Flotation Device celebrates the master of fusion music, Miles Davis, for the 50th anniversary of He Loved Him Madly, his most extreme and distended foray into downtempo ambience. We compare it to Xenakis's equally extreme, but much louder work Cendrées, premiered on the same date as Davis's 1974 recording session. We also survey a career-spanning work from the nonagenarian Hungarian composer György Kurtág in its premiere recording, while sampling new works by younger musicians from France, Australia and North American who follow in the footsteps of these three giants. An unusual set devoted to new music for piano trio, of both the jazz and classical variety, features selections by Matthew Shipp, Kris Davis and Gabriel Vicéns, while an unusual mix of bagpipes and Asian woodwind instruments rounds out the playlist. Creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell.
