OPENSOUND: improvised and experimental music

Opensound, a monthly concert series of improvised and experimental music

** Next Concert:  Saturday, Jan 19 2013
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In memory of Borah Bergman

Borah's Boston Friends: (quartet)
Mike Bullock, string bass, electronics
Jack Callahan, drums
Lou Cohen, wiimote/laptop
Dave Gross, saxophone

Memories of Borah Bergman
Recordings, reminiscences

trio:
Forbes Graham, trumpet, electronics
Steve Norton, reeds
Tom Plsek, trombone

Charlie Kohlhase and his band, including:
Luther Gray, drums
Eric Hofbauer, guitar
Jerry Sabatini, trumpet

------------------------------------------------------------Saturday, Jan 19, 2013
Third Life Studios33 Union SquareSomerville, MA(Almost at the heart of Union Square, on the segment ofSomerville Ave. coming into Union Square from Porter Square)

For directions andparking:http://www.thirdlifestudio.com/directions.html

Doors open after 7:30. / music at around 8:00 p.m.$8 admission

------------------------------------------------------------Opensound is a monthly concert series that explores improvised and experimental music, bringing artists from disparate backgrounds together for unique events in Somerville MA. The process of improvisation combines the distinctive voices of its individual performers. The music that results is often surprising, unconventional and dynamic. It s not uncommon to hear music made of electronic crackles, noisy multi-phonics, gurgling, hissing, quiet vocalized gibberish, atonal noodling, bowed metal, blowing sounds, post-everything harmony, and a thousand shades of hullabaloo.
You may also see video and dance cohabitating with buzzes, clicks, drones, wooshes, and bleeps in a bizarre galaxy of pitch and spectra!

------------------------------------------------------------BioBorah Bergman is a one-of-a-kind pianist, composer and improviser whose originality lies in his entirely unique approach and utilization of left-handed and cross-handed techniques. Influenced by Lennie Tristano's hornlike phrasing and Monk's stride, Bergman has prolifically released on average one to two CDs a year since the early '90s (primarily solos and duos) featuring Thomas Chapin, Roscoe Mitchell, Oliver Lake, Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton and Peter Brötzmann.

Musically inclined as a child, Bergman first took up the clarinet. Nevertheless, a profound interest in the work of pianists, notably Lennie Tristano and Bud Powell, drew him eventually to change instruments. By the time that he switched to piano, he was already in his twenties. Determined to make an individualistic mark, Bergman practiced intensively, in particular training rigorously to develop a thoroughly two-handed style in which his left hand is as important as his right in developing themes and melodic lines. So successful was he at this that in later years liner notes for some of his record albums bore the assurance that his fearsomely complex playing was not the result of overdubbing. Supporting himself as a teacher, his performing career, principally as a soloist, ascended slowly. Although he eventually found acclaim, Bergman’s rise to international acceptance was hampered by his adamant refusal to meet the preconceptions of audiences and critics. Instead, he stuckto his intention to create a performance style that is dramatic, compelling, and essentially original. Inevitably, there have not been too many musicians who could mesh comfortably with him although as time passed he began to find like-minded free spirits with whom he could work in duo and trio formats. Similarly inevitable was the rapport that developed between the pianist and artists involved in New York City’s Knitting Factory scene and on the European improvised music circuit. It is with musicians such as these that he can often be heard at international festivals and with whom, from the mid-90s, he has made several demanding yet ultimately rewarding albums. Astonishingly accomplished as a technician, in the early years of the twenty-first century Bergman has finally achieved the status he deserves.
------------------------------------------------------------Upcoming 2013 Concerts
Feb. 16: Cela plays: Sciarrino, Ferneyhough, Arnone plays Finnissy, Banjo Assault, Body Drama
March 9: Foam/Rawlings, Los Condenados, id m theftable, Babies of Brazzer
April 27: Evans-Weiler septet, Gentry, 2lous, Kirchoff
May 11: Jack Wright, Auddity, G. Lomon,  Apocalypso
June 15: Cage Variations III, Frennette Trio, Flunk w/ id m theftable.