Concertimento

2011-10-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

Writing a piece to be played only on 2/29 every four year? So someone please get ready for 2/29/12 and program this bad boy. Very reasonable rental fee! This was written especially for Anti-Social Music!

2011-08-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

"Clarinetto" from Williamsburg Concerto #6 Part III[Solo Clarinet, Trumpet, French Horn, 2 Violin, 2 Viola, 2 Cello] (11/6/2005). This piece is the finale of the two-hour triptych Williamsburg Concerto #6. Editing for performance Fall 2011.

2011-07-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

2011-07-17T05:22:00.000-07:00

Gold Sparkle Band Reunion Concert 2004 - Existentialist Church, Atlanta GA

Andrew Barker - drums & percussion

Andrew Burnes - Fender Bass

Rob Mallard - tenor saxophone & flute

Chris Riggenbach - Double Bass

Roger Ruzow - trumpets

Charles Waters - alto saxophone, clarinets, piano

(Recording - Jeff Rackley)

Gold Sparkle Band, in all of its incarnations, has recorded massively. We are a sonic octopus! Of the official releases, compilations, solo projects, other bands, cassettes, vinyls, the recordings number into the hundreds. And yet perhaps some of the finest work of the group has not been heard in many years. Now, as we are in the process of trying to listening to our archives, we are learning and growing and hearing exciting things all over. This recording in shows the group at the 10 year make showcasing compositions and an amalgamation of both of our early bass players. So this Sparkle Sextet group plays what we have always done best - compositions for improvisors - a certain Southern Style Sacred.

We all hope you enjoy and play these tracks repeatedly and loudly!

GOLD SPARKLE BAND***SOUTHERN STYLE SACRED

http://soundcloud.com/nurecords/01-naysayer

http://soundcloud.com/nurecords/02-farewell-apocalypse-i-still

http://soundcloud.com/nurecords/03-marcella-variations-1

http://soundcloud.com/nurecords/04-broken-smoke

http://soundcloud.com/nurecords/05-broken-leg-and-busted

http://soundcloud.com/nurecords/06-mr-ru-d-day

2011-07-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

PORCH MUSIC [clarinet, trumpet, vibraphone, viola, cello]-as in written on the front porch. I have always loved being on the porch, I certainly grew up on my grandmother's frontporch in Chadbourn, NC - just sitting, watching the trains come and go, talking to everyone walking or driving by, drinking coffee and reading the paper. The piano was inside next to the porch, so I'd always run in and play a little and then come right back. And nights on the porch, well, thats mostly heaven! And sitting on the porch through a rain storm is a koan unto itself! This piece is a very recent instant construction type piece written on my front porch in Brooklyn on Fourth of July with words by the poetic godfather Steve Dalachinsky music by me- lets play this thing!

2011-07-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

CIVITAS (2011) FOR ENSEMBLE
For John Zorn

2 Flutes
Clarinet (Bb)
Bass Clarinet (Bb)
Piano
Vibraphone
Drums+Percussion

Barely Audible (clarinet, vibraphone, piano, drums)
Chicago Presto (two flutes, clarinet, bass clarinet)
Motor Grid (flute, bass clarinet, vibraphone)
pgh (vibraphone, piano, percussion)
Philly Phantasia ( two flutes, piano, drums)

This small collection of works was composed while traveling through the rust belt wasteland of beautiful Old America USA. Cold and quiet takes the shape of most of these works, meant to be played with a large dose of improvisation in spirit if not indeed! And Spacious! I love taking the music on the road - everything is transformed. And Geography and Music so intertwined. I knew of a composer once who wrote a single short piece that was performed by an orchestra in all 50 states - seems amazing. But for me I'd write 50 single pieces for each orchestra - its just the way I roll! Enjoy, play from the heart, dig the transformation! These works are dedicated to Zorn for all of his inspiration and his "Latin" understanding.
These are transposed scores (i.e - clarinet parts).
CW 2/2011

2011-06-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

This piece "WatersWorks" for chamber orchestra is scored for: Flute, Clarinet/Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Trumpet, Tuba, Vibraphone, + Strings. The photos are of the 'core' collection of notes, all written in shorthand notation on one piece of large staff paper folded 8 times producing 16 sections. As usual I was busy working my day job but had to continue - I kept this paper in my pocket until I finished all of the sections - many of them 'waters' references. As per usual with many of my scores this work was written throughout the city in many diverse locations - from the Ava Simon Reading Room at the Guggenheim to Ave A, down to the East River and over the Bridges.
I orchestrated 10 movements, recorded 8 and and now finishing the cycle. The music wrote itself, but the orchestration took over one year of tinkering, making lists of combinations, re-working, finalizing this special orchestra. This was also difficult because this work is intended as an examination of later day minimalism paired with contemporary improvisational vocabulary. Below are three sections from Waters Works - "Waters Blues", "Time Garden" and "XTown Counterpoint". I hope you enjoy - it is music from and for the summer!
http://soundcloud.com/nurecords/01-waters-blues
http://soundcloud.com/nurecords/08-time-garden
http://soundcloud.com/nurecords/02-xtown-counterpoint

2011-06-22T03:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Summer! This is part I - Remix coming shortly!
http://soundcloud.com/nurecords/waters-solstice

2011-06-20T03:31:00.000-07:00

This is one of my new solo pieces for clarinet/video from a collection entitled "Jesus Songs". An elevation of the Particle Music works and a concentration and distillation of that process.

2011-06-14T09:57:00.001-07:00

First Heard : Matthew Shipp & William Parker " Zo"

In school we never "heard " new music - only reading history of these - a truly imaginary music! But after school I really began to educate myself as a listener of music - very powerful. I was very comfortable imagining the sound without hearing it - a skill that has served me well as a composer. After school I moved to Atlanta and almost immediately formed Gold Sparkle Band an avant jazz group. Playing, composing and very deeply trying to find my way in this world.
Around this time, 1994-95, was the beginning of the third- wave of free jazz. We followed the happenings-mostly pre- Internet in 'zines and especially on the radio. We all knew Vandermark in Chicago and the development of that scene. And in NYC I started to hear about a piano and bass duo featuring Matthew Shipp and William Parker that had made a recording of the Gershwin classic "Summertime", but yet to hear the recording. Of course everyone knows the John Coltrane version and at this point in my playing, when I would spend days and weeks highly unemployed practicing and learning every note of Coltrane, this new "Summertime" seemed like heresy! In my mind at the time it was Coltrane only!
Well it gets hard to eat and survive when all you do is play saxophone, so I got a job in a bakery making rolls and breads and doing deliveries twice a day. This delivery time was my only solace - at least there was a radio!
The bakery job was a terrible grind - six days a week, pill-addled boss and all for mostly no money. But they couldn't have my mind, engrossed in other-worldly musical thoughts.
Hot Lanta, doing my morning bread delivery I heard, on WREK, this incredible arco bass and deep low-end thunder on piano - Shipp and Parker - I knew it before I knew it! Then the faint melody of Gershwin's strung through the cloud clusters, a true revelation. I knew that something new was really going on and that I wanted to be a part!

This was 17 years ago, but just this time of year, when the mind wonders about the uncertainties of summer and future. But from this initial hearing of the " Zo" recordings my world has changed dramatically. I meet Matthew Shipp, become friends and eventually recorded a trio record with Andrew Barker - " Apostolic Polyphony" a fine date recorded at Tonic back in the daze! In those days Shipp roamed deeply in the East Village always hanging and playing.
Shipp is the constant explorer, solo, unique ensembles, jazz covers - he really is a genius. His concerts during this period were true events, psychic explorations with Shipp daring the audience (and critics) to follow towards the new consciousness. And his playing still totally singular- you know it's Matt from the first note!
And of course William Parker - the Superman of Musical Humanity. Seemingly always helping younger musicians, William opened many doors for me especially the 10 years I played with his big band Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra - one of the greatest learning experiences in my life, perhaps the place I truly came into my own sound. I played on five or six albums with Little Huey - some of my finest playing. William's style is expansive, universal and filled deeply with the history of all music. Before I joined the group I saw the band at Tonic during the summer of 1998 - the initial sessions that John Zorn curated. They played a piece called " The Blue Shoe" - was basically a history of the blues that covered about 2,000 years of music- mesmerized I thought it was the greatest big band in the world. And I still do and was lucky enough to spend some vital times making the music of Mr. Parker's Universe.

2011-05-31T07:44:00.000-07:00

My own private Ives, Charles that is!I have deep sympathy for composer Charles Ives, especially the pseudo-tragic part about keeping a day job (profoundly profitable one too!) and composing, raising a family, dealing with the stresses of the city. So holiday time can often be composing time, a faint break in an otherwise hectic routine. This work "Memorial Day" from Summer 2005. Before my son Felix was born I begin writing in a wholly new, obsessively far-reaching type of way. As composers we are creators of sound and that summer I was getting to the very root of my own creativity - pro-creation! So I wrote my own private Ives, perhaps it was 'method composing" and some if it was certainly "in order to survive" composing. And part of it was surely outsider compulsion of following the mythical path of enlightenment. So, this new recording, featuring pianist/composer Mick Rossi, who also produced these recordings, is giving your ears and eyes a sample of my work. I will be releasing several of these holiday pieces for solo piano thought the summer.

http://soundcloud.com/nurecords/waters-memorialday

2011-05-27T04:47:00.000-07:00

Another postcard score to FREAK YOUR MIND!!!!! Its a loop piece!

2011-05-16T04:09:00.000-07:00

Feldmusic - music for out-of-doors -very different then indoor concert music. I have been listening to the birds - I awoke at 4 am Sunday to a choir of birds singing in the rain! I have mentioned before in this blog my love of NYC parks especially the small, forgotten corner parks and tribute squares. These places are an oasis of sound and I'm trying to map that tonal geography! This new work for quartet - 'GREEN DOME LIBERATION SUITE' is dedicated to my second son Avery. I intended for this music to be played in the Green Dome Park which somehow is NEVER open - we need to tear down the gates with tone - music is the power, it can liberated your mind! Scored for flute, clarinet,/bass clarinet, violin, cello - in 8 movements - this is the 'waters motion music' - someday we will play this in the garden itself and I can answer the question "Daddy, why is the park closed?"

2011-05-11T06:08:00.000-07:00

While digging through my paper archives, preparing the "Quilt Concerto" books I found this scrap entitled "Blood Blossom" - a rare Japanese flower. It comes from a poem (lost?) by poet Steven Dalachinsky. It is also the title of a collection of piano pieces of mine - this must be the title track! I made a special arrangment for horn quartet - marked Adagio, can't wait to hear it again for the first time!

2011-05-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

This score was published in a book of poetry I wrote in 1990-91 entitled "Paprika Poems". This is the only score in the book of poems and dream journals, but it seems quite profound personally now - twenty years later! I had no concept to ever have this piece performed - I wouldn't have known how to play it. But now I think I understand. Will perform the World Premiere of "Matrix Improvisation, Solo #1" (1991) written in nestled high along Hippie Hill near the "Old Stone House" in Boone, NC - Dedicated to the Kudzu Bohemians everywhere..

2011-05-01T04:54:00.000-07:00

2011-04-17T05:05:00.000-07:00

2011-04-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

2011-03-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

Triads of the Blue Mysteries

These 16 triads were found on a bus going South. Tight, thorny little notes, hovering in the atmosphere forming the basis of salvation - the Great Mystery of transformation. What is this mystery of the blues, a form that evolves and dissolves into soil and air. It is the breath of the blues, whose blues? Perhaps the "blue" of the collective, the simmering below the surface mind. 4X4=16 chords, divided by three voices simply complex. Artifical Blues or Blues Beyond - a small crunch of laughter. The air is Blues because of the refraction of the sky's light, thus the modern blues is a distanced reflection of things past - a nostolgia train moving towards the future. Connecting three little notes, 1,2,3....blues go Boom! Tones for discover and direction- a new blue - "eat of my body that I give to you". And each instrument has it's own unique blues - blue flute & blue marimba! Metal blues, one of my original conceptions "Nu Metal Man" - we all have some of this in us. First scored for two flutes+trumpet (Harmon). Perhaps a dusted, muted blues, mysterious like the blue at the razor tip of the sky when the sun departs! This is lifted into the air, blue beings floating freely into the solar system.

2011-03-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

QUILT CONCERTO - the name of this new work for four horns. Originally, I was interested in creating a quartet with mixed sounds rather than one family of sounds - i.e. string quartet or in particular saxophone quartet for this new type of comprovisational work. Also the works of Jimmy Guiffre have always been a touchstone for my work and I love the ideas of jazz from lines without the standard rhythm section. This Horn Quartet was like a section group if you pulled down the rhythm section tracks. So all of the propulsion and movement had to be generated using other devices such as post-minamalism, hocketing (pre-baroque?), and spontaneous riffage! During this period - 2008 - I received two commissions - one from DUMBO Arts festival to present two concerts under the Manhattan Bridge and second from Chris McIntyre and Tilt Brass Group. So between these two pieces I developed a third piece, Quilt Concerto, to practice my new techniques and also through sheer inspiration at these processes - I think we truly live in a golden era of music making and development!
I cut 30 pieces of quartet paper and had a special envelope with the blank paper. I took it with me to work all over the city. So the titles come from the locations we were shooting, some are camera shoots, some pure fantasy! This work "Red Flame', from the diner on W.44th St, pretty good food...and a second piece from this same location, 'B" reel if you will, written by Roger Ruzow entitle "RUZOW" that I stole for this collection..more soon. QUILT CONCERTO Released May 10,2011 on NuBoutique...Release Party May 11, 2011 UOTS, dig/...

2011-03-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a work requires a different set of rules, a philosophy if you will. This piece Concertimento #9 is one of those pieces, subtitled:

"Quartor pour l'assemblage des formes et sons"

Scored for a quartet of flute, trombone, harp and chimes! First I developed circular tonal systems( see picture) from which I drew inspiration. Second was the use of quote from the Genevan Psalter (1562) which was a setting of Psalm 19:

"The Heavens Declare the Glory of the God"

Third was the use of Buddhist chant song harmonized in block formation - i.e. Westernized into a different shape of pattern yet still containing the original meditative intent.

But the final work was an assemblage of these elements into a whole functioning work. I finished two versions, one for slightly expanded orchestra. And now as I examine the pieces I'm very tempted to make a third effort. As I've said before I believe that composing is often times an improvisational effort especially in pieces like Concertimento #9.

This piece was written in my Vancouver studio with the help of the clear Western light and the long days hiking and exploring.

2011-02-12T06:15:00.000-08:00

Most compositions start with an improvisation, a spontaneous revelation! This work "Flow Motion" (1999) is incomplete, yet vital to my development. Sometimes not finishing a work can be a profound experience. As a composer I think I am too pragmatic, always having to get my own works performed and that thought can become confining. This Flow Motion Technique involves using graphic notation to sketch the form of the work and then us it like a blueprint to fill in the 'composed' sections of the piece. ! But sometimes the white heat of inspiration can be too overwhelming to document. I developed short hand - grids, graphics, etc - to 'capture' the energy, in particular, for 'place'. Geography deeply influences my work ( nothing unique really) - especially the cracks and crevices of New York City, my hometown for some 13+ years now. "Flow Motion" is playable I think as an improvisational system, but somehow it remains incomplete and I enjoy the incompleteness!

2011-02-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

This time of the year I notice the days are longer, the light has changed into a more azure texture. I have been editing some of the "NanoMusic" pieces from 2010. Most of these pieces are for postcard or smaller photos. Some are very pragmatic, other works more dreamscape. I envisioned a plan to write music for every city park in Williamsburg - but I quickly forgot that idea! But I do love parks, music in parks, the solace of silence that parks provide, pine kinda quiet. Of course these pieces continue you my interest in smaller chamber groups infused with improvisation coinciding with fabulous musicality! This Work "Father Jerzy Popieluscko Square" is score for Flute, Bass Clarinet, Piano, Violin, Cello - marker 'Autumn Allegro'. this park is at the north corner of the HS for Automotive Arts - Bedford @ Lorimer St.

2010-11-02T04:49:00.001-07:00

I love Anti-Social Music. I remember working a long hot summer day in 2005 in Park Slope and found a card that asked "Do you like Zappa, Boulez, Hank Williams, Coltrane,etc..." then maybe you'd like to join ASM - amazing group. They have played several of my new works and some of my concertimenti. So I think we forgot this secret piece I wrote: "LEAP DAY CONCERTIMENTO" (2/29/2008) marked "Fast & Hard, Taken Apart" This version is brand nu edit, hope y'all dig it!
[Concertimento #16]

2010-06-25T04:53:00.000-07:00

Summertime! I'm back blogging! Part of this summer I going to spend editing the full body of these Concertimentos - and I need to count how many there are. But recently my dear friend Roger Ruzow recorded the only solo concertimento - for trumpet. Above is the score - recording coming when I figure how to do it!

2009-02-28T22:28:00.001-08:00

Folks I'm back, thinking about Concertimentos, editing the #10 poems of Steve Dalachinsky for the Akron/Family show Saturday March 28 , Union Pool..love ya..

2008-10-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

Join us on ELECTION NIGHT for music, news, food and drink!

Outside the Box
An Election Night Concert of Free Improvisation

Tuesday, November 4, 2008
6 pm - midnight

Curated by Lisa Bielawa in New York & Carla Kihlstedt in the Bay Area

Simultaneous concert to be performed in Oakland, CA and broadcast via live video fee

Featuring performances by 19 artists:
John Zorn, composer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist
Joan La Barbara, composer, performer, and soundartist
Lisa Bielawa, composer and vocalist
Kevork Mourad, improvisational painter
Steve Ben Israel, poet
Zeena Parkins, electric harp
Colin Jacobsen, violinist
Charles Waters, clarinetist, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist
Kinan Azmeh, clarinetist
Gordon Beeferman, composer and pianist
Shahzad Ismaily, percussionist
Russ Johnson, trumpet
Mick Rossi, pianist, composer, and percussionist
Kyle Sanna, guitarist
Jim Black, percussionist
Ches Smith, drummer
Miguel Frasconi, glass instrumentalist and electronics
Paul Knopf, pianist
Hilmar Jensson, guitarist

“Outside the Box” curator Lisa Bielawa.
Photo by Liz Linder. Available in high-resolution from Christina Jensen PR.

Presented by Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South, NYC

Admission: $10 at the door (entire evening, re-admission free)
Information: 212.477.0351 or www.judson.org

“Outside the Box: An Election Night Concert of Free Improvisation,” curated by composer-vocalist Lisa Bielawa and presented by Judson Memorial Church (55 Washington Square South), will feature performances by 19 world-renowned musicians specializing in improvisation in various styles, plus artists working in other forms – visual art and poetry – known for their collaboration with musicians. In the Bay Area, violinist-vocalist Carla Kihlstedt will curate and perform in a similar concert at The Uptown (1928 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, CA), which will be viewable in New York (and vice versa) on site via live video feed from 9 pm to midnight, Eastern.

On this night of extremes in emotions and viewpoints, “Outside the Box” will be an opportunity for New York City and the Bay Area to come together as communities. Election updates will be given by the artists throughout the evening, and will also be available on television in an adjacent room. Audience members can come and go throughout, for a one-time low admission fee of $10. Food and drink will also be available for purchase.

Each artist will perform for approximately one hour, overlapping and collaborating at the beginning and end of their performances with those before and after them. Skilled at responding to the moment, these artists will react to the election results and the drama of the evening as it progresses, taking the audience with them on an emotional journey on this night of transformation.

2008-10-14T05:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers-
I'm editing this work "Defenders" originally written for ASM and wanted to share my notes from this piece. Hopefully we'll hear it soon. Rzewski had some interesting things to say about my essay, all of which left me even more committed. PEACE.

"Music is the opposite of war. Even the most clashing, iconoclastic music is humbled by the power of the medium. Music has the power of peace. This work was originally conceived as an homage to the 'Defenders of the Union" Arch at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. It represents the power of reconciliation. And music becomes the MESSAGE of TRANSFORMATION - "HEALING THROUGH TONE."
In this work I am focused on energy transformation rather than technical demands. it is a work that can hopefully be understood by players and listeners very directly. In the end, perhaps we all - artists, composers, conductors, players, singers, presenters, thinkers and critics are the "New Defenders", striving through our art to make this world better for all of our children. In this process of defending peace we may be uplifted to feel the complex beauty of this new music."

(Brooklyn, NY 2006)
notes for "Defenders of the Union" for chamber orchestra (unperformed!)

2008-10-11T04:46:00.000-07:00

I've determined to publish more often! I guess I was never a good diarist, but I'm going to try. The ASM concert at St. Marks was lovely. One of the things that sets ASM apart from the gaggle of other "new music bands' is that its a collection of composers first. Great players too, but really interesting voices in this group. The Auster chord was short - about 5 minutes and really great to hear. I hope it lasts another day! Also during the past few weeks recorded and performed with my new group the Waters Horn Quartet - really great players - Nate Wooley, Chris McIntyre, Matt Bauder. We played for the Art Under the Bridge Festival in Dumbo for which I wrote the "DUMBO CONCERTIMENTO" - its a grid work based on the muralist Tattfoo Tan's mural in DUMBO. This DUMBO piece is in three parts of which I composed two. First for horn quartet, second for Octet (using Stravinsky's instruments) and third part for low instruments best described as an Homage to the Anchorage. Below is the grid:
Dumbo Grid
Concertimento #20 Part I
[Concert]
A D E C F Gb G Bb Db Eb Ab
B E C F G Bb A Eb Ab Db Bb
D C F G B Ab Eb Db A Db Db
E F G Bb G A Bb B Db Eb Eb
C Bb Db Eb Ab C A D E B E
F Bb Db Eb Ab C A D E B E
G Gb F E C Db Ab Eb D A Bb
Bb Db Eb Ab D E C F G Gb A

Also Tattfoo Tan's website:
http://www.tattfoo.com

MORE SOON, MORE MUSIC, MORE INTERACTION!

2008-09-24T17:48:00.001-07:00

CONCERTIMENTO #11 (AUSTER CHORD) for Anti-Social Music

Sextet for two flute, two trumpets, two trombones

Part of the Festival of New Trumpet

ANTI-SOCIAL MUSIC BLOWS

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2008 2PM

ST MARKS CHURCH

131 E. 10TH at @2nd Ave.

NYC 10003

http://antisocialmusic.org/Performances.shtml

http://fontmusic.org

2008-03-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

Neighborhood Public Radio in the 2008 Whitney Biennial of American Art

941 Madison @ 74 St.

SATURDAY April 5, 2008

Charles Waters spins, talks and plays with

Poet Steve Dalachinsky

Williamsburg Winds - Susanne Chen -bassoon

Yuko Yamamoto - flutes

Charles Waters - clarinets/saxophone

Manhattan premiere of Waters' Concertimento #5 "777" for John Zorn

http://www.neighborhoodpublicradio.org

2007-11-04T17:53:00.000-08:00

Hey Y'all
Thanks for reading. I have two new works being premiered next weekend. One here in NYC with fabulous Anti-Social Music. They are playing my "TRIO SONATA (SEM)" for flute, tuba, and piano. Rehearsal was really cool and it should be a fun show.
info:
Sat. Nov. 10 8pm
Yippie Musuem Cafe
9 Bleeker St (near Bowery)
http://www.antisocialmusic.com

The latest Concertimento (#14) gets an out-of-town premiere. This one is totally f'd-up weird. I wrote it for Roger Ruzow and is great players in ATL. They get the hard one! This piece is also dedicated to writer and "thinker" John Hodgman. I meet him while I was working on one of those new Apple/PC commercials. He liked the fruit. I liked his style, so I wrote this one on set! [hint, hint Apple buy my shit!] Hope all goes well, if you're around send me a photo and review.
info:
Eyedrum.....Sunday 11-11..... 6pm
Roger Ruzow presents: New Southern Composition and Performance Series#2
Roger Ruzow presents an evening of musical works by Southern composers, appearing at Atlanta's Eyedrum art gallery and performance space. Works of music by Southern composers: Jeff Crompton, Roger Ruzow, Charles Waters and Luca Vanneschi (Southern Italy).
Music to be performed by Atlanta 4th Ward Improvisational Ensemble.
Performances shall include:
-"Pointed" ..... Jeff Crompton (trumpet, alto, tenor, baritone saxophones, bass and drums)
-"Breath" ..... Luca Vanneschi (solo percussion)
-"The Fire Next Time'......Roger Ruzow (clarinet, snare drum, shortwave radio)
-"Hatfull o' Crazy'......Roger Ruzow (alto, tenor, baritone saxophones, trumpet,bass,drums)
-"Untitled duet'...Jeff Crompton (trumpet, alto saxophone)
-"Concertimento #14 Hodgman Interludes' .....Charles Waters (tmpt, A,T,B saxes, flute, bass, percussion)

Eyedrum November 11 Sunday (early show!!) 6:00 p.m.

2007-10-29T04:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday-
Since I started this blog, I realized that it is hard to maintain if you don't sit in front of a computer everyday. I don't. My day job is on film sets where I'm serving the snacks (more on that later). So I'm trying to focus more on getting more thoughts out. And since its about these concertimentos below is an updated list of finished works in the series. I began in January of 2006. And if any of these works interest you, I'll send you a score!
______________________________________________________________________________
CONCERTIMENTI

#1 - VIOLIN - ob, bs, fh, perc., strings
#2 - PIANO - cl, bcl,asax, tenor sax, fh, tuba, vibes, perc, strings
#3 - VIOLA - asax, bari sax, fh, tr, tbone, tuba, piano, bass, perc
#4 - TRIO "25 for Mark Morris" - oboe, violin, cello

#5 - TRIO "777" for flute, clarinet, bassoon
#6 - SEXTET "New Symphony" - flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, perc
#7 - "Feldmusic Vancouver" - fl, 2cl, asax, tenor sax, 2tr, 2tbone, tuba
#8 - TRIO "la petite concertimento" flute, clarinet, violin
#9 - "Mandala Quartet" - flute, trombone, chimes, harp
#10 - "pome/dalachinsky" - ob, bs, tr, 2 viola, cello, bass
#11 - DOUBLE SEXTET - 2 fl, 3 asax, 2 tenor sax, bari sax, 2 trumpet, 2 tbone
#12 - PIANO "3 Mysteries" mixed brass, percussion
#13 - "Giglio" - ob, cl, bs, hn
#14 - SEXTET "Hodgeman Interludes" - tenor sax, bari sax, trumpet, guitar, bass, perc

2007-10-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

My name is Charles Waters. I am a composer and performer living in Brooklyn. I am originally from North Carolina via Atlanta now in beginning my second (?) decade here in the Big Apple. I started this blog to explain some of my compositional working methods - in particular this new style or form of works that I call CONCERTIMENTO. But also to write about shows I see(a lot), thing I see ( strange!) encounters I have and just basic musical life in my late-thirties. I would be part of what I call the SUBMERGING COMPOSERS GROUP. So first disclosure and second definitions about my work because I think "owning" words about ones art is vital in the post-post modern - what I refer to as REMODERN -times.
So first I am rather uneducated in terms of being a 21C composer. I was trained pencil and paper style in 80's with Dr. Scott Meister at Appalachian State University. And still to this day I compose on pen and paper. I have rarely had problems with any one understanding my music and yet I can't help feel that I've fallen behind because I can not email a part to someone or produce cookie-cutter looking scores churned out by most composers. More on this later.
But also of note I hold no degree in music. I begin playing professionally (semi?) during college and have for the last 17 years continued to play. I have played in the dankest DYI freejazz closets and I have played at Carnegie Hall. So my experience as a player is broad.
And as cliche and boastful as it my seem and I have often critically been compared to John Zorn.
I love Zorn. Not all of it, but most and certainly feel some connection.
Re-reading Duckworth's interview with Zorn in "Talking Music" our early experiences are remarkably similar, though for the record I am of the Radical Southern Baptist Culture persuasion! The bottom line is that I've trained myself. It started very early and continues to this day. I would have a masters degree from New York Public Library if it were offered. When I went to school we didn't even have a Feldman score..I had to use my imagination. So I went deep. When the arts library closed I followed - to 40 and 5Th Ave..where I cleaned up all of the over-sized scores that were left in such disarray..poor Stockhausen and Kagel and Crumb! And all the way to the holding branch on 10Th Ave and 43..where I dutifully read Ruth Crawford Seeger's teachers theory books. More on all of this too.
Definitions. What the hell is a Concertimento? We'll it is a style I devised that combines a divertimento with a concerto - concertimento. I know it sounds like a candy and I don't mind that. I think music is funny in the way life is funny. Sometime ha-ha sometimes..uh..not! As of now I have worked for two years on the Concertimenti and have composed 14 (working on #15) pieces and heard about half, though only one was of the commissioned variety - you know those things that most composers need to write these days.
More soon, please stay tuned.