


The boisterous and wonderfully controlled Downtown NY trio of Zeena Parkins on electric harp & objects, Mette Rasmussen on alto saxophone & objects, and Ryan Sawyer on percussion burn through six free improvisations of enthusiastic drive and incredible interaction using "string, breath and bell, harp, horn and drum" in a great example of modern creative improv.
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UPC: 5902249002553
Label: Relative Pitch
Catalog ID: RPR1118
Squidco Product Code: 30158
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2021
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Thump Recording Studios, in Brookyln New York, on June 19th, 2019, by John Thayer.
Personnel:
Zeena Parkins-electric harp, objects
Mette Rasmussen-alto saxophone, objects
Ryan Sawyer-percussion
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Descriptions, Reviews, &c.
"A new formation voicing string, breath and bell, harp, horn and drum speaking sparkling messages and hand-written letters of a Chain of New Hopes, back and forth, from the past and future dreams of a world in which efficiency would not be and will not be, the way to justice. Read closely the new language in the titles of this first movement of Glass Triangle, utter them, enunciate them, out loud. Tickle the tongue, hear the rhythmic tone of your throat echoes: these will introduce you then to the way angles, lines, turns, returns, all crystalline, all vibrating, quiet sometimes, soft never, sharp and sweet, build a mountaintop of sun, ice, fog, rain, snow, sky, light, transmission and cosmic rays."-Josiah McElheny, artist NYC, summer 2020

Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Zeena Parkins "Multi-instrumentalist/composer/improviser, Zeena Parkins, pioneer of contemporary harp practice and performance, reimagines the instrument as a "sound machine of limitless capacity." Parkins has built three versions of her one-of-a-kind electric harp and has extended the language of the acoustic harp with the inventive use of unusual playing techniques, preparations, and layers of electronic processing. Inspired and connected to visual arts, dance, film, and history, Zeena follows a unique path in creating her compositional works. Through blending and morphing of both real and imagined instruments, crafting, recombining, and layering mangled, sliced, massaged or possibly disengaged sounds, drawing from extra-musical sources for unusual scoring and formal constructions as well as utilizing multi-speaker environments, Zeena remains in process with sound as material and music, engaged in translations of sonic states in the concert hall, the black box theater, the dance studio, the recording studio, the classroom, the cinema, the skyscraper, the ocean and the gallery. Zeena has a particularly strong commitment to making scores for dance and continues to re-evaluate the nature and issues of the body's imprint on sound and sound/music's imprint on movement. Parkins's compositions have been commissioned by NeXtWorks Ensemble, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Roulette Intermedium, The Eclipse Quartet, William Winant, Bang on a Can, The Whitney Museum, The Tate Modern, Montalvo Arts Center, The Donaueschinger Musiktage and Sudwestrundfunk/SWR. Parkins has released four solo records featuring her electric and acoustic harp playing and has released her compositions and band projects on six Tzadik recordings, with a new Tzadik CD with Ikue Mori and Phantom Orchard Orchestra, Trouble in Paradise, to be released in November 2012. As a sought-after collaborator Zeena has worked with: Fred Frith, Björk, Ikue Mori, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Maja Ratkje, Hild Sofie Tafjord, John Zorn, Butch Morris, Chris Cutler, Elliott Sharp, Nels Cline, Alex Cline, William Winant, Anthony Braxton, Pauline Oliveros, Yoko Ono, Christian Marclay, Matmos, Yasunao Tone, So Percussion, Bobby Previte, Carla Kilhstedt, Tin Hat, James Fei, Kim Gordon, Lee Renaldo and Thurston Moore. Awards: The Foundation for Contemporary Arts Fellowship, NYFA Music Fellowship, Meet the Composer Commission, NYSCA Composer Commission, Multi-Arts Production Fund Grant, American Music Center, BAFTA award for best interactive media with visual artist Mandy McIntosh and sound artist Kaffe Matthews, Peter S. Reed Fellowship, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust Commissions, Arts International, Prix Ars Electronica Honorary Mention for Phantom Orchard in the Digital Music category. Curatorial: Guest curator for The Music Unlimited Festival in Wels, Austria, co-curator of the Movement Research Festival: Sidewinder, in NYC and curator for a month + a week of shows at The Stone in NYC Residencies: Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, Oxford University, Harvestworks, Steim, Paf: Performing Arts Forum, Wooda Arts Residency, Montalvo Arts Center, RPI/iEAR and The Watermill Center. Teaching: Zeena has given lectures at Oxford and Princeton Universities and has taught at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Bard and Mills College. Currently, Zeena is a Distinguished Visiting Professor, at Mills College Graduate Music Department." ^ Hide Bio for Zeena Parkins • Show Bio for Mette Rasmussen "Mette Rasmussen is a Danish saxophone player based in Trondheim, Norway. She works in the field of improvised music, drawing from a wide range of influences, spanning free jazz to textural soundwork. Rasmussen works on exploring the natural rawness of her instrument - experimenting on what the saxophone is capable of in sound and expression, with and without preparations. Much in demand, she has performed with the likes of Alan Silva, Chris Corsano, Ståle Liavik Solberg, and with her Trio Riot group with Sam Andreae and David Meier." ^ Hide Bio for Mette Rasmussen • Show Bio for Ryan Sawyer "Ryan Sawyer is a drummer and percussionist from the USA. He has played with several artists and bands like, Tv On The Radio, At The Drive-In, Scarlet Johanson, Massive Attack, Boredoms (77 & 88 Boadrum), The Mekons, Thurston Moore, among others.He currently is playing with, Stars Like Fleas, Tall Firs, and Eye Contact." ^ Hide Bio for Ryan Sawyer
5/31/2023
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
5/31/2023
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
5/31/2023
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

Track Listing:
1. Begiunners, Begges, Beattle, Belt, Believers 6:10
2. Nat Bygone, Just Biggone 8:56
3. Flod Of Trees 13:14
4. The Crystal Chain Letters 6:53
5. Merlin And The Gleam 7:34
6. Melts Into Surface 5:12

Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Jazz
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Trio Recordings
Parkins, Zeena
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