HUMMING BIRD Digital Cassette Classics

HUMMING BIRD
Digital Cassette Classics

These are the first two releases of Humming Bird classic cassettes in digital format – available now for free MP3 download.

1) NEW WORLD MUSIC

Henry Kuntz – Indian snake charmer’s flute, Chinese musette, bamboo flute, tenor saxophone, bells / John Kuntz – ukulele, mandolin, harp

1. Snake flute – Ukulele (6:10) 2. Musette – Ukulele (4:36) 3. Saxophone – Mandlolin (4:27) 4. Flute – Harp (4:37) 5. Snake Flute – Mandolin (8:02) 6. Snake flute – Ukulele (11:12) 7. Musette – Harp (4:30) 8. Bells – Mandolin (5:54) 9. Flute – Mandolin (5:02) 10. Musette – Mandolin (4:16)

Note: At 1:45 of Piece 1 there is a 6-second dropout of the right channel that occurred during the performance.

Recorded in performance Saturday evening December 20, 1980 (Piece 7: December 21, 1980) at Woody Woodman’s Finger Palace Berkeley, California.

Recording engineer: Greg Goodman
P & C 1981, 2017 Humming Bird Records & Tapes

2) WHIRLS AWAY

The concepts, improvisations and all playing are by Henry Kuntz. Instruments are listed as they appear left to right on stereo speakers. These pieces were recorded on a Fostex X-15 4-track recorder.

Disc 1

1. Whirls Away (23:07) Balinese wood gamelan (15 keys over trough resonator – wood mallets), Balinese gamelan gender (10 iron keys over bamboo resonators – wood hammers), Mexican Indian violin, Balinese bamboo xylophone (11 suspended keys – rubber-tipped mallets)

Recorded: October 30,31,1989 Berkeley California.

2. Spirit Whirls (20:33) Balinese gamelan gender and gamelan selunding (8 large iron keys over trough resonators) played together with wood hammers), Chinese musette, Thai mouth organ, Balinese wood xylophone, bamboo xylophone, and African (Mali) balafon (10 wood keys) played together with rubber-tipped mallets

Recorded: November 1,2,1989 Berkeley California.

Disc 2

1. New Peace Balinese gamelan selunding (played with 2 wood hammers), African (Togo) “fetish gongs” (6 bell-like iron gongs) struck with metal rods, Balinese wood xylophone (wood mallets), Balinese gamelan gender (wood mallets)

Recorded: December 1,2,1989 Berkeley California.

2. Shadow Peace Smaller Balinese bamboo xylophone (11 keys played with rubber mallets), Voice, Bolivian bass flute, Balinese bamboo xylophone (played with rubber mallets)

Recorded: December 3,4,1989 Berkeley California.

November 4, 2014February 4, 2024

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

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

September 5, 2014February 4, 2024

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/ Brian Godchaux 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

October 28, 2011December 16, 2023

CLASSIC OPEYE | 2 Discs: Free Downloads!

CLASSIC OPEYE

2 Discs: Free Downloads!

1) SILK!

Silk! is a companion release to Moss ’Comes Silk (HB CD 1). It was recorded by engineer Myles Boisen the same two days in September 1995 as the earlier release. It is the only time all of the instruments OPEYE was using in performance were individually miked and recorded in a studio setting.

The music is a perfect complement to that on Moss ’Comes Silk. The flavors of Silk! are more subtle, more understated, but the multi-independent musical form is perhaps stretched even further.

From the notes to Moss ’Comes Silk:

OPEYE’s music is founded upon a new world creative aesthetic: one’s own experiences and background are central, but the fetters of provincial cultures are thrown off — we have all become heir to every tradition: Shared Humanity in all its richness and diversity — and the future is likewise embraced.

Free improvisation, we understand as a non-idiomatic approach to playing — an attitude about what we are doing — which is to say that although we remain attentive to all of our music experience, we are not playing music that is tied by necessity or design to any particular style or idiom.

Spontaneous composition, on the other hand, is the actual organizing of sound material, that which takes place at the beginning and end of each “piece” and in and between the lines of improvisation. It is the notions which formalize newly-created sound and the ways in which that sound is showcased.

Musically, we spoke before these sessions about moving more in the direction of true co-creation: we wanted each player to be as much as possible autonomous while remaining indispensable to the creation of the whole music.

In performance, we also frequently utilize masks, textiles, paintings, and unorthodox costume changes, adding a cross-cultural visual component to the music and heightening its dream-like and ritual qualities. For us, it becomes akin to a living shadow play, full of multi-cultural archetypes and (at times humorous) ambiguities.”

listen to Opeye | Improvisation No. 32

DOWNLOAD OPEYE SILK! HERE!

2) The Sun Divination Session

The Sun Divination Session is a self-recorded OPEYE rehearsal session from August 1996 at which only Ben and Esten Lindgren and John and Henry Kuntz were present. The open-ended and relaxed nature of our meeting (on an unusually warm Berkeley afternoon) facilitated the creation of some particularly organic music.

listen to Opeye | Drum Bear (excerpt)

DOWNLOAD OPEYE THE SUN DIVINATION SESSION HERE!