Pages

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Andre Hodeir: Jazz et Jazz

(2:59) 1960.

link

Here's how he did it, for those who want to try this at home:

Hodeir realized the work in three stages. 

During the first, he separately recorded a big band playing several composed passages and a rhythm section (bass and drums) playing along with a chord progression from the ensemble work. 

In the second stage, Hodeir transformed the recording of the big band passages using tape-editing techniques such as speed changes, tape reversal, filtering, and transposition (playing the tape upside down). He next added a rhythm section track, unchanged, to the electronically modified big band track. 

For the third stage, a piano player improvised “as indicated by the composer” along with the “composite tape background,” creating the final realization. 

The musique concrète treatment of the band included horns and drums in reverse, piano slowed-down and sped-up, chirping microphone taps, and a variety of comical percussive effects. The result was a carefully orchestrated crowd pleasure that could be performed live with a solo pianist exchanging passages with his or her mutated electronic doppelganger on tape.

- http://www.thomholmes.com/