Apocrypha for Oboe and Tape (Copy)
By Jack Vees & Libby Van Cleeve
About the Artists
Jack Vees
Citing Charles Ives and Captain Beefheart as his most prominent early influences, Jack Vees has a particularly distinctive and personal musical style that is instantly recognizable. His music unselfconsciously combines rigorous formal thinking with the raw energy of rock ‘n’ roll, as well as an irreverent, acerbic wit that is equal parts Monty Python and the Ugly Janitors of America, the antic avant-garde rock band Vees performed with during his Los Angeles days. Technology is an integral part of much of Vees’s work, and he elegantly combines electronics with acoustic and electric instruments. In 1998, Vees was profiled in Rolling Stone as a pioneer of music technology and hailed as a “21st century alchemist.” His music has been described as “consistently interesting” (Music Connection), “looking-glass music” (New Haven Register), and it has occasionally been said here and there that his music “twangs with excitement” (New York Times). In addition to being a leader in electronic music composition and performance, Vees is also a prominent educator in the field, serving as founder and director of Yale University’s acclaimed Center for Studies in Music Technology (CSMT). Since 1986, Vees has taught graduate-level courses on music technology and studio techniques at the Yale School of Music, and has played a critical role in cultivating the extraordinary reputation of today’s composition department at YSM.