Alex Paxton

[iranzi]

Alex Paxton — trombonist & composer from the UK
fantastic & rather bonkers!

https://alexpaxtonmusic.com/work

Slide Action
Benny Vernon, Huw Evans, Jamie Tweed, Josh Cirtina — Aldeburgh Festival, Snape Maltings, June 2022


Candyfolk Space-Drum
London Sinfonietta & children's chorus — Southbank Centre, March 2022
"This is a piece of music I have written so that it can be played to an audience by notation-reader-like-musician-soloists who like it, improvising musicians who like it, a drummer who likes it, electricitysounds and some children who like it also. These are the best sounds I can imagine these people making, I think it will also be also be fun to watch." Alex Paxton, from the concert programme https://tinyurl.com/38886xjk

[iranzi]

deleted

[mbarbier]

Alex is incredible and wonderfully bonkers music.

His recent sackbut piece for Emily White is really great. Hopefully the link works since it's Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/britishtrombon ... 7S9Ucbxw6v

[iranzi]

Alex is incredible and wonderfully bonkers music.

His recent sackbut piece for Emily White is really great. Hopefully the link works since it's Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/britishtrombon ... 7S9Ucbxw6v

the link works! it's only a short excerpt but it is great. Thank you!!!

[iranzi]

Seems unique How the different elements put together.the overall sound: really special etc etc (i’ll need a lot of time to come up with a pitch perfect accolade. to beat hundreds of them out there)

[jacobgarchik]

I dig the orchestral music...interesting to contrast the freedom of his solo style with the relative formality of the orchestra players, an intriguing juxtaposition. Not without precedent I suppose; I'm thinking of the 60s record of Bernstein/NY phil on Larry Austin's improvisations with Don Ellis, or Ornette on Skies of America and on the Naked Lunch soundtrack. I wonder if he is going to continue to pursue that, or could the script be flipped, with an orchestra of wild free jazz players and a classical soloist, or a combination of these things.

[iranzi]

I think i found my kindred s..something or other!

° • ° • ° • ° • ° • ° • ° • ° • ° • ° • ° • ° • ° • ° • ° •

text by Robert Worby on Paxton

Alex Paxton Likes To Say YES!.pdf

https://www.nonclassical.co.uk/engage-1 ... to-say-yes

Alex Paxton 'Levels Of Affection' Philharmonia Orchestra

[iranzi]

really admiring the futuristic and inclusive, community-based vibes e.g. in "Candyfolk Space-Drum", linking up with Cornelius Cardew's Scratch Orchestra, and The Sun Ra Arkestra...

so close to some of my ideal versions of music.
(for me) only missing some avant-techno stuff, like the beats & sounds from current South East Asian scenes, that to my ears have a similar thrust to Paxton's:
Pisitakun Kuantalaeng’s new album
at her open door «live 2023»
Gabber Modus Operandi «PUXXXIMAXXX»
Raja Kirik «Rampokan» …
or the classics:
Autechre’s «Gantz Graf» and «elseq»,
Vladislav Delay/Ripatti Deluxe «Speed Demon»

+ would be great to have more street in it: with it’s distict kinds of bluntness/succinctness

...basically: less academia sheen, more street, more dancefloor

for starters…

that would be a totally different Alex Paxton though, he probly not gonna like it

[iranzi]

Tried thinking of other stylistic antecedents: some of early Stravinsky, Xenakis, John Zorn and the rest of that ’80s scene, a bit of Radulescu, even less of Lachenmann.
Tried to find pieces with some retroactive Paxton in them, but got diverted by trombones featuring in some of the above (idea for a thread maybe).
Here's Rădulescu and Lachenmann, sounding resolutely not 21st century, unlike Paxton

trombe d'oro della solarità, Op. 65 (for solo trombone with sound icons) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_icon
Barrie Webb on trombone


NUN (for flute, trombone, male chorus, and orchestra)
Michael Svoboda on trombone