Joe Drew, trumpeter & composer
Co-Artistic Director, ANALOG arts
Joe Drew is a veteran of the new music & experimental concert scene, as well as New York’s downtown rock clubs. He has toured with musikFabrik, Cursive, the Symphony Orchestra of Mumbai under Charles Dutoit, and an eclectic roster of independent acts. He specializes in the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 2015, he performed the U.S. premiere of the melodic version of La Monte Young’s Second Dream… under the composer’s direction.
As a founding director of Analog Arts, Joe created a new music festival where he curated a program of Samuel Beckett’s short plays, arranged a Rameau ballet-opera, and conducted Ballet Mécanique. He projected the US & NY premieres of Stockhausen’s last electronic piece Cosmic Pulses. He is also the director of the Iron Composer competition, which he created in 2007.
Joe moved to New York City after receiving his masters degree from the Yale School of Music. He earned his Ph.D in trumpet performance from New York University, writing his dissertation on the role of Michael in Karlheinz Stockhausen’s 7-opera cycle LICHT (Light, 1977-2003). He frequently performs as a keyboardist in bands or on his recitals. He has given 9, 12 & 24-hour solo performances of John Cage’s ASLSP, and is currently working on a 48-hour version. His latest performance project is called dung.
“It was a properly impressive celebration…It was controversial at its premiere, but I adore the 13th hour, “Cosmic Pulses,” a half-hour, surround-sound, all-electronic whirlwind…It’s daffy, overblown and strangely poignant, just like the cycle over all. The key for a “Klang” presenter is to be casual, to tone down Stockhausen’s self-seriousness and heighten his humor. This the [production] did well…it also made “Klang” seem part of normal life, of the hours of the day.” — The New York Times, “Karlheinz Stockhausen’s ‘Klang,’ an Epic Cycle at 3 Met Museums” (Zachary Woolfe)
“Stockhausen’s music often sounds patched together with bungee cords and safety pins, and so do the philosophical and religious ideas behind it. Yet he was a master of orderly madness, planning his works with a technical precision that keeps his fans absorbed in deciphering their construction. His scores are visual artworks, multicolored, elaborate cryptographs that winnow out all but the most devoted performers.” — New York, “A 21-Hour Day of Unfinished, Impossible Music: Stockhausen’s Klang” (Justin Davidson)
“The musicians played it beautifully. You were barely aware of the rules imposed on them, but you sensed the rigor of their listening to one another. The tones shifted and piled and overlapped, and small details became very big: different levels of projection, the trumpeters’ ability to move their bells around the microphones, the precision of pitch.” — The New York Times, “Review: License and Restriction in a Work by La Monte Young at Dia Chelsea” (Ben Ratliff)
“I’ve been following Drew’s work for years, often from afar, and last fall I caught his superb presentation of Stockhausen’s Cosmic Pulses at the old ISSUE Project Room.” — Alex Ross
“There was also a beehive intensity to the Issue (Project Room) performance, like being stuck on some kind of dark, trippy thrill ride.” — Feast of Music
“Joe Drew on Stockhausen” — Peter Matthews
COMPOSITIONS & APPROPRIATIONS
Dhünntallsperre Rufe (2017) for four trumpets
Hey Aleph Aleph (2015) for chorus
I Blur Noel (2014) for 1/4-tone flugelhorn & tape
The Sounds of ARTSaha! (2008) Tape
Arena (2007) Tape and any number of instruments
The Mother Chord (2007) Piano
Bloomsday Prelude (2007) Tape
In Search of Found Laughter (2007) Speaker
Quad Variations (2007) 2 – 4 Walkers, 1-4 Musicians [Based on Samuel Beckett’s Quad]
“Camille”, from the Burgle Soundtrack (2006) Soul combo
“Burgle”, from the Burgle Soundtrack (2006) Soul combo
“Heist”, from the Burgle Soundtrack (2006) Soul combo
“Dreamreader Blues”, from the Dreamreader Blues Soundtrack (2006) Tape
The World’s First Aeolian Kite-In (2006) Any number of people with airborne noisemakers
Krapp Collage (2006) Tape
Baba O’Superman in C (2005) Any number of performers
Notes for the Next Dark Age (2005) Meta-opera for any number of performers
The Divine Spirit (2005) Jazz worship service for small ensemble
Terr I (2005) Tape
Terr II (2005) Tape or Tape and any number of instruments
Cocktail (2004) Guerrilla Event
OO (2004) Multiple playback devices
Suite for Trumpet and Tape (2000) Tape and trumpet
Haydn’s Retrofitted Trumpet Concerto (2010) trumpet and orchestra
Hymns (2008) Piano & Objects
Prince, “When U Were Mine” (2008) Trumpet ensemble
Queen, “Dear Friends” (2008) Trumpet ensemble
Jean-Philippe Rameau, The Festivities of Hebe (2006) Chamber ensemble
Modeste Mussorgsky, “The Old Castle” (2005) Jazz ensemble
Johann Sebastian Bach, The Musical Offering (2005) A dramatic presentation
Laurie Anderson, “Oh Superman (for Massenet)” (2005) Tape and any number of instruments
Giacinto Scelsi, Quattro Pezzi, First Movement (2005) Trumpet, cello, clay drum
Igor Stravinsky, Selections from The Rite of Spring (2004) Various Instrumentations
Richard Wagner, Selections from Tannhauser (2004) Jazz ensemble
Sergei Rachmaninoff, “Now Let Thy Servant Depart” (2004) Brass quintet
Sergei Rachmaninoff, “Bless the Lord, Oh my Soul” (2004) Brass quintet
Radiohead, Selections from Kid A (2002) Various instrumentations
Ottorino Respighi, “Nebbie” (1998) Brass quartet
Joe Drew, Electronic Suite for Trumpet and Tape
[audio:http://analogarts.org/media/audio/Drew/ESuite.mp3]
Joe Drew, I Blur Noel for 1/4-tone flugelhorn and tape
[audio:http://analogarts.org/audio/I%20Blur%20Noel.wav] (Tape Part)
Joe Drew, Mutterakkord, for 9 players on 2 pianos
(Players coaxed onstage and led by Joe Drew. Live recording from ARTSaha! 2007.)
[audio:http://analogarts.org/media/11%20Track%2011.mp3]
Joe Drew, “Burgle Theme”
(Trumpets & Rhodes performed by Joe Drew. Composed for the short film Burgle by Gordon Smith.)
[audio:http://www.analogarts.org/media/audio/AAE/Burgle%20Theme.mp3]
Joe Drew, Krapp’s Last Tapes
(Sound collage composed for “The Short Plays of Samuel Beckett” at ARTSaha! 2006.)
[audio:http://www.analogarts.org/media/audio/Drew/Krapps%20Last%20Tapes.mp3]
Animal Heads, “Grumpy Pumpernickle”
(Trumpets arranged and performed by Joe Drew.)
[audio:http://analogarts.org/media/audio/Drew/01%20Grumpy%20Pumpernickle.mp3]
Jean-Philippe Rameau, “de l’Art de Terpsichore”
(Harpsichord and arrangement by Joe Drew. Live recording from ARTSaha! 2006.)
[audio:http://analogarts.org/media/audio/AAE/de%20lArt%20de%20Terpsichore.mp3]
John Cage, ASLSP
(Organ performed by Joe Drew. Live recording of the finale to a 6-hour solo performance at ARTSaha! 2006.)
[audio:http://www.analogarts.org/media/audio/Drew/ASLSP%20END.mp3]
Discography:
Sunny Knable, American Variations
ANALOG arts ensemble, The Sounds of ARTSaha!
Sputnik, Shine On
Animalheads, Monkey Town
numun, Ceremony in the Sky
ANALOG arts ensemble, smith.
Tee Templeton, Might Could Have
Istvan B’racz, Papyrus Nugator