This two-part event is centered around musical improvisation in Alberta and Alabama.
First, you will learn about the "non-idiomatic" improvisation in Alabama by extraordinary musicians like LaDonna Smith, Davey Williams, and Anne LeBaron. Several undergraduate students began making music together at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 1970, soon joined by other students and local youths. Within a year, this music-making developed into what the British musician Derek Bailey would later call ‘non-idiomatic’ improvisation, which was informed by a pataphysical attitude and, for some, by surrealism. A discussion of these developments will be accompanied by examples of their recorded music. Presented by Steven Harris.
Second, local saxophonist Ben Whittier will guide us through his creative process of free improvisation, followed by a live performance on alto-saxophone.
Presenters:
Steven Harris taught art history at the University of Alberta until his retirement in 2021. He is one of five editors of the International Encyclopedia of Surrealism, which was published in three volumes from Bloomsbury in 2019. He has published essays about Sherri Chaba, Lyndal Osborne, and Lisa Turner for exhibitions in the Edmonton area, and contributed an essay to a monograph on the Edmonton artist Richard Boulet. His current work concerns a group of artists, poets, dancers, and musicians who collaborated in Alabama from the 1970s to the 1990s, which is provisionally entitled Pataphysics and Surrealism in Alabama.
Ben Whittier is a saxophonist with a deep interest in performing, teaching, improvising, and composing diverse music and sounds. Since completing his Doctorate of Music degree from the University of Alberta in 2022, Ben has been actively performing and teaching music in the vibrant Edmonton community and at Edmonton universities. In addition to teaching and performing, Ben works passionately with New Music Edmonton and the Edmonton International Jazz Festival to present and support a variety of artists to audiences throughout Edmonton.
This event is free but seats are limited due to the size of the McLuhan House, please reserve your seats.
