Lantskap Logic - Hidden danger lets me in

2023

Evelyn Davis  pipe organ | Fred Frith  electric guitar | Phillip Greenlief  clarinet, alto saxophone

In 2022, almost ten years after recording the first Lantskap Logic album, the situation in Oakland had abruptly changed. Mills College was being sold off, and the music department— internationally renowned as a beacon of experimentalism for more than 70 years – would no longer exist. I had retired from teaching at Mills in 2018, Evelyn completed her graduate studies in 2013 and also taught there, and Mills is deeply ingrained in our DNA. As a long time Bay Area resident, and collaborator with dozens of other Mills alums, Phillip is no different.
Knowing that our access to the Mills Chapel would no longer be guaranteed, I proposed a second round of Lantskap Logic recordings, since the Chapel pipe organ is intrinsic to our existence. This duly came to pass, with the intrepid Karen Stackpole once again providing her services as recording engineer. Whereas the first record had been made in a spirit of open – hearted exploration, this one had a certain focus, an emotional edge, that captures the feeling of the time. I experienced countless concerts and installations in this chapel during my twenty years at Mills, and the ghosts and spirits of many extraordinary and gifted composers and performers haunt that space and resonate beyond it. I hear our music from that day as both a requiem and a call of defiance against the lack of curiosity and imagination inherent in this revolutionary Music Department’s demise.