reviewSpace - New Music for Woodwinds and Voice/An Interesting Breakfast Conversation

Thomas Buckner

For over thirty years, new music baritone Thomas Buckner has been recognized for his varied accomplishments as a performer, producer, and promoter, of some of the most creative and challenging music of our time. Through his live and recorded work with both established and emerging composers and improvisers, Buckner energetically pursues activity in a wide range of musical contexts; from chamber works and orchestral pieces to jazz-oriented improvisations; from computer enhanced electronic works to multi-media theater pieces, Buckner continues to merge genres and break barriers in his on-going search for the yet-to-be-imagined. He has performed his own concerts, as well as in association with a large number of ensembles, throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.

Buckner works regularly with composers Robert Ashley, Roscoe Mitchell, Alvin Lucier,

Pauline Oliveros, Jon Gibson, David Behrman, Bun Ching Lam, David First, Jin Hi Kim, Ushio Torikai, Annea Lockwood, David Wessel, Stephen Dickman, Mel Graves,"Blue" Gene Tyranny, Leroy Jenkins, and many others. He performs numerous solo concerts in which he premieres works commissioned especially for his voice, most recently presenting his annual recital at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, where he premiered new works by Larry Austin, Stephen Dickman, and Henry Threadgill. He has sung his own improvisational compositions throughout the world, including performances at the Asian Contemporary Music Festival in South Korea, and the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco.

The main focus of Buckner’s career has always been performing -- some recent concerts include: the European premier of Roscoe Mitchell’s "Fallen Heroes" at the Prague Spring Festival with the Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble; an improvisational performance at the Grenoble Museum (France) as part of the Grenoble Jazz Festival with saxophonist Joseph Jarman in an environment created by sculptor Alain Kirili; a duo concert with tenor William Brown at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco; a series of performances in Japan, featuring a duo concert with pianist Aki Takehashi at the Now Music Series in Sapporo, a performance of the music of composer Ushio Torikai in Matsumoto, two nights of group improvisation performances at the Festival Beyond Innocence in Kobe, and the world premier of Robert Ashley’s newest opera Dust in Yokohama; plus numerous solo concerts in the United States, including performances at Greenwich House Arts (NYC), the Erie Art Museum (Erie, PA), the University of Maryland (Baltimore), and North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC).

Buckner began experimenting with the creative voice techniques and improvisational settings that have become his trademark during the 1960s. A classically trained vocalist, he started his performing career in Berkeley, California, where he resided from 1967-1983. While there, Buckner founded 1750 Arch Concerts, which presented over one hundred music events a year for eight years, and 1750 Arch Records, which released over fifty creative record albums. He was also a vocal soloist with, and co-director of, the 23-piece Arch Ensemble, which performed and recorded the work of 20th century composers.

Upon arriving in New York City in 1983, Buckner began to work with the internationally renowned composer Robert Ashley. He performed the lead role in the Ashley operas Atalanta (Acts of God) and eL/Aficionado (written especially for Buckner), and has had major roles in many of Ashley’s other works, including Balseros and the Now Eleanor’s Idea series. Buckner has performed with Ashley’s company throughout the world, including appearances at the Avignon Festival, Festival d’Automne a Paris, and the Strasbourg Musical Festival in France, and in New York at BAM’s Next Wave Festival and at The Kitchen’s Electronic Cafe International. He currently appears in Ashley’s newest opera, Dust, which premiered in Yokohama, Japan in late 1998, and was presented at the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 1999.

Buckner also performs in an extensive array of electronic pieces and multi-media theater works. He is a featured vocalist in Morton Subotnick’s media poem Intimate Immensity, which had its world premier at the 1997 Lincoln Center Summer Festival, and has been presented in Los Angeles at the Japanese American Theater and the CAL Arts Theater, and at ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany. He performs in Daniel Rothman’s multi-media chamber opera Cezanne’s Doubt, which has been presented at Musicprotokoll in Graz, Austria, Merkin Concert Hall in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Scottish Rite Temple in Oakland, CA. Buckner also performs in Tom Hamilton’s Off-Hour Wait State, an electronic environment with soloists, most recently at CNMAT at UC Berkeley, the Fresh Sounds Series at Spruce Street Forum in San Diego, and as part of the i/EAR Series at the Rennselear Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.

Since the early 1960s Buckner has worked closely with composer/performer Roscoe Mitchell, one of the founding members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. In 1995, their on-going collaboration resulted in the acclaimed Roscoe Mitchell New Chamber Ensemble CD "Pilgrimage", on the Lovely Music label. They also produced the CD "First Meeting" (1995) on Knitting Factory Works, on which Buckner is guest vocalist with Mitchell and pianist Borah Bergman. More recently, Buckner and the Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble performed the world premiere Mitchell’s "Fallen Heroes" at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and at the Prague Spring Festival.

Buckner also maintains an active relationship with pianist Joseph Kubera, one of the world’s foremost interpreters of contemporary music. For over a decade they have performed together as both a duo and as part of several larger ensembles. Some recent appearances include the Yachats Festival (Oregon) and Composers Concordance (NYC).

Buckner’s three solo CDs, "Full Spectrum Voice" (1991), "Sign of the Times" (1994), and "Inner Journey" (1998), all feature commissioned works by an impressive array of composers and are available on the Lovely Music label. He also appears on various recordings of the operas of Robert Ashley, as well as on CDs by Annea Lockwood, Sorrel Hays, Daniel Rothman, Stephen Dickman, Alvin Lucier, Deep Listening Band, Jin Hi Kim and Elodie Lauten.

As a concert producer, Buckner seeks to promote creative contemporary music and to expand its audience and repertoire. For the past eleven seasons he has curated and co-produced the World Music Institute’s Interpretations series in New York City, which presents twelve concerts a year, focusing on the interaction between contemporary composers and their interpreters. His on-going efforts to develop, encourage and recognize the growing community of new music specialists was formally acknowledged in 1996, when Mr. Buckner was awarded the American Music Center’s Letter of Distinction, in recognition of his significant contributions to the field of contemporary music.

 

ROSCOE MITCHELL
COMPOSER, MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST, EDUCATOR

Mr. Mitchell's innovation as a solo performer, his role in the resurrection of long neglected woodwind instruments of extreme register, and his reassertion of the composer into what has traditionally been an improvisational form have placed him at the forefront fo contemporary music for over thirty years.

He is a founding member of the world reknowned Art Ensemble of Chicago, and the Association for the the Advancement of Creative Musicians.

Mr. Mitchell is the recipient of many honors and awards inluding The International Jazz Critics Poll, Down Beat Magazine [Composer "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition", Best Jazz Group (Established)-Art Ensemble of Chicago, Record of the Year-Nonaah]; Jazz Personality of the Year, City of Madison, Wisconsin; Certifcate of Appreciation, The St. Louis Public Schools Role Model Experiences Program; Honorary Citizen of Atlanta, GA; The Jazz Masters Award, Arts Midwest; Outstanding Service to Jazz Education Award, National Association of Jazz Educators; Certificate of Appreciation, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Smithsonian Institution; and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Image Award.

He has received numerous composition and performance grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; Michigan State University matching grant; the Minnesota Composer's Forum; Meet the Composer, Cultural Series Grant, Center for International Performance and Exhibition, Chicago IL; Mutable Music; the Comnicut Foundation; the Wisconsin Arts Board; the Institut de Recherche at Coordination Acoustique Musique, Paris; the John Cage Award for Music-Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, Inc.; Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission Project Grant, Madison Committee for the Arts; and the Madison Festival of the Lakes Grant.

Mr. Mitchell is the founder of the Creative Arts Collective of East Lansing, Michigan, The Sound Ensemble, Space, The Roscoe Mitchell Quartet, the Roscoe Mitchell New Chamber Ensemble, and Roscoe Mitchell and the Note Factory. His teaching credits include the University of Wisconsin, the University of Illinois and California Institute of the Arts, the AACM School of Music, the Creative Music Studio, and numerous workshops and artists-in-residence positions throughout the world.

Reviews

Space was formed in 1979 by singer Thomas Buckner and two complementary woodwind players, Gerald Oshita, who died in 1992, and Roscoe Mitchell of The Art Ensemble of Chicago. The trio recorded two finely crafted albums, New Music for Woodwinds and Voice (1981) and An Interesting Breakfast Conversation (1984), originally issued on Buckner's 1750 Arch label. The two albums have now been reissued as a double package. The earlier album showcases their rhythmically ingenious and texturally rich compositions. On the second they transfer their technical poise and precision to group improvisation, assembling resilient structures balanced in space. The recordings form a fitting memorial to Oshita, and serve as a taster for Mitchell's subsequent chamber work. -Wire, July 2001

Now don't get me wrong, Splendid's supreme being and ever-diligent editor George is a fine human being; he's nice to unknown bands and he once he even saved a kitten from the jaws of a rabid donkey. But occasionally he does something like send me seventeen CDs full of sax-based free improv music, and as a result I occasionally want to feed him to a bear. Not that there's anything wrong with a) saxophones or b) free improv, but come on, we've all got our limits (mine is three, apparently). So. This was a trying week. But now that I'm finished whining (HA! - Ed.), let me say that if you're going to make free improv music involving saxophones, you might as well be a total freak about it. And putting Roscoe Mitchell, Thomas Buckner and Gerald Oshita in a room together is as good a way as any to ensure a high level of freakiness. Roscoe Mitchell is one of Creative Music's granddaddies, having had a hand in the establishment of both the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and the legendary Art Ensemble of Chicago. He plays about a zillion instruments; here, he plays a variety of saxes and clarinets. Thomas Buckner is an extended voice guy, best known for his work in Robert Ashley's many incredibly lovely and weird operas (http://www.lovely.com). In addition to his involvement in Ashley's work, Buckner has long been a champion of experimental composers, often commissioning and performing new works. The late Gerald Oshita was a Bay Area reed player and composer. He plays saxes, contrabass sarrusaphone and "conn-o-sax" on these pieces.

This two disc set is a reissue of two records originally released in the early 1980s by 1750 Arch Records. New Music for Woodwinds and Voice includes two compositions each from Mitchell and Oshita. Although they're composed works, there's still a fair amount of improvisation involved. An Interesting Breakfast Conversation has seven fully improvised tracks. Both discs are excellent; the improvisations are full of raw energy and tremendous creativity, and are always interesting enough to hold your attention for the duration. One of the most striking aspects of these discs is their use of the wide pitch range afforded the musicians by the variety of instruments they play; from the lowest of low rumbles to the highest of squeals, there's usually something interesting going on no matter where you aim your ears. And for those of you who might be frightened by the prospect of two CDs full of "extended voice", not to worry. Buckner doesn't have the greatest voice in the world, but he's quite musical with what he has, and never once does he start reciting poetry.

About the only negative thing I have to say about these discs is that the sound is sometimes a little iffy -- it breaks up and distorts at several points. But in the face of this much creative and sonic energy, that's not so surprising! That's just a quibble though; this is an impressive, memorable release. -- irving bellemead, Splendid

 

For the introduction of his new record label Mutable Music, new music vocalist Thomas Buckner decided to reissue as a 2 CD set the two LPs his trio Space had released in the early 1980s on his previous label 1750 Arch Records. Both feature the same line-up: Buckner on extended voice, Roscoe Mitchell and Gerald Oshita on an arsenal of saxophones and clarinets. New Music for Woodwinds and Voice (1981) contains four compositions, while an An Interesting Breakfast Conversation (1984), presents seven group improvisations. This is a chance to rediscover Oshita, who died in 1992 without getting the recognition he deserved. His playing on these two recordings is exuberant, tortured, and inventive to the bone. The sax/voice/sax trio format works very nicely, even though on the first CD Buckner tends to be buried in the mix and under-used. The compositions remain textural and blend elements from both classical and jazz idioms - interesting but a little dry. The improvisation CD truly illustrates what this trio was capable of. "An Interesting Breakfast Conversation" opens the set frenetically, with Buckner's voice turning into a third saxophone as the three of them engage in a dizzying polyphonic dance. On the other end of the spectrum is the delicate, sustained notes of "Phonics." "Journeys" reverts to more contemporary classical stylings, but still taps into something deeper and very moving. The wide range of saxophones used insures the listener against linearity. Both albums sound as fresh and new today as they did in the 1980s. With a price tag in the two-for-the-price-of-one range, this historical set becomes a must-have. - François Couture