ZEITNOT

20 November 2015 — Shiley Theatre — University of San Diego

Jeff Kaiser: Bb trumpet, quartertone trumpet, flugelhorn, interactive audio and video software

This live performance was filmed and edited by Kyle Johnson of Exceptionally Decent Media Group exceptionallydecent.com/

This is the second work in a series inspired by my love of chess. The first, ZUGZWANG, is a duo for trumpet and electric guitar. This latest work is titled ZEITNOT, German for “need of time.”
The music in this work furthers my development of software for live performance, creating a hybrid sonic environment of human, trumpet, software and space. The majority of sounds you hear are created live with my trumpet and voice and then processed by software I author in the Max programming environment. (The same environment I use to author the video processing software.) Other sounds you hear include selections from a sample library I have been creating by recording the trumpet while it is not being played in the traditional fashion: the sound of air escaping from slides, valves descending and ascending, pipes and bells being struck and plucked. These libraries are accessed by rhythm and pitch generators that provide a context for live improvisation. All audio is then spatialized in the concert hall using ambisonics, a surround sound variant. [This performance, while performed in ambisonics, was recorded in stereo.]