... an indefinite suspension of the possible, the is.

from "Getting Lost"
by Laton Carter

When making music, I'm sometimes asked which "style" this group plays in.  Do we favor straight-ahead jazz, free jazz, through-composed, West Coast, East Coast, uptown, downtown?  The truth is, I don't really know.  In trying to answer the question, I might list some techniques I'm interested in — sound mass, circle music, the use of non-Western scales — but aside from the parts that most clearly reflect composition and improvisation, the music here hopes to stand outside (and then sometimes inside) traditional boundaries.  Ornette Coleman answered the question best: "This is our music."

The musicians in the trio make the style of our music. Classically trained cellist and composer Alex Kelly has an eclectic background that involves both free-improvisation and circus music. Drummer Andrew Wilshusen comes from the domain of "jazz," but is always exploring new paths and beats in music. It is my great pleasure to make music with both of them, and I hope you enjoy the results.

Mondrian en Amérique

The Dutch painter Piet Mondrian moved to New York in 1940 after living his previous twenty years in Paris. Recognized as the founder of Neo-Plasticism, Mondrianís work in this "movement" adhered to a rigid form of abstraction, the rules of which allowed only for a canvas to be subsected into various sized rectangles, and then filled with color using a strictly limited palette. This performance attempts to reflect Mondrian's use of pure line, space, and color juxtaposition.


Augmented

This performance is the result of experimenting with an augmented scale (which utilizes a # 11 and 5). I love that this scale can yield major, minor, and augmented triads. To go along with such flexibility, we have used a flexible tempo.

Iram

Lawrence of Arabia called the lost city of Iram, or Ubar, "The Atlantis of the Sands."  Iram, the "City of Towers" in the Quran, fell into a sinkhole that was created when an underground limestone cavern collapsed. According to legend, Iram was destroyed during a natural disaster about C.E. 100 and was buried by sand.  This song is a musical tribute to the buried city.



This song title refers to an ancient Indus script that has never been deciphered.  The script was written above a male diety with three faces, seated in a yogic position on a throne.  The trio symbolism of the script naturally suggested itself for our resulting free improvisation.

R'izhii

Ríizhii is the name for the red-haired clown in Russian circuses. A possible precursor to the Auguste clown, R'izhii is known for foolish behavior and tripping and falling gags. With exaggerated make-up and movements, this is the zaniest of clowns. The performance here was originally intended to be a free improvisation, but somehow everyone turned their ideas toward a tune Alex had previously written for a circus, and that we had recorded some months earlier.

Alex in Wonderland

When Alex could not come up with a title for this composition of his, Andrew and I came up with one, imagining Alex playing as if he had reached another world. This tune uses a form of AAA'BB'CdA, and each major section features one of the members of the group. The A section is for cello, the B section is for tenor sax, and C features percussion.

4+#11m6m7

This piece uses a four-note cell for its structure. We restricted ourselves in this performance to using only the available notes from the cell, but allowed the freedom of playing them in any order and with any tempi. Another section expands the four notes into a hybrid mode, which is based on a major scale, but with an augmented 4 and a minor 6 and 7.

(Da Yun He)

In the year 605, Emperor Yang Guang of Sui Dynasty started construction on the Da Yun He (Grand Canal), which is now the largest man made river in the world (1115 miles). At the end of the book Lu Ding Ji (The Deer and The Cauldron) by Jin Yong (Louis Cha), the hero Wei Xiao Bao (Trinket) escapes his troubles with his seven wives during a storm on the Da Yun He.  This territory piece (territory II BC D) was inspired by that part of the book.

(AKA 21st Century Blues)

This piece uses a form known as circle music, which Dr. Cindy McTee introduced to me in the late 1980's when she wrote a circle music piece for Sue Bancroft, my bassoon teacher at the time. Essentially, circle music uses phrases that can be played at any time and in any order. For this performance, I took short phrases from blues tunes in the jazz idiom, and then modified them, while still hoping to keep their shape recognizable.

Spirits (territory I F FD)

Like Da Yun He, this piece uses a "territory" technique.  A soundscape or soundmass is used as a general territory to improvise on.  George Crumb is the looming spirit here.

Marchin' Home

The construction and performance of this piece is based on a melody line very similar to a Julius Hemphill composition entitled "Fifteen." After a long journey, it is always good to come home.