sonic openings under pressure: about the music -

This is music composed specifically to unfold through collective improvisation, which means that the form of the music itself is directly shaped through mutual interplay among its participants, and that collaborative drama contributes centrally to the musical narrative a listener hears.

This approach to coordinating music poses a deliberate alternative to the relative one way flow of information that passes between composer & performer in much euroclassical practice as well as to that genre’s orientation toward the construction of sonic monuments, a propensity also shared by much pop music. Pop formulations furthermore have tended to compress rhythmic scope down to basic denominator background beats. And, while much contemporary improvised music may emulate open form as developed through jazz, the root African elements & attitudes out of which this evolved have many times been distilled out.

Collective improvisation can also be recognized as a theatrical personification of the dynamics of polyrhythm - that intricately sophisticated African model of coordinated multiplicity. Polyphonically organized music is able to integrate divergent voices, levels, directions & narratives; but the wave matrix of polyrhythm’s gravitational convergences & suspensions further enriches each moment of music with a holographic sensation of depth. This especially charges & activates the gaps & silences that envelop musical gestures & encourages attention beyond linear & sequential interpretations of activity to include more multidimensional perceptions of time & movement.

This music often explores making polyrhythm central to the organization & participation of the entire ensemble. One strategy has been to code polyrhythm into the music via a stacking of interrelated countermelodies that places each instrumentalist in a position of direct responsibility for the composite ensemble sound. The countermelodies - & the relationships among them - provide a thematic interface that supports both extemporized development & communications among improvisers as the music progresses. MetagrooveÔ is an allied compositional process that associates successive, contrasting polyrhythmic constellations (i.e. grooves) to create a overall groovic resonance (in other words, a meta- groove).

Each voice in this ensemble maintains an equal distinct narrative foreground persona; & it follows that much of the compositional focus has been on developing music through the rhythm section. As Bakongo scholar Fu-Kiau Bunseki has put it, “Treble voicings represent our world, but bass patterns come from the spirit.” The bass not only carries on an independent melodic narrative at a pace appropriate to its register, but often functions as conductor of the ensemble, cueing shifts from one metagrooveÔ constellation to the next. These shifts are also multidirectionally jointed, allowing an overall form to wrap around itself & construct an ensemble narrative that’s more oriented toward immersion than linear progression from beginning to end.

It’s also natural that drums figure prominently in a music that explores rhythmic harmony & multidirectional movement. Some listeners may at first be disoriented by percussion’s abundant role here. But, as a trap kit enables the playing of as many as four simultaneous lines, it can also be considered as contributing more than one instrument to the ensemble. The non-tempered tones enunciated by drums contribute a significant component of this music’s melodic & tonal framework. Even a casual listening to Dou Dou Njaye Rose’s orchestra of sabar wolofs from Dakar, for example, can reinforce a recognition that drums, all by themselves, have more than enough range to enact complete & nuanced statements on as high a level as any music.

Some market oriented & cultural perspectives argue that music shouldn’t overly stretch or challenge listeners’ imaginations. Contrarily, this music aims toward a threshold where some aspect is slipping just enough beyond a listener’s comprehension to invite a sense of wonder & mystery as a small reminder that there’s always something more happening anywhere than is already known & recognized.

- patrick brennan

sonispheric

http://sonispheric.tripod.com ____________ sonic openings under pressure is the working title for the group that has been playing patrick brennan's original compositions since 1979. __________ The current trio formatincludes bassist Hilliard Greene & percussionist David Pleasant who also contributes his densemetriX conceptions to the music. _______ patrick brennan:_ The possibilities of kinetic multiplanar rhythm has continuously heated the musical conceptions of saxophone playing New York composer, patrick brennan since the 1970's, His extended compositions, both rhythmically & melodically, distribute drum language dynamics throughout an ensemble. He orchestrates a rhythm section’s invention right up into the foreground of a composition's development & coordinates this on equal terms with the contributions of complementary voices, Metagroove (tm) is a term brennan uses to describe the overall groovic resonance that emerges out of a synthesis of concurrent & consecutive contrasting grooves, which is a rhythmic orientation that he first witnessed in his native Detroit, that he has since developed further into an important & frequent characteristic of his own compositions. He calibrates these musical settings to encourage the widest expansion of musical possibilities among his improvising collaborators & offers an alternative vision to the trend toward neo-classicism in Jazz & the tendency toward a diffusing of dynamic rhythm within avant & new music orientations. brennan has recorded eight albums as a leader to date, six of which with sonic openings under pressure, one in duo with bassist Lisle Ellis, & a collaboration with Moroccan Gnawi M’allim Najib Sudani. sonic openings under pressure’s most recent recording is the Cleanfeed CD Muhheakantuck (the river that flows both ways - the Lenape name for the river also known as the Hudson) due for release in Spring, 2007. ______________________________ www.davidpleasant1.com __ David Pleasant is a multi-faceted percussion virtuoso, rhythm effects vocalist, avant-garde performance artist, Fulbright Senior Specialist and lecturer who specializes in African-American traditions. The sounds, rhythms/riddims of his upbringing on Sapelo Island, Darien/McIntosh County and Savannah resonate with the remarkable history and experience of Gullah/Geechee culture. The songs, drum rhythms and movements taught to him by his mother (drummer, teacher) Sadie B. Pleasant underscore his life long exposure to this poly rhythmic heritage that incorporates music, movement, theater, art, poetry and rhythm in every day life. Aside from his experience in mainstream arenas, Pleasant also has worked with a number of Grass roots and Jazz legends that include: Charles Gayle, Oliver Lake, Cecil Taylor, Daniel Carter, Leroy Campbell, William Parker, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Greg Bandy, Reggie Workman, Christian Mc Bride, Don Byron, Jack DeJonnette, Larry Riddley, Cooper-Moore, Sirone, Peter Erskine, Mark Johnson, , Craig Harris, the Muppets, Duma Nlovu, Cederic Brooks, Amina Claudine Myers, Jamie Anthony Braxton, , Matt Schulman, , Harry Belefonte, Paul Simon, Arrested Development, Fred Ho, Jayne Cortez, hattie gossett, , Step Afrika!, , Batoto Yetu, Ron Brown, , Dianne McIntyre, Marlise Yearby, Sekou Sundiata, Savannah Symphony Orchestra, Stamford Symphony, Orchestra of St. Lukes (education), Oberlin Contemporary Ensemble, El Piccolo del Opera Orchestra, Essential Music. www.davidpleasant1.com ____________________________________ http://home.earthlink.net/~hilliardg/ ___________________________________ Hilliard Greene (who, incidentally, on noticing the potential connections, brought Pleasant & brennan together) is a consummate bassist whose activity spans from unaccompanied solo performance to serving as Jimmy Scott's musical director to performances and/or recordings with Cecil Taylor (as concert master for Taylor's Phtongos project) Gloria Lynne, Jacky Terrasson, The Inkspots, Rashied Ali, Leroy Jenkins, Jimmy Ponder, Eddie Gladden, Vanessa Rubin, Yoron Israel, Cindy Blackman, Electric Symphony, Charles Gayle, Jack Walrath, Don Pullen, Dave Douglas, Bobby Watson, Greg Osby, Kenny Barron, Joanne Brackeen, Carla Cook, Josh Roseman, John Hicks, Village Vanguard Orchestra, Oscar Brown Jr., Steve Swell, Gebhard Ullman, Barry Altschul and The Jazz Expressions. http://home.earthlink.net/~hilliardg/