Tonics: 7 Melodies for Trumpet with Bamboo Mouthpipe Mark Kirschenmann

• 1 The Breathing Room 07:01
• 2 Butterfly Garden 06:12
• 3 Streamlines 06:43
• 4 Downtempo Nocturne 05:59
• 5 Fairlight 04:46
• 6 Episodes in Blue: Cornflower and Ultramarine 07:16
• 7 Vulnerable Yet 01:42
• Total Runtime 39:39

Info for Tonics: 7 Melodies for Trumpet with Bamboo Mouthpipe

Mark Kirschenmann’s Tonics is a collection of seven melodies composed and performed on an acoustic trumpet vibrating with a bamboo mouthpipe, which replaces the traditional mouthpiece. The sound is quiet, flute-like, and delicate, opening new identities for the instrument. The curvaceous modal melodies are interwoven with improvisations that emerge from the melodic sources. The tunes unfold freely out of time and are enhanced by various ensembles of strings, percussion, voices, and prepared piano.

The release of Tonics correlates to Kirschenmann’s longstanding study of the bansuri and shakuhachi flute traditions. However, rather than making authentic connections to these illustrious musical traditions, Kirschenmann reimagines the often heroic, valorous, and even gendered roles commonly attributed to the trumpet while decentering Western conventions of virtuosity, timbre, and musical time.

Mark Kirschenmann, Bb trumpet

Mark Kirschenmann
PhD, whose pioneering live electric trumpet performances are internationally acclaimed, is a composer, performer, and scholar of creative improvisation. He is also the creative force behind the band E3Q (Block M Records), an eclectic jazz-influenced trio with his wife, cellist Katri Ervamaa, and percussionist Michael Gould. Most recently, he released the solo album This Electric Trumpet (Sonikmann Records); recorded with the Nashville-based electronica duo Sub-ID (BFF, 1320 Records); and appeared with pianist Thollem McDonas, bassist Henry Grimes, flutist Nicole Mitchell, cornetist Rob Mazurek’s Sao Paulo Underground, saxophonists Oliver Lake and Arthur Blythe, and pianist Iiro Rantala of Trio Töykeät.

As a composer and writer, Kirschenmann explores the confluence of composition and improvisation. He has published articles on Messiaen’s use of improvisation as a compositional technique, and on new approaches to melodic jazz improvisation. He is on the faculty at the University of Michigan, where he shares his time between the School of Music (Jazz) and the Residential College, a liberal arts living-learning community. He also directs U-M’s Creative Arts Orchestra, an innovative, creative improvisation ensemble, and the Michigan Youth Jazz Ensemble. Kirschenmann holds PhD degrees in composition and music theory from the University of Michigan and lives in Ann Arbor, MI with his wife and their three children.

This album contains no booklet.