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Dear shakuhachi friends,
I have some great news.
I got acepted to study with Shakuhachi at New England Conservatory.
I will do my Masters in Contemporary Improvisation.
This is big honour and great oportunity for me to study with some great teachers.
I want to thank my teacher Phil Nyokai James, for his help. He will be my teacher there too.
A big Thanks all of you with your contribution to this forum. This is where I got most of knowledge of shakuhachi/players/teachers/recordings.
Special Thank YOu for the creators of this forum.
Thank You
Geni
Last edited by geni (2007-03-28 15:26:05)
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That is great news Geni, CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Ken
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Hey, congrats, man. Nice work!
And good for the New England Conservatory for supporting shakuhachi. I'm guessing this isn't a common area of interest for their grad students. Or is it?
-Darren.
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Hey Geni,
Congratulations! It's great to see that your enthusiasm and love for the shakuhachi open up new doors and opportunities in your life. I'm very happy for you!
Salud!
Alex
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Congrats Geni!
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Hey Geni, bring the rock to New England!
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Hey, that really is great news! Contemporary improvisation? I thought NE Conservatory was more classically oriented, but I'm thinking of what it was 30 years ago. They may have had the program back then too, I never even visited, but I had some friends that studied there.
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Geni, Congratulations! That's great. I know you will blow the roof off the place, so to speak.
- Perry
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way cool, Geni
NEC is one of the best music schools in the US. the list of teachers and alumni over the years is amazing!!! Cecil Taylor, Marilyn Crispell, Steve Lacy, Ran blake, George Russel and countless others.
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philipgelb wrote:
way cool, Geni
NEC is one of the best music schools in the US. the list of teachers and alumni over the years is amazing!!! Cecil Taylor, Marilyn Crispell, Steve Lacy, Ran blake, George Russel and countless others.
And Jimmy Giuffre! Anybody who hasn't heard him should check it out. His music is very relevant for improvising on shakuhachi because he plays the clarinet at a similar volume level.
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Tairaku wrote:
And Jimmy Giuffre! Anybody who hasn't heard him should check it out. His music is very relevant for improvising on shakuhachi because he plays the clarinet at a similar volume level.
Most people probably have heard one of his tunes that became a jazz standard, "Four Brothers", somewhere. Possibly a muzak track in a mall or somewhere similar. There's a link to a nice long sample (track nine) here: http://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Artist-F … mp;sr=8-16
If anybody could pull that one off on shakuhachi they could go down in history. However progressive that tune is within the confines of the structure the genre defined for it, he did a lot of stuff that was way more progressive, and might be more fitting for shakuhachi inspiration. In particular I remember a collaboration that included Paul Motian. This isn't the record, but it's the same sort of sound (again, lots of samples to listen too): http://www.amazon.com/Life-Trio-Sunday- … mp;sr=8-13
Not on the jazz side, but didn't Ligetti (you heard his stuff in the 2001 Space Odessy movie) have some ties to NEC too? I see a common thread between the composers/musicians mentioned so far that were affiliated with the school, they all like to make dissonances sound consonant. Shakuhachi seems to fit well in that respect.
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Giuffre started out as a sophisticated arranger/clarinetist in swing. Then he did some fascinating "progressive" jazz in the late 50's. One of his hallmarks was that he played without a drummer. Clarinet/trombone/guitar was one of his formats. His trio with Paul Bley on piano and Steve Swallow on upright bass was one of the pioneering free jazz groups but he didn't get enough credit for that probably due to political issues (they were all white). Later on he did some work combining blues with free jazz and world music, actually kind of like what I'm doing now. He has been a big inspiration. Some of that music used flute and bass flute on songs with Buddhist/Hindu themes. I saw him do some of his last gigs, reuinited with Bley and Swallow. By now Swallow had switched to electric bass. Gary Peacock subbed one night. It was incredible. Unfortunately he got ill and can no longer play. One of the most unique and individual voices in jazz.
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Thank you guys.
I am looking forward to the school. There is so much music going on there.
Back to practise,
Geni
Last edited by geni (2007-04-01 02:11:56)
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Tairaku wrote:
One of his hallmarks was that he played without a drummer.
That comment made me curious about what recording I remembered. Even though this website, http://www.omnitone.com/store/artists/giuffrejimmy.htm , has an album that says he's in a trio with Paul Motian, Paul Motian isn't on that album. The record I was thinking of is Quiet Song with Bill Conners because I remember the song "yea guitar" on it (it's easy to remember because it was titled that because someone said that during the otherwise purely instrumental session). Apparently I was just getting Paul Motian's collaborations with Paul Bley and Paul Bley's collaborations with Paul Motian confused. That was all very nice stuff back then.
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Giuffre didn't always play without a drummer, just much of the time.
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Giuffre's trio with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow made 3 studio recordings in 1961 that are absolutely brilliant. ECM re=issued 2 of these on a double CD set. Hat art then released several live recordings that trio did in Europe, the same year. One of my favorite ensembles.
I believe Akikazu Nakamura also went to NEC for grad school
phil
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Congrats Geni!!
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Congratulations Geni, that's great news! Just back from a trip to the U.S.A. and saw your post. I got to play shakuhachi under the beautiful cherry trees in full bloom at the University of Washington in Seattle a couple of weeks ago and then for a flock of Canada geese at a pond near Emory U in Atlanta...
Last edited by Daniel Ryudo (2007-04-05 22:02:42)
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