IMPROVISED (and other) MUSIC IN LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles Herald-Examiner  Friday, September 7, 1984

" 'SCUSE US, Mizz Gilmore," we inquired, hat in hand of the pop critic's better half, "but we're lookin' for Mikal.  You see, it's time for Weekend in L.A. again, and --"

"He ain't home," she said, stepping out onto the porch.  "He's lit out again.  For Texas.  Texas -- that's all he ever talks about!  Dadblum Texas.  But here -- he left you this note."

"Thankee, ma'am.  Thanks a lot."

And we read, "If ah weren't seein' Texans in Texas, where ah'm catchin' a Lubbock exhibit on 75 Years of West Texas Music (see yur Monday paper), then ah'd be sein' one at the Palace, 1735 N. Vine St (462-3000), tomorrow night -- Mr. Ornette Coleman, the man to make the alto sax matter most since Charlie Parker.  The Fort Worth born (and L.A.-bred) musician will appear with his six-piece electric Prime Time band, which includes bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma and the leader's drummer son, Denardo.  Though some find Ornette's recent wallopin' funk infused material a little too dense an' intense, ah think it's as pure and motivatin' as he's ever got.  And it ain't everyday yah get t'see somebody reinvent modern musical parlance, pard."

CLASSICAL:

Who's walking down the streets of the city, specifically, Reseda, to Bebop Records and Fine Art, 18433 Sherman Way, (818) 881-1654?  Everyone knows it's wind musicians -- well, Mark Swed knows it, anyway, and of Ann LaBerge (flutes), David Ocker (clarinets) and Vinny Golia (flutes, clarinets, saxophones), who'll appear at Bebop tomorrow night at 8:30, he says, "I'm not sure what this trio will sound like.  Each member has a reputation for doing peculiar things with his or her instrument or instruments, and each is into an unclassifiable kind of new music.  But all three are proven composers and performers in Los Angeles' growing newest-of-the-new new-music scene."

David Ocker - clarinets
Vinny Golia - flutes, clarinets, saxophones
Ann LaBerge - flutes

Wayne Peet - keyboards, electric drums
John Fumo - trumpet

3321 WEST SUNSET BLVD
SILVER LAKE
213-660-8084
$5.00

INDEPENDENT COMPOSERS ASSOCIATION AND SPECTACLE MAGAZINE PRESENT

music - performance - art

320 S. OMAR (ONE BLOCK EAST 
OF SAN PEDRO BETWEEN SECOND 
AND THIRD, DOWNTOWN)

FRIDAY 8:00  CHARLES BUEL - FAT AND FUCKED UP - JONATHAN GOLD - KUBIST TIER - LAURA McMURRAY - MOTOR TOTEMIST GUILD - OCKER/GOLIA DUET

SATURDAY 4:00 - 8:00  SOUND INSTALLATION BY HONORABLE MEN (KEITH BAREFOOT, GRAHAM DENT, KRAIG GRADY, TOM REICCHON (sic)) - TAPE BY SCOTT FRASER

SATURDAY 8:00 SKIP ARNOLD - CHARLES BUEL - DEBT OF NATURE - MARINA LA PALMA WITH BRENT WILCOX AND HARRY GILBERT

REPEATING FILM BY JOHN TALLY JONES, DEBBIE SPINELLI, SKIP ARNOLD, JENNIFER SINCLAIR RAKOW, KEITH BAREFOOT, JAN TULMIR, KRAIG GRADY (CONCEPT AND EDITOR)

ART BY SKIP ARNOLD - LAURA McMURRAY - KAREN NIELSEN

THE I.C.A. IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE MEMBERSHIP IS OPEN TO COMPOSERS, MUSICIANS AND ANYONE INTERESTED IN JOINING US IN OUR PROJECT PRODUCTIONS.  FEEL FREE TO CALL 623-1122, 939-9941 OR 623-2752 FOR MORE INFORMATION.

MARCH 22 THE I.C.A. PRESENTS AT THE ANTICLUB THE MOPE, JOHN TRUBEE, AND THE BUNNY DRUMS. INFO: 687-9906

jennifer sinclair

Synth-dude Lee Kaplan used to be a fixture at avant-garde jazz events.  Not only was he the only Angeleno at the time to improvise seriously on synthesizer, but he ran the Playhouse Jazz Series, more or less the only cutting-edge jazz venue in town.  His organic-sounding tweets and moans accompanied some of America's best blowers, including George Lewis, Vinny Golia and Henry Kaiser.  Lee was also well-known as a didgeridoo virtuoso, and the aboriginal instrument's complex mournful wail rocked the house.  Alas, avant-garde jazz isn't the quickest route to a fashionable home in the suburbs, so he eventually left music for the profitable world of genteel collage.  This week's gig, with multireed whiz Vinny Golia and fine clarinetist David Ocker, is a rare, fine opportunity to hear Kaplan at work.  - D.Grey

Lee Kaplan, Vinny Golia and David Ocker at the Anti-Club, 4658 Melrose Ave.; Thurs, March 13, 10:30 p.m.; $5.  Call (213) 938-9811.

LACE presents

A series featuring local, independent music associations and record labels.

David Ocker, bass clarinet

Astral John's Purgatory of Nostalgia (ca 1975) - Kraig Grady
Good Bless the Child - Eric Dophy
Improvisation - performed by Vinnie Golia & David Ocker
Carbon - Arthur Jarvinen

Arthur Jarvinen

Lint - a film by Fern Seiden from a work by Arthur Jarvinen.
Christmas with Little Momo - a physical poem.  Performers: Arthur Jarvinen, Matt Easton, Deborah Oliver, Ariel Stein

INTERMISSION

Kraig Grady

Eve Without Apples  THIS IS CREDITS.  THIS IS EVE WITHOUT APPLES.  THIS IS A SEQUEL OF SORTS.  THIS IS A FILM ASSEMBLED BY KRAIG GRADY AND KEITH BAREFOOT.  THIS IS OUR GENERAL AGAIN, THIS IS ERV WILSON, THIS IS THE FISH BRIEFLY APPEARING. UALU! UALU! QUAOUAUH! THIS IS NESTOR THE INVESTOR (HE"S SUCH AN INFESTOR!).  THIS IS GRAHAM DENT.  THIS IS THE RETURN OF THE FOREST RANGER.  THIS IS MARK HABIT.  THIS IS ONCE AGAIN, DRESSED IN BLACK J.J. (WHO IS J.J.?).  THIS IS THEA OTHER BOWED AND ARROWED.  THIS IS PREGNANT AND PRETEEN NADINE MARIESSE.  THIS IS THE BLIND IMMAGRATION (sic) OFFICER DAVID LEDERER.  THIS IS ALSO ONE OF THE WRITERS.  THIS IS THE CUP OF BLOOD OF HILDA.  THIS IS MONICA TOWNSEND.  THIS IS OUR TERRORIST AND HER INSTALLATION.  THIS IS HER CURTAINS.  THIS IS THE COTTON EXCHANGE SHOW.  THIS IS THE SEVERED LEGS OF FRED TOMASELLI.  THIS IS THE WEB OF CHICO macMURTIE.  THIS IS THE CHECKERBOARD OF KRISTINA LUCUS (AND MICHAEL HAYDEN?!) THIS IS THE HALLWAY OF JULIE OVERSKEI AND PHIL DRUCKER.  THIS IS VERY BYZANTINE.  THIS THIS (sic) IS ULTIMIT (sic) SKIP ARNOLD AND HIS VIDEOS.  THIS IS THE BLACK ROOM OF KAREN NEILSEN, THIS IS ALICE'S ELEVATOR OF KRAIG GRADY.  THIS IS THE OVERSIZED TOOLS OF BOBBY HUGHES.  THIS IS OUR FISHSCOPE.  THIS IS THAT.  THIS IS THIS THIS IS A CONTINUATION EMBRYO WITHOUT TEARS.  THIS IS EVE.  THIS IS JENIFER SINCLAIR RAKOW.  GIVER HER A HAND SINCE SHE HAS GIVEN HERS.

ICA - Over the past nine concert seasons, the ICA has presented exciting and innovative concerts in New Music by over 140 composers many of whom lived or studied in California and took an active part in the presentation of their work.  The ICA also presents visiting performers in ensembles who specialize in New Music.  ICA ensembles are drawn from professional musicians in the community with interests in contemporary music.  Found in late 1976 as a composers cooperative, the ICA is now a non-profit organization with membership open to the public.

David Ocker - One of the things he likes to do best is play clarinet and bass clarinet, especially contemporary solo and chamber music.  In 1983, Ocker recorded the solo part to Frank Zappa's clarinet concerto "Mo 'n Herb's Vacation" with the London Sympony (sic) Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano, a part which had been written especially for him.  Recently Ocker has expanded beyond the interpretation of notated music in an improvisation trio with wind players Vinny Golia and Ann LaBerge.

Vinny Golia - , a musician of international stature, plays all manner of flutes, clarinets, saxaphones (sic) with the same apparent ease.  His music can be heard on a host of recordings including those on his own label, "Nine Wind Records".

Arthur Jarvinen - Arthur Jarvinen is an active creator, performer and teacher in a variety of artistic disciplines.  His formal studies were in percussion and composition (BM, Ohio University, 1978; MFA, Cal Arts, 1981).  In 1978 he co-founded The Antenna Repairmen, a trio which achieved notoriety with their original combinations of percussion, poetry and theatre.  Since that time hsi (sic) music and theatrical works have been performed frequently in the L.A. area.  He has appeared with Steve Reich and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Muisc Group and has worked on special chamber music projects with Frank Zappa.  He is currently pursuing his adolescent dream of rock stardom as lead singer and bassist with The Mope (five ugly guys with no record interest yet).  Mr. Jarvien is a member of the California E.A.R. (sic) (new music ensemble in reisdence at Cal Arts) and comprises one third of Le Momo, a unique performance group based in Kwearpute, North Dakota.

Kraig Grady - A native of Los Angeles, Kraig Grady studies composition with Nicolas Slonimsky, Byong-Kon Kim, Dean Drummond, and Dorrance Stalvey.  In 1975, disillusioned with both the so-called avante-garde and its reactionary counterparts, he began studying the possibilities of alternative tunings under the guidance of Erv Wilson.  Kraig Grady states "Through the insight of Erv Wilson into the almost unexplored areas of different temprements (sic) and just intonational systems, I came to realize that my musical expression had found both the form and the language I have been searching for."  Since that time, Kraig Grady has written exclusively in intonational systems already developed by Wilson.  he built his own instruments in order to facilitate these intonations; his use of conventional instruments has been limited to those which he has been able to alter (you might say correct) to those which he has built.  

Keith Barefoot - Also a native of Southern California, is the cinematogrpaher for Eve Without Apples.  An accomplish still photographer, Keith Barefoot is the co-developer of the film process, Fishscope, a unique projections system designed to present the film in intimate settings with live acoustic music.

...INTO MUSIC was curated by Tom Recchion of the LACE Performance Committee

Performance Coordinator - Weba Garretson

LACE is supported in part by the California Arts Council, Cultural Affairs Department of the City of Los Angeles, Atlantic Richfield Foundation, First Interstate Bank of Califonria Foundation, IBM, The National Endowment for the Arts (a Federal Agency), Mika Company, Security Pacific Foundation, Touche Ross adn Company and the Friends of LACE

Independent Composers Association presents

Fri. 2 Poetry Into Music.  A vocal chamber Concert exploring with voices and in instruments the ways in which poetic impulse is realized into music.  Diverse works by: Esther Alejandro, Charles Buel, John Granet, Sandra Loh, and Steven Oberg.  8:30 p.m. Gallery Theatre, Barnsdall Park 4800 Hollywood BL. (near Vermont)   

Sun. 11 The Mope presents Serious Fun.  This Rock ensemble will prsent a two part concert with "serious" compositions by David Ocker, Bob Fernandez, Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, and "fun" danceable originals by members of the Mope  8:30 p.m. Hop Singhs, 4110 Lincoln BL., Marina del Rey

Sat. 24 & Sun. 25 Kraig Grady at the L.A. Philharmonic's American Music Weekend Microtonal composer Kraig Grady and cinematographer Keith Barefoot present two of their surrealistic films EMBRYO WITHOUT TEARS and EVE WITHOUT APPLES.  The live music composition accompaniment will use original instruments tuned to just intonation.  7:00 and 8:30 p.m. Kirk deGooyer Gallery, 1308 Factory Place, L.A.

Sat. 1 & Sun. 2 Open Gate Theatre present Light Breaking and synthesist Shuichi Chino.  This work deals with the ongoing births of love, music, sensuality, communication and individuality as realized by flutist/dancer Will Salmon, percussionist Alex Cline and Ron George, trombonist Bruce Fowler and dancer Betty Nash.  Also the renowned Shuichi Chino will perform solo works.  8:00 p.m. Boyd Street Theatre, 305 Boyd St. (at Wall St.) Downtown, L.A.

Thu 13 David Lopato and his Giant Mbira.  The debut Los Angeles recital of New York composer/pianist David Lopato will feature his unique blending of avante garde, world musics, phase music, and jazz styles.  8:30 p.m. Gallery Theatre, Barnsdall Park, 4800 Hollywood BL., (near vermont)

Barnsdall Park is a facility of the Cultural Affairs Dept. of L.A.

All concerts $6 - and $4 for ICA members - except Kraig Grady at the American Music Weekend which is $4 and allows the audience to choose between any three events presented on a single evening.

? For more information call (213) 623-1122

All concerts are subject to change.  ICA concerts are funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, Meet the Composer/California and by ICA members

Support ICA by joining now

The Independent Composers Association needs your help to continue presenting high-quality concerts such as these.  With a minimum $25 yearly donation you become a member of ICA and receive admission discounts and the ICA newsletter.  With $100 donation you join "friends and lovers" and along with your membership you'll receive 10 free admission to use as you please at ICA events.  Help insure the success of these concerts by sending your tax-deductible contribution in any amount, along with the form, to ICA, right away

Time Value Material - Please Rush

Music by Alejandro Brisk Buell Davis Goldstein Ocker
conducted by Donald Crockett

also appearing
Jim Nightingale, accordionist/composer
The John Carter Octet

Thursday, September 6, 1990
8:00 P.M.  Japan America Theatre
244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles (Little Tokyo)
Admission $20,  $15  Information 213-688-ARTS tickets 213-480-3232

Saturday, September 15, 1990
4:00 P.M.
Joanne Warfield Gallery

508 North San Vicente Boulevard  Los Angeles, 90048
in the Sculpture Garden

Admission $10     Reservations Required by Sept. 12    Information & Reservations 213-855-0586
1/2 Block South of Melrose and the Pacific Design Center
Street Parking Available until 7 p.m.

LOS ANGELES TIMES   SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1990

By BILL KOHLHAASE

John Carter's appearance Thursday att the Japan America Theatre, his first since having a lung removed earlier this year, put the spotlight squarely on his compositional skills.

Though his clarinet was an integral in presenting "Castles of Ghana," his impressionistic suite inspired by the slave trade in 16th-Century West Africa, Carter seemed content to turn over most of the improvisational duties to other members of the octet.

His only solo of any consequence came on "Capture," the fourth of the six-part piece.  The clarinetist, still able to play with speed and grace, stuck mostly to the middle register, foregoing the blistering high-end he employed on the version recorded in 1986.  But the nearly minute-long warbling line he sustained at the beginning of the title piece, achieved through a technique known as rotary breathing, brough a warm round of applause from the audience

The involved, often emotional composition ranged across a variety of moods and rhythms.  The respectful meditative drone of "Evening Prayer," gave way to an einvolved dialogue between the horns and drummer William Jeffries in "Conversations."

On "Capture," cornetist Bobby Bradford mixed sweeping lines with pointed flurries while soprano saxophonist Charles Owens' Coltrane-influenced outing was packed with character.  Also making contributions were bass clarinetist Vinny Golia, trombonist Thurman Green, trumpeter Oscar Brashear and bassist Roberto Miguel Miranda.

The program opened with the XTET chamber ensemble presenting works from six members of the Los Angeles-based Independent Composers Assn.  Standouts included Donald Davis' "Bleak," with its finely calculated dynamics and furious unison lines, and David Ocker's "Pride and Foolishness."

Accordionist Jim Nightengale's unaccompanied set of loosely structured pieces, sounding more like Phillip Glass than Myron Floren, held tonal attractions but were without much rhythmic interest.

by ALAN RICH
Daily News Music Critic

Of all musical instruments, the clarinets come closest to the sound of the human voice.  You might, therefore, expect a concert by two expert clarinetists to come close to the sound of real conversation.  You'd be right.

Exactly that happened, in fact, in a splendidly communicative encounter by two of this region's most valued progressive musicians, David Ocker and Vinnie Golia.  Ocker, a member of the chamber group called Xtet is usually thought of as part of the classical world; Golia usually busies himself with jazz.

The music at their joint concert Saturday afternoon, part of the Los Angeles Festival offshoot known as the "Open Festival," given in the charming garden in back of the Joanne Warfield Gallery in West Hollywood, hover around the invisible line between the two worlds: fluent and improvisatory in the jazz sense, splendidly complex, full of bright contrapuntal exchange, to appease the classicists.

Between them (and with the added assistance in one piece of visiting New York clarinetist Jane Ira Bloom), the players managed something like a dozen different sizes of clarinet, along with a few flutes plus a Chinese harmonica-type gadget called the Shang (sic).  The afternoon was, in fact, a little like a family reunion of the wind family.  The huge contrabass clarinet, with enough plumbing to equip a small town, hobnobbed with tiny bamboo flutes; the piccolo shrieked its greeting to the sopranino saxophone.

More important, however, was the sense that the players were well in tune with each other.  There was a sense of solid music-making, even in passages that exploited the more arcane possibilities of the instruments.

The Musicians' Collective, Nine Wind Records and the Independant (sic) Composers Association presents (sic)

Friday, October 11, 1991
8:00 p.m.
Harbor College Music Recital Hall

A 21 section suite of music dedicated to the memory of John Carter
This evening's program will feature sections Sections (sic) 1 - 10

1. Swift Are The Wings of Love    soloists: Wayne Peet, Joel Hamilton, Ken Filiano & Alex Cline

2. Change of DIrection   soloists: Brad Dutz, Harry Scorzo, Bruce Fowler

3. Forest   soloist: Kim Richmond

4. Menhir   soloists: Mark Underwood, Mike Vlatkovich, Steve Fowler

Intermission

5. Mahlow   soloists: Bill Roper, Phil Teele, VInny Golia

6. In a Manner of Speaking (for the bassist Dave Holland)  soloists: Alex Cline, Ken Filiano

7. Lies of Deception  soloist: Bill Plake

8. Comments of Social Conversion  soloists: Vinny Golia, John Fumo, Bruce Fowler

9. Goleom  soloists: Joel Hamilton, Alex Cline, Mark Underwood

Sections 11-18 will be performed December 8, 1991, at the Willamette Theatre in Eugene, Oregon
Sections 11-14  Commissioned by the Pacific Rim Players
Due to time constraints, Section 10, Tumulus or Griffin, (for the drummer Grover Mooney), will not be performed tonight.

The Ensemble

Mark Underwood - Trumpet & Flugelhorn
John Fumo - Trumet & Flugelhorn
Marissa Benidict - Trumpet & Flugelhorn
Bruce Fowler - Trombone
Mike Vlatkovich - Trombone
George McMullen - Trombone
Phil Teele - Bass Trombone
William Roper - Tuba
Kim Richmond - Piccolo, Flute, Bb Clarinet, Alto Saxophone
Steve Fowler - Flute & Alto Saxophone
Bill Plake - C & Alto Flute, Soprano & Tenor Saxophones
Vinny Golia - Piccolo, Alto & Bass FLutes, Sopranino, Soprano, Baritone & Bass Saxophones, Eb, A, Alto & Contra-Alto Clarinets
David Ocker - Bb & Bass Clarinets
David Johnson - Chimes, Tympani, Vibraphone & Marimba
Brad Dutz - Marimba, Tympani, Orchestra bells, hand percussion
Wayne Peet - Keyboards & Piano
Harry Scorzo - Violin
Greg Adamson - Cello
Matt Cooker - Cello
Ken Filiano - Contrabasse
Joel Hamilton - Contrabasse
Alex Cline - Drums & Percussion
Stephanie Henry - Conductor

THE VINNY GOLIA LARGE ENSEMBLE

Vinny Golia founded the Large Ensemble in 1982 to perform his original compositions for chamber orchestra.  His style of composition strongly based in the Jazz tradition, blends heavily notated contemporary chamber music with improvisation, incorporating extended instrumental techniques, 20th-century idioms as well as world musics.  Golia's music demands a talented and exceptional group of dedicated musicians, adept at both reading and improvising, and at home in a wide variety of styles.  For the past nine years Vinny has kept the ensemble going through his own financial resources, while continuing to compose prolifically for teh ensemble, which has grown from its original size of fourteen to its current size of twenty five musicians.  The ensemble includes five woodwinds [all double], tree trumpets, four trombones, one tuba, two orchestra percussionists (mallets, chimes tympani, Hand Drums, etc.), one drums & percussion, one piano & Keyboards, two violins, two cello, two contrabasses, and a Conductor.  The repertoire for the Large Ensemble now consists of over seventy five compositions, yet unfortunately most works have received only one live performance.

Despite the difficulties in funding live performance, Golia's compositions for the Large Ensemble have received popular exposure through his critically acclaimed recordings.  The first of these, Compositions for Large Ensemble, on Golia's Nine Winds label, is a limited edition, three-record set recorded at the original 1982 Schoenberg Hall concert.  This recording, as well as the second album, Facts of Life, have been ranked in the "10 Best" lists by both critics and readers in journals across the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe.  A third recording, Pilgrimage to Obscurity, was released as a CD in March of 1990 and received heavy airplay and very favorable reviews. Pilgrimage was listed as a 1990 top 10 precording in Coda magazine by a number of critics, it recently received a four star reveiw (sic) in the July 1991 issue of Downbeat Magazine.  A new CD release is planned for early 1992.

Special Thanks to Anet Ris, Dave Peet, The White Oak Covenant Church, Terry Kenney, David Stout, Brenda Bynum, Irene Alm, and The Musician's Collective

Extra-special thanks go to Wayne Peet for his assistance with arranging, and his copying skills.