250906 (Music for a Bat Cave)

From today's playlist 321
Jameszoo
Performed by: Asko|Schönberg

Jameszoo, also known as Mitchel van Dinther, is a Dutch experimental jazz producer. This piece was composed? for the Dutch contemporary music ensemble, Asko|Schönberg. As for what makes it "experimental," it is likely the following (please let me know if I am mistaken).

First, he built musical robots capable of making their own performance decisions. Working with experts, he developed a generative AI that uses machine learning to write its own MIDI data. He then had this read by a Yamaha Disklavier, an automated player piano. Next, he gave the ensemble basic rules to follow while performing. Finally, he had them improvise in response to the Disklavier's performance.

This piece is included on an album titled "Music for 17 Musicians." This is an homage to "Music for 18 Musicians," released by Steve Reich in 1978. Reich created minimal music through pulses (repeating beats) and phasing (shifting melodies).

Asko|Schönberg only has 16 members. This means that one of the 17 musicians is a musical robot. Is Dinther trying to create a new kind of jazz (which he calls naive computer jazz) by using the musical robot's algorithm as a pulse and the phasing of the live human performance?

As an aside, yesterday was the anniversary of Holger Czukay's passing. I just realized that now. I think "Music for 17 Musicians," which includes this track, is perfect for a day spent remembering him.