DITMAS, BRUCE - Visioni Sconvolgenti

"With roots in the early developments of modular synthesis and free jazz and revered amongst the most discerning collectors of international jazz, electronic music, and American avant-garde, the experimental drummer known as Bruce Ditmas occupies a firm branch on contemporary experimental musics family tree. As the one time romantic partner (and artistic collaborator) of sound poet Joan La Barbara (later to be Miss Morton Subotnik) and the stand-out session drummer for both Robert Masons mutant synth Stardrive project and Gil Evans legendary Jimi Hendrix tribute band, Ditmas is best savored as the first recorded solo artist to utilize Robert Moogs lesser-known Moog Drum controller -- an instrument which over the course of two 1977 independent LPs (Aeray Dust and Yellow) would become synonymous with his blooming reputation. Raised in Miami, nurtured in New York City, and willingly exploited internationally, Bruces public life as a child prodigy-cum-world jazz crusader (drawing similarities with the likes of Frances Jacques Thollot) has seen him spread his select discography over many imprints, including Joan La Barbaras own Wizard Label, Enja, and ECM -- socializing with sound designers like Suzanne Ciani and collaborating on projects penned by Annette Peacock, Paul Bley, and his long running collaborator Enrico Rava. Spending the last thirty years travelling between America and Italy as a full-time jazz musician whilst working with inter-communal music initiatives, film directors, and theater groups, Bruce has retained the same maverick passion and macabre creative influences channeling brutalism, futurism, science fiction, and psychological horror through his percussive mantra and avant-garde approach to instrument manipulation and recontextualization. The selected titles on Visioni Sconvolgenti are extracted from various recordings made over the last three decades, comprising field recording techniques and percussive manipulation resulting in gritty tonal soundscapes and angular sonic sculptures, while drawing theoretical comparisons with European proto-industrial units like Germanys Faust, Swiss electronic jazz pioneer Bruno Spoerri, Czech sonic illustrator Milan Grygar, and sprawling generation of Parisian musique concrète informed anti-melodic luminaries. Reflecting a lifelong career in active melodic drum exploration and vivid existential sound design, Visioni Sconvolgenti provides an alternative, darker, meditative, glimpse into the work of a proactive composer at his non-conformist best in the uninhibited confides of his own home analog studio. Artwork by Andy Votel. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering; Edition of 500. - Dead-Cert.