2005 Writings Page

October 7, 2005
This past monday, October 3, I recorded in NYC with Wendell Rivera's
group and John Patitucci on Acoustic and Electric Bass. Pat Georger
and I left Sunday evening and were in the city by 8:30. We found our
way via the airtrain and subway to the West End Studios; not a
recording studio but a funky hostel type hotel on the upper west side.
Around the corner was Smoke, the former Augie's at 104th and Broadway.
This club used to be the spot where one could hear Larry Goldings, Brad
Mehldau, Bill Stewart and their clique of Jazz practitioners. Back
then it was a rough bohemian style space where the band was often paid
by passing the hat to chess playing patrons. Now it is more polished
but not for the worse. An excellent place to hear music with a
slightly Vanguardish feel to it. The band was a creative Latin Jazz
mix with three horns and a vibrant rhythm team. A few beers and a
couple of sets later we were ready to rest for our day ahead.
The next morning we were surprised to meet Eric Biondo on the street
in Brooklyn outside the bagel joint where the band met for breakfast.
It was a fluke that Eric was there as he had been stiffed on an
appointment. We hadn't seen each other in years (10?) so we spent
breakfast catching up. He passed two of his recent CD projects to me.
The barbarians are an old school style two horn band with bass and
drums as the rhythm team. A blend of high energy funk rock grooves
with jagged melodies and percussive horn lines. A nice danceable
listen but not as engaging to me as his solo project Beyondo which puts
Eric in the role of the boy band singer. He is backed by himself on
sequencer with occassional trumpet interjections. The material is an
off kilter adaptation of the Insync type sound but with a more
obsessive pathology to the lyric and a darker harmonic tone. This is
an interesting direction. I hope to hear from Eric soon when he is in
town and will try to get together with him when he is here next.
The recording session was a very intense and enjoyable day of studio
ecstasy. Patitucci is an awesome force on his axes and great guy to
work with. The results of that day will be release soon I hope and
other than that the rest will be another memory in the saga of a
musical life.

November 20-22, 2005
Roswell Rudd’s Birthday celebration in NYC was a smash success.
Jaelle, our 19 yr. old daughter who is a junior biology major at SUNY
Fredonia and who was a pre-k when Roswell and I first played together,
made the trip to Manhattan on Sunday morning November 20th. We both had
the week off from school and thought it would be a good excuse to spend
some time together doing something unique. The two main events were a
concert by Eli’s Chosen Six, the dixieland band with whom Roswell
recorded for Columbia records in the early 1960’s and a get together at
he and partner Verna Gillis’ Manhattan apartment. The concert took
place in the wonderful acoustics of the Rubin Museum theater. The
Rubin is a fairly recent addition to the NYC museum cadre and a unique
and stimulating one as well. The exhibits featured Buddhist art from
across the ages including beautiful sculptures and stunning painted
cloth. The music was first rate dixieland, which has a close place in
my heart, with Roswell sounding magnificent. Later at the party Chris
Rudd and I talked about how we felt Roswell’s playing was at an
extremely high level. He has obviously been playing a lot. I though he
sounded as good as I have ever heard him. The party was a wonderful
collage of artists including musicians Dave Douglas, Charlie Kohlhase
and Steve Bernstein, visual artist Nancy Ostrovsky was there and we had
a great conversation about the new sounds that we have been involved
with. Nancy painted the Rudd trio in Stoneridge during an outdoor
performance. The huge work is one of her best she feels and I remember
it to be visually stunning with the energy of our performance and her
creativity captured and frozen. Jaelle and I had a great time at
Birdland with Carl Corwin listening to the Chico O’Farril orchestra.
The next day after a short walk through Central Park we visited the
American Museum of Natural History and the Darwin Exhibit. Later we
walked through the village in the rain bopping into overpriced second
hand shops and drinking chai tea and latte. We finished our trip with a
purchase of authentic ny rye bread and bagels from Moishe’s on 2nd ave.
Thank you Roswell for turning 70 in so magnificent a fashion and thank
you Verna for inviting us to your wonderful party.

November 25, 2005
Seiw-Wai Kok’s farewell show/party at the Kitchen Distribution on
Auburn west of Niagara was an evening of peculiar interest on Friday
Nov. 25 (2005). Seiw-Wai has now left for her homeland of malaysia
after working in the US with Pauline Oliveros and in Buffalo with many
musicians and visual artists including Mike Hermanson, Jax Deluca,
Steve Baczkowski, Koji Tombata, Pat Cain and others. The party was in
a basically unheated room during the heavy snowfall/blizzard of that
cold Friday night. Good that Seiw-Wai could experience one last
snowfall before leaving for the warmer climate of Malaysia but we all
froze. That is until we laughed. The evening was made up of
performances by the guest of honor in duo with Jax, Steve, and Scott
Valkwitch (guitar). We also heard from Terrible Elephant and an improv
with Baczkowski, Hermanson, Gabriel Guiterrez (cornet) and Pat Cain
(drums). At the end of the improv a group laugh ensued that helped to
warm the atmosphere. The final group consisted of myself with Jax,
Steve Hermanson and Valkwitch. Seiw-Wai has been a great addition to
the scene here. Hr performances and visual art have engaged and
inspired. Good Luck to Seiw-Wai and I hope to see her soon. For some
of her visual talents you can view photos on this web site.

Roswell Rudd 70th B-day and Siew-wai Kok Farewell Show Photos now posted.

Listening:
John Coltrane "Son Ship" and "Meditations" (lp)
Keith Jarrett and Jack Dejohnette "Ruta and Daitya" (lp)
Keith Jarrett, Jack Dejohnette and Gary Peacock "Changes" (lp)
Paul Motian "Conception Vessel" (lp)
Nino Rota "Juliet of the Spirits" (lp) original soundtrack recording
from the movie by Federico Fellini
Paul Bley, John Gilmore, Paul Motian, Gary Peacok "Turning Point"
"Bali" recorded in Bali (elektra nonesuch explorer series)
"Berio: Corale, Chemins II &IV" conducted by Pierre Boulez
Charlie Haden and Carla Bley "The Ballad of the Fallen"
Brad Mehldau "The Art of the Trio vol.4"
"Karheinz Stockhausen: Kontake" recorded by James Tenney and William
Winant
"Xu Feng: John Zorn's Game Pieces (1985) vol.1"
William Parker Quartet "Sound Unity"

Movies:
City of God
Turtles Can Fly
The Story of the Weeping Camel
Chicago
Himalaya
The Road Home
The Wind Will Carry Us
The Legend of 1900
Schultze Gets the Blues
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
Spirited Away
Nausica
Princess Mononoke

- 12/05


	John Bacon, Jr. 2005 Writings Page October 7, 2005 This past monday, October 3, I recorded in NYC with Wendell Rivera's group and John Patitucci on Acoustic and Electric Bass. Pat Georger and I left Sunday evening and were in the city by 8:30. We found our way via the airtrain and subway to the West End Studios; not a recording studio but a funky hostel type hotel on the upper west side. Around the corner was Smoke, the former Augie's at 104th and Broadway. This club used to be the spot where one could hear Larry Goldings, Brad Mehldau, Bill Stewart and their clique of Jazz practitioners. Back then it was a rough bohemian style space where the band was often paid by passing the hat to chess playing patrons. Now it is more polished but not for the worse. An excellent place to hear music with a slightly Vanguardish feel to it. The band was a creative Latin Jazz mix with three horns and a vibrant rhythm team. A few beers and a couple of sets later we were ready to rest for our day ahead. The next morning we were surprised to meet Eric Biondo on the street in Brooklyn outside the bagel joint where the band met for breakfast. It was a fluke that Eric was there as he had been stiffed on an appointment. We hadn't seen each other in years (10?) so we spent breakfast catching up. He passed two of his recent CD projects to me. The barbarians are an old school style two horn band with bass and drums as the rhythm team. A blend of high energy funk rock grooves with jagged melodies and percussive horn lines. A nice danceable listen but not as engaging to me as his solo project Beyondo which puts Eric in the role of the boy band singer. He is backed by himself on sequencer with occassional trumpet interjections. The material is an off kilter adaptation of the Insync type sound but with a more obsessive pathology to the lyric and a darker harmonic tone. This is an interesting direction. I hope to hear from Eric soon when he is in town and will try to get together with him when he is here next. The recording session was a very intense and enjoyable day of studio ecstasy. Patitucci is an awesome force on his axes and great guy to work with. The results of that day will be release soon I hope and other than that the rest will be another memory in the saga of a musical life. November 20-22, 2005 Roswell Rudd’s Birthday celebration in NYC was a smash success. Jaelle, our 19 yr. old daughter who is a junior biology major at SUNY Fredonia and who was a pre-k when Roswell and I first played together, made the trip to Manhattan on Sunday morning November 20th. We both had the week off from school and thought it would be a good excuse to spend some time together doing something unique. The two main events were a concert by Eli’s Chosen Six, the dixieland band with whom Roswell recorded for Columbia records in the early 1960’s and a get together at he and partner Verna Gillis’ Manhattan apartment. The concert took place in the wonderful acoustics of the Rubin Museum theater. The Rubin is a fairly recent addition to the NYC museum cadre and a unique and stimulating one as well. The exhibits featured Buddhist art from across the ages including beautiful sculptures and stunning painted cloth. The music was first rate dixieland, which has a close place in my heart, with Roswell sounding magnificent. Later at the party Chris Rudd and I talked about how we felt Roswell’s playing was at an extremely high level. He has obviously been playing a lot. I though he sounded as good as I have ever heard him. The party was a wonderful collage of artists including musicians Dave Douglas, Charlie Kohlhase and Steve Bernstein, visual artist Nancy Ostrovsky was there and we had a great conversation about the new sounds that we have been involved with. Nancy painted the Rudd trio in Stoneridge during an outdoor performance. The huge work is one of her best she feels and I remember it to be visually stunning with the energy of our performance and her creativity captured and frozen. Jaelle and I had a great time at Birdland with Carl Corwin listening to the Chico O’Farril orchestra. The next day after a short walk through Central Park we visited the American Museum of Natural History and the Darwin Exhibit. Later we walked through the village in the rain bopping into overpriced second hand shops and drinking chai tea and latte. We finished our trip with a purchase of authentic ny rye bread and bagels from Moishe’s on 2nd ave. Thank you Roswell for turning 70 in so magnificent a fashion and thank you Verna for inviting us to your wonderful party. November 25, 2005 Seiw-Wai Kok’s farewell show/party at the Kitchen Distribution on Auburn west of Niagara was an evening of peculiar interest on Friday Nov. 25 (2005). Seiw-Wai has now left for her homeland of malaysia after working in the US with Pauline Oliveros and in Buffalo with many musicians and visual artists including Mike Hermanson, Jax Deluca, Steve Baczkowski, Koji Tombata, Pat Cain and others. The party was in a basically unheated room during the heavy snowfall/blizzard of that cold Friday night. Good that Seiw-Wai could experience one last snowfall before leaving for the warmer climate of Malaysia but we all froze. That is until we laughed. The evening was made up of performances by the guest of honor in duo with Jax, Steve, and Scott Valkwitch (guitar). We also heard from Terrible Elephant and an improv with Baczkowski, Hermanson, Gabriel Guiterrez (cornet) and Pat Cain (drums). At the end of the improv a group laugh ensued that helped to warm the atmosphere. The final group consisted of myself with Jax, Steve Hermanson and Valkwitch. Seiw-Wai has been a great addition to the scene here. Hr performances and visual art have engaged and inspired. Good Luck to Seiw-Wai and I hope to see her soon. For some of her visual talents you can view photos on this web site. *Roswell Rudd 70th B-day and Siew-wai Kok Farewell Show Photos now posted.* Listening: John Coltrane "Son Ship" and "Meditations" (lp) Keith Jarrett and Jack Dejohnette "Ruta and Daitya" (lp) Keith Jarrett, Jack Dejohnette and Gary Peacock "Changes" (lp) Paul Motian "Conception Vessel" (lp) Nino Rota "Juliet of the Spirits" (lp) original soundtrack recording from the movie by Federico Fellini Paul Bley, John Gilmore, Paul Motian, Gary Peacok "Turning Point" "Bali" recorded in Bali (elektra nonesuch explorer series) "Berio: Corale, Chemins II &IV" conducted by Pierre Boulez Charlie Haden and Carla Bley "The Ballad of the Fallen" Brad Mehldau "The Art of the Trio vol.4" "Karheinz Stockhausen: Kontake" recorded by James Tenney and William Winant "Xu Feng: John Zorn's Game Pieces (1985) vol.1" William Parker Quartet "Sound Unity" Movies: City of God Turtles Can Fly The Story of the Weeping Camel Chicago Himalaya The Road Home The Wind Will Carry Us The Legend of 1900 Schultze Gets the Blues In the Mirror of Maya Deren Spirited Away Nausica Princess Mononoke - 12/05 Back to news. 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