The Brass Junkies 72: Michael Clayville of Alarm Will Sound

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TBJ72: Trombonist Michael Clayville from Alarm Will Sound on Playing with Medeski, Martin & Wood, How AWS Functions as an Ensemble and Teaching at Lawrence Conservatory as a Visiting Professor

Michael Clayville is one of my favorite trombonists in the world. His playing in Alarm Will Sound is just stunning. The music they perform has incredibly demanding parts, especially of a trombone player! But Michael is one of the most prepared musicians I've ever played with. He's a machine!

He's also a fascinating guy. I interviewed him early for TEM (TEM3 which was 116 episodes ago at this point!) and I was really happy to finally get him on The Brass Junkies!

From the show notes:

Michael Clayville is a musician who is passionate about drawing audiences deeply into the art of sound. His abilities as a trombone soloist, chamber musician, and improviser have taken him to prestigious venues around the world including Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall, the Barbican (London) and the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ (Amsterdam) and have led to him working with some of the most prominent classical and popular artists today including Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Steve Reich, John Adams, John Luther Adams, Charles Wuorinen, and David Lang, and experimental groups like Medeski Martin and Wood, and the Dirty Projectors.

Michael is a founding member of Alarm Will Sound, a group that has been awarded the ASCAP Concert Music Award for “the virtuosity, passion and commitment with which they perform and champion the repertory for the 21st century” and which has been called the “future of classical music” by the New York Times. In addition to being its trombonist, Michael is also the Director of Marketing for Alarm Will Sound.

In this episode, we cover:

• Playing with Medeski, Martin and Wood
• Picking repertoire in Alarm Will Sound by quasi-democratic methods
• Marketing efforts/social media for AWS
• Splitting Adams CD
• The Mizzou International Composers Festival
• Georg Friedrich Haas
• Teaching at Lawrence, working for/with Brian Pertl

The Entrepreneurial Musician: Alarm Will Sound's Gavin Chuck & Michael Clayville

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I was very excited to get to interview two people from one of my favorite ensembles for this episode of The Entrepreneurial Musician Podcast! Alarm Will Sound is an enormous force in the music business, both as artists and entrepreneurs.

Alarm Will Sound's Gavin Chuck and Michael Clayville discuss all aspects of the group's cutting edge programming and business model.  They cover everything from their innovative partnerships to how they successfully navigate the music business as a performer-led ensemble.

They also share how they did the almost impossible: they took a college group and turned it into a money-making professional ensemble.  They are both passionate about the arts and share how that passion pervades every decision the ensemble makes.

Alarm Will Sound: Monday YouTube Fix

I was a little late to the party when it comes to Alarm Will Sound but couldn't stop listening to them when I finally discovered them.  They are an ensemble that is regularly pushing the boundaries of music and art in general through collaborations, arrangements, and new compositions.

With all the music that has been written and performed over the centuries, it is awfully refreshing and inspiring to hear a group like this which to my ears sounds like no other.  This is them performing Paul Dooley's "Point Blank (2010)" live at the Mizzou New Music Festival in July of 2010.

Enjoy!

Point Blank (2010) by Paul Dooley, premiere performance by Alarm Will Sound, Alan Pierson at the Mizzou New Music Festival, July 18, 2010. http://www.alarmwillsound.com Video production by Spectrum Studios, Columbia, Missouri http://gospectrumstudios.com/ Audio mixed and mastered by Paul du Gré http://albumcredits.com/Profile/72367 More information can be found at: http://www.pauldooley.net/works/pointblank