|
Concerts by Composers: Ned Rothenberg
Works Performed or Excerpted:
1. “Continuo after the Inuit” – Ned Rothenberg on alto saxophone*
2. “Soft Strut and Terrace” – Ned Rothenberg on alto saxophone
*-please note that the original program incorrectly identifies the instrument played by Rothenberg on "Continuo after the Inuit". He performs on alto, not soprano saxophone.
Ned Rothenberg
Ned Rothenberg composes and performs on saxophones, clarinets, flute and shakuhachi (an end blown Japanese bamboo flute). He has been internationally acclaimed for his solo music which he has presented for over 30 years in hundreds of concerts throughout North and South America, Europe and Japan. He has lead the ensembles Double Band, Power Lines and Sync (his current assemblage with Jerome Harris, acoustic guitar & acoustic bass guitar and Samir Chaterjee, tabla). Current and past cooperative partners include Evan Parker, Tony Buck, Sainkho Namtchylak, Masahiko Sato, Samm Bennett, Kazu Uchihashi and Paul Dresher. His playing has been featured in works by John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Steve Nieve (his opera ‘Welcome to the Voice’ alongside Sting and Elvis Costello), Marty Ehrlich and Bobby Previte. He's lived and worked in New York City since 1978.
Rothenberg's musical interests are numerous and his work varies widely in its sonic, emotive and stylistic profiles. A strong underlying element of his instrumental voice is the extension of the woodwind language to incorporate polyphony and accurate microtonal organization through the manipulation of multiphonics, circular breathing, and overtone control, using his horns not only in a normal melodic role but also as rhythmic and harmonic engines in both solo and ensemble contexts. As a composer he can move from "Jazz-funk in cubist perspective, dizzying, yet visceral" (Jon Pareles, NY Times re Double Band) to solo music that is "intense, slightly melancholic, rhapsodic without being sentimental” (Edward Rothstein, NY Times), while avoiding mere effect- "crafting distinct, evocative compositions that boast shape as well as texture" Neil Tesser, (Chicago Reader) .
Born in 1956 in Boston, Rothenberg graduated from Oberlin College and studied at Oberlin Conservatory, Berklee School of Music, privately with Les Scott (saxophone & clarinet), and George Coleman (jazz improvisation). However, his trademark solo technique is self-taught. He has received grants and commissions from the New York Foundation for the Arts, New York State Arts Council, Mary Flagler Cary Trust, Lila Wallace Foundation, Chamber Music America, Asian Cultural Council, Roulette, Jerome Foundation, Meet the Composer, Japan Society and ASCAP.
Ned Rothenberg on the Experimental Intermedia Series
“For me Experimental Intermedia is the original Soho artspace. It’s wonderful and admirable that Phill Niblock has persevered all these years while the area around him has turned into a shopping mall. One of the often overlooked determining factors in New York art and music history is the real estate market. The jazz mecca 52nd st. became Rockefeller center. 'Loftjazz' succumbed to loft living and loft shopping. EI has bucked all this and remained.
I came to New York in 1976 on the Great Lakes College Arts exchange program and first saw the musician to whom I would apprentice, Joan La Barbara at EI. It looked almost exactly the same as it does now. It was and is all about the work, no hype, no bs. I was gratified when Phill invited me to play there in 1981 and performed quite a few concerts there since that time. I was always comfortable, the audience was always comfortable, it’s also in a way the original house concert space. “ – Ned Rothenberg 2011
Ned Rothenberg on DRAM
http://www.dramonline.org/performers/rothenberg-ned
|
