John Corbett
Keeper of the Code: Paintings 1963–2022 (Book)
Keeper of the Code: Paintings 1963–2022 is Roscoe Mitchell's first exhibit with Corbett Vs. Dempsey. The exhibit is accompanied by an in-depth 140-page full-color catalog reproducing over 100 of Mitchell’s paintings, with an interview by John Corbett.
Roscoe Mitchell is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator. The Penguin Guide to Jazz described him as "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz; All About Jazz stated in 2004 that he had been "at the forefront of modern music" …
Left / Right (Book)
Peter Brötzmann's catalog for an exhibition held at Corbett vs. Dempsey July 27 – August 17, 2013 Includes an essay by Jim Dempsey
Microgroove: Forays Into Other Music
* 2021 Stock * A collection of more than 50 essays, interviews, and profiles featuring such musicians as Michael Hurley, P.J. Harvey, Helmut Lachenmann, Steve Lacy, Misha Mengelberg, Milford Graves, Ornette Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, Koko Taylor, Jaap Blonk, Joe Harriott, and Joe McPhee, poets Nathaniel Mackey and Clark Coolidge, and artists Christopher Wool and Albert Oehlen. There's also an essay written together with Terri Kapsalis about the use of female orgasm sounds in popular music. And in…
Notes (8 pieces) Source a New World Music: Creative Music
* In process of stocking * This book was published by Corbett vs. Dempsey and The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago on the occasion of the exhibition: Wadada Leo Smith, Ankhrasmation: The Language Scores, 1967-2015; October 11 - October 29, 2015.
A facsimile of Smith's landmark treatise first published in 1973 in an edition of 200 copies, with two additional chapters of recent vintage and an afterword by John Corbett. Design by Wadada Leo Smith (original publication), Sonnenzimmer…
Graphic: Design Work, 1959–2013
* In process of stocking * Brochure for an exhibition held at Rice University Art Gallery, Houston. October 8–November 14, 2013. Includes an essay by curator John Corbett. Design by Sonnenzimmer. Artist and musician Peter Brötzmann is best known as one of the preeminent figures in contemporary improvised music. He was trained as a visual artist in his hometown of Wuppertal, Germany, in the late 1950s, and his early musical career as a saxophonist and clarinetist was paralleled by his first art e…
Paintings and Objects
Catalog for an exhibition held at Corbett vs. Dempsey, October 26 - November 30, 2007. Includes an essay by John Corbett. Design by Kathi Beste. Artist and musician Peter Brötzmann is best known as one of the preeminent figures in contemporary improvised music. He was trained as a visual artist in his hometown of Wuppertal, Germany, in the late 1950s, and his early musical career as a saxophonist and clarinetist was paralleled by his first art exhibitions in Holland and Germany. Brötzmann assist…
Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium
From scouring flea markets and eBay to maxing out their credit cards, record collectors will do just about anything to score a long-sought-after album. In Vinyl Freak, music writer, curator, and collector John Corbett burrows deep inside the record fiend’s mind, documenting and reflecting on his decades-long love affair with vinyl. Discussing more than 200 rare and out-of-print LPs, Vinyl Freak is composed in part of Corbett's long-running DownBeat magazine column of the same name, which was dev…
A Listener's Guide to Free Improvisation
* In process of stocking * Improvisation rattles some listeners. Maybe they’re even suspicious of it. John Coltrane’s saxophonic flights of fancy, Jimi Hendrix’s feedback drenched guitar solos, Ravi Shankar’s sitar extrapolations—all these sounds seem like so much noodling or jamming, indulgent self-expression. “Just”improvising, as is sometimes said. For these music fans, it seems natural that music is meant to be composed. In the first book of its kind, John Corbett’s "A Listener’s Guide to Fr…
Pick Up the Pieces Excursions in Seventies Music
* In process of stocking * Unless you lived through the 1970s, it seems impossible to understand it at all. Drug delirium, groovy fashion, religious cults, mega corporations, glitzy glam, hard rock, global unrest—from our 2018 perspective, the seventies are often remembered as a bizarre blur of bohemianism and disco. With Pick Up the Pieces, John Corbett transports us back in time to this thrillingly tumultuous era through a playful exploration of its music. Song by song, album by album, he draw…