TERRY RILEY – On Coltrane, Repetition, Composition | Red Bull Music Academy

It’s one thing to master a genre, quite another to pioneer one. Terry Riley has succeeded at both. His long and winding career began as he explored what would become known as the Western classical school of minimalism, alongside contemporaries such as Pauline Oliveros, Morton Subotnick and Steve Reich in ’60s California.

The early influence of jazz greats such as John Coltrane and Miles Davis, as well as the work of his friend and peer La Monte Young, fueled his desire for experimentalism, resulting in unique pieces such as “In C,” a modular musical construction considered by many to be the first minimalist composition. His years spent crisscrossing the globe also fed directly into his work, and would eventually lead to him meeting Pandit Pran Nath, the Indian classical teacher who would go on to have a profound impact on Riley’s life and music. His seminal album A Rainbow In Curved Air, released in 1969, captured the freewheeling bliss of the late ’60s and would go on to inspire the likes of the Who’s Pete Townshend and Mike Oldfield, even appearing in the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto IV.

TOPICS:

08:58 – Tape loops and repetition 13:21 – Traveling and happenings 20:34 – All night concerts with The Phantom Band 24:18 – Learning from Pandit Pran Nath 29:10 – Writing for film 37:54 – Working with his son, Gyan

MUSIC: 02:58 – John Coltrane – “A Love Supreme”

• John Coltrane – A… 08:51 – Terry Riley – “Untitled Organ”

• Video set to Terr… 11:35 – Terry Riley – “Music For The Gift”

• Terry Riley – Mus… 18:27 – La Monte Young – extract from The Tortoise, his dreams and journeys 21:20 – Poppy Nogood And The Phantom Band – Live at SUNY 26:19 – Pandit Pran Nath – Raga cycle 1972 31:12 – Terry Riley – extract from the score of Les Yeux Fermés 33:52 – Terry Riley – “You’re No Good”

• Terry Riley – You… 36:04 – Terry Riley – “Embroidery”

• Terry Riley – Emb… 38:31 – The Rileys – “The Lake”

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