The Squid's Ear Magazine


Sharp, Elliott: Mandocello (zOaR Records)

A tour-de-force exposition of the mandocello, acoustic and electronic, an instrument evolving out of the 18th century mandalone into a louder instrument intended to take the bass role in mandolin ensembles, which Sharp demonstrates through strings that ring with powerful resonance as he performs original compositions with references to Derek Bailey, Kinshi Tsuruta, and Harry Partch.
 

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UPC: 755491314593

Label: zOaR Records
Catalog ID: ZCD 169
Squidco Product Code: 35282

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Studio zOaR, in NYC, on July 11th to 15th, 2024.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"With origins in the stick lutes and lyres dating back to 3000 years BCE, the mandolin emerged from the almond-shaped barbut, oud and pandura brought to Iberia by the Moors in the 7th Century CE. The modern mandolin, a steel-stringed instrument tuned in fifths, evolved in Italy in the 18th century predominantly through the work of the Vinaccia family, makers of violins, cellos, guitars, and mandolas. The roots of the mandocello begin with the mandolone, a 4-stringed instrument used in mandolin ensembles popular in the 18th century. Though their popularity waned in the early 19th century, it grew again with the innovations of the Vinnacia luthiers who developed a louder and more robust instrument, the mandocello, to take the bass role in mandolin ensembles. In contemporary music, this instrument has been used widely in Celtic and other folk musics though rarely in the context of avant-garde and improvised music.

For the acoustic portion of this album, the main instrument used was a mandocello of uncertain origin but appearing to be converted in the 1930s from an archtop guitar. The exception is Partched where a doubleneck mandocello/guitar built by Steve Wishnevsky was played. For the electric portion of this album, a Mutantum solid-body electric mandocello was used, constructed in 2019 from a 12-string guitar neck matched with a 1960s Intermark Cipher guitar body.

The compositions include "D Rex" dedicated to the pioneering guitar improviser Derek Bailey, "Tsuruta" for the visionary Japanese biwa player Kinshi Tsuruta featured in "November Steps" by Toru Takemitsu, and Partched for the iconoclastic composer and instrument builder Harry Partch."-zOaR Records


Artist Biographies

"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

-Elliott Sharp website (http://www.elliottsharp.com/bio.html)
12/3/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Thagomizer 04:04

2. Unrest 04:59

3. Interrogbang 04:56

4. D Rex (for Derek Bailey) 02:16

5. Vespers 04:15

6. Tsuruta (for Kinshi Tsuruta) 08:27

7. Partched (for Harry Partch) 05:25

8. Calligraph 02:08

9. Citterna 03:48

10. Dialog 01:26

11. Illume 03:33

12. Gamera 01:50

13. Abysm 04:06

14. Avenue Sea 02:50

Related Categories of Interest:


Compositional Forms
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Guitarists, &c.
Solo Artist Recordings
New in Compositional Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

Search for other titles on the label:
zOaR Records.


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