Flotation Device 2022-12-11 - Gavin Bryars never failed us yet

Flotation Device celebrates the 50th anniversary of Gavin Bryars’ Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (a touching ode to musical and spiritual constancy) and The Sinking of the Titanic (a lament whose title particularly befits a program called Flotation Device), both premiered together in December 1972. We relate Jesus' Blood to Heiner Goebbels’ remarkable new album A House of Call (wherein recorded voices collide with live instruments), and Titanic to John Adams’ earliest canonical work, Christian Zeal and Activity.

We also examine Satoko Fujii’s latest experiment in hybrid composition, featuring a big band filled with stars of the Downtown and Japanese free improv scenes. And we revisit a Miles Davis studio session that's also turning 50. The Polish band Kurws and solo projects from New York’s Gabriel Zucker and Ukraine’s .at/on round out the playlist.

Creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world, with host Michael Schell. Annotated playlist with Comments.