I recently collaborated on sound for this excellent new project by artist Mariángeles Soto-Díaz at Grand Central Arts Center in Santa Ana, CA. Soto-Díaz composed and directed a unique performance that took place within her art installation and featured four black belt judokas, two art performers, and original sounds including texts she wrote along with other live-processed samples. As she … Read more
I’m happy to share that this collective album is now released by Infrequent Seams! In spring 2021, the final quarter of the year when we were still in COVID lockdown and holding classes entirely remotely, I was teaching a seminar on improvisation as part of our PhD program in Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology (ICIT), and it happened that all … Read more
I’m excited to share this new video about Puentes Telemáticos / Telematic Bridges, a telepresent, intercultural music course linking students from Santa Ana High School in CA and the Fundación Batuta in Manizales, Colombia. I made it for a showcase at the online Connected Learning Summit, which I’m looking forward to attending later this month. It has footage and student … Read more
Three years ago, I posted here about playing in the premieres of Central Park Five, the brilliant and moving opera by Anthony Davis. I am fortunate to have studied with Anthony in the ’90s and as I wrote in that tribute, Anthony deepened my understanding of Duke Ellington’s music (among so many other topics) by showing how Ellington’s way of … Read more
In summer 2021, I was invited by Mark Lomanno, the media review editor for Jazz Perspectives, to write a short piece for that journal about the impact of the pandemic on jazz. I did discuss some musicians’ creative responses to lockdown, but rather than do a traditional media review of specific concerts or recordings, I used the opportunity more to … Read more
Mark Dresser gave an incredible recital recently at UCSD, sharing his wide creative range as both an improviser and composer. I enjoyed playing as a guest performer on a couple of his compositions that we performed as a duo, “Gloaming” and “Hobby Lobby Horse.” These are pieces we originally developed and recorded with the Mark Dresser Seven. It’s always a … Read more
John Lamberton recently interviewed me for his podcast, and I enjoyed a long conversation with him about my work in telematics, live electronics, and many other topics. Thank you, John! His interesting podcast series, titled Bridge, is available on all the usual places like Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Juan David Rubio and I recently co-presented a paper at the NowNet Arts Conference about our experiences with Puentes Telemáticos / Telematic Bridges. It is always inspiring for me to collaborate and think about telepresence with Juan, and we are looking forward to doing more writing together as we continue to build out this program with our co-directors Mario Valencia and … Read more
In October, it was a pleasure working with grad students and faculty at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), where I offered a series of Zoom workshops on telematic and networked music, thanks to an invitation from Pablo Gómez Cano for Síntesis Cultura. We covered a lot of topics, including hands-on Sonobus practice as well as some great group … Read more
I enjoyed performing again on LA’s homegrown Angel City Jazz Festival, playing with Mark Dresser’s incredible quintet featuring Chris Speed, Joshua White and Mark Ferber. It was great to play for an in-person audience at REDCAT, after so long playing only in online formats! I’m grateful to Rocco Samazzi and the other wonderful people who put in a deep labor … Read more
The Asian Cultural Council World Music Festival is a yearly festival in Korea and it was an honor to be invited by the indefatigable composer-performer Yoon Jeong Heo to participate in a recent Telematic Ensemble concert there. Anthony Davis, Mark Dresser and I all “beamed in” from our individual locations in California, to perform with four outstanding musicians, Bomi Kim, … Read more
I had a fantastic time collaborating again this year on Puentes Telemáticos / Telematic Bridges, a telepresent, intercultural music course linking students from Santa Ana High School in CA with peers in Manizales, Colombia. This year, we expanded it to a 3-week format, and due to the continued lockdown in Colombia, students there joined from their homes via Zoom, while … Read more