#3183: Music for Saxophone(s)

For this New Sounds, there’s music from Montreal-based musician Colin Stetson on (mostly bass) saxophone without looping or overdubbing. (How DOES he do it?)  Stetson’s technique of circular breathing (much like digeridoo players) combined with nearly 20 microphones placed all over a studio- including on Stetson’s throat and on the instruments themselves - created an original palette of sounds, thanks to producer Shahzad Ismaily and engineer Efrim Menuck from Godspeed You! Black Emperor/A Silver Mt Zion.  Ben Frost then mixed these tracks into a haunting and riveting record, “New History Warfare Vol. 2 .  (Excited note: guest appearances by both Shara Worden and Laurie Anderson.)

We’ll also sample from the stunning new record “Walking Voices” by the trio Equilibrium, (Sissel Vera Pettersen, Joachim Badenhorst, Mikkel Ploug.)  It’s an electro-acoustic wonder of a record that combines wordless vocalises and things that sound like Inuit throat-singing along with sax, and/or clarinet, guitar, and electronics.  Plus hear some Armenian-Balkan Latin-tinged big band jazz (with duduk!) and the Oasis Sax Quartet playing music by Philip Glass.

PROGRAM #3183, New Music for Saxophone(s)           (First aired on 3-18-11)