Thanks to Bonnie Wright for bringing Todd Reynolds to town.
Click any of the images below for larger version.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Friday, December 07, 2012
Double Quartet Re-visited...
Despite, what it says in the review, it is not *quite* out of print...I also have a few copies that are available....nice to revisit the review, though!
From Downtown Music Gallery's Newsletter today:
***********************
JEFF KAISER DOUBLE QUARTET With VINNY
GOLIA/MICHAEL VLATKOVICH/BRAD DUTZ/GENE DOI/JIM
CONNOLLY/RICHIE WEST/HANNES GIGER - Nothing Is
Not Breath: Music For Double Quartet (Nine Winds
206; USA) Jeff Kaiser, trumpet and pump organ;
Michael Vlatkovich, trombone; Vinny Golia,
woodwinds; Gene Doi, woodwinds; Jim Connolly,
contrabass; Hannes Giger, contrabass; Brad Dutz,
percussion; Richie West, percussion.
"I almost began this review with a confession
that I was lying about the Trignition CD [9Winds]
being the most inaccessible CD, but as I listened
further, I stopped myself. This disc is a huge,
70-minute, eleven-part suite that begins subtly
and improvisationally and then explodes in many
multi-layered compositions and quirky fanfares. I
feel the apex of the disc culminates in Section
VIII, which I will call the "theme". It's the
only part of the disc that my mind sings. The
rest is an avant-garde smorgasboard that swings
in places, much like Ornette's original double
quartet did on the historic Free Jazz. Nothing Is
Not Breath goes beyond that template, happily,
and saturates itself with wonderful 20th Century
classical sensibilities. In attempting to
interpret the title of this work, I believe that
even though only four of the eight instruments
are winds, the percussion and double basses
actually seem to breathe. The rising and falling
of dynamics, and the lack of rhythm or pulse in
some selections, resembles a large organism
slowly inhaling.. and exhaling. The tumbling
marimba is the rattle of its breath, the
squealing reeds its vocal chords, the percussion
its raspy cough. This is a Kaiser masterwork -
not to mention that Golia is on it, of course!" -
Fred Barrett
CD normally $15.. NOW $13 (Out of print, but we have it!)
***********************
From Downtown Music Gallery's Newsletter today:
***********************
JEFF KAISER DOUBLE QUARTET With VINNY
GOLIA/MICHAEL VLATKOVICH/BRAD DUTZ/GENE DOI/JIM
CONNOLLY/RICHIE WEST/HANNES GIGER - Nothing Is
Not Breath: Music For Double Quartet (Nine Winds
206; USA) Jeff Kaiser, trumpet and pump organ;
Michael Vlatkovich, trombone; Vinny Golia,
woodwinds; Gene Doi, woodwinds; Jim Connolly,
contrabass; Hannes Giger, contrabass; Brad Dutz,
percussion; Richie West, percussion.
"I almost began this review with a confession
that I was lying about the Trignition CD [9Winds]
being the most inaccessible CD, but as I listened
further, I stopped myself. This disc is a huge,
70-minute, eleven-part suite that begins subtly
and improvisationally and then explodes in many
multi-layered compositions and quirky fanfares. I
feel the apex of the disc culminates in Section
VIII, which I will call the "theme". It's the
only part of the disc that my mind sings. The
rest is an avant-garde smorgasboard that swings
in places, much like Ornette's original double
quartet did on the historic Free Jazz. Nothing Is
Not Breath goes beyond that template, happily,
and saturates itself with wonderful 20th Century
classical sensibilities. In attempting to
interpret the title of this work, I believe that
even though only four of the eight instruments
are winds, the percussion and double basses
actually seem to breathe. The rising and falling
of dynamics, and the lack of rhythm or pulse in
some selections, resembles a large organism
slowly inhaling.. and exhaling. The tumbling
marimba is the rattle of its breath, the
squealing reeds its vocal chords, the percussion
its raspy cough. This is a Kaiser masterwork -
not to mention that Golia is on it, of course!" -
Fred Barrett
CD normally $15.. NOW $13 (Out of print, but we have it!)
***********************
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Two new reviews from Downtown Music Gallery
Two new reviews from DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY…
DMG Newsletter for November 16, 2012
http://www.downtownmusicgallery.com/Main/index.htm
ENDLESS PIE [JEFF KAISER/PHIL SKALLER] - Endless Pie [2 CD set] (pfMentum 072; USA) Jeff Kaiser on trumpet, flugelhorn and electronics and Phil Skaller on prepared piano. Jeff is a restless explorer on trumpet and flugelhorn, always searching for other like-minded musicians to work with. Kaiser has done a number of duo discs before this, each one unique depending on his partner. Mr. Skaller seems to work mostly inside the piano, banging on the strings with assorted objects. Kaiser continually alters his sound with mutes or electronic devices, as well as playing some strange synth sounds. This is a particularly intense and focused duo, always working tightly together, complimenting and pushing each other. Although this music is completely (?) improvised, the duo often create patterns which sounds closer to modern chamber music. Reminding me at times of recent discs from Ernesto Martinez and David Rosenboom. This is an extraordinary duo and one of this year's most challenging efforts on a variety of levels. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery 2 CD set for $14
CHARISMATA [JEFF KAISER/GREGORY TAYLOR] - The Desert Fathers (pfMentum 070; USA) Jeff Kaiser on quartertone trumpet and laptop and Gregory Taylor on laptop. This disc was recorded live in a studio at STEIM in Amsterdam. Since the last time we heard from pfMentum founder a few years back, Jeff Kaiser has released another three discs of his own duos, a trio and a few collaborations. With more than a half dozen duo efforts released, Mr. Kaiser has done it again with another couple of winners. The quartertone trumpet which has a fourth valve and can play microtones is relatively rare. The only one that I've seen & heard was played by Thomas Heberer. Since Mr. Kaiser uses different extended techniques and plays laptop as done his partner, it is difficult to tell who is doing what outside of the familiar odd trumpet sounds. The STEIM studio sounds like a high end affair since there is good deal of depth and dynamics to these sounds. Is that feedback, magnified static or trumpet making those extreme sounds?!? This music is intense, powerful, sometimes brittle, often bent, swirling electronics and twisted trumpet sounds. Mr. Kaiser keeps digger deeper and coming up with large variety of odd sounds from his trumpet, often reminding me of Nate Wooley or Peter Evans, both of whom are also restless explorers who can match wits with any acoustic or electronic instruments. This disc is more than an hour in length and I found myself at the edge of my seat throughout wondering what they would come up with next. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery CD $12
DMG Newsletter for November 16, 2012
http://www.downtownmusicgallery.com/Main/index.htm
ENDLESS PIE [JEFF KAISER/PHIL SKALLER] - Endless Pie [2 CD set] (pfMentum 072; USA) Jeff Kaiser on trumpet, flugelhorn and electronics and Phil Skaller on prepared piano. Jeff is a restless explorer on trumpet and flugelhorn, always searching for other like-minded musicians to work with. Kaiser has done a number of duo discs before this, each one unique depending on his partner. Mr. Skaller seems to work mostly inside the piano, banging on the strings with assorted objects. Kaiser continually alters his sound with mutes or electronic devices, as well as playing some strange synth sounds. This is a particularly intense and focused duo, always working tightly together, complimenting and pushing each other. Although this music is completely (?) improvised, the duo often create patterns which sounds closer to modern chamber music. Reminding me at times of recent discs from Ernesto Martinez and David Rosenboom. This is an extraordinary duo and one of this year's most challenging efforts on a variety of levels. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery 2 CD set for $14
CHARISMATA [JEFF KAISER/GREGORY TAYLOR] - The Desert Fathers (pfMentum 070; USA) Jeff Kaiser on quartertone trumpet and laptop and Gregory Taylor on laptop. This disc was recorded live in a studio at STEIM in Amsterdam. Since the last time we heard from pfMentum founder a few years back, Jeff Kaiser has released another three discs of his own duos, a trio and a few collaborations. With more than a half dozen duo efforts released, Mr. Kaiser has done it again with another couple of winners. The quartertone trumpet which has a fourth valve and can play microtones is relatively rare. The only one that I've seen & heard was played by Thomas Heberer. Since Mr. Kaiser uses different extended techniques and plays laptop as done his partner, it is difficult to tell who is doing what outside of the familiar odd trumpet sounds. The STEIM studio sounds like a high end affair since there is good deal of depth and dynamics to these sounds. Is that feedback, magnified static or trumpet making those extreme sounds?!? This music is intense, powerful, sometimes brittle, often bent, swirling electronics and twisted trumpet sounds. Mr. Kaiser keeps digger deeper and coming up with large variety of odd sounds from his trumpet, often reminding me of Nate Wooley or Peter Evans, both of whom are also restless explorers who can match wits with any acoustic or electronic instruments. This disc is more than an hour in length and I found myself at the edge of my seat throughout wondering what they would come up with next. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery CD $12
Thursday, November 08, 2012
First review for "Endless Pie"
Phil Skaller and I have a new disc that will be out any day, but we already have a review...!
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/jam-session/2012/nov/08/jeff-kaiser-phil-skaller-endless-pie/
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/jam-session/2012/nov/08/jeff-kaiser-phil-skaller-endless-pie/
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Profile in ITG Journal...
One of the editors for the International Trumpet Guild journal ran across the "Brave New Sonic World" article (posted below) and decided to do a profile on my work for the ITG journal in March. I'm quite excited about that...
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Dottie Grossman Memorial
Sunday, July 29
7-11pm
Glendale Moose Lodge
357 Arden Ave
Glendale, CA 91203
http://www.mooseintl.org
7pm enter and sign up to offer music, poetry...
7:30 the artistic offerings start.
Please bring some munchies for our food.
Drinks are available at the lodge.
We are asking a $5 donation to cover the cost of the hall.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
"Jeff Kaiser's Brave New Sonic World," NBC San Diego
Writer/critic Robert Bush did an interview with me, published on NBC San Diego's web site... Click the link to give it a read:
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/blogs/sounddiego/Trumpeter-Jeff-Kaisers-Brave-New-Sonic-World-162948706.html
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/blogs/sounddiego/Trumpeter-Jeff-Kaisers-Brave-New-Sonic-World-162948706.html
Friday, July 06, 2012
The E-MU E64 (6400) Saga Ends...
My first and third albums (Excerpts from The Prince and Ganz Andere) along with numerous dance projects, installations and several commissions relied heavily on the E-MU E64, the first version of what became the E6400. (I still have the original box, it says E64, Model: 6400.) So, thinking I was all hip and tech savvy, when I purchased the E-MU, I also purchased a Fujitsu MagnetoOptical SCSI drive. This featured read/write optical discs that could hold 230 MB (approx 217 after formatting). It was on these discs that I stored all of my E-MU information.
Recently I decided I wanted to revisit the musical material, and realized: Where am I going to get a machine that not only has SCSI (version 1) but would even see the Fujitsu, let alone read E-MU EOS format and translate it for a software-based sampler. To shorten the story, I knew my friend Rand Steiger had used the E6400...and then I ran into him at a concert and he put me BACK in touch with Trevor Henthorn and Joe Kucera (friends of mine!). After some twiddling with the drive, Joe and I were able to get a server in Studio A at UCSD to see the E-MU formatted MO discs (hint: don’t set the dip switches to Mac, but to PC/UNIX), but not mount them, so we decided to burn an image of the disc...and then Trevor used a PPC program* (sorry, won’t work with OSX 10.7) called CDXTRACT to both mount the disc image and translate them into a format of choice, in my case Kontakt. After all the fiddling with one of the last SCSI machines in UCSD music to see the MO drive, burning images of nine discs and translating took less than an hour in total.
And they sound fantastic, if I may say so.
But let this serve as a warning, Mac’s with SCSI are (of course) obsolete and it is probably not long until the only one you can find is in a museum, or buy one on Ebay for $374,500. So do the transfers now, don’t wait...I feel I got lucky having knowledgeable friends with access to quickly obsolescing technology.
*Note: It seems that Translator from ChickenSys works on OS 10.7.4, but I only tried the demo so YMMV.
Recently I decided I wanted to revisit the musical material, and realized: Where am I going to get a machine that not only has SCSI (version 1) but would even see the Fujitsu, let alone read E-MU EOS format and translate it for a software-based sampler. To shorten the story, I knew my friend Rand Steiger had used the E6400...and then I ran into him at a concert and he put me BACK in touch with Trevor Henthorn and Joe Kucera (friends of mine!). After some twiddling with the drive, Joe and I were able to get a server in Studio A at UCSD to see the E-MU formatted MO discs (hint: don’t set the dip switches to Mac, but to PC/UNIX), but not mount them, so we decided to burn an image of the disc...and then Trevor used a PPC program* (sorry, won’t work with OSX 10.7) called CDXTRACT to both mount the disc image and translate them into a format of choice, in my case Kontakt. After all the fiddling with one of the last SCSI machines in UCSD music to see the MO drive, burning images of nine discs and translating took less than an hour in total.
And they sound fantastic, if I may say so.
But let this serve as a warning, Mac’s with SCSI are (of course) obsolete and it is probably not long until the only one you can find is in a museum, or buy one on Ebay for $374,500. So do the transfers now, don’t wait...I feel I got lucky having knowledgeable friends with access to quickly obsolescing technology.
*Note: It seems that Translator from ChickenSys works on OS 10.7.4, but I only tried the demo so YMMV.
Thursday, July 05, 2012
New Desert Fathers recording! Two years later...
Finally, it is finished, and I must admit...from the music to Ted Killian's art, I'm quite pleased.
Stream it for free, buy digital or hard copies....
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Recording with Nick Deyoe
I've been working on a new software rig in Max 6. One that is easy-to-use, doesn't require the computer screen and is optimized for a monophonic system. (Which is pretty hilarious. Those of you familiar with my love of all-things-ambisonic will understand why.) There are many reasons, but the main one is that I wanted something portable, interesting to use in dynamically softer situations, something that I could plug into a guitar amp or lousy sound system and still sound good AND something for my gig with Ted Byrnes in Pasadena on July 8. :-)
Well, then Nick Deyoe tells me he has some new guitar things that he wants to work on. So we set up a session in the Experimental Theater at UCSD's music center, and recorded all afternoon on Monday...it was for fun, but the results sound pretty good, so maybe they'll end up somewhere. One of the funny things about this: there are 61 speakers installed in the Experimental Theater...and we didn't use any of them. Nick played into a Marshall and I played into a little JBL. And that room still sounds great.
Below, in order: Pics of my rig, and our combined mess. (Click any pics to enlarge.)
Well, then Nick Deyoe tells me he has some new guitar things that he wants to work on. So we set up a session in the Experimental Theater at UCSD's music center, and recorded all afternoon on Monday...it was for fun, but the results sound pretty good, so maybe they'll end up somewhere. One of the funny things about this: there are 61 speakers installed in the Experimental Theater...and we didn't use any of them. Nick played into a Marshall and I played into a little JBL. And that room still sounds great.
Below, in order: Pics of my rig, and our combined mess. (Click any pics to enlarge.)
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Saturday, June 02, 2012
A Day in LA...
Another lovely visit to the fine City of Los Angeles...full of meetings...coffee in the morning at Proof with Andrew Pask and Tom Hall, mixing session with Matt McGarvey (some great music coming soon), then a late business lunch at Golden Road Brewing with Louis Lopez to discuss increasing his role at pfMENTUM, we were joined by Max Gualtieri, then went off to hang with Tom McNalley and Michael Vlatkovich in Eagle Rock....a full day.
Then for the evening went to The Satellite (in the midst of über hip Silverlake) to see friends Josh Ottum and Michael Deakers perform in their project "Junior High" (with guest Frank Lenz on drums). For those of you knowing my taste in music, it might come as a surprise to you as to how much I really enjoyed this show of twisted synth pop full of oddball cultural references. A great time.
Then for the evening went to The Satellite (in the midst of über hip Silverlake) to see friends Josh Ottum and Michael Deakers perform in their project "Junior High" (with guest Frank Lenz on drums). For those of you knowing my taste in music, it might come as a surprise to you as to how much I really enjoyed this show of twisted synth pop full of oddball cultural references. A great time.
(Click to enlarge any pic)
Louis
Max
Junior High: Michael Deakers, Frank Lenz, Josh Ottum
Josh
Michael
Frank
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Ben Power, Pete Polansky, Michael Prine
A wonderful night of music tonight in San Diego featuring:
Ben Power, flute and pipes
Pete Polansky, fiddle and bodhrán
Michael Prine, step dance
(Click any image to enlarge)
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Robert Irwin and Eric Tillinghast
My friend Eric Tillinghast visited today, we had an excellent time drinking coffee, visiting museums and checking out the art at UCSD. I'm pretty pleased with these pics of Robert Irwin's work on campus...
Eric and myself by the Irwin installation.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Anthony Davis Performs with Students at UCSD
Earlier this week I was able to catch Anthony Davis performing with some of my classmates at UCSD...on the way over I took a picture of the sky...following that are some pics of the gig.
(Click any image to enlarge it.)
Anthony Davis
Nicolee Kuester
David (?)
Tyler Eaton
Leah Bowden
Adam Goodwin
Yvette Jackson
(Far right, Ryoko Goguen on piano)
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