If eclecticism is your thing, San Francisco's Mission Dance Theater was the place to be on Sunday for the first annual Switchboard Music Festival. Billed as "eight hours of nonstop, genre-defying music by the Bay Area's most innovative artists," it was founded to bring together people who are "creating new sounds that defy description."
The informality of Dance Theater's black box provided a suitable environment, as well as a familiar one for those of us who have performed on these types of adventurous "new music" forays. It conjured up memories of my days as a graduate student, when we periodically were compelled to assist our colleagues in composer recitals that too often featured taste-impaired, soulless abominations that never would see the light of day beyond the halls (or black boxes) of academia, such as pieces for prepared piano, or works for solo instrument with tape loop accompaniment.
During my three-hour stint at this event, however, a good portion of the programming reflected endearing, if not always satisfying, levels of earnestness, creativity, and honesty that bode well for the future of this festival.
I'm not sure how many of the sounds truly were new, but some of the composers employed unusual groupings of instruments that yielded effective results. Dan Becker's Droned, for brass quintet and drum kit, is a happy journey infused with Philip Glass' minimalism, John Adams' perpetual motion, and the infectious syncopations of a New Orleans brass band. Drummer Erika Johnson was locked in, especially with her "second line" bass drum groove that gives this piece its unique flavor.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Ian Dicke's Blonde Buddha, written for brass quartet (minus horn) with the addition of drum kit, electric guitar, and electric bass. A few minutes into the work, it was clear to me that this young composer possesses considerable craft. But craft doesn't always guarantee a memorable musical result. This dull, plodding, amorphous work struck me as a purely intellectual exercise, with no hint of a melody or any emotional content. It was, in short, instantly forgettable. Too often, young composers become so enamored of their command of minutiae and so obsessed with their manipulation of esoteric musical elements that their endeavor can seem self-serving and insular.
This set concluded with festival codirector Ryan Brown's enjoyable Thick Skin. Brown skillfully blended the above-mentioned brass quartet, drums, and electric instruments with amplified bass clarinet, played by the other festival codirector, Jeff Anderle. The playing on all three works in this set was on an extremely high level.
Mark Wardlaw is a clarinetist in the Santa Rosa Symphony and a jazz saxophonist. He conducts the Symphonic Band and two orchestras at Santa Rosa High School and is the jazz band director at Santa Rosa Junior College.