The Squid's Ear Magazine


Paul, Leah: Trenza (Skirl)

Flutist Leah Paul presents two engaging compositions in multiple movements, performed with a chamber ensemble of Chris Speed (reeds), Rob Jost (french horn), Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon), Peter Sachon (cello), Tanya Kalmanovitch (viola), Ben Kono (oboe) and Michel Gentile (flute).
 

Price: $14.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 1.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Leah Paul-flute

Michel Gentile-alto flute

Chris Speed-clarinet

Ben Kono-oboe

Sara Schoenbeck-bassoon

Rob Jost-french horn

Tanya Kalmanovitch-viola

Peter Sachon-cello


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




UPC: 888295091527

Label: Skirl
Catalog ID: Skirl 026
Squidco Product Code: 19813

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2013
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard sleeve
Recorded at Brooklyn Recording in August 2013 by Din Piper.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"This is proudly proclaimed to be composed music, though many of the players, including Paul herself (who has played with Anthony Braxton), are associated with the free improvisation/jazz scene(s), clarinetist Chris Speed and bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck being the best known. There are two pieces, the two-movement "Steps to Stairs", which opens the album, and "California Quintet", in six movements. The music is entirely tonal, perhaps a bit influenced by Minimalism in its gestures, but not in its structures: it develops more quickly and switches moods more often. The contrasting timbres of strings and woodwinds-the latter dominating-are handled adeptly and do a lot to keep the music sparkling and attractive."-The Big Takeover



Leah Paul is a composer/ multi-instrumentalist who plays regularly with Blarvuster, Anthony Braxton, and has guested with rock bands and new music ensembles through New York City and Los Angeles. Leah has her own ensemble of dynamic musicians that regularly perform her genre-bending chamber music.


Artist Biographies

"Leah began her music career in Brooklyn, NY in 2002 after studying flute performance at the University of Michigan.

As a flutist, Leah has played a vital role in NYC's new music and downtown scenes. She has been a longtime member of Matthew Welch's Blarvuster, recently performing his new opera Borges and the Other at Roulette, as well as playing on his Tzadik release Blarvuster. In 2010 Leah recorded with Anthony Braxton's Triilium E Orchestra as a soloist, the first-ever Braxton opera studio recording, Leah is also featured on his upcoming release of Trillium J recorded in the spring of 2014.Leah has also recorded and performed with countless bands and ensembles such as TV on the Radio, the Dirty Projectors, Milagres, Michael Leonhart, Aaron Seigel and City Center.

Leah's upcoming release 'We Will Do the Worrying' is being met with high praise from high places. We Will Do The Worrying is an extension of the rich chamber writing Leah has honed on her previous albums, this time bringing in lushly layered vocals, alluring string quartet arrangements and percussive elements to create vignettes of other-worldly landscapes and experiences. Leah's gift for weaving harmonically textural motifs, playful rhythmic counterpoint and sparse yet meaningful lyrics allow the ten pieces on this album to soar, sparking imaginative daydreams in the minds-eye of the listener.

Leah Paul's album Trenza is unlike any chamber music you've heard. Featuring genre-busting musicians such as Chris Speed and Sara Schoenbeck, every piece takes on an identity in the way your favorite rock song might, unraveling complex counterpoint and harmonic shifts at breakneck pace. Leah's work as a flutist with artists such as Anthony Braxton and the Dirty Projectors informs her compositions as they are simultaneously unexpected and catchy. California Quintet was written during her first year in Los Angeles after relocating from Brooklyn. Each of the six movements chronicles an exploration and shift in perspective that one experiences when completely changing one's surroundings. Steps to Stairs employs lower strings mixed with winds to create an ensemble that blossoms into full orchestral timbres while maintaining an intimate backdrop for sparse melodic textures to emerge. Trenza beautifully braids the nuances of classical, jazz and contemporary music into a singular voice and a joyful listening experience. This is Leah's second release on Brooklyn's Skirl Records.

Leah Paul's 2011 release of her works for quartet Bike Lane, on Brooklyn's Improvisation/new music label Skirl Records has been met with enthusiasm and praise. Bike Lane is a collection of composed music for flute, clarinet, bassoon and viola. The inspiration for this album is the ever-merging scenes of classical, improvised, and rock music that are unique to New York City. It is composed chamber music channeling pop structure, with an improvisational spirit and feel. Peter Margasak of eMusic says "...while operating like a sophisticated chamber ensemble, the quartet reveals a wonderfully fluid, graceful pop sensibility. There's nothing cheap or shallow about the music, but the themes lodge in the memory like radio hits."

Leah's earlier projects include the Bridesmaids, a chamber pop group which received acclaim from TimeOutNY, the Big Takeover and Venuszine.

Currently Leah is currently living in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles, in addition to her career as a composer and flutist, she is also an active teacher working for the Harmony Project of Los Angeles, YoungArts, as well as a guest lecturer at the Longy School of Music and a presenter at the Los Angeles Composer's Salon."

-Leah Paul's Website (http://leahpaul.com/bio/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
"Chris Speed is a composer, clarinetist and saxophonist - and is "one of the principal figures in a dynamic left-of-center jazz/improv scene in the city" (NYTimes). His own bands include Endangered Blood, Human Feel, yeah NO, Trio Iffy, Pachora and The Clarinets. He is a founding member of Jim Black's Alas No Axis and John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet (two of the most influential working bands today), works with Uri Caine (deconstructing works by Mahler, Mozart, Bach, Schoenberg, Gershwin) and maintains a busy career of touring, recording, performing, composing, practicing and teaching. Current projects include work with Craig Taborn's Heroic Frenzies, Michael Formanek's Ensemble Kolossus, Dave King's Trucking Co., Matt Mitchell Quartet, Mary Halvorson's Reverse Blue, Banda de los Muertos (NYC's only Banda band), as well as touring his latest project, Endangered Blood (with Black, Trevor Dunn and Oscar Noriega) which was featured on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts in 2012. (Endangered Blood 2010, Work Your Magic 2013 Skirl). "Speed's Endangered Blood originals stand out as his most melodically generous, accessible and warm batch of compositions he's yet to produce." -DownBeat ****Born in 1967, Speed grew up in the Seattle area where he met future colleagues Jim Black and Andrew D'Angelo, all of whom ended up in Boston in the late 80's where they formed Human Feel with guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. (Scatter 1992, Welcome to Malpesta 1994, Speak To It 1996, Galore 2007). While in Boston he studied at New England Conservatory and graduated in 1990. By 1992, after a short tour with the Artie Shaw Band (led by Dick Johnson), Speed moved to New York City where he started working with Tim Berne's (now legendary touring band) Bloodcount. (Unwound 1996, Discretion 1997, Saturation Point 1997, The Seconds 2006).In April 2006, he launched Skirl Records, a label dedicated to Brooklyn based creative music" -Chris Speed Website (http://chrisspeed.com/bio/)
3/13/2024

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

"Sara Schoenbeck is a bassoonist who dedicates herself to expanding the sound and role of the bassoon in the worlds of classical, contemporary notated and improvised music. The Wire magazine places her in the "tiny club of bassoon pioneers" at work in contemporary music today and the New York Times has called her "riveting, mixing textural experiments with a big, confident sound."

Originally from California, Sara spent her time on the west coast freelancing in various orchestral bassoon sections such as Santa Barbara Symphony, California Symphony, Redlands, Mancini Orchestra, the Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra and touring as a member of creative music ensembles Gravitas Quartet with Wayne Horvitz, Ron Miles and Peggy Lee, Anthony Braxton's 12+1(tet) and Vinny Golia's Large Ensemble. Sara also recorded for various sound and film projects including the Matrix 2 and 3 and Spanglish.

Sara now calls Brooklyn home and performs regularly with Petr Kotek's SEM ensemble, the composers group WetInk, Wordless Music Orchestra, LPR, Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Orchestra, Gravitas, Harris Eisenstadt's Golden State Quartet,the Lyrica Chamber Orchestra as well as performing with many other creative and inspiring musicians in the New York scene.

She has performed at major venues and festivals throughout North America and Europe, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the Kitchen, Iridium, Disney Hall, SXSW, New Orleans Jazz Festival, Berlin Jazz Festival, Free Music Festival in Antwerp Belgium, Biennale Musica in Venice Italy, Montreal Jazz Festival, Ottawa Jazz Festival, the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and the San Francisco Jazz Festival to name a few. Sara received her BFA from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts."

-Sara Schoenbeck Website (http://saraschoenbeck.weebly.com/bio.html)
3/13/2024

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

"Tanya Kalmanovitch is a Canadian violist, ethnomusicologist, and author known for her breadth of inquiry and restless sense of adventure. Her uncommonly diverse interests converge in the fields of improvisation, social entrepreneurship, and social action with projects that explore the provocative cultural geography of locations around the world. Based in Brooklyn, Kalmanovitch's layered artistic research practice has rewarded her with extended residencies in India, Ireland, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Siberia.

Named "Best New Talent" by All About Jazz when she emerged from New York's vibrant downtown scene, Kalmanovitch has continually stretched the boundaries between classical, jazz and improvised music. The Irish Times called her "an exceptional musician," writing that her music possesses "austere beauty and remarkable unity between the written and the improvised." She completed her conservatory training at the prestigious Juilliard School only to debut as a jazz violist with the Turtle Island String Quartet soon after. Her stylistically fluid recordings have garnered critical acclaim. Hut Five (2003) was hailed by the Montreal Gazette as "an exceptional recording." Heart Mountain (2007) with venerated pianist Myra Melford won France's "Choc" award and topped many critics' year-end "Best of" lists. Pianist Ethan Iverson (Do The Math) praised her most recent release Magic Mountain (2016) with fellow violist Mat Maneri as "an exceptionally surreal and beautiful performance."

Kalmanovitch's career has become a broad platform for artistry and advocacy. She has been an invited speaker at the Society for Ethnomusicology, Carnegie Hall, the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women at Georgetown University, Columbia University, and National YoungArts Week, among others. She was drawn to ethnomusicology as a way to explore the ways in which music can speak to the world's biggest problems and earned her doctorate at the University of Alberta. Kalmanovitch's fieldwork on the globalization of Carnatic traditions in Chennai, Dublin, and Amsterdam has been published in World of Music and New Sound. In Istanbul, she reworked themes in Song Books for the John Cage centenary to reflect growing resistance movements. Her two residences at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul resulted in at total of 15 public performances, panel discussions, workshops, master classes, collaborative rehearsals and a student exchange with the United States. Her work has been featured in numerous publications including Canada's Globe and Mail, the Irish Times, the Boston Globe, Time Out New York, Jazz Times, and DownBeat, as well as on air for the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

Kalmanovitch has shown her commitment to education through her dedicated teaching practice for over a decade. She has given master classes at Woodstock's Creative Music Studios, the Banff Centre for the Arts, London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Estonian Academy of Music, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, and the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory. As a faculty member at the New England Conservatory since 2006, she played a leading role in new initiatives in the school's departments of Contemporary Improvisation and Entrepreneurial Musicianship. In 2013, she joined the faculty at Mannes School of Music at The New School New York City, where she is an Associate Professor, Affiliated Faculty with the Tishman Environment and Design Centre, and a fellow of the Graduate Institute of Design, Ethnography and Social Thought.

Kalmanovitch is currently performing in duo settings with pianist Marilyn Crispell as well as in a collaborative trio with pianist Anthony Coleman and accordionist Ted Reichman. She is developing the Tar Sands Songbook, a documentary theater play that tells the stories of people whose lives been shaped by living in close proximity to oil development and its effects."

-Tanya Kalmanovitch Website (http://www.tanyakalmanovitch.com/)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Steps to Stairs Movement 1 6:49

2. Steps to Stairs Movement 2 7:45

3. California Quintet Movement 1 4:28

4. California Quintet Movement 2 4:41

5. California Quintet Movement 3 2:54

6. California Quintet Movement 4 4:19

7. California Quintet Movement 5 4:15

8. California Quintet Movement 6 4:49

Related Categories of Interest:


Compositional Forms
Septet recordings
New in Compositional Music

Search for other titles on the label:
Skirl.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Sanchez, Angelica Nonet
Nighttime Creatures
(Pyroclastic Records)
Assembling a masterful set of New York jazz luminaries including Michael Attias, Ben Goldberg, John Hebert, Thomas Heberer, Sam Ospovat, Chris Speed, Omar Tamez and Kenny Warren, pianist Angelic Sanchez tailors her compositions to these players through nine original compositions, along with Ellington's "Lady of the Lavender Mist" and "Tristeza" by Amarndo Carvajal.
Threadgill, Henry Ensemble
The Other One
(Pi Recordings)
Composed by Henry Threadgill based on his observations of the exodus of people from New York City during the Covid pandemic and the debris left behind, this work titled "Valence" and dedicated to percussionist Milford Graves, is a chamber jazz piece in three movements was taken from recordings at Roulette of the second of two performances entitled "One" and "The Other One".
Nabatov, Simon Quintet (w/ Speed / Robertson / Hebert / Rainey)
Plain
(Clean Feed)
Russian-born Germany/NY-based pianist Simon Nabatov's Quintet with the new lineup of Chris Speed on tenor sax & clarinet, Herb Robertson on trumpet & cornet, John Hebert on double bass and Tom Rainey on drums, performing Nabatov's magnificently lyrical, sophisticated and often chamber-oriented compositions, an incredible achievement in writing and performance.
Rosenthal, Dean
Stones/Water/Time/Breath
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
American composer Dean Rosenthal's influential performance piece written in 2012 and performed more than 40 times throughout the world, a site-specific piece for any outside body of water with any number of performers, using stones to create percussive sounds in the water, here in five live performances from Newfoundland to New York to Wilbraham, MA (the composer's hometown).
Braxton, Anthony
Trillium J [4 CDs + Blu Ray]
(Braxton House/Firehouse 12 Records)
A multimedia box set of Anthony Braxton's opera work "Trillium J", containing live performance video on Blu-ray disc of a 2014 performance at Roulette in NY, and studio recording on 4-CD set, with 12 vocalists, 12 instrumental soloists and a full orchestra.
Braxton, Anthony
Trillium J [4 CDs + Blu Ray]
(New Braxton House)
Newly Distributed in 2021: A multimedia box set of Anthony Braxton's opera work "Trillium J", containing live performance video on Blu-ray disc of a 2014 performance at Roulette in NY, and studio recording on 4-CD set, with 12 vocalists, 12 instrumental soloists and a full orchestra.
Halvorson, Mary
Reverse Blue
(Relative Pitch)
Guitarist Mary Halvorson's project with Chris Speed on sax & clarinet, Eivind Opsvik on bass, and Tomas Fuijwara on drums, a band formed for a one-off concert at the Blue Note in NYC, that continued on based on the strength of the bond between them, as heard on this superb release.
Other Recommended Releases:
Speed, Chris Trio (w/ Chris Tordini / Dave King)
Despite Obstacles
(Intakt)
The 3rd Intakt release from NY multi-reedist and composer Chris Speed's Trio with bassist Chris Toridini and drummer Dave King, who is also a part of Speed's other working band The Bad Plus, this new album presenting eight original Speed compositions that, as Speed explains, get to the point of featuring the song, the sophisticated melodies around which this excellent trio pivot.
Schoenbeck, Sara
Sara Schoenbeck
(Pyroclastic Records)
A document of bassoonist Sara Shoenbeck's collaborations recorded between 2019-2021 in recording studios across North America, showing the inspired curiosity she brings to improvisation through a diverse set of duos performed with Harris Eisenstadt, Nicole Mitchell, Nels Cline, Roscoe Mitchell, Matt Mitchell, Mark Dresser, Wayne Horvitz, Peggy Lee and Robin Holcomb.
Paul, Leah
We Will Do The Worrying
(Skirl)
LA flutist Leah Paul began these works as through-composed chamber pieces, with lyrical content evolving as each song took shape, performed in a hybrid band of improvisers and chamber players with Afton Hefley singing about meditation of dreams and childhood memories.
Braxton, Anthony and the Tri-Centric Orchestra
Trillium E [4 CDs]
(New Braxton House)
Newly Distributed in 2021: Trillium E is the first-ever studio recording of an Anthony Braxton opera, a deluxe 4-disc set of this surreal and witty installment in Braxton's ongoing Trillium cycle, and includes a booklet with libretto, photos, and critical essays.
Braxton, Anthony
12+1tet (Victoriaville) 2007
(Les Disques Victo)
Braxton's Composition 361 is a staggeringly detailed 70 minute tour-de-force for his 12-tet, a work of shifting layers, counter-structures, quiet tensions and scorching explosions.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Fages, Ferran
Un lloc entre dos records
(Another Timbre)
Submerging the listener into the immediacy of pure perception through the economy of materials and atemporality, Catalan guitarist Ferran Fages presents the 3rd piece of his trilogy for guitar and sinteones, referencing Feldman, Lucier and Szlavnics as he specifies tunings for the guitar accompanied by pure resonating sinetones used as memory vehicles or shadows.
Fages, Ferran
Detuning Series For Guitar
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
The 2nd part of a trilogy for guitar and sinetones composed between 2015-18, alongside "What Might Occur (Rereadings of Triadic Memories by Morton Feldman for guitar and sinewaves)" (2015-17) and "Un Lloc Entre Dos Records" (2017); this work, originally written in 2016, and revised in 2018, is heard in a recording at GMEA, France, with guitarist Benjamin Maumus.
Cage, John / Guy Vandromme
Number Pieces (Piano)
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
John Cage wrote his "Number Pieces" in the last years of his life, using his time bracket technique of short fragments allowing the performer flexibility in interpretation; each piece is titled for the number of performers and its ordinal position in the series, and most pieces are dedicated to a musician; here pianist Guy Vandromme performs three of the "One", or solo, series.
Cole, Laura
Enough [2 CDS]
(Discus)
Pianist Laura Cole's first solo album presents 2 CDs; the first a collection of arrangements of pieces given to Cole for the album from friends and colleagues, including Robert Mitchell, Alex Wilson, Nikki Iles, Jason Yarde and Corey Mwamba; the 2nd disc, "As Warm As The Sun" is a collection of compositions and improvisations by Cole herself.
Fujii, Satoko
Diary 2005-2015 [Scorebook]
(Libra)
A book of scores to accompany the double CD of 56 Satoko Fujii compostions titled "Diary 2005-2015", performed by respected classical pianist and educator Yuko Yamaoka, released as part of Satoko Fujii's ambitious 60th birthday monthly album set.
Hennies, Sarah (performed by Lenka Novosedlikova)
Sisters [VINYL]
(Mappa)
US Composer Sarah Hennies wrote these pieces for vibraphone for Lenka Novosedlíková to be performed at the church in Kyjatice, Slovokia, a medieval building the two discovered while traveling, and that they challenged each to bring life to the building while respecting it's contemplative character and using the psychoacoustic dimensions of space.
Merce, Sergio
Three Dimensions Of The Spirit
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Conservatory trained Argentinian saxophonist Sergio Merce uses a prepared tenor sax and a microtonal sax to create rich harmonics and slowly moving tonal works, layering aberrant and alluring tones in restrained configurations that allow each stratum of sound to be distinguished and appreciated, creating mesmerizing compositions of elusive and illusionistic sound.
Bondi, Cyril / d'Incise
Kirari-Kirari
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
A sextet of Cyril Bondi (vibraphone), d'Incise (metallic objects), Magnus Granberg (piano), Anna Lindal (Baroque violin), Anna-Kaisa Meklin (viola de gamba) and Christoph Schiller (spinet) perform two works composed by Bondi and d'Incise, recorded by Simon Reynell of Another Timbre, works of repetition with distinct variations that evolve as each piece progresses.
Bondi, Cyril
Euhesma, 2017
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Swiss composer and percussionist Cyril Bondi, recording with d'incise, renders his piece "euhesma" (a genus within the bee family in Australia), a work performed on indian harmonium, melodica, harmonica, pitch pipes, and electric organ that slowly introduces and overlaps tones, varying the pitch, harmony, and amplitude to create rich aural environments.
Eisenstadt, Harris / Mivos Quartet
Whatever Will Happen That Will Also Be [VINYL]
(NoBusiness)
NY free jazz drummer and composer Harris Eisenstadt brings his talents to the compositional world with this four movement suite performed by the Mivos Quartet of Olivia De Prato, Josh Modney, Victor Lowrie and Mariel Roberts, a creative composition blending melodic and textural approaches to the strings in a bold rendering of Eisenstandt's work.
DK & The Perfectly Ordinary
CAR DEW TREAT US
(Spool)
A diverse set of artist interpret a random page from Cornelius Cardew's "Treatise", using the score alone with each artist unable to hear what the other participants were playing, which Spool label-leader Daniel Kernohan assembled into these 10 incredible audio tracks, each roughly 4:35 long, in a great interpretation of Cardew's (in)famous work.
de Alvear, Maria / Antoine Beuger
Besando El Tiempo [2 CDs]
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Antoine Beuger performs composer Maria De Alvear's 1995 contemplative work "Besando El Tiempo" (Kissing The Time) written using an automatic script and originally composed for the flautist Caren Levine; after hearing Beuger's interpretation she requested that he record it, the result this rendition that takes the composition on an introspective journey.
Schlothauer, Burkhard
More Chamber Events [2CDs]
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Composer Burkhard Schlothauer, co-founder of Editions Wandelweiser and a member of Zeitkratzer and the Wandwelweiser Composers Ensemble, in a five part work conceived as a single part, combining previous works into various possible versions as "events", working with spatial distribution, slow beats, noise, and pulse, superimposed from their origins.
Mincek, Alex
Torrent
(Sound American/Pleasure of the Text Records)
NY Composer and Zs founder Alex Mincek's first release since 2011 also launches Sound American's Young Composer Portrait series, presenting 4 chamber works--"Pendulum VII"; selected movements from "Harmonielehre"; "Pneuma"; and "Torrent"--performed by Wet Ink Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, and Yarn/Wire, in a deluxe hardcover book package with interviews and notes.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC