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