Microgroove: Forays Into Other Music

Description

Microgroove continues John Corbett's exploration of diverse musics, with essays, interviews, and musician profiles that focus on jazz, improvised music, contemporary classical, rock, folk, blues, post-punk, and cartoon music. Corbett's approach to writing is as polymorphous as the music, ranging from oral history and journalistic portraiture to deeply engaged cultural critique. Corbett advocates for the relevance of "little" music, which despite its smaller audience is of enormous cultural significance. He writes on musicians as varied as Sun Ra, PJ Harvey, Koko Taylor, Steve Lacy, and Helmut Lachenmann. Among other topics, he discusses recording formats; the relationship between music and visual art, dance, and poetry; and, with Terri Kapsalis, the role of female orgasm sounds in contemporary popular music. Above all, Corbett privileges the importance of improvisation; he insists on the need to pay close attention to “other” music and celebrates its ability to open up pathways to new ideas, fresh modes of expression, and unforeseen ways of knowing. Contents......Page 12 Preface: Tympanum of the Other Frog......Page 16 Acknowledgments......Page 20 Introduction......Page 24 One. On the Road, Into the Cul-de-Sac......Page 36 Joe Harriott and Bernie McGann: Flying without Ornette......Page 38 Michael Hurley: Jocko’s Lament......Page 44 Mayo Thompson: Genre of One......Page 56 John Stevens: Unpopular Populists......Page 59 Peter Brötzmann Tentet: Freeways......Page 63 Steve Lacy: Sojourner Saxophone......Page 72 David Grubbs: Postcards from the Edge......Page 80 Voice Crack: From Nothing to Everything......Page 90 Two. Exigeneses of Creative Music......Page 92 Milford Graves: Pulseology......Page 94 Out of Nowhere: Deleuze, Gräwe, Cadence......Page 102 Carla Bley and Steve Swallow: Feeding Quarters to the Nonstop Mental Jukebox......Page 108 Misha Mengelberg: No Simple Calculations for Life......Page 116 Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink: Natural Inbuilt Contrapuncto......Page 132 Form Follows Faction? Ethnicity and Creative Music......Page 139 Anthony Braxton: Ism vs. Is......Page 146 Anthony Braxton: Bildungsmusik—Thoughts on “Composition 171”......Page 152 Paul Lovens: Lo Our Lo......Page 155 Clark Coolidge: The Improvised Line......Page 159 Nathaniel Mackey: Steep Incumbencies......Page 165 Sun Ra: From the Windy City to the Omniverse—Chicago Life as a Street Priest of DIY Jazz......Page 176 Fred Anderson: The House That Fred Built......Page 185 Three. Ululations and Other Vocal Stimulants......Page 190 Sun Ra: Queer Voice......Page 192 Jaap Blonk: Uncommon Tongue......Page 193 PJ Harvey: Mother’s Tongue......Page 202 Aural Sex: The Female Orgasm in Popular Sound (coauthored with Terri Kapsalis)......Page 205 Liz Phair and Lou Barlow: On Music, Sex, TV, and Beyond......Page 217 Liz Phair and Kim Gordon: Exile in Galville?......Page 228 Koko Taylor: The Blue Queen Cooks......Page 235 Brion Gysin and Steve Lacy: Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permuted......Page 240 Four. The Horn Section......Page 254 Ornette Coleman: Doing Is Believing......Page 256 Roscoe Mitchell: Citizen of Sound......Page 267 Fred Anderson and Von Freeman: Tenacity......Page 273 George Lewis: Interactive Imagination......Page 281 Mats Gustafsson: MG at Half-C......Page 287 Ken Vandermark: Six Dispatches from the Memory Bank......Page 293 Ken Vandermark and Joe McPhee: Mutual Admiration Society......Page 301 Peter Brötzmann and Evan Parker: Bring Something to the Table......Page 308 Five. Track Marks......Page 318 Oncology of the Record Album......Page 320 Discaholic or Vinyl Freak? Mats Gustafsson Interrogates John Corbett......Page 324 Twenty-Seven Enthusiasms: A Spontaneous Listening Session......Page 331 A Very Visual Kind of Music: The Cartoon Soundtrack beyond the Screen......Page 336 R. L. Burnside and Jon Spencer: Fattening Frogs for Snake Drive......Page 345 Before and After Punk: The Comp as Teaching Tool......Page 354 Raymond Scott: Cradle of Electronica......Page 359 Six. Melodic Line and Tone Color......Page 364 Peter Brötzmann: Graphic Equalizer......Page 366 Albert Oehlen: Bionic Painting......Page 370 Albert Oehlen: Mangy—A Conversation and a Playlist......Page 375 Christopher Wool: Impropositions—Improvisation, Dub Painting......Page 382 Christopher Wool: Into the Woods—Six Meditations on the Interdisciplinary......Page 389 Sun Ra: An Afro-Space-Jazz Imaginary—The Printed Record of El Saturn......Page 394 Seven. The Texture of Refusal......Page 400 Helmut Lachenmann: Hellhörig, or the Intricacies of Perceptiveness......Page 402 Guillermo Gregorio: Madi Music......Page 410 Experimental Oriental: New Music and Other Others......Page 414 Afterword: A Concise History of Music......Page 440 Grooving On: Selected Listening......Page 446 Credits......Page 466 Index......Page 470