April 30 - Modney 'Ascending Primes' Listening party

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"Ascender" debuts a new practice for Modney, the use of distortion pedal (controlled via volume pedal) to alter and expand the sonic palette of the violin, adding transformative properties of richly consonant harmony and sheer noise. The piece is self-contained, yet also serves as a kind of overture for the album as a whole: in a sense, the pieces all devise ways to orchestrate Modney's expansive voice for a full ensemble, inspiring vigorous improvisational flights.

In various combinations, Ascending Primes features such acclaimed composer-performers as saxophonist Anna Webber, trumpeter Nate Wooley, cornetist Ben LaMar Gay, pianist Cory Smythe, vocalist and electronic musician Charmaine Lee, electronic musician Sam Pluta, horn player David Byrd-Marrow, tuba player Dan Peck, drummer Kate Gentile, and fellow string players Gabriela Díaz, Erica Dicker, Eddy Kwon, Kyle Armbrust, Joanna Mattrey, Mariel Roberts and Lester St. Louis.

The music of Ascending Primes is rooted in Just Intonation – a tuning practice based on whole number ratios, rather than the octave-dividing Equal Temperament system more familiar from the piano keyboard. The five ensembles on the album grow in size by prime number intervals – from Modney alone, on the stark and dynamic opener "Ascender, " to the 11-member undectet of the three-movement "Event Horizon." All of the pieces were devised with the distinctive practices and techniques of Modney's innovative collaborators in mind, leading to a wholly unique soundworld. Like the seventeen Ellsworth Kelly postcard collages featured throughout the album design, Modney's music employs radical juxtaposition, overlaying organic, cultural, and elemental materials to create a supercharged new space.

"My choices on Ascending Primes were driven by a desire to work with people I really admire, " Modney says, "each of whom has their own amazing solo practice. As the pieces get bigger, they serve more and more as scaffolding for us all to play together and to be creative. I'm fortunate to have found myself among a critical mass of adventurous practitioners from jazz and classical spheres who are all interested in this ecstatic musical space."

Ascending Primes is arrives May 3.

Modney
Modney is a foremost interpreter of adventurous contemporary music and has cultivated a holistic artistic practice as a violinist, composer, solo improviser, bandleader, writer, and collaborator. Modney's debut solo record, Engage (New Focus), was lauded by The New York Times as "…a highlight of 2018…one of the most intriguing programs of the year…radical in its execution". The triple-disc album features music written for Modney by Kate Soper, Eric Wubbels, Taylor Brook, and Sam Pluta alongside groundbreaking interpretations of works by Anthony Braxton and J.S. Bach. The third disc is devoted to Modney's own solo works "…where [he] pushes the boundaries of his instrument and his body without any kind of treatments, alternate tunings, or editing… powerful testimony to sound-seeking by one of today's most intrepid experimentalists." Modney's followup album of quartet compositions in 2022, Near To Each (Carrier Records), featuring Ingrid Laubrock (sax), Cory Smythe (piano), Mariel Roberts (cello), and Modney on violin, was lauded by KLANG as "wonderfully composed… remarkably performed… a quartet that is playing individually and collectively at the height of their powers." Modney has received awards from The Shifting Foundation and Millay Arts. Modney is the violinist and Executive Director of the composer-performer collective Wet Ink Ensemble, and a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Pyroclastic Records
Pianist-composer Kris Davis founded Pyroclastic Records in 2016. By supporting artists in the dissemination of their work, Pyroclastic empowers emerging and established artists to continue challenging conventional genre-labeling within their fields. Pyroclastic also seeks to galvanize and grow a creative community, providing opportunities, supporting diversity and expanding the audience for noncommercial art. Its albums often feature artwork by prominent visual artists—Ellsworth Kelly, Julian Charriére, Dike Blair, Raymond Pettibon and Gabriel de la Mora among recent examples.

2024 Pyroclastic projects include albums from Ches Smith, David Leon, Modney, Brandon Seabrook, Patricia Brennan and Kris Davis.

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