Anthony Braxton - Composition No. 19 for 100 Tubas

[mke]

Music Review | 'Bang on a Can Marathon'
A Tuba Army Ushers In the Bang on a Can Marathon at the World Financial Center (excerpt)
By JON PARELES

There were plenty of tubas but no oompah in Anthony Braxton's "Composition No. 19 for 100 Tubas," the biggest spectacle at this year's Bang on a Can Marathon of new music on Sunday at the World Financial Center. Carrying a drum major's baton, Mr. Braxton mustered his "100Tubatet" — playing tubas, sousaphones, Wagner tubas and double-belled euphoniums — on the center's plaza. It played glacially slow, sustained melodies, creating a low growl that was uncannily similar to the tone of airplanes and helicopters flying overhead. So close to ground zero, the sound was unmistakably ominous.

Over the next hour Mr. Braxton and three other conductors led groups of tubas to parts of the plaza, following an inscrutable choreography. Sometimes two groups would be near each other, but there was no way to hear the entire ensemble. The slow melodies continued; every so often, one of the groups would huff a few sharply accented notes or make jokey noises. Yet over all, the piece was somber: an arbitrary ceremony, luxuriating in tuba tone, somewhere between elegy and exorcism.
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[mke]

Some pics:





More:

[Gerardo A]

Hey Mwanji, Brian Allen (registered here as Brain) played baritone in that concert. I couldn't go there myself because that morning I left for South America, but Brian told me he had a chance to talk with Braxton and that he is a very sweet guy. I can only imagine how 100 tubas together sound. Maybe he can come in here and offer his impressions from the bandstand!

[graypencil]

For straight ahead fans, you may recall the late Rich Matteson did something like this some fifteen years back with a group called the Tuba Consort ..

Can you imaging 100 tubas and a rhythm section ..

..playing stuff like "Oleo" and "Straight no Chaser " ??





..and than , there's that old Joe Venuti gag where he called every tuba playerin the LA union book for a gig...then sat in a bar across from the corner where he told them he'd pick them up ..and laughed his ass off !!!

[jasonguthartz]

more photos from the performance of HERE

[mke]

Originally Posted by Gerardo Alejos

Brian told me he had a chance to talk with Braxton and that he is a very sweet guy.

I'm not surprised: Braxton is for the babies.

[Gerardo A]

Hahaha!

[jasonguthartz]

Originally Posted by mke

I'm not surprised: Braxton is for the babies.

Didn't you know Comp. 19 is dedicated to Raymond Scott

[brain]

My apologies for such a late posting here, but I kept meaning to respond and share a few things about the Braxton piece.

First off, Mr. Braxton was incredibly warm and nice person with tremendous respect for all of us. Jay Rozen said it best-"It's like he's waited his whole life to meet you." He was very appreciative of everyone. The rehearsal was quite an ear-opener! What a sound! Slide Hampton and his big band were rehearsing in the other studio across the hall so that made for an interesting juxtaposition, although we couldn't hear them. Many interesting people and instruments made up the 100 TubaTet. A lot of my tuba heros were in the ensemble. Matt Welch, James Fei, Taylor Ho Bynum and Braxton were the conductors and their enthusiasm was high for the event. 4 groups of 25. Braxton was our conductor and I learned a lot from the days we played about rehearsing and composing.

The music was 16 pages long that each fit in a flipfolder, attached with a lyre - just like the old marching band days. Braxton's notation was mostly pitch-oriented notes-really low! with select opportunities to modify a pitch. There were spots with some of the symbolism and small windows for improvisation within the group. The music begins very softly and grows in intensity as it evolves. Each group started on a different page, so there was no co-ordinating it between the four ensembles.

The performance was really something else as the dozens of low brass players converged in the World Financial Center. We had a uniform of these amazing shirts with the symbol you see in another post. We did a little talk through on the plaza. When we came out for the performance, there were people absolutely everywhere and it was documented extensively. We would play and then move, following Anthony around. On the plaza it was difficult to hear the other groups as we were outside and spread apart, although a few times our groups would intentionally collide while marching. Helicopters hovered above, creating additional low rumbles. While carrying a baritone for an hour got to be tiring, it seemed like it was over in a minute. There were quite a few musicians in the audience, including Matmos (who I got to hang out with a while-also playing on the festival) and Howard Johnson, who gave Jay a big shout-out.

The ending was triumphant as Braxton thanked everyone individually as we came in the WFC. There was such a positive and great vibe throughout. Tuba players are an interesting crowd, having done some Tuba Christmas events in the past. There were some cool homemade devices and instruments.

It was Anthony's 60th birthday that day, too and we played Happy Birthday for him. I watched the rest of the festival and was able to hear some great stuff and hang out.

Traveling to New York with a trombone-I had some other trombone gigs and a baritone is a pain but this was an event of a lifetime! Thanks to Jay Rozen for organizing this.

Hey Gerardo...awesome to see you in person, amigo. Thanks for your support and can't wait for January! Talk to you soon!

[Gerardo A]

Originally Posted by brain

Hey Gerardo...awesome to see you in person, amigo. Thanks for your support and can't wait for January! Talk to you soon!

Hey hermano! Thanks for writing about the Braxton Tuba gig. Me and Armando are very much looking forward for January! Yeah, we'll write soon!