17 May, 2019Print
Dan Tepfer Conjures “Ingenious” (Rolling Stone) Algorithmic Improvisations on Natural Machines, Out Today
Listen To Tepfer Discuss Algorithmic Composition, Bach & Artificial Intelligence On NPR’s All Things Considered:https://n.pr/2Q0SlkR
Today, Dan Tepfer — “one of the moment's most adventurous and relevant musicians” (New York Magazine) and a “world-renowned jazz pianist” (NPR) —releases Natural Machines, his “ingenious” (Rolling Stone) new album out on Sunnyside Records. Natural Machines features Tepfer creating algorithmically formulated compositions, written and recorded in single takes, with the help of his own computer programs interacting with Yamaha’s self-playing Disklavier piano. The result is a project that “entrances every audience he plays for” (Cool Hunting).
As Tepfer explains, “I’m not writing a piece as much as I’m writing the way the piece works. The music I love lives at the intersection of the algorithmic and the spiritual. It’s intuition working in tandem with structure. There’s a current of anti-intellectualism, anti-science — even anti-truth — running through the world today. Natural Machines kicks against that.”
Listen to Tepfer talk with NPR’s All Things Considered about his “exploration of this musical fusion of human and machine” and how algorithms have informed musical composition since Bach: https://n.pr/2Q0SlkR
And check out the videos for Natural Machines on YouTube:dantepfer.com/naturalmachines
Natural Machines sets a new framework for how humans can make meaningful art by rethinking the boundaries between the mechanical and the natural, and how algorithms can help humans create something both intuitive and adherent to structure. Live, Tepfer’s performance is accompanied by live visuals rendered in real time in accordance with Tepfer’s performance. The projections take the sonic data from the Disklavier to represent foundational aspects of each piece – pitch, dynamics, rhythm, harmony, and more – in both two dimensions and virtual reality.
Watch NPR Music’s mini-documentary to see some of the interplay unfold:https://n.pr/2HT39MB
Tepfer has performances of Natural Machines scheduled around the world — see his full tour dates below.
Natural Machines Track List
All The Things You Are / Canon at the Octave
TriadSculpture
Constant Motion
Looper
Inversion
Intervals I / Industrial
Tremolo
Canon at the Octave / MetricMod
Intervals II / Folk Song
Demonic March
Fractal Tree
Dan Tepfer Tour Dates
5/22 – Brooklyn, NY @ Bar Bayeux – Dan Tepfer Trio
6/4 – New York, NY @ Mezzrow – Dan Tepfer Duo
6/25 – Paris, FR @ Café de la Danse – Dan Tepfer’s Natural Machines
7/18 – Stresa, IT @ TBA – Dan Tepfer Trio plays Pulcinella
7/23 – Siena, IT @ Incontri in Terra di Siena – Dan Tepfer Trio plays Pulcinella
7/26 – Lombard, IL @ NCKP National Conference – Dan Tepfer Solo
8/31 – Highland Park, IL @ Ravinia Festival – Dan Tepfer: Inventions / Reinventions
8/31 – Highland Park, IL @ Ravinia Festival – Miguel Zenon / Dan Tepfer duo
10/23 – Brno, CZ @ Filharmonie Brno – Dan Tepfer’s Natural Machines
11/24 – London, UK @ King’s Place – Dan Tepfer’s Natural Machines
12/14 – Hudson, NY @ Hudson Opera House – Dan Tepfer’s Natural Machines
5/5/20 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Civic Theatre – Dan Tepfer Trio
5/6/20 – Battle Creek, MI @ W.K. Kellogg Foundation – Dan Tepfer Trio
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