sound. at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook features new compositions by percussionist Alex Cline, experimental collective Lady Noise and brass specialist William Roper. These new SASSAS commissions will be played by more than 30 Los Angeles area musicians arrayed in different locations across the historic topography of the Overlook. SASSAS invited each composer to make a field recording at the Overlook and respond to it with a new work focusing on percussion (Cline), electronics (Lady Noise) and lip reeds (Roper).
Admission: FREE
Schedule / times are appoximate
3:00 P.M. / Overlook apex
William Roper, Fanfares and Arhoolies for Lip-Reed Instruments and Percussion
Players: Kevin Brown, Ray Burkhart, Clifford Childers, Dan Clucas, Steve Durnin, James Ford, Bruce Fowler, Darrell Leonard, Loren Marsteller, Joseph Mitchell, Phil Teele and Michael Vlatkovich
Fanfares and Arhoolies is supported by a CCI ARC Grant
William Roper, Overlook field recording
3:40 P.M. / Overlook garden amphitheater
Lady Noise, Untitled (Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, Oct. 16, 2011)
Players: Lady Noise (Kelly Coats, flute; Kathleen Kim, violin; Gabie Strong, electric bass; and Sandy Yang, electric guitar) in addition to Jesse Appelhans, Aisling Cormack, James Hamblin, Julia Holter, Janet Kim, Stefan Scott Nelson, Ron Russell and Jonathan Silberman.
Lady Noise, Overlook field recording
4:20 P.M. / Overlook pavilion
Alex Cline, Overlook
Players: Christopher Allis, Trevor Anderies, Erin Barnes, Joe Berardi, Alex Cline, Germaine Franco, Dave Shaffer and Rich West.
Alex Cline, Overlook fIeld recording
Composer Bios
Percussionist-composer Alex Cline has been a mainstay on the jazz and new music scenes of Los Angeles for over thirty-five years. Combining colorful and sensitive percussion sounds with a drumming foundation based in the jazz tradition, Cline is recognized for his contributions to the music of such artists as Vinny Golia, Julius Hemphill, Bobby Bradford, Horace Tapscott, Wadada Leo Smith, Charlie Haden, and countless others. His work as a composer and bandleader has been documented on recordings with his groups, the Alex Cline Ensemble and Alex Cline’s Band of the Moment. Cline was included in Michael Bettine and Trevor Taylor’s book Percussion Profiles among twenty of the “world’s most creative percussionists.” Most recently Cline has re-envisioned the Chicago Art Ensemble’s 1969 album-length masterpiece People in Sorrow for a performance at REDCAT for an all-star ensemble.
Lady Noise, founded by artist Gabie Strong, is the free-form sound collaboration between Kelly Coats (flute), Kathleen Kim (violin), Gabie Strong (bass) and Sandy Yang (guitar and drums). Lady Noise performances draw on visual elements to create an atmosphere of sound and landscape. Compositions are explored between modes of structure and improvisation, creating spaces of interplay and entropy. Disrupting conventional spatial formations of live sound performance, the group freely shapes the area reserved for hearing and language to present the listening audience with the aching beauty of amplified harmonic decay.
Lady Noise has performed at the UC Riverside Barbara and Art Culver Center of the Arts; The Japanese American National Museum with OMAYUMI, Steve Irvin, and Alan Nakagawa for RED FLAT; at LACE with Raquel Gutierrez for GUTTED; The Collective Show; Human Resources; and the Liz Glynn designed Verse | Chorus | Verse amphitheater at the 2011 Art Los Angeles Contemporary fair.
William Roper is a composer, performer and visual artist. He has fulfilled commissions from Dance L.A., the Gloria Newman Dance Theatre and has a long list of collaborations with recognized artists in video, theater, performance and dance. His compositions have been performed by such groups as the California E.A.R. Unit, TaiHei Ensemble, Duquesne Contemporary Ensemble and the Cal Arts Cello Ensemble. As a performing artist, Roper has appeared in North America, South America and Europe as soloist and in ensembles as diverse as free improvisation groups to the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has released ten CDs as a leader or co-leader on Asian Improv Recordings, Nine Winds, ArtShip Recordings and Tomato Sage Recordings.
