KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Ode To Gravity: Chas Smith and Paul Dresher

Analog Audio

Event Type

Interview and Music

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

OTG.1980.05.30

Program Series

Ode To Gravity

Program Length

62 min

Dates

1988-05-30 | broadcast
| 1988-05-30 | created

Description

Charles Amirkhanian interviews two virtuoso guitarists, Paul Dresher and Chas Smith. Chas Smith is from Los Angeles, and at the time of this recording had just released an album of music for pedal steel guitar which was one of the most explosive LP releases of the 1980s. It features the composer with Bob Fernandez, John Fitzgerald, M. B. Gordy, and Theresa Knight, in performances of “Nakadai”, “Hollister”, and “A Judas Within”. The lavishly packaged album was privately published by the composer on the Arc Light label. Paul Dresher is well known in the San Francisco Bay Area as a composer and producer of music theater and modern opera. At the time of this recording Dresher had just completed an initial tour of his revised, two act opera, “Slow Fire”, which features the words and actions of Rinde Eckert with music provided live by Dresher on guitars and Gene Reffkin on percussion. (from KPFA Folio)

Genres

Electro-Acoustic / Electronic
Music Theater

Musical Selections

Nakadai (1985) / Chas Smith -- A Judas Within: Seduction ; Betrayal (1985-86) / Chas Smith -- Hollister [excerpt] (1986) / Chas Smith -- Slow Fire [text by Rinde Eckert] [excerpts] (1988) / Paul Dresher

Performers

Chas Smith, pedal steel guitar, dulcimer, etc... (Nakadai ; Judas)
Robert Fernandez, percussion (Judas)
Theresa Knight, percussion (Judas)
M. B. Gordy, percussion (Judas)
John Fitzgerald, percussion (Judas)
Rinde Eckert, vocals (Slow Fire)
Gene Reffkin, percussion (Slow Fire)
Paul Dresher, guitar, etc... (Slow Fire)

Subjects

Electric guitar music
Electronic music
Drone music
Microtonal music
Music theater

Acknowledgment

Funding for the preservation of this program made possible through a grant by Save America’s Treasures, a program of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Related places

Berkeley (Calif.) (was recorded at)
Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)

Related Entities

Amirkhanian, Charles
Smith, Chas
Fernandez, Robert
Gordy, M. B.
Fitzgerald, John (Musician)
Dresher, Paul
Eckert, Rinde
Reffkin, Gene