Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
, educator, music
theorist
A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...
,
improviser
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
and
multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency.
Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...
who is best known for playing
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
s, particularly the
alto
The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...
. Braxton grew up on the
South Side of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, and was a key early member of the
Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1965 in Chicago by pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran. The AACM is devot ...
.
He received great acclaim for his
1969 double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* Th ...
-
LP record ''
For Alto
''For Alto'' is a jazz double- LP by composer/multi-reedist Anthony Braxton, recorded in 1969 and released on Delmark Records in 1971. Braxton performs the pieces on this album entirely on alto saxophone, with no additional musicians, instrumenta ...
'', the first full-length album of solo saxophone music.
A prolific composer with a vast body of cross-genre work, the
MacArthur Fellow
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...
and
NEA Jazz Master has released hundreds of recordings and compositions. During six years signed to
Arista Records
Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...
, the diversity of his output encompassed work with many members of the AACM, including duets with co-founder and first president
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams (born Richard Lewis Abrams; September 19, 1930 – October 29, 2017) was an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the free jazz medium. He recorded and toured the Uni ...
; collaborations with electronic musician
Richard Teitelbaum
Richard Lowe Teitelbaum (May 19, 1939 – April 9, 2020) was an American composer, keyboardist, and improvisor. A student of Allen Forte, Mel Powell, and Luigi Nono, he was known for his live electronic music and synthesizer performances. He was ...
; a saxophone quartet with
Julius Hemphill,
Oliver Lake
Oliver Lake (born September 14, 1942) is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer, poet, and visual artist. He is known mainly for alto saxophone, but he also performs on soprano and flute. During the 1960s, Lake worked with the Black ...
and
Hamiet Bluiett
Hamiet Bluiett (; September 16, 1940 – October 4, 2018) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. His primary instrument was the baritone saxophone, and he was considered one of the finest players of this instrument. A mem ...
; compositions for four orchestras; and the ensemble arrangements of ''
Creative Orchestra Music 1976'', which was named the 1977 ''
DownBeat'' Critics' Poll Album of the Year.
Many of his projects are ongoing, such as the ''Diamond Curtain Wall'' works, in which Braxton implements audio programming language
SuperCollider; the ''Ghost Trance Music'' series, inspired by his studies of the Native American
Ghost Dance
The Ghost Dance ( Caddo: Nanissáanah, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a ceremony incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the teachings of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka (renamed Jack Wilso ...
;
and ''Echo Echo Mirror House Music'', in which musicians "play" iPods containing the bulk of Braxton's oeuvre.
He has released the first six operas in a series called the ''Trillium'' Opera Complex.
Braxton identifies as a "trans-idiomatic" composer and has repeatedly opposed the idea of a rigid dichotomy between improvisation and composition. He has written extensively about the "language music" system that forms the basis for his work
and developed a philosophy of "world creativity" in his ''Tri-Axium Writings''.
Braxton taught at
Mills College
Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...
from 1985 to 1990
and was Professor of Music at
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...
from 1990 until his retirement at the end of 2013. He is the artistic director of the Tri-Centric Foundation, a nonprofit he founded in 1994 to support the preservation and production of works by Braxton and other artists "in pursuit of 'trans-idiomatic' creativity".
Early life
Braxton was born in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, subdivision_name ...
to Julia Samuels Braxton, from
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
, and Clarence Dunbar Braxton Sr., from
Greenville, Mississippi
Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta.
H ...
; Braxton's father worked for the
Burlington and Quincy Railroad. His parents divorced when he was young, and his mother remarried Lawrence Fouche, a worker at the
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
. Braxton grew up living with his mother, stepfather, and three brothers, but still saw his father regularly. He grew up in a poorer district on
the South Side, where he attended Betsy Ross Grammar School and had a paper route delivering ''
The Chicago Defender
''The Chicago Defender'' is a Chicago-based online African-American newspaper. It was founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott and was once considered the "most important" newspaper of its kind. Abbott's newspaper reported and campaigned against Jim ...
''. He sang in a church choir
and had an early love of rock music, with
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers
The Teenagers are an American music group, most noted for being one of rock music's earliest successes, presented to international audiences by DJ Alan Freed. The group, which made its most popular recordings with young Frankie Lymon as lead s ...
and
Bill Haley & His Comets among his favorites, but as a child was more excited by rocketships, television, and technology.
As was the case after World War I, post-WWII Chicago faced increased rates of white mob violence against Black people, and Braxton heard about incidents such as the
Cicero race riot of 1951, protests at the
White City Roller Rink near his home, and the lynching of Chicagoan
Emmett Till, who was killed when Braxton was 10.
Education and military service
In his early teens, Braxton took his at-home explorations of technology and electronics to
Chicago Vocational High School, where drafting courses and time in shop studying
wiring schematics set the course for his future compositional diagrams.
After high school Braxton attended
Wilson Junior College for one semester, but was unable to continue his studies due to financial difficulties; he instead applied and was admitted to the
United States Fifth Army Band in 1963. He was initially stationed in
Highland Park, Illinois
Highland Park is a suburban city located in the southeastern part of Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipalities located o ...
, where he could continue studies with Jack Gell at the Chicago School of Music, but he later traveled to South Korea with
The Eighth Army Band. While in South Korea he met a number of improvising musicians and even led his own group, though many in the barracks did not appreciate the more esoteric works in his collection, and he purchased headphones due to rules restricting his listening time.
After a few years Braxton left the army and moved back to Chicago; he later studied philosophy and music composition at
Roosevelt University
Roosevelt University is a private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
The unive ...
, though he did not complete his degree.
Career
Shortly after returning to Chicago, Braxton's cousin told him about the
Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1965 in Chicago by pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran. The AACM is devot ...
and he attended a concert. Following the performance he met Roscoe Mitchell, who invited him to come practice with, and later join, the group.
Braxton played over ten instruments on his 1968 debut, ''
3 Compositions of New Jazz'', the influences for which he identified as
Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond (born Paul Emil Breitenfeld; November 25, 1924 – May 30, 1977) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer, best known for his work with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for composing that group's biggest hit, " Take Five". He ...
,
Ornette Coleman
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Colle ...
,
Eric Dolphy,
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their deat ...
,
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
,
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
,
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...
, and the
Chicago Transit Authority
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago 'L' and CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , ...
. The album's trio arrangement included
Leroy Jenkins and
Wadada Leo Smith
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (born December 18, 1941) is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for ''Ten Free ...
, with
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams (born Richard Lewis Abrams; September 19, 1930 – October 29, 2017) was an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the free jazz medium. He recorded and toured the Uni ...
joining on the B-side recordings.
In 1969, Braxton recorded the double LP ''
For Alto
''For Alto'' is a jazz double- LP by composer/multi-reedist Anthony Braxton, recorded in 1969 and released on Delmark Records in 1971. Braxton performs the pieces on this album entirely on alto saxophone, with no additional musicians, instrumenta ...
''.
There had previously been occasional unaccompanied saxophone recordings (notably
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...
' "Picasso"), but ''For Alto'' was the first full-length album for unaccompanied saxophone.
The work has been described as "one of the greatest solo saxophone records ever made, and maybe one of the greatest recordings ever issued"
and "an album of solo free improvisation that still remains a paragon of technical, aesthetic and emotional excellence". The album influenced other artists like
Steve Lacy, Joe McPhee, and Evan Parker, who went on to record their own solo albums. Tracks on ''For Alto'' were dedicated to
Cecil Taylor and
John Cage, among others.
Braxton was initially pessimistic about making a living as a working musician and began hustling chess, but in 1970 he joined pianist
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", " 500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and ...
's trio with
Dave Holland
David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.
His extensive discography r ...
(double bass) and
Barry Altschul
Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, New York City) is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea.
Biography
Altschul is of Russian Jewish heritage, the s ...
(drums) to form the short-lived avant garde quartet
Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...
. After Corea left to form the fusion band
Return to Forever
Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972. The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhu ...
, Holland and Altschul remained with Braxton for much of the 1970s as part of a quartet that variously included
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active i ...
,
George E. Lewis, and
Ray Anderson. The core trio plus saxophonist
Sam Rivers recorded Holland's ''
Conference of the Birds''.
In 1970,
Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
released his album ''
Creative Construction Company'', with the group of the same name, consisting of
Richard Davis (bass),
Steve McCall (drums),
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams (born Richard Lewis Abrams; September 19, 1930 – October 29, 2017) was an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the free jazz medium. He recorded and toured the Uni ...
(piano, cello),
Wadada Leo Smith
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (born December 18, 1941) is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for ''Ten Free ...
(trumpet), and
Leroy Jenkins (violin)--this album was released in the late 1970s by the Italian label, Vedette, under the title, ''Muhal''. ''
Creative Orchestra Music 1976'' was inspired by jazz and marching band traditions. Braxton also recorded duets with George Lewis and
Richard Teitelbaum
Richard Lowe Teitelbaum (May 19, 1939 – April 9, 2020) was an American composer, keyboardist, and improvisor. A student of Allen Forte, Mel Powell, and Luigi Nono, he was known for his live electronic music and synthesizer performances. He was ...
in the 1970s.
Braxton's regular group in the 1980s and early 1990s was a quartet with
Marilyn Crispell
Marilyn Crispell (born March 30, 1947) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Scott Yanow described her as "a powerful player... who has her own way of using space... She is near the top of her field." Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrot ...
(piano),
Mark Dresser
Mark Dresser (born September 26, 1952) is an American double bass player and composer.
Career
Dresser was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. In the 1970s, he was a member of Black Music Infinity led by Stanley Crouch and performed ...
(double bass) and
Gerry Hemingway
Gerry Hemingway (born March 23, 1955) is an American drummer and composer.
Hemingway was a member of the Anthony Braxton quartet from 1983 to 1994. He has also performed with Ernst Reijseger, Anthony Davis, Earl Howard, Leo Smith, George E ...
(drums).
In 1981, he performed at the
Woodstock Jazz Festival
The Woodstock Jazz Festival was held in 1981 in Woodstock, New York.
It was a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Creative Music Studio, founded in 1971 by Karl Berger and Ornette Coleman.Creative Music Studio
The Creative Music Studio (CMS) was a premier study center for contemporary creative music during the 1970s and 1980s, based in Woodstock, New York. Founded in 1971 by Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso, and Ornette Coleman, it brought together leading i ...
.
In 1994, Braxton was awarded a
MacArthur Fellowship
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...
.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, Braxton created a large body of
jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive lis ...
recordings, often featuring him as a pianist rather than saxophonist. He released multidisc sets, including
three
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...
quadruple-CD sets for
Leo that were recorded on tour in 2003. He worked with several groups, including a quintet crediting bassist
Mario Pavone
Mario Pavone (November 11, 1940 – May 15, 2021) was an American jazz bassist, composer and bandleader. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead offers that Pavone was not only "great bass player ut also abig-hearted mensch."
Early life
Pavone was born i ...
as co-leader with
Thomas Chapin
Thomas Chapin (March 9, 1957 – February 13, 1998) was an American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist. Though primarily an alto saxophonist, he also played sopranino, as well as soprano, tenor, baritone saxes and flute. Ma ...
on saxophone,
Dave Douglas on trumpet, and
Pheeroan akLaff
Pheeroan akLaff (born Paul Maddox January 27, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He began playing in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan and Ann Arbor, with R & B keyboardist Travis Biggs, funk keyboardist Nimrod “The Grinder” ...
on drums. From 1995 to 2006, he concentrated what he called ''Ghost Trance Music'', which introduced a pulse to his music and allowed the simultaneous performance of any piece by the performers; many of the earliest ''Ghost Trance'' recordings were released on his Braxton House label.
His ''Falling River Musics'' compositions were documented on ''2+2 Compositions'' (482 Music, 2005). In 2005, he was a guest performer with the
noise
Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...
group
Wolf Eyes
__NOTOC__
Wolf Eyes is an American experimental music group from Detroit, Michigan, formed in 1996 by Nate Young. Currently a duo, Wolf Eyes are a prominent act within contemporary noise music. They have collaborated with a variety of artists from ...
at the FIMAV Festival.
''
Black Vomit'', a recording of the concert, was described by critic François Couture as sympathetic and effective collaboration: "something really clicked between these artists, and it was all in good fun."
Braxton is known for a sprawling and extremely diverse discography which has continued to grow in his later career: in introducing his 13-CD box set ''Quartet (Standards) 2020'', Bandcamp Daily wrote, "Anthony Braxton’s discography has been massive for decades.
..Since 2012, he’s released two 4-CD operas; a 12-CD set of duos with various partners; a 7-CD set of the music of
Lennie Tristano
Leonard Joseph Tristano (March 19, 1919 – November 18, 1978) was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and teacher of jazz improvisation.
Tristano studied for bachelor's and master's degrees in music in Chicago before moving to New Yo ...
and associated artists; an 11-CD set of Charlie Parker’s music; a 12-CD set of vocal music; an 8-CD set of duos with Eugene Chadbourne; a 4-CD set of collaborations with
Nels Cline
Nels Courtney Cline (born January 4, 1956) is an American guitarist and composer. He has been the guitarist for the band Wilco since 2004.
In the 1980s he played jazz, often in collaboration with his twin brother Alex, a percussionist. He has w ...
, Greg Saunier, and
Taylor Ho Bynum
Taylor Ho Bynum (born 1975) is a musician, composer, educator and writer. His main instrument is the cornet, but he also plays numerous similar instruments, including flugelhorn and trumpet.
Early life
Bynum was born in BaltimoreWilmoth, Charli" ...
; and an audio Blu-Ray of 12 compositions for sextet, septet, and nonet, totaling over 11 hours of music. And that’s probably not all of it."
Compositional style and systems
Braxton has written several volumes to explain his theories and works, such as the three-volume ''Tri-Axium Writings'' and the five-volume ''Composition Notes'', both published by
Frog Peak Music Frog Peak Music is a composer's collective that produces and distributes experimental works, and functions as a home for its artists. It was co-founded in 1984 by Jody Diamond and Larry Polansky.
"Frog Peak Music is dedicated to exploring innovati ...
.
Titles
Braxton often titles his compositions with diagrams or numbers and letters. Some diagrams have a clear meaning or signification, as on ''For Trio'', where the title indicates the physical positions of the performers. The titles can themselves be musical notation indicating to the performer how a piece is played. Some letters are identifiable as the initials of Braxton's friends and musical colleagues, but many titles remain inscrutable to critics. By the mid-to-late 1980s, Braxton's titles began to incorporate drawings and illustrations, as in the title of his four-act opera cycle, ''Trillium R''. Others began to include lifelike images of inanimate objects such as train cars, which were most notably seen after the advent of his Ghost Trance Music system. Braxton settled on a system of opus-numbers to make referring to these pieces simpler, and earlier pieces have had opus-numbers retroactively added to them.
Language Music
Language Music was Braxton's original composition system, first used as an approach to solo improvisation. By limiting the music to a single parameter (for example, trills), Braxton was able to explore beyond the surface particulars of a given parameter. These language "types", which serve as the vocabulary of his Language Music, are often signaled by hand cues.
He has said that "language music is the basis of my work" and that it also serves as the basis for his other compositional systems. Braxton emphasizes working with "notation as practiced in black improvised creativity", where it functions "as both a recall-factor as well as a generating factor". Accordingly, the language types function as both parameters and prompts in ensemble settings, where they may be used to structure improvisation or signal other performers.
While he has catalogued over 100 sound "classifications" or "relationships", Braxton uses twelve types in most of his work.
Collage forms
Braxton's various quartets in the late 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s were laboratories for his experiments in collage forms, or what he refers to as a constructor set approach to composition, giving musicians different compositions to be performed simultaneously. This collage strategy became an integral feature of Braxton's approach to composition and band-leading.
One important part of these collage structures was the pulse-track structures.
These pulse tracks were graphic notation given to the rhythm section that allowed them to break free from traditional rhythm section approaches but still play a supportive role behind the other instruments.
Ghost Trance Music
The ''Ghost Trance Music'' compositional series comprises approximately 150 pieces written from 1995–2006.
Inspired by 19th century Native American
Ghost Dance
The Ghost Dance ( Caddo: Nanissáanah, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a ceremony incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the teachings of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka (renamed Jack Wilso ...
s, the ''GTM'' works are written to provide a "gateway to ritual space"
with elements "designed to function as pathways between Braxton's various musical systems".
The central thread in a ''GTM'' composition is a ceaseless "primary melody", which Braxton describes as "a melody that never ends".
This line of music, which may extend for 80 pages or more, is written to be played in unison by any performer who wishes to participate in the "ritual circle dance".
Musicians are also able to move in and out of the primary melody, with notes marked by a shape—a circle, triangle, or square—signaling opportunities to move to a different composition, or mode of composing, in the system.
A circle indicates that a performer can engage in an open or a "language music" improvisation; if the latter, performers may also give visual cues prompting others to follow the logics of a specific Braxtonian "language type".
Triangles and squares are both invitations to play other notated compositions (or "stable identities").
Triangles represent specific "secondary material" included with each ''GTM'' score, whereas squares signify pre-selected "outside" materials; these tertiary works, chosen prior to a given performance, may include ''any'' compositions in Braxton's oeuvre (including other ''Ghost Trance Music'' works).
Braxton's notational devices also ensure variation within the primary melody itself, often by the orders they refuse to give: for example, a traditional clef assigns a note to a specific line, but the diamond-shaped "open clef" of a ''GTM'' composition allows performers to choose any clef or
transposition.
Micro-level interventions include "open accidentals" that can be played either sharp or flat.
The ''Ghost Trance Music'' works went through four phases over the eleven years of their composition, with each phase considered a different "species" of ''GTM''.
Changes across species include increasing range and variation of elements such as rhythm, dynamics, and articulation.
The escalation in complexity and intensity culminates in ''Fourth Species GTM'', also called ''Accelerator Class Ghost Trance Music''; these works have been described by a performer as "a labyrinth of hyper-notated activities", featuring irregular polyrhythms, dynamic extremes, color-coding to denote additional variables––and no geometric invitations to depart.
Falling River Musics
In his Falling River Musics Braxton began to work on "image logics", resulting in graphic scores with large paintings and drawings with smaller legends of various symbols. Performs must find their own meanings in the symbols and construct a path through the score, balancing "the demands of traditional notation interpretation and esoteric inter-targeting."
Personal life
Braxton's son
Tyondai Braxton
Tyondai Adaien Braxton (born October 26, 1978) is an American composer and musician. He has been writing and performing music under his own name and collaboratively under various group titles and collectives since the mid-1990s, including in ...
is also a musician, and the former guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist with American
math rock
Math rock is a style of progressive and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush as well as 20th-century minimal music composers such as Steve Reich. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (includi ...
band
Battles
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
.
Discography
Awards
Braxton's awards include a 1981
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
, a 1994
MacArthur Fellowship
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...
,
a 2013
Doris Duke Performing Artist Award The Doris Duke Artist Award is undertaken by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and designed to "empower, invest in and celebrate artists by offering multi-year, unrestricted funding as a response to financial and funding challenges both unique t ...
, a 2014
NEA Jazz Master Award, and a 2020
United States Artists
United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards.
Mission
The organization' ...
Fellowship.
In 2009, he received an honorary doctorate from the
University of Liège
The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...
in Belgium; fellow honorees included
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz.
Biography Early life
Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...
,
Frederic Rzewski
Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. His major compositions, which often incorporate social an ...
,
Robert Wyatt, and
Arvo Pärt. In 2016, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in music from the
New England Conservatory
The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on Hu ...
in the United States.
References
External links
The Tri-Centric Foundation Official WebsiteResearch papersby Anthony Braxton
Interview of Braxton by Ted Panken for WKCR, 1995by Mike Heffley, 2001
List No. 82: An Introduction to the Music of Anthony Braxton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Braxton, Anthony
1945 births
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