Saturday 13 October 2018

REVIEW: Terry And Gyan Riley - The RNCM, Manchester.




American composer and musician Terry Riley, now in his 83rd year, is frequently catalogued alongside Minimalist composers such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich. While his most famous works, In C and A Rainbow in Curved Air, employ the repetitiveness of a few chords associated with minimalism, his work goes beyond classical minimalism and into realms of jazz, electronica, and Indian raga music. His work in the 1960s had an impact on the rock music of the 1970s – he recorded an album with former Velvet Underground member John Cale (called Church of Anthrax) in 1970 (which went unreleased until 1971 as the record company were unsure of how to categorise it) and, perhaps most famously of all, his work inspired The Who’s Pete Townshend during his experiments with synthesisers for their album Who’s Next and even saw that album’s opening track, ‘Baba O’Riley’ (nowadays better known as the opening and closing theme to the US crime drama CSI: NY) named after him.

His latest tour sees him collaborating with his son, Gyan, and together they present a series of improvised pieces of music. The concert at the Royal Northern College of Music featured Terry Riley on piano, melodica, and electronics, Gyan, meanwhile, played guitar, often channelling the sound through effects pedals. As the two performers arrived onstage, the generational gap between the two men was evident – Gyan was dressed in trousers and shirt, his hair cut short; Terry, however, emerged with his long white beard, taqiyah (skullcap), and robes and looked like a wizard or mystic. The two men then proceeded to perform eight improvised pieces of music, many of which leaned heavily into the jazz traditions; indeed, Gyan’s guitar style was often reminiscent of the work of electric jazz guitarist John McLaughlin on Miles Davis’ album Bitches Brew and McLaughlin’s own group, the Mahavishu Orchestra.

The opening piece was heavily dominated by Terry Riley’s piano, with Gyan’s electric guitar entering the piece to provide a counterpoint. As the piece developed, the two would exchange glances, something they would continue to do throughout the evening’s performances. As is so often the case with music performances between musicians, the non-verbal communication says it all: the odd glance here, the wry smile there, all little cues which encourage the other performer to keep going. Interestingly, Gyan was the one who seemed to be upholding the cause for minimalism as he repeated the same chord progression while his father threw caution to the wind and improvised riffs at the piano.

The second piece began with Terry and Gyan providing some Moroccan sounding a capella vocals before Terry launched into some more piano-based improvisations, continuing to sing, as Gyan filled out the sound the guitar. The third piece saw Terry pick up a melodica for a more bluesy performance, driven heavily by Gyan’s guitar work. As the piece neared its end, Terry placed down the melodica and played some blues-jazz lines on the piano. The fourth performance of the night, saw Terry singing again, this time in English. “Tears of joy flow from my eyes,” he crooned over a piano sound bed as Gyan played some guitar licks which wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Steely Dan’s jazz-rock album Aja. Terry’s choice of lyrics perhaps revealed more about how he felt during the performance; he certainly seemed to be enjoying sharing the stage with his son and enjoying himself as they went off on a voyage of musical discovery. This rather mellow, reflective piece was swiftly contrasted by the following work: a frantic, driving piece with piano and guitar being put through their paces before the piece settled down to a calmer, more subdued middle section, before the frenetic energy of the opening returned for the closing movement.

After an interval, Terry and Gyan Riley returned to the stage, Gyan back on guitar and Terry stood over the piano, manipulated electronic sounds through a synthesiser programme on what was presumably a tablet. As Terry’s hands caressed the screen, the sound altered in pitch and Gyan drove his guitar sound through a variety of effects pedals to create a piece which began life as sounding like a spacey piece of music, akin to what the BBC Radiophonic Workshop created for science-fiction shows in the 1960s, before it mutated into a more ambient droning, recalling Brian Eno’s works in the late 1970s. The effect was very trippy; indeed, one could be forgiven for thinking that they had someone left the RNCM and entered into a rave! Terry resumed his work on the melodica for the next piece as Gyan brought things back down to Earth with a more lyrical guitar style before the final work of the night: a vibrant, joyous, almost calypso-feeling piece.

The concert was loose, unpredictable, and all about the music (there was no between song talking to the audience except a brief “thank you” speech from Gyan before the final piece). The evening may not necessarily have been to everybody’s taste but for those who were familiar with Terry’s work, there was much to savour both in terms of the composition of the pieces and in the musicianship of father and son.

Reviewer - Andrew Marsden
on - 12/10/18

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