ENVISION ENSEMBLE | Live at Berkeley Arts Festival | HBD O1

ENVISION ENSEMBLE | Live at Berkeley Arts Festival | HBD O1

Free HUMMING BIRD Download Only Release

ENVISION ENSEMBLE Live at Berkeley Arts Festival
HBD 1
Free MP3 Download Available Here… (28:07)

ENVISION ENSEMBLE is: Henry Kuntz: Tenor saxophone, Balinese & Javanese gamelans, Thai & Mali wood xylophones, bamboo flute, Mexican Indian & toy violins, New Year noisemakers | Dan Plonsey: Clarinet, alto saxophone, 3-string violin, alto recorder, bells, shofar | Brian Godchaux: Electric violin | Esten Lindgren: Doublebass, pocket trumpet, guiro, triangle | John Kuntz: Electric mandolin, ukulele, toy percussion, Balinese gamelan

Performance of October 10, 2014 at Berkeley Arts Festival, Berkeley, CA. On-location digital recording and live stereo mix by Karen Stackpole.

Special thanks to Eleanor Lindgren who took original photos and videos of the ensemble; and to Joe Lasqo for inviting us to play and for his encouragement and support along the way.

Sample ENVISION ENSEMBLE Live

For the second-ever performance by the ENVISION ENSEMBLE, the players expanded instrumentation and instrumental range, moving more fully into multi-dimensional “festival form”.

The ENSEMBLE’s formal expansion more or less flips the concept of a usual approach to improvisation, that in which players “listen” to and complementarily match what other players are doing while only occasionally moving into an entirely independent space.

The ENVISION ENSEMBLE begins in independent space. The players hear the whole as well as listen to the parts, creating beyond the strictures of standard complementarity. The intent is to fashion an experiential rather than compositionally logical totality.

The Concept:

The Envision Ensemble moves toward an advanced improvisational archetype, one in which multiple independent events may occur while the musicians simultaneously create an experiential musical whole.

Beyond expanding the independence of musical line – thus increasing the complexity of musical form – the Envision Ensemble expands the formal independence of each player – so that multiple musical forms might be happening at once, moving the music in the direction of what I call “festival form.”

So the players will be creating the total musical space rather than any specific improvised composition.

How will this work?

Each player will simultaneously create an organic complete music.

Each player may relate or not relate to the music and sounds going on around them, the same as when one is playing at home and sounds are occurring in the environment which may or may not affect one’s music.

While the players will not necessarily relate to each other in a compositional sense, they will relate to each other and to their shared environment experientially and together create (or “compose,” if you will) a sympathetically-in-tune experiential musical space – a space defined by the composite layers of sound that make it up, similar to the way the simultaneous layers of sound at a festival define and create the festival.

As Archetype:

The Fullness of Individual Being in
Collaborative and Existential Flow
With the Fullness of All Life.”

The performance will be completely improvised. At my suggestion, the Ensemble has not rehearsed prior to playing. The reason for this is that experience suggests that players’ edge of creativity often comes out more in the initial meeting (i.e. in the rehearsal) than in the performance.

So, along with the musicians, you will be experiencing this music for the very first time.

Henry Kuntz, for the Envision Ensemble

Photos Before & During October 10 Performance

Esten Lindgren

Brian Godchaux

Henry Kuntz

Dan Plonsey

Photos Copyright Eleanor Lindgren (All Rights Reserved)

Sample ENVISION ENSEMBLE Live

John & Henry Kuntz | Photo by Jacque Braziel

Dan Plonsey, Esten Lindgren & Brian Godchaux | Photo by Jacque Braziel

Brian Godchaux & Esten Lindgren | Photo by Jacque Braziel

John Kuntz | Photo by Jacque Braziel

John Kuntz & Henry Kuntz | Photo by Jacque Braziel

Dan Plonsey | Photo by Jacque Braziel

Sometimes a recording can be clearer than being there — I think Karen’s wonderful, clean recording technique let the layers of gorgeous sound shift in kaleidoscopic clarity even more transparently than they did in the room itself.

It’s great this got documented, nobody else is able to enter this fantastic sonic space. — Joe Lasqo, Producer

ENVISION ENSEMBLE | Premiere Performance

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ Henry Kuntz, Dan Plonsey, Brian Godchaux, John Kuntz, Esten Lindgren at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

ENVISION ENSEMBLE

Henry Kuntz – Dan Plonsey – Brian Godchaux – Esten Lindgren – John Kuntz

Premiere Performance

Notes – Photos – Videos


The Envision Ensemble moves toward an
advanced improvisational archetype,
one in which multiple independent events may occur
while the musicians simultaneously create an experiential musical whole.

Beyond expanding the independence of musical line –
thus increasing the complexity of musical form –
the Envision Ensemble expands the formal independence of each player –
so that multiple musical forms might be happening at once,
moving the music in the direction of what I call “festival form.”

So the players will be creating the total musical space
rather than any specific improvised composition.

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ Henry Kuntz, Dan Plonsey, Brian Godchaux, John Kuntz, Esten Lindgren at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

How will this work?

Each player will simultaneously create an organic complete music.

Each player may relate or not relate
to the music and sounds going on around them,
the same as when one is playing at home
and sounds are occurring in the environment
which may or may not affect one’s music.

While the players will not necessarily
relate to each other in a compositional sense,
they will relate to each other
and to their shared environment experientially
and together create (or “compose,” if you will)
a sympathetically-in-tune experiential musical space –
a space defined by the composite layers of sound that make it up,
similar to the way the simultaneous layers of sound at a festival
define and create the festival.

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ Henry Kuntz, Dan Plonsey, Brian Godchaux, John Kuntz, Esten Lindgren at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

As Archetype:
The Fullness of Individual Being in
Collaborative and Existential Flow
With the Fullness of All Life.”

The performance will be completely improvised.
At my suggestion, the Ensemble has not rehearsed prior to playing.
The reason for this is that experience suggests
that players’ edge of creativity often comes out more
in the initial meeting (i.e. in the rehearsal)
than in the performance.

So, along with the musicians,
you will be experiencing this music
for the very first time.

Henry Kuntz, August 2014, for the Envision Ensemble

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ Esten Lindgren, John Kuntz, Henry Kuntz at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ Dan Plonsey, Brian Godchaux, Esten Lindgren at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ Esten Lindgren at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ Esten Lindgren at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ Brian Godchaux at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ Dan Plonsey at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014 ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ Dan Plonsey at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ John Kuntz at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ John Kuntz, Henry Kuntz at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/ Henry Kuntz at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

ENVISION ENSEMBLE  w/  Esten Lindgren, John Kuntz, Henry Kuntz at Berkeley Arts Festival  August 27, 2014

Original Performance Photos and Videos by Eleanor Lindgren

OPEYE ORCHESTRA LIVE at TUVA SPACE (HB CDR 5/6) & FREE DOWNLOAD

OPEYE ORCHESTRA LIVE at TUVA SPACE (HB CDR 5/6)

Disc 1: C’AMELEON (39:43) listen to an excerpt

Recorded Live & Mixed Direct to 2-Track Stereo May 25, 2002 at TUVA Space Berkeley Ca by Scott R. Looney.

C & P 2011 Humming Bird Records


Disc 2: WHALAPAG’OS’ (41:08) listen to an excerpt

Recorded Live & Mixed Direct to 2-Track Stereo May 25, 2002 at TUVA Space Berkeley Ca by Scott R. Looney.

C & P 2011 Humming Bird Records


HENRY KUNTZ: tenor saxophone, musette, wood flutes, toy violins, Bali & Java gamelans DAN PLONSEY: Turkish clarinet, oboe, tenor & baritone saxophones CLEVELAND PLONSEY: flute (slide whistle) MICHAEL ZELNER: clarinet, alto saxophone, flutes and pennywhistle ESTEN LINDGREN trombone, trumpet, drums, percussion JOE SABELLA: tuba RON HEGLIN: tuba, trombone SUKI O’KANE: balafon, marimba, percussion BRETT LARNER: koto, zheng; HIRAM BELL: ukulele, clarinet, alto saxophone, harmonica, piano JOHN KUNTZ: ukuleles, guitar, mandolin, gamelans, percussion BRIAN GODCHAUX: violin, viola BOB MARSH: cello, JEFF HOBBS: violin NANCY CLARKE: violin JEFF PURMORT: Balinese gamelan instruments MARK SALVATORE: Balinese gamelan instruments

The theoretical concepts for the OPEYE ORCHESTRA, a world-expansive free-improvising ensemble, can be found by clicking here:

Thanks to the musicians who generously gave of their time and talents to breathe life into the OPEYE ORCHESTRA. Thanks to Eleanor Lindgren who provided Ben Lindgren’s painting “Exotic Jumble” for the performance and who took the orchestra photos. Thanks to Scott Looney who did the recording and mastering. Thanks to Michael Zelner for making copies of the results for each of the players. And thanks to Arjuna who invited the OPEYE ORCHESTRA to play at TUVA Space. —
Henry Kuntz (May 2011)

Recorded Live & Mixed Direct to 2-Track Stereo May 25, 2002 at TUVA Space Berkeley Ca by Scott R. Looney.

C & P 2011 Humming Bird Records

Two Outrageous Sets of World-Expansive Free Improvised Music!

“Along with expanding the range of instruments available for improvisation in a cultural sense, (OPEYE has) been working to expand the formal bounds of improvisation itself. As a group, we have been consciously moving away from what I think of as a lowest common denominator approach to the ways players relate to each other in an improvisational setting. That is, we are not attempting to coalesce musically around some lowest common denominator note, scale, melody, rhythm, or whatever. Rather, we are attempting to bring to collective improvisation the formal complexity of a string quartet, wherein each player’s role is a complete role, perhaps even able to stand alone, yet at the same time absolutely essential to the group music…

“The OPEYE ORCHESTRA is a first experiment to find out how well this approach can work with a larger ensemble. It is, in a sense, a social as well as musical experiment since it explores the maximum freedom that individuals may attain within a group while still maintaining the cohesion of the group.”

– From “The Theoretical Framework for the OPEYE Orchestra” – Henry Kuntz (May 2002)

Buy OPEYE ORCHESTRA LIVE at TUVA SPACE (HB CDR 5/6) Double CD here…

Free – Download

This download consists of one zip file containing the complete track list in 192kbps MP3 format along with album art in high resolution JPG format. Please click the following link: Opeye Orchestra Live at Tuva Space | FREE DOWNLOAD

noisy people | improvising a musical life – a film by tim perkis ( dvd)

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NOISY PEOPLE: Improvising a Musical Life – A Film by Tim Perkis ( DVD)
Featuring: George Cremaschi, Tom Djll, Greg Goodman, Phillip Greenlief, Cheryl Leonard, Dan Plonsey, Gino Robair, Damon Smith; also Kenneth Atchley, Laetitia Sonami.

Noisy People is a new feature length video documentary, presenting portraits of eight sound artists and musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tim Perkis says about his film: “At first I thought I was simply stepping in to do a job I wished someone else had done, documenting a little-known musical scene with an interesting story. But it soon became clear that the film also touched upon a more basic question: what is the nature of a creative life, and how can one live it?”

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Tim takes his camera and gets up close and personal. He follows each artist into their world. The age-old question of how one fashions a creative life is answered not only through the musicians’ words but in the way they choose to live their lives.

The musicians profiled are, interestingly, neither professionals – in the sense of making a living from playing music; nor amateurs – in the sense that they are only just learning to play their instruments, or playing music as a sideline. Indeed, several of the players – Robair, Plonsey, Djll, Leonard, Greenlief; as well as Atchley & Sonami (whose portraits are included in two separate short films on the Noisy People DVD) – have undergone professional music training, but have used it as a stepping stone to their own craft and creativity rather than as a tool to build careers with.

Some tried taking jobs as professional musicians, but couldn’t stand it. Saxophonist and composer Phillip Greenlief relates how he took a job for a time – making $600 to $700 a day – formulating music for an exercise video. He says “I hated the music!” And he tells us that all the people he knew who were professional musicians “hated music,” that the last thing any of them wanted to talk about in any meaningful way at the end of the day was music.

To Phillip – who makes reference to his Seminole heritage – music is a “sacred thing,” something to be offered and shared with people around you. That touches on one of the central themes that the players in this film articulate, namely that music, as Dan Plonsey puts it, is “a high calling;” Gino Robair says it is “a spiritual matter that informs your whole life.” George Cremaschi, who divides his time between Oakland and Tábor, Czech Republic (where he is an artist in residence), is emphatic in stating that his music serves a greater purpose than simply being the next fill-in-the-space “channel change.”

Other players speak of the music in more political terms. Staunchly outspoken bassist Damon Smith quotes legendary bassist Red Mitchell as saying that all improvisation is a political negotiation, that one cannot be too “selfish” or too “groupish” in playing but must find a balance between the two. Tom Djll’s orchestral music reflects his belief that it is the process of music and not its structure that is politically important; his orchestra is made up of pre-existing groups who may independently shape and set the music’s course as it is played. What these players’ music reflects is the type of democratically and consensually governed society they (and we) would like to live in.

While none of the players’ music is well known by big media, the inherently communal aspect of playing it and presenting it is fundamental to the musicians’ own appraisal of its cultural importance. You quickly glimpse that communal feeling when you see Tom Djll’s orchestra performing his ‘Mockracy, or see Gino Robair’s 40-piece ensemble playing and improvising his “opera in real time,” I, Norton.

Although not featured in Noisy People, equally important to the Bay Area community has been Moe Staiano’s Moe!kestra. Moe!’s gargantuan orchestral events have amounted to amazingly cohesive urban rituals that work, like the film’s highlighted gatherings, to cement ties between musicians who might otherwise never play together, and between them and the community they live in.

Dan Plonsey, in speaking of the aesthetic bent of his own occasional large ensemble, the singularly tuned Daniel Popsicle, relates that for him creating music is “more to encourage other people to create than it is about making things to listen to.” That, I would imagine, is as about as community oriented as one could get; to continually expand the grand circle of creativity until we are all finally standing in it together.

There is also a strong exploratory and experimental bent to each of the players’ work. For some, that starts right at the level of instrumentation. We see Tom Djll, for example, reinventing his trumpet to simulate electronic feedback; Gino Robair deconstructing and reconstructing everything he has ever learned about percussion; and Cheryl Leonard approaching the organic materials (like pine cones) she uses as “instruments” with the detached demeanor of an occult scientist.

Laetitia Sonami, in one of the separate short films that accompany Noisy People, relates how, out of an innate sense of curiosity, she is constantly reformulating everything. For her, it is working with a self-created black Lycra lady’s glove embedded with sensors that connect to a computer that generates sounds; the glove allows her a modicum of physical relation to the sounds she is making (approaching dance) rather than simply working motionless at a keyboard. Her goal is to use sound to create what she refers to as an “anti-space” that the audience may fill according to their own wishes and possibilities.

But one person’s “anti-space” is another’s physical space. That would be Greg Goodman’s (“Woody Woodman’s”) Finger Palace, the Bay Area’s longest running (since 1978) presenter of avant-garde music and theatre, where $25 might get you a banana for a “ticket” and a “something-close-to-tinker-bell” down-the-rabbit-hole experience. You might also catch the brilliant Goodman playing “unprepared” piano!

The pursuit of artistic originality rather than a defined musical career might be considered either “passion or pathology,” as sound, video, and installation artist Kenneth Atchley puts it. But whether or not most people have any empathy for or awareness of this type of activity, Sonami flatly states that it is “what is keeping society breathing.”

Noisy People, as well as being the “love letter to the Bay Area music community” that Tim Perkis envisioned, is an uplifting tribute to musicians and sound artists everywhere who are intently exploring the edges of sonic reality.

Henry Kuntz, June 2007

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(Thanks to Martha Winneker for editorial assistance.)

Also available are DVD copies of the film, a CD of music and sound clips from the film, digital images and an essay on the filmmaker here… or click below on the Noisy People banner.

Musicians profiled in Noisy People:

gc_thum.jpgGeorge Cremaschi was born in New York City, and studied jazz at Jazzmobile in Harlem, composition at Greenwich House Music School in Greenwich Village, and improvisation at countless Downtown dives. Recent years have seen many performances and collaborations in the US and Europe with such renowned musicians as Evan Parker, Marshall Allen, Andrea Parkins, Gert-Jan Prins, Mats Gustafsson, Paul Lovens, Nels Cline and Saadet Türköz among others. As a composer, he has written nearly 100 pieces for chamber groups, small ensembles, solo contrabass, electronics, cinema, spoken word, dance and theater. He divides his time between Oakland and Tábor, Czech Republic, where he is an artist in residence, curator and administrator at Cesta, an international arts and cultural residency center.

td_thum.jpgTom Djll, born Indiana, 1957. Studied music at Berklee School of Music, the Colorado College, the Creative Music Studio, and Mills College with Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, Karl Berger, Lester Bowie, Leo Smith, George Lewis, Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran, and many others. Tom has spent over twenty years (ab)using the trumpet as an analog flesh synthesizer. He has made a lifelong study of the art of improvised music, and has been performing since age seventeen. He has performed with Natsuki Tamura, Andrew Voigt, Biggi Vinkeloe, Chris Brown, Gianni Gebbia, Steve Adams, Fred Frith, and many many others. Tom Djll also writes about music for The Wire, Signal To Noise and other publications. Please visit Tom Djll’s web site here…

gg_thum.jpgGreg Goodman is one of America’s most distinguished improvising pianists. He is just as distinguished when he is in Europe. He was also very distinguished when he was in the Soviet Union in 1989, but it is still not clear whether or not Russia is part of Europe, or if it should be. This ordinarily would not affect Greg Goodman, or his distinguished career; at least, not in his opinion. For the purposes of this biography, Greg Goodman has worked with many of the world’s leading improvisers, including John Cage, Nicolas Slonimsky, and his Mother; he has also worked with many who did not lead. When not working, he is the proprietor of Woody Woodman’s Finger Palace, the San Francisco Bay Area’s longest running (since 1978) presenter of avant-garde music and theater. He also runs (from) the famous Beak Doctor Records. Currently, he is writing this sentence. Please visit Greg Goodman’s web site here…

pg_thum.jpgPhillip Greenlief, since 1982, Saxophonist/Composer. He has performed internationally in a variety of settings. Greenlief’s recordings and performances have received critical acclaim in many national jazz publications (Down Beat, Jazz Times, 5/4, Cadence, Modern Saxophone, All About Jazz, The Los Angeles Times, etc.), as well as residing on many Critics Top 10 lists. His duo recordings of improvised music with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Scott Amendola received 5 stars in the 1999 Music Hound Jazz Essential Album Guide. Phillip is the founder of Evander Music, an independent record label that presents original composition, improvised music and new jazz. Please visit Phillip Greenlief’s web site here…

cl_thum.jpgCheryl Leonard. Glass shards and pinecones, glaciers, boxspring mattresses, a flock of accordions, circular saw blades, viola, the erhu, hyenas and whales and elk, Cheryl E. Leonard’s works explore subtle textures and intricacies in sounds not generally considered musical. These investigations often include the creation of instruments, primarily from found materials. She has been awarded residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Engine 27, Villa Montalvo, and The Lab (with RK Corral), and has been honored in New Langton Art’s Bay Area Awards Show. Recordings of her music are available from Ubuibi, Great Hoary Marmot Music, Pax Recordings, Apraxia Records, 23 Five Inc, Old Gold Records and The Lab. In addition to her musical endeavours Leonard is a mountaineer, studies aikido and Chinese landscape painting, and collects pinecones with handles. Please visit Cheryl Leonard’s web site here…

dp_thum.jpgDan Plonsey is known as a composer, saxophonist, concert presenter and teacher of mathematics at Berkeley High School. He has written music for the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Toychestra & Fred Frith, Santa Cruz New Music Works and the Berkeley Symphony, but most of his music has been for his own ensembles, as documented on a dozen CDs. He has performed and recorded with Anthony Braxton, Eugene Chadbourne and Tom Waits, but more frequently with local greats John Schott, John Shiurba, Robert Horton and many others. Plonsey is currently at work on an opera, in collaboration with Harvey Pekar (of American Splendor fame.) Please visit Dan Plonsey’s web site here…

gr_thum.jpgGino Robair is a percussionist, music journalist, and published composer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Gino frequently tours North America and Europe as a soloist and often improvises in ad-hoc groups. He has performed and/or recorded with Anthony Braxton, Tom Waits, John Butcher, LaDonna Smith, Otomo Yoshihide, Eugene Chadbourne, John Zorn, Nina Hagen, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Myra Melford, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, The Club Foot Orchestra, and he is a founding member of the Splatter Trio. Please visit Gino Robair’s Rastascan web site here…

ds_thum.jpgDamon Smith, born Damon Jesse Smith on oct. 17th, 1972 in Spokane, WA. Did “freestyle bmx” bicycle riding (a much more dangerous forshadow to “freestyle” music!) from age 13 to 23. Started music in 1991, under the influence of Mike Watt (Firehose & The Minutemen) on fender bass. Lead several punk/art rock combos until 1994. Upon receiving Peter Kowald’s landmark lp “Duos;Europa,” Damon sold the fender bass and concentrated solely on double bass and free music. Damon’s music is rooted in the tradition of “free jazz”, and has worked with many of the leading voices in that idiom, including Cecil Taylor, Peter Brötzmann, Frank Gratkowski and Joëlle Léandre. Please visit Damon Smith’s web site here…

Musicians profiled in DVD bonus films

ka_thum.jpgKenneth Atchley is a sound, video, and installation artist who fashions and performs works ranging from pure-tone and noise hymns to distortion-studded, richly harmonic, electro-acoustic devotionals. Since 1997, his work has included the use of fountains as sound-sources, objects, environmental and metaphorical elements. His work continues to be informed by and abstract that work and study. Atchley’s music and installations have been featured in venues ranging from U.S. hardcore-noise dungeons and New York dance lofts, to art galleries and performance cellar circuits of Europe. Atchley’s CD of solo, electro-acoustic-noise works Fountains was released by Auscultare Research. His duet with John Bischoff has been released on Bischoff’s 23Five CD “Aperture”. profile of his work was included in the June, 2005 issue of The Wire (#256). Please visit Kenneth Atchley’s web site here…

ls_thum.jpgLaetitia Sonami was born in France and settled in the United States in 1975 to pursue her interest in the emerging field of electronic music. Since 1991 she has developed and adapted new gestural controllers to musical performance and composed works with these materials. Her unique instrument, the lady’s glove , is made out of black lycra and is embedded with sensors which track the slightest motion of each finger, the hand and the arm. The performance thus becomes a small dance where the movements shape the music. he has been performing in numerous festivals across the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan, among which the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, the Bourges Music Festival in France, the Sonambiente Festival in Berlin, and the Interlink festival in Japan. She lives in Oakland, California and is currently guest lecturer at the San Francisco Art Institute, and Milton Avery Summer program at Bard college. Please visit Laetitia Sonami’s web site here…

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