John Bickerton
New Release: Atlas Eclipticalis – The Music of John Cage and Earle Brown
Release date: January 6, 2025
This album presents realizations of famous indeterminate and graphic music scores from what became known in the 1950s as the New York School. The term refers to a circle of composers, including John Cage, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown, and Christian Wolff which drew its name from Abstract Expressionist painters gaining notoriety at the time. The group, painters, and composers famously gathered at The Cedar Bar in Greenwich Village for marathon late-night discussion and unbridled camaraderie.
The John Cage Trilogy – Inspired by Hidekazu Yoshida’s interpretations of Japanese Haiku poetry, John Cage formed a trilogy of his existing works honoring the essence of the poetry. Atlas Eclipticalis (1961), the first piece in the trilogy, represents nirvana. Variations IV (1963), the second work, represents samsara—the turmoil of everyday life. 0’00” (1962), the third piece, represents individual action. Simple Harmonic Motion Records is proud to be the first to present a realization of Cage’s trilogy on record.
“John Bickerton fashions lively improvisations out of deceptively simple themes. The pianist is adept at luring his listener in through repetition before catching him unaware with striking variation” Coda Magazine
Bickerton’s compositions are wonderful things, reminiscent of Mary Lou Williams’s, Monkish but in an updated way, bringing dissonance and that apparently awkward grace to the fore and letting swing transform into the pulse of free improvisation.
Richard Cochrane, International Improvised Music Archive
A wonderfully expressive pianist, an unflamboyant leader capable of singing through his melodies. He works expansively but from a few chords, adding new twists and accents to his simple phrasings. His chords are uncluttered yet rangy and he speaks volumes in tone and feeling, like a singer of ballads. Copper Press
