The first meeting of tenor saxophonist Catherine Sikora and pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn was at the Zurcher Gallery in New York City in 2022, an inventive dialog of free improvisation split between three "Filaments", their interaction ranging from delicate dialog to asservite discourse in a wonderfully expressive concert of sincere affinity.
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Catherine Sikora-tenor saxophone
Susan Alcorn-pedal steel
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UPC: 5904224872137
Label: Relative Pitch
Catalog ID: RPR1173
Squidco Product Code: 34413
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Zurcher Gallery, in New York, New York, on May 19th, 2022, by Randy Thaler.
"This recording documents the first ever meeting between Susan Alcorn and Catherine Sikora. When musicians improvise with each other, a space is created that is unique and specific to the musicians who are playing. With Susan and Catherine, the space that presented itself was enormous, with great freedom and tonal flexibility, opening up endless possibilities for expression."-Relative Pitch
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Catherine Sikora "Tenor and soprano saxophonist, improviser and composer Catherine Sikora was first electrified by the sound of air vibrating in a metal tube when, as a child, she heard the wind playing tones and overtones in a metal gate. She has devoted her life to researching the magic of that sound with her saxophones, particularly in her solo work, which forms the main backbone of her creative output. Catherine's first solo album 'Jersey' was released on Relative Pitch Records in July 2016. She followed this with 'Warrior', an all-soprano saxophone solo recording in 2019. Her next solo tenor recording, 'Sanctuary', recorded live in Paris in summer of 2020, was released in fall 2020. In addition to her solo work, Sikora works frequently in duo and larger settings, with Eric Mingus, Brian Chase, Ursel Schlicht, Ethan Winogrand, Ross Hammond, Christopher Culpo and Matteo Liberatore. She is proud to be one third of the joyful rowdiness that is Eris 136199. Sikora is active as an educator and writes extensively on the subject of practice." ^ Hide Bio for Catherine Sikora • Show Bio for Susan Alcorn "Susan Alcorn (born 1953) is an American composer, improvisor, and pedal steel guitarist. Having started out playing guitar at the age of twelve, she quickly immersed herself in folk music, blues, and the pop music of the 1960s. A chance encounter with blues musician Muddy Waters steered her towards playing slide guitar. By the time she was twenty-one, she had immersed herself in the pedal steel guitar, playing in country and western swing bands in Texas. Soon, she began to combine the techniques of country-western pedal steel with her own extended techniques to form a personal style influenced by free jazz, avant-garde classical music, Indian ragas, Indigenous traditions, and various folk musics of the world. By the early 1990s her music began to show an influence of the holistic and feminist "deep listening" philosophies of Pauline Oliveros. Though mostly a solo performer, Alcorn has collaborated with numerous artists including Pauline Oliveros, Eugene Chadbourne, Peter Kowald, Chris Cutler, Joe Giardullo, Caroline Kraabel, Earl Howard, Le Quan Ninh, Sean Meehan, Joe McPhee, LaDonna Smith, Mike Cooper, Walter Daniels, Ellen Fullman, Jandek, George Burt, Janel Leppin, Michael Formanek, Ellery Eskelin, Fred Frith, Maggie Nicols, Evan Parker, Johanna Varner, Zane Campbell and Mary Halvorson." ^ Hide Bio for Susan Alcorn
4/24/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
4/24/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Filament I 28:01
2. Filament II 12:37
3. Filament III 23:36
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Guitarists, &c.
Recordings by or featuring Reed & Wind Players
Duo Recordings
New in Improvised Music
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