Rhys Chatham (b. September 19, 1952,
New York City[1]) is an American composer, guitarist, and trumpet player,
primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist fields of
experimentation. He is best known for his "guitar orchestra" compositions, which are acknowledged as the major influence on his
sonic contemporary Glenn Branca. He has lived in France
since 1987.
Early Years
Chatham began his musical career as a piano tuner for avant-garde pioneers La Monte
Young and Glenn Gould. He soon studied under electronic music pioneer
Morton Subotnick and minimalist iconTony Conrad;
Chatham and Conrad played together in an early ensemble. In 1971, while still in his teens, Chatham founded of the experimental
music program at The Kitchen in lower Manhattan. His
early works, such as Two Gongs (1971) owed a significant debt to Young and other minimalists, though his compositions soon
grew to be more "large" and menacing.
His concert productions included experimenters Maryanne Amacher, Robert Ashley, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Steve Reich, and early alternative rockers such as Brian Eno,
Robert Fripp, John Lurie, and Fred Frith. He has worked closely with visual artist/musician Robert
Longo, particularly in the 1980s, and on an experimental opera called XS: The Opera Opus (1984) with the visual
artist Joseph Nechvatal.
Compositions from the Late 1970s and Early 1980s
By 1977, Chatham's music was heavily influenced by punk rock, having seen an early
Ramones concert. He was particularly intrigued by and influential upon the group of artists
music critics would label No Wave in 1978. That year, he began performing Guitar Trio
around downtown Manhattan with an ensemble that included Branca, as well as Nina Canal of Ut. Some of this work parallels multi
tracked and unison tuned guitar directions developed by Lou Reed and Chuck Hammer. During this period, he wrote several works for large guitar ensembles, including Drastic
Classicism, a collaboration with dancer Karole Armitage. Drastic Classicism
was first released in 1982 on the compilation New Music from Antarctica, put together by Kit Fitzgerald, John Sanborn and
Peter Gordon. It was also included on the 1987 album that also included his 1982 composition Die Donnergötter (German for
"The Thundergods").
Members of the New York City noise rock band Band of
Susans began their careers in Chatham's ensembles; they later performed a cover of Chatham's "Guitar Trio" on their 1991
album, The Word And The Flesh. (This parallels the way that members of fellow NYC noise rockers Sonic Youth began their careers in Branca's ensembles; Thurston
Moore of S.Y. did play with Chatham as well.)
Chatham began taking trumpet lessons in 1983, and his more recent works explore improvisatory trumpet solos; these are
performed by Chatham himself, employing much of the same amplification and effects that he acquired with the guitar, over
synthesized dance rhythms by the composer Martin Wheeler. His 1990s recordings in this style saw
release on Ninja Tune Records as the compilation Neon.
Recent activity
In 2002, he enjoyed a resurgence following the release of a limited-edition 3 CD retrospective box set on Table of the Elements Records, An Angel Moves Too Fast To See: Selected Works 1971-1989,
complete with 130-page booklet. (The An Angel Moves Too Fast To See part of the title comes from Chatham's 1989
composition for 100 guitars.)
In 2005, he was commissioned by the city of Paris, in his adopted homeland, to
write a composition for 400 electric guitars entitled A Crimson Grail, as part of the Nuit
Blanche Festival. Approximately 10,000 people were present at the performance, and 100,000 more watched it on live
television. A CD of excerpts from this concert was released in January 2007 by Table Of The Elements.
Rhys Chatham is currently touring the original 30 minute version of Guitar Trio in the USA and Europe, renamed
G3 because the instrumentation has been increased to between 6-10 electric guitars, electric bass and drums. He recently
completed a 12-city tour called the Guitar Trio (G3) Is My LIfe North America Tour in February 2007, which was accompanied
by the original film by Robert Longo that was projected behind the performance, entitled Pictures for Music (1979). The
sets consisted of local musicians from the city of the performance, including his friends and colleagues from Sonic Youth,
Tortoise, God Speed You Black Emperor, Husker Du, Brokeback, Lichens, Town and Country, Die Kruetzen, Bird Show and others. Three
separate CDs of these performances are due for release by the Table of the Elements Records in January 2008.
Discography
Compilations
- Factor X (Moers Music CD2008) (1983) Contains: For Brass (1982), Guitar Ring (1982), The Out Of Tune
Guitar (1982), Cadenza (1981)
- Die Donnergötter (The Thundergods) (Dossier DCD9002 [Europe]/ Homestead HMS 120-4 [U.S.]) Contains: Die
Donnergötter (1984-86), Waterloo No. 2 (1986), Guitar Trio (1977), Drastic Classicism (1982)
- Neon (NTone CDS15) (Collaborations with Martin Wheeler) Contains: Charm (1996), Ramatek (1994),
Hornithology (1996), Neon (1993)
- A Rhys Chatham Compendium (Table Of The Elements TOE-CD-56) (2002 single-CD distillation of concurrent 3 CD box
set)
- An Angel Moves Too Fast To See: Selected Works 1971-1989 (Table Of The Elements TOE-CD-57) (2002 retrospective; 3 CDs
+ book)
Albums
- Two Gongs (composed 1971; recorded live in NYC on Dec. 15, 1989) (reissue on Table Of The Elements, TOE-CD-73)
- Echo Solo (Solo piano performances) (1989)
- Hardedge (Wire Editions 8002-2) (Collaborations with Pat Thomas, Gary Smith, Gary Jeff, Lou Ciccotelli) (1999)
- A Crimson Grail: For 400 Electric Guitars (Table Of The Elements TOE-CD-106) (2007)
EPs
- Septile (NTone CDS28) (Collaborations with Jonathan Kane & DJ Elated System) (1997)
- Three Aspects Of The Name (Table Of The Elements TOE-LP-65) (2004; on red vinyl)
External links
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