About this project
Background: In 2006 Cuneiform Records released two 2-CD sets of the music of The Microscopic Septet, Seven Men In Neckties and Surrealistic Swing, which included all of the Micros LPs from the 1980s, as well as additional unreleased recordings (such as the full-band arrangements of the theme from “NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross”, composed by Joel Forrester). In order to celebrate that release, the Micros came back together and played a few release party gigs. Those gigs were so well received, and we enjoyed playing together again so much, that we decided to keep the band reanimated.
This was complicated the fact that I, Phillip Johnston, have lived in Sydney, Australia since 2005. However, since that time I have returned to New York once or twice a year and The Microscopic Septet has performed, toured, and/or recorded. In 2008 we released Lobster Leaps In, our first new recording since 1988’s LP Beauty Based On Science (The Visit) on Stash Records, which consisted of tunes by Joel Forrester and myself from back in the day which had never been recorded by the Micros. There’s plenty of pretty darned good stuff from that back catalogue for some more records, but who knows if that will ever happen. In the meantime, we have another idea.
Foreground: Joel and I have been playing the music of Thelonious Monk since we first got together in the mid-70s. We were both profoundly influenced by Monk’s music, as well as his eccentricity, humor and irreverence. Even before the Microscopic Septet, when I played in various small and large groups of Joel’s, we always played some Monk along with whatever else we were doing. When the Micros began, we also played Monk, in addition to Joel’s and my tunes (and those of Bob Montalto), though we never recorded them (with the exception of Joel’s arrangement of “Crepuscule With Nellie” on Off Beat Glory, later re-released on Surrealistic Swing).
We have decided to write new arrangements of music by Thelonious Monk in the Microscopic idiom. These, along with a few of our older Monk arrangements, will make up the music on Friday The 13th: The Micros Play Monk. Monk’s music is so wide, so deep and so nuggety that it can withstand any amount of abuse, even being performed by The Microscopic Septet.
However, due to the changes in the recording business that have happened over the last few years, and the not inconsiderable difficulties caused by my living in Sydney, we need to reach out to you for help. We now need to raise the money for the production of the recording ourselves. We are booked into a wonderful recording studio in May 2010, with a terrific engineer, the music is all written, and it is scheduled to be released on Cuneiform Records in September 2010. We just need to figure out how to pay for it.
When I was in New York in December 2009, we worked on the music, and even took it out and played it on our gigs, even though we were just learning it. There are a few wrong notes and a bit of sloppy playing, but this will give you some idea of what we’re up to. We’ll have it together by the time we go into the studio, we promise.
We thank you in advance for any help you can give, and take a gander at the cool "Backer Rewards" we offer, a must for the Micros Tragic.
Here are some samples of works in progress of the material we intend to record:
The Micros play Phillip Johnston’s arrangement of We See t the 92nd Street Y: http://www.microscopicseptet.com/audio/we.see.92y.mp3
The Micros play Joel Forrester’s arrangement of Epistrophy at Barbes:
http://www.microscopicseptet.com/audio/epistrophy.mp3
The Micros play Phillip Johnston’s arrangement of Friday The 13th at Barbes:
http://www.microscopicseptet.com/audio/friday.the.13th.mp3
Here's some other background information of interest:
Joel Forrester talks about his relationship with Thelonious Monk, including the time he spent visiting him at the home of Baroness Nica von Koenigswarter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
Joel Forrester talks about how he met the Baroness and their relationship, and more about Monk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
Joel Forrester talks about how he met Phillip Johnston:
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
For more background on The Microscopic Septet:
http://www.microscopicseptet.com"
http://www.myspace.com/themicroscopicseptet
Videos of The Microscopic Septet performing over the years can be found by searching on youTube for The Microscopic Septet or following the links on the MySpace page.
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on April 24, 2010.
Pledge $30 or more Pledge $30 or more
A copy of the CD Friday The 13th: The Micros Play Monk signed by all of the Micros, and your name in the CD credits as a Beloved Sponsor.
Pledge $50 or more Pledge $50 or more
A copy of Friday The 13th: The Micros Play Monk and our previous CD Lobster Leaps In, both signed by all of the Micros, and your name in the CD credits as a Beloved Sponsor.
Pledge $75 or more Pledge $75 or more
A copy of Friday The 13th: The Micros Play Monk and our previous CD Lobster Leaps In, both signed by all of the Micros and a surprise mystery CD of unreleased Micros-related recordings, and your name in the CD credits as a Beloved Sponsor. OR:
Pledge $75 or more Pledge $75 or more
A signed copy of a complete score for one of the Monk arrangements by Phillip Johnston, plus Friday The 13th: The Micros Play Monk and your name in the CD credits as a Beloved Sponsor.
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
A copy of an out-of-print Micros LP, plus all of the above. (while supplies last: 5 Take The Z Train, 5 Beauty Based On Science), plus the signed score. Plus Friday The 13th: The Micros Play Monk, and your name in the CD credits as a Very Beloved Sponsor.
Pledge $250 or more Pledge $250 or more
Phillip or Joel will write a blues in your honor, and present you with a solo piano recording of it, It could be dedicated to you, or someone you choose. Title (for example): “Blues for Pig Bodine” or other title of your choice. Your choice of key. Plus Friday The 13th: The Micros Play Monk, the mystery CD, and your name in the CD credits as an Extremely Very Beloved Sponsor (Blues Division).
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
Joel Forrester and Phillip Johnston will perform a duo gig at a party at your house. plus a few copies of Friday The 13th: The Micros Play Monk, and your name in the CD credits as Most High Beloved Sponsor. (and the mystery CD). NB: This and the following offer are limited to the NYC area, unless transport is provided by the contributor. It is also limited by availability, as Phillip Johnston lives in Sydney, Australia. However, PJ comes to the US usually at least twice a year and we will do it at the earliest date we can arrange that works for you and us.
Pledge $2,000 or more Pledge $2,000 or more
The entire Microscopic Septet will perform at a party at your house plus a few more copies of Friday The 13th: The Micros Play Monk, and your name in the CD credits as "the coolest, grooviest, sweetest, wailinest, strongest, swinginest cat that ever stomped on this jumpin' green sphere" (cf Lord Buckley).
Project By
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PHILLIP JOHNSTON
A saxophonist, composer and arranger of both jazz and new music, Phillip has been a significant figure in the underground music scene of New York’s downtown since the beginning of the 1980’s. He has composed extensively for film including Paul Mazursky’s Faithful, Philip Haas’ The Music of Chance and Money Man, Dorris Dörrie’s Paradise and Geld, and, most recently, Stolen Life by Peter Rasmussen & Jackie Turnure (which won a New York Machinima Award for Best Music Score) & Noise by Henry Bean. He has also written for silent film, including Tod Browning’s The Unknown, The George Méliès Project, Teinosuke Kinugasa’s Page Of Madness and F.W. Murnau’s Faust. His theatre composition credits include Measure For Measure, Wars Of The Roses, The Comedy Of Errors, Merchant Of Venice and Macbeth for Bell Shakespeare; Young Goodman Brown with Richard Foreman, Venus with Suzan-Lori Parks, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Ruysch and The Falls with Hilary Bell, and Drawn To Death: A Three Panel Opera with Art Spiegelman. Dance credits include Karole Armitage’s The Predators’ Ball and Keely Garfield’s Minor Repairs Necessary for which he won a ‘Bessie’ in 1999.
Throughout, he has maintained a parallel career as a saxophonist, both working with others and leading his own bands. During the 1980’s he led the Microscopic Septet, and in the 1990’s he led Big Trouble and The Transparent Quartet. His silent film score for F.W. Murnau’s Faust (1926) with lyrics by Hilary Bell premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2002, has subsequently toured throughout Europe and the USA, and had it’s Australian premiere at Sydney’s Seymour Centre in 2007. He has recently toured internationally with the seven-piece Fast ‘N’ Bulbous: The Captain Beefheart Project, featuring Gary Lucas, for which he arranged and conducted, and with The Microscopic Septet. Phillip’s recordings include Waxed Oop (Cuneiform) with Fast ‘N’ Bulbous, and Lobster Leaps In (Cuneiform), with the Microscopic Septet, and Page of Madness (Asynchronous). He currently performs in Australia with Phillip Johnston and the Coolerators, and SNAP, a saxophone quartet, (and recently performed his scores for silent film at both the Melbourne Festival of the Arts and the Sydney Film Festival); and in the US and Europe with The Microscopic Septet, The Spokes and Fast ‘N’ Bulbous. Other current projects include Do Good And You Will be Happy, with Hilary Bell, a musical based on Cole’s Funny Picture Books.
