This is a collection
of pieces composed by Dexter Morrill,
between 1973-1995, in connection with
Stanford University and its Center for
Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.
Since 1971 Morrill has been Director
of the Computer Music Studio at Colgate
University.
Getz Variations
was written for the great Jazz tenor
saxophonist Stan Getz and this recording
of the piece was made at an open-air
concert. As well as his considerable
experience in the field of computer-generated
music, it should be mentioned that as
a young man Morrill studied at the Lennox
School of Jazz (where his teachers included
Dizzy Gillespie and William Russo) and
is also the author of A Guide to
the Big Band Recordings of Woody
Herman 1936-1987 (1990).
He is, thus, well fitted to attempt
a marriage between computer music and
jazz. The Getz Variations are
in four movements. Throughout Getz improvises
against a setting devised by Morrill;
in performance Getz’s improvisations
were heard through the same speakers
as the accompaniment. In the first movement
(‘Echoes’) the accompaniment consists
both of ‘sampled’ recordings by Getz
himself and new computer sounds; in
the second – on which Getz’s playing
is particularly impressive – the accompaniment
is made up of computer generated bass
and percussion and an additional electronic
instrumental line. The third movement
(‘The Lady from Portola’) alludes to
the period of Getz’s greatest commercial
success, as a player of the bossa nova
during the 1960s – ‘The Lady from Portola’
is clearly a relation of ‘The Girl from
Ipanema’. In the last movement (‘Windows’)
Getz improvises – very interestingly
- against fragments of one of his most
famous solos, from 1946, on ‘Summer
Sequence’ with Woody Herman. Getz’s
improvisations are the most engaging
features of these Getz Variations, though
Morrill certainly deserves the credit
for preparing the accompaniments which
stimulated them.
Sea Songs contains
settings of texts by Ezra Pound (twice),
Aga Shahid Ali and Yvor Winters. The
performances by Margaret Chowning are
accompanied by sounds synthesised by
Morrill. Chowning’s voice is changed
by the so-called Radio Baton, held in
the soprano’s hand as she sings, which
transmits her voice to a microphone
and a processor. Merrill’s melodies
are largely tonal, even traditional,
but the sound has a slightly unfocused,
shimmering sound – by no means unfitting
for texts which speak of the "thin
glitter of water", "the shallow
eddying fluid" and the "blue
water dusky".
In Salzburg Variations
a ‘live’ instrumentalist plays the celletto
(a kind of electronic cello, invented
by Chris Chafe in the 1990s, see link),
Morrill adds a layer of sound by selecting
– in real time - from some of the sounds
produced by the MIDI controls on the
celletto and both are heard against
a pre-recorded computer background by
Morrill. The results include some interesting
and striking passages, but come close
to outstaying their welcome.
Quartet uses
two live musicians (a violinist and
cellist) and replaces the second violin
and viola of the orthodox quartet by
two loudspeakers through which pre-recorded
computer materials by Morrill are heard.
The interplay of voices - but not the
actual sounds – mimics the conversation
of a traditional quartet and are suggestive
of ways in which the computer might
contribute to chamber music. I found
this the most thought-provoking of the
pieces on the CD.
Chowning is
an early piece, quasi-percussive. While
of interest as a document in the history
of computers and music, it doesn’t have
much to offer, I’d guess, that is likely
to command repeated listenings.
For those whose minds
are not closed against the use of computers
this will surely be a quietly interesting
disc, uneven in realised achievement
but almost always interesting and genuinely
experimental in an intelligent fashion.
Getz Variations and Quartet
– at least – are interesting and satisfying
pieces.
Glyn Pursglove
Stan Getz (tenor saxophone)1,
Maureen Chowning (soprano)2, Chris
Chafe (celletto)3, Helmut Braunlich
(violin)4, Ignacio Alcover (cello)4
