Strings and Serpents featuring Tsugumi Yamamoto & Ai Kajigano, Andy Milne, Benoît Delbecq
Strings and Serpents (piano/koto/animation) featuring Tsugumi Yamamoto & Ai Kajigano, Andy Milne, Benoît Delbecq on Sunday, October 26, 2014 7:00 p.m. Tickets $12-25. To purchase or get more info please contact 213-237-2800 or visit www.redcat.org. REDCAT is located at 631 WEST. 2nd Street, Los Angeles CA 90012 (corner of 2nd & Hope streets)
Plying rhythmic forms and sonic colors in a shared language of improvisation, jazz pianists Andy Milne and Benoît Delbecq (a.k.a. Crystal Magnets) partner with the Japanese koto duo TsuguKaji-KOTO, amid the swirling washes of Saki Murotani's projected animation. Conceived and composed by Milne—founder of Dapp Theory and noted veteran of New York's downtown jazz scene—the 75-minute epic draws on the myth of the Rainbow Serpent as it opens new multilayered dialogues between East and WEST., sight and sound.
As the piano duo Crystal Magnets, Milne and Delbecq are known for fluid melodies and percussive prepared-piano textures, while the twosome of Ai Kajigano and Tsugumi Yamamoto explore the vivid tones of the koto in original repertoire that connects the traditional with the contemporary.
Musically, the project explores a synthesis of Japanese and Western structures in terms of form, improvisational language, and rhythm. Seamlessly blending traditional and modern koto textures with the language of jazz and contemporary improvisation, the compositions explore a polymetric approach for prepared piano and koto, expanding the interaction of rhythmic forms and sonic colors between the music and the animation.
Visually, Strings and Serpents features a 60-minute animated film based on the Rainbow Serpent mythology and employs 2-D and 3-D computer generated imagery (CGI), inspired by the music. A visual narrative unfolds without dialogue or subtitles, and projects a visual composition that experiments with color, shape, texture, light, and motion to enrich the relationship between the pianos and kotos.
Crystal Magnets is a piano duo from two masters of contemporary improvisation, Canadian Andy Milne and Frenchman Benoît Delbecq.Both Milne and Delbecq are recipients of the prestigious Civitella Fellowship and, individually, lead and compose for numerous projects, tour extensively throughout the world, and are highly regarded within the jazz and creative music communities of New York and Paris, respectively.
Milne draws inspiration from various forms of music, politics, philosophy, comedy, and science fiction. His musical influences include Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum, Herbie Nichols, Bela Bartok, Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder. Considered one of the most important and respected voices in jazz today, Milne is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions, including the prestigious Civitella Fellowship in 2011.
Milne has established himself as a distinctive voice at the heart of New York's creative jazz scene, performing throughout the world in numerous settings, including collaborations with a range of artists including Ravi Coltrane, Carlos Ward, Carla Cook, Sekou Sundiata, Avery Brooks, Geri Allen, Dianne Reeves, Robin Eubanks, Red Mitchell, and Sonny Greenwich. His innovative rhythmic approach combined with his extensive harmonic lexicon place him at the forefront of young pianists poised to carry on the lineage of creative masters like Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner.
Supported by The Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program, the Canada Council for the Arts, and New Music USA.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Tickets $12-25.
To purchase or get more info please contact 213-237-2800 or visit www.redcat.org.
Street Address: 631 WEST. 2nd Street, Los Angeles CA 90012
Location/Parking: REDCAT is located in downtown Los Angeles inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex with a separate entrance at the corner of WEST. 2nd and Hope Streets. Parking is available in the Walt Disney Concert Hall parking structure. $9 event rate or $5 for vehicles entering after 8:00 pm on weekdays.
ABOUT REDCAT | THE ROY AND EDNA DISNEY/CALARTS THEATER
REDCAT, CalArts' downtown center for contemporary arts, presents a dynamic and international mix of innovative visual, performing and media arts year round. Located inside the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall complex in downtown Los Angeles, REDCAT houses a theater, a gallery space and a lounge. Through performances, exhibitions, screenings, and literary events, REDCAT introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in this region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature. REDCAT continues the tradition of the California Institute of the Arts, its parent organization, by encouraging experimentation, discovery and lively civic discourse.
Photo courtesy the artist.
Plying rhythmic forms and sonic colors in a shared language of improvisation, jazz pianists Andy Milne and Benoît Delbecq (a.k.a. Crystal Magnets) partner with the Japanese koto duo TsuguKaji-KOTO, amid the swirling washes of Saki Murotani's projected animation. Conceived and composed by Milne—founder of Dapp Theory and noted veteran of New York's downtown jazz scene—the 75-minute epic draws on the myth of the Rainbow Serpent as it opens new multilayered dialogues between East and WEST., sight and sound.
As the piano duo Crystal Magnets, Milne and Delbecq are known for fluid melodies and percussive prepared-piano textures, while the twosome of Ai Kajigano and Tsugumi Yamamoto explore the vivid tones of the koto in original repertoire that connects the traditional with the contemporary.
Musically, the project explores a synthesis of Japanese and Western structures in terms of form, improvisational language, and rhythm. Seamlessly blending traditional and modern koto textures with the language of jazz and contemporary improvisation, the compositions explore a polymetric approach for prepared piano and koto, expanding the interaction of rhythmic forms and sonic colors between the music and the animation.
Visually, Strings and Serpents features a 60-minute animated film based on the Rainbow Serpent mythology and employs 2-D and 3-D computer generated imagery (CGI), inspired by the music. A visual narrative unfolds without dialogue or subtitles, and projects a visual composition that experiments with color, shape, texture, light, and motion to enrich the relationship between the pianos and kotos.
Crystal Magnets is a piano duo from two masters of contemporary improvisation, Canadian Andy Milne and Frenchman Benoît Delbecq.Both Milne and Delbecq are recipients of the prestigious Civitella Fellowship and, individually, lead and compose for numerous projects, tour extensively throughout the world, and are highly regarded within the jazz and creative music communities of New York and Paris, respectively.
Milne draws inspiration from various forms of music, politics, philosophy, comedy, and science fiction. His musical influences include Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum, Herbie Nichols, Bela Bartok, Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder. Considered one of the most important and respected voices in jazz today, Milne is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions, including the prestigious Civitella Fellowship in 2011.
Milne has established himself as a distinctive voice at the heart of New York's creative jazz scene, performing throughout the world in numerous settings, including collaborations with a range of artists including Ravi Coltrane, Carlos Ward, Carla Cook, Sekou Sundiata, Avery Brooks, Geri Allen, Dianne Reeves, Robin Eubanks, Red Mitchell, and Sonny Greenwich. His innovative rhythmic approach combined with his extensive harmonic lexicon place him at the forefront of young pianists poised to carry on the lineage of creative masters like Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner.
Supported by The Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program, the Canada Council for the Arts, and New Music USA.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Tickets $12-25.
To purchase or get more info please contact 213-237-2800 or visit www.redcat.org.
Street Address: 631 WEST. 2nd Street, Los Angeles CA 90012
Location/Parking: REDCAT is located in downtown Los Angeles inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex with a separate entrance at the corner of WEST. 2nd and Hope Streets. Parking is available in the Walt Disney Concert Hall parking structure. $9 event rate or $5 for vehicles entering after 8:00 pm on weekdays.
ABOUT REDCAT | THE ROY AND EDNA DISNEY/CALARTS THEATER
REDCAT, CalArts' downtown center for contemporary arts, presents a dynamic and international mix of innovative visual, performing and media arts year round. Located inside the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall complex in downtown Los Angeles, REDCAT houses a theater, a gallery space and a lounge. Through performances, exhibitions, screenings, and literary events, REDCAT introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in this region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature. REDCAT continues the tradition of the California Institute of the Arts, its parent organization, by encouraging experimentation, discovery and lively civic discourse.
Photo courtesy the artist.
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