Better A Rook Then A Pawn

Edition Redux

Better A Rook Then A Pawn

Edition Redux

This music utilizes a “cinematic” approach to organizing the pieces, a system which allows me to reconfigure the material for every performance, leading to new paths for the music during the compositions and in open sections as well as self-determined free improvisation between them.  This methodology can be challenging to work with because each player needs to keep in mind where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’re going regarding the compositional sequences, as well as what needs to take place during each piece.


Tracklist

  1. Time Is the Tune/Wols /Uncommon Object [09:55]
  2. Summer Sweater/Matching Shocks/Coherence/Swan Zig [13:25]
  3. Double Negative/Still Bresson/Aperto [14:06]
  4. Yau/Mechanique/Circuit/Collapsible Shoulder [15:00]
  5. No Back to Your Jacket/Reel to Reel/Flatlands [17:00]

1. Time Is the Tune (for Lisette Model)/Wols (for Wolfgang Schulze) /Uncommon Object (for Walter Hopps) [9:40]
2. Summer Sweater (for Betty LaVette)/Matching Shocks (for Anka Ptaszkowska & Henryk Stażewski)/Coherence (for Fred Sandback)/Swan Zig (for Ab Baars) [13:08]
3. Double Negative (for Michael Heizer)/Still Bresson (for Robert Bresson)/Aperto (for Julius Hemphill) [13:49]
4. Yau (for John Yau)/Mechanique (for Conlon Nancarrow)/Circuit (Roscoe Mitchell)/Collapsible Shoulder (for Susan Sontag) [14:40]
5. No Back to Your Jacket (for King Tubby)/Reel to Reel (for John Carter)/Flatlands (for Philip Guston) [16:45]

Music composed by Ken Vandermark (Twenty First Mobile Music Publishing/ASCAP, AUME/Published by Cien Fuegos)

Music performed and improvised by-

Erez Dessel: piano and Nord synthesizer
Lily Finnegan: drums
Beth McDonald: tuba and electronics
Ken Vandermark: reeds

Recorded by Alex Inglizian at Kate In at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago on April 24, 2023. Mixed and mastered by Alex Inglizian at ESS. Produced by Ken Vandermark for Audiographic Records.

Cover art, idea 1, by Michael Finnegan
Album design by Fede Peñalva

Thanks to the musicians; to Alex Inglizian, Kate In, and the staff at Experimental Sound Studio; to all the audiences and organizers on the April 2023 U.S. tour; to Fede Peñalva; and to the listeners.