Pablo Casals LP



SIDE 1
SIDE 2




Alternate takes
March 2010

Superimposed...




Stellar Regions (2 takes)
Sun Star (2)





All tracks simultaneously (8)





All tracks simultaneously (6)





Nature Boy (2 takes)





Check Out Time (2)





Broad Way Blues (2)





All tracks simultaneously (6)





Exotica (2)





Like Sonny (2)
I'll Wait and Pray (2)





Body and Soul (2)





Giant Steps (11)
Naima (4)
Cousin Mary (2)
Countdown (2)





Tunji (4)
Impressions (2)





Africa (2)
Greensleeves (2)





Leap Frog (3)
Relaxin with Lee (3)
An Oscar for Treadwell (2)
Mohawk (2)
My Melancholy Baby (2)
Laura (2)
I'm in the Mood for Love (2)
I'll Remember April (2)
Au Privave (2)
She Wrote (2)
Why Do I Love You (3)
Swedish Schnapps (2)
Bach Home Blues (2)
La Cucaracha (2)
Estrellita (3)
Kim (2)
Cosmic Rays (2)
In the Still of the Night (4)
Old Folks (3)
Chi Chi (4)
I Get a Kick Out of You (4)
Love For Sale (2)
I Love Paris (2)





I Remember You (3)
You Don't Know What Love Is (2)
Foolin' Myself (2)
It's You Or No One (2)
Out of Nowhere (2)





There's Danger in Your Eyes (2)





Cherokee (2)
Carvin' the Rock (2)
Wail Bait (2)





Verdandi (2)
Dalarna (2)





Gypsy Without A Song (2)





Yokada, Yokada (2)





Ode to Von (2)
Smokestack (2)





Pumpkin (2)





Black (2)












Gerstein-Malaby Quartet



Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone; Dan Peck, tuba; Ches Smith, drums; Ben Gerstein, trombone, compositions
February 13, 2010 - Cornelia St. Cafe, NYC
photos: Peter Gannushkin / DOWNTOWNMUSIC.NET

40:20



























The hunting horns of Royale Foret Saint-Hubert!

1. La Saint Hubert 0'52
2. Le Nouveau Depart 0'49
3. Le Clocher de Dampierre 1'10
4. La Royale 0'39





Trio improvisations
Michael Attias, alto saxophone; Ben Gerstein, trombone; Mat Maneri, viola
November 10, 2009 - live from the Douglass St. Music Collective

Part 1 24:35
Part 2
23:24







The sound of...


24 pianos
All 24 Opus 87 Preludes by Shostakovich begun simultaneously,
directly followed by all the Fugues, in the same fashion.
1. 11:28


Seven sublime recordings of different "Nocturno Responsorium" by Gesualdo played simultaneously
1. 4:45






Evil Eye


Mike Pride - drums, compositions; Jonathan Moritz - saxophone, compositions
Ben Gerstein - trombone; Ken Filiano - bass
November 2, 2009, live from Local 269, NYC

1. 38:49















A very rare album by one of the greatest Shakuhachi players that ever lived, Watazumi Doso Roshi.
More information about Watazumi as well as an invaluable transcript of a talk he gave can be found here.
Background on each of the pieces below can be found here.
Enjoy...

1. Saji 2. Hon Shirabe 3. Sugagaki 4. Mushirabe 5. Tsura no Sugomori
6. San'ya 7. San'an 8. Sagari Ha (Kansai) 9. Sagari Ha (Oshu) 10. Koku
11. Tamuke 12. Hi Fu Mi no Shirabe 13. Hon Shirabe 14. Yamagoe 15. Shingetsu














T H E G A T E S


Ben Gerstein - trombone, record players
Jacob Sacks (left), Craig Taborn (right) - farfisa organ
Thomas Morgan (left), Eivind Opsvik (right) - bass
Dan Weiss (left), John McLellan (right) - drums
Jacob Garchik - computer, accordion

September 18, 2009 - New Languages Festival, Brooklyn, NY

1:05:49

































Zabaleta x 3


17:57

Three LPs of harpist Nicanor Zabaleta begun simultaneously, conducted with the volume knobs.
Left: Record 2, Side 1 - 18th century: CPE Bach and Beethoven's Variations on a Swiss Theme
Center: Record 3, Side 2 - Modern French and Spanish: Caplet, Pittaluga, Tournier, Haiffter
Right: Record 1, Side 1 - 16th century: Anonymous, Mudarra, Narvaez, Cabezon, Milan, Palero








Pauline Kael And Stan Brakhage (1964?)

”Legendary film critic Pauline Kael is captured here in conversation with filmmaker Stan Brakhage. While the tape is incomplete, we do hear Brakhage defend his practice, his epic film DOG STAR MAN, his influences, his search for ‘ a happening in structure’… Brakhage proudly declares: ‘I'm an amateur filmmaker, I make home movies.’” —Ubu.com, Rare Audio from Anthology Film Archives
________________________________


Stan Brakhage... nothing could stop him, His Life was his Art... But Pauline Kael?? Never made a film in her entire life, and became an esthetic snob who found a sense of "prestige" for herself by trying to get in between artists and their work and its audience rather than make her own... in other words, attempting to almost take away credit from the artist and use it to build her own sense of "notoriety" or "achievement"...








KuhlSteinMcManLiotGenfritz


June 18, 2009
Tim Kuhl - drums, group; Ben Gerstein - trombone; Terry McManus - guitar; Frantz Loriot - viola; James Ilgenfritz - bass

57:13







St. John ~ Rain


June 2009

day

night




Take the A Train


Canal street, 11:30pm - 0:57



























Oum Kalthoum


One of her greatest recordings...

Side 1, Side 2



The Seven Themes


Playing simultaneously all seven of "The Theme"s from the Plugged Nickel recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet

The Themes 10:22



Szeryng, Milstein, Heifetz


Three LPs combined of them each playing Bach's G minor violin sonata

Szeryng-Milstein-Heifetz 16:42



Gurdjieff


A beautiful record of G.I. Gurdjieff's piano music. The only information on it is "played by Thomas de Hartmann." There is no date or label.

Side 1, Side 2



Beethreeven


Three LPs mixed together of three different string quartets (the Budapest, Amadeus and Yale) each playing the adagio from Beethoven's A-minor opus 132

1. Molto adagio - Andante - Molto adagio 17:15



YouTube collage


gramaphone, nyc setting sun, talking bird

dogs

beethoven piano concerto no. 4

cat shitting, shaolin finger balance

japanese village singing, baby lauging, con edison truck, sea turtle

the 100-meter dash

gregorian chant, tuvan throat singing, gagaku, native american powwow

music box pieces

scriabin op. 8 no. 12

maria callas

chess

modal analysis

rakugo




September 2008
Trio Improvisations
with Dave Ballou, trumpet; James Ilgenfritz, bass
live from Le Grand Dakar, Brooklyn

one 17:28
two 4:11
three 10:47
four 6:28





Baby Records
Two beat-up copies of the same old favorite baby record playing from two portable suitcase turntables simultaneously



Sides 1

Sides 2


Trio Improvisations

with Brandon Seabrook, banjo; Frantz Loriot, viola


part 1 16:09

part 2 2:26

part 3 18:54






July 2008
Kol Nidre in Moscow
September 15, 1956





side 1 23:39 side 2 22:05 side 3 21:52 side 4 23:21








Addio Del Passato (La Traviata - Verdi) 4:24









June 2008

Not for the timid. Two very different things put together to breed a new listening experience. Curiosity does not kill the cat. A performance of Bach's organ music by Helmut Walcha combined with some random hardcore porn off of the web.

Interviewer
Didn't you say somewhere, "I am for obscenity and against pornography"?

Henry Miller
Well, it's very simple. The obscene would be the forthright, and pornography would be the roundabout. I believe in saying the truth, coming out with it cold, shocking if necessary, not disguising it. In other words, obscenity is a cleansing process, whereas pornography only adds to the murk.


J.X. Bach 4:40









Backyard, home in Santa Barbara...
April 2008

1. Rain 16:00

2. Wind 2:14:40

3. Dawn 1:51:28







March 14, 2008

The sound of all Bach's Goldberg Variations playing simultaneously - Glenn Gould, 1981.

1. Goldberg Variations Variation 6:03











February 24, 2008

Olivier Messiaen's Livre d'Orgue, which I recorded organist Gail Archer performing in a free concert given at Rutgers Presbyterian Church on w. 73rd St.

1. Reprises par Interversion 7:47
2. Piece en Trio 2:05
3. Les Mains de l'Abime 6:24
4. Chants d'Oiseaux 9:54
5. Piece en Trio 10:19
6. Les Yeux Dans les Roues 2:15
7. Soixante Quatre Durees 11:37









A very obscure Hungarian LP of bird song.
Beautiful, complex calls presented at their original speeds and then much slower
Notes from the jacket as follows.

Side A 24:17

Side B 20:53








Mirra Alfassa



Also known as The Mother, I recently came across Mirra Alfassa for the first time in the sixth episode of Louis Malle's Phantom India (1969), at the ashram of Pondicherry. Alfassa was the spiritual guru to that area. Cameramen were not allowed to film her, only record her voice. What she said, the sound of her voice - I was so struck by it... This is a beautiful book...

The Mother speaks 1:36

Translation: It never happens the same way twice. Generally, it happens when we least expect it. And it’s usually when we’ve surrendered our so-called knowledge, our convictions, and abandoned all hope that we enter a state where we’re able to receive it. Revelation is always present. It’s always here. We’re the ones who don’t let it in. Knowledge is always present. Enlightenment is always present, floating above everything, ready to be received. It’s only because we’re so completely blinded by everything we think we know and want to do that we can’t receive it. But at the moment we surrender, for whatever reason, it makes us a bit passive and open, and that’s when we receive it.
...





"Phantom India"



Hours of beautiful footage documented by filmmaker Louis Malle in the early 1960s. This has just recently been made available on dvd, and I couldn't more highly recommend something to see, or hear. So for that matter, here are the sound environments of it all which I recorded and spliced out the French commentary from

episode 1 - the impossible camera 15:27
episode 2 - things seen in madras 17:34
episode 3 - the indians and the sacred 17:00
episode 4 - dream and reality 19:47
episode 5 - a look at castes 25:26
episode 6 - on the fringes of indian society 10:44
episode 7 - bombay 28:10







Turkish ney solo



Manipulated with the fast-forward and rewind buttons on a cd player.
November 17, 2007

1. Track 1 8:30






Gerstein, Attias, McManus

Ben Gerstein - trombone; Michael Attias - alto saxophone; Terry McManus - guitar
Recorded live at the Downtown Music Gallery
October 21, 2007

1. part 1 14:46
2. part 2 13:04
3. part 3 9:13






Rye Beach, New Hampshire



July 2007

1. "birds, backyard, wind in the trees, road" 2:07
2. "ocean" 6:28




Jacob Sacks Quintet
Ben Gerstein [nearer to mic], Jacob Garchik - trombone; Jacob Sacks - piano, composition
Dave Ambrosio - bass; Vinnie Sperrazza - drums

May 25, 2007
Rose Music Live - Williamsburg, Brooklyn
New Languages Festival


1. "Two" 8:10






Mike Pride's Drummer's Corpse



February 21, 2007 - Tonic, NYC
Mike Pride, vocals; Chris Welcome, guitar; Ben Gerstein, drums, along with four other percussionists scattered around the space. "A 33-minute, multi-layer, polyrhythmic, hyper-dense, drone-based catharsis music for drummers composed by Mike Pride." - Mike Pride


excerpt 6:51






Tony Malaby, Ben Gerstein, Marcus Rojas, Tom Rainey
December 1, 2006 - Cornelia St. Cafe, NYC

excerpt 1 10:23

excerpt 2 8:49






Mat Maneri's PENTAGON



Mat Maneri - viola; Joe Maneri - reeds and organ; Ben Gerstein - trombone; Craig Taborn - piano and electronics; Ed Schuller - bass; John McLellan - drums
Album available on Thirsty Ear Records

These in fact were to become the last public performances by Joe Maneri (1927-2009)...

October 21, 2006 - live in Maine

Part 1 37:51

Part 2 18:39

Part 3 11:09


October 22, 2006 - live in Cambridge

Part 1 21:56

Part 2 22:07

Part 3 12:14


October 23, 2006 - live in Montreal

Part 1 30:47

Part 2 25:43

Part 3 10:05

Joe Maneri 1:02


October 25, 2006 - live in Philadelphia

Part 1 24:46

Part 2 47:46


October 26, 2006 - live in NYC

Part 1 33:33

Part 2 6:49








music for
MORT


Musical excerpts from the play MORT, which I arranged and performed music for in its first two and only performances on August 3 and 4, 2006. These particular collage pieces consist of sound only from music by Morton Feldman. They were assembled collaboratively with tenor saxophonist/composer Sam Hillmer

#24
Broken Music
Himalayas
Jigsaw
Luft






Impressions x 10



July 7, 2007

The sound of ten different recordings of John Coltrane playing "Impressions" going simulatenously. Rather difficult to listen to, but interesting I think...

1. "Impressions x 10" 20:54






FRACTAL




March 4, 2006

Sampled from an old episode of Police Squad (the joke was a suspect's name, Eddie Cassalas, "rang a bell," so a bell kept going off)

"FRACTAL" (3min. 4sec.)




with TONE COLLECTOR




Ben Gerstein, trombone; Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone; Eivind Opsvik, bass; Jeff Davis, drums
website
January 22, 2006, Second Set, at Bar4, Brooklyn, NY.



Track 1
Track 2
Track 3



with Joe and Mat Maneri




Joe Maneri, alto saxophone; Ben Gerstein, trombone; Mat Maneri, viola; Jacob Sacks, keyboard; John Hebert, bass; John McLellan, drums

January 12, 2006 at BARBES, Brooklyn, NY.



Track 1





RACHMANINOFF OFF



Rachmaninoff-off 3:37








with TONE COLLECTOR




Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone; Eivind Opsvik, bass; Jeff Davis, drums
Tone Collector website


November 8, 2005 at Koze Lounge, Brooklyn, NY.


Excerpt 1

Excerpt 2



SOUND COLLAGE

July 2005

Various musical excerpts affected and blended together with the computer.


Collage



BEATSHELL 1.4

April 18, 2005

In collaboration with drummer, composer and long-time friend Doug Hirlinger, Beatshell 1.4 was assembled over the course of many weeks, sending a sound file back and forth to each other through e-mail. An initial sample from an electronic piece by composer Charles Wuornen got us going, from which point sounds were set from sources such as Fellini's Satyricon (Ilhan Mimaroglu), Kieslowski's Dekalog, Morton Feldman, Mario Davidovsky, Olivier Messiaen, Bela Bartok, Alban Berg, John Cage, Harrison Birtwistle, George Crumb... many old things going back to the days of mini disc recorders and the Manhattan School of Music library.

Beatshell 1.4





a Jacob Sacks quintet

Live at the Friend's Seminary, NYC
January 14, 2005

Jacob Sacks - piano; Ben Gerstein - trombone (first solo); Jacob Garchik - trombone; Thomas Morgan - bass; Dan Weiss - drums

Track 1






WFMU RADIO BROADCAST

with Mat Maneri and John McLellan
Recorded August 19, 2004, from 2:00-6:00am. We had just recently recorded Mat's new record, "Pentagon"

Trio set #1 (18MB)
Trio set #2 (9MB)

Complete 4 hour broadcast




Desseins Eternels - Olivier Messiaen



Composed by Olivier Messiaen and originally conceived as the third movement of La Nativite du Seigneur (The Birth of the Lord - Nine Meditations for Organ), I arranged to play as a soloist with The Metro Trombone Ensemble. This recording was from a concert on June 22, 2004 at St. James Catholic Church in Brooklyn, NY. Moments before this performance began, birds outside just beyond the stained-glass windows began chirping excitedly in the dark blue glow of an early summer evening.

Desseins Eternels




trio improvisations




June 10, 2004

Eivind Opsvik, bass - right channel
Thomas Morgan, bass - left channel


one
two
three
three, part two
four
duet with Thomas







(1999)
An old exercise of mine: playing Coltrane's long 1961 V. Vanguard "Impressions" solo on melodica along with the record...

14:42






CHINATOWN RECORDINGS, LOOPS



1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16