for two-channel audio
All the sounds in Cheap Sax were originally produced by David Demsey. Ted Clancy and I recorded David playing various simple scales and patterns on the tenor saxophone and these recordings became the basis of an electroacoustic composition. Although the music is often densely contrapuntal I changed the underlying sounds very little, adjusting only the attack and decay times of some of the notes. This approach made it easier to dramatize the question of what sounds were produced by the saxophone player, the composer, and the computer.
date: 1996
duration: 10:30
premiere: June 17, 1996, Christ & St. Stephen's Church, New York,
NY, Friends & Enemies of New Music