Philip Johnston
Rub Me the Wrong Way
Minor Repairs Necessary
Phillip Johnston: soprano saxophone
Mark Josefsberg: vibraphone
Jonathan Dryden: piano
Lindsey Horner: bass
Exception: Nurit Tilles: piano (“Birds”)
Recorded July 10 & 28, 2003,
Engineer: Peter Karl, Peter Karl Studios, Brooklyn, NYC
Rub Me The Wrong Way
Phillip Johnston: soprano saxophone
Will Holshouser: accordion
Lindsey Horner: bass
Barbara Merjan: drums
Recorded May 11, 2003 at Loho Studio, NYC,
Engineer: Jason Candler, 2nd eng. Tom Gloady, 3rd eng. Christian Bruccoveri
The Further Adventures of Slap & Tickle
Phillip Johnston: tenor sax
Mark Josefsberg: vibraphone
Joe Ruddick: piano
David Hofstra: bass
Recorded 4/15-17, 1998, Mixed 4/30/98, 5/1/98, at Tedesco Studio, NJ
Engineer: Jon Rosenberg
Digital editing: Tom Tedesco
Mastering 7/30/04 by
Jason Candler, Guarsh Media
All photos by Lars Klove.
Package design: Umod@alliedchemical.com
All music by Phillip Johnston,
© Jedible Music (BMI)
Mark Josefsberg is a Mike Balter Mallets Artist
Web site: http://www.phillipjohnston.com
email: phillip@phillipjohnston.com
After the circus, we come back downtown
you’re still not happy though,
your face wears a frown.
Familiar I am, yet you veer away
once we are home, I rub you the wrong way.
- Keely Garfield.
Minor Repairs Necessary was premiered on March 2, 1999 at Dance Theater Workshop (New York, NY). It was commissioned by DTW’s Bessie Schönberg/First Light Program with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts. Additional funding came from The Jerome Foundation, Meet The Composer, Inc. with support from ASCAP, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated and The Virgil Thomson Foundation. The dancers were Karl Anderson, Keely Garfield, Lawrence Goldhuber, Rachel Lynch-John, Tom O’ Connor, Jennifer Phillips, and Daniel Schaefer. The musicians were Phillip Johnston, Dave Hofstra, Mark Josefsberg, & Joe Ruddick. The costumes were done by Liz Prince.
Philip Johnston was awarded a “Bessie” (New York Performance Award) for music composition, for “Minor Repairs Necessary” in 1999.
Rub Me The Wrong Way was premiered on March 16, 2000 at Playhouse 91 (New York, NY). It was commissioned by the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Project New Works in Dance Fund and supported with a space grant from the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, as well as generous funding from the Jerome Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, and a commission from Dance Theater Workshop’s Bessie Schönberg/First Light Program. The dancers were Karl Anderson, Rachel Lynch-John, Tom O’ Connor, and Lisa Townsend. The musicians were Phillip Johnston, Will Holshouser, Ken Filiano, and Fred Klatz. The costumes were by Liz Prince.
The Further Adventures Of Slap & Tickle was premiered on January 20, 1998 at Dance Theater Workshop (New York, NY). It was commissioned by DTW’s Bessie Schönberg/First Light Program with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts. Additional funding from Meet The Composer, Inc. with support from ASCAP, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated and The Virgil Thomson Foundation. Movement material for the dance was developed with a commission from Lincoln Center’s Meet-the-Artist series. The dancers were Lynn Brown, Keely Garfield, and Lawrence Goldhuber. The musicians were Phillip Johnston, Dave Hofstra, Mark Josefsberg, Joe Ruddick. The costumes were by Liz Prince.
All choreography by Keely Garfield; all work premiered by her company, Sinister Slapstick.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to: The Transparent Quartet, and all the great musicians who played on this record; David White, and all the DTW staff; Joan Finkelstein and the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Project; to all the dancers and musicians who worked on the original productions, especially Rachel Lynch-John; and to Keely, of course.
Extra special thanks to Stephanie Fleischmann, a wonderful writer, with whom some of the music for Minor Repairs Necessary was originally developed.
For Hilary, Moss & Ivy
I first met Keely Garfield in the 1990’s when she choreographed her piece “The Adventures of Slap & Tickle” to my composition “The Waltz of the Recently Punished Catholic School Boys” from the record “Beauty Based on Science” by The Microscopic Septet. When I went to see her work for the first time, I felt an immediate kinship with, and admiration for her unique vision; she has developed an original dance language of her own, akin to the personal musical language of a Thelonious Monk or a Steve Lacy. On hearing the name of her company, Sinister Slapstick, it struck me that this might be a good description of my own music. We immediately hit it off and decided to create some original work together. What resulted was a wonderful collaboration that has lasted a number of years, some of which is represented on this record.
-Phillip Johnston
