The Roulette Tapes

A project launched by Tim Spelios and David Weinstein in the 80s, Impossible Music features cutup, montaged, recycled material, lopsided grooves, appropriated, restored, or reconstituted audio, new and legacy technologies, loops of contrasting and colliding musics, sound effects, disembodied vocal tracks, and noise merged into panoramic constructions. Illustrated with a 2004 performance at Roulette and artist commentary. Photo by Beatriz Cardoso Guimarães.

Composer, harpist, and multi-instrumentalist Zeena Parkins introduces the projects Phantom Orchard with electronic percussion artist Ikue Mori and a duo with electronic sound artist Laetitia Sonami. Alongside excerpts from performances at Roulette, Parkins discuses process, technique, and history. Parkins returns to Roulette on Oct. 24, 2024 with Ikue Mori and their Phantom Orchard project.

Bassist, composer, and activist Luke Stewart is best known as an accomplished  jazz musician, but he is also an innovator of techniques incorporating feedback as an extension of his sound. This edition features Stewart’s commentary on his musical trajectory as well as the role of liberation politics in music. With excerpts from the Feedback Ensemble with cellist Leila Bordreuil, and the composition “Assassinations” with ensemble Irreversible Entanglements. Stewart also discusses his Silt Trio with Brian Settles, sax, and drummers Trae Crudup and Chad Taylor. Stewart presents that trio at Roulette as part of an album release concert for "Unknown Rivers" on 12 Sept. 2024.

Improvisers John Zorn (alto sax, game calls) and Michihiro Sato (shamisen, three-stringed banjo-like instrument) in a 1985 performance at Roulette. Rescued from a reel-to-reel tape and documenting an early chapter in the downtown improv scene, the concert came shortly after the release of the duo's album Ganru Island, since re-released on Tzadik Records.

Admired as a bold saxophonist (and also sometimes guitarist, vocalist, pianist), composer Zoh Amba traces a journey from a difficult Tennessee childhood to musical and spiritual revelation. The remarks are coupled with excerpts from two performances at Roulette: the Bhakti project (2022, with Micah Thomas, piano; Thomas Morgan, bass; Marc Edwards, drums; and Matt Hollenberg, guitar) and Sun Quartet (2024, with Lex Korten, piano; Caroline Morton, bass; and Miguel Marcel Russell, drums). The Quartet emerged from a Roulette commission and is built using graphic scores and variations of devotional hymns.

The trombonist Jim Staley traces his path from playing in a Vietnam-era Army band and as an orchestral musician; through encounters with influential mentors and techniques; and musical awakenings that led to a career as a master improviser and Director of Roulette, the New York City concert series. With musical appearances by John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, Chris Cochrane, Derek Bailey, Joey Baron, Kyoko Kitamura, and Cyro Baptista with recordings captured between 1986 and 2015. Staley will be honored with an all-star Gala at Roulette on June 6, 2024.

The cellist/composer/improviser in commentary with excerpts from several performances at Roulette: his own Transfer 01 and Metahaven projects; collaborative works with guitarist Wendy Eisenberg, drummer Ryan Sawyer, vocalist Charmaine Lee, violist Joanna Mattrey; and yuniya edi kwon's Sun Han Guild. St. Louis has also worked with jaimie branch, Isabel Crespo Pardo, Ka Baird, the Vision Festival, and for Spectrum, the Brooklyn experimental arts venue.

Bassist, composer, and improviser Brandon Lopez in solo, duo, and ensemble works recorded at Roulette alongside the artist's commentary on technique, process, influences, and the unexpected. With appearances by collaborators Steve Baczkowski (sax), gabby fluke-mogul and Marina Kifferstein (violins), Nate Wooley (trumpet), Michael Foster (sax), Ben Bennett, (percussion), Gerald Cleaver (drums), and Cecilia Lopez (electronics). The title Lopez refers to looks like this: vilevilevilevilevile...

The composer Ches Smith in a collection of excerpts from performances at Roulette featuring Smith on drums, percussion, vibraphone, drum machine, and electronics. The artist provides background on his wide-ranging band projects including a Haitian ceremonial concert with drummer Daniel Brevil plus ensembles with Bill Frisell, guitar; Craig Taborn, piano; Matt Maneri, viola; Mary Halvorson, guitar; Devin Hoff, bass, and many more stellar players. Smith’s 2024 album, Laugh Ash, will be celebrated in a release concert at Roulette on March 20, 2024.

Vocalist, composer, and electronic musician Charmaine Lee with commentary on and excerpts from four performances at the Roulette concert hall in Brooklyn from 2017-2021 with bits of the works Ceremony and Papillae, an appearance at the Resonant Bodies Festival, plus solos and collaborations with violist Joanna Mattrey, cellist Lester St. Louis, trumpeter Nate Wooley, and electronics with Conrad Tao. Raised by Hong Kong émigrés in Australia, educated at Princeton and New England Conservatory, Charmaine Lee is now a major contributor to the New York experimental music scene. A recipient of Roulette’s Van Lier Fellowship, Lee returns to Roulette as part of the Mixology Festival on 10 Feb. 2024.

Composer, pianist, educator Angelica Sanchez in commentary alongside excerpts from performances with bassist Michael Formanek, drummers Billy Hart and Hamid Drake, composer/percussionist Susie Ibarra with violinist Jennifer Choi, and a solo at the tribute to jaimie branch. Sanchez returns to Roulette in a new trio with guitarist Brandon Ross and drummer Chad Taylor on 16 January 2024.

Composer and multi-instrumentalist John King (viola, guitar, electronics) in excerpts and commentary from six appearances at Roulette where his solo, small and large ensemble, and "politically tinged" works have appeared since the mid-1980s. This program features performances with collaborators including vocalist Gelsey Bell, bassist William Parker, violist Joanna Mattrey, Crucible String Quartet, TILT Brass, Cornelius Dufallo’s Secret Quartet, The String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and one of his scores for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

The cross-genre and multidisciplinary Czech composer/performer (accordion, hichiriki, synthesizer, harmonica, voice, dance) walks us through three performances commissioned through Roulette: Opera, a multimedia piece; a solo performance, Spectacle; and the installation/performance, Pieces from Darkness. Vítková returns to Roulette 16 Nov 2023 to revisit their Opera concept.

Composer/trombonist Peter Zummo in remembrances of longtime collaborator composer/cellist Arthur Russell (1951-92) illustrated with excerpts from a musically ethereal and emotionally charged 1985 concert at Roulette. Produced by Beck Zegans, this special edition is a major contribution to the legacy of the unpredictable, calculated, and disciplined work of a treasured artist and the complex, emergent scene that both misunderstood and nurtured the work. Listen to the full, unedited performance at roulette.org/event/arthur-russell. Photo: Tom Lee.

Composer, trumpet and synth player, vocalist, and activist jaimie branch (1983–2022) in remembrances from bandmates bassist Jason Ajemian, drummer Jason Nazary, bassist Luke Stewart, cellist Lester St. Louis, and sister Kate Branch alongside excerpts from Roulette performances by projects Fly or Die, jaimie branch trio, C'est Trois, and Anteloper including appearances by drummers Mike Pride and Chad Taylor. jaimie branch was a compelling presence, a fiercely creative soul, and an unapologetic speaker of truth. Roulette hosts a tribute and record release celebration of the final album on October 2, 2023. Photo: Ben Semisch, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Doug Wieselman, whose work on the clarinet, bass clarinet, sax, and guitar has led to projects with his Kamikaze Ground Crew, with Gina Leishman and Stephen Bernstein, to The Lounge Lizards with John Lurie, and major collaborations with The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Wayne Horvitz, Anthony Coleman, Laurie Anderson, Evan Lurie, Antony & The Johnsons, Coco Rosie, Robert Wilson, and many more. Wieselman traces the journey, illustrated with music by the Kamikaze Ground Crew and projects with Wayne Horvitz and Kato Hideki, all from the Roulette Archive.

The Iranian-American composer, vocalist, performance artist, and activist in a conversation illustrated with a 1986 formative performance at Roulette with longtime partner, multi-instrumentalist Richard Horowitz. Deyhim's journey from an early passion for Persian dance and music to a globally recognized concert performer and associations with artists from Arto Lindsay and Shirin Neshat to Ornette Coleman and U2 is a remarkable story. The work--including recordings, film scores, installations, opera, performance art, and collaborations--is faithful to her fertile, evolving cross-cultural roots.

Composer, musician, bandleader, and Hollywood extra Simon Hanes tells the story of his upbringing in an extended family of California musicians, metal bands, music school in Boston, and projects with Guerilla Toss, JG Thirlwell, and his own genre-busting ensemble, Tredici Bacci, a swirling reflection on Italian soundtracks, Zappa, Bacharach, and delicious chaos, all through the lens of "downtown ethos". Illustrated with audio clips from the band's shows at Roulette in 2017 and 2021.

Violinist/violist, vocalist, composer, improviser, and interdisciplinary Brooklyn-based performing artist eddy kwon in excerpts from three appearances at Roulette: the solo UMMA-YA; JUNI ONE SET: Boy mother/faceless bloom (with Senga Nengudi, Crow Nishimura, Joshua Kohl); and tombstar (with Isabel Crespo Pardo, Zekkereya El-magharbel, Lesley Mok). The artist provides commentary on the influence and embrace of ritual, ceremony, Butoh, queer and trans Korean shamans, and cultural traditions and challenges. eddy kwon returns to Roulette with a new project on 19 May 2023.

Composer, violinist, vocalist, poet, visual artist, and educator Terry Jenoure traces the arc of a spiritual, artistic, and ancestral journey across nearly four decades of performances at Roulette. From an early fascination with folk music, to the church, to working alongside Leroy Jenkins, to exploring a Puerto Rican, Jamaican, and African heritage, Jenoure's musical explorations and creations are a testament to tradition and imagination. We hear stories and excerpts from collaborative projects with Brandon Ross, James Kamal Jones aka Kamal Sabir, Pheroan Ak Laff, Gene Torres, Maria Mitchell, and others in this compelling musical tale. Jenoure returns to Roulette April 16, 2023, livestreamed and archived.