7 Ekstases
Released April 2026 on Armonia. Recorded November 2024. With Bruce Gremo, C flute, alto flute, glissando flute, shakuhachi; and Hans Tammen, guitar and electronics.
Bruce Gremo: “Hans Tammen and I met in the mid 1990s in NYC. We were both informed by experimental music, electronic music, new classical music and free jazz. Hans is an early adopter of extended and prepared guitar playing in Germany, his early 2000s Endangered Guitar project fused electronics and guitar in new & interactive ways, which still shines through his current guitar works. For my part related to this LP, I have been a multiple flutist for many years. That means C flute, alto and bass flute. It includes glissando head-joint flute and shakuhachi, the traditional Japanese vertical bamboo flute. We pursued our mutual interests together in a duo called Risk Management. I relocated to Beijing in 2006, and was based there for 16 years. I relocated back to North America in late 2022. This was an opportunity to pick up were we left off. This LP is a kind of re-union. With all that we had learned in the intervening 16 years plus, we expected much new material and strategies from one another, but there was such a history of musical trust that it was the seemingly easiest thing to do, to jump into the fray again. Hans is a very astute listener, and that makes for challenging and rewarding interactions. So, not risk management, but rather risk generation and the posing of musical problems. Everything went well for use with what was essentially a dual mono recording set-up. Ekstases is an ancient Greek word that means "standing out from oneself." That is how it is at the height of ones listening focus; the musicians are both themselves and not themselves. I believe it is a skill that comes from much practice of generating risk, to pose musical problems that throw one outside of themselves. One can only linger there - outside oneself - and it is enough - the back and forth - to enlighten, enliven and enthuse. It is only half complete without you the audience. I hope you find it as cathartic as do I. Thanks for listening!”