Azure Carter, Voice, Songs
Rachel Rosenkrantz, Bass
Edward Schneider, Alto saxophone
Alan Sondheim, Various instruments including two sarangi (modern, and +/-1910), violin, guitar, shakuhachi, pithkiavlin, Albert D clarinet, oud, Chordomonica II harmonica, Myanmar (Burma) kyizi
Alan Sondheim made two albums for ESP-Disk’ in the ‘60s; he returned to ESP in 2014, and this is his third album since then, the first on ESP to include longtime partner Azure Carter, and his fifth overall on the label. Sondheim, who has prolifically spread his recent musical evolution across a variety of other labels, is an impulsive musical adventurer who uses his dizzying array of instruments for what their sounds can contribute to his musical style; he is not unaware of the traditional performance techniques of his instruments, but he never lets his musical expression be limited by or to those techniques. His band Ritual All 70 was included on the notorious Nurse with Wound list of outsider/avant-garde influences.
Azure Carter is a singer/songwriter living in Providence, RI. She is a frequent collaborator on music, video, and performance with her partner, Alan Sondheim. Before moving to Providence, Carter lived in NYC and performed at numerous venues in the city and elsewhere, including the 92nd Street Y, Dance New Amsterdam, The Bowery Poetry Club, Eyebeam, Jack, and Highwire Gallery. She has recorded six albums; this is her first album with ESP-Disk.
Edward Schneider is an improviser, composer, and educator living in Minneapolis, MN. His involvement in experimental music began at the University of Illinois, where he received a bachelor’s degree in music composition. While living in Minnesota, Schneider was an active member of the Minneapolis Free Music Society. He received a grant from the Minnesota Composers Forum to produce an album that documented his work with members of this ensemble. His electronic composition, the tree that was a bird, was performed in November as part of the Conny Purtill performance at the Blinky Palermo puppet theater, part of Nouveau Festival at the Pompidou in Paris. While living in Brooklyn, New York he curated and performed as part of an improvisation series called 16 Beaver. Through this series, Schneider was introduced to Alan Sondheim and was excited to perform on Sonheim's 2014 release for ESP-Disk. As an improviser he is interested in stretching the limits of the saxophone, through a variety of extended techniques, hoping that he can overtake the timberal expectations that listeners may have of his instrument.
Rachel Rosenkrantz is a French luthier based in Providence, Rhode Island, w spent a number of years playing music and developing architectural-design products, and started her own company in 2012. Born and raised in Montfermeil, France, Rachel studied Design at l’ESAG, in Paris as well as at RISD in Providence, where she was exposed to both fine arts and applied arts.
Her understanding of construction through her industrial design years as well as her knowledge of music are two strong assets forming a stable backbone to her actual art-making of string instruments.
Some of her previous artwork was shown in the Société des Artistes Décorateurs exhibits at Le Carrousel du Louvre and at the Hangaram museum of modern art, Seoul Korea. Rachel is also an educator, teaching Spatial Dynamics at RISD in the Experimental and Foundation Studies Division, she gives lectures and workshops in other Universities and museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Just like her music and her designs, Rachel works her luthiery by exploring the combination of both traditional and new styles and techniques and tries to bring a unique perspective to her work with a strong focus on sustainability and innovation.
Rachel is locally involved with the Rhode Island music community and is an active beekeeper.