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Tag: 75 Dollar Bill

Che Chen with Talice Lee and Patrick Holmes

What: 75 Dollar Bill’s Che Chen present slow-moving modal music in just intonation for bass recorder, clarinet, violin, voices, organ
When: Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost:  $20 Door, $15 Online
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: https://roulette.org/event/commission-che-chen-with-talice-lee-and-patrick-holmes/

Brooklyn, NY – Widely celebrated as the guitarist and multi-instrumentalist in 75 Dollar Bill, Che Chen has taken this Roulette Jerome Commission as an opportunity to push deep into the sound worlds of modal improvisation, untempered tunings, and extended, slow-moving durational structures. Built around a just intonation tuning matrix and modes devised by Chen, this intimate, evening-length work aims to slow the listener’s attention and direct it towards minute differences in pitch, timbre, and awareness.

Chen has assembled a new ensemble especially for this piece featuring Talice Lee (violin, voice), Patrick Holmes (clarinet, voice) and himself (bass recorder, voice, electric organ). Bracketed by long tone harmonies and unison themes, individuals improvise at length with extemporaneous support from the other two players. The trio’s interaction is often framed by static, microtonal chords from Chen’s organ, resulting in a “triangle within a circle” structure of voices.

Che Chen is a musician and multi-instrumentalist based in Queens and Stonybrook, NY. Born in 1978 to Taiwanese immigrant parents, Chen studied painting and drawing before turning his attention to sound. This change in direction has made improvisation, the harmonic series and the ecstatic possibilities of music his main preoccupations ever since. Chen’s interest in modal, microtonal improvisation has led him to an earnest, if rather informal study of the musical traditions of North Africa, India, and the middle east, as well as the acoustical theories underpinning their tuning systems (just intonation).

Lineup:
Che Chen – Bass Recorder, Voice, Electric Organ
Talice Lee – Violin, Voice
Patrick Holmes – Clarinet, Voice

75 Dollar Bill: Little Big Band

What: Minimalist duo 75 Dollar Bill performs arrangements for large ensemble, recreating densely layered tracks of their records while also adapting duo materials for an expanded group.
When: Monday, March 27, 2017, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Minimalist duo 75 Dollar Bill performs arrangements for large ensemble, recreating densely layered tracks of their records while also adapting duo materials for an expanded group. Drawing on the loose, improvisatory structure of the music, the performance will emphasize the individual contributions and personalities of the band members. Players will come and go throughout the evening, with the band taking on larger and smaller configurations depending on the material. The music is intended to be social, at times appropriate for dancing and at others for more contemplative listening.

75 Dollar Bill was formed in 2012 by percussionist Rick Brown and guitarist Che Chen. Brown’s earthy, elemental rhythms, played on a deeply resonant plywood crate, are both the foundation and foil for Chen’s searchingly abstract guitar playing. Often using a custom quarter tone guitar, Chen’s improvisations are forays into a modal, microtonal sound world. The duo’s electric, richly patterned music can shape shift from ecstatic dance tunes to slowly changing polyrhythmic trance minimalism, an uncategorizable hybrid which draws on early electric blues, the modal traditions of West Africa, India and the Middle East, Sun Ra’s space chords and the minimalist and No Wave histories of their home town. The band’s second album, Wood / Metal / Plastic / Pattern / Rhythm / Rock, was released in 2016 on Thin Wrist Recordings to wide critical acclaim. While Brown and Chen are always at the band’s core, the duo frequently expands into other configurations live, from trio with saxophone to 25-piece marching band.