The Squid's Ear Magazine


Fields, Scott Ensemble: Fugu (Clean Feed)

Originally released in 1995 on Field's own Geode label, these compositions for choreographer Li Chiao-Ping use complex rhythms and tonalities in a serial pitch "system of circles".
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Scott Fields-nylon string guitar

Geoff Brady-percussion

John Padden-contrabass

Robert Stright-vibraphone

Matt Turner-cello


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UPC: 5609063001716

Label: Clean Feed
Catalog ID: CF171
Squidco Product Code: 12668

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2010
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardstock Gatefold Sleeve
Recorded and mixed at Smart Studios, Madison, Wisconsin, spring 1995 by Buzz Kemper assisted by Mark Haines. Edited and mastered by Tom Blain. Produced by Scott Fields.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Fugu was recorded in 1995, not long after Fields returned to music after what he says were "15 years of trying to find something I liked to do better." (Fields was barely 21 when he quit music and, he now says, "it's not as though I was a big deal and anyone missed me. I was the only one who knew I was retired and even that took me a few years to realize.")

Fugu was first released on Fields' own, short-lived, label Geode. Fields wrote the compositions for dance, specifically for the chorographer Li Chiao-Ping. But, as Fields explains in his liner notes, the music's irregular (usually additive), and frequently changing, time signatures, not to mention numerous changes in tempo, proved too difficult for most dancers to follow. Of the five compositions on Fugu, only "The Plagiarist" is in a simple meter, 4/4. But its high tempo, just somewhat less than the 300 beats per minute marked on the score, presents its own difficulties for dance. One composition was choreographed and none were performed. Tonally all of the material, and to a large extent the improvised sections as well, work within what Fields says is a radically simplified version of Stephan Dembski's post-serial pitch organizations system, sometimes called a system of circles. This system generates related sets of seven-pitch scales that are used the same way as common major and minor scales, but in different patterns.

This version of the Scott Fields Ensemble grew out of Fields' first post-retirement group, the Silt Loam Ensemble, whose recorded output consisted of two cassette-only releases. Bassist John Padden, an original member of Silt Loam, was primarily a classical musician. Fields says Padden was one of his favorite people to play with because of his beautiful sound, solid time, and generous temperament. Geoff Brady, also a Fields favorite, joined Silt Loam shortly before it morphed into a Fields-led group. Padden and Brady, along with vibist Robert Stright, who earned a doctorate in music composition at the University of Wisconsin, appear on Fields' first Geode CD, Running with Scissors. For cellist Matt Turner, Fugu was the first of many recordings, tours, and performances with Fields. Turner also appears on the Fields recordings 48 Motives, Disaster at Sea, Sonotropism, 96 Gestures, and Christangelfox. Fields recruited Turner shortly after the cellist returned to his native Wisconsin from Boston."-Clean Feed


Artist Biographies

"Scott Fields (born September 30, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois) is a guitarist, composer, and bandleader. He is best known for his attempts to blend music that is composed and music that is written and for his modular pieces (see 48 Motives, 96 Gestures and "OZZO"). He works primarily in avant-garde jazz, experimental music, and contemporary classical music.

Fields was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He started as a self-taught rock musician but soon was influenced by the musicians of the Association for the Advancement for Creative Musicians (AACM), which was active in the Hyde Park neighborhood in which he grew up. Later he studied classical guitar, jazz guitar, music composition, and music theory. In 1973 Fields co-founded the avant-garde jazz trio Life Rhythms. When the group disbanded two years later, he played sporadically but soon was institutionalized for an extended period. He almost quit music until 1989.

Since then he has performed and composed actively. His ensembles and partnerships have included such musicians as Marilyn Crispell, Hamid Drake, John Hollenbeck, Joseph Jarman, Myra Melford, Jeff Parker, and Elliott Sharp."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Fields)
4/23/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Poem For Joseph 7:48

2. The Big Mango 11:35

3. The Plagiarist 6:52

4. A Carrot Is A Carrot 18:49

5. Fugu 9:29

Related Categories of Interest:

Clean Feed

Improvised Music
Jazz
Quintet Recordings
Jazz & Improvisation Based on Compositions
Squidco's Clean Feed 50% Sale

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