Renowned jazz duo makes U.S. premiere

By Skye Wang     10/8/13 7:00pm

German jazz musician Peter Broetzmann and Japanese instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Keiji Haino make their North American debut as a duet in a series of performances this week, culminating in their joint performance on Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. in the Rice University Media Center. The performance will promote Broetzmann's exhibit, "Peter Broetzmann Graphic: Design Work 1958-2013," which is on display at the Rice Media Center's Visual and Dramatic Arts Main Gallery from Oct. 8 to Nov. 14. The Wednesday performance will be the last in the series of performances by both artists this week.

Following a solo performance by Haino Monday night, Broetzmann played a jazz saxophone improvisation at James Turrell's Twilight Epiphany Skyspace Tuesday, Oct. 8. According to the fall 2013 Shepherd School of Music Newsletter, the improv performance was intended by the artist to reflect the changing colors and shadows of a light sequence in the Skyspace and is only a glimpse of Broetzmann's artistic abilities and musical interpretations.

As a visual artist and multi-reedist, Broetzmann is an acclaimed leader in the European free jazz movement who, according to a Shepherd School of Music newsletter, possesses an elegant mastery of the saxophone, clarinet and tarogato. His rich timbre and expansive sound work well with Haino's unpredictable yet voluminous and lyrical range of expression in vocals, guitar and percussion. These two artists cooperated earlier in their careers to produce the album Evolving Blush or Driving Original Sin.

---

---

Rice Electroacoustic Music Labs Director and associate professor of composition and theory Kurt Stallmann said the performance is part of a project funded by a grant from the Rice University Arts Initiatives Fund.

"I envisioned a series that would forge interdisciplinary connections with other schools on campus," Stallmann said. "The Turrell Skyspace is an exciting venue for experimental music, and I wanted to explore properties of the space not only through music, but through visual and architectural lenses as well."

According to a Rice News article, Broetzmann and Haino's performances are the results of a joint effort between the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts, the Shepherd School of Music, the Chao Center for Asian Studies, Nameless Sound  and  the Houston Arts Alliance. Specifically, the fall 2013 Shepherd School of Music newsletter states that Grace Christian Vietti Chair of Visual and Dramatic Arts John Sparagana and Nameless Sound founder and musician David Dove joined Stallmann to get the project off the ground. 

Broetzmann and Haino's previous combined efforts have been highly praised

by critics. 

Alan Cummings, from the music magazine Forced Exposure, wrote, "[Haino and Broetzmann are] a superb exhibition of controlled alchemy."

Admission to Broetzmann and Haino's Oct. 9 performance is $10 with a student ID.

---