Patrick Grant leads ‘Tilted Axes’ up Astor Place.
Band of electric guitarists go on radical East Village tour
BY BOB KRASNER
For some, the sight of a marching band of electric
guitars was just another day in New York City, for
others, it’s what makes the city special (you can
add us to that group).
Composer Patrick Grant took Tilted Axes, his core
group of nine musicians — including himself — with
their Vox amplifi ers (a longtime sponsor) on a walking
tour of the East Village, stopping to play in various spots
but never stopping the music.
The music, all composed by Grant, consisted of some
pieces that were played as composed and others that
followed strict rhythmic or harmonic rules but gave
the players leeway to improvise. Sponsored by Make
Music New York and grants from the Lower Manhattan
Cultural Council and The New York State Council on
the Arts, the group can expand to 20 players.
Saturday’s performance was named for a Dorothy
Parker quote — “Autumn is the springtime of big cities.”
The pieces, Grant noted, “sounded a little more
dissonant than usual, probably due to the pandemic.”
He further explained that “the music has nontraditional
form. We play a repertoire that people don’t
expect – unusual time signatures, like 7/4 for example.”
“The hardest part of playing in the street is paying
attention,” says Grant. “So many things are happening
around us. But there’s a great NYC moment in every
performance. On Saturday it was when a fi re truck made
its way through the traffi c at Astor Place. The horns
honking, the sirens blaring while we played — it was a
perfect New York moment.”
One of the upcoming shows, part of the Honk NYC
festival on Oct. 23, takes its title, “Unlikely Characters,”
from a Robert Fripp quote, “Music so wishes to be heard
that it often calls upon unlikely characters to give it
voice,” proclaimed the master guitarist.
After also mentioning another scheduled appearance
in the Garment District on Oct. 10 entitled ‘Fabrications’,
Grant returns to one of the core philosophies
PHOTOS BY BOB KRASNER
Marching through Astor Place.
of his project.
“We can’t make our lives longer,” he muses, “but we
can add depth to it by our ability to pay attention to
everything that we experience.”
More info on the group at tiltedaxes.com/tiltedaxes.
html and you can follow them on Instagram at @
tiltedaxes
Angela Babin plays the guitar.
12 September 23, 2021 Schneps Media
/tiltedaxes
