Where Junto Projects Come From

From glass harmonicas to musical snails

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

It’s pretty common that when I’m talking with someone about the Disquiet Junto, the weekly music community I have moderated since January 2012, the question arises as to where Junto projects come from — how is it that the ideas originate, week after week, some 753 in a row as of this writing. I’ve answered this question various ways over the years, and one key explanation is that the Junto projects rarely if ever originate because I’m trying to come up with an idea. I have a huge backlog of potential projects. Most projects originate instead based on an observation, one that is then turned into a kind of interrogative, flipped from something that is or seems to something that might be. For example, the third Junto took the origin of the Junto itself, as inspired by Benjamin Franklin, and tried to imagine what one of his inventions, the glass harmonica, might sound like today. The 120th project came about because I saw reproductions of the heartbeart of artist Marcel Duchamp and wondered how musicians might interpret it. This week’s project, which launches tomorrow, June 4, came about, as did one a couple of weeks ago involving a snail, because of signs I saw on a day trip to the Marin Headlands. The above photo inspired tomorrow’s project, which explores the concept of “outdoors hold music.” We’ll see what comes of it.

Gentle Pedal Steel Improvisation

A live solo piece from Gary Peters

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Gary Peters is the author of two books, both published by the University of Chicago, on improvisation, Improvising Improvisation: From Out of Philosophy, Music, Dance, and Literature and The Philosophy of Improvisation. In this short solo improvisation, he lets the music do the explaining. The piece, simply titled “Gentle Pedal Steel Improvisation,” moves from a slow, old-timey opening through a more modern exploration of tentative scales and ambiguous atmospheres, as if shifting from Oliver Wallace to John Zorn, or from Les Paul to Bill Frisell, in a few elegant minutes. It’s a lovely, thoughtful live performance, one I had playing on loop for quite a while. More of Peters’ music at garypeters.bandcamp.com.

Frisell x Morrison x Keaton x Roulette

Two nights of live scores.

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

The New York venue Roulette’s YouTube channel keeps posting one amazing performance video after another. A recent one is the live score to a film, The Great Flood by Bill Morrison, performed by the tight little trio of Bill Frisell (guitar), Luke Bergman (bass), and Tim Angulo (drums). The production takes as its topic the catastrophic 1927 flooding of Mississippi River. While the threesome perform there are short segments on the flood itself, the immediate aftermath, the resulting migration, and other interrelated factors. It was followed the second night with live scores to two other Morrison films, and two from Buster Keaton, The High Sign and One Week. More at the Roulette website on night one and night two, May 23 and 24 of this year.

On Repeat: Parker, SML, James

Home/office playlist

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

On Sundays I try to at least quickly note some of my favorite listening from the week prior — things I would later regret having not written about in more depth, so better to share here briefly than not at all.

▰ The Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, a jazz foursome, posted a full video recording of a live set, doing their new album, Happy Today, co-released May 15 by the International Anthem and Nonesuch labels — heavy on atmosphere and exemplifying a rich sense of ensemble:

▰ SML, a jazz quintet, revs percolating minimalism into virtual Afrobeat in this first available track from their forthcoming live album, Spontaneous Music Live, due out June 26, also on International Anthem:

▰ Glitch/IDM producer Loraine James works with vocalists a lot lately — introspective rap, sultry soul, stream-of-consciousness spoken word — and her excellent recent album, Detached from the Rest of You, released May 8 on Hyperdub, exudes artful anxiousness:

Scratch Pad: Sichuan, Bern, Bay

From the past week

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

At the end of each week, I usually collate a lightly edited collection of recent comments I’ve made on social media, which I think of as my public scratch pad. I tag on what books I may have finished reading. Knowing I’ll revisit my social media posts, I’ve found, serves as a positive and mellowing influence on my online activity. I mostly hang out on Mastodon (at post.lurk.org/@disquiet), and I’m also trying out a few others. And I generally take weekends off social media.

Another light week. Guess I’ve been busy. (I have.)

▰ You know it was a good Sichuan meal when afterwards, as you walk down the street, even the air you inhale is tasty.

▰ The Disquiet Junto music community is collaborating for the eighth year in a row with Musikfestival Bern, in Bern, Switzerland, and they posted this about the first of four projected projects we’ll be doing together this year, in the lead up to the September events:

▰ Not bad, SF: