Ask Brandon Evans

[Mnytime]

I asked and it was ok with Brandon that I start a thread so those of us that are interested can ask him questions.



Brandon:


To start it off I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your playing and believe you should be getting a lot more attention.

Also, the latest releases (Braxton and Simmons Solo and Renegade Society NY 2002), which I picked up from you, are excellent. I can't recommend them enough!!

PARALLACTIC RECORD'S ONLINE SITE (http://www.parallactic.com/index1.html)



My questions to start things off are:

1. Can you explain your Elliptical Axis Notation System so that a non-musician like myself can understand?

2. How much different is it to the normal form of notation?

3. The liner notes to your 3CD set with Braxton (Elliptical Axis 15) state that you started developing EA in Dec. 1995. How long did it take to develop or is it still in development?

4. How difficult is it for other musicians to learn EA in comparison to the regular notation system?

5. Which musicians inspired you to take up the instruments you play?

6. Can you explain how Anthony Braxton's drawings and pictures relate to the music? Example being on the back of the Parallactic Braxton Solo CD. Do these drawings and pictures really mean anything or are they some sort of Braxton inside joke? ;)

7. Is Braxton still in his GTM phase or has he moved on to something new? It is hard to tell since recordings keep being released from several years ago.


Hopefully those are interesting enough questions for you? ;)

[D.D.]

Also, would be great if you could share some details of the meeting of Braxton and Simmons. How did they interact during the session? Did they discuss the music in advance? Did they talk about anything but music? Etc etc etc....

[Mnytime]

I received an email from Brandon today. He has been busy with a move, which is why he hasn’t participated in the thread as of yet.

The most interesting thing is that he said is that over the last weekend Anthony Braxton had 52 instrumentalist performing for 8hrs in Wesleyan University’s Hockey rink. It is called the Sonic G Nome project. He plans to fill us in on the details. Not sure if this is GTM related or something different. I wonder how they will edit this if the whole performance gets released? Also wonder if it was non-stop?


Must have been a lot of tired lips, fingers, lungs, etc… for those involved. :D :D :D

With all my past injuries and arthritis I really can't imagine standing on ice for 20 minutes forget about 8hrs.

[D.D.]

Yeah, Trumpet Guy mentioned he participated in it...