Steve Smith
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Conductor Bill Eddins, never one to mince words, weighed in yesterday on the ongoing dissolution of the Minnesota Orchestra, which has just lost two more key players: assistant concertmaster Stephanie Arado, who is taking a teaching position at Interlochen, and principal French horn player Michael Gast, who is coming to the New York Philharmonic during…
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<a href="http://chubbywolf.bandcamp.com/album/seasick" _mce_href="http://chubbywolf.bandcamp.com/album/seasick">Seasick by Chubby Wolf</a> Newly posted on the Chubby Wolf Bandcamp page: Seasick, a beautiful posthumous release initially issued in a limited-edition CD run of 250 copies on the Mystery Sea label. The album was mastered by Mathias Ruhlman, who also added a light sprinkling of original sounds. The results are luminous and…
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Xanthocephalus – sp. (Tranquility Tapes) Parashi – Particle Collider (Tranquility Tapes) Mr. Matthews – High Pass Heart (Tranquility Tapes) The Rainbow Body – Magnetic Highway (Tranquility Tapes) Tuluum Shimmering – Five (self-released) Tuluum Shimmering – Rites for the New Sun (Golden Lyre) Krzysztof Penderecki – Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 – Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra/Krzysztof…
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Once in a while – much more frequently than I'd prefer – I'll hit a patch in which I find myself too busy to take even the five, ten or fifteen minutes required to post one of my New York Times reviews here for a day or three. Given that I usually review three performances…
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Anne Guthrie and Richard Kamerman (Photograph: Billy Gomberg) ErstAEU ShowcaseIssue Project Room; Sat 25 For some time now it’s been possible to labor under the impression that electroacoustic improvisation (or EAI) is exclusively available on import, primarily the domain of Japanese, German and English performers. Actually, that’s never been the case; Americans have contributed to…
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Charles Gayle in 'Rising Tones Cross' JazzizJuly 1999 The early 1980s were a period of transition for the avant-garde fringe in New York. The loft scene – the days in which Ornette Coleman's hom on Prince Street and Sam Rivers' Studio Rivbea provided workshops for experimenters to develop their art –was drawing to a close,…
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John Shiurba JazzizMay 1999 Bay Area guitarist and free-improvisor John Shiurba hit upon the idea of his new Limited Sedition record label soon after buying a CD burner last year: "I just wanted to put out CDs of my music, and music that I think is worthy," he explains. "But the idea of shopping tapes…
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Kenny Kirkland JazzizFebruary 1999 Word leaked over the Internet before any official sources were heard. But in the end, the stories were the same: Pianist Kenny Kirkland was found dead in his Queens home on Friday, November 13. He was 43. At press time, no apparent cause of death was revealed.* Kirkland came of…
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Sometimes the road ahead is simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time…and knowing the right people. Back in the spring of 2000, with my illustrious public-relations career at an impasse after BMG Classics eliminated almost everyone in the department, I got an interesting offer from Larry Blumenfeld, then the…
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Ken Thomson, by James Hirschfeld Ken Thomson and I first crossed paths back in 1997, when I was the publicist for the Knitting Factory and its first-annual [sic] Texaco Jazz Festival (formerly What Is Jazz?), and he was part of an intrepid team broadcasting multiple events for Columbia University's invaluable radio station, WKCR-FM. Since then,…
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To everyone who surfed into Night After Night yesterday after news of my winning an ASCAP Concert Music Award became public – including the many who came via a supremely kind citation on my brilliant colleague Alex Ross's blog, The Rest Is Noise – thanks very much for stopping by. I'm thrilled by the recognition…
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King Crimson – Larks' Tongues in Aspic (DGM) Travis & Fripp – Follow (Panegyric) Ashley Paul – Line the Clouds (Rel) Antoine Beuger – Méditations poétiques sur quelque chose d’autre; Lieux de passage; Jürg Frey – Canones incerti – Ensemble Dedalus (Potlatch) Günter Schlienz – The Dalmation Tapes (self-released > download) Günter Schlienz – The…
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But we shall return, shortly. Stay tuned.
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King Crimson – The Savoy, New York, NY, Nov. 7, 1981 (late show) (DGMLive) Riccardo Zandonai – Francesca da Rimini – Magda Olivero, Mario Del Monaco, Giampiero Malaspino, Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala Milan/Gianandrea Gavazzeni (Hallmark > MOG) Incantation – Vanquish in Vengeance (Listenable > MOG) Dennis Johnson – November – R. Andrew Lee (Irritable…
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Jon Gillock, by Kenneth Dickerman/The New York Times Jon Gillock at the Church of the Ascension, March 5, 2013The New York Times, March 7, 2013 A gripping account of Messiaen's awe-inspiring Méditations sur la Mystère de la Sainte Trinité, played by a Messiaen expert on an instrument made to order as part of an ongoing…
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Marcello Giordani, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Mark Delavan, by Ruby Washington/The New York Times Francesca da Rimini at the Metropolitan Opera House, March 4, 2013The New York Times, March 7, 2013 I don't often get much direct response to my Times reviews in the form of email; usually that's reserved for social-media channels and the occasional…
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Jennifer Koh, by Jennifer Taylor/The New York Times Jennifer Koh at the 92nd Street Y, March 2, 2013The New York Times, March 5, 2013 I specifically remember thinking, as Jennifer Koh managed to give each voice in Bach's fugues its own sound and personality, that the shadows playing on the wall behind her served as…
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Quartz Safari – Quartz Safari (Fadeaway Tapes) Jean Sibelius – Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4 – Minnesota Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä (Bis) Philip Glass – Symphony No. 7 "Toltec" – Linz Opera Chorus, Bruckner Orchestra Linz/Dennis Russell Davies (Orange Mountain Music) Osvaldo Golijov – Oceana – Luciana Souza, Gwinnett Young Singers, Atlanta Symphony Chorus and Orchestra/Robert Spano;…
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Collegiate Chorale, by Richard Termine/The New York Times Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall, February 27, 2013The New York Times, March 2, 2013 Here we are at Night After Night post No. 1,000. Feels auspicious, even if it's just a link to the latest of my New York Times reviews. If this particular report comes off…
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Matoaka Little Eagle, Cleek Schrey, Mary MacKenzie and Jessica Schmitz, by Julieta Cervantes/The New York Times Avant Music Festival at the Wild Project, February 16, 2013The New York Times, Feb. 20, 2013 Last month I was lucky enough to get to hear a live performance of John Cage's Apartment House 1776 as part of the…
Night After Night 