COLLECTED SOLOS – Massimo Magee

26 Discs of improvisations, an 87-page journal, and specially-created artwork, all by Massimo Magee

The first recording in this collection is from 2008. Some time after this, after having recorded a number of other improvisations (which make up the rest of disc 1), I decided to embark on a 25-disc exploration of total improvisation – a pursuit of improvisation in the absolute, through the medium of sound. I decided on 25 discs because I wanted the resulting collection of recordings to represent a larger snapshot of the ongoing process than is generally available. Any document of an improvisor is going to be simply a snapshot of their ongoing exploration of improvisation, but in this case I wanted that snapshot to cover a longer period of time (both in the making and in the listening) so as to give a different perspective. I was also keen for the experience of listening to this project to be more akin to reading a long novel – not something that could be finished in an hour or so and then either forgotten or repeated, but something that would take a long time to work through, something that the listener would have to live with for a longer period of time before reaching the end. Some time later, I also decided to write a journal to go along with the improvisations, writing one journal entry per improvisation recorded. I would recommend listening to this collection disc by disc, over whatever period of time is comfortable, reading the corresponding journal entries after listening to each disc. Although since the journal entries only start at track 27, this would only apply from disc 7 onwards. If you wanted to (and didn’t plan on sleeping) you could probably listen to the whole collection in one day, although this would require extraordinary dedication. The improvisations themselves were recorded on whatever recording equipment happened to be available, meaning that circumstances have left their mark on the recordings to a significant degree, and that the recording situations have been decided upon more or less on the fly. The recording quality of the improvisations, therefore, varies considerably. Most were recorded by me, although towards the end of the project situations arose whereby some of them could be recorded in much better quality by Alexander Feder. I should emphasise that this project (all 26 discs of audio, the journal, and the artwork) should be treated as a single work, and not divided into parts.

The Collected Solos Project is available in two formats:

Firstly, there is the digital version, which is available as a FREE DOWNLOAD at the following link:

[AR15]: Collected Solos

The digital version includes all 26 Discs of audio, the entire 87-page journal in pdf format, and the artwork, also in pdf format.  The audio is in mp3, and the total download is 1.8Gb in size.

Secondly, there is the physical version, which is a box set including all 26 Discs of audio on CD-R, the entire 87-page journal in hard copy, the artwork on the inside of the box lid, and an 85-minute bonus tape.  The physical version can be ordered directly from me, by sending an email to ArrayWeb [AT] gmail.com where we can discuss your order.  Each copy of the physical version will be made by hand once the order has been placed (and paid for), and will take around a month to make (possibly more depending on how many orders I receive at any given time).  The following list is a price guide, including postage costs (prices in Australian Dollars):

Europe & UK: $100

USA: $100

New Zealand: $85

Melbourne: $80

Sydney: $78

And if you are in Brisbane and can pick it up from me directly at some mutually agreeable location, then the physical version is yours for the low price of just $65

[AR14]: Self Portrait Through Process – Massimo Magee

SELF PORTRAIT THROUGH PROCESS – Massimo Magee

1: Self Portrait Through Process 17:15
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Massimo Magee: Cassette/Analogue Synthesiser/Laptop feedback loop acted upon in parts by Sopranino Saxophone and Whistling

Cover Photograph – Self Portrait Through Process by Massimo Magee

This piece started when I had an idea for a particular instrumental set-up involving a cassette/analogue synthesiser/laptop feedback loop, recording directly to tape. When the time came (when there was time) I put this idea into practice and put together the set-up. I then pushed the ‘record’ button on the tape recorder, and set the instrument in motion. At this point, I had no idea how to control the instrument at all, no idea how to impose my improvisational impulses on the sounds emanating from it. Then, over the course of the piece recorded here, I developed a relationship with the instrument gradually, developing ways to improvise with it, and impose my improvisational impulses on the sounds, over the course of the 17 minutes and 15 seconds heard here. At some point, when I decided the piece was over, I pushed ‘stop’.

The piece is a self portrait in as much as it is a portrait of anyone. The process described above could be an apt metaphor for life in general. We are not generally born knowing how to impose our designs on the world around us, and instead must gradually develop a relationship with this world as we live. Some people say life is an improvisation. The piece is also an improvisation, and as such is a microcosm of existence. It is an exploration of existence in a particular moment, limited to the field of sound. The interaction of a consciousness with the array of possibilities available to it in the given moment, and the willingness of that consciousness to enter into that moment and to respect it.

The cover photograph is more of a true self portrait in that to create it, I took a photograph of myself, then took a photograph of that photograph, then took a photograph of that photograph of that photograph, then took a photograph of that photograph of that photograph of that photograph, then took a of that photograph of that photograph of that photograph of that photograph of that photograph, then took a photograph of that photograph of that photograph of that photograph of that photograph of that photograph, then took a photograph of that photograph of that photograph of that photograph of that photograph of that photograph of that photograph, and so on.

OF AN EVENING – Tim Green, Massimo Magee and John Porter

1: Part I: In Which Friction Accumulates 20:41

2: Part II: Experiments In Hypnotism 22:41
3: Part III: In Which We Encounter A Groove 10:31
4: Part IV: Double Take 4:49

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Tim Green: Drums and mobile phone
Massimo Magee: Sopranino Saxophone, clarinet, piano, signal generator, laptop feedback, tape recorder with blank tape, walkie-talkies, field recordings, recordings of prior drum improvisation by Tim Green, amplifier feedback
John Porter: Soprano Saxophone

Live trio recording – Free Improvisation with no edits, overdubs, or prior planning

FOR LOVERS – Massimo Magee

1: These Arms Of Mine (Redding) 8:11
2: Spanish Harlem (Leiber, Spector) 10:47
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Massimo Magee: Tenor Saxophone (Close-miked and recorded to tape)

SEVEN SOLOS – Massimo Magee

1: Solo Trumpet

2: Solo Tenor

3: Solo Clarinet

4: Solo Harmonica

5: Solo Sopranino

6: Solo Piano

7: Watching the Rain (for kmh)

Total Time: ~78 minutes

Massimo Magee – Trumpet, Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet, Harmonica, Sopranino Saxophone, Piano, Alto Saxophone

Seven completely improvised solos on strictly acoustic instruments.  [AR11] Seven Solos is being released as a physical object – a CD-R in a slim DVD case with full original artwork (jacket + CD-R label) by Massimo Magee, with an authentic handmade charm.  The price is US$10, and it will be handled through PayPal.  If you would like to get a copy of this, the first (and possibly last, we’ll see how it goes) physical release from [Array], please click the ‘Purchase [AR11] Seven Solos’ link below. Please also send an email to ArrayWeb ::–AT–:: gmail.com with your postal address, just in case. The first 7 people to purchase this release will also receive a bonus floppy-disc copy of “Instants I”, a selection of 3 sound instants by Massimo Magee.

I’m not going to be releasing these in any fixed number, just until either I get fed up with making copies, or people stop buying them, whichever comes first.

Purchase [AR11] Seven Solos

[AR10]: All Angles Disc 2

ALL ANGLES – Lee Noyes and Massimo Magee

Disc 1:

Prelude—
1: ‘Round Midnight (Monk) LN + MM 04:39

Part 1: Lo-Fi—
2: Guitar Solo LN 07:40
3: Friction MM 09:18
4: Drums and Sampler Solo LN 11:00
5: Relativity MM 13:59

Part 2: Patchwork—
6: Patchwork Piece LN + MM 30:30

Disc 2:

Part 3: Live—
7: Live 2 LN + MM 65:05
8: Live 1 [extract] LN + MM 08:54

Postlude—
9: In A Sentimental Mood (Ellington) LN + MM 05:54
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Lee Noyes – Drums, Percussion, Guitar, Sampler, Loops, Tapes, Bells
Massimo Magee – Tenor, Alto and Sopranino Saxophones, Clarinet, Trumpet, Amplifier with Headphones and Preparations, Keyboard, Tapes, Tape Recorder, Laptop, Homemade and Found Drums and Percussion, Cymbals, Radio, Tube, Bell, Jaw

-mix of email and live collaboration with Lee Noyes, recorded late 2007/early 2008

SAX, BASS AND DRUMS – Massimo Magee, Amos Manne and Lee Noyes

1: Three’s Company 37:05
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Massimo Magee – Amplified, Feedback and Acoustic Prepared and Unprepared Tenor Saxophone
Amos Manne – Bass, Guitar, Whistles, Pipes
Lee Noyes – Drums

-email collaboration with the live duo of Amos Manne and Lee Noyes (one take, no editing)

STRANGE FRUIT – Massimo Magee

1: Strange Fruit 19:50
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Massimo Magee: Amplifier with headphones and preparations, Ukulele, Wooden Flute, Field Recordings, Sopranino Saxophone, recorded to tape

A ‘still life’ in improvised sound

[AR08] is called ‘Strange Fruit’ because it is, at least in part, about choices.  Choices and the consequences of these choices.  These consequences that flow on from our choices and our attempts (successes/failures) to control them – the pursuit and relinquishing of control.  The amplifier feedback is in some parts controlled, and in some parts set up and then left to its own -punintendeddevices to play out as dictated by forces outside of human control (vibrations in the desk, in the air, etc.).  The fierce rain outside which can be heard on the recording is not controlled.   The field recordings – momentary portals to another place and time – are set in motion, but not controlled.  The ukulele, flute and sopranino saxophone are controlled.  Thus the pursuit and relinquishing of control as well as the entirely uncontrollable are all happening at the one time.  Many elements of the life of the capsicum in the image on the cover, no doubt, were controlled right from where it was grown, likely designed to produce a round, red, perfectly healthy specimen.  Many aspects of its presentation in the supermarket, in a specially designed area placed in with lots of other round, red, healthy-looking capsicums [capsicae?] were also, no doubt, controlled to enforce this impression of a normal round, red capsicum.  Somehow, however, other forces outside of control conspired to produce this strange, but strangely beautiful vegetable, and a relinquishing of control (nay, quality control) on the supermarket’s part led to its being placed on display in the capsicum basket for the hungry (and forgiving) consumer to find and photograph.  This intertwining of the pursuit and relinquishing of control and the uncontrollable, unpredictable forces of nature led to this strangely beautiful object being created and put in a position for its strange, individual beauty to be observed and enjoyed by others who would otherwise not have seen it.

This piece is intended to be listened to at very low volume, with the sounds of the rain on the recording just at the very edge of hearing, and the other sounds very faint, so that they are subsumed into the sounds of the room around them.

-Massimo Magee

FILTER – Massimo Magee Solo – and with Barry Chabala

1: Filtered 26:16 – Massimo Magee Solo
2: Acoustic if it wasn’t for the damn laptop 5:41 – Barry Chabala and Massimo Magee
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Barry Chabala on (2): Laptop
Massimo Magee on (1): Tape player with recording of sopranino saxophone improvisation recorded immediately prior to the recording of ‘Filtered’, Amplifier with headphones and preparations, radio, signal generator, loops, Cabasa, Woodpecker, Toy Drum, Electric Toothbrush, Harmonica, Electric Fan
Massimo Magee on (2): Trumpet, Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Sopranino Saxophone, percussion, cymbal, toy drum, amplified ukulele, keyboard (all overdubbed)

These pieces are both related to the concept of Filtering.  In the first, a sopranino saxophone improvisation was taped and then immediately afterwards ‘filtered’ through a second, separate, improvisation process using very different instruments along with the tape.
The second is the result of Barry Chabala radically reworking (with his laptop) a recording called ‘Almost Acoustic’ which I sent to him over the internet.  This original recording was composed of nine overdubbed layers of Trumpet, Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Sopranino Saxophone, Percussion and Cymbal, Percussion and Cymbal and Toy Drum, Amplified Ukulele, and Keyboard respectively, but has been transformed into something entirely different by Barry’s laptop.

-Massimo Magee

1: Any Way you slice It 34:15
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Massimo Magee: inside piano, cymbal, tenor saxophone, ukelele, clarinet, radio, tape recorder, signal generator, metronome, loops, recording of an improvisation from the previous day (on Tenor and sopranino saxophones, trumpet, amplifier with headphones and preparations, keyboard, radio, signal generator, loops, tape recorder, metronome )

Note: the recording was used in the improvisation as any other instrument would have been – decisions to start/stop/pause/rewind etc. the recording were taken during the improvisation just as decisions to start or stop playing a particular instrument would have been.  This piece is improvised, with no edits or overdubbing.

thanks to Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht