Susan Alcorn Live at The Orange Show Monument - April 23, 2022
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ย. 2024
- One of the world’s preeminent pedal steel musicians, Susan Alcorn performs at the historic Orange Show Monument in Houston, TX on April 23, 2022 as part of the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art's Spring 2022 Performance Series.
Video produced by Nada Brahma Media
Cameras: Rober Johns, Don White
Edited and directed by Don White
Audio recorded, mixed and mastered by Shannon Smith
"The Heart of Sultra," "And I Await The Resurrection of the Pedal Steel Guitar," and "A Night in Gdansk" by Susan Alcorn, uma sounds (ASCAP)
"Adios Nonino" by Ástor Piazzolla
"Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus" by Olivier Messiaen
"El Cant Dells Ocells" (traditional)
Liberation Suite:
"El Arado" by Victor Jara
"Chaconne In D Minor" by Tomaso Antonio Vitali
"Por Una Cabeza" by Carlos Gardel
"El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido"
by Sergio Ortega/Quilapayún
"Hymn To Freedom" by Oscar Peterson
"Revolucionario" by Ástor Piazzolla
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About Susan Alcorn:
One of the world’s premiere exponents of her instrument, Susan Alcorn has taken the pedal steel guitar far beyond its traditional role in country music. Having first paid her dues in Texas country & western bands, she began to expand the vocabulary of her instrument through her study of 20th century classical music, visionary jazz, and world musics.
Though known as for her solo work, she has collaborated with numerous artists including Pauline Oliveros, Chris Cutler, the London Improvisors Orchestra, the Glasgow Improvisors Orchestra, Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark, Nate Wooley, Ingrid Laubrock and Leila Bourdreuil, George Burtm Evan Parker, Michael Formanek, Zane Campbell, and Mary Halvorson among others.
In 2016, she was voted "Best Other Instrument" by the International Critics Poll. In 2017 she received the Baker Artist Award, and in 2018, along with saxophonist Joe McPhee, she was the recipient of the Instant Award in Improvised Music.
The UK Guardian writes, “As an improvisor and composer, Alcorn has proven to be visionary. Her pieces reveal the complexity of her instrument and her musical experience while never straying from a very direct, intense, and personal musical expression.”
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The Orange Show is a visionary art environment and a monument to community care, constructed singlehandedly over decades by a working-class, self-trained builder and artisan, Jefferson Davis McKissack Jr. (1902-1980).
A visual symphony of wagon wheels, ornamental metalwork, garden statuary, and dozens of hand-cut scrap metal birds painted in bright primary colors, the Orange Show amplified the message of good health espoused in McKissack’s mimeographed treatise “How You Can Live 100 Years and Still Be Spry” (1960).
McKissack died soon after the Orange Show’s long-awaited public opening on May 9, 1979 but in the decades since, the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art has preserved and programmed an expanding collection of visionary art environments, and now reimagines them within a contemporary art context through a program of site-specific installations and performances.
the last song, though short, is sublime, and its intro heartfelt. Thankyou.
Incredible playing and intention.... I love the production of this video! I would love to see Gary Peters and Susan sit down together someday....
Genius !!!!!! ❤
Absolutely beautiful!
Thank you for your beautiful playing. It feels so personal, like a long, deep conversation with a good friend. I've always thought this instrument was special, and capable of really unique things, so I'm excited to have found you!
Damn this shit crazy
This is wonderful! A bouquet of intentional intonation.
Much as I love your work in a group context, I do feel really connected to your solo outings. This is a very helpful and well-made film, with lots of relevant detail (both hands, feet (or, if not feet, knees)) and an attentive if sparse audience. Lovely.
WOW. Such an emotional experience. I was amazed by the variety of colours and attitudes that could be expressed with this instrument
And all the while I was thinking "Just play the d--n thing!"
The last two pieces (Messiaen and Casals) are truly devastating. Musical art of the highest order.
Amazing!
Your The Universal looks just like my old one but mine was red. Scotty gave it to me when my BMI broke down. More beautiful music.
Muy muy hermoso Susan
She's done some work with Mary Halvorson that is other worldly...stunningly incredible. I like this solo outing though (I hear what you are saying Felix Jay) ...like looking at a piece of abstract art, but from a musical point of view.
As a pedal steel player myself, I'm sorry but I don't get the theme of her playing.
That's too bad, but it's not for everyone. For me, her journey is one of really deep listening, rich counterpoint, and experimentation. It's a lot, and like I said, maybe not for everyone, but I find her playing extremely inspiring and important for the instrument as a whole.
This sucks. Disonant crap.
Jay, I have a feeling that you only listened to the very beginning. There is dissonance, as there is in all music, but there are actual songs in the video. Maybe listen again all the way through.
@sus453 Greetings from Brazil, Susan. There are more of us that enjoy your "dissonance" than those dissers. We get you and got your back. They didn't get Mozart or Monk in their time either. We remember Mozart and Monk while they are altogether forgotten. These dissers will also be. So just keep going.
She is a Michelin Star restaurant and you are used to eating Kraft singles on saltine crackers. In other words you have no pallet for it.
serious question: is this woman just playing totally random things? cause it sounds like absolute nonsense. i’m actually laughing.
It's serious music. Maybe just not for you, or above your heard.
Just noise!
Not at all. And music is organised noise. She’s exploring new ways of using the instrument. Go to 25:30, beautiful!
You have thick ears buddy. This is incredible music, if you listen just a little deeper!
What the hell? Sounds like someone just learning how to play.
watch the video before spouting crap
That's because She is a Michelin Star restaurant and you are used to eating Kraft singles on saltine crackers. In other words you have no pallet for it.
You try it then.