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James Fei

JAMES FEI (b. Taipei, Taiwan) moved to the US in 1992 to pursue a degree in electrical engineering. He has since been active as a composer, improvisor and electronic musician. Works by Fei have been performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble and Noord-Hollands Philharmonisch Orkest. Recordings of his works can be found on Leo Records, Improvised Music from Japan, CRI and Organized Sound. In addition to writing concert music for conventional and electro-acoustic ensembles, Fei also creates sound installations and performs on saxophones and live electronics. Fei joined the faculty of Mills College in 2006.

Recent CD releases include Sieves, electro-acoustic by Fei and Kato Hideki [Improvised Music From Japan], Alto Quartets [Organized Sound Recordings], Studies on the ANS (Russian synthesizer from 1958) [Krabbesholm], and Bode Sound Project, a tribute CD to early electronic instrument pioneer Harold Bode.

Fei has taught classes and lectured at Wesleyan University, Columbia University, The Art Institute of Chicago, Taipei Normal University, Theremin Center (Moscow), Pro Arte (St. Petersberg), Krabbesholm (Denmark), IAMAS (Ogaki, Japan) and NUAS (Nogoya, Japan). His works have been performed at Merkin Hall, The Kitchen, Knitting Factory, Tonic, Roulette, Experimental Intermedia, MATA Festival, Engine 27 (all New York), Empty Bottle (Chicago), Akedemie der Künste (Berlin), Beurs van Berlage (Amsterdam), Steim (Amsterdam), Overtoom 301 (Amsterdam), JFC Club (St Petersberg), Super Deluxe (Tokyo), Shinjuku Pit Inn (Tokyo), Osaka Arts

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4
Live Review

Other Minds 25, Day 4

Read "Other Minds 25, Day 4" reviewed by John Chacona


Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 Taube Atrium Theater Other Minds Festival San Francisco, CA October 17, 2021 Outside the hotel on the morning of the final day of Other Minds 25, curator Harry Bernstein, nearing the conclusion of the twice-postponed festival over which he presided, scanned the sidewalk while a car waited at the curb. In moments, the object of his search emerged behind him. To alert ...

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Album Review

Roscoe Mitchell with Ostravska Banda: Distant Radio Transmission

Read "Distant Radio Transmission" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Decisamente prolifico, in anni recenti, Roscoe Mitchell, e non ce ne rallegreremo mai abbastanza. Certo, con lui c'è sempre il rischio del prodotto non perfettamente a fuoco, centrato, in poche parole all'altezza del suo grande talento (e ormai, varcata la soglia degli ottanta, acclarato magistero, e da un po'), ma per fortuna non è questo il caso: in questo lavoro con la Ostravska Banda così felicemente articolato è in qualche modo raccolto, quintessenziato, il succo del suo sapere (e ardire) ...

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Album Review

Roscoe Mitchell with Ostravska Banda: Distant Radio Transmission

Read "Distant Radio Transmission" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Sometimes music makes you want to become a better dancer, or maybe even a better lover. With Roscoe Mitchell's music, you can't help but aspire to be a better listener. The co-founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians creates sounds that transcend jazz, new classical, and avant-garde musics. With Distant Radio Transmission he presents music that he previously recorded (solo or in small improvising groups) and reworked for a 33-piece orchestra, ...

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Album Review

Roscoe Mitchell with Ostravska Banda: Distant Radio Transmission

Read "Distant Radio Transmission" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Roscoe Mitchell, a co-founder of the AACM and Art Ensemble of Chicago, continues to discover new intersections of jazz, classical and avant-garde music with Distant Radio Transmission. As he approaches eighty years of age Mitchell has waved off time and tradition, reinventing the AEoC brand with the orchestrated--sometimes operatic--We Are on the Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration (Pi Recordings, 2019), a project that bore little resemblance to the group's historical discography. On this album, he draws on past compositions to ...

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Album Review

James Fei: Solo Works

Read "Solo Works" reviewed by Robert Spencer


James Fei is an associate of Anthony Braxton, and has appeared in some of Braxton's large ensembles. This disc of his solo works is an extension of Braxton's ground-breaking work for solo reeds. The story goes that in the late Sixties Braxton was playing a solo concert wherein he ran out of ideas within ten minutes, and had to start repeating himself. Resolving never to let that happen again, he developed an entirely original approach to the instrument, isolating various ...

122
Album Review

James Fei: Solo Works

Read "Solo Works" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Influenced by iconoclasts such as Harry Partch and John Cage, while cognizant of Anthony Braxton’s accomplishments as a solo artist, saxophonist and electrical engineer, James Fei finds interest in tearing apart and rebuilding motifs, pursuing odd phrasings, half-tones, micro tones and other particulars. Perhaps his interest in engineering serves as the foundation for trying to determine – what makes things work? On Solo Works Fei guides the listener through nine pieces while performing solo on soprano sax, alto sax, bass ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Distant Radio...

Wide Hive Records
2020

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STUDIES ON THE ANS

Unknown label
2006

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Solo Works

Warner Bros. Records
2000

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Solo Works

Leo Records
1999

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