Last week I took a fabulous trip to the gorgeous town of Boulder, Colorado.
My purpose for the trip was threefold:
1 – to attend the Third Annual Conference of the International Society for Improvised Music, or ISIM (pronounced “izzim”)
2 – to spend time with several dear old friends from college who now live in Boulder
3 – to ski in the Rockies
I’m happy to report that I accomplished all three objectives and returned extremely happy, with fresh air in my lungs, aching legs, a heart filled with love, inspiration and gratitude.
Early Thursday AM I flew from RDU directly to Denver International, skis and boots in tow. The flight was not at all crowded and I was the only person with skis. Upon arriving at DIA I ducked into a (very spacious and clean) bathroom and changed into my ski pants, then headed to the car rental office. Snow was coming down hard, much to my delight, though I was concerned about the drive up I-70 where I had arranged to meet my friend Lon at a park-n-ride. Thanks to our cell phones and a GPS, Lon and I managed to meet up just fine and proceeded to drive up to Loveland, where we had one of the best days imaginable: waist-deep powder, short lift lines, and untracked runs. Not having skied in over 3 years I was a bit concerned, but it really is like riding a bike. Loveland is quite a nice area; in all the years I’ve skied in Colorado I’ve never skied there, but I can certainly see why many of the locals don’t bother making the extra trek through the Eisenhower tunnel to battle the crowds at the bigger resorts.
I spent the next few nights in the company of my dear friend Tim Ash.
Tim was my best man at my wedding and a roommate in college. A chronicle of our many adventures together would make for interesting reading, perhaps, but that’s for another day. Tim’s lovely Japanese wife Miyuki kept me extremely well-fed and comfortable, and I had a great time getting playing with Tim’s charming (and remarkably media-savvy) daughter Karuna. She and my daughter Zoe will surely become fast friends some day – they are true kindred spirits.
The music conference was held in the opulent Lamont School of Music at the U of Denver – a state-of-the art facility replete with high-tech electronics, Steinway pianos, and gorgeous recital halls. Saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell (of the AACM/Art Ensemble of Chicago) began the proceedings by presenting some of his collaborative projects, and a mini-lecture on what he’s learned about improvisation pedagogy in his years on the faculty at the U of Wisconsin, Madison. I was particularly inspired by Mitchell’s comments about the interplay between composition and improvisation, since I’ve always been very interested in both and have felt somewhat torn between them at times. Mitchell advises his students to use composition to learn “how music works” – orchestration, structure, balance, etc. – in order to become better improvisors.
One of the major highlights of the conference for me was a lecture/performance by the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse, a group that meets regularly in the virtual online environment Second Life to explore interactive musical possibilities with avatars. I’ve long been interested in this kind of thing but haven’t made time to really dive into it.
These folks put on an amazing demonstration that was much more musically sophisticated than one would expect, given the limitations of the technology. My favorite part of the show was a piece called “PwRHm” by Tina Pearson (known as Humming Pera in Second Life), which utilized virtual instruments tuned to the harmonic series of the Alternating Currents of the North American and European electric systems, which differ by 10 Hz. The breath rhythms of the globally dispersed players and their animated movements (including floating/flying) guided a conducted improvisation. Pearson used typed textual commands to give instructions to the performers. The resulting sounds were extremely rich and beautiful, and well-complimented by graphical animations – e.g. balls of light that emanated from the performers. One could not escape the feeling of witnessing the emergence of a new form of collective music-making that promises to become increasingly popular and important.
The “showcase” concert Friday night was outstanding, and it was followed by an even more incredible show by headliners contrabassist Joëlle Léandre and violinist India Cooke. Léandre/Cooke were scheduled to perform Saturday night, but moved the concert to Friday due to a death in Léandre’s family. The video below gives you some idea of Léandre’s playing, but the concert was a unique event, a powerful, breathtaking performance by two master improvisors. Cooke and Léandre were joined by violist LaDonna Smith, a fellow resident of the Southeastern US with whom I hope to collaborate some day soon.
Seeing my buddy, poet Dave Rothman was another highlight of my trip. Dave lives in Lafayette CO with his lovely wife Emily and their two boys (Jacob and Noah) and teaches writing at Colorado University. I met David while we were both teaching English in mainland China in the mid-80’s, and we instantly bonded over our mutual love of jazz, skiing, and ridiculing Chinese kitch.
Dave and I spent Saturday skiing at Eldora, a hidden gem of a ski area frequented mainly by locals. What a joy not to deal with driving up I-70 or battling crowds at the lifts. It seems nearly everyone in Boulder owns a hot tub – the perfect way to finish off a perfect day of skiing.
On Sunday I attended the final sessions of the ISIM conference, a highlight being a brilliant presentation by sculptor/musician/visual artist Jay Kreimer, who invited attendees to play with a collection of home-made amplified instruments.
During the closing session, a good discussion was had about how the timing and promotion of conference might be adjusted to broaden the audience. It was especially troubling to me that so few students of the School of Music where the event was being held were in attendance. Hopefully next year’s conference in Santa Cruz will receive more attention from the local music community.
Sunday night was spent in the company (and hot tub!) of my college buddy Gregg Eisenberg – a brilliant musician and author of a hilarious collection of hilarious Zen proverbs.
On Monday I drove back up to Loveland and skied solo. More snow was falling but the snow from Thursday had become pretty crusty, so conditions weren’t quite as great, but I still had a very good time. Tim and I watched Richard Linklater’s brilliant film Waking Life – highly recommended if you’re in the mood for some very intense food for thought.
Tuesday was spent exploring the town of Boulder a bit. After a great lunch at a funky diner with Tim, I did a little shopping on the Pearl Street Mall. A few snapshots to give a flavor for this area:
Thanks to everyone who made this trip so incredible! I hope to make visits to Boulder a regular habit.