Musician
SUMMARY OF PROFESSIONAL MUSICAL EXPERIENCE
Musician (bass, spoken word, performance art). Occasional performances
with Chick Corea, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Keith Jarrett, Bill T. Jones,
Captain Kangaroo, Tuli Kupferberg (Fuggs), Jemeel Moondoc, Thurston
Moore (Sonic Youth), and in Broadway musicals. Music
educational and biographical essays published in
leading reference books and journals. Appearances on nationwide
television and radio. Taught privately--and at The Boston Conservatory,
Berklee, Massachusetts College of Art, Northeastern University, and
Boston Arts Academy. Served on the Board of Overseers at the Institute
of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University. Ten
recordings, one video released.
September 17, 2005 Garden gig
On September 17, 2005 I was playing bass in a small park in downtown
New York City with the Jus’ Grew Orchestra--some of the best jazz
musicians alive today.
The star of the evening was violinist Billy Bang, someone new to playing with the band.
That night Bang took over: he was conducting, he was bringing friends
up to sit in with the band, he was disappearing with beautiful women in
the audience. The band leader, Jemeel Moondoc, decided to throw me into a
musical duel with him. But I was in difficult straights. First Bang is
arguably the best string player in jazz today--his bow technique is
killer good. And I was on bass (big-awkward) and Bang was on violin
(small--facile).
Now was the time to practice the Art-Energy that I teach.
I took in a smooth breath of energy/air-(chi). I squeezed it into my
perineum. I wiggled my spine in “S” patterns around the
small of my back (both Chinese yoga-like locks.) Like lightening I
brought the energy up to my shoulders, then down into arms, and hands.
And then I disappeared into the music I was making.
Always a gentleman, Bang thought he would start this musical contest by
taking it easy with me before musically crushing me. He played a
singing high jazzy phrase that made the people in front of us begin to
dance.
But now my bow began to glow with energy. I watched and listened as I
unbelievably soared above him (me on the much lower bass). I took his
beautiful phrase and turned it into a scream of ecstasy: It was still
jazz, but it also was the Music of the Spheres; it was exploding clumps
of Divine gamma rays, and it bested the violinist. The audience went
wild and awarded me the loudest applause of the evening. You can hear
all this on the attached audio clip from the concert.
The set was over. Trumpeter Roy Campbell, trumpet, hugged me, saying
“We’ll play together soon.” The drummer—I
believe one of the best in jazz today, Chad Taylor (and also the most
taciturn) said quietly under his breath “Yes John.” The
meaning was clear: I had made it big time.
Bang laughed, jumped up and down and forgetting that we had played
together years ago asked, “How come I don’t know
you?” He loved what I did. We bonded like musical blood brothers.
He lightly kissed me on my cheek.
The moral of this true story: The energy works! By controlling it with a focused Intention anything is possible. Anything!
(sound clip)
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John Voigt as 1960’s avant-garde composer.
“Bingo: Game of Change for
Chorus of Elderly Women’s Voices and Five
Contrabasses” is from my first recording, Music
For Contrabass Quintet. It was recorded at a Church Bingo game in 1976.
Click here for an excerpt
(Caution: Starts off loud)
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OUTSIDER BASS
(I paint each cover separately)
The first audio clip Contemplation of the Blue Egyptian Goddess uses overdubbing to explore natural harmonics on six string basses.
The second audio clip Biker Bass
is sort-of heavy metal rock for five basses--with me singing. All
sounds are done on bass (like banging the bridge to get a drum sound,
and using feedback to pretend I’m Jimi Hendrix).
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Here’s another audio clip of Thurston Moore (with drummer Laurence Cook, and me).
“Fuzz Against Junk” - excerpt
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In 2000 I played the New York City Vision Festival with some of the
finest players modern jazz has to offer. This audio clip comes from ”Moon Mode.”
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From March 18, 2006 recording “Bebop Love”
with Keiko Higuchi, I’m playing bass and making up the scat-bop
as I go. Matt Samolis is on flute .
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QUOTES:
"Jazz more than only music: Musicians regal, experienced, relaxed, in perfect
harmony.... John Voigt with his super-modern sleek structured bass
makes light as a feather dialogues with the drums, then trumpet....he
[Voigt] says ‘There is much that's bad in the world, but even the worst
hides sparks of divine
light.' Here is music that celebrates the victory of life over death;
[as Voigt mentioned] the victory of the glittering sparks over the darkness."
-- Dachauer Nachrihten 12. März 2007.
"In his hands the bass turns into a real talker, a mythical creature, a
mouthpiece for the history of man. Voigt's very personal musical
metaphors should not be missed." --The Improvisor, 1993.
John Voigt is "an avatar of creative music in Boston" -- Cadence, Dec. 1997.
"Friday night brought one of the world's most inventively alive bass
players to Seattle. Boston's John Voigt has done everything from
transforming his instrument into a conduit for readings of the Kabbalah
to wringing from its neck the scream of an electrocuted pickle." Bill
White, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 2002.
"A bassist-composer who writes a highly crafted music exquisitely
fashioned for our instrument....An eclectic, experimental composer out
of the [Charles] Ives mold." Bertram Turetzky, Bass World, vol. VIII,
no. 1.
[about Voigt CD Outsider Bass] "Offers a sonic delight comparable
to a warm bath that tingles the pores and excites the mind to wander in
a world of fantasy."--Gary Karr, contrabass soloist.
"An incredible example that the bass can do it all -- if it's in the
right hands." Richard Appleman, columnist for Bass Player, and
Chair of the Bass Department, Berklee College of Music.
John was bass player on these two award winning CDs: Top Ten 2001
Critics' picks [Best Jazz CDs of the Year]: Revolt of the Negro Lawn
Jockeys. Gerald Futrich--Coda, 300/301.
Top Ten 1997 Critics' Picks [Best Jazz CDs of the Year]: Fire In The Valley. Steve Holtje--Jazziz , vol. 15/3.
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