The first recordings I made with NYU Steinhardt’s jazz department has now been finished. We recorded seven works in one session, out of which I edited three into shorter formats, more appropriate for immediate listening. The structures I ended up with is a combination of the computer’s generative set-up in the performance patch, the its interactive response to the instrumental performance and the players’ improvisatory response to the computer. The purpose was to explore the area between strong, predefined structures and immediate, improvisatory development. I have explored this in the earlier works for large ensemble and improvising soloist Book of Motion (1998) and Book of Changes (2001/02).

Another aspect is my desire to explore a novel musical language that makes use of jazz and blues-influenced styles, extended tonal styles that come from contemporary classical music and soundscapes of non-musical sounds – ecological or synthetic. Add to this some pronounced rhythms and you have a very fertile musical mix. The challenge is finding the means to relate these styles, and in this process is where the musical possibilities lie. You will therefore notice instrumental insertions that are between pitch and noise, various kinds of atonal procedures, regular solo excursions and down-right riff playing of the entire ensemble. This provides for good contrasts and surprises, when the extended sections need resolution and transitions.

The first and longest track uses a very elastic up-tempo beat to pass through a variety textures and tonalities. The second is a slower track where undercurrents of gospel juxtapose broken patterns of noisy rhythms. The third track is a bouncy, mid-tempo groove that approaches free-floating noise towards the end.

The release will include a remix by Grischa Lichtenberger.