00:00
Flotation Device celebrates the 50th anniversary of Anthony Braxton's "New York, Fall 1974", the first of the legendary Arista albums that solidified his reputation at the leading edge of creative music. We give it a deep listen, comparing it to a recent sextet album that reveals Braxton's ongoing influence on three different generations of younger saxophonists. We’ve also got the new John Luther Adams premiere recording, which we compare to the famous compositions he wrote for Seattle Symphony during his long Alaska residence, and to a pair of fixed-media tracks recorded by younger musicians in Halifax and a Colorado water tank. We use the 50th anniversary of Claude Vivier’s Lettura di Dante to contemplate whether he’s Canada's most important composer ever, while Graham Fitkin does crossover, David Lang does Gertrude Stein, and Matt Choboter prepares a retuned piano. New tracks from Kris Davis and Hound Dog Taylor’s Hand, plus a legacy nod to Henry Cow, round out the playlist.
Global chart history
Top position held by this upload
Comments
00:00
Flotation Device 2024-09-29: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Saxophones again and again [0:00]
1. [2:00] David Lang: Composition as Explanation - Beginning again and again. From Composition as Explanation (Cedille, 2024) with Eighth Blackbird: Dalia Chin (flutes, voice), Zachary Good (clarinets, voice), Maiani da Silva (violin, voice), Ashley Bathgate (cello, voice), Matthew Duvall (percussion, voice), Lisa Kaplan (piano, voice), Emily Lazar, Bill Maylone (recording engineers)
2. [6:15] Anthony Braxton: Opus 37. From New York, Fall 1974 (Arista, 1974, reissued 2008 by Mosaic in The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton) with Anthony Braxton (sopranino saxophone), Julius Hemphill (alto saxophone), Oliver Lake (tenor saxophone), Hamiet Bluiett (baritone saxophone), Tony May (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded September 27, 1974 at Generation Sound Studios, New York
⠀
SET 2: 50 years ago in the avant-garde [14:36]
1. [17:02] Anthony Braxton: Opus 23C. From New York, Fall 1974 (as above) with Anthony Braxton (flute), Kenny Wheeler (muted trumpet), Dave Holland (bass), Jerome Cooper (drums), Tony May (recording engineer)
2. [20:14] Claude Vivier: Lettura di Dante. From Lettura di Dante/Shadows (Radio Canada, 1975) with Pauline Vaillancourt (soprano), Ensemble de la Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec, Serge Garant (conductor). NOTE: Composed 1973–74, premiered September 26, 1974 in Montreal
3. [27:56] Henry Cow: Groningen Again. From Concerts (Caroline, 1976) with Henry Cow: Lindsay Cooper (bassoon, flute, oboe, recorder, piano), Dagmar Krause (voice, piano), Fred Frith (guitar, piano, violin, xylophone), John Greaves (bass guitar, voice, celeste, piano), Chris Cutler (drums, piano). NOTE: Recorded live September 28, 1974 at Vera Club, Groningen, Netherlands
4. [35:19] Charlie Parker All Stars: Donna Lee. From Buzzy/Donna Lee (Savoy, 1947, reissued multiple times) with Charlie Parker (alto saxophone), Miles Davis (trumpet), Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Max Roach (drums), Harry Smith (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded August 5, 1947, New York
⠀
SET 3: Charlie Parker meets Arnold Schoenberg (plus Bud Powell at 100) [37:55]
1. [40:21] Anthony Braxton: Opus 23B. From New York, Fall 1974 (as above) with Anthony Braxton (alto saxophone), Kenny Wheeler (trumpet, flugelhorn), Dave Holland (bass), Jerome Cooper (drums), Tony May (recording engineer)
2. [49:13] Chad Fowler et al: In Pairs, Broken Language (excerpts). From Alien Skin (Mahakala, 2022) with Chad Fowler (stritch, saxello), Zoh Amba (tenor saxophone, flute), Ivo Perelman (tenor saxophone), Matthew Shipp (piano), William Parker (bass), Steve Hirsh (drums), Jim Clouse (recording engineer, Park West Studios)
3. [58:05] Outro with Anthony Braxton: Donna Lee
4. [1:00:39] Hound Dog Taylor's Hand: Fashion Break. From HDTH AND, part 3 (Bandcamp, 2024) with Steven Bell (vibraphone), Hound Dog Taylor's Hand: Jeffery Taylor (guitar), John Seman (contrabass, recording engineer), Mark Ostrowski (drums)
⠀
SET 4: Buried postminimalism [1:07:08]
1. [1:08:25] Matt Choboter: Buried Language. From Unburying, from Liminals, Emerging (ILK, 2024) with Matt Choboter (microtonal prepared piano), Calum Builder (alto saxophone), Miguel Crozzoli (tenor saxophone), Michal Biel (baritone saxophone), Jan Kadereit (percussion), Simon Mariegaard (recording engineer)
2. [1:13:48] Graham Fitkin: Distil. From Loosening (Signum, 2024) with Joby Burgess (percussion), Sacconi Quartet: Ben Hancox, Darragh Morgan (violins), Robin Ashwell (viola), Cara Berridge (cello), Dave Rowell (recording engineer)
⠀
SET 5: Noise to drones [1:28:57]
1. [1:32:28] Brandon Auger: T24.d02.0315. From Anthology of Experimental Music from Canada (Unexplained Sounds, 2024)
2. [1:35:43] Leslee Smucker: Beneath this still hand. From Breathing Landscape (Beacon Sound, 2024) with Leslee Smucker (violin), Samantha Wade, Michael Van Wagoner (recording engineers)
3. [1:40:21] John Luther Adams: An Atlas of Deep Time. From An Atlas of Deep Time (Cantaloupe, 2024) with South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, Delta David Gier (conductor), Mark Donahue (recording engineer)
4. [1:55:49] Outro with Kris Davis: Beauty Beneath the Rubble Meditation
Photo credits: Hound Dog Taylor’s Hand via the artists, Anthony Braxton by Martin S. Gold, John Luther Adams by Madeline Cass, Henry Cow (John Greaves, Fred Frith, Dagmar Krause, Chris Cutler, Lindsay Cooper) via the artists, Maiani da Silva in Composition as Explanation by Ryan Bennett, Claude Vivier via Montreal Gazette, Matt Choboter by Raphael Gimenes, Leslie Smucker by Michael Ash, Braxton: Composition No. 23C by Matthew Endahl, Bud Powell via Haeyong Moon, Graham Fitkin by Ryan Sharpe