DREAM 11 parts i to iv, from Max Richter’s beloved 8.5 hour long SLEEP suite here adapted for baritone acoustic and electric guitars. Perfect for meditation and sleep.
All posts by carlos ibanez
Imagine peer review in the arts…
I just finished my first post-minimalistic piece in four movements for string quartet, soprano, piano, and electronics. My first long-form composition. I am full with excitement. I submit the work to the Watchers of Contemporary Music for approval. Three anonymous reviewers’ comments come back. The first one is negative. The piece is far too long, dull, and repetitive. Rejection recommended. The second one is somewhat more positive but requests replacing the soprano with a trumpet and moving the second section to the end of the piece. The third one is neutral. It also recommends shortening and less prominent use of electronics. The premiere has been cancelled. I’m now staring at the score, puzzled, frustrated, demoralized…
Chromatographies: Beneath An Evening Sky (Homage to Ralph Towner)
This my definitive homage to the memory of master Ralph Towner. The collection comprises 8 of his compositions: new mixes of 6 tracks previously featured in Chromatographies vols. 1 to 4, plus two previously unreleased pieces, Beneath An Evening Sky and Serenade, opening and closing the set. Rest in peace Master Towner
Tracks featured in this collection:
Jamming Beneath an Evening Sky
A small jam dedicated to the master. Rest in peace master Towner.
In Memoriam: Ralph Towner, 1940–2026
Ralph Towner at the ECM 40 Year Festival , Mannheim, October 2009.
Photograph by Carlos Ibáñez © CIB-2009
Ralph Towner, composer, pianist, guitar master, left this world today. For me personally, no words can describe the magnitude of this loss. Towner has been the greatest influence on my musical life, an endless source of wonder, inspiration and joy.
Rest in peace master Towner.
Gatekeepers
The gatekeepers of the top scientific journals are people who themselves failed to publish in those journals when they were in academia. Had they been able to do so, they would today be authors, not professional editors. Could it be that the best science produced in the world today is being judged by the worst scientists? If true, that would be very unsettling.
It is quite doubtful that anyone would start graduate school or postdoctoral training with the idea in mind to become a journal editor. The vast majority of graduates initiating postdoctoral studies do so with an intent to become principal investigators. Something happens along the way. Disenchantment with an active career in science? Too few positions available? Harsh competition? Family choices? Perhaps all of the above.
Suhr telecatster
A telecaster from Suhr came into our hands. Black and gold. Maple neck and fingerboard. Low action, smooth playability, wonderful tele tones.
Listen to the new Suhr telecaster in action in the latest track released for the Chromatographies project, the beautiful “ASIA” by Paul Motian:
Chromatographies: The Singles Collection
“The Singles Collection” is a compilation album featuring a selection of tracks from the first 4 volumes of Chromatographies.
Chromatographies is the jazz and ambient guitar project of Carlos Ibanez. The recordings consist of solo guitar performances that alternate improvised ambient guitar meditations with jazz guitar pieces.
Tracks featured in this collection:
Synaptic Wisdom
“Synaptic Wisdom”, the latest track in the Chromatographies project, is an ambient guitar meditation to bring focus on the inner workings of our synapses. Totally improvised on the Casimi C5S baritone acoustic guitar tuned to open D, it is meant as a background to meditation and introspection.
Light, water, time…
The interplay between light, water and time can give extraordinary results in slow-shutter photography, a technique in which long(ish) exposures (1/15 – 1 sec) combine with various camera movements to yield magical streaks of light reflections on a surreal background. The covers and inlay photography of the four albums of my ambient and jazz guitar music project “Chromatographies” used this technique to turn familiar land and cityscapes into abstract paintings of movement, light and color.
The gallery above shows the photographs used for the four covers each followed by an (approximately) corresponding image taken with a normal shutter speed and no camera movement. Click on each picture for an enlarged image and try to guess where they were taken. Read further below for the spoilers.