Evan Ziporyn: Pop Channel

With POP CHANNEL, award-winning clarinetist and composer Evan Ziporyn does the impossible, taking us on a wild ride through iconic pop songs spanning 5 decades, all reimagined through his clarinet, or rather a compendium of clarinets – arranged, layered, and performed by Ziporyn. Pop Channel takes us through sonic landscapes from 45 years of pop music history. Beginning with a tour-de-force reimagining of Paul McCartney’s psychedelic “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” Ziporyn progresses through a dizzying range of repertoire, from one-hit wonders (“Ride Captain Ride”) and iconic funk masterpieces (“Shining Star,” “Strawberry Letter #23”), to introspective meditations (Joni Mitchell’s solo version of “Woodstock”) and hidden B-side gems (Steely Dan’s “Your Gold Teeth 2”). At the epicenter of Pop Channel is a fierce, virtuosic solo bass clarinet rendition of Jimi Hendrix’ incendiary live “Woodstock Improvisation,” with Ziporyn channeling Hendrix’ electric, blues-based expressivity through a unique combination of his extended techniques on the instrument and ferocious guitar distortion effects. Charting new territories with Pop Channel, Ziporyn crates an exhilarating – and often mind-blowing – sonic celebration of some of the most iconic songs of the past fifty years.