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Funk (1988) |
E flat contrabass clarinet and percussion - 9'
Commissioned by and dedicated to the Duo Contemporain of Rotterdam: Henri Bok and Evert Le Mair with thanks to Afrika Bambaataa for the use of his name
Just as my large ensemble piece Afterimages may have originated (these things are never clear cut) in my enduring affection for John Coltrane's massive 'Ascension', so my duo Funk seems to have grown out of recollections of his more intimate but equally explosive duet recordings with Rashid Ali (drums): 'Interstellar Space'. 'Ascension' was a model for the whole series of orchestrally-conceived funk albums produced through the 70s by Miles Davis - from 'Silent Way' to 'Pangaia' and beyond - which remain among my favourite listening. Echos of this music will be found in all my pieces, especially in my quest for total functional arhythmicity; echoes, also, of a more recent funk development, in the New York music of Bill Laswell and Afrika Bambaataa, who have regularly recorded together.
Afrika Bambaataa (who is reputed to have invented "scratching") provides the model for my funk: he underpins it, as well as providing the pre-text.
"Not funk but funk conquered is what is worthy of admiration and makes life worth having lived" Wittgenstein, Notebook entry for 1940 (in English in original: for this - as in much else - I am indebted to Harry Gilonis).
© Chris Dench