Anthony Braxton's Gambit in DE SINGEL

We’re already a month later, but it’s with great pleasure that I’m looking back to the wonderful Anthony Braxton celebration in DE SINGEL in Antwerp on june 5th, with some great shots by Dawid Laskowski and Geert Vandepoele!

The event included an exposition with excerpts of Braxton’s unique graphic scores, photos and a mini-documentary. Lectures by Timo Hoyer and James Fei. And an evening concert featuring:

  • Creative Orchestra Music performed by a fantastic student orchestra of the Royal Conservatory Antwerp (and incidentally my conducting debut).

  • Ghost Trance Septet performing Composition No. 255 (with Anna Sakham Jalving, Frederik Sakham Jalving Lomborg, Steven Delannoye, Niels Van Heertum, Elisa Medinilla, João Lobo and yours truly)

  • Anthony Braxton quartet (with James Fei, Chris Jonas, Ingrid Laubrock, Anthony Braxton)

ANTHONY BRAXTON’S GAMBIT + NEW ALBUM RELEASE

I’m very happy to share two events that are very dear to me and finally coming to fruition, both linked to my ongoing PhD research on the music of Anthony Braxton.

ANTHONY BRAXTON’S GAMBIT
50+ Years of Creative Music, DE SINGEL

On Sunday, June 5th, DE SINGEL in Antwerp is hosting a unique program: Anthony Braxton’s Gambit - 50+ Years of Creative Music - a celebration of composer and instrumentalist Anthony Braxton, who will turn 77 on June 4th. I am incredibly honoured to take part in this great event with two performances. 

The evening will start with a fantastic Creative Orchestra from the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp (with whom, incidentally, I will make my conducting debut), playing pieces from Braxton’s legendary album “Creative Orchestra Music 1976”. The past year I’ve been working with a mix of students from the jazz and classical departments of the conservatory to perform Braxton’s Creative Orchestra compositions. This band is absolutely killing it!

Another focus in my research has been Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music compositions, an incredibly rich body of works specifically designed to function as pathways between notation and improvisation. On June 5th the Ghost Trance Septet, featuring Elisa Medinilla, Anna Jalving, Frederik Sakham, Steven Delannoye, Niels Van Heertum, João Lobo and myself, will perform Composition No. 255 from the Ghost Trance Music series (read more on the Septet’s forthcoming album release below).

The evening will end with a performance of the Maestro himself! Anthony Braxton will present his Saxophone Quartet (also featuring James Fei, Ingrid Laubrock and Chris Jonas) performing a new creation: Lorraine Music.

In addition to the concerts, there will be two lectures by Timo Hoyer (author of the book Anthony Braxton - Creative Music - Wolke Verlag) and James Fei (Tri-Centric Foundation), as well as a small exposition that I curated, giving an overview of the many different graphic scores of Braxton’s very extensive oeuvre. This expo is located at the entrance hall of DE SINGEL, running continuously until mid-June and its entrance is free.

ALBUM RELEASE
Ghost Trance Septet Plays Anthony Braxton

I’m incredibly happy to announce the forthcoming release of a double LP featuring Anthony Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music. After a previous solo album (Ghost Trance Solos, All That Dust ATD10) I invited six musicians, with backgrounds in either contemporary classical music or jazz and improvised music, to take a collective deep dive into Braxton’s musical wonderland. In the summer of 2021 this Ghost Trance Septet recorded four GTM-compositions, covering the entire spectrum of the GTM system. The result is the present double album, released by El Negocito Records.

Anthony Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music lets you step into a ritual, guided by a melody without beginning or end, a stream of consciousness that serves as the central track leading into the unknown. The Ghost Trance Musics are specifically designed to function as pathways between notation and improvisation, between past, present and future, unifying Braxton's entire fascinating musical universe. It allows for a plurality of musical practices to join forces, a trans-idiomatic arena in which Braxton helps curate intuitive experiences for both performers and listeners.

The album will officially be released on Thursday, June 2nd. There’s a release event at SMAK in Gent as part of the Citadelic concert series. I’ll play a set of Ghost Trance Solo at 19h, followed by the Ghost Trance Septet at 21h.

Further concert dates:
05/06 DE SINGEL
09/12 Visitations, Rataplan
10/12 Visitations, Rataplan

Excerpt from Timo Hoyer’s liner notes:

After the Ghost Trance Septet's performance at the Rainy Days Festival on November 13, 2021 in Luxembourg, the composer (who was booked for a trio concert at the festival) was sitting in the audience and could hardly contain himself with emotion and excitement. Understandably so. I dare say he had never experienced his GTM concept from the listener's perspective as varied, elaborate and fluid as on that day.(…) The Ghost Trance Septet does everything right on this production. Whereby "right" is not meant in the sense of correctness, which Braxton dismisses in his recommendations to performers, but in the sense of astonishing creative, daring, lustful, sensitive, and thrilling. How to play Braxton? Whoever holds this album in his hands can put a very convincing answer on the record player. Over and over again.

Kobe Van Cauwenberghe - electric & acoustic guitars, bass, synth, voice
Frederik Sakham - double bass, electric bass, voice
Elisa Medinilla - piano
Niels Van Heertum - euphonium, trumpet
Steven Delannoye - tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Anna Jalving - violin
Teun Verbruggen - drums, percussion

Recorded at Werkplaats Walter, Brussels
Mixing: Nicolas Rombouts (Studio Caporal)
Mastering: Uwe Teichert
Production: Kobe Van Cauwenberghe & Rogé for el NEGOCITO Records
Art work / Title images: Anthony Braxton, courtesy of Tri-Centric Foundation
Lay-out: Jan De Wulf
Film: Kobe Wens (Rainy Days - Luxembourg, 2021)

In loving memory of Hugo de Craen (1951 – 2021), friend and friendly experiencer.

Available on double CD / double Vinyl

New release! Ghost Trance Septet plays Anthony Braxton

Anthony Braxton's Ghost Trance Musics. I feel like I'm still only just scratching the surface of the musical potential of this unique and fascinating repertoire. Nonetheless, I'm Incredibly happy to finally announce the release of this new double LP featuring four compositions of the GTM system (No. 255, No. 358, No. 193 and No. 264) with an amazing Ghost Trance Septet (Teun Verbruggen Steven Delannoye Anna Sakham Jalving Elisa Medinilla Niels Van Heertum Frederik Sakham Jalving Lomborg). Out on June 2 at El Negocito Records !!

No. 255

No. 358

No. 193

No. 264

You can already pre-order here, and check out the first track of the album Composition No. 255) or watch a little sneak peak !

Official Press release:

Anthony Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music lets you step into a ritual, guided by a melody without beginning or end, a stream of consciousness that serves as the central track leading into the unknown. The Ghost Trance Musics are specifically designed to function as pathways between notation and improvisation, between past, present and future, unifying Braxton's entire fascinating musical universe. It allows for a plurality of musical practices to join forces, a trance-idiomatic arena in which Braxton helps curate intuitive experiences for both performers and listeners.

Recognising the uniqueness and almost unlimited potential of Anthony Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music system, Belgian guitarist Kobe Van Cauwenberghe made it a personal mission to come to a deeper understanding of GTM and its implications for the interpreter. After his acclaimed solo album (Ghost Trance Solos, ATD10), Van Cauwenberghe invited a group of musicians to take a collective deep dive into Braxton’s musical wonderland of the Ghost Trance Musics and explore its unique communal aspects. In the summer of 2021 this Ghost Trance Septet recorded four GTM-compositions, covering the entire spectrum of the four different ’species’ of the GTM system. The result is the present double album.

The musicians of this Belgian-Danish septet have excellent reputation, whether in the art of improvisation, the interpretation of new music, or both. Braxton's work is made for exploratory instrumentalists with such expertise. After the Ghost Trance Septet's performance at the rainy days Festival on November 13, 2021 in Luxembourg, the composer (who was booked for a trio concert at the festival) was sitting in the audience and could hardly contain himself with emotion and excitement. Understandably so. I dare say he had never experienced his GTM concept from the listener's perspective as varied, elaborate and fluid as on that day.    
The Ghost Trance Septet does everything right on this production. Whereby "right" is not meant in the sense of correctness, which Braxton dismisses in his recommendations to performers above, but in the sense of astonishing creative, daring, lustful, sensitive, and thrilling. How to play Braxton? Whoever holds this album in his hands can put a very convincing answer on the record player. Over and over again.
- - Excerpt from Timo Hoyer’s liner notes.




Ghost Trance Septet

Kobe Van Cauwenberghe: guitars, synths, voice

Frederik Sakham: double bass, electric bass, voice

Elisa Medinilla: piano

Niels Van Heertum: euphonium, trumpet

Teun Verbruggen: drums, percussion

Anna Jalving: violin

Steven Delannoye: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet



All compositions by Anthony Braxton

Recording: at Werkplaats Walter, Brussels
Mixing: Nicolas Rombouts (Studio Caporal)
Mastering: Uwe Teichert
Production: Kobe Van Cauwenberghe & Rogé for el NEGOCITO Records
Art work / Title images: Anthony Braxton, courtesy of Tri-Centric Foundation
Lay-out: Jan De Wulf

In loving memory of Hugo De Craen (1951 – 2021), friend and friendly experiencer.

Lalaei with Zwerm, Sarah Akbari and Marie Philips

Last month I had the great pleasure to work on Lalaei, a story-telling concert with Zwerm, Iranian singer Sarah Akbari, drummer Karen Willems and story-teller/writer Marie Phillips. After a great first run with performances in Amsterdam, Brussels, Gent, Antwerp and Bruges, we’re picking up again coming weekend with two more shows in Bornem and Mechelen. All info here!

“Lalaei is about powerful women, about women who won’t be silenced, but not with the overwrought, activist messengerism found in many hip festival formats today. In this small, perfect narrative concert, women of the past and present seek and find their agency with a natural obviousness.”
— Evelyne Coussens, Etcetera

How do you lull your child to sleep when confronted with violence, in whatever form? And where do you find the words to tell what that does to you deep inside? These and other questions were triggered during the making process of 'Lalaei'.
In this unique cross-cultural collaboration between Belgian-Dutch band Zwerm and percussionist Karen Willems, Iranian singer Sarah Akbari, British storyteller Marie Phillips, Israeli director Raphael Rodan and music theatre company Walpurgis, we explore the hidden darkness behind the seemingly innocent songs sung to children. Heart-rending Middle Eastern lullabies are interwoven with a grim story from Ovid's ‘Metamorphoses’. Marie Phillips tells the tale of Procne: a noble queen, a dutiful daughter, an obedient wife, a loving mother. But one day, her sister is hurt in an unimaginable way, and all her supressed rage rushes to the surface, threatening to destroy herself and everyone around her.


Also check out the beautiful podcast surrounding this performance, made by Teletext.

Throwback to last November - Ghost Trance Septet at Rainy Days!

2022 is already going strong, but I wanted to look back at my personal highlight of 2021: the Ghost Trance Septet concert at Rainy Days festival. A truly wonderful evening in Luxemburg, with my septet playing Braxton’s composition 255 (with Elisa Medinilla, Frederik Sakham, Winnie Huang, Steven Delannoye, Teun Verbruggen and Niels Van Heertum), followed by a set of Anthony Braxton’s own Diamond Curtain Wall trio (with Suzanna Santos Silva on trumpet and Adam Matlock on accordion). Thanks again to Lydia Rilling for making this possible!