A modern spoken opera by NY composer Elliott Sharp and librettist/narrator Jack Womack (Terraplane) with several narrators, reflecting the events surrounding a 1981 killing in New York's East Village, set in a darkly instrumental soundtrack developed by Sharp using guitars, saxophones, clarinets, synthesizers, bass, percussion, drums programming and samples.
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Elliott Sharp-composer, guitars, saxophones, clarinets, synthesizers, bass, percussion, drums programming, samples
Jedadiah Schultz-vocals
Ryan Quinn-vocals
Sonja Perryman-vocals
Queen Esther-vocals
Cy Fore-vocals
Jack Womack-vocals
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UPC: 616892116868
Label: Henceforth
Catalog ID: 110
Squidco Product Code: 30750
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2010
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded in concert at The Kitchen, in NYC, in 2009 with additional recording at Studio zOaR, in NYC.
"Theatrically gripping and sonically sophisticated, this modern opera by composer Elliott Sharp and librettist/narrator Jack Womack reflects the events surrounding a 1981 killing in New York's East Village. That flashpoint was the genesis for a musical meditation on Manhattan, where "everyone has a favorite murder."
Through studio wizardry Sharp creates all the instrumental sounds on reeds, guitars, bass, percussion, synthesizer and programmed samples. With the score providing leitmotifs for the story, Sharp's instincts are note-perfect, whether backing the narrator's hard-boiled sardonic drawl with overblown saxophone vibrato a la Harlem Nocturne or using menacing guitar flanges to underline Jedediah Schultz's dialogue as protagonist Jack Henry Abbott boasting how he can gut a victim while knifing him. Later echoing industrial sound accelerates to synthesizer and drum-beat disco-funk, when waitress Susie (sung by Queen Esther) defiantly describes her street smarts, then in funky R/B mode, vocalizes her view of the tragedy."-Henceforth
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Elliott Sharp "Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer. A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City for over 30 years, Elliott Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from orchestral music to blues, jazz, noise, no wave rock, and techno music. He leads the projects Carbon and Orchestra Carbon, Tectonics, and Terraplane and has pioneered ways of applying fractal geometry, chaos theory, and genetic metaphors to musical composition and interaction. His collaborators have included Radio-Sinfonie Frankfurt; pop singer Debbie Harry; Ensemble Modern; Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; Kronos String Quartet; Ensemble Resonanz; cello innovator Frances Marie Uitti; blues legends Hubert Sumlin and Pops Staples; pipa virtuoso Min-Xiao Feng; jazz greats Jack deJohnette, Oliver Lake, and Sonny Sharrock; multimedia artists Christian Marclay and Pierre Huyghe; and Bachir Attar, leader of the Master Musicians Of Jajouka. Sharp is a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, and a 2014 Fellow at Parson's Center for Transformative Media. He received the 2015 Berlin Prize in Musical Composition from the American Academy in Berlin. He has composed scores for feature films and documentaries; created sound-design for interstitials on The Sundance Channel, MTV and Bravo networks; and has presented numerous sound installations in art galleries and museums. He is the subject of a new documentary "Doing The Don't" by filmmaker Bert Shapiro."-Elliott Sharp ^ Hide Bio for Elliott Sharp • Show Bio for Ryan Quinn Ryan Quinn: "I'm a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from Central NY currently based in sunny, crowded, horrifying Los Angeles, CA. You might recognize me from Season 10 of "The Voice," or from my work with Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox. When I'm not touring, you'll find me writing music, recording session vocals for all sorts of projects, drinking copious amounts of coffee and/or taking a nap. It's a toss up, really." ^ Hide Bio for Ryan Quinn • Show Bio for Sonja Perryman "Sonja worked as a theater actress by night, substitute teacher by day before transitioning into screenwriting and producing. She has a passion for telling diverse, female-driven stories and was staffed on FB Watch's "Five Points" and is currently co-writing a pilot for eOne. She won WeScreenplay's Feature Competition and is a finalist for Nantucket Film Festival's Tony Cox Screenplay Competition." ^ Hide Bio for Sonja Perryman • Show Bio for Jack Womack "Jack Womack (born January 8, 1956) is an American author of fiction and speculative fiction. Womack was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and now lives in New York City with his wife and daughter." ^ Hide Bio for Jack Womack
12/3/2024
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12/3/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
12/3/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
12/3/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Binibon Overture 01:50
2. Fun City Days 06:15
3. Take A Knife 04:52
4. The Scene 05:04
5. Susie And Johnny 07:34
6. Irreversibility 03:17
7. The Writer's Mind 04:37
8. Intracte 02:52
9. Contessa 03:28
10. Fabuluscious 04:38
11. Murder And... 09:29
12. What A Crime 02:08
13. Epilog 01:47
Compositional Forms
Electro-Acoustic
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Spoken Word
Unusual Vocal Forms
New in Experimental & Electronic Music
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