AVAILABLE NOW:
Author RADHIKA PHILIP Reveals Creative Process of
Jazz Musicians Through Collection of Interviews in New Book,
Being Here: Conversations on Creating Music
Featured Artists Include Bill Frisell, Brian Blade, Jason Moran, Robert Glasper, Vijay Iyer and Maria Schneider, Among Others
Stream audio excerpts from interviews featured in the book:
"This
work, expressing the living aesthetic of some of the most vital
musicians of our time, is so important now because the corporations are
trying to erase any trace of serious music from a planet they want to
own completely."
- Amiri Baraka
Anyone who loves jazz has undergone a similar awakening at some point in their lives. For Radhika Philip
it came about a decade ago, when she followed a yen for live music into
the West Village club Smalls to see pianist Jason Lindner's trio. While
she had a handful of jazz records at home, scattered classics by the
usual suspects - Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charlie
Parker - the experience of seeing contemporary creative music in an
intimate setting proved to be transformative.
"It
was the music, of course, but it was also the intensity of the
interaction on stage," Philip recalls of that night. "The expression on
people's faces as they made music together - the bliss in the discovery,
and the intimate and focused ways in which they communicated with each
other - I'd never seen anything like that before. It completely blew my
mind."
For
most people it would have been enough to follow that profound encounter
with more of the same, to simply become another devoted listener and
advocate of jazz and its creators. But Philip decided to go further,
embarking on a decade-long series of interviews with some of New York's
most renowned and influential artists in order to come to a deeper
understanding of the music and of those who build their lives around it.
Being Here, which is available now through Radhio, compiles 25 of those interviews, featuring candid, insightful conversations with such modern jazz greats as Andy
Bey, David Binney, Brian Blade, Jane Ira Bloom, Uri Caine, Steve
Coleman, Dave Douglas, Bill Frisell, Robert Glasper, Billy Hart, Vijay
Iyer, Jason Moran, Gregoire Maret, Ben Monder, Thomas Morgan, Butch
Morris, Greg Osby, William Parker, Chris Potter, Dafnis Prieto, Maria
Schneider, Henry Threadgill, Mark Turner and Kenny Wollesen.
The focus of her inquiry is the relationship between form and freedom -
the parameters, musical and relational, that frame their
improvisations.
Born
in Bombay, India, Philip moved to the United States to study
anthropology, first at Smith College and later at Columbia University.
She has brought this education to her examination of New York City's
intricately interwoven jazz community, adding a layer of insight beyond
that which even the most ardent club devotee could offer. "The questions
I asked were anthropologically
informed," she explains. "What meaning do people give to what they do?
What do they value? What are their practices? All of that speaks to what
culture is."
The
one thing all of the subjects, and the author herself, share in common
is the city of New York, where many of them live and all have created
significant work. "I've lived in New York for 25 years," Philip says.
"It's a city with so many subterranean art scenes, andI've always
wanted to document one of its creative communities, to pay homage I
guess, to the city and its artists. I also wanted to better understand
the ways in which this urban center is important, or not, to an art
form. When I walked into jazz, that initial idea founds its most
meaningful context for me, and became a compulsion."
The title, Being Here,
is in part a recognition of the city's role in linking artists. But it
also reaches a more meaningful truth about their creative process - not
to mention the lively and enlightening conversations to be found within its pages.
"My
being in New York enabled me to have this experience," Radhika says.
"So the title refers to the musicians and why they need to be here, why
the city is relevant to the music. That's how it started for me, but
it's also about improvisation and the art of being entirely present in
the moment. Ultimately, that way of being is what deepens human experiences and relationships."
| Being Here - Radhika Philip |
The Interviews by Chapter:
1. Bill Frisell
2. Kenny Wollesen
3. Butch Morris
4. William Parker
5. Henry Threadgill
6. Dafnis Prieto
7. Billy Hart
8. Brian Blade
9. Greg Osby
10. Jason Moran
11. Woody Shaw Jr. III
12. Robert Glasper
13. Vijay Iyer
14. Mark Turner
15. Steve Coleman
16. Gregoire Maret
17. Maria Schneider
18. Ben Monder
19. Dave Douglas
20. Uri Caine
21. David Binney
22. Thomas Morgan
23. Chris Potter
24. Jane Ira Bloom
25. Andy Bey
Radhika Philip· Being Here
Radhio · Release Date: October 14, 2013
For more information on Radhika Philip, please visit: radhio.org
Information and press materials (including album covers, promotional photos
and bios) on all DL Media artists can be found at our new website: dlmediamusic.com
