A public service announcement from our friends at Downtown Music Gallery:

On WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28TH from 5:00 to 6:30pm, legendary musician/composer Anthony Braxton will autograph copies of his forthcoming box set, 9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 (Firehouse 12 Records), at a special signing event at New York’s Downtown Music Gallery. This will also be the first chance for fans to purchase this set, which officially hits the streets on April 3rd. Mr. Braxton is in New York to perform eight sets with his 7tet at the Iridium Jazz Club from Thursday March 29th through Sunday April 1st.

9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 is a 9-CD [+1 DVD] box set documenting what Time Out New York called "last Spring’s epochal run" by the Anthony Braxton 12+1tet at Iridium in March 2006.

Described by Braxton as "THE point of definition in my work thus far," these concerts featured the world premieres of Compositions 350 through 358, the final works in his 11 year-old Ghost Trance Music series.

This definitive set, being released in coordination with Braxton’s 2007 return engagement at Iridium, also includes a 10th Disc: A DVD DOCUMENTARY interspersed with live concert footage and an extensive collection of essays, commentary and biographical information.

Firehouse 12 Records, by the way, is a new imprint co-directed by cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum. You’ll find more information about the set and the signing at the Downtown Music Gallery web site. For the sake of full disclosure, I have no financial interest in this release, but edited versions of three of my three blog posts about these shows are among the many essays printed in the booklet. (To the best of my knowledge, my complimentary copy of the set will not be autographed. Bummer.)

Playlist:

David Del Tredici – In Memory of a Summer Day – Phyllis Bryn-Julson, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Slaktin (Nonesuch)

David Del Tredici – Syzygy; Four Songs on Poems of James Joyce; Two Songs on Poems by James Joyce; Vintage Alice – Lucy Shelton, David Del Tredici, ASKO Ensemble/Oliver Knussen (Deutsche Grammophon)

Michael Torke – Strawberry Fields – Joyce Castle, Margaret Lloyd, Jeffrey Lentz, John Hancock, Albany Symphony Orchestra/David Alan Miller (Ecstatic)

Ben Frost – Theory of Machines (Bedroom Community)

Marillion – Afraid of Sunlight (Sanctuary)

George Benjamin – Sudden Time; Viola, Viola; Three Inventions – Ensemble Modern Orchestra/George Benjamin (Ensemble Modern)

Arthur Honegger – Le Roi David – Ile de France Regional Chorus, Orchestre de la Cité/Michel Piquemal (Naxos)

Carl Nielsen – Clarinet Concerto; Kalevi Aho – Clarinet Concerto; Martin Fröst, Lahti Symphony Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä (Bis)

Napalm Death – Fear, Emptiness, Despair (Earache)