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Rhys Chatham Trio
Museum of Contemporary Art; Wed 8
Rhys Chatham came to notice in the ’70s, swimming in the same downtown Manhattan scene that spit out Sonic Youth. Best remembered for droning, minimal masterpieces like “Guitar Trio” and “Die Donnergötter,” the classically trained New Yorker inspired Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo and countless other noisemongers. When his adopted hometown of Paris commissioned him to write a piece for 400 guitars in 2005, Chatham gamely whipped up A Crimson Grail. Inside the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, the composition was performed by just 125 guitars, yet it was anything but a compromise.
That event’s success brought attention to his current avant-garde adventures, including a couple of relatively modest but memorable passes through the Empty Bottle in ’06 and ’07. Both of those visits included local ax wizard David Daniell, who played concertmaster for a landmark undertaking at Lincoln Center last summer when Chatham re-created Grail with a 200-plus guitar army. A live recording of the NYC event will be released by Nonesuch next week, cementing Chatham’s long-overdue ascent. Yet the guitar visionary’s now opted to take up the trumpet. Huh?
The 57-year-old’s toyed with the instrument before: British avant-garde rag The Wire released Chatham’s brass exploits on 1999 album Hard Edge. So after a return to the instrument, it’s fitting he’d kick-start the magazine’s Adventures in Modern Music festival this week with an MCA exclusive that spotlights the artist’s latest trio. Flanked by Daniell—assuming six-string duties—and drummer Tim Barnes, Chatham’s approach to trumpet mirrors Daniell’s ax work; both are processed through electronics, layering chords in a lush sonic patchwork. What to expect beyond that is a mystery, which is just how these guys like it.
