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Semantics (Elliott Sharp / Ned Rothenberg / Samm Bennett): Semantics (Klanggalerie)

An excellent example of the 80s Downtown NY approach to improvisation from the trio of wind player Ned Rothenberg on alto & tenor saxophones, bass clarinet & flute, Elliott Sharp on guitar, bass & violin, and Samm Bennett on drums, percussion & electronic drums, all in the height and excitement of the new music being developed and performed in NYC in the 1980s; awe-inspiring!
 

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Personnel:



Ned Rothenberg-alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, flute

Samm Bennett-drums, percussion, electronic drums

Elliott Sharp-guitar, bass, vocals, violin

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UPC: 5052571084823

Label: Klanggalerie
Catalog ID: GG306
Squidco Product Code: 29528

Format: CD
Condition: Sale (New)
Released: 2020
Country: Austria
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded at Radio City Music Hall Studio, in NYC, on June 23rd and 25th, 1985, by Don Hunderberg.

Recorded at Seltzer Sound, in NYC, on October 29th, 1985, by Carl Seltzer.

Originally released on vinyl LP in 1986 on Review Records (Germany) as catalog code rere 84.
Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Artist Biographies

"Composer/Performer Ned Rothenberg has been internationally acclaimed for both his solo and ensemble music, presented for the past 33 years on 5 continents. He performs primarily on alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, and the shakuhachi - an endblown Japanese bamboo flute. His solo work utilizes an expanded palette of sonic language, creating a kind of personal idiom all its own. In an ensemble setting, he leads the trio Sync, with Jerome Harris, guitars and Samir Chatterjee, tabla, works with the Mivos string quartet playing his Quintet for Clarinet and Strings and collaborates around the world with fellow improvisors. Recent recordings include this Quintet, The World of Odd Harmonics, Ryu Nashi (new music for shakuhachi), and Inner Diaspora, all on John Zorn's Tzadik label, as well as Live at Roulette with Evan Parker, and The Fell Clutch, on Rothenberg's Animul label."

-Ned Rothenberg Website (http://www.nedrothenberg.com/short&extended_biography.html)
9/3/2026

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

"Samm Bennett [born on May 25, 1957 in Birmingham, Alabama] is a singer and songwriter, a drummer and percussionist, and a player of string instruments such as the stick dulcimer (sometimes called a dulcitar) and the diddley bow. He also works occasionally in electronic music, using synthesizers, WaveDrum, effects and various toys and gadgets. He is also a player of the Đàn môi (Vietnamese jaw harp), as well as the mouth bow. His musical activities include membership in several different bands, all based in Tokyo, where he resides. He is also a solo performer."

See also Polarity Records (Samm Bennett website).-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samm_Bennett)
9/3/2026

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

"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)
9/3/2026

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


Track Listing:
Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Trio Recordings
Jazz Reissues
Staff Picks & Recommended Items

Search for other titles on the label:
Klanggalerie.


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