#4475, Music From Mills College

Mills College is an independent liberal arts college for undergraduate women and non-binary students, with graduate programs open to all, founded in 1852 in Oakland, CA (Wikipedia). The institution has had an outsized influence on the contemporary music world since the 1940s when composer Darius Milhaud was on the Mills faculty. The long line of composers and musicians who have studied, played, or taught at Mills - to name just a few of the alumni or faculty - includes Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, Lou Harrison, Anthony Braxton, Dave Brubeck, John Cage…and the list doesn’t stop there, there’s Janice Gitek, Peter Gordon, Fred Frith, Laurie Anderson, Roscoe Mitchell, Joanna Newsom, Sarah Davachi, Chuck Johnson, and Holly Herndon.  

In mid-March of 2021, Mills announced that they will no longer serve as a degree-serving college. As a tribute, listen to music from just a few of the artists who have come from or taught at Mills College Music Programs from the AI-influenced work of Holly Herndon to gamelan music by Lou Harrison to legendary sax player Roscoe Mitchell.

Hear music in just intonation by the late accordionist and composer Pauline Oliveros, who was the Director of the Center for Contemporary Music. There’s also a work by Terry Riley, at one time a member of faculty who taught Indian raga singing. Listen to music for two retuned autoharps and dilruba by Ramon Sender, who founded the San Francisco Tape Music Center. Plus, hear work by Lou Harrison – his Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Javanese gamelan.

Hear what could be shape note singing by Berlin-based composer Holly Herndon from her record, PROTO, which relies on an electronic pop choir of blended and processed human and A.I. voices generated by Spawn, a modified gaming computer. There’s also electroacoustic music by composer/keyboardist Sarah Davachi, who studied at Mills, along with atmospheric work by Oakland-based guitarist and composer Chuck Johnson, featuring Davachi. Plus, a work for contrabass clarinet from former hardcore vocalist, art-punk musician, and Carbondale, lllinois native John McCowen, and music from his teacher, sax player Roscoe Mitchell. - Caryn Havlik

Program #4475, Music From Mills College (First Aired 3/24/2021)

ARTIST: Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio
WORK: Peter Garland: Sones de Flor I [1:00]
RECORDING: GARLAND: Walk in Beauty / Sones de Flor / Jornada del Muerto
SOURCE: New Albion Records NA052
INFO: Out of print. Download from Amazon.com or iTunes.

ARTIST: Pauline Oliveros
WORK: Crossing the Sands [5:51]
RECORDING: The Roots of the Movement
SOURCE: Hatology
INFO: Try Discogs.com, Amazon, Spotify

ARTIST: Terry Riley 
WORK: Gha Ten In Darbari [4:35]
RECORDING:  Atlantis Nath
SOURCE: Sri Moonshine SMM 001
INFO: Terryriley.net | Try Discogs.com, Amazon, Spotify

ARTIST: Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio
WORK: Peter Garland: Sones de Flor I [1:58]
RECORDING: GARLAND: Walk in Beauty / Sones de Flor / Jornada del Muerto
SOURCE: New Albion Records NA052
INFO: Out of print. Download from Amazon.com or iTunes.

ARTIST: Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio
WORK: Peter Garland: Sones de Flor II [2:03]
RECORDING: GARLAND: Walk in Beauty / Sones de Flor / Jornada del Muerto
SOURCE: New Albion Records NA052
INFO: Out of print. Download from Amazon.com or iTunes.

ARTIST: Lou Harrison, William Winant, members of the Mirecourt Trio & the Mills College Gamelan Ensemble
WORK: Lou Harrison: Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with Javanese Gamelan, Mvmt. 1 [8:14]
RECORDING: Double Concerto for V
SOURCE:  Music & Arts 635
INFO:  Reissued with different pairing of Harrison’s Piano Trio, for violin, cello & piano on Music & Arts 1073. Available at Amazon.com or Arkiv Music www.arkivmusic.com

ARTIST: Sarah Davachi
WORK: Evensong [5:28]
RECORDING: Gave In Rest
SOURCE: Ba Da Bing Records
INFO: badabingrecords.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Chuck Johnson
WORK: The Laurel [1:00]
RECORDING: The Cinder Grove
SOURCE: Vin du Select Qualitite
INFO: chuckjohnson.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Holly Herndon
WORK: Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt [3:11]
RECORDING: PROTO
SOURCE: 4AD
INFO: hollyherndon.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Various: Ramon Sender 
WORK: Auditions [2:50]
RECORDING: Oasis - Music from Mills 2001
SOURCE: Music from Mills #004
INFO: Try Discogs.com

ARTIST: Roscoe Mitchell Trio
WORK: Roscoe Mitchell: Bells for the South Side [2:12]
RECORDING: Bells for the South Side
SOURCE: ECM 2494/95
INFO: https://www.ecmrecords.com

ARTIST: John McCowen
WORK: Fur Korv (for Kevin Ohlau) [2:25]
RECORDING: Solo Contra
SOURCE: Figure Eight Recording / International Anthem IARC 0015
INFO: intlanthem.bandcamp.com