Page Of Madness

Notes: Page of Madness is an original film score for Teinosuke Kinugasa's Japanese 1926 silent film masterpiece, Kurutta Ippeiji, (A Page of Madness). It was recorded in 1998, and is just being released on CD now for the first time. It features The Transparent Quartet, and was recorded by Jon Rosenberg. The Transparent Quartet: Phillip Johnston: soprano, alto saxophone Joe Ruddick: piano, baritone saxophone Mark Josefsberg: vibraphone David Hofstra: bass Artist: PHILLIP JOHNSTON A saxophonist, composer and arranger of both jazz and new music, Phillip has been a significant figure in the underground music scene of New York's downtown since the beginning of the 1980's. He has composed extensively for film including Paul Mazursky's Faithful, Philip Haas' The Music of Chance and Money Man, Dorris Drrie's Paradise and Geld, and, recently, Stolen Life by Peter Rasmussen & Jackie Turnure & Noise by Henry Bean. He has also written for silent film, including Tod Browning's The Unknown, The George Mlis Project, Teinosuke Kinugasa's Page Of Madness and F.W. Murnau's Faust. His theatre composition credits include Measure For Measure, War Of The Roses, The Comedy Of Errors, The Merchant Of Venice and Macbeth for Bell Shakespeare; Young Goodman Brown with Richard Foreman, Venus with Suzan-Lori Parks, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Ruysch and The Falls with Hilary Bell, and Drawn To Death: A Three Panel Opera with Art Spiegelman. Dance credits include Karole Armitage's The Predators' Ball and Keely Garfield's Minor Repairs Necessary for which he won a 'Bessie' in 1999. Throughout, he has maintained a parallel career as a saxophonist, both working with others and leading his own bands. During the 1980's he led the Microscopic Septet, and in the 1990's he led Big Trouble and The Transparent Quartet. He has recently toured internationally with with the seven-piece Fast 'N' Bulbous: The Captain Beefheart Project, featuring Gary Lucas, for which he arranged and conducted, and the reanimated Microscopic Septet. Phillip's recordings include Tales From the Cryptic (Winter & Winter) with Guy Klucevsek; Pork Chop Blue Around The Rind, and the recent Waxed Oop (Cuneiform) with Fast 'N' Bulbous, and Seven Men in Neckties & Surrealistic Swing (Cuneiform), a four-CD retrospective of his work with the Microscopic Septet, which was followed up recently by Lobster Leaps In, their first new recording in 20 years. He lived most of his adult life in New York City, until 2005 when he relocated to Sydney, Australia with his wife, Australian playwright Hilary Bell, and their two children, where he performs with SNAP, a saxophone quartet, and Phillip Johnston and the Coolerators. '...an engaging and absorbing piece of chamber jazz composition/improvisation by a highly skilled band.' - Mark Corroto, All About Jazz. (USA) '...one of the richest forms of written jazz, plucked from the air by the musicians with great intelligence and immense emotional power. ' - Nol Tachet, Improjazz (FRANCE) '...really excellent.' - Beppe Colli, Clouds and Clocks. (ITALY) '...like a clown gone bad...' -Dave Mandl, The Wire (UK)