John Halle’s “Outrages & Interludes” Features Corey Dargel as a Performer
Corey is featured as narrator and vocalist in two tracks, “Full Spectrum Dominance” and “Homage,” from John Halle’s album Outrages & Interludes (Purchase/Listen/Read More at Innova). Here is a track listing followed by more info about the album and John Halle:
1. PPS-23 (Le Train Bleu, Lucy Dhegrae soprano)
2. Full Spectrum Dominance (Ensemble IOU, Corey Dargel, narrator)
3. The Twist (Le Train Bleu, Joan Tower, narrator)
4. God’s Love (Ensemble IOU, Lucy Dhegrae, soprano)
5. Mortgaging the Earth (Le Train Bleu, Kendra Colten, Pam Dellal, sopranos)
6. Homage (Ensemble IOU, Kyle Gann, Corey Dargel)
7. Apology (to the Next Generation) (Now Ensemble, Sarah Chalfy, soprano)
8. Upon This Hill (Le Train Bleu, David Graeber, narrator)
Total Time = 56:46
Outrages & Interludes brings together eight works documenting composer John Halle’s decade-long involvement with radical Leftist politics. Described by Kyle Gann “as one of the great unsung totalists,” Halle and his fusion of vernacular styles, kinetic rhythms, formal sophistication, and subtle lyricism point to a new direction in music and political engagement that nevertheless maintains deep roots in the American musical tradition.
Featuring the work of some the finest young musicians including Ransom Wilson’s Le train bleu and The Now Ensemble, the collection of salvos takes on bipartisan atrocities dating to the Truman administration, Christian identity stalwart and mass murderer Timothy McVeigh, a former Harvard president’s belief in the “impeccable logic” of poisoning Africans and concludes with an inspirational guest appearance by Occupy Wall Street’s David Graeber in an extended reflection on a seminal 18th century anarchist text.
Conor Brown’s strikingly elegant production creates a consistently warm and inviting environment for confronting what are sometimes harsh political and musical truths.
Quoth members of the public and the media:
Rick Perlstein: “A beautiful invitation to debate.”
Richard Taruskin: “Exceptionally angry.”
Pitchfork Media: “Seethes in place with magnetic conviction… before burning off, disappearing back into the distance.”
Kyle Gann: “It’s god’s own truth. God bless him.”
LA Times: “Achieves symphonic richness from seemingly simple materials.”
John Halle teaches music theory at Bard College Conservatory of Music. Formerly on the faculty at Yale, his music appears on recordings by Cygnus Ensemble, Ethel, New Millennium and the Common Sense Composers’ Collective of which he is a founding member. Previously a jazz pianist, he has performed with Sonny Stitt, Eddie Henderson and Tom Harrell. His writings on politics, the arts and culture have appeared in New Politics, Jacobin, Counterpunch, Truth-Out and the New Haven Register.
