Elliott Sharp

In 1996 I went on a tour of Japan with Orchestra Carbon; a highlight was the Music Merge Festival in Tokyo. A colorful selection of wonderful musicians from the international scene met there for three days at the Shinjuku Pit Inn: Michiyo Yagi, Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M, Jim O'Rourke, Yumiko Tanaka, David Grubbs and others. In addition to performing with Orchestra Carbon and my solo Tectonics, I was allowed to develop a new algorithmic template for a small orchestra of festival soloists under my direction. I chose a curve that describes the course of the tides in Tokyo Bay over 24 hours. Based on this, I formulated rules for melody, dynamics and density. The curve is a frame of reference for both personal expression and the suspense of the whole piece, and it influences the improvised solos arranged along the timeline. In the ensemble, we combined traditional Japanese instruments with western ones, completely dispensing with electrical and electronic means, and we mixed traditional and modern playing techniques. - Elliott Sharp