Addio Del Passato (La Traviata - Verdi) 4:24 June 2008 Two very different things put together to breed a different listening experience. Bach organ music combined with some random hardcore porn off of the web. Some may have a problem with this right away, but that's not my concern. The sound of pornography now falls under the spell of harmonic story in Bach's music and abstract phrasing comes to life in pitch and rhythm... Yes, a listening experiment I'm interested in having others hear now. The beginning of something new, which I'm always excited about, no matter what it is... Interviewer Didn't you say somewhere, "I am for obscenity and against pornography"? Henry Miller Well, it's very simple. The obscene would be the forthright, and pornography would be the roundabout. I believe in saying the truth, coming out with it cold, shocking if necessary, not disguising it. In other words, obscenity is a cleansing process, whereas pornography only adds to the murk. J.X. Bach 4:40 Backyard, home in Santa Barbara... April 2008 1. Rain 16:00 2. Wind 2:14:40 3. Dawn 1:51:28 March 14, 2008 The sound of all Bach's Goldberg Variations playing simultaneously - Glenn Gould, 1981. 1. Goldberg Variations Variation 6:03 February 24, 2008 Olivier Messiaen's Livre d'Orgue, which I recorded organist Gail Archer performing in a free concert given at Rutgers Presbyterian Church on w. 73rd St. 1. Reprises par Interversion 7:47 2. Piece en Trio 2:05 3. Les Mains de l'Abime 6:24 4. Chants d'Oiseaux 9:54 5. Piece en Trio 10:19 6. Les Yeux Dans les Roues 2:15 7. Soixante Quatre Durees 11:37 A very obscure Hungarian LP of bird song here. The second side is really something... beautiful, complex calls presented at much slower speeds... Notes from the jacket are as follows. Side A 24:17 Side B 20:53 Mirra Alfassa Also known as The Mother, I recently came across Mirra Alfassa for the first time in the sixth episode of Louis Malle's Phantom India (1969), when the ashram of Pondicherry had been reached. They were not allowed to film her as she lived in retreat, but record her voice. What she said, and its sound - I was so struck by it (which has since led me to this very deep book) - and now, I leave the recording for you. The Mother 1:36 Translation: It never happens the same way twice. Generally, it happens when we least expect it. And it’s usually when we’ve surrendered our so-called knowledge, our convictions, and abandoned all hope that we enter a state where we’re able to receive it. Revelation is always present. It’s always here. We’re the ones who don’t let it in. Knowledge is always present. Enlightenment is always present, floating above everything, ready to be received. It’s only because we’re so completely blinded by everything we think we know and want to do that we can’t receive it. But at the moment we surrender, for whatever reason, it makes us a bit passive and open, and that’s when we receive it. ... "Phantom India" Hours of beautiful footage documented by filmmaker Louis Malle in the early 1960s. This has just recently been made available on dvd, and I couldn't more highly recommend something to see, or hear, and for that matter, here is the sound from it all which I went through and removed the French commentary from. Enjoy! episode 1 - the impossible camera 15:27 episode 2 - things seen in madras 17:34 episode 3 - the indians and the sacred 17:00 episode 4 - dream and reality 19:47 episode 5 - a look at castes 25:26 episode 6 - on the fringes of indian society 10:44 episode 7 - bombay 28:10 Turkish ney solo Manipulated with the fast-forward and rewind buttons on a cd player. November 17, 2007 1. Track 1 8:30 Gerstein, Attias, McManus Ben Gerstein - trombone; Michael Attias - alto saxophone; Terry McManus - guitar Recorded live at the Downtown Music Gallery October 21, 2007 1. part 1 14:46 2. part 2 13:04 3. part 3 9:13 Rye Beach, New Hampshire July 2007 1. "birds, backyard, wind in the trees, road" 2:07 2. "ocean" 6:28 Jacob Sacks Quintet Ben Gerstein [nearer to mic], Jacob Garchik - trombone; Jacob Sacks - piano, composition Dave Ambrosio - bass; Vinnie Sperrazza - drums May 25, 2007 Rose Music Live - Williamsburg, Brooklyn New Languages Festival 1. "Two" 8:10 Mike Pride's Drummer's Corpse February 21, 2007 - Tonic, NYC Mike Pride, vocals; Chris Welcome, guitar; Ben Gerstein, drums, along with four other percussionists scattered around the space. A 33-minute, multi-layer, polyrhythmic, hyper-dense, drone-based catharsis music for drummers composed by Mike Pride excerpt 6:51 Tony Malaby, Ben Gerstein, Marcus Rojas, Tom Rainey December 1, 2006 - Cornelia St. Cafe, NYC excerpt 1 10:23 excerpt 2 8:49 Mat Maneri's PENTAGON Mat Maneri - viola; Joe Maneri - reeds and organ; Ben Gerstein - trombone; Craig Taborn - piano and electronics; Ed Schuller - bass; John McLellan - drums Album available on Thirsty Ear Records October 21, 2006 - live in Maine Part 1 37:51 Part 2 18:39 Part 3 11:09 October 22, 2006 - live in Cambridge Part 1 21:56 Part 2 22:07 Part 3 12:14 October 23, 2006 - live in Montreal Part 1 30:47 Part 2 25:43 Part 3 10:05 Joe Maneri 1:02 October 25, 2006 - live in Philadelphia Part 1 24:46 Part 2 47:46 October 26, 2006 - live in NYC Part 1 33:33 Part 2 6:49 RECORD VINYL August 15, 2006 A spliced sound clip of vinyl spinning on a record player. Pitch was then lowered considerably, then raised a bit, and then again a little more. It sounds as it does. Record Vinyl music for MORT The following five excerpts are from the play MORT which I arranged and performed music for in its first two and only performances on August 3 and 4, 2006. These particular collage pieces consist of just music by Morton Feldman, and were organized collaboratively with tenor saxophonist/composer Sam Hillmer (see MOTH). #24 Broken Music Himalayas Jigsaw Luft Impressions x 10 July 7, 2007 The sound of ten different recordings of John Coltrane playing "Impressions" going simulatenously. It's rather difficult to listen to... 1. "Impressions x 10" 20:54 FRACTAL March 4, 2006 Sampled from an old episode of Police Squad (the joke was a suspect's name, Eddie Cassalas, "rang a bell"), a composition dedicated to my dear friend and musical brother, Dan Weiss, on his birthday, today. "FRACTAL" (3min. 4sec.) with TONE COLLECTOR Ben Gerstein, trombone; Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone; Eivind Opsvik, bass; Jeff Davis, drums January 22, 2006, Second Set, at Bar4, Brooklyn, NY. Track 1 Track 2 Track 3 with Joe and Mat Maneri Joe Maneri, alto saxophone; Ben Gerstein, trombone; Mat Maneri, viola; Jacob Sacks, keyboard; John Hebert, bass; John McLellan, drums January 12, 2006 at BARBES, Brooklyn, NY. Track 1 with TONE COLLECTOR Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone; Eivind Opsvik, bass; Jeff Davis, drums November 8, 2005 at Koze Lounge, Brooklyn, NY. Excerpt 1 Excerpt 2 BEATSHELL 1.4 April 18, 2005 In collaboration with drummer, producer and long-time friend Doug Hirlinger, Beatshell 1.4 grew into exhistence by way of a round-robin form of assemblage - sending a sound file back and forth through e-mail. I had an initial sample taken from an electronic piece by composer Charles Wuornen which served as a perfect structure to build on, from which sprouted inspirations for me to apply effects of Fellini's film Satyricon, Kieslowski's Dekalog, Morton Feldman, Mario Davidovsky, Olivier Messiaen, Bela Bartok, Alban Berg, John Cage, Harrison Birtwistle, George Crumb, myself... and then Doug's classic timing and subtle contributions to this sound event made for a truly inspired four and-a-half minutes. Beatshell 1.4 EXCERPT FROM JANUARY 14, 2005 - a JACOB SACKS QUINTET Live at the Friend's Seminary, NYC featuring: Jacob Sacks - piano; Ben Gerstein - trombone (first solo); Jacob Garchik - trombone; Thomas Morgan - bass; Dan Weiss - drums Track 1 WITH KENNY WOLLESON AND FRIENDS... Shortly after midnight, in late August of 2004, during an evening of relatively peaceful protest at Union Square over the current state of political events in this nation and abroad, a march was suddenly organized which proceeded north-west up to 7th ave. and 30th st., where I was eventually situated with a small ensemble drummer Kenny Wolleson had organized. The intensity on the street was at one of its peaks, and at the head of this procession we were forced to stop in our tracks where we just grooved deeply into the tune we had going, surrounded by this huge, roaring mob of civilians taking part in the spirit of it all, dancing, singing, screaming... 3-minute Quicktime Movie WFMU RADIO BROADCAST with Mat Maneri and John McLellan Recorded August 19, 2004, from 2:00-6:00am. Mat introduced some of his recorded output and talked about his music, as well as introducing for the first time his new, yet to be released album "Pentagon," which also features myself, Craig Taborn, John Hebert, John McLellan, Tom Rainey, Joe Maneri, Mrs. Maneri, T.K. Ramakrishnan and Jamie Saft. We also performed live as a trio, and John and I each had the opportunity to talk about and air our own music. Trio set #1 (18MB) Trio set #2 (9MB) Complete 4 hour broadcast Desseins Eternels - Olivier Messiaen, arr. Ben Gerstein Not to be confused with "Eternal Porpoises," "Eternal Purposes," composed by Olivier Messiaen and originally conceived as the third movement of La Nativite du Seigneur ("The Birth of the Lord - Nine Meditations for Organ"), has been rewritten by me for The Metro Trombone Ensemble, within which I'm featured here performing this with them at a concert held on June 22, 2004 at St. James Catholic Church in Brooklyn, NY. Moments before the performance of this piece began, birds outside just beyond the stained-glass windows began chirping in the dark blue glow of an early summer evening, setting the stage for what would be one of the most moving performances I've ever had the opportunity to give. To present Messiaen's music publicly not only as its soloist and arranger but as a catalyst of its very depths, touches on feelings deeper than any mere observance can explain, placing me far inside and above the many reasons I live and grow as the musician and artist I am with this world. Desseins Eternels trio with bassists Eivind Opsvik and Thomas Morgan Recorded June 10, 2004 Eivind Opsvik - right channel Thomas Morgan - left channel ONE TWO THREE THREE.5 FOUR duet with Thomas RAIN Track 1 CHINATOWN RECORDINGS South of Canal, around Mott Street in New York City’s Chinatown, there’s an area where hundreds of people gather daily to play mahjong, socialize, give palm-readings… even show off their beautiful singing birds which they hang from the trees or set on the fenced-off grass in bamboo cages. During the summer of 2001, I ventured down there with my mini-disc recorder to sample and loop these layering environments—mainly the animated, melodic conversations spoken in Chinese over the game tables. Unfortunately, the song birds weren’t present that day… I hope to return and record them in the upcoming summer, when I’m sure they’ll be on display. These recordings are mostly very short, and have been carefully selected and spliced down to just a few seconds each and then repeated once in order to more easily recognize their structure, and music. Track 1 Track 2 Track 3 Track 4 Track 5 Track 6 Track 7 Track 8 Track 9 Track 10 Track 11 Track 12 Track 13 Track 14 Track 15 Track 16