Customer Reviews

METASAXOPHONE COLOSSUS

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Matthew Burtner is a pioneer of electroacoustic music. He is currently with the University of Virginia. Part of what makes his music so interesting is that he seems to be a wizard at coming up with ways to modify his saxophone so that he can generate and control electronic or computer effects while still playing it in real time.
The metasaxophone has a MIDI attached to it such that Burtner can use hand gestures (pressure on the keys, etc.) to create the computer generated effects. Another instrument of his is the electric feedback saxophone which has tiny microphones "embedded inside" and "the speakers pointed toward the instrument" so that Burtner can control the feedback generated. I love his polyrhthmicom which I will let him describe;
"In its most simple state the polyrhythmicon is a group of tempo modules which, to user-specified degrees, operate independently from one another. Each tempo module creates an independent rhythm and, in theory, any number of these modules can perform simultaneously (48 simultaneous voices is the maximum used at the present time)." This quote is from Burtner's site devoted to the instrument. Listen to the sample from St. Thomas on this page and you will hear it in use. Burtner took samples from the classic Roach/Rollings performance of that piece and unleashed his mad science on it. This is easily the most enjoyable piece for those of you with trad jazz ears. Pieces like Delta1 will appeal to the punk jazz afficianandos out there. Lots of distortion. At times he sounds like someone playing a very distorted guitar. By contrast the first piece S-Morphe-S is meditative in a weird sort of way.
Listen to the sound samples. Lots of you won't like it. But if you are a fan of some of the recent attempts to meld electronics with acoustic instruments (Fans of George Lewis, Evan Parker and Anthony Braxton, take note, I am talking to you.) you should give Prof. Burtner a listen. Then go to his web sites and read about what he is up to. The man is an educator as well as an innovator.