Jon Gibson: Two Solo Pieces [Italian Import]

Jon Gibson (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 1, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Dunya
• ASIN: B00004VJYU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #478,905 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like watching clouds slowly drifting above desert mesas..., May 12, 2006

By 

svf - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jon Gibson: Two Solo Pieces [Italian Import] (Audio CD)

Jon Gibson must have learned the hard way to include the following disclaimer on his website:

"Please note that this is the Jon Gibson known primarily to the world at large as a composer and multi-wind instrumentalist, who has also been affiliated with Philip Glass for many years - and not the other musical Jon Gibson of Christian music fame."

Now that we've cleared THAT up... this particular Jon Gibson is the only person who has performed in the world premieres of Terry Riley's In C, Steve Reich's Drumming, and Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass -- the "Big Three" minimalist trifecta, if you will. Many may not realize that Mr. Gibson is also a composer (and visual artist) in his own right. I've always been curious to hear Gibson's own music, but his few recordings have always been notoriously out of print and/or impossible to find.

The other day, while slumming around in the tiny "20th Century" ghetto in the ever-dwindling Classical section of Tower Records, I was amazed find two CD reissues of Jon Gibson's Chatham Square recordings from the 1970s -- a veritable holy grail of early minimalism! Knowing they would probably go out of print again as quickly as they reappeared, I quickly snatched them up (despite the hefty price tag... they're on the import New Tone label from Italy.)

Two Solo Pieces, originally released in 1977, was included on Alan Licht's notorious list of obscure recordings in the debut issue of Halana magazine: the coveted Minimal Top 10. This is the most immediately "accessible" of these albums, and probably the best introduction to Jon Gibson's music for the uninitiated. Cycles is for solo organ, and its slowly shifting harmonic textures may remind you of Charlemagne Palestine's epic solo pipe organ drones, only it's much shorter and more "action-packed" (relatively speaking... very relatively speaking...) Untitled (the second of the "Solo Pieces") is for solo alto flute (a sadly neglected instrument) and it's a captivatingly simple and lovely exploration of pure melody.

We also get three wonderful previously unissued "bonus tracks": Melody III is another, more "busy" solo organ piece. Melody IV, Part 1 is composed for a larger ensemble including brass and strings, with gorgeous tone colors and consonant harmonies overlapping and fading in and out -- listening to it is a little like watching clouds slowly drifting above desert mesas... Song 1 concludes the CD, and it's a livelier, repetitive, almost Celtic-sounding piece for strings (featuring revered eccentric composer/performer/avant-disco producer Arthur Russell performing on cello.)

Uncovering the long lost music of Jon Gibson reminds us that there was more to the musical revolution now labeled as "minimalism" than the higher-profile works of Glass, Reich, Riley, and John Adams, and also how far most of these composers have drifted away from the stripped-down aesthetic of the movement's early years. Jon Gibson's subtle yet remarkable music reveals a searching, unique talent that blends composition and improvisation, electric and organic, rigid structure and freedom of choice, visual and audio, mathematics and spirituality (no, not THAT kind of "spirituality"... that's the other Jon Gibson, remember?)

This is genuine, unaffected, beautiful music ripe for rediscovery... seek it out.

[Also check out Gibson's Visitations I & II and Criss X Cross...]