peter gordon: symphony 5

Many of Peter Gordon's old friends and collaborators, such as the late Arthur Russell, have been extensively documented through reissues, books, and films, but Gordon himself remains a bit of an enigma. In 2007, his music received a high-profile push from James Murphy, who prominently featured Gordon and Love of Life Orchestra in his FabricLive.36 mix. In 2010, Murphy's label DFA released a revelatory collection of Gordon's music from the '70s and '80s, which included two little-heard tracks recorded with Russell, and shed light on Gordon's long career. Gordon performed his first symphony, Symphony in Four Movements, at The Kitchen in New York in 1976, with a band that included Russell, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Rhys Chatham, and formalized his Love of Life Orchestra in April 1977, initially a 12-musician group. Gordon's exploration of disco, electronic, pop, and jazz elements blended with experimental music has since included collaborations with Factory Floor, Archangel, and Tim Burgess, as well as a role as music producer on Robert Ashley's opera Vidas Perfectas. Gordon now presents Symphony 5, recorded in front of a live audience by Grammy-winning producer Jeff Jones "The Jedi Master" on June 5, 2013, in the acoustically marvelous Roulette concert hall in Brooklyn. The performance is tight but loose: there's plenty of room for the unexpected as Gordon the composer allows Gordon the conductor to make decisions on the fly. Throughout the work's five movements (one of which, "Juvenalia," is an homage to "Project Chick" by Lil Wayne's and Mannie Fresh's hip-hop super group Cash Money Millionaires), Gordon's instrumental writing keeps moving, leading the listener through careening textures of counterpoint and groove, to say nothing of pleasure and pain; beneath all its exuberance and dry humor flows a dark undercurrent. The performance includes long-time LoLO members Peter Zummo (trombone), Randy Gun (guitar), Ned Sublette (guitar), and Bill Ruyle (mallet percussion). Also featured in the ensemble are Cuban jazz luminaries Elio Villafranca (piano) and Yunior Terry (bass), renowned Latin jazz musician Robby Ameen (drums), New York veteran Paul Shapiro (saxophones), Katie Porter (clarinets), and second-generation LoLO member Max Gordon (trumpet). Peter Gordon conducted the performance while playing combo organ and synth. Symphony 5 is the first release in Foom's extensive series devoted to Gordon. The series will concentrate on new recordings, unearthed material from his personal archive, as well as a few select reissues from his discography.