MSP/Piano: 22-hour improv marathon on a structure by Satie, w 39 musicians + 1 dancer — Vexations [Re-vex’d] II @ Berkeley Arts Festival (beginning 2pm Sat 22 Mar, ending approx. noon, Sun 23 Mar)

In Sep 2012 Berkeley Arts’ 19-pianist Satie/Cage Vexations marathon proved that many strange, wonderful, and unintended things happen when you try to repeat its enigmatic theme 840 times over a 22-hour period.

In Mar 2013, I was honored that Berkeley Arts Festival gave me the opportunity to organize a possibly even more bizarre follow-up, with 35 of the Bay Area’s top improvisers in a wide variety of genres, ranging from free jazz to classical, who in Vexations [Re-vex’d] found out what strange, wonderful, and unintended things happen when you create something new from the enigmatic architecture of Vexations 840 times (post-show gallery).

Astonishing music ensued, and a wonderful time was had by all.

So, what better way to greet spring in 2014 than Vexations [Re-vex’d] II?

Join us for up to 22 hours of magnificent and radical solo/duo explorations by 40 local improvisers, from 2pm Sat 22 Mar to approx. noon Sun 23 Mar, 2013 at Berkeley Arts Festival (2133 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA map) – who, if last year is any indication – will use the architecture of Satie’s Vexations to build idiosyncratic dream structures of pure percussion, music theatre/wordplay, searing abstract guitar & saxophone lines, digital and electronic sound art, and a wide range of acutely re-vex’ed piano interpretations.

Line-up:

Kersti Abrams, Steve Adams, Josh Allen, Kenneth Atchley, Jorge Bachmann ([ruidobello]), Nancy Beckman, Tom Bickley, Sheldon Brown, Nan Busse, Doug Carroll, Mark Clifford, Joe Colombo, Rachel Condry, Patti Deuter, Derek Drudge, Diane Grubbe, Ron Heglin, Jeff Hobbs, Motoko Honda (本田素子), Jaroba, Heikki Koskinen, Joe Lasqo, Dominique Leone, Robert López, Fernando López-Lezcano & El Dinosaurio, Ric Louchard, Bob Marsh, Josh Marshall, David Michalak, Tom Nunn, Timothy Orr, Mika Pontecorvo, Teddy Rankin-Parker, Don Robinson, Rent Romus, John Schott, John Shiurba, Shanna Sordahl, Christina Stanley, Eli Wallace, Drew Wheeler

First some background on the original Satie theme, and then more details of line-up and schedule….

Composer, Rosicrucian, Dadaist, cabaret pianist, socialist, and founder/prophet/sole member of L’Église Métropolitaine d’Art de Jésus Conducteur (Metropolitan Church of Art of Jesus the Conductor), Satie remains a Rashomon of personae.

Whether playing pop and improvising at the Chat Noir cabaret; discussing compositional theory with Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc or Milhaud (later of Mills College…); or working and playing with artists like Cocteau, Diaghilev, Picasso, Bracque, Tristan Tzara, André Breton, and Man Ray; Satie always drifted serenely at the cross-roads of irreconcilable contradictions and could never be fit into a coherent frame.

Over the course of his 27 years in his final residence at the “House with Four Chimneys” at Arcueil, no one had ever visited his room. After his death, Satie’s friends discovered compositions that were totally unknown or thought to have been lost. These were found behind the piano, in the pockets of his velvet suits, and in other odd places in the chaotic, disordered space, and included the Vexations [1].

Never performed (or even mentioned) in Satie’s lifetime, the Vexations were revived by John Cage, leading to a premiere by an incredible team of pianists including Cage, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, John Cale, David Del Tredici, and others in 1963. (After the 840th repetition, someone in the audience shouted, “Encore!”…)

Causing strong hallucinations and failure to complete the performance to some pianists who have dared to try playing the piece alone, this endless ocean of mesmerizing unsettled waves is a pioneering work of minimalisme avant la lettre.

Despite a score that’s only one page long, its strikingly eccentric and impractical enharmonic notation, ambiguous playing directions, refusal to resolve into any tonality, and, of course, unorthodox duration, make the piece challenging to play and remember, demanding a highly attentive trance state which is then aurally transmitted to the audience.

As enigmatic as was Satie himself, theVexations have been variously analyzed as a post-traumatic reaction to the end of his only known love affair (with Suzanne Valadon) or a secret numerological theology.

The flat-5 interval so prominent in the piece was traditionally known as the “Devil in music”; the piece unfolds in “inauspicious” 13-beat cycles; the number of notes in the manuscript, 108, is the product of 1-to-the-first x 2-squared x 3-cubed; and the number of repetitions, 840, is the product of all the numbers between 4 and 7… Coincidence….? Trail of red herrings…? “In-joke”…? If not, what meaning does this hold in any of the cultic systems that Satie participated in or devised?

The only thing to do in response is come and hear a part (or… if you dare… ALL!) of this unique Bay Area performance.

Here are the details of the team bringing this unique experience to your ears (in alphabetical order with start times and instrumentation):

Kersti Abrams: alto sax

— 7:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Kersti will do duets with Mika Pontecorvo

Steve Adams: sopranino sax, flutes, laptop

— 4pm, Sat 22 Mar

— 11:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Kenneth Atchley: laptop & electronics

— 5:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Jorge Bachmann ([ruidobello]): laptop & electronics

— 10pm, Sat 22 Mar

— 11:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

Nancy Beckman & Tom Bickley, in the Gusty Winds May Exist duo: shakuhachi, Paetzhold contrabass recorder, “normal” recorders, laptop, small percussion, radios, EWI wind synthesizer, spoken word

— 3pm, Sat 22 Mar (trio with Dianne Grubbe)

— 6pm, Sat 22 Mar

Sheldon Brown: saxophones & clarinets

— midnight, Sun 23 Mar

— 1:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Nan Busse: dance (& didgeridoo…?)

— 8:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

— 11am, Sun 23 Mar

Nan will dance; w music by Ron Heglin and Joe Lasqo

Doug Carroll: cello & field recordings

— 8:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Mark Clifford: vibraphone & percussion

— 4am, Sun 23 Mar (solo)

— 9:30am, Sun 23 Mar (duet with Josh Marshall)

Joe Colombo: piano

— 7:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

Rachel Condry: clarinets

— 3:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

Rachel will do duets with Ric Louchard

Patti Deuter: piano

— Opening fanfare (2pm, Sat 22 Mar)

— Final Dozen (noon or after, Sun 23 Mar)

Derek Drudge: piano, percussion, field recordings, electronics

— 5am, Sun 23 Mar

Diane Grubbe: flutes

— 3pm, Sat 22 Mar (trio with Nancy Beckman and Tom Bickley)

— 5pm, Sat 22 Mar

Ron Heglin: voice, trombone, tuba

— 8:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

— 11am, Sun 23 Mar

Ron will do duets with Joe Lasqo, + dance by Nan Busse

Jeff Hobbs: violin

— 2:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Motoko Honda (本田素子): piano

— 4:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

— 8am, Sun 23 Mar

Jaroba: saxophones, bass clarinet, invented wind instruments

— 3am, Sun 23 Mar

Heikki Koskinen: piano, flute or tenor recorder, Morrison digital trumpet

— 7pm, Sat 22 Mar

— 11pm, Sat 22 Mar

Heikki will do duets with Rent Romus

Joe Lasqo: piano, laptop, percussion, solkaṭṭu (சொல்கட்டு)

— 8:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

— 11am, Sun 23 Mar

Joe will do duets with Ron Heglin, + dance by Nan Busse

Dominique Leone: piano

— 10am, Sun 23 Mar

Robert López: vibraphone, drum set, percussion, w Shanna Sordahl, in the duo, Ze Bib!

— 1am, Sun 23 Mar

— 3:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Fernando López-Lezcano: El Dinosaurio brain-transplanted homebrew synth & laptops

— 6:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

— 9:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

Ric Louchard: piano

— 3:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

Ric will do duets with Rachel Condry

Bob Marsh: Silver Park (invented instrument), voice, tap dance, spoken word

— 8pm, Sat 22 Mar

— 9pm, Sat 22 Mar

Josh Marshall: saxophones

— 6:30am, Sun 23 Mar (duet with Don Robinson)

— 9:30am, Sun 23 Mar (duet with Mark Clifford)

David Michalak and Tom Nunn, as duo T.D. Skatchit: skatch boxes and tape

— 10:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

Timothy Orr: drums

— 2:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

— 4:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Timothy will do duets with Drew Wheeler

Mika Pontecorvo: laptop. guitar, and…?

— 7:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Mika will do duets with Kersti Abrams

Teddy Rankin-Parker: cello

— 12:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Don Robinson: drums

— 2am, Sun 23 Mar (duet with John Schott)

— 6:30am, Sun 23 Mar (duet with Josh Marshall)

Rent Romus: saxophones, toys

— 7pm, Sat 22 Mar

— 11pm, Sat 22 Mar

Rent will do duets with Heikki Koskinen

John Schott: guitar

— 2am, Sun 23 Mar (duet with Don Robinson)

— 6am, Sun 23 Mar (solo)

John Shiurba: guitar, preparations, electronic FX

— 7am, Sun 23 Mar

— 10:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Shanna Sordahl: cello & electronics/laptop, w Robert López, in the duo, Ze Bib!

— 1am, Sun 23 Mar

— 3:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Christina Stanley: violin

— 5:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

Eli Wallace: piano

— 9am, Sun 23 Mar

Drew Wheeler: guitar, FX, laptop

— 2:30pm, Sat 22 Mar

— 4:30am, Sun 23 Mar

Drew will do duets with Tim Orr.

I’m honored to join with these stellar musicians and looking forward to being sucked in to the abyss of Satie’s enigmatic Vexations and much, much further.

Come join us on our journey beyond normal consciousness…

Joe