The Needle Drop Music Series

Creative music every other Sunday at 6pm at the Safe-T Gallery in DUMBO
111 Front St., Gallery 214, Brooklyn, NY
F to York St., A/C to High St., 2/3 to Clark St.

Spring 2008

March 2: Robert Dick

"There are few musicians that are truly revolutionary. Robert Dick is one of them."

With equally deep roots in classical music old and new and in free improvisation and new jazz, Robert Dick has established himself as an artist who has not only mastered, but redefined the flute. Known worldwide for creating revolutionary visions of the flute's musical role, listening to Robert Dick play solo has been likened to the experience of hearing a full orchestra. His performances typically include flute (with his invention, the Glissando Headjoint®) piccolo, alto flute, and bass flutes in C and F. On special occasions, he'll bring out the giant, stand-up contrabass flute.

March 16: Heather Green, soprano- Requiem for Winter

Hailed for her "eerie vocalizations" by New York Times critic Allan Kozinn, vocal and
visual artist Heather Green works to further the creation of art that exists on multiple
perceptual levels. Green endeavors to weave sound, motion and image in the creation
of an enveloping aesthetic experience.
Since completing her BFA in Sculpture at Pratt Institute in 2001, Heather has devoted
herself to the study and performance of traditional operatic repertoire and New Music,
believing Opera to have the most powerful tradition of multi-dimensional expression.

Ms. Green's skills as writer and director were seen in the 2002 New York International
Fringe Festival, in the sculptural performance piece, "You Are Here." Her work was
awarded The Mellon Grant for Creative Research. She has since contributed to the
direction and design of operatic works at Vertical Player Repertory Opera and Theater
For The New City.  Heather's performances from the standard repertoire include selections from The Magic  Flute (The Queen of the Night, Papagena) Rigoletto (Gilda), Le Nozze di Figaro (Susanna) and Hansel & Gretel (Gretel). Heather was awarded a full tuition scholarship to sing in the LISMA 2005 International Music Festival, at Old Westbury College, NY, and currently studies at Long Island Conservatory. Heather will be heard as Violetta Valery in the New York Opera Studio performance of La Traviata in February 2006.

March 30: Jaimie Branch (trumpet) and Marc Riordan (drums)

Trumpeter Jaimie Branch and drummer Marc Riordan are an active
presence on the Chicago music scene. Since meeting at the New
England Conservatory of Music in 2001, they have performed together as a duo
and in numerous other Chicago based ensembles including Rupert, Fly
Trap, Phelt, Nick Broste Quartet, Medium Sized Rabbit, and
Branch/Riordan/Sexton. Their duo music incorporates slow,
introspective melodies, abstract sound-based approaches,
and high density free jazz.

Jaimie Branch is a trumpeter working in the areas of composition and
improvisation. Jaimie resides in Chicago where she is an active
member in the creative music scene as a performer, recording engineer,
and presenter.

Drummer/pianist Marc Riordan grew up in Boston, where he attended the
New England Conservatory of Music and studied with Steve Lacy and
Bob Moses. Since moving to Chicago in 2006 he has performed with
Keefe Jackson, Nate McBride, Jaimie Branch, Fred Lonberg-Holm,
Toby Summerfield, and others. He currently works both as a leader
and collaborator in many Chicago-based ensembles, including Phelt,
Rupert, Medium Sized Rabbit, and Fly Trap.

 April 13: Andrew Drury solo (percussion)

Andrew Drury is a composer/percussionist active in jazz and free
improvisation, and occasionally in other genres. He has performed and
recorded in Europe, North and Central America with Michel Doneda, Jason Kao
Hwang, Mazen Kerbaj, Myra Melford, Chris Speed, and others. He most recent
recording is a CD of solos, "Renditions" (Creative Sources). He leads a new
percussion quartet with Jim Black, Mike Sarin, and Mike Pride.

April 27: Gerry Hemingway solo (percussion)

Gerry Hemingway has been making a living as a composer and performer solo and ensemble music since 1974. He has led numerous groups, including (since 1997) his quartet with Ellery Eskelin, Herb Robertson and Mark Helias as well collaborative groups with Mark Helias & Ray Anderson (BassDrumBone) celebrating its 30th year anniversary in 2007, Reggie Workman & Miya Masaoka (Brew), Georg Graewe & Ernst Reijseger (GRH trio), WHO trio with Swiss pianist Michel Wintsch and bassist Baenz Oester, his duo w/Thomas Lehn, and also w/John Butcher. Mr. Hemingway is a
Guggenheim fellow and has received numerous commissions for chamber and orchestral work including "Terrains", a concerto for percussionist and orchestra commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony.  He also completed a production of “Songs”, two year recording project for the the German label, between the lines. He is well known for his eleven years in the Anthony Braxton Quartet, and his many
collaborations with some of the world’s most outstanding improvisers and composers including Evan Parker, Cecil Taylor, Mark Dresser, Anthony Davis, George Lewis, Derek Bailey, Leo Smith, Oliver Lake, Kenny Wheeler, Frank Gratkowski, John Cale, Marilyn Crispell, Michael Moore and many others.

2007 Fall season

Oct 14: The Extension Ensemble

The Extension Ensemble has been steadily building a reputation for daring and innovative programming since its inception in 1998 in New York City, and performs a wide variety of contemporary music. While commissioning a body of new pieces in the last few years as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and presenting concerts which include new music as well as improvisation, our group has actively set out to expand both the brass repertoire and challenge audiences’ conceptions of a contemporary brass quintet. In addition to its NY recital schedule, the Extension Ensemble has been featured in concert at festivals such as Works & Process at the Guggenheim Museum , Cross Currents at the Cooper Hewitt Museum of Modern Design, Ars Vitalis at the New Jersey New Music Forum, Juilliard's Focus Festival, the New York Brass Conference, and the Aspen Music Festival. The individual members bring an array of talent and experience to the ensemble, having performed with groups as diverse as the Kennedy Center and Metropolitan Opera Orchestras, New Jersey Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, the Village Vanguard Orchestra, Absolute Ensemble, Broadway shows, commercial recording studios, and numerous jazz and avant-garde ensembles. The Extension Ensemble recognizes the importance of working closely with future audiences and performers, and has given masterclasses at The Juilliard School as well as many public schools. The Extension Ensemble has received first prize at both the Fischoff and Monterey Bay international chamber music competitions, as well as the New York Brass Conference Quintet Competition. The ensemble also received the first ever performance fellowship for a brass quintet from the Aspen Music Festival.

Oct 28: Sets by Phill Niblock and Guy De Bièvre

Phill Niblock makes thick, loud drones of music, filled with microtones of instrumental timbres which generate many other tones in the performance space.  Simultaneously, he presents films/videos which look at the movement of people working, or computer driven black and white abstract images floating through time.

Guy De Bièvre

And Above All - for lap steel guitar and randomly generative electronics.  circa 30 minutes.
An open exploratory journey into elementary score materials in unpredictable electronic processing surroundings.

Generally the performer moves perpendicularly through the core materials (all harmonically related) from the upper left to the lower right corner, bearing in mind the following Langston Hughes poem:

Last Curve

When you turn the corner
and you run into yourself
then you know that you have turned
all the corners that are left

Phill Niblock is an intermedia artist using music, film, photography, video, and computers. He was born in Indiana in 1933.  Since the mid-60's he has been making music and intermedia performances which have been shown at numerous venues around the world including: The Museum of Modern Art; The Wadsworth Atheneum; the Kitchen; the Paris Autumn Festival; Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels; Institute of Contemporary Art, London; Akademie der Kunste, Berlin; ZKM; Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard; World Music Institute at Merkin Hall NYC.  Since 1985, he has been the director of the Experimental Intermedia Foundation in New York where he has been an artist/member since 1968.  He is the producer of Music and Intermedia presentations at EI since 1973 (about 1000 performances) and the curator of EI's XI Records label.  In 1993 he was part of the formation of an Experimental Intermedia organization in Gent, Belgium- TI v.z.e. Gent- which supports an artist-in-residence house and installations there.  Phill Niblock's music is available on the XI, Moikai, Mode and Touch labels.  A DVD of films and music is available on the Extreme label.

Guy De Bièvre (Brussels, 1961)- Self taught composer, arranger, musicians, sound engineer, and sound designer.
I seem to have decided to quit writing (late) 20th century music in 1999.  Before that my music has been commissioned and/or performed by musicians such as Guy Klucevsek, Seth Jose, Anne LaBerge, The Bozza Mansion Project, Gene Carl, Annette Sachs, Zivatar Trio, and various local and international organizations.  'Polka Dots and Laser Beams' was recorded by GUy Klucevesk and the Ain't Nothin' But a Polka Band and issued on CD on the Japanese Eva label and the Italian Pierrot Lunaire label; other works have been recorded and broadcast by the Flemish Public Radio. In 2002 a collaboration with Phill Niblock was published on the Ringtones CD (Touch). Currently, after a long period of inactivity as such, I am again active as a performer (microphone, guitar, and computer), which recently resulted in collaborations with composers Phill Niblock, Tom Hamilton, and Peter Zummo. As a composer/performer I now focus on experiments which combine computer, live electronics, acoustics, and standard arrangement formats. In addition to all this I am freelancing as a sound engineer, sound designer and advisor, microcontroller developer for various organizations and artists, and I am the curator of the audio art series Earwitness at CCNOA (Center for Contemporary Non-Objective Art).

Nov 11: Robin Hayward and Andrew Greenwald

Berlin-based tuba player/composer Robin Hayward makes a rare New York appearance in duo with New York percussionist Andrew Greenwald. Expect silence punctuated by quiet noises.

The tuba player Robin Hayward, born in Brighton, England in 1969, has been based in Berlin since 1998. He has radically extended the tuba’s potential both in the areas of noise and microtonality, and his compositions for other instruments reflect a similar medium-specific approach. As an interpreter his specific playing ability has been utilized by leading composers such as Alvin Lucier, Christian Wolff and Peter Ablinger. He has toured extensively both solo and in collaboration. His research to date has been documented in his solo CD Valve Division and numerous collaborative releases. Active in many contemporary music ensembles including Phosphor, Ictus and Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, in 2005 he founded Zinc & Copperworks for continued research into brass instruments.

Andrew Greenwald, percussionist (born 1980, Queens N.Y), produces work which satisfies his fascination with the extremes of duration, density, texture, and their collective absence. This approach to composition and improvisation has established him as sought-after musician throughout the new music communities of the U.S. and Europe. He seeks to distill his instrument to its barest essentials—metal, wood, and plastic. Viewing the respective properties through this lens unearths a sound both transparent and immediate, blurring the line between convention and abstraction. The intent: to arrive at a sonic space where the multiplicity of this acoustic instrument yields a singularity- sound indistinguishable of its mean parts, and unified in its aural purpose/intention.
He holds a degree in music from New York University (2003, Cum Laude). Residencies include The Banff Centre for Jazz and Contemporary music (2002, 2004), Western Front (2004, Vancouver BC), Harold Arts (2007), and Pamplemousse Seedlot (2006, 2007). His work has been featured at such festivals as the Vancouver Jazz Festival, Nhebraska noise fest, Western Front, Festival of New Trumpet Music, and Sound Bubbles. Performance activities include work as soloist with TACTUS and Ensemble Pamplemousse. He has lectured at such institutions as Manhattan School of Music and The Banff Centre.

Nov 25: Andrew Greenwald, Reuben Radding, Jacob Wick

Jacob Wick, Reuben Radding, Andrew Greenwald share a fascination with the extremes of duration, density, texture, and their collective absence. This approach to composition and improvisation has established them individually as sought-after musicians throughout the new music communities of the U.S. and Europe. Andrew and Jacob began playing together as a duo in 2004, focusing on distilling their instruments to the barest essentials: brass, metal, wood, and plastic. Accomplished bassist and composer Reuben Radding joined the group in 2006, expanding the group’s repertoire to an almost limitless sonic palette, ranging from nearly silent, identity-blurring textures to rollicking tonal improvisations. After a year of playing together, this sonic smorgasboard has been tamed to yield subtle, gradually developing improvisations, which concentrate on sound and texture, but are not afraid to venture into rhythm and melody.