 |
On a Windy Day (2003)
| composer |
Okkyung Lee (b. 1975) |
| performers |
John Hollenbeck, percussion
Ikue Mori, electronics |
| affiliation |
ASCAP |
| label |
Tzadik 7715http://www.tzadik.com
|
| duration |
06:19 |
Okkyung Lee:
"Written in 2003, On a Windy Day was inspired by wind chimes in Buddhist temples set deep in the mountains of Korea, where I used to visit as a child. I vaguely remember one afternoon hearing the chimes start to ring so softly and randomly that at first I didn't even notice them. Then the wind got gustier and gustier, and the chimes got louder and faster along with the sound of leaves on the trees surrounding the temple, eventually creating this mass of loud, intense, intricate sound. Then, as soon as the wind calmed down, everything went back to its serene surroundings, yet left me with all those tingling sounds lasting in my ears.
"To emulate this experience, I wrote a descriptive score for metallic percussion and had it performed live a few times by various players; the end result was never satisfactory. However, as soon as I heard John Hollenbeck's incredible interpretation of this score in a studio, I was more than ecstatic. An idea came to me to add Ikue Mori's unique electronic sounds and bring even more depth and surrealism to the piece. The final recording is better than I'd ever imagined and feels just like revisiting that windy day from my long-gone childhood."
Okkyung Lee (b. 1975) is a composer and cellist whose music fuses her classical training with improvisation, jazz, traditional Korean music, and noise. Lee was born and raised in Daejon, Korea, and attended arts schools in Seoul. In 1993 she moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where she studied at Berklee College of Music and with Hankus Netsky at the New England Conservatory of Music. Since relocating to New York City in 2000, Lee has been very active in the downtown music scene, performing and recording with artists such as Derek Bailey, Nels Cline, Anthony Coleman, Shelley Hirsch, Eyvind Kang, Christian Marclay, Thurston Moore, Ikue Mori, Jim O'Rourke, Zeena Parkins, Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp, and John Zorn, among others.
In addition to frequent performances both solo and with her own ensembles, Lee performs in the TOT Trio with percussionist Tim Barnes and turntablist Toshio Kajiwara; the improvisational duo NoNo Twins with dancer/choreographer Heather Kravas; and Vijay Iyer and Mike Ladd's In What Language? project. Her festival appearances include International Festival Musique Actuelle Victoriaville (Canada), off new york! series (Germany), San Francisco Jazz Festival, Taktlos Festival (Switzerland), Time-Based Art Festival (Portland, Oregon), and Venice Biennale (Italy). Her music and performances have been recorded on the Tzadik label; other upcoming releases include the Ecstatic Peace, Improvised Music from Japan, and Opax Records labels.
related websites
http://www.okkyunglee.com
John Hollenbeck is a versatile percussionist and composer who has performed and recorded with classical, jazz, and rock musicians including the BMI Orchestra, Bob Brookmeyer, Cuong Vu Trio, Fred Hersch, Jim McNeely Tentet, Achim Kaufmann, Maritime Jazz Orchestra, Meredith Monk Ensemble, New Art Orchestra, Stomu Takeishi, WDR Big Band, and as a frequent guest with the Village Vanguard Orchestra. He has also performed a variety of traditional musics with Antonio Arnedo, David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness, Frank London, Fernando Tarres and Pablo Ziegler. Hollenbeck studied percussion and jazz composition at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He has received grants from Meet the Composer and National Endowment for the Arts, the IAJE/ASCAP Commission and Gil Evans Fellowship, and Julius Hemphill Composition Award. Hollenbeck's other commissions include the Bamberg Choir, Bang On a Can All-Stars, and Windsbacher Knabenchor. His music and performances can be found on the Challenge, CRI Blueshift, Cuneiform, ECM, Edel Classics, Intuition, Mons, OmniTone, and Rondeau labels. Hollenbeck tours regularly with his group The Claudia Quintet.
A native of Tokyo, Japan, composer and improviser Ikue Mori moved to New York City in 1977 and formed the "No Wave" punk band DNA with Arto Lindsay and Tim Wright. Since then she has become one of the most respected musicians in the downtown experimental scene, known especially for her work with drum machines, laptops, and samplers. Mori has collaborated with improvising musicians throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, including Derek Bailey, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, Christian Marclay, Zeena Parkins, Marc Ribot, Jim Staley, and John Zorn. She has received commissions from the Relâche Ensemble, The Kitchen ensemble, and Roulette, which in 1998 commissioned One Hundred Aspects of the Moon, a suite of pieces for voice, strings, and percussion inspired by the work of Japanese woodblock artist Yoshitoshi. Mori's grants and awards include Alpert/Ucross Residency Prize, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction. She currently performs in a number of groups including the electrocouastic trio Mephista; a quartet with Kim Gordon, DJ Olive, and Jim O'Rourke; trio with Haco and Aki Onda; and Hemophiliac with Mike Patton and John Zorn. Mori's work can be found on dozens of labels including American Clavé, Avant, Einstein, MEGO, Nato, No Man's Land, RCA, RecRec, Sonic Youth Recordings, Tzadik, Victo, and Winter & Winter.
related websites
http://www.johnhollenbeck.com
http://www.ikuemori.com
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