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CEE Book Party and Performance, October 19

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The Canadian Electronic Ensemble (CEE) and the Canadian Music Centre – Ontario region co-host the book launch of An Orchestra at My Fingertips: A History of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble by Dr. Alexa Woloshyn.

Published this summer by McGill-Queens University Press, An Orchestra at My Fingertips is the first detailed study of the history, music and legacy of the CEE. Covering the Ensemble since its inception, and drawing on extensive interviews with group members, Alexa Woloshyn provides unique insight into the musicians that make up the group as well as analysis of the CEE’s compositions, commissions, and improvisation and performance practice. An Orchestra at My Fingertips speaks to the global development and transformation of live electronic music through the history of a group that has been a consistently innovative voice in Canada and beyond.

Join us for live improvisations by the CEE and a discussion of Dr. Woloshyn’s book with the author.

Tickets are PWYC and reservations are requested. Here’s the direct link: Buy: CEE Book Party and Performance – Thursday, October 19, 2023 (salesforce-sites.com)

Thursday, October 19, Chalmers House, Toronto
Door: 7:30pm, Performance: 8pm. PWYC. Cash bar.

CEE at the IMOO Fest, October 13

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The CEE quartet will be closing out the first night of the 2023 installment of Ottawa’s IMOO Fest on Friday, October 13 at 10 pm. Details on the full festival location, artists and performance times are available on their website: https://www.improvisedmoo.com/imoo-fest-2023/

This iteration of the quartet will include John Kameel Farah, David Jaeger, Jim Montgomery and David Sutherland. If you find yourself in the Ottawa area, check it out; the festival presents a stellar line-up of excellent improvisers.

New Album! Pass the Track now available on Bandcamp

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Pass the Track, the CEE’s newest album, will be available on Bandcamp starting Friday, April 7. 2023. On the first Friday of a month throughout 2023, bands will receive 100% profit from their sales made on the platform – forgoing all fees that would typically be taken out.

In March of 2020. The COVID pandemic was becoming entrenched. As the reality of social isolation and physical distancing set in, we decided to try doing some music while maintaining our isolation. The result: the PtT project. Tracks were recorded by each CEE member, and then passed on to the others. Here’s the order of track creation for each part of the project:

PtT-1: Paul, John, Jim, Rose, David J., David S.
PtT-2: Jim, David S, Rose, David J, John, Paul
PtT-3: David S, Rose, David J, John, Paul, Jim
PtT-4: Rose, Paul, John, Jim, David S, David J.
PtT-5: John, David J, Paul, David S, Jim, Rose
PtT-6: David J, Jim, David S, Paul, Rose, Joh

Please check out the album: https://thecee.bandcamp.com/album/pass-the-track

CEE gets the modular treatment

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The Canadian Electronic Ensemble is the featured artist on Modulisme, a web site, blog and magazine created and maintained in France by Philippe Petit.


Here’s the link: https://modulisme.info/session/53


There’s wonderful stuff here in all three formats and it will reward an extensive browse after, of course, you’ve enjoyed the CEE. All the audio tracks are previously unreleased material. Enjoy.

CMU releases CEE’s Steiner Lecture

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The CEE presented the Steiner Lecture in Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University on February 26, 2020. The event, moderated by Prof. Alexa Woloshyn, provided background on current members and some individual takes on the creative process.

The CEE 50th Approaches

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It seems like only yesterday (actually, it seems like a hell of a long time ago) that the CEE presented its first-ever concert to a large group of startled, bemused and enthralled junior-high students in the spring of 1972. Our plans to celebrate have just begun, but the centerpiece will be a 5-album set featuring unreleased material from the intervening years, new projects and new individual projects from all the current members. Given the time-honored traditions of such an august group, there will have to be at least one major performance and subsequent drink-em-up, but the shape of said event will depend on how soon we escape the COVID cave. Stay tuned, or logged on, or whatever it is you kids say today.

While we’re discussing things historical, check out David Jaeger’s concise history of new music in Toronto in the ‘70’s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3aHkaMsVAk

PS: a closing historical note. To our American friends: condolences on the events of January 6 and following, and a gentle suggestion: if you are going to insist on having Republicans, please ensure they come equipped with spines.

The PtT Project (Pass the Track)

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After the high of the CMU residency, we returned to Toronto at the end of February just in time for the Coronavirus crisis. As the reality of social isolation and physical distancing set in, we decided to try doing some music while maintaining our isolation. The result: the PtT project. Here’s the order of track creation for each part of the project.

  • PtT-1: Paul, John, Jim, Rose, David J., David S.
  • PtT-2: Jim, David S, Rose, David J, John, Paul
  • PtT-3: David S, Rose, David J, John, Paul, Jim
  • PtT-4: Rose, Paul, John, Jim, David S, David J.
  • PtT-5: John, David J, Paul, David S, Jim, Rose
  • PtT-6: David J, Jim, David S, Paul, Rose, John

Here’s two of the resulting projects; PtT-1 and PtT-5 with visuals by Intrepita (Paul Stillwell). Enjoy.

PtT-5 was initiated by John, followed by: David J (Darth), Paul, David S. (Suds), Jim (Mudfish) and Rose (band rule; you have to be over 60 to have a pseudonym). Everybody hears the tracks as they’re produced and can then think about a response. John’s stark opening vocal track was a shoku.  By the time it got to me, Darth, Paul and Suds had each taken the project in new and deeper directions. What could I add to an already rich project?  I decided to relax, and just – breathe. Paul’s video is the exhalation of our combined inspiration – or something.

Mudfish

CEE Residency at Carnegie Mellon University School of Music

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It was an intense, eye-opening, tremendously satisfying four days, beginning with rehearsals with the Exploded Ensemble in the magnificently equipped Media Center and ending with a concert in the equally well-equipped Kresge Theatre.  A great treat was the addition of the brilliant improvising violinist Pauline Kim Harris (whose concert with Jesse Styles, guru of the EE, packed the club where they performed the previous evening. Pretty cool scene in Pittsburgh). We were very pleased that the concert included, as well as our collaborations with the EE, beautiful performances of Larry Lake’s Psalm for oboe and tape with Hannah Senft as soloist and David jaeger’s Sarabande for viola and live delay processing with violist Sara Frankel.  Along the way, we collectively presented the Steiner Lecture in Creative Inquiry and four workshops:

              Rose Bolton: Electronic Music making for Women and non-binary Individuals

              John Kameel Farah: Approaches to Piano Improvisation

              David Jaeger and Jim Montgomery: Composing with Electronic Instruments

              Paul Stillwell and David Sutherland: Modular Synthesis 101

The CEE concert performances and our collaborations with the EE are being prepared for release. We’ll let you know.

The CEE: 2020 edition

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Rose Bolton was back from her very productive leave of absence just in time to prepare for our residency at Carnegie Mellon University in February. David Sutherland has become an integral voice in the group and so the full sextet set off to Pittsburgh in February. Some amazing music happened in and around the seminars and workshops especially our collaborative performances with CMU’s Exploded Ensemble. The results of those sessions are being prepared for release.