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For Pte Tokahewin Ska

from Jerome Kitzke: The Redness of Blood by Jerome Kitzke

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    Jerome Kitzke (b. 1955) has described himself as being as much a storyteller as a composer, and that description makes sense. Throughout his music there is a strong dramatic, narrative, theatrical component. Performers shout, sing, move and dance, often as though possessed by the music. An obvious ancestor here is Harry Partch, and though Kitzke’s music does not use just intonation, it projects that “corporeal“ quality that this predecessor valued as essential.

    The pieces on this disc make for intersecting pairings. There are two works for a pianist who vocalizes and produces sound beyond the keyboard (Bringing Roses With Her Words [2009] and There Is a Field [2008]). There are two works that are portraits of individuals. There are two ensemble pieces that are idiosyncratically theatrical (For Pte Tokahewin Ska [2015] and The Redness of Blood [1994–95]). Listening to them in sequence, they begin to feel like a multi-movement work about life that culminates in The Redness of Blood, the longest and most substantial piece of the program.

    On a first hearing, for some more accustomed to the complexities of modernist practice, Kitzke’s music may sound somewhat simple. Conversely, those more used to the open spaces of minimalism, or the grand gestures of neoromanticism, may find the music too mutable as it morphs, quicksilver-like, through an invigorating stream of consciousness. The fact that this music does not fall easily into any “-ism” is a tribute to its individuality, and its strength. Ultimately, the music has the quality of a crazy kaleidoscope, tumbling from one moment to another, the sonic palette constantly refreshed.

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about

For Pte Tokahewin Ska (2015) is another portrait, in this case an “honor song” for the composer’s friend and collaborator, Charlotte Black Elk. Kitzke came to know her while working on earlier pieces dealing with the struggles of the Lakota people against cultural (and literal) genocide. She is a tribal elder and activist, and her strong personality obviously helped Kitzke to refine and strengthen his own expressive vision. The title is her Lakota name and it means “White Buffalo Woman of Different Motion,” suggesting that she moves in her own way regardless of any other’s desire or obstacle. Written for the ensemble that the composer has founded and directed now for decades (The Mad Coyote), the instrumentation is a mixed sextet of flute(s), bass clarinet, bassoon, cello, Hammond organ, and percussion, where all the players vocalize and sing.

credits

from Jerome Kitzke: The Redness of Blood, released November 4, 2021
Text by Charlotte Black Elk

Margaret Lancaster, flutes, speaking, vocals; Michael Lowenstern, bass clarinet, speaking, vocals; Sara Schoenbeck, bassoon, speaking, vocals; Dorothy Lawson, cello, speaking, vocals; Wil Smith, Hammond B3 w/Leslie, speaking, vocals; Jay Johnson, percussion, speaking, vocals; Nicholas DeMaison, conductor

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Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc., which records under the label New World Records, was founded in 1975.

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