Eccentriclect is a term I invented to describe my music, because I knew of no other term in
existence that was appropriate otherwise. My music has no particular roots nor is it a rebellion
against any music or musical philosophy except commercial music for commercial sake.
I am interested primarily in variety and I approach every performance as a unique event,
sometimes with much silence or none at all, completely improvised or completely composed,
using my voice, or only solo piano, or with an ensemble, and/or many combinations in between.
At any given point in a performance I may move from something resembling Latin Jazz, to
Free Jazz, to something resembling East European or Arabic Folk Tunes, to Minimalism, to Punck,
to Polyphonic Serialism, to a Bi-Tonal Blues Waltz. I say 'something resembling' because I am
not copying, or trying to emulate these styles, but incorporating many of my own, as well as
others ideas and approaches and attitudes, and plastering them on top of each other in unique
ways and in ways I think they belong in today's world.
It's my intention to make music that stimulates the mind and the body, that's intellectual
and sexy and meditative and ferocious and poetic and athletic and revolutionary and spiritual
and political and humorus and loving and that will shake people awake, starting with me first.
In a solo performance I primarily play comprovisations (free improvisation, compositions,
and improvisations based on pre-composed material). Each performance can be approached
in a variety of ways; A free improvisation can be completely spontaneous with the intention
of not relying at all on anything preconceived; or several improvisations from a single seed
that is preconceived or not; or a composition played note for note and a second section
improvised from material or concept of the composed piece; or a full performance with or
without pause that foreshadows and afterglows composed material through quotes that is fully
realized earlier or later in the performance respectively; or tiny improvsiations/compositions
with space between each, moving from one type of musical material to the next which may or
not be radically different from what was just heard. Here's a Good example of the last scenario.
There are, of course, many more possibilities, but the most important criteria for me is again
that I approach each performance as a unique event. I have many hours of potential
material at my fingertips/synapses. One performance may include snippets of almost
everything I have or, on the other hand, it may be one long improvisation based entirely
on one motif. All of these possibilities could be completely saturated in dissonance approaching
'noise', or favoring original comprovisations based on world musics, or a combination of
both which is the most integrative, and I believe, the most inspired and strangest of all.
This musical approach I have developed gives me an almost infinite flexibility, allowing me to
inspire almost any type of audience, confront the problems of this world, and offer a challenging
sonic response. By both critics and audience members my music has been described as
absloutely unique, and as well, compared to musicians as diverse as Bela Bartok, Cecil
Taylor, The Velvet Underground, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Captain Beefheart, Indian music,
Duke Ellington, Nirvana, Frank Zappa, Derek Bailey, Deerhoof, Conlan Nancarrow, Nina
Simone and Gamelan music, among many others, but all maintain that it is it's own thing.
I am honored that my music conjures sonic images of all these people/groups but this
diversity of relations is what's most important to me. Of course none of us live in a vaccuum,
we are all influenced by each other, and also by so much more than just people. What's
most important to me is to make a unique and valuable contribution.
Finally, I have performed in concert halls, warehouses, libraries, jazz and rock clubs, as the
soloist in piano concertos, in a West-african drumming troupe, in the desert surrounding the
Nevada nuclear test site on Shoshone land, on t.v., radio and in riots, punk bands, many
free improv ensembles, with famous people, infamous people, unknowns, old masters,
and eager youngsters, academics and hippies, for modern dance and opera, sometimes
only for myself, and often only in my mind.