HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAESTRO!

published by Dino on Mon, 02/09/2015 - 09:42

Traveling with Electronics : Happy Birthday Maestro!

I wanted to work with musicians who wanted

to explore the unknown.....butch morris

February 10th 2015 - Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris would be 68 - Happy Birthday my friend

Butch's life long exploration of the unknown produced amazing musical works and creations of sonic sorcery during his journey to the masterpiece that is Conduction. Now through his book the legacy of his work will continue to enlighten and inspire.

Excerpts : ..."As musicians, we all share a common language. We may speak in different dialects, vocabularies, categories or styles, but the language is music."...

..."It is not my intention, and it has never been, to redefine music or music theory with Conduction, or to standardize Conduction as a system. Through it rather, I wish to stimulate a way of making and thinking about music that can expand the concept of musicianship and musicality in the individual and in the ensemble, supplementing and augmenting given forms with a greater appreciation of possibility, and refining the qualitative standard for what ensemble music is and can be."...

..."In Conduction, the art of composition and the immediacy of performance become interdependent."... Butch Morris.

The Art of Conduction. Conduction® Workbook by Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris

(edited by Daniela Veronesi : J.A. Deane : Allan Graubard) ***Coming Summer 2015***

Mark Weber took this and has more photos plus an interview : posted here :

I had the great pleasure of being part of that journey and am committed to moving Conduction forward, with my own ensembles and through education, by teaching Conduction Workshops for conductors, musicians, actors and spoken word artists.

***New Release*** : ZEN NOIR : download here *** listen here

The idea to do a Conduction based electric guitar choir came to me in September of 2011, when I was teaching a Conduction Workshop for the music department at the University of Agder in Kristiansand Norway as part of the education and outreach program of the PUNKT FESTIVAL.

It was my second year doing this for the festival and I was working with the entire freshman class (all thirty-eight of them). In this very eclectic ensemble there just happened to be eleven singers and seven electric guitarists, and I figured, if I was going to have a vocal choir.....then why not have a guitar choir as well.

In January of 2013 I started the ZEN NOIR project, originally with eight guitars and two percussion, which evolved into six and two. We worked together once a month, played one concert in November and recorded on January 12th 2014.

The sonic range of the electric guitar is so rich, and when combined with the shape shifting flexibility of the Conduction Lexicon, the possibilities are massive. I feel that with ZEN NOIR we have just tapped the surface of where a Conduction based guitar choir could journey together over time. Check out the Guitar Moderne Interview.

The release of ZEN NOIR is the official opening of the High Mayhem download store. It's the 1st of 31 releases from their archives over the next 31 days - including 3 titles of mine : check back : on 2/25/15 for 1"=25miles / OOC - on 3/1/15 for TAIJI POLE - and on 3/2/15 for WNMM / OOC

***New Release*** : HIPSAMPLE : download here *** listen here

HIPSAMPLE is a collection of sampler based compositions : two were performed live and two were created over time. All of these pieces have been beautifully recorded and then mastered by Cookie Marenco.

1- HipSample (for Butch Morris) - is a cut-up piece using samples taken from a solo cornet improvisation by Butch at the FMP Festival - The 20th Total Music Meeting - in Berlin on 11/6/87. It was created and recorded live at OTR studios on 12/10/13.

2- Kassiteros (for Sam Rhodes) - was constructed at BluBox studios during October of 2012. It is made from samples taken from live and studio recordings of OOC, my Conduction ensemble Out of Context, over the first ten years of the group's fifteen year existence. The samples were woven together using the logic of Conduction.

3- Turnstile (for Steven Miller) - is a cut-up piece using samples from my library of percussion recordings. It was created and recorded live at OTR studios on 12/10/13.

4- On Rhythmic Winds (for Doug Deane) - was constructed at BluBox studios during October of 2012. It is a large scale composition for sampled percussion.

Now for a limited time : buy HIPSAMPLE

and get WITHOUT DESIRES : FREE :

just forward paypal receipt for download purchase to support@downloadsnow.net

type "WITHOUT DESIRES" in the email and it will be sent to you within 48 hours.

I developed my Live-Sampling skills so early on, because Butch embraced the idea before it became the convention it is today. From my first suggestion he saw it as a tool for orchestration within a Conduction ensemble.....before there were laptops, before there was even a name for it .....we were Live-Sampling in concert.

Butch was always looking for possibilities, always challenging the boundaries of category in his large and small ensembles. Have a listen and check out the reviews of : BURNING CLOUD.

I played in four of Butch's touring trios (from the mid 80's to the mid 90's) and of the released recordings from that time, I believe that BURNING CLOUD documents his strongest playing. Sadly, he put the horn down in 2000 to focus only on Conduction.

BURNING CLOUD : BERLIN 1993

I will always be grateful for the great opportunity that Butch provided me to take this journey with him into the creative, through the door of possibility, into the unknown. Over the course of twenty-eight years we shared friendship, creation and laughter.

The Journey Continues

***New Release*** : SMALL MAGIC : download here *** watch here

Instant Takemitsu is a multi-media trio composed of Dino J.A. Deane - LapSteel, Sampler & Electronics : Tim Motzer - Guitars & Electronics : Dejha Ti - Visuals