in Portland, where the only thing I did was play music. SO good to play so much with others. A triumphant show was organized at Reed College, featuring peevish, the trio, and many ad hoc groupings. Oh I also did a little solo hey.
Being in Portland was strange, in that it wasn't strange...the first day or two my mind couldn't stop doing the old compare/contrast thing, but basically it was as if I'd never left. I mean, I got a little extra love from my pals and acquaintances, but I didn't feel culture shock or anything, I didn't feel like an outsider, I just felt good. The music scene there is really flourishing; I went to a house concert my first day and heard Steve Schneider solo altosax and the Gay Paree Clarinet Trio (including JP Jenkins on alto clarinet and Mark Kaylor on bass clarinet), and there was a healthy influx of new improvisors. These new arrivals are not just the usual jazzbo/rocker-dilletantes, either, the guys I spoke with and heard impressed me with their dedication to this music, in particular. Portland is really getting rolling. Ah but also Jack Wright, Tom Djll, Bhob Rhainey will be coming to Portland soon. That's good for the ears of that fair city.
My flight back to Seoul was a nightmare. Heavy fog forced us to go land at Jeju-do (an island), where we sat on the runway for 6 hours, waiting, waiting. It was good to get home after more than 20 hours en route.
posted by Brad Larcen 2/09/2003[edit]
