JOHN BRUCE WALLACE
AVANT IMPROVISATIONAL GUITAR
STATEMENT OF CONCEPT AND STYLE
Born February 6, 1950, Calais, Maine, United States; guitar, composition.
Self taught, John picked up guitar in 1966, after having studied clarinet for a period of time. Concentrating at first on rock and the possibilities of instrumental performances in a progressive rock format, John became interested in freely improvised music, and solo performance options. There have been four recordings, which have received considerable air play on alternative and college radio across North America, Western and Eastern Europe, along with reviews in leading trade journals and press. Tours have included festivals in Russia and Lithuania. His music was invited for performance consideration at the American Pavilion at the 1991 Bienal-Sao Paulo, Brasil.
STATEMENT OF CONCEPT AND STYLE
An improvisational performance features JOHN BRUCE WALLACE exploring, exploding, and exhuming the avant geist. Compositions are improvised extemporaneously on solo electric guitar without the use of tape, tape dubbing, computers or synthesizers. The idea is to utilize a few basic tones and then present relational possibilities inherent in those tones.
Critics and fans have noted that he is able to produce complex musical riddles wherein his performances have displayed the qualities of multiple instrument arrangements, incorporating voicings that bring to mind horns, sax, chimes, cello and strings, and percussion as well as various guitar timbres.
Influences as diverse as wind instrument breathing techniques, piano hand exercises, and woodwind and violin fingering styles are routinely incorporated into the standard fingering and theories behind the guitar.
Mr. Wallace is interested in the textural aspects of the sounds, in the physical dimensioning of each note, of the geometric quality of the sound. He is also concerned with the timbre of every note and passage, and with the rhythmic structure of the relationship of each note to its neighbors within the musical neighborhood. His improvised compositions often incorporate sonorous multitonal qualities, dense, interwoven passages embellished with harmonic and micro-tonal sound statements, or silence further defined by irregular syntaxed rhythms and primitive beats.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY
[I]ncredibly interesting guitar improvisation, [i]f you are into guitar you will be into this from John Bruce Wallace. Incredibly talented. Susie Mudd, MARYLAND MUSICIAN, Baltimore, MD
Wallace is one of those rare exceptions. Charles S. Russell, EAR MAGAZINE, New York, NY
Sinuous solo guitar improvisations...rippling, resonant sound. Mark Jenkins, WASHINGTON CITY PAPER, Washington, DC
An aggressive, wailing guitar sound--astonishing and extremely individual--that one has never heard before. Grigory Valov, TIF, Arkhangel'sk, Russia
Wallace can very obviously play. [L]engthy meditations, often very spiked and twisted...often wild and unpredictable. Ken Egbert, OPTIONS, Santa Monica, CA
[I]ndividual sustain-drenched notes hang in the air, decaying naturally. Robert Iannapollo, CADENCE, Redwood, NY
Wallace interprets the improvised pieces with many harmonics, with inconsistent rhythms over fractured changes. Philippe Renaud, NOTES, Nantes, France
[H]is playing is a lot less predictable than that of many guitar warriors, and the best of it has a savage beauty that Eddie Van Halen couldn't achieve with six months of overdubs. Mark Jenkins, WASHINGTON CITY PAPER, Washington, DC
He invented a new technique of playing while continuously changing the pitch of his electric guitar. Svetlana Korel'skaya, ARKHANGEL'SK, Arkhangel'sk, Russia
[R]efreshing to hear music of such originality and quality for a change. Don Reimus, WOUI Radio, Chicago, IL
I really like the new material and it will be played for a long time (we still play "Plumbing" regularly). Rockin' Patrick Mokrane, Knight After Productions (CITR and CFRO Radio), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
[A] composer working to create a new voice for the electric guitar...creating a new approach to the instrument. Tim Brady, Opus Novus, Bradyworks, Codes d'Acces, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The music is clearly developed, powerful, and expressive. Rick Petrie, WITR Radio, Rochester, NY
Really great improvisation for guitar. Dwight Loop, Earwaves Radio Network, KSFR Radio, Santa Fe, NM
"Loud Noises In A Corner: Engagements On Urban Terrain," Waving Bye Records, 1994
"John Bruce Wallace In Russia," Waving Bye Records, 1991/2 (Limited edition)
"Plumbing the Depths of Reason," Waving Bye Records, 1990
"Krank Kauls Disturb My Sleep," Waving Bye Records, 1988
SELECT PERFORMANCES
"Jazz Days '91," Arkhangel'sk Jazz Festival, Arkhangel'sk, Russia, 1991
"Jazz '91 Vilnius," Vilnius, Lithuania, 1991
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Egbert, Ken; "Reviews" review in Options, Los Angeles, Nov./Dec. 1990, p.158
Gill, J. Doug; "Record Reaction" review in Maryland Musician, Baltimore, November 1990, p.52
Hurwitz, J.; "In the Mailbox this Month" review in DC Music WWWeb, DC Music WWWeb@ari.net; Washington, DC, Vol. 1, #2, November 1995
Iannapollo, Robert; "Hodgepodge & Shorties" review in Cadence, Redwood, NY, May 1992, p.20
Jenkins, Mark; "Sound Check" review in Washington City Paper, Washington, DC, October 28, 1994, p.45
___________; "Club Land" review in Washington City Paper, Washington , DC, October 12-18, 1991, p.33
___________; "Club Land" review in Washington City Paper, Washington, DC, June 2-8, 1989, p.24
Korel'skaya, Svetlana; "Stages" festival review in Arkhangel'sk, Arkhangel'sk, Russia, October 1991, p.6
Korolenko, P.; "Arkhangel'sk-91, International Jazz Days" in _________, Arkhangel'sk, Russia, October 1991, p.13
Malok; "Elec./Industrial/New Age" review in Sound Choice, Ojai, CA, #16 Winter 1991, p.63-64
Mudd, Susie; "The Red Rocker Report" in Maryland Musician, Baltimore, November 1990, p.11
__________; "The Red Rocker Report" in Maryland Musician, Baltimore, September 1989, p.11
__________; "The Red Rocker Report" in Maryland Musician, Baltimore, July 1989, p.12
__________; "The Red Rocker Report" in Maryland Musician, Baltimore, May 1989, p.10
Renaud, Philippe; "Cassettes" review in Notes, Nantes, France, October 1991, p.63
Rusch, Bob; "The Questionnaire" interview in Cadence, Redwood, NY, January 1993, p.37-38
Russell, Charles; "Earviews" review in EAR, New York, December 1989, p.53
Smith, LaDonna: "reviews, reviews, reviews, reviews, reviews" review in the improvisor, Birmingham, AL, Vol. XI, March 1996, p.138-139
Valov, Grigory; "Bitches Brew (Vilnius Jazz'91)" festival review in TIF, Arkhangel'sk, Russia, #16, 1992, p.4-7
Wallace, John Bruce; Genesis: Involvement: Generation, University Press of America, Washington, DC, 1981
John Bruce Wallace is represented by:
Circum-Arts Foundation, Inc., 31 West 21st Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10010
212-675-9650;
Jace W. Ball Creative Enterprises, P.O. Box 66083, Washington, D.C. 20035-6083
Recordings are distributed by:
Forced Exposure, P.O. Box 9102, Waltham, MA 02254-9102
617-629-4773 (PH), 617-629-4774 (FAX);
Wayside Music, P.O. Box 8427, Silver Spring, MD 20907-8427; and
Waving Bye Records, P.O. Box 66083, Washington, DC 20035-6083
John Bruce Wallace Internet E-Mail jacewbal@mindspring.com