The Squid's Ear Magazine


Wooden Cities: WORK (Infrasonic Press)

Opening with an adaptation of Cornelius Cardew's "Red Flag", the Buffalo-based new music ensemble Wooden Cities Brendan Fitzgerald introduces the first of a trilogy of albums, a set of narrative works that confront topics of work, labor, commodity, and justice through a blend of composition and improvisation, including works by Cardew, Julius Eastman, and Frederic Rzewski.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Megan Kyle-oboe

Nelson Rivera-tenor saxophone

Steve Baczkowski-bari saxophone

Dylan Gechoff-trombone

Ethan Hayden-trombone, voice, score realizations

Ian Kerr-Mace-Euphonium

Stephen Lattimore-percussion

John Smigielski-percussion

Stephen Solook-percussion

Nicholas Emmanuel-piano

Michael McNeill-piano

Rebecca Marin-voice

Evan Courtin-violin

T.J. Borden-cello

Katie Weissman-cello

Megan McDevitt-contrabass

Brendan Fitzgerald-guitar, instrument builder, conductor


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UPC: 193483951492

Label: Infrasonic Press
Catalog ID: IFSP 00-c
Squidco Product Code: 35469

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2020
Country: USA / Canada
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at the University at Buffalo, in Buffalo New York, on July 23rd, 25th and 26th, 2018, by Chris Jacobs.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"After eight years of performing, Wooden Cities' first release in a trilogy of upcoming albums on Infrasonic Press grapples with work, labor, commodity, and justice. The record's three pieces have sat lost to time and have been constructed and reconstructed through careful research, including dialogues with original performers, direct accounts, and other sources. This is WORK."-Infrasonic Press



"Wooden Cities is both an ensemble and a collective of performers and composers seeking to help increase the performance and awareness of contemporary music in the Western New York area through unique concerts and educational presentations. Formed by director Brendan Fitzgerald in 2011 as a structured improv orchestra, the ensemble has since garnered a reputation for their dynamic performances of both improvised and notated works of new and experimental music from a wide variety of composers. In 2019, Wooden Cities released its first album, WORK, which features works by Cornelius Cardew, Julius Eastman, and Frederic Rzewski. 2020 saw the release of the eponymous documentary about the album, made by the Buffalo Documentary Project. They've just released their second album, PLAY, featuring whimsical chamber improvisations and absurdist sound poetry."-Wooden Cities


Artist Biographies

"Megan Kyle performs as a soloist, improviser, chamber musician, and orchestral musician throughout the Western New York region. She tackles standard repertoire and new music with equal enthusiasm, and enjoys making sense and nonsense of unfamiliar sonic experiences as a listener, performer, and teacher. She believes strongly in the importance for developing musicians to cultivate technical fundamentals and creative musical ideas alike, and to experience the reciprocal relationship between the two.

Ms. Kyle regularly performs as a guest musician with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and has also appeared with the St. Louis Symphony, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Symphony in Miami, among others. She was previously a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

As a chamber musician and new music specialist, Ms. Kyle performs with the Buffalo-based new music ensemble Wooden Cities, serves as a performer for the interdisciplinary arts initiative Null Point, and is a founding member of several chamber music projects in Buffalo, including the oboe/piano/violin/cello quartet The Evolution of the Arm and the voice/oboe duo Senso di Voce.

She teaches oboe and English horn at Houghton College, SUNY Geneseo, and SUNY at Buffalo and performs as a member of the Geneseo Wind Quintet."

-Geneseo College (https://www.geneseo.edu/music/megan-kyle)
12/3/2024

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

"Steve Baczkowski is an improviser, saxophonist, and multi-wind instrumentalist. Baczkowski began playing alto saxophone at age eight and switched to baritone by the time he was twelve. He studied music in high school at Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts and went on to studies in music, saxophone performance, literature, and ethnomusicology at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1994 to 1999. In 1999, Baczkowski became the music director of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in Buffalo, N.Y, where he has since produced and presented hundreds of concerts of contemporary music as well as numerous community-based artist residencies.

In addition to organizing multiple ensembles, such as the Buffalo Improvisers Orchestra, and the Buffalo Suicide Prevention Unit, Baczkowski also performs with the 12/8 Path Band, Genkin Philharmonic, Ubudis Quartet, Rey Scott's Unusually Different, in duos with percussionists Ravi Padmanabha and John Bacon and guitarists Bill Nace, Omar Tamez, and Bill Sack and in numerous other ensembles as well as solo. He has collaborated with many renowned musicians and has appeared at festivals in North America, Mexico, and Europe."

-Burchfield Penney Art Center (SUNY Buffalo) (https://www.burchfieldpenney.org/artists/artist:steve-baczkowski/)
12/3/2024

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"Ethan Hayden is a composer, performer, and author based in America's Rust Belt. His acoustic, electronic, and vocal music has been performed at conferences, festivals, and DIY spaces around the world. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Composition from the University at Buffalo, and also holds undergraduate degrees in Composition and Theory from the University of North Texas. His principal composition teachers include Cort Lippe, Jeffrey Stadelman, Joseph Klein, Andrew May, and David Bithell. He currently teaches sound synthesis and electroacoustic composition at Buffalo State College. Also active as a performer, Ethan regularly presents new and experimental works for voice, trombone, and electronics. He is the associate director of Wooden Cities, a Buffalo-based contemporary music ensemble, and the technical director of Null Point. He is the author of Sigur Rós's ( ), published as part of Bloomsbury's 33⅓ series."

-Sound American (http://archive.soundamerican.org/sa_archive/sa19/sa19hayden.html)
12/3/2024

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"Michael McNeill is a pianist, improviser, and composer from Western New York. He's involved in projects ranging from reinterpretations of music by Thelonious Monk (on the album Refractions with drummer John Bacon) to the chambercore quartet The Evolution of the Arm, which "nearly forge[s] an entirely new subgenre of sounds" (TakeEffect). two CDs with bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Phil Haynes have drawn praise from critics in the US and abroad, who note that the band's music is "brimming with intelligence and passion" (AllAboutJazz.com), and that the trio "has much to offer not only to jazz or classical music, but music as a whole" (Music On The Run, Brazil). Current projects include an album of telepathic improvisations with The Evolution of the Arm, sideperson appearances in drummer Scott Clark's new Dawn & Dusk, and solo electronic music. His quartet Allegories - featuring pedal steel guitar innovator Susan Alcorn, trumpet virtuoso Dave Ballou, and exploratory percussionist Shelly Purdy - toured and recorded in June 2022 and will release an album in 2024. [...]"

-Michael McNeill Website (https://michaelgraymcneill.com/bio.html)
12/3/2024

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

"Evan Courtin is a freelance violinist and instructor from Buffalo, NY, and has been teaching at BSW since September 2014. He graduated from Buffalo State College with a BA in Music, where he studied with Amy Glidden. During his time Buff State, he served as concertmaster of the BSC Philharmonia.

From 2007 to 2013, Evan was a member of local prog group Peanut Brittle Satellite, which received a Buffalo Music Award in 2008 for Best New Original Music. In 2013 he received an All WNY Music Award as an instrumentalist not traditionally found in a rock band. He is currently working with Wooden Cities, a new music chamber ensemble which seeks to bring awareness to contemporary music through unique, educational programs. Additionally, he plays with Little Cake Cover Band and Evolution of the Arm, for whom he also composes.

Evan has been involved in several different aspects of theatrical violin performance, including productions at Lancaster Opera House and Theater of Youth, and with Zodiaque Dance Company. Recent notable performances include marriage proposals, ziplining across Camp Centerland in his debut as a stunt violinist, and three shows with Buffalo's own Goo Goo Dolls."

-Buffalo String Works (https://www.buffalostringworks.org/team)
12/3/2024

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

"Tyler J. Borden is a cellist working with, in, and around the constraints of the cello. Formerly from Western NY, he is now based in Brooklyn NY, where he spends much of his time finding ways to exploit the strengths and failures of himself and his instrument."

-T.J. Borden Website (https://tylerjborden.com/)
12/3/2024

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

"Katie Weissman began playing the cello at the age of three at Buffalo Suzuki Strings after seeing Yo-Yo Ma appear on Sesame Street. She holds a Bachelors of Music in Cello Performance from Boston University, and her principal teachers include Nancy Anderson, Feng Hew, Michael Reynolds, Amanda Truelove and Roman Mekinulov. When at home in Buffalo, Katie is cellist and backup singer in the Little Cake Cover Band and is a substitute for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. She also plays with contemporary music ensemble Wooden Cities, the composition think-tank Evolution of the Arm, experimental ensemble Root Cellar, folkrock bands TEOA and Birddog, and various other chamber music outfits in the Western New York area. In addition, she curates the concert series "Minuets & Mimosas" at Duende at Silo City. She has toured at home and abroad, and has lent her playing to many recording projects in the studio, including multiple albums and stage performances by Buffalo's own Goo Goo Dolls. She teaches privately in her own studio, and currently lives in Williamsville with her dogs, rabbits and parakeet."

-Buffalo String Works (https://www.buffalostringworks.org/team)
12/3/2024

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

"As a performer, educator, and composer, Brendan Fitzgerald has presented music throughout the United States East Coast for the past fifteen years. As a percussionist and student of Tom Kolor, Brendan has been part of performances and recordings across popular and art genres, premiering dozens of new works over his career. In 2011, he founded the contemporary music ensemble, Wooden Cities, which has made over eighty appearances since its inception and earned funding from the University at Buffalo Libraries and the New York State Council on the Arts. Having earned a Masters in Conducting Performance at the University at Buffalo, he has served as the conductor of the Buffalo Jazz Octet, Wooden Cities, and teaching artist with Young Audiences of Western New York. Recently, Brendan joined with long-time collaborator and friend, Ethan Hayden in the percussion, trombone, and electronics duo called f-f-f-f-Faulty Tower. Brendan will be completing his doctoral residency in audiology in 2019-20 at the Cleveland Clinic."

-Wooden Cities (https://www.woodencities.org/artists/index.shtml)
12/3/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Cornelius Cardew - Red Flag Prelude 02:40

2. Frederic Rzewski - The Price of Oil (Introduction) 02:35

3. Frederic Rzewski - The Price of Oil (Part 1) 18:21

4. Frederic Rzewski - The Price of Oil (Part 2) 09:46

5. Julius Eastman - Stay On It 29:06

Related Categories of Interest:


Compositional Forms
Electro-Acoustic
Electroacoustic Composition
Improvised Music
Spoken Word
Chamber Rock
Large Ensembles
New in Compositional Music
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