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SCOTT FIELDS ENSEMBLE - From the Diary of Dog Drexel

Format: CD
Label & Cat.Number: Rossbin RS 008
Release Year: 2002
Note: early CD of this (still active) instrumental / impro ensemble, feat. various musicians on: vibraphone, marimba, crotales, unpitched percussion, oboe and English horn, alto saxophone and clarinet, trumpet, electric guitar and nylon-string guitar... between composed beauty and improvisational exploration..."a suite of five movements, each of which programmatically portrays an emotional state from the diary"
Price (incl. 19% VAT): €6.00


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Carrie Biolo: vibraphone, marimba, crotales, and unpitched percussion
.Kyle Bruckmann: oboe and English horn
.Guillermo Gregorio: alto saxophone and clarinet
.Greg Kelley: trumpet
.Scott Fields: electric guitar and nylon-string guitar
.Stephen Dembski: conductor (tracks one through four)
.Gregory Taylor: constructor (track five)


Movements one through four were composed by Scott Fields (BMI).
Movement five was composed by Biolo, Bruckmann, Gregorio, Kelley, Fields, and Taylor.


It was constructed by Gregory Taylor using Cycling 74¹s Max/MSP software.
His raw materials were solo improvisations by each of the ensemble's members.


The recording and mixing engineer was Mark Haines.
The mastering engineer was Tom Blain


Recorded 22 April, 2002 at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
Mixed at Smart Studios 3 May, 2002. Mastered at Ultimate Audio Mastering, Madison, Wisconsin.

There is a formula for making up your porn star name. As your first name use the name of the pet you had when you were a kid. As your last name use the street you grew up on. Scott Fields¹ pet was a whippet named "Dog." Fields grew up on 57th and Drexel. "Dog 57th" is not a good porn name.


"The Diary of Dog Drexel" is a suite of five movements, each of which programmatically portrays an emotional state from the diary. One of the ideas behind "Dog" was to thoroughly blend improvised and composed elements.

In the first four movements'Conflicted, Pissed, Bummed, and Agitated'there are at almost all times at least one thread of composition and another of improvisation.

The balance between the elements shifts steadily. Muddying the waters further is that many of the extended techniques that are called for in the composed elements are drawn from the usual vocabulary of the ensemble¹s instrumentalists.

The fifth movement'Medicated'also blends the two elements, but through a different process.

Each of the ensemble¹s instrumentalists, with the barest of instructions from Fields, recorded individual improvisations.

These improvisations were the clay that computer musician Gregory Taylor shaped into the fifth movement. As a result of the compositional strategy and the extended techniques used, it can be tricky to distinguish preplanned from spontaneous.

The best plan for listening to this music is to treat it as a whole rather than worry about what came from where.

www.rossbin.com/rs008.htm