Earl Howard (born 1951) is an American

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

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 ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

saxophonist 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 ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

player and multi-instrumentalist. Howard is one of the pioneers of what is called “new” music. He has been in the industry for over thirty years. Howard has performed with Anthony Davis,

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. ...

, Georg Graewe,

Mari Kimura (; born 1962) is a Japanese violinist and composer best known for her use of subharmonics, which, achieved through special bowing techniques, allow pitches below the instrument's normal range. She is credited with "introducing" the use of viol ...

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 w ...

, Yuko Fujiyama,

Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation. Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...

Thomas Buckner Thomas Buckner (born 1941) is an American baritone vocalist specializing in the performance of contemporary classical music and improvised music. In his work, he utilizes a wide range of extended (non-traditional) vocal techniques. Buckner als ...

George Lewis (trombonist) George Emanuel Lewis (born July 14, 1952) is an American composer, performer, and scholar of experimental music. He has been a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians ( AACM) since 1971, when he joined the organization ...

and many of the other most prominent musicians in his field. Howard has received numerous awards including, a grant from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

’s the Fromm Foundation, a Regents Fellowship at

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

, and three

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Foundation for the Arts Fellowships. In 2004 Howard's first sound installation was commissioned for the Tiffany Collection at the

Queens Museum of Art The Queens Museum, formerly the Queens Museum of Art, is an art museum and educational center located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States. The museum was founded in 1972, and has among its p ...

. Earl Howard has also produced

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

s for some major

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and video artists including

Nam June Paik Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super hi ...

, Mary Lucier, Rii Kanzaki, Bob Harris, and Bill Brand.

Biography

Earl Howard was born January 12, 1951, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He was one of the smallest babies at the time to survive birth and lost his sight before leaving the hospital. Howard graduated from

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

Music Composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...

in 1974. Earl Howard lives in New York City and is married to the

installation artist Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

Liz Phillips who is famous for her interactive

sound sculpture Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound ar ...

Discography

* Granular Modality (New World Records, 2012) - Earl Howard (alto saxophone, synthesizer, live processing) & Miya Masaoka (koto) * Clepton (New World Records, 2007) - 1. Clepton (2006) Earl Howard, synthesizer, live processing; Georg Grawe, piano;

Ernst Reijseger Ernst Reijseger (born 13 November 1954) is a Dutch cellist and composer. He specializes in avant-garde jazz, free jazz, improvised music, and contemporary classical music and often gives solo concerts. He has worked with Louis Sclavis, Dere ...

, cello;

, drums 38:01 2. Improvisation (2006) Earl Howard, synthesizer, live processing; Georg Grawe, piano; Ernst Reijseger, cello; Gerry Hemingway, drums 06:02 3. Rosebud (1989) Earl Howard, synthesizer; Gerry Gemingway, drums 14:54 *5 Saxophone Solos (Mutablemusic, 2005) - 5 Saxophone Solos 63:13 * Strong Force (Mutablemusic, 2003) - Concert recorded at Merkin Hall with Howard on synth, Anthony Davis on piano, Gerry Hemingway on percussion, Anne LeBaron on harp and Ernst Reijseger on cello. 1. 17:01 2. 11:34 3. 12:41 4. 4:55 5. 04:57 * Fire Song (Erstwhile, 2000) -

Denman Maroney Denman Maroney (born 1949) is a jazz musician who plays what he calls "hyperpiano". Hyperpiano "involves stopping, sliding, bowing, plucking, striking and strumming the strings with copper bars, aluminum bowls, rubber blocks, plastic boxes and ...

on piano, Howard on saxophone and synth. 1. Firesong 17:48 2. Uncaged Bacchanal 10:23 3. Pulse Field 13:22 4. Orchid 12:12 * Pele's Tears (Random Acoustics, 1994) - Compilation of works from 1986 to 1993. First two tracks are solos by Howard on a

Serge synthesizer The Serge synthesizer ( Serge Modular or Serge Modular Music System) is an analogue modular synthesizer system originally developed by Serge Tcherepnin, Rich Gold and Randy Cohen at CalArts in late 1972. The first 20 Serge systems (then called "T ...

or Serge Modular System and an AKAI S 1000, a LEXICON PCM 70 and a LXP. These are followed by a quartet with Howard on electronics, Frank Gratozski on alto sax, Pelvyn Poore on tuba and Hans Schneider on double bass. 1. Hell 19:25 2. Pele's Tears 17:59 3. Bottle 13:06 4. Quartet1 05:25 5. Quartet2 05:37

References

*http://www.earlhowardmusic.com *https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/03/arts/concert-tapings-by-earl-howard.html *https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/11/arts/jazz-on-alto-earl-howard.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Earl 1951 births Living people 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers American experimental musicians American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists American jazz composers American male jazz composers American electronic musicians Artists from New York (state) 21st-century American composers American male classical composers American classical composers Blind musicians American blind people 20th-century American saxophonists 21st-century American saxophonists 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 20th-century jazz composers 21st-century jazz composers