Rare Small Group, Orchestral and World Music Recordings
Ed Blackwell, Charles Brackeen, Olu Dara, David Izenson, Oliver Lake, Roscoe Mitchell, Ursula Oppens, Frederic Rzewski, Foday Musa Suso, Nana Vasconcelos and Others Featured
Woodstock, NY, April 7, 2014 – The rejuvenated Creative Music Foundation has just released the first compilation CD set comprised of music from the CMS Archive Project, nearly 500 concerts that took place at Woodstock’s legendary Creative Music Studio between 1973 and 1984. The 3-CD set, Creative Music Studio Archive Selections Vol. 1, is being distributed by the American Composers Forum/Innova Recordings and is full of rare recordings divided into small ensemble, orchestral and world music performances. The 3-CD set costs $29 and is available HERE
It will be ‘officially’ released to retail stores, Amazon and iTunes on April 29.
The first edition of the box sets features the following artists:
Small Ensembles: Ed Blackwell/Charles Brackeen; David Izenson, Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso,
James Emery/Leroy Jenkins, Ursula Oppens/Fred Rzewski
Orchestral: Oliver Lake; Olu Dara; Roscoe Mitchell
World: Foday Musa Suso, Nana Vasconcelos, Ismet Sirel
The sets feature full-length liner notes on the recordings, the history of CMS and its Archive Project as well as rare photos from the CMS Archive and is available online as a PDF. Additionally, CMF’s Oral History Project has conducted interviews with some of the artists, including Olu Dara and Oliver Lake, and has published transcripts on its website, www.creativemusicfoundation.org.
“These recordings present a cross-section of the cross pollination that occurred regularly at CMS,” said CMF co-founder and artistic director, Karl Berger. “We divided them up neatly for these CDs, but it was far from divided or neat at CMS! These gems show that energy.”
The recordings are part of the CMS Archive Project. Its three main goals are: 1) to restore, preserve and digitize the tapes for posterity; 2) to return the re-mastered versions to the musicians who made them, free of charge; and 3) to share the music with fans, musicians and scholars around the world by producing this series of 3-CD sets.
The Creative Music Foundation has partnered with Columbia University’s Library to preserve the CMS Archive for posterity. CMS is giving Columbia the full archive of recorded tapes, along with memorabilia and photographs from CMS. CMS co-founder Karl Berger and audio engineer (and former CMS participant) Ted Orr are going through each tape, digitizing and re-mastering them, a time consuming process that’s as much a labor of love as it is technical. The digitized, re-mastered recordings will be available at the Columbia University Library for scholars or others who want to enjoy and learn from them.
The Creative Music Foundation, a 501C(3) nonprofit corporation, makes it possible to profoundly experience and express our deep connection with the transforming energies of music, our universal language. CMF programs focus on the common elements of all music, emphasizing keen awareness, personal expression, intensive listening and cross-cultural communication, and providing unique opportunities for musicians, students and listeners from different backgrounds and traditions to explore together, share, develop, and broaden their musical understanding and sensitivity. CMF pursues its mission through workshops, residencies, coaching, concerts, recordings and archival projects that engage both listeners and musicians in the USA and around the world.
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