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Dangerous Odds: The World of Ideas, 16 April 1997

by Dangerous Odds

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Anton Kapela
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1.
Ron Ellis: Now Listen 05:39
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2.
Larry Giles: What the Piano Player Did to Me 07:52
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3.
Ron Ellis: Gene Splicer 03:32
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4.
Ron Ellis: Working Against the Pattern 04:43
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5.
Ron Ellis: Showing Daughter War 03:31
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6.
Ron Ellis: Dangerous Odds 05:17
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7.
Larry Giles: Interlude 02:36
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8.
Ron Ellis: The Jazz Cruiser 05:15
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9.
Ron Ellis: Fossil Fuel Man 04:54
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10.
Ron Ellis: Being Post-Modern 03:29
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11.
Ron Ellis: By the Light 06:00
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about

Dangerous Odds: The World of Ideas

16 April 1997

Live concert recording

McGraw Auditorium, UW-Whitewater, Whitewater, WI

The Best Of Dangerous Odds series of albums represents a broad selection of live and studio performances, made in the 1990s of spontaneously improvised music to accompany performance poetry. We will release several albums' worth of material in this series, as old tapes are digitized and remastered, and in some cases remixed.

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A little background:

Dangerous Odds was our band consisting of a core group of two poets—Ron Ellis and Larry Giles—who performed their poems accompanied by spontaneously improvised music. The core group of musicians would as often just start making sounds evoked by the mood and words of the poem as we would have any structured plan—more often, in fact. This was the band where 95 percent of all the music was fully improvised, in all styles, with most members of the band playing multiple instruments. We became so practiced at pure improvisation that the band sometimes seemed telepathic.

In addition to Dangerous Odds' core group of musicians and poets, we had many guest appearances in both categories. Musical guests included Joan WIldman, Jim Schwall, and Adrian Belew. Guest poets included Kate Ryan, Wendy Nelson, and several others. Sometimes the poets also played music, and sometimes the musicians also read words into the microphone.

No boundaries, no rules, no limits.

Dangerous Odds began as the house band for a monthly poetry reading live broadcast on WORT-FM, Madiaon, WI, the Cheap At Any Price Poets. Out of that coalesced a performance art project presented in Chicago, IL, as part of the curated Bucktown Rhinoceros Theatre Festival, featuring poets/performers Kate Ryan and Ron Ellis. The name Dangerous Odds was officially taken for our premiere at Bucktown at the 1991 Festival.

Very soon, Dangerous Odds had our own regular radio slot on WORT, at first monthly, eventually more. At first the monthly radio programs were presented live in the WORT sutdios, We also played live shows at venues around Wisconsin and Illinois. All live shows were recorded for later radio broadcast, alongside regular studio sessions. Over time, it became easier to pre-record all the radio broadcasts, due to logistics. Thus, you will see albums in this Best Of series labeled “studio” or “live” as appropriate.

credits

released December 3, 2021

Ron Ellis: poet
Larry Giles: poet
Al Jewer: flutes, sax, wind synthesizers, bass
Art Durkee: Chapman Stick with Infinite Sustain Feedback System, bass
Tom Hamer: drums, percussion


Written & Produced by Dangerous Odds
© 1997, 2021 Dangerous Odds. All Rights Reserved.

Recorded live to digital multitrack
at McGraw Auditorium, UW-Whitewater, Whitewater, WI
16 April 1997
Engineered by The Men In Black from Laughing Cat Remote

Live engineering by Lara Hayward
Mixed by Lara Hayward and Tom Hamer
Remastered 2021 by Art Durkee

Originally released on CD
© 1997 Dangerous Odds/Laughing Cat Records/Bleeding Edge Records
for radiobroadcast 1997 on WORT-FM, Madison, WI

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all rights reserved

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about

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Arthur Durkee Ann Arbor, Michigan

Arthur Durkee is a composer & songwriter who records & performs on Chapman Stick, bass, analog modular synths, bamboo & wood flutes, keys, frame drums, and voice. He has won awards for composed, notated music as well as for his recordings, & is a published poet, & designer & illustrator. ... more

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