Rhys Chatham
Born	September 19, 1952 (1952-09-19) (age 55)
Origin	New York City, New York, U.S.
Genre(s)	Minimalism, No wave, experimental rock
Occupation(s)	Composer, guitarist, music theorist, trumpeter
Instrument(s)	Electric guitar, trumpet
Years active	1971–present
Label(s)	Moers Dossier Homestead New Tone (NTone)/ Ninja Tune Table of the Elements Wire
Associated acts	Tony Conrad Glenn Branca Band of Susans Martin Wheeler
Website	www.rhyschatham.com, www.rhyschatham.net
Notable instrument(s)
Electric guitar, drums/percussion, electric bass guitar, amplified trumpet

Rhys Chatham (born September 19, 1952, New York City^[1]) is an American composer, guitarist, and trumpet player, primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best known for his "guitar orchestra" compositions. He has lived in France since 1987. is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article is about the state. ... For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Minimalism (disambiguation). ... No Wave was a short-lived but influential music and art scene that thrived briefly in New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk scene there. ... Experimental rock or Avant rock is a type of art music based on rock and roll which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, and/or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... For the UK magazine, see Guitarist (magazine). ... Music theory is a set of systems for analyzing, classifying, and composing music and the elements of music. ... A trumpeter may be one of several things: A trumpeter is a musician who plays the trumpet. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making music. ... Two different electric guitars. ... Trumpeter redirects here. ... In the music industry, a record label can be a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. ... Homestead Records is a New York City based sublabel of Dutch East India Trading. ... Ninja Tune is a London-based independent record label started in 1991 by DJs Matt Black and Jonathan More, better known as Coldcut, with a strong leaning towards Electronic, abstract hip-hop, instrumental hip hop, Nu-Jazz, drum and bass, and chillout music. ... For the periodic table of the chemical elements, see Periodic table. ... Tony Conrad (born Anthony S. Conrad in 1940) is an American avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, teacher and writer. ... Glenn Branca (born October 6, 1948 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) is an avant-garde composer and guitarist. ... Band of Susans is a band formed in New York in 1986 by Robert Poss (guitar/vocals), Susan Stenger (bass/vocals) and Ron Spitzer (drums) with Susan Lyall (guitar), Susan Tallman (guitar) and Alva Rogers (vocals). ... Two different electric guitars. ... For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ... A sunburst-colored Fender Precision Bass The electric bass guitar (or electric bass[1][2]; pronounced , as in base) is a bass stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers (either by plucking, slapping, popping, or tapping) or using a pick. ... Trumpeter redirects here. ... is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ... Trumpeter redirects here. ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ... For other uses, see Minimalism (disambiguation). ...

Early Years

Chatham began his musical career as a piano tuner for avant-garde pioneers La Monte Young and Glenn Gould. He soon studied under electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick and minimalist icon Tony Conrad; Chatham and Conrad played together in an early ensemble. In 1971, while still in his teens, Chatham became the first music director at the experimental art space The Kitchen in lower Manhattan. His early works, such as Two Gongs (1971) owed a significant debt to Young and other minimalists. La Monte Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer whose eccentric and often hard-to-find works have been included among the most important post World War II avant-garde or experimental music. ... Glenn Herbert Gould[1][2] (September 25, 1932 – October 4, 1982) was a Canadian pianist, noted especially for his recordings of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, his remarkable technical proficiency, and his eccentric piano technique and personality. ... Morton Subotnick (born April 13, 1933) is an American composer of electronic music, best known for his Silver Apples of the Moon, the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch, and composed on the Buchla modular synthesizer which he helped to design. ... Tony Conrad (born Anthony S. Conrad in 1940) is an American avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, teacher and writer. ... The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary art space in New York. ... This article is about the borough of New York City. ...

His concert productions included experimenters Maryanne Amacher, Robert Ashley, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Steve Reich, and early alternative rockers such as Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, John Lurie, and Fred Frith. He has worked closely with visual artist/musician Robert Longo, particularly in the 1980s, and on an experimental opera called XS: The Opera Opus (1984) with the visual artist Joseph Nechvatal. Maryanne Amacher (born 1943) is an American composer of sound installations. ... Robert Ashley (born March 28, 1930) is a contemporary composer, best known for his operas and other theatrical works. ... Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is a three-times Academy Award-nominated American composer. ... Meredith Monk (born November 20, 1942, in Lima, Peru[1]) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, film-maker, and choreographer. ... Pauline Oliveros (born 1932 in Houston, Texas) is an accordionist and composer who currently resides in Kingston, New York. ... Stephen Michael Reich (born October 3, 1936) is an American composer. ... Brian Eno (pronounced IPA: ) born on 15 May 1948 in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England) is an English electronic musician, music theorist and record producer. ... Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946 in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England) is a guitarist, record producer and a composer, perhaps best known for being the guitarist for, and only constant member of, the progressive rock band King Crimson. ... John Lurie (December 14, 1952) is an actor, musician, painter and producer born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. In 1978 he formed The Lounge Lizards, initially a New-York-car-crash jazz combo with his brother Evan Lurie. ... Fred Frith (born February 17, 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor. ... Robert Longo (b. ... Joseph Nechvatal (1951–) is a post-conceptual digital artist and art theoretician known for creating computer-robotic assisted paintings and computer software animations, often using custom created computer viruses based in cellular automata models. ...

Compositions from the late 1970s and early 1980s

By 1977, Chatham's music was heavily influenced by punk rock, having seen an early Ramones concert. He was particularly intrigued by and influential upon the group of artists music critics would label No Wave in 1978. That year, he began performing Guitar Trio around downtown Manhattan with an ensemble that included Branca, as well as Nina Canal of Ut. Some of this work parallels multi tracked and unison tuned guitar directions developed by Lou Reed and Chuck Hammer. During this period, he wrote several works for large guitar ensembles, including Drastic Classicism, a collaboration with dancer Karole Armitage. Drastic Classicism was first released in 1982 on the compilation New Music from Antarctica, put together by Kit Fitzgerald, John Sanborn and Peter Gordon. It was also included on the 1987 album that also included his 1982 composition Die Donnergötter (German for "The Thundergods"). Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... This article is about the band. ... No Wave was a short-lived but influential music and art scene that thrived briefly in New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk scene there. ... Lou Reed (born March 2, 1942) is an influential American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. ... Chuck Hammer, a guitarist, guitar synthesist, and digital film composer recorded work with Lou Reed and David Bowie. ... Karole Armitage is an American dancer and choreographer based in New York. ...

Members of the New York City noise rock band Band of Susans began their careers in Chatham's ensembles; they later performed a cover of Chatham's "Guitar Trio" on their 1991 album, The Word And The Flesh. (This parallels the way that members of fellow NYC noise rockers Sonic Youth began their careers in Branca's ensembles; Thurston Moore of S.Y. did play with Chatham as well.) Merzbow Einstürzende Neubauten Sonic Youth Melt Banana Lightning Bolt Moonlander & Moodswinger, Yuri Landman Neptune Noise rock describes one variety of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. ... Band of Susans is a band formed in New York in 1986 by Robert Poss (guitar/vocals), Susan Stenger (bass/vocals) and Ron Spitzer (drums) with Susan Lyall (guitar), Susan Tallman (guitar) and Alva Rogers (vocals). ... Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band formed in New York City in 1981. ... Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958 in Coral Gables, Florida) is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter, guitarist and tallest member of the band Sonic Youth. ...

Chatham began taking trumpet lessons in 1983, and his more recent works explore improvisatory trumpet solos; these are performed by Chatham himself, employing much of the same amplification and effects that he acquired with the guitar, over synthesized dance rhythms by the composer Martin Wheeler. His 1990s recordings in this style saw release on Ninja Tune Records as the compilation Neon. Ninja Tune is a London-based independent record label started in 1991 by DJs Matt Black and Jonathan More, better known as Coldcut, with a strong leaning towards Electronic, abstract hip-hop, instrumental hip hop, Nu-Jazz, drum and bass, and chillout music. ...

Recent activity

In 2002, he enjoyed a resurgence following the release of a limited-edition 3 CD retrospective box set on the record label Table of the Elements, An Angel Moves Too Fast To See: Selected Works 1971-1989, complete with 130-page booklet. The An Angel Moves Too Fast To See part of the title comes from Chatham's 1989 composition for 100 guitars. He has been since touring with his 100-guitar orchestra all over Europe. For the periodic table of the chemical elements, see Periodic table. ...

In 2005, he was commissioned by the city of Paris, in his adopted homeland, to write a composition for 400 electric guitars entitled A Crimson Grail, as part of the Nuit Blanche Festival. Approximately 10,000 people were present at the performance, and 100,000 more watched it on live television. A CD of excerpts from this concert was released in January 2007 by Table Of The Elements. This article is about the capital of France. ... Nuit Blanche (White Night in English) is an annual all-night cultural festival. ...

Rhys Chatham is currently touring the original 30 minute version of Guitar Trio in the USA and Europe, renamed G3 because the instrumentation has been increased to between six and ten electric guitars, electric bass and drums. In February 2007 he completed a twelve-city tour called the Guitar Trio (G3) Is My Life North America Tour, which was accompanied by the original film by Robert Longo that was projected behind the performance, entitled Pictures for Music (1979). The sets consisted of local musicians from each city of the performances, including members of Sonic Youth, Tortoise, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Husker Du, Brokeback, Lichens, Town & Country, Die Kreuzen, Bird Show and others. A three-CD box set of these performances was released by Table of the Elements in March 2008. Robert Longo (b. ... Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band formed in New York City in 1981. ... Tortoise, an instrumental rock band, formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1990. ... Godspeed You! Black Emperor (formerly punctuated Godspeed You Black Emperor!) is an avant-garde Canadian post-rock band based in Montreal, Quebec. ... Husker Du can refer to: Hüsker Dü, a rock music group from Minneapolis-St. ... Phrase derived from the movie Brokeback Mountain. ... For other things named Lichen, see: Lichen (disambiguation). ... Town & Country is an American rock band based in Chicago. ... Die Kreuzen was an American band from Milwaukee who formed in 1981. ... For the periodic table of the chemical elements, see Periodic table. ...

Chatham has continued to tour the original version of Guitar Trio in Europe throughout 2007 and 2008, including performances at:

• Festival Desgressions - 7 March 2007, Barcelona, Spain
• L'Ecole Régionale de Beaux Arts - 25, 26 April 2007, Valence, France
• Kosmische Club - 10 August 2007, Oslo, Norway
• ZXZW Independent Culture Festival - 22, 23 September, Tilburg, the Netherlands
• Festival Soy - 29 October 2007, Nantes, France
• Galleria Toledo - 26 March 2008, Naples, Italy

Rhys Chatham will make his first American presentation of a composition for a one-hundred guitar orchestra in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on May 23, 2008. This will be the premiere of a new composition tentatively entitled The Secret Rose. Map of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania highlighting Williamsport Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County,GR6 Pennsylvania in the United States. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ...

Discography

• Factor X (LP), Moers Music 1983

  containing:

  • For Brass (1982)
  • Guitar Ring (1982)
  • The Out Of Tune Guitar (1982)
  • Cadenza (1981)

• Die Donnergötter (LP), Dossier Records (Europe)/Homestead Records (USA) 1987

  containing:

  • Die Donnergötter (1984-86)
  • Waterloo No. 2 (1986)
  • Guitar Trio (1977)
  • Drastic Classicism (1982)

• Neon (12", CDEP), NTone 1997

  All compositions in collaboration with Martin Wheeler.

  containing:

  • Charm (1996)
  • Ramatek (1994)
  • Hornithology (1996)
  • Neon (1993)

• Septile (12", CD EP), NTone 1997

  All compositions in collaboration with Jonathan Kane & DJ Elated System.

• Hardedge, The Wire Editions 1999

  Made in collaboration with Pat Thomas, Gary Smith, Gary Jeff, Lou Ciccotelli.

• A Rhys Chatham Compendium (CD), Table of the Elements 2002

  Limited-edition CD featuring selections and edits from the An Angel Moves Too Fast To See box-set.

  containing:

  • An Angel Moves Too Fast To See (1989) [edit]
  • Guitar Trio (1977) [edit]
  • Drastic Classicism (1982) [edit]
  • Two Gongs (1971) [edit]
  • Guitar Cetet (1977) [bonus track not contained in box set]
  • Waterloo, No. 2 (1986) [edit]
  • Die Donntergötter (1985) [complete version]

• An Angel Moves Too Fast To See (Selected Works 1971-1989) (3xCD box set), Table of the Elements 2002
  • disc 1:
    • Two Gongs (1971)
  • disc 2:
    • Die Donnergötter (1985)
    • Waterloo, No. 2 (1986)
    • Drastic Classicism (1982)
    • Guitar Trio (1977)
    • Massacre on MacDougal Street (1982)
  • disc 3:
    • An Angel Moves Too Fast To See (1989)

• Echo Solo (LP), Azoth Schallplatten Gesellschaft 2003

• Three Aspects Of The Name (12"), Table of the Elements 2003

• An Angel Moves Too Fast To See (For 100 Electric Guitars, Electric Bass, And Drums) (LP, CD), Table of the Elements/Radium 2006

• Die Donnergötter (LP, CD), Table of the Elements/Radium 2006

  containing:

  • Die Donnergötter (1985/86)
  • Waterloo, No. 2 (1986)
  • Drastic Classicism (1982)
  • Guitar Trio (1977)
  • Massacre on MacDougal Street (1982)

• A Crimson Grail (For 400 Electric Guitars), Table of the Elements 2007

Homestead Records is a New York City based sublabel of Dutch East India Trading. ... For the periodic table of the chemical elements, see Periodic table. ... For the periodic table of the chemical elements, see Periodic table. ... For the periodic table of the chemical elements, see Periodic table. ... For the periodic table of the chemical elements, see Periodic table. ... For the periodic table of the chemical elements, see Periodic table. ... For the periodic table of the chemical elements, see Periodic table. ...

External links

• Rhys Chatham's Table of the Elements site
• The official "Guitar Trio Is My Life" USA 2007 tour site
• "Composer's Notebook" section of personal site
• Rhys Chatham at MySpace
• Rhys Chatham at Allmusic
• Rhys Chatham discography at MusicBrainz
• Rhys Chatham at Discogs
• Trouser Press entry ( not comprehensive)
• Tellus audio excerpt from "XS: The Opera Opus"
• Review of Guitar Trio Is My Life on Pitchfork