Transfigured New York : : Interviews with Experimental Artists and Musicians, 1980-1990 / / Brooke Wentz.

• VerfasserIn: Wentz, Brooke,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : Columbia University Press, , [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English
• Series: Columbiana
• Physical Description: 1 online resource :; 75 b&w photographs

Transfigured New York presents conversations with iconic, genre-bending artists who shaped the sounds of experimental movements like no wave, avant-jazz, and electronic music. As an undergrad in the 1980s, Brooke Wentz hosted the show Transfigured Night on Columbia University’s WKCR-FM, discussing art and ideas with avant-garde music luminaries. She unearths these candid interviews—heard before only when first broadcast—from cassettes and reel-to-reel tapes, letting readers today feel the excitement and creative energy of the 1980s New York underground scene.Musicians and artists, now icons of their craft, tell their stories and share their thoughts about the creative process, capturing the ambition and energy that animated their work. Legends in the making like Bill Frisell, Philip Glass, and Laurie Anderson convey what it was like to be a struggling artist in 1980s New York, when the city was alive with possibilities. Others who were well known at the time, including John Cage, La Monte Young, and Ravi Shankar, advocate for their distinctive ideas about art and open up about their creative lives.Featuring an astonishing range of interviewees—Morton Subotnick, Joan Tower, Steve Reich, Glenn Branca, Joan La Barbara, Living Colour, Arthur Russell, John Lurie, Eric Bogosian, Bill T. Jones, and many more—Transfigured New York provides new insight into the city’s cultural landscape in this era. It is a one-of-a-kind account of one of the most exhilarating and inventive periods for art and culture in New York City’s history.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Lee Ranaldo on the Scene -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- PART I. THE FOUNDING THEORISTS: INFLUENTIAL FIGURES OF CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT AND MUSIC COMPOSITION -- 1. John Cage -- 2. La Monte Young -- PART II. THE MATERIALS SCIENTISTS: PIONEERS OF TAPE AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC -- 3. David Behrman -- 4. Alvin Curran -- 5. Mario Davidovsky -- 6. Otto Luening -- 7. Roger Reynolds -- 8. Pril Smiley -- 9. Morton Subotnick -- 10. Joan Tower -- 11. Vladimir Ussachevsky -- PART III. THE COMPOSERS: NOTABLE CONTRIBUTORS OF CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL REPERTOIRE -- 12. Anthony Davis -- 13. David Diamond -- 14. Jacob Druckman -- 15. Lukas Foss -- 16. Philip Glass -- 17. Steve Reich -- PART IV. THE ICONOCLASTS: ECCENTRIC THOUGHT-PROVOKING PERFORMERS -- 18. Kelvyn Bell -- 19. Jean-Paul Bourelly -- 20. Glenn Branca -- 21. Fred Frith -- 22. Wayne Horvitz -- PART V. THE VOCALISTS: EXPERIMENTERS WITH VOICE AND WORDS -- 23. Laurie Anderson -- 24. Joan La Barbara -- PART VI. THE DISSENTERS: MODERN JAZZ INNOVATORS -- 25. Andrew Cyrille -- 26. Bill Frisell -- 27. Ronald Shannon Jackson -- 28. Evan Parker -- PART VII. THE POPULAR AVANT-GARDE: POP IDIOM CROSSOVERS -- 29. Living Colour -- 30. Peter Gordon and Arthur Russell -- 31. John Lurie -- 32. Andy Partridge -- PART VIII. THE GLOBAL NOMADS: INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTARS OF WESTERN THOUGHT -- 33. Baaba Maal -- 34. Astor Piazzolla -- 35. Ravi Shankar -- PART IX. THE PERFORMANCE ARTISTS: ART MEETS MOVEMENT -- 36. Eric Bogosian -- 37. David Harrington -- 38. Bill T. Jones -- 39. Margaret Leng Tan -- 40. Michel Waisvisz -- Notes -- Index