Music From Other Minds

On this Music from Other Minds, Ed Herrmann rang in the New Year with music for hand bells and churchbells.

This program is a combination of feel-good classics and work that embodies the dread many of us are experiencing at this time. We start with a holiday non-sequitur: a low-fi version of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” by The Flaming Lips. Then we’ll hear something from Steve Reich dating from the 1980s, and from Terry Riley dating back to the 1960s. We re-focus on the present with some powerful work from the experimental rock group Swans, and a melancholy piece of electronica from William Basinski. And finally, to either drown our sorrows or celebrate the new year, we’ll hear one of Hawaii’s favorite drinking songs by Don Ho. Aloha 2021…

On this Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb plays some selections from Other Minds Records 2021 season. Featuring works by Charles Amirkhanian, Robert Honstein, Jim Nollman, and more.

Five new albums from 5 very different experimental musicians. Cairo-based Maurice Louca’s work combines Egyptian folk instruments, classical western instruments and electronics in an intriguing synthesis of Arabic and Western sensibilities. Pamela Z offers a theatrical take on the voice and it’s possibilities when combined with modern technology. Ben Lamar Gay fuses folk, hip hop, jazz and utter weirdness into something extraordinary. Nick Zanca’s latest release is a fusion of field recording and artfully used electronics. And Lea Bertucci’s work is a thoughtful combination of the acoustic properties of both her instruments and the environments in which they are played.

On this Music from Other Minds, Ed Herrmann makes his Music from Other Minds Debut with a program dedicated to percussion.

On this Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb plays a mix of 2021 releases by John Cage, KMRU, Annea Lockwood, and Morton Feldman.

This program presents a few recent recordings that give us some examples of jazz hybrids, combinations of jazz and other musical genres. The centerpiece of this program is an extended improvised jam featuring German free jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, master Moroccan Gnawa musician, singer, and guembri player Maâlem Moukhtar Gania, and highly regarded American drummer Hamid Drake. We’ll also hear work from pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and guitarist Mary Halvorson, from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and saxophonist Henry Threadgill, from composer and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, from the edgy free jazz ensemble, Irreversible Entanglements and from Sarathy Korwar and the Upaj Collective.

On this Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb plays an archival recording of Charles Amirkhanian’s Ode to Gravity: The Music of John Cage, originally broadcast on NPR stations nationwide on December 12, 1987.

In this program, you’ll hear Amirkhanian’s on-stage interview with Cage at the San Francisco Exploratorium, various works by the composer spanning early to late, and learn about the background of this legendary theorist, artist, and philosopher.

On this Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb plays an archival recording of Charles Amirkhanian’s Ode to Gravity: The Music of Conlon Nancarrow. Originally broadcast on NPR stations worldwide in April of 1987, this program includes interviews with the composer in his studio in Mexico City conducted by Amirkhanian in 1977, some of the composer’s Studies for Player Piano also recorded on that trip, and a recording of his String Quartet (1942) performed here by the Kronos Quartet.

This program gives a preview of the artists performing on nights three and four of the 25th Other Minds Festival. Subtitled “Moment’s Notice,” a celebration of the art of musical improvisation. We’ll present work tonight by saxophonist Darius Jones, and the improv duo of Larry Ochs on sax and drummer Donald Robinson. We’ll play work by jazz master Roscoe Mitchell, bassist Junius Paul, pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, and guitarists Mary Halvorson and Elliott Sharp. And we’ll end the program with work by James Fei and Anthony Braxton.