Sound Speaks for Itself

Kate Soper’s apartment is perched atop Morningside Park on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. When she sent me the walking instructions to her house she gave me two options: around the park on a slope, or else through it and up a mountainous set of stairs. When I reached her building, slightly out of wind, I was thrilled to find a book lined pre-war apartment loaded with novelty memorabilia and professorial furniture. She was very gracious to share with me a wide range of her musical output, including her touching ode to Ruth Crawford Seeger, her connections with vocal music and poetry and a seriously outrageous pentatonic work for concert band.

Kate Soper’s website

 SSFI_Program_7_Kate_Soper [46:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Jason Cady lives in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, on the bottom floor of a three-family home. He was listening to Rossini on his record player when I visited him on Sunday October 7, 2007. Jason Cady offered me ginger O’s and then a glass of water in his finely organized bedroom before sitting down at the piano to espouse his thoughts on Wagnerian grandiosity, the current state of opera, artificiality and the poet Catullus. He did not play the piano for me, nor did he play any of the other instruments in his room, but he did have a lot to say about his work and music in general.

Jason Cady and the Artificials

 SSFI_Program6_Jason_Cady [48:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

When I arrived at Christopher McIntyre’s house in Fort Greene, his landlady was outside and told me that Christopher can’t hear the bell in his studio on the third floor. It took a phone call, but the busy trombonist, organizer and composer welcomed me into his cozy, shag-carpeted studio. We chatted about the Ne(x)tworks concert I had attended several weeks earlier, Cue-based compositional forms, the German artist Sigmar Polke and orchestrating for the trombone.

Christopher’s Website
Tilt Brass Band
Ne(x)tworks

 Program Five: Christopher McIntyre [49:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Jeff Arnal is a percussionist, runs a record label, hosts a concert series, manages a busy performance schedule, composes for dance, teaches and even has time to walk his dog Otto and spend time with his new son, Thomas. I caught up with him on Thursday afternoon, June 7 at the Ditmas Park Apartment he shares with his longtime collaborater and wife, dancer Estelle Woodward. We spent the afternoon talking about his compositional process, Joseph Cornell collages and collaborations as family.

Generate Records
Jeff’s Myspace Page

 SSFI_Program4_Jeff_Arnal [45:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Jessica Pavone was in the middle of packing her apartment for an impending move when I met with her on Monday, May 7. It was a sunny day and also the first of Jessica’s juice diet. I had water and we sat in the living room surrounded by amplifiers, soul records and several fish tanks. We talked about the romantic era, programmatic music, the emotional lives of everyday things and Leonard Cohen.

Jessica’s Website
Jess and Mary
Peacock Recordings

 Program Three: Jessica Pavone [49:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On April 4, 2007, a rainy Tuesday in Manhattan’s Little Italy, I met up with saxophonist, composer, bandleader and organizer Sam Hillmer in his 6-story walk-up apartment. When I slipped into the kitchen, which also happens to be the bathroom, Sam was sipping coffee and preventing one of his cats from eating the pad thai he had just ordered. We settled down in the foliage strewn living room, listened to some of his music and talked about solo saxophone playing, finger-picking on the guitar, recording philosophies and vertical blocks of sound.

Sam Hillmer Links
Zs
Shinkoyo

 Program Two: Sam Hillmer [51:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On Saturday afternoon January 6, 2007, I visited composer and raconteur Chris Peck in his Greenpoint, Brooklyn apartment. I found him eating a belated breakfast of Mexican cookies and M & M’s. After a brief personal encounter with said sweets, we sat down in his unseasonably sunny living room for a talk about his wide ranging music, living close to the water and what it means to collaborate.

Chris Peck’s Website

 Standard Podcast [64:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download