tptflm in Bakersfield and Ventura

tptflm is an interdisciplinary collaboration between film artist Allen D. Glass and trumpeter Kris Tiner. The project is rooted in an aesthetic that embraces the exclusive use of analog technology (16mm celluloid film and acoustic brass instruments) and improvisation as the fundamental creative principle. Although the procedural parameters are clearly defined, the logics that govern the interaction between music and film are subject to an emergent reflexivity that manifests in a unique way during each performance. Glass deploys both completed works on a variety of subjects and in-progress or “scrap” footage on up to three projectors simultaneously, speeding up and slowing down or reversing the film, and covering or uncovering the lenses to create a continuously changing field of visual activity. Tiner (whose performance background comprises jazz and experimental musics to various classical, popular, and world music styles) improvises extensions of melody, timbre, sound and space on trumpet and flugelhorn, synthesizing, enhancing and interpreting the film narrative in a kind of shamanistic way. The result is a collision of semi-autonomous aural and visual elements strong enough stand on their own, yet when they are experienced together a “third thing” emerges, triggering a complex and fascinating web of possible connections and meanings.

Allen D. Glass II is an international film artist, psychologist, musicologist, archivist, chemical dependency specialist, hallucinaturalist and member of the Photo Archive Group which preserves the American history of genocide in Southeast Asia. His films and photographs have been exhibited by The British Film Institute, The Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Film Archives, Festival International Nouveau Cinéma Nouveau Medias Montréal, The International Experimental Cinema Exposition, Black Maria Film Festival and the international film festivals of London, Melbourne, Tehran, Toronto, Tokyo and Luxembourg among others. He has collaborated extensively with Wadada Leo Smith, Revolutionary Ensemble and Empty Cage Quartet. Poet Dorothea Grossman once wrote this text about his films: “Humankind in the unfamiliar landscape, composing itself rhythmically and even lovingly into poetry. Nature as mammal music. The Life Dance. Foreign smells. And silences that are, of course, their own music.” Allen D. Glass II was born in Indiana and currently lives in Elysian Park.

Kris Tiner is a California-based trumpet player, composer, and improviser. His music has been described as “extraordinarily inventive” (Signal to Noise Magazine), and capable of turning “barbed wire to beauty” (LA Weekly), with a “folksy sort of lyricism that one does not usually find in avant-jazz.” (JazzReview.com). Kris has performed at concert venues and festivals throughout North America and abroad, and he appears on over 40 recordings for Clean Feed, pfMENTUM, Nine Winds, and other labels. Kris has received awards from ASCAP, the American Composers Forum, Chamber Music America, the International Association for Jazz Education, and the John F. Kennedy Center’s Jazz Ahead program. His primary musical projects include the Empty Cage Quartet and Tin/Bag with NYC guitarist Mike Baggetta. Kris is a regular member of the Industrial Jazz Group and a founding member of the Los Angeles Trumpet Quartet, and he has collaborated with Vinny Golia, Wadada Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, Donald Robinson, Gerry Hemingway, Nels Cline, Mary Oliver, Ken Filiano, Kraig Grady, Tatsuya Nakatani, Jeff Kaiser, G.E. Stinson, Alicia Mangan, Lukas Ligeti and many others. Kris holds an MFA in African-American Improvisational Music from California Institute of the Arts and a BA in Music from CSU Bakersfield. He has lectured on both music and visual art, and currently teaches courses in jazz and popular music at Bakersfield College.

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We recently completed our debut performances at Metro Galleries in Bakersfield, CA and at the Artists Union Gallery in Ventura, CA. For both shows we were accompanied by the brilliant San Diego-based electroacoustic duo KaiBorg (Jeff Kaiser + David Borgo). Click here for an excellent recap of those shows (with more photos) at Jeff Kaiser’s blog.

Below are video excerpts from both performances. Thanks to James Sproul for the video at Metro Galleries.