This is Kenny Savelson, Executive Director of Bang on a Can writing from Brooklyn, New York.

Scottish Tour Journal

We're known in NYC for presenting concerts of impossible lengths and you can get a more detailed history of this 20-year tradition on the marathon page of our website (www.bangonacan.org/marathon). When we first formed the Bang on a Can All-Stars in the early 90's part of the idea was to have a group flexible enough to deliver the scope of the New York festival to audiences around the globe.  The artistry of 100+ musicians and composers embodied in 6 "All-Stars". 

Over the years, I can say definitively and without hesitation that I have seen more Bang on a Can All-Stars concerts than anyone on the planet and the concert in Perth on February 3 hit this central chord of the band's mission well beyond the standard bar. This one was a gem and I'm not just saying that so we can be invited for a return engagement and continue our sampling of single-malts.  Producing an extended concert with 3 jam-packed sets really allowed us to show off the outrageously eclectic range of the Bang on a Can repertoire.  I'm sure that every listener there would rank the 15 or so works in their own personal order and this is exactly the intention. 

For me, there are several lasting highlights from that concert. There was the bali-jazz-fusion opener: Evan Ziporyn's Shadowbang; Don Byron's Eugene – a compilation of an entire century of American music rendered completely insane as a soundtrack to a 1960's TV show; and the noise-rock-bliss of Thurston Moore which called upon Sonic Youth's signature recording Daydream Nation.   And then there were the solos: Wendy Sutter's world premiere of a brand new work by the legendary Philip Glass (yes that was the first performance ever!), Mark Stewart's performance of Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint which for me was a hybrid tour of minimalism and San Francisco late 60's-era psychedelia, and Robert Black's masterful presentation of David Lang's oddly titled I Feel Pretty.   The funny thing about this type of concert is that after a while, the associations and categories begin to slip away and you find yourself listening to each piece, each note with open ears and an open mind.  I had that experience in Perth this month.  And I look forward to the next time….

Birmingham

Brian Eno's Music for Aiports is truly a landmark work.  I remember listening to it in college in the mid-80's and trying to figure out where the pattern in the first movement started and ended.  I gave up.  I finally got to see it mapped out when Michael Gordon arranged this movement (Music for Airports 1/1) for the All-Stars 10 years ago.  What I said earlier holds true again here – over the last nine years I have heard the All-Stars perform this piece more than anyone else on earth.  If I were to concentrate (and with some help from the Bang on a Can Website Archives) I could come up with the definitive number of live performances I have heard.  The performance in Birmingham Symphony Hall was a treat.  The hall is unbelievably huge and provided a monumental space for the piece to breathe and for all of us to take on Eno's intent and Bang on a Can All-Star Evan Ziporyn's invitation to let your mind wander.  

And what about the first half of the concert?!  After so many years I still don't know exactly what to make of this group as they moved freely from David Lang's angular and melodic Sunray to the heavy funk of Don Byron's Show Him Some Lub.  And at the intermission, everyone was raving about the onslaught of the Thurston Moore piece which we have not yet recorded on a CD – but we hope to soon!