#4519: 'Femenine' by Julius Eastman, Played by Wild Up

Hear a generous portion of the late Julius Eastman's 1974 work Femenine, an hour-long album-length piece of minimalistic ritualistic groove, as played by L.A. based new music group Wild Up.

Singer, pianist and composer Julius Eastman was one of the players on the so-called downtown music scene in NY in the 1970s, both on his own and as a collaborator with artists like Meredith Monk. He "swerved through academia, discos, Europe, Carnegie Hall...Julius Eastman was young, gay, and Black at a time when it was even more difficult to be young, gay, and Black" (New Amsterdam Records Bandcamp liner notes), with some of his most provocative titles of works being "Gay Guerrilla," or "Evil N-word." In the 1980s, he fell into addiction and homelessness, and died virtually unnoticed and unknown in 1990. (John Schaefer, 2018.) 

Eastman incorporated minimalism with pop music and jazz, sometimes calling it “organic music,” because of how lots of material would grow out of a repeating theme. He wrote “music that was challenging, mischievously irreverent and sometimes ecstatic” (Tom Huizenga, NPR). There was also not a lot of written notation for this particular work, although Eastman did write general instructions like, “All Changing,” “Create New Pattern,” “Increase,” and the closing movement, “Pianist Will Interrupt Must Return.”

The L.A. new music group Wild Up has put together a playful and ebullient new recording just out for 2021. Under the direction of Christopher Roundtree, “the band channels Eastman’s individualistic spirit, augmenting Femenine with strategically placed solos” during their unique dialogue with the late composer’s open scoring instructions (New Amsterdam Liner Notes.) Listen to most of this album-length work for New Sounds. - Caryn Havlik, with help

Program #4519, featuring Femenine by Julius Eastman, played by Wild Up  (First Aired 7/23/2021)

ARTIST: Wild Up
WORK: Julius Eastman: Femenine -  Prime [8:48]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://smarturl.it/Femenine

ARTIST: Wild Up
WORK: Julius Eastman: Femenine -  Unison [4:32]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://smarturl.it/Femenine

ARTIST: Wild Up
WORK: Julius Eastman: Femenine -  Create New Pattern [2:32]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://smarturl.it/Femenine

ARTIST: Wild Up
WORK: Julius Eastman: Femenine -  Hold and Return [2:42]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://smarturl.it/Femenine

ARTIST: Wild Up
WORK: Julius Eastman: Femenine -  Increase [10:03]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://smarturl.it/Femenine

ARTIST: Wild Up
WORK: Julius Eastman: Femenine - Be Thou My Vision / (Mao Melodies) [2:54]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://smarturl.it/Femenine

ARTIST: Wild Up
WORK: Julius Eastman: Femenine - Pianist Will Interrupt Must Return [6:01]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://smarturl.it/Femenine

ARTIST: Pharoah Sanders
WORK: The Creator Has A Master Plan, excerpt [7:05]
RECORDING: Karma
SOURCE: Impulse
INFO: Available at Amazon.com, iTunes, Spotify