Re: Paul Dresher / Was Re: essential loop recordings

[Richard Zvonar <zvonar@zvonar.com>]

At 10:06 PM -0700 6/26/03, Kim Flint wrote:
>you mentioned a couple of other albums featuring Paul's looping in 
>the early 80's - Way of How and Are/Are. But I don't see them on 
>Paul's discography. Are these still available anywhere? and if you 
>are familiar with all of these, do you think those two are a better 
>representation of his looping style of the time, or would "This Same 
>Temple" be a better choice?

I don't know if either of these was ever released as an "album" 
though there was a cassette version of "The Way of How." You'd 
probably have to approach Paul directly to get a copy.

The music for these two performance pieces was well integrated with 
the visual performance by singer/actors John Duykers and Rinde Eckert 
and mime Leonard Pitt. A lot of it consisted of textural "beds" to 
accompany mimed activity, so these sections are represented in 
abbreviated form on the tape. Paul played electric guitar and Casio 
keyboard, and the two singers doubled on flute and trombone.

As to what is "a better representation of his looping style of the 
time" I'd say that you'd really want to listen to both the material 
on "This Same Temple" and "The Way of How." It's clearly the same 
composer working with the same technology, but with different source 
material in the ensemble work. Note that Paul was a member of George 
Coates Performance Works for three productions, the third of which 
did not use the loop system. He then formed the Paul Dresher Ensemble 
with drummer Gene Reffkin and writer-performer Rinde Eckert in 1985. 
The loop system was essential to their first production "Slow Fire" 
and is another representative recording.
-- 

______________________________________________________________
Richard Zvonar, PhD
(818) 788-2202
http://www.zvonar.com
http://RZCybernetics.com