Downtown Music and the Question of Genre: A Panel Discussion
Monday, December 10, 2007, 6:30 pm
Fales Library and Special Collections, NYU
The 1970s and 1980s were a remarkable period of musical ferment in
downtown Manhattan: the emergence of punk rock at CBGB, new
developments in jazz at a number of artist-run lofts, the flowering of
minimalism and related trends in new music at The Kitchen. Around 1979,
with the East Village as the center of activity, all these strains -
jazz/improvisation, rock, and new music – began to come together in
compelling ways. With so much overlap of genres downtown, by the early
1980s to categorize a musician as rock, jazz, improv, or classical
often required a coin toss.
On Monday, December 10, at 6:30 p.m., New York University’s
Fales Library will host a panel discussion on “Downtown Music and the
Question of Genre.” The event, which is free and open to the public,
takes place at Fales, on the third floor of the NYU Bobst Library, 70
Washington Square South (at LaGuardia Place). For further information
and to make a reservation, call 212.992.9018.
A panel of musicians who were key players in the downtown music
scene will discuss the social history of downtown music with an
emphasis on the genre-hopping 1980s. The panel is moderated by Peter Cherches,
the author of Fales Library’s new online research guide to downtown
music (1971-1987). As a writer, performance artist, and singer, he was
active on the downtown scene in the ’80s.
Panelists include:
- Don Christensen, who since the 1970s has been
equally at home in the downtown alternative rock and new music worlds.
As a drummer with The Contortions, James White and the Blacks, and the
Bush Tetras, he was an important player in the no-wave and punk-funk
scenes. He was a founding member of the surf-influenced instrumental
band The Raybeats.
- Jon Gibson, a composer,
multi-wind instrumentalist, and visual artist who took part in numerous
landmark musical events over the past four decades, performing in the
early works of Steve Reich, Terry Riley, La Monte Young, and Philip
Glass.
- Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris, one of the
leading innovators in the confluence of jazz, new music, improvisation,
and contemporary classical music. His work redefines the roles of
composer, conductor, arranger, and performer. As a composer, he is
widely known for his notated compositions and has been especially
acclaimed for pioneering and developing the art of Conduction®.
- Elliott Sharp,
composer, multi-instrumentalist, and improviser. He is known for his
turbulent style of guitar playing and mathematically structured
compositions. In the 1980s Sharp became a major figure on the downtown
New York experimental music scene, collaborating with many of its most
prominent players, including John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, and Bobby
Previte. Currently he leads the groups Orchestra Carbon, Tectonics, and
Terraplane.
I received a flier in my mailbox today alerting me to NYU Press’s 30% holiday discount for several outstanding titles in New York history — any one of which would make an appropriate gift (for me or someone else you love). Matteson’s illustrated history of the NY tugboat looks extremely compelling. I’ve picked it up more than once while browsing local bookstores.
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