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Chuck van Zyl + Jeff Coulterplus
Twyndyllyngs
Live at The Gatherings Concert SeriesSaturday 15 November 2014 8:00pmSt. Mary's Hamilton VillagePhiladelphia, PA |
Twyndyllyngs
Twyndyllyngs
Twyndyllyngs (Howard Moscovitz & Bill Fox) .
Chuck van Zyl & Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl & Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl & Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl & Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl
Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl
Chuck van Zyl
Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl
Chuck van Zyl
Chuck van Zyl & Jeff Coulter
: : Photos Above Line by Chuck Nixon : : Photos Below Line by Jeff Towne
Chuck van Zyl
Chuck van Zyl + Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl + Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl + Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl
Chuck van Zyl + Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl + Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl
Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl
Chuck van Zyl + Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl + Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl + Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl
Chuck van Zyl + Jeff Coulter
Chuck van Zyl + Jeff Coulter : : Concert Photos by Jeff Towne : : | |
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Post-Concert Thought - by Chuck van Zyl
I'm more accustomed to producing concerts for people other than myself - or writing about or airing their music on the radio, so I hope it will be OK if I (Chuck van Zyl) take up some room here to put out there my recent Spacemusical activities. Here goes... A few weeks ago I had the extraordinary experience of playing live in Philadelphia as part of The Gatherings Concert Series. Yes, I do know that I am the founder and executive behind these events, but on Saturday 15 November 2014 I had the great privilege to personally perform my own music at our annual free show. I have been giving concerts of Spacemusic since 1986 (solo and in collaboration) - so I have engaged in concertizing more than a few times in the past, but the November event at The Gatherings was quite unique in one particular way; I brought out so much gear! My VW Jetta Wagon was filled to capacity, and my helpful neighbor's Prius was nearly full too. The music for this concert was to be loosely based on my new CD Rituals (which by the way is available through CD Baby, with "one cent shipping" worldwide for just the next few days). This meant that I was to bring along to the church sanctuary of St Mary's a: MotM modular, Synth Dot Com modular (borrowed from Mike Hunter), Adromeda, Voyager, Mopho keyboard, Minitaur, SEM Pro, 2 Dark Time sequencers, 2 Mopho modules, as well as a 1604 mixer and various other basic outboard gear (none of which was a computer). This was way less stuff than what I saw with Node at the EMMA Festival in 1994, or with Redshift at the Alfa-Centauri festival in 1999. The amount of gear was more along the lines of the Arc concert at The Gatherings in 2009, or Free System Projekt here in 2001, or even with Terry Furber and myself back in 2012. I had the very good fortune of enlisting the help of my friend Jeff Coulter of The Tangent Project into this live work. Basically, Jeff was to provide, as needed, various sampled Mellotron pads and leads, plus modulated effects from his vintage EMS Synthi while I kept things moving with various sequencer constructions. I've seen AirSculpture and RMI regularly enter into concert situations without any rehearsal whatsoever, so it seems that people do this all the time - but Coulter and I had never even played any music together prior to this, and I couldn't help but feel a little less than confident. There was also the matter of having to transport, load in, set up, connect, warm up, tune up, troubleshoot and sound check a studio's worth of gear (all this activity even before the concert was to begin) - gear with which I was still becoming familiar. On this front I think I did OK, as everything seemed to function properly and there were no malfunctions whatsoever during our execution of the concert. However, it did take me about four hours to get the kit ready, which meant that the doors to St Mary's didn't open as advertised at 7:30PM. Doors opened a few ticks after 8PM, and I sincerely apologize to anyone inconvenienced by this. I must say that it is an interesting feeling... to go from one moment, explaining to someone how to find the Gents, or with a flashlight seating latecomers during the opening act - to the next, where I found myself on stage beneath a trippy light show, and playing full-tilt through a full range sound system to a near capacity house. The set that Coulter and I realized unfolded for about an hour. He began with a Mellotron intro, upon the resolution of which my modular's sequences were brought in layer by layer. The two cabinet Dot Com system included one 960 sequencer, which drove three patterns: the bass and midrange lines from the MotM and an upper register line from the Dot Com. It seems that this got pretty loud (the thundering MotM was quite impressive). After a bit of sequencer pattern manipulation and the swapping of expressive leads between Coulter and I, this section wound down into an extended free-form interlude. (continues at top of second column...) |
(...continued from bottom of first column)
Coulter took advantage of this open space to feature his capabilities with the Synthi. Sounds were shaped, expanded and contracted right in the moment. Some seemed to hover up in the church rafters while others wandered between the pews - in a continuum of hands-on analog synth shaping. In the moments between Coulter's rolling soundspace I had an opportunity to play some of the beautiful pad patches from the Andromeda, which I felt resounded so well through the reverberant sanctuary. Out of this unstructured play eventually emerged a second section of sequencer tone patterns, which was run by the two Dark Time sequencers. The Minitaur provided a wonderful line of low end square wave machine pulsing, with one of the Mopho modules and the SEM Pro both dancing around the midrange. The second Mopho provided a basic white noise percussive. This part went a bit further than the first as I took time away from playing Voyager leads to try some variations with the two synced Dark Time sequencers. This device allows for "rest", "skip", "jump". "octave" and several other real time switches, so after the central part of this piece was fully explored I had a go at changing up the length and direction of each row of notes, what notes that'd play, skip or mute - all the while slightly varying the timbre and force of each synth module. I have a few more concerts set up for December 2014, during which I hope to experiment with this aspect of improvisation again. Quite intriguing! As the energy of this part dissipated Coulter came in with a closing Mellotron resolution. Although I've heard these sounds used quite often on albums and in concerts of Spacemusic, I feel that there is something distinctive in Jeff's playing. His own voice comes through. This is hard to accomplish since the signature of this instrument has become so prolific. I believe that all the years of experience he has with original mechanical Mellotron instruments and their knockoffs has paid off in this unique concert expression. It felt good, playing the music, and in the aftermath too - as the audience gave what felt like an enthusiastic response. I'm so grateful for this! and I hope I made clear in my closing remarks how moved I was at the great and supportive audience we have for The Gatherings concerts - but one thing I wish I'd have done better was find time to chat with some of the people who'd come out to see this show. Our set ended some time prior to 11PM. Since it was going to be a struggle to remove all of my gear back to my house (stow the PA and stage lights there too - a group effort), and then get on with that evening's live broadcast of STAR'S END, there was just no time to have any meaningful words with anyone from the audience at the church - and I apologize to those who may have felt neglected or dealt with too briefly (how ironic, to finally be out among the people of this music, but be too distracted to have a meaningful exchange)! I did manage to arrive at the WXPN studios somewhat ahead of the STAR'S END airtime of 1AM. These five minutes were spent helping load in Bill Fox and Howard Moscovitz, who were scheduled to play live on the air at 2AM. It was good to at last settle into the broadcast booth for the night, spin the radio show, and reflect fondly on the concert and all that had transpired earlier (there was pizza too). Thanks to everyone who came out to see the concert of 15 November 2014 at The Gatherings! and to the gang who helped out! I really hope you found the music worthwhile - it was an amazing time for me and I hope it was for all of you too. I really appreciate your support! If there are any reviews or concert comments to be offered maybe these insights will be posted to this forum. Please be in contact if you have any photos or videos to share. One of the things I hope to accomplish with my music is to have an expression of my artistic sensibilities out in the world - and that those who listen will find something of me in my music, something that cannot be shared using words. I also hope to connect with like-minded people. I thought that sharing my musical exploits in this post would be appropriate to these ends (and do hope that this post is not considered too long or frivolous). Please keep well and thanks for spending some time to take in my reflections and consider my music. Sincerely, -Chuck van Zyl (read the full post at EM Portal) |
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Chuck van Zyl + Jeff Coulter plus Twyndyllyngs at The Gatherings Concert Series on 15 November 2014 was funded by CIMA of PA (The Corporation for Innovative Music and Arts of Pennsylvania), the all-volunteer, non-profit organization responsible for organizing and producing The Gatherings Concert Series. The basic mission of CIMA of PA is to bring innovative music concerts to the public and further the advancement of this artform. Donors include Bruce Miller and Jim Nahill.
For more about CIMA of PA, please access the Mission Statement
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For more about Chuck van Zyl, please access the:
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The Gatherings Concert Series is presented by the all-volunteer staff of The Corporation for Innovative Music and Arts of Pennsylvania
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