Alpha Aloha
By Jack Vees
“Lines of Desire”, performed by the Connecticut Reed Trio:
Libby Van Cleve, English Horn; Tom Labadorf, Bass Clarinet; Rebecca Noreen, Bassoon
Each of the three provides a glimpse into a different facet of my musical output. The first, "Alpha Aloha" is for solo guitar with electronics. I am the performer/composer. The processings I have come up with here are very much a continuation of my electro-acoustic explorations that have been a part of my own musical journey from my earliest days. The second piece, "Placerita" is an homage to my friend Art Jarvinen. The piece is also part of the series "reVox", which was a project through the Oral History of American Music project that I curated. This series takes oral history interviews and uses them as source materials for pieces based on the interviews of these composers and performers. My pieces, besides using Art's words from a field recording, also had him playing banjo. I edited this into a form onto which Iadded processed harmonica. Finally, my piece "Lines of Desire" features Libby Van Cleve with her woodwind trio group. For this piece I took the usual lineup of a woodwind trio and (knowing that they were excellent doublers) scored it for English Horn, bass clarinet, and bassoon.
About the Artist
Jack Vees
Citing Charles Ives and Captain Beefheart as his most prominent early influences, Jack Vees has a particularly distinctive and personal musical style that is instantly recognizable. His music unselfconsciously combines rigorous formal thinking with the raw energy of rock ‘n’ roll, as well as an irreverent, acerbic wit that is equal parts Monty Python and the Ugly Janitors of America, the antic avant-garde rock band Vees performed with during his Los Angeles days. Technology is an integral part of much of Vees’s work, and he elegantly combines electronics with acoustic and electric instruments. In 1998, Vees was profiled in Rolling Stone as a pioneer of music technology and hailed as a “21st century alchemist.” His music has been described as “consistently interesting” (Music Connection), “looking-glass music” (New Haven Register), and it has occasionally been said here and there that his music “twangs with excitement” (New York Times). In addition to being a leader in electronic music composition and performance, Vees is also a prominent educator in the field, serving as founder and director of Yale University’s acclaimed Center for Studies in Music Technology (CSMT). Since 1986, Vees has taught graduate-level courses on music technology and studio techniques at the Yale School of Music, and has played a critical role in cultivating the extraordinary reputation of today’s composition department at YSM.