courtesy of Morahan Arts and Media
Those readers that follow my dispatches on performances by pianist Sarah Cahill will probably recognize George Lewis as the composer of the four-movement suite for solo piano Endless Shout. However, Wikipedia distinguishes him from the New Orleans jazz clarinetist George Lewis by adding “(trombonist)” to his entry. Indeed, as a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Lewis’ trombone work established him as a major figure in adventurous approaches to jazz improvisation. My own first encounter with his work came when I acquired an Anthony Braxton CD of “live” performances at Victoriaville in 1988.
However, Lewis was also one of the early pioneers of computer music, less interested in sophisticated algorithms for “realistic” synthesis of instrumental sounds and more interested in “real-time” software that would allow a computer to participate in performance as a highly flexible “instrument.” A little over two months ago CD Baby began distribution of a new album on the Carrier label entitled Rainbow Family. This consisted of six tracks of improvised performances that took place at IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique, which translates into “Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music”) on May 23, 24, and 25, 1984. Lewis used his computer to participate in “live” improvisation, presumably for events that took place during the 1984 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), which was hosted that year by IRCAM.
Lewis’ performances involved jamming with four leading instrumentalists: Joëlle Léandre on bass, Derek Bailey on electric guitar, Douglas Ewart on bass clarinet and flutes, and Steve Lacy on soprano saxophone. The six tracks of Rainbow Family present duo improvisations with each of these musicians, a trio improvisation with Ewart and Bailey, and an “all hands” jam session for all five performers lasting for about twenty minutes. The scope of these improvisations alone is sufficient to justify Rainbow Family as a significant historic document.
Mind you, “live” performance utilizing programmable electronic technology was far from new in 1984. ICMC first convened in 1974 at Michigan State University. However, efforts to document innovative approaches to new technologies dates back to the first issue of Source in 1966. Somewhat ironically, the last issue of Source was published in 1973, almost as if some sort of “baton” was being passed to ICMC. Thus, Rainbow Family is distinguished not so much for its innovation as it is an affirmation that real-time computation had a role to play in the innovative efforts that emerged from AACM. Indeed, from Lewis’ own point of view, ICMC was probably just another “way station” on a journey that continues to involve rich interactions with other musicians, innovative approaches to making music, and even documenting the history of AACM.
From a personal point of view, listening to Rainbow Family has been a trip down memory lane, which emerged as enjoyable and informative in equal measure. Readers may recall the discontent I experienced when I first encountered the music of MaryClare Brzytwa in November of 2018. Brzytwa had created the Technology and Applied Composition program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM); but the tape music of her own creation that she presented at her SFCM Faculty Recital amounted to “an overall impression that there was nothing I had not previously encountered back in the late Sixties.” That was a time when AACM first convened and Source was assiduously documenting new ways of making music with a vengeance. Lewis is to be appreciated for consistently finding new ways to go forward, rather than reflecting on the wild times that cultivated his aesthetic.
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