Album

Since 1998, the Meridian Gallery in San Francisco, CA, has run a stimulating series of gallery concerts under the umbrella title of Meridian Music: Composers in Performance. Innova's Earth Music is a compilation of 14 cuts taken from live recordings from within this series, several being improvisations from star instrumentalist/composers—Vinny Golia, Frank Gratkowski, Matthew Sperry, and koto virtuoso Shoko Hikage to name a few—and others being excerpts from loosely, or more strictly composed, pieces by Pauline Oliveros, Damon Smith, a voice/cello song by Theresa Wong, and even a simultaneous realization of two Anthony Braxton pieces performed by the series' first curator, Philip Gelb, and pipa player Jie Ma. It's a well chosen selection, emphasizing some of those magical moments that seem only to emerge from improvising, usually off in the air and gone by the time anyone thinks to hit "record." Thankfully the curators of the series thought ahead and had the tape rolling before the music got underway.

As one might expect, there is a little inconsistency in the sound quality throughout the program, with older tapings sounding a bit more distant and hissy than later ones, suggesting a change in the recording rostrum along the way, or at least evolutionary engineering expertise. However, several of the pieces are exceptionally striking, such as John Bischoff's Quarter Turn; nothing on Earth Music is really long enough to wear out its welcome, and some pieces, such as Shoko Hikage's koto improvisation, seem a little too short. Nevertheless, Earth Music is a solid snapshot of this interesting concert series and provides an enjoyable, ad hoc primer of the improvisation movement in the United States from 2010 onward.

© Uncle Dave Lewis , All Music Guide

CD 1
Vinny Giola Composer Steps, for bass clarinet Work Recorded 1999 Vinny Giola Clarinet (Bass)
1	[Excerpt]	3:58			$0.99
John Bischoff Composer Quarter Turn, for electroinics Work Recorded 1999 John Bischoff Electronics
2	[Excerpt]	6:27			$0.99
Matthew Sperry Composer Improvisation for contrabass Work Recorded 1999 Matthew Sperry Contrabass
3	[Excerpt]	4:12			$0.99
Damon Smith Composer Lines for Trio, for cello, contrabass & violin Work Recorded 1999 Hugh Livingston Cello, Carla Kihlstedt Violin, Damon Smith Contrabass
4	Lines for Trio, for cello, contrabass & violin	5:57			$0.99
Pauline Oliveros Composer Pauline's Solo, for accordion Work Pauline Oliveros Accordion
5	[Excerpt]	4:04			$0.99
Ben Goldberg Composer All Chords Stand For Other Chords Work Ben Goldberg Guitar, John Scott Guitar
6	[Excerpt]	6:27			$0.99
Shoko Hikage Composer Improvisation, for koto Work Recorded 2000 Shoko Hikage Koto
7	Improvisation, for koto	1:35			$0.99
Frank Gratkowski Composer Improvisation, for alto sax Work Recorded 2002 Frank Gratkowski Saxophone (Alto)
8	Improvisation, for alto sax	3:52			$0.99
Sara Schoenbeck Composer Improvisation, for flute & bassoon Work Recorded 2003 Ellen Burr Flute, Sara Schoenbeck Bassoon
9	Improvisation, for flute & bassoon	2:55			$0.99
Viv Corringham Composer Improvisation, for electonics, vocals & recorded sound Work Viv Corringham Vocals
10	Improvisation, for electonics, vocals & recorded sound	6:47			$0.99
Jon Raskin Composer Sonic Coordinates, for baritone sax Work Recorded 2006 Jon Raskin Saxophone (Baritone)
11	Sonic Coordinates, for baritone sax	3:39			$0.99
Bob Marsh Composer Microtonic meditations for endings and beginnings, for accordian recorder, vocals Work Recorded 2007 Bob Marsh Vocals, Tom Bickley Vocals
12	Movement 2: Scherzo	3:44			$0.99
Anthony Braxton Composer Comp 40 N and Comp. 110 A, for pipa & shakuhachi Work Recorded 2008 Philip Gelb Shakuhachi, Jie Ma Pipa
13	Comp 40 N and Comp. 110 A, for pipa & shakuhachi	5:48			$0.99
Theresa Wong Composer Nightwatching, for cello & vocals Work Recorded 2009 Theresa Wong Vocals
14	Nightwatching, for cello & vocals	5:21			$0.99