Jim denley

J I M D E N L E Y born Bulli, Australia 22/1/57
From 1969 he studied flute with Peter Richardson, at the Sydney Conservatorium, who introduced him to the works of Varese, Fukushima, Messiaen and Berio. He was listening to improvisers such as Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Dolphy, Braxton and Derek Bailey. David Ahern’s Sydney groups Teletopa and AZ Music were influential.
In his hometown, Wollongong, he collaborated with Peter Ready, constructing large instruments from salvaged industrial materials; New Music Constructions. They performed at the Orange Festival of the Arts in 1980 and at the Mori Gallery and a two-week installation at the Wollongong City Gallery.
In 1983 he studied in Tokyo with shakuhachi master Yamaguchi Goro. While there he played concerts with many improvising musicians.
An emphasis on spontaneity, site-specific work and collaboration has been important. He sees no clear distinctions between his roles as instrumentalist, improviser and composer.
He has written a chapter on improvisation for the book Experimental Music - audio explorations in Australia, published by UNSW Press, 08.
r a d i o
Collaborations, his ABC radio feature won the Prix Italia in 1989. His interest in radio continued with his ABC feature Feedback Loops, a program about improvisation and recording, and Nobody Understands It Yet compiled from a concert tour to Ukraine.
He collaborated with Stevie Wishart on West of West, for ABC radio, based on their recordings of Tibooburra in the Far West of NSW. A CD was released in 2000 with a version of this work.
In August 1998 he performed It's Hear' live to air on ABC's Listening Room. Subsequently he produced A Guy in the Middle and in 2001 he made a radiophonic work, First Contact, which explores the sounds of the instruments resonating within his body. This trilogy explores innovative uses of microphones.
In 2002 he made Wongaburra Bird's' for 3 elderly women's voices and bass flute and the ABC commissioned a short 3min “earclip” for their radio network; Alone at Undara. 2002 saw him produce the music for Granados in collaboration with writer Martin Harrison and 2003 a work for bass flute electronics and 5 voices, Sung Song Sing Song. A walk in the Palm Forest with my sax was broadcast in early 2005.
In 2006 he made a radiophonic work from recordings he made in the Budawang mountains south west of Sydney. These recording became the CD, Through Fire, Crevice and the Hidden Valley, this Cd gained an honorary mention in the Prix ARS Electronica in 08. He made Coexistence - a radio manifesto of his ideas about playing music in the Australian bush - for the ABC, from recordings from the Budawangs, in May 8.
g r o u p s
In the 1980s he was involved with the Relative Band with string player Jon Rose playing in major cities and regional centers in Australia.
Between 1982 and 1985 the band included national and international guests, such as Aussies Simone de Haan and Greg Kingston. From the U.K. Roger Turner and Maggie Nicols. Luc Houtcamp from Holland. Greg Goodman, David Moss, Eugene Chadbourne and Henry Kaiser from the USA.
At ARS Electronica in Linz Austria in 1989 he created an installation with Rik Rue and a live satellite link with Ross Bolleter in Perth Australia, broadcast by ORF. In Oct 2005 Ross and Jim performed a new version for ORF of this link up, The Nonlocal Universe.
He co-founded Mind Body Split with Rik Rue, Sherre DeLys, Jamie Fielding and Kimmo Vennonen with whom Jim also worked in a duo. Over a number of years this group performed in Sydney and Melbourne and recorded for radio and LP. Their ABC radio special Honey I’m Home became Australia’s entry to the Prix Italia in 1987.
In 1986 he co-founded Embers with three of the most interesting improvisers in London: John Butcher, Chris Burn and Marcio Mattos. They toured in the UK and in Europe in the mid to late 80’s. He performed with John Butcher in France in 03 and Belgium 05.
He has played with the Chris Burn Ensemble for 14 years, in Canada, Germany, the UK and Austria, recording for BBC Radio 3, Germany's WDR and producing three CDs. He played with Chris in Brussels in November 1 and at the Freedom of the City festival, London May 2004. They performed together in Lille and Brussels, Jan 05.
In 1990 he was a member of Derek Bailey’s Company for a week of concerts at The Place London. Derek also included a paragraph of Jim’s writing about solo improvisation in a revised version of his classic text Improvisation published by the British Library.
With Lines, (Axel Dörner, Martin Blume, Marcio Mattos, and Phil Wachsmann) he performed in Austria, Germany, Australia, Belgium and France throughout the mid to late 1990s. They toured in November 5 for their 10th anniversary. The British label Emanem released their second CD Lines in Australia; recorded on their 2000 Australian tour.
He has played throughout Australia, Europe and the US with musicians such as Chris Abrahams, Malcolm Goldstein, Thierry Madiot, Burkhard Beins, Keith Rowe, Cor Fuhler, Fred Frith, Steve Noble, Phil Durrant, Phil Niblock, Trey Spruance, Annick Nozarti, Barry Guy, Martin Klapper, Thomas Lehn, Johannes Bauer, Ikue Mori and Shelley Hirsch.
He has made concerts and a CD with the Brisbane improviser Joel Stern. With the Sydney bassist Clayton Thomas and Berlin Based percussionist Tony Buck he has formed Cracked Air, they performed at the Media Wave festival in Hungary in April 2004. He played in July 9 with Clayton in Vienna and Berlin.
In 2007 he recorded with Norwegian guitarist Kim Myhr, Systems Realignment.
“At 52, saxophonist and flautist Jim Denley is Australia's most important improvising musician, similar in spirit to Ross Bolleter in that his creative language both recognises the symbolic import of colonial detritus ... and also the essential irrelevance of both European art music and American jazz to the Australasian experience... Denley has applied himself to a naturalistic idiom on saxophone and flute that makes Eric Dolphy's moves in that same direction seem tentative....Bolleter has talked about the characteristic effect of Denley's music as a process of instantaneous transformation in which individual sounds don't signify anything other than the processes of change...Denley is after a kind of sonic vernacular that plugs into what can only crudely be called a collective unconscious. He is convinced that our rational and intuitive selves are now in a thoroughly dysfunctional relationship. Music like this helps to realign them.” WIRE MAGAZINE, June 2009, written by Brian Morton.
In 2008 and 2009 they performed in Switzerland, Norway, Australia, France, Poland and Austria. They formed the group MURAL with Norwegian percussionist Ingar Zach, and they performed in Houston at the Rothko Chapel in March 2010 as part of a tour of Texas and May 2010 at Victoriaville Canada.
When in Sydney he is deeply involved with the Splinter Orchestra a large improvising ensemble composed of mainly young players. They have recorded for ABCTV and Radio and developed a number of procedural scores.
In October 2006 ABCTV broadcast a performance of Jim with the electronic musician Peter Blamey.
In 2007 he toured Australia with his new group, Metalog, (Natasha Anderson, Dale Gorfinkel, Amanda Stewart, Robbie Avenaim and Ben Byrne). They performed at Liquid Architecture 9.
In March 2009 with collaborators Dale Gorfinkel and Monika Brooks he performed for 10 Days on the Island, the Tasmanian festival. They took audiences on a sound walk on Maria Island National Park, playing in natural settings. He performed at Lizard Rock - Wogarno Western Australia in Sounds Outback in April 2010 and at the Seven Thousand Oaks Festival, Heide, Melbourne in June. These events focus on playing outdoors in special sonic environments.
m a c h i n e
He is interested in what his music instinct might learn from language.
From 1989 to 2003 he worked with the text/music group Machine for Making Sense, (Amanda Stewart, Stevie Wishart, Rik Rue and from 89-96 Chris Mann.) Machine has performed in Australia, the USA and Europe, recording for ORF, SFB, ABC and the BBC. In 1999 they performed and created an installation for the opening of the Sydney Opera House Studio in collaboration with visual artist Joan Grounds.
In March 2002 they performed The C20th Never Happened and Nov 2003 saw them perform Dust at the Sydney Opera House. with Oren Ambarchi and Peter Blamey. Although the group no longer operates, he continues to perform with Amanda Stewart and in early 2008 they released a new CD on the Spanish label Rossbin.
d a n c e + t h e a t r e
In the early 1990s he worked with movement artist Tess De Quincey in Square of Infinity. He performed with Tess in January and April 2 in Sydney. In Feb 04 they shot a video of their work together, Breath, and in July 2004 they performed in Copenhagen. They made Dictionary of Atmospheres for the Alice Springs Festival in Sept 05 and completed a 1 month residency in Tokyo in April 6, with a performance in Tokyo with vocalist Ami Yoshida. They performed Impro-Lab at the Sydney Opera House in November 6, with Sachiko M and Ami Yoshida.
In 2003 in Belgium he performed radio improvisations on Klara (national radio) installations and theatre with the company, Beulens Paulina. In May 2004 he composed and performed the music to “Good Habits” in the Kunstenfestival des Arts, Brussels. He composed and performed Fresh But Rotten in Mechelen in 2005.
In 2008 he composed the music for Belgium dancer Anouk Lauren's work, Helium.
s o l o
He has performed solo throughout Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and Buenos Aires. SBSTV in 2003 broadcast a performance and interview in their experimental music series Subsonics. ABCTV interviewed and filmed a performance for their Sunday Arts Program, broadcast in April 2004.
He was awarded a Fellowship in 2006 and 2007 by the Music Fund of the Australia Council.
In 2008 a solo recording was included in 21:100:100, One Hundred sound works by 100 artists from the C21st, an installation which was part of the Melbourne Festival.
d i s c o g r a p h y
25 April 1980 - with Peter Ready and Mark Simmonds - Wombarra Records 001.
Relative Band 85 - with Jon Rose, David Moss, Eugene Chadbourne, Steve Moore and Gillian McGregor - Hot LP 1017
Live Embers - with John Butcher, Chris Burn + Marcio Mattos - ACTA 4
Forward of Short Leg - with Jon Rose - Dossier Records ST7529 1987
Time of Non Duration - with Kimmo Vennonen - splitrec CD1
If it’s not on its not on - Mind Body Split - splitrec 2 LP
Dark Matter - Solo - CD Tall Poppies 008
Sonic Hieroglyphs from the night continent - solo - splitrec 3
Cultural Baggage - Chris Burn Ensemble - ACTA CD5
Wish - with Stevie Wishart - Tall Poppies 027
Navigations - Chris Burn Ensemble ACTA CD11
The Place 1991 - Chris Burn Ensemble featuring Evan Parker and a scored
work by Keith Rowe - EMANEM 4056
On Second Thoughts - MFMS - Tall Poppies TP034 + OODiscs.
Talk is Cheap - MFMS - splitrec 4
Lines - Random Acoustics RA 022 LINES (1997)
Dissect the Body - MFMS - splitrec 6
Consciousness - MFMS - splitrec 7
Tibooburra - with Stevie Wishart - splitrec 8
Vergency - with Martin Ng - Grob .322
Lines in Australia - Emanem 4075
Dying Fish - solo - splitrec CDR1
First Contact - solo - splitrec CDR 2
100 Snails - with Marijs Boulogne - splitrec CDR 3
Hydration - solo - splitrec CDR 5
Distinctions - with Axel Dörner - splitrec CDR 6
A walk in the Palm Forest with my Saxophone - solo - splitrec CDR 4
Creoles - with Clayton Thomas - splitrec CDR 7
Tape and Paint Game - with Joel Stern - splitrec CDR 8
The act of observation becomes the object itself - MFMS - Rossbin Records RS026
Findings - with Peter Blamey - splitrec CD 14 2006
Gleanings - with Scott Sinclair - half theory CD 16 2007
Through Fire , Crevice and the Hidden Valley - splitrec 16
Splinter Orchestra - The Splinter Orchestra - splitrec 17
Systems Realignment - with Kim Myhr, either/oar 001
Nectars of Emergence - MURAL, sofa 528
Stems and Cages - TJO, MNJCD008

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