Aleister Crowley Steers by Hand

[ted]

Here is a very different one, also from ten years ago. The title comes from a persistent image I have of Crowley playing the Amiga game of the eighties, "Ports of Call", in which the player chose between paying to berth the ship with a tugboat or steering by hand. The programmers had made this latter option so difficult that most players invariably crashed into the wharf or sank. Nonetheless, had Crowley, whose autobiography I was reading at the time, played, I am sure he would have steered by hand.

Of course, Crowley was actually a revolting madman, and the Amiga is dead and gone, but the association persists to the extent that cells of a certain "not quite square" motoric rhythm, spiced with harmonic contention, I still term "Crowley cells". The piece lasted forty-five minutes until the tape ran out, the joystick broke and the ship sank; here is the first third.

[nickc]

This is fantastic Ted! Love the harmonies and rhythms. Any chance you could upload some more of this work?

[ted]

This is fantastic Ted! Love the harmonies and rhythms. Any chance you could upload some more of this work?

Sure, here is a lower quality mp3 of the lot. Pleased you like it.

[dogperson]

Hi Ted
I agree with Nickc--  this was wonderful...  will start listening to the second posting.
Thanks much for sharing   

[ted]

Thanks, dogperson. This particular one sounds nice played through a big hi-fi with the bass screwed up a tad. We are so lucky now with the invention of digital recording devices, are we not, no time limit at all. The last hundred and fifty or so I have done mostly exceed the hour. However, depending on the technique used, limits on physical stamina usually make themselves felt around the fifty minute mark. I have yet to acquire the trick of pacing myself, although I am improving.

[furtwaengler]

This is great. One to ponder for some time. I have a stack of tapes of such long flight improvisational ventures from over 15 years ago when such escapes were more common for me. The tapes consistently did run out.

[nickc]

that's how music should be... say what you have to say until you can't. And then start again. Music is bound by so many stupid "rules" that it's embarrassing. Humans have managed to take one of the last true "free" things in our existence, and then try and "put it in a box" as to meet their needs. So sad....

[ted]

This is great. One to ponder for some time. I have a stack of tapes of such long flight improvisational ventures from over 15 years ago when such escapes were more common for me. The tapes consistently did run out.

Thanks for listening Dave. I do not think the full aesthetic significance of recent advances in recording technology has yet been realised by musicians in general. We can now, using a reasonably priced device the size of a cigarette packet, make remarkably high quality recordings of indefinite length. The products of such recordings can stand as permanent art, without need of notation or transcription. The day of personal improvisation has well and truly dawned, yet the notion that it is a sort of poor man's composition inexplicably still exists, possibly because it threatens vested interests and the magisteria of commerce and academia.

[ted]

that's how music should be... say what you have to say until you can't. And then start again. Music is bound by so many stupid "rules" that it's embarrassing. Humans have managed to take one of the last true "free" things in our existence, and then try and "put it in a box" as to meet their needs. So sad....

Nothing to disagree with there Nick. The thousands of improvisation "tutorials" on the internet seem more intent on stifling joy and creativity with "shoulds" and "ought tos", as if the playing of an improper note will bring the piano police knocking on the front door. The obsequious hagiolatry accorded some prominent pianists doesn't help either. The playing of Jarrett is certainly worth studying, but it is "a" way, not "the" way. "The" way does not exist outside the personal psyche.  

[Derek]

An oldie but a goodie. I remember listening to this when you had first sent it to me. One of the things I appreciate most about your improvisations is that they are harmonically adventurous yet melodic, and there's always something for the mind to grab onto.