The Squid's Ear Magazine


MacLean, Steve: Bridges (Recommended Records)

A specially priced double CD collecting two decades of composition and experimentation from Dr. Nerve alumnus guitarist Steve MacLean.
 

Price: $15.95


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product information:

Personnel:



Steve MacLean-guitars, electronics

Agnes Charlesworth-keyboard

James McGirr-bass

Dave Fields-drum kit

Jorrit Dijkstra-alto sax, lyricon, elecronics

Dan Soltzberg-bass, electronics

Harris Iverson-analog synthesizer

Buddy B-acoustic guitar

Mike Gallant-acoustic guitar

Melanie Hedlund-voice, vibes, percussion, upright leaning bass


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 752725023924

Label: Recommended Records
Catalog ID: ReR SM2/3
Squidco Product Code: 8971

Format: 2 CDs
Condition: New
Released: 2007
Country: Great Britain
Packaging: 2 CDs in a single Jewel tray

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"These recordings collect together works spanning two decades of composition and experimentation that balance traditional musical resources (the band, compositional skills, instrumental techniques, acoustic and amplified instruments) and the new technologies (computers, software, processing). The first CD showcases polyrhythmic, careful compositions (like those on his last ReR CD, Opposite of War), which still no-one has tried to emulate. The second is more meditative, abstract and electronic, moving from Kora through electric and acoustic guitars - with and without radical effects processing - to piano and virtual orchestra, putting various softwares through their paces."-Chris Cutler, ReR Megacorp

"Steve MacLean began playing drums and guitar at the age of seven and composing at twelve. Completing high school early, he met Roswell Rudd and began playing concerts with him in New York. He moved to the city and took a job in a busy recording studio, working with cutting edge artists of every genre and spending his free time moving around the NYC "downtown" free improvisation scene. He soon joined Nick Didkovsky's Dr. Nerve and made a slew of records. By 1980 he was scoring for dance, performing his own compositions on PBS television's New Music Directions series, and setting up his own studio, which over the next two decades produced award winning scores and sound design for hundreds of TV and radio commercials, films and disparate multi-media projects. Between times he co-founded the Portland Experimental Music Collective, established his own permanent ensemble and had compositions performed at numerous festivals. He moved to Boston in 2000 to take up a professorship in the Synthesis and Ensemble Departments at Berklee College of Music. He continues regularly to perform composed and improvised music - alone, with a student ensemble and in numerous projects with Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, Nick Didkovsky, Ken Field, Chris Cutler, Jonathan LaMaster, Eric Rosenthal, and others.

The recordings on this double CD collect together works spanning two decades of composition and experimentation. They balance traditional musical resources (the band, compositional skills, instrumental techniques, acoustic and amplified instruments) with the new technologies (computers, signal processing, sampling and recording software). The first showcases the kind of signature polyrhythmic, precise, instrumental compositions familiar from his last ReR CD, Opposite of War, while the second is more meditative, abstract and electronic, moving from acoustic kora through electric and acoustic guitars - with and without radical effects processing - to piano and virtual orchestra."-ReR USA, from the 1-sheet


Artist Biographies

"Steve MacLean is an assistant professor in the Electronic Production and Design Department at Berklee College of Music. A guitarist, composer, producer, and engineer, he has been evolving with music technology since the early 1980s, when he worked in a New York City recording studio and got hands-on experience with early versions of the Fairlight CMI, DX-7, Linn Drum, automated mixing consoles, and digital audio samplers. Later, he founded his own recording and production studio and produced/engineered hundreds of artists and numerous award-winning projects including scores for more than 200 commercials and soundtracks, as well as a prolific output of his own acclaimed works.

An active performer and composer for more than 30 years, he was cofounder of the Portland Experimental Music Collective, has performed original compositions at numerous new music festivals, including several pieces for New Music Across America and similar events. An innovator in the new music circuit, he was curator for a series of concerts called 2001 New Music Odyssey, and continues to release recordings internationally on Recommended Records, U.K., and others.

MacLean has been a music technology educator independently and with Berklee. He also was a product specialist/clinician with a variety of manufacturers for more than 20 years."

-Berklee University Website (https://www.berklee.edu/people/steve-maclean)
3/13/2024

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

"The music of saxophonist and composer Jorrit Dijkstra (Eindhoven, Netherlands, 1966) draws from the jazz tradition in spirit and sound, but has crossed stylistic and cultural borders in order to express a strong, evolving personal vision. He spent his formative years in Amsterdam's vibrant improvisation community playing jazz, free improvisation, and world music. Since moving to the United States in 2002, Dijkstra has deepened his affinity with the experimental forces of American music, while staying in touch with his Dutch musical roots. Jorrit works as a composer and is an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music and a faculty member of the New England Conservatory in Boston.

Dijkstra's recent projects include The Whammies play the Music of Steve Lacy, with leading Chicago, Boston, and Amsterdam improvisers, and duos with drummer/composer John Hollenbeck and trombonist Jeb Bishop. In Boston he leads the free improvisation quartet BOLT. In his solo project, he incorporates an array of electronic effect devices to process his saxophone improvisations live on stage. Dijkstra's use of analog electronics - including the Lyricon, a vintage electronic wind instrument from the seventies - extends his already flexible saxophone style into an idiosyncratic mix of cool jazz, free improvisation, and electronic minimalism.

Jorrit's work as a composer balances between similar stylistic boundaries. Commissioned by the North Sea Jazz Festival 2009, Pillow Circles brings together eight top improvisers in a mesmerizing sound world filled with indie guitar-rock and free jazz influences. His ongoing project Music for Reeds and Electronics explores the sonic possibilities of reed and electronics players in different improvisation communities in North America and Europe. Dijkstra has received other commissions from the David Kweksilber Big Band, Tetzepi Big Band, Amstel Saxophone Quartet, Kaida Duo, Duo X, The Harvard Jazz Band, electric guitarist Wiek Hijmans, saxophonist Ties Mellema, and bass clarinetist Fie Schouten. His commissioned works often incorporate electronic soundtracks and various forms of improvisation. Dijkstra's work has won him a Fulbright grant and the prestigious Podium Prize for jazz musicians in the Netherlands.

Jorrit has released eighteen CDs as a leader, and has participated in projects ranging from Anthony Braxton's Ghost Trance and Guus Janssen's opera Noach to a rare live performance of Texas outsider musician Jandek. He studied improvisation and composition with Misha Mengelberg, Steve Coleman, Steve Lacy, Bob Brookmeyer and Lee Hyla. He is co-founder of the artist-run label Driff Records. Jorrit is an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music and a faculty member of the New England Conservatory in Boston."

-Jorrit Dykstra Website (http://www.jorritdijkstra.com/)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



Disc 1



1. No Jazz (1989)

2. One Little Life (2001)

3. Untitled (2001)

4. Guitar Loom 3 (1997)

5. In and Around Susan (2006)

6. The Cliff (2001)

7. Trance 4 (1995)

8. Splice (1992)

9. Retro (2001)

10. Maneuvers (1990)



Disc 2



1. In a Room I Saw You (2004)

2. Kora (2006)

3. Guitar Loom 1 (1997)

4. 2 Short (2004)

5. Surrounded #4 (2006)

6. Truro #5 (2006)

7. Bambiville Revisited (1987)

8. Guitar Loom 2 (1997)

9. Bridges (1994)

10. Render (2004)

Related Categories of Interest:

Recommended Records
Rock and Related
RIO (Rock in Opposition)
Electro-Acoustic
November 2007
Instant Rewards

Search for other titles on the label:
Recommended Records.


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