Modern Dance Environments II

from Norman Beede

"mde 2 differs from mde 1. while keeping the concept of long cuts we enjoyed setting or composing more of the pieces on mde 2. chords, number of bars per section and entrances were more likely to be set before recording. tempos stay the same throughout the tracks just like mde 1 but there are more distinct sections with improvisation set apart from the rest of the ensemble similar to a jazz or rock tune as opposed to it being the essence of the piece as on many of the mde 1 tracks. almost all of the compositions on mde 2 were written and performed live in dance concerts before being recorded. there are more musicians added to our ensemble as well. steve grom: 12 string guitar, electric guitar and composer (seascape), bob mehren: guitars, bob ose: tom toms, bass drum, percussion, percussion toys, treble trombone and conga. also kenny sawhill appears on "music for slit drum" on bass trombone and bass synth and rolan tripp plays the slit drum. i have to mention geoff cooper who was involved in the recording of both mde cd's. geoff was sound man at nbc-tv channel 4 in burbank and ran dbcoopers (vinyl) . recording credits also go to craig kupka and bob ose. all tracks were originally recorded on a teac four track between 1980 and 1983 and originally offered in vinyl."

You can now find this record in the asimplesound.com main library

norman beede's -

modern dance environments

"craig kupka and myself, norman beede approached this album with the concept that most modern dance teachers would prefer long cuts that could be left on for warm up, across the floor or even for an environment for improvisation. most of the tracks on this cd are from 9 to 13 minutes long. we also attempted to create music that we would like to listen to and could be used for choreography assignments or in concert. two of the cuts were originally performed live as music for local dance companies in southern california. mde 1 has a lot of acoustic material book-ended by a synth track at the top for slow movement and a short, swift all synth piece at the end. the musicians on this CD are norman beede: piano, keyboards and percussion, craig kupka: percussion and trombone, kenny sawhill: bass guitar and percussion and roland tripp: vibes, marimba, bells, traps and percussion." - norman

you can now find this record in the
asimplesound.com main library.