^{(Photo by Chris Almeida)}

On Friday, January 23rd, at the Prototype 237 performance and art space in Paterson, NJ, British experimental composer, percussionist, instrument maker and improviser Bex Burch will be presenting “as yet untitled,” an evening-length piece rich with spontaneity and freeform magic that straddles the worlds of modern classical and modular jazz.

Burch is a visionary sonic artist that seems to be guided more by things like the qualities of a sound, harmonies and dissonance rather than strict musical forms and structures. In a conversation we had last week, she shared that she no longer considers herself to even be classified as a musician, but she still believes that music is a very big part of who she is. Based currently out of Berlin, Burch released in 2023 the brilliant There is Only Love and Fear on Chicago’s International Anthem label, one of the leading names in modern and underground jazz, which was declared the Contemporary Album of the Month by The Guardian (and was one of RCU’s favorite records of that year). She had also previously worked with the likes of Leafcutter John in Boing! and Tamar Osborn in the group Flock. She currently runs the label and post-punk band, Vula Viel, with Ruth Goller, and has collaborated with other musically daring artists like Ben LaMar Gay, Peter Zummo and Dame Evelyn Glennie. 

Burch employs a musical approach that she refers to as “messy minimalism,” which is a form of minimalism that incorporates the qualities of improvisation that are influenced by variables like the environment of a performance, repetition and aspects of general chaos. Specifically for the loosely constructed, flexibly arranged “as yet untitled,” Burch said she is leaving a great deal to trust and surrender. “A core part of it is trust and surrender and not needing to be in control, not needing for there to be a conductor.” She further explained that she had developed a single-paged score that allows some freedom for things like pitch, that is also semi-graphic, with some rhythm sections being depicted by drawings. She’ll be leading the piece with her unique, self-designed and self-built xylophone, which she made under the tutelage of Jamie Linwood, a master builder of tuned percussion instruments, which she says is strict and limited in its notes. “It only has six notes, so there are some instructions [in the score] like stats with the xylophone’s harmony system and a gradual movement into dissonance, but the rhythms are sort of written, and I think it’s only something like six bars in the whole hour piece, [for which] I’ve drawn pictures.”

However, one of the things that excites Burch about the performances for this piece is the marriage of leaving room for the freedom of spontaneity and adhering to the structures of the composition that she spent time constructing in advance. In the past, Burch was only an improv artist, so committing to written pieces was a new creative challenge. She found that writing specifically with intention for this piece in solitude to be a joyful experience, and viewed it as a way to honor the ideas that were coming through her. “For my joy of it, I’ve really enjoyed drawing this and choosing what to write and choosing what to leave open. The ‘messy’ of messy minimalism is how there are different free sections with different characters.There’s one where I’ve used the word ‘breath,’ there’s one that’s lyrical, there’s one that’s random and silly, and then there’s one that’s wild.”

Yet Burch says the magic of this piece relies greatly upon the spirit of free improvisation and the shared belief and vision by the ever-shifting cast of ensemble players on this tour. “I am humbled by the opportunity to have other people like Laurel Pardue and Gabriel Birnbaum, who’ve been on this tour this whole time, and then the guests will be joining us in person at Prototype, and the other guests who’ll be along this tour too, interested in trying out my ideas. It is a huge honor and a privilege. One of the fundamentals of this piece is knowing who to ask to join me. Each person is an instrument in this. So choosing the right people is super important. I’m quite excited about playing with the people who are really wanting to play with me right now. That’s my present, and it’s enough and it’s incredible.”

“As yet untitled” is specifically developed to be adapted by an ensemble of any size, and for the gig at Prototype 237, Burch will also be joined by a crack team of local guests that includes Anna Meadors on sax (from Joy on Fire); Nick Afflitto on trumpet (from Thieves in Paris and the Just Now Orchestra); and Joe Bergen on percussion (from Mantra Percussion, Montclair State University, NJ Youth Symphony Orchestra). This group will only have a single rehearsal beforehand, so the freshness of the material and everyone’s respective disparate musical backgrounds will help shape this performance into a very particular and distinctive beast that could never be replicated.

“It’s that feeling when everyone’s listening and improvising and something lifts, because it’s not just us, it’s certainly not just me, or it’s not just you, it’s just the thing that happens and it’s like crackly, you know? That is fundamental. So when I started writing this, it was always the intention to have space for that energetic feeling and not to try and pull in the reins of control.”

The improvised quality of this piece is so important to its presentation and its identity, that it has sort of developed a life of its own. Burch feels that the more that she performs “as yet untitled,” the more she gets to learn it and the more it progresses. Much like something like “A Love Supreme” or “Dark Star,” she views the piece as an ever-evolving organism that is never played the same way twice and never really finishes, but only picks up again with each and every performance, no matter the time and space that occurs in between. 

“With ‘as yet untitled,’ there’s never going to be another performance like the one at Prototype 237, and there’s never been one like the one last night in Clatter Cafe in Frostburg, Maryland. For me, I’m just experiencing [the piece] just like you are or anyone else in an audience because it’s working me. I’m not like doing this. I’m just experiencing this with you all, and it’s totally beautiful.

“I really believe that for me, the music isn’t finished. I haven’t finished it, it hasn’t finished with me. The fact that this tour is happening and that you have all invited me out here to your country and to these amazing rooms with these amazing communities, it’s teaching me about where this music belongs, and it’s in rooms like this. It’s with people like the Prototype 237 constellation of humans, including yourself and the musicians who are going to join us there and everyone who’s going to come to that show.”

Bex Burch will be playing at Prototype 237 in Paterson, NJ on Friday, January 23rd, at 8pm, with an opening set of poetry by Queer writer & multi-media artist John-Francis Quiñonez. Door code: #0123. For tickets and more information, please click here.