Terry and Gyan Riley Live At Oval Space (Not At the MIM Where I Saw Them)
Thanks to a friend of mine, I had the opportunity to see Terry and Gyan Riley at the Musical Instrument Museum.
Of course I was familiar with the elder Riley’s work, and I have the The Book Of Abbeyozzud album (which Amazon tells me I’ve owned since 2003), but I didn’t really know what to expect since the evening was billed as an evening of improvised music. The website for the evening’s performance quotes Terry Riley as saying:
“Nothing I have done in this life has given me more satisfaction than improvising on these songs with Gyan. Nothing I have done can match the intuitive synchronicity we have shared, many times, on the stage.”
The evening’s music was sublime, challenging and rewarding. It spun circular rhythms and balanced scales as each player was propelled by the other. I have never seen another night of music quite like it and I will be forever grateful for the experience.
Here is video of Terry and Gyan Riley from a totally different 2018 performance presented by NTS; Live At “Oval Space.”