CURATION
-
from this page:
by Matrix
Network Node
-
Name:
Michael Abels
-
City/Place:
Los Angeles
-
Country:
United States
Life & Work
-
Bio:
Michael Abels, the recipient of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize and known for his acclaimed scores in Jordan Peele's films like GET OUT, US, and NOPE, has garnered extensive recognition for his groundbreaking compositions. His score for US received a World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics Choice nomination, and numerous critics' awards, earning it the title of "Score of the Decade" by The Wrap. Both US and NOPE were shortlisted for the Oscar for Best Original Score. In 2022, Abels' musical contributions were honored by prestigious venues including the Vancouver International Film Festival, Middleburg Film Festival, and the Museum of the Moving Image. Notably, NOPE earned him the Best Score for a Studio Film award from the Society of Composers & Lyricists. Recent film projects include BAD EDUCATION, NIGHTBOOKS, and the docu-series ALLEN v. FARROW. His current releases include CHEVALIER (Toronto International Film Festival) and LANDSCAPE WITH INVISIBLE HAND (Sundance 2022), the latter marking his second collaboration with director Cory Finley. Upcoming ventures include THE BURIAL (Amazon) and a Disney Plus series.
Beyond film, Abels has crafted a diverse array of concert works, such as the choral song cycle AT WAR WITH OURSELVES for the Kronos Quartet, the Grammy-nominated ISOLATION VARIATION for Hilary Hahn, and OMAR, an opera co-composed with Grammy-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens. The New York Times hailed OMAR as one of the 10 Best Classical Performances of 2022, praising its fusion of folk music, spirituals, and Islamic prayer into a compelling narrative.
Abels' concert pieces have been performed by esteemed ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, among others. Several of his compositions are available on the Cedille label, including DELIGHTS & DANCES, GLOBAL WARMING, and WINGED CREATURES. Recent commissions include EMERGE for the National Symphony and Detroit Symphony, and the guitar concerto BORDERS for Grammy-nominated artist Mak Grgic.
As a co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, Abels advocates for increased visibility of composers of color in film, gaming, and streaming media.
Contact Information
-
Management/Booking:
Interviews & Public Speaking:
Ray Costa — [email protected]
Costa Communications
8265 Sunset Blvd #201
Los Angeles CA 90046
(323) 650-3588
Film & Media Composing:
Laura Engel — [email protected]
Jeff Jernigan — [email protected]
Kraft Engel Management
3349 Cahuenga Blvd West
Los Angeles, CA 90068
(818) 380-1918
Concert Music Rental, Purchase & Licensing:
David Murray, Editor and Publishing Manager
Subito Music
60 Depot St
Verona NJ 07044
(973) 857-3440
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Concert Music Commissions:
Corey Field — [email protected]
Corey Field Law Group, P.C.
8033 W. Sunset Blvd., Suite 978
Hollywood, CA 90046
(310) 467-5855
Clips (more may be added)
We use the mathematics of the small world phenomenon to transform the creative universe into a creative village wherein all are connected by short pathways to all... (Wolfram explains how above)
This Integrated Global Creative Economy uncoils from a sprawling Indigenous, African, Sephardic and then Ashkenazic, Arabic, European, Asian cultural matrix...
Great culture is great power.
"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
—Alicia Svigals (NEW YORK CITY): Apotheosis of klezmer violinists
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers (BOSTON): Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory ... Former personal recording engineer for Prince; "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"
"Dear Sparrow, Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
—Julian Lloyd Webber (LONDON): Premier cellist in UK; brother of Andrew (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera...)
"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
—Clarice Assad (RIO DE JANEIRO/CHICAGO): Pianist and composer with works performed by Yo Yo Ma and orchestras around the world
"We appreciate you including Kamasi in the matrix, Sparrow."
—Banch Abegaze (LOS ANGELES): manager, Kamasi Washington
"Thanks! It looks great!....I didn't write 'Cantaloupe Island' though...Herbie Hancock did! Great Page though, well done! best, Randy"
Our Matrix was conceived under a Spiritus Mundi ranging from the quilombos and senzalas of Cachoeira and Santo Amaro to Havana and the provinces of Cuba to the wards of New Orleans to the South Side of Chicago to the sidewalks of Harlem to the townships of South Africa to the villages of Ireland to the Roma camps of France and Belgium to the Vienna of Beethoven to the shtetls of Eastern Europe...*
Sodré
*...in conversation with Raymundo Sodré, who summed up the irony in this sequence by opining for the ages: "Where there's misery, there's music!" Hence A Massa, anthem for the trod-upon folk of Brazil, which blasted from every radio between the Amazon and Brazil's industrial south until...
And hence a platform whereupon all creators tend to accessible proximity to all other creators, irrespective of degree of fame, location, or the censor.
Matrix Ground Zero is the Recôncavo, bewitching and bewitched, contouring the resplendent Bay of All Saints (end of clip below, before credits), absolute center of terrestrial gravity for the disembarkation of enslaved human beings (and for the sublimity these people created), the bay presided over by Brazil's ineffable Black Rome (where Bule Bule is seated below, around the corner from where we built this matrix as an extension of our record shop).
Assis Valente's (of Santo Amaro, Bahia) "Brasil Pandeiro" filmed by Betão Aguiar
Betão Aguiar
("Black Rome" is an appellation per Caetano, via Mãe Aninha of Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá.)
Replete with Brazilian greatness, but we listened to Miles Davis and Jimmy Cliff in there too; visitors are David Dye & Kim Junod for NPR/WXPN
I opened the shop in Salvador, Bahia in 2005 in order to create an outlet to the wider world for magnificent Brazilian musicians.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar found us (he's a huge jazz fan), David Byrne, Oscar Castro-Neves... Spike Lee walked past the place while I was sitting on the stoop across the street drinking beer and listening to samba from the speaker in the window...
But we weren't exactly easy for the world-at-large to get to. So in order to extend the place's ethos I transformed the site associated with it into a network wherein Brazilian musicians I knew would recommend other Brazilian musicians, who would recommend others...
And as I anticipated, the chalky hand of God-as-mathematician intervened: In human society — per the small-world phenomenon — most of the billions of us on earth are within some 6 or fewer degrees of each other. Likewise, within a network of interlinked artists as I've described above, most of these artists will in the same manner be at most a handful of steps away from each other.
So then, all that's necessary to put the Brazilians within possible purview of the wide wide world is to include them among a wide wide range of artists around that world.
If, for example, Quincy Jones is inside the matrix, then anybody on his page — whether they be accessing from a campus in L.A., a pub in Dublin, a shebeen in Cape Town, a tent in Mongolia — will be close, transitable steps away from Raymundo Sodré, even if they know nothing of Brazil and are unaware that Sodré sings/dances upon this planet. Sodré, having been knocked from the perch of fame and ground into anonymity by Brazil's dictatorship, has now the alternative of access to the world-at-large via recourse to the vast potential of network theory.
...to the degree that other artists et al — writers, researchers, filmmakers, painters, choreographers...everywhere — do also. Artificial intelligence not required. Real intelligence, yes.
The deep roots of this project are in Manhattan, where Allen Klein (managed the Beatles and The Rolling Stones) called me about royalties for the estate of Sam Cooke... where Jerry Ragovoy (co-wrote Time is On My Side, sung by the Stones; Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin of course; and Pata Pata, sung by the great Miriam Makeba) called me looking for unpaid royalties... where I did contract and licensing for Carlinhos Brown's participation on Bahia Black with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
...where I rescued unpaid royalties for Aretha Franklin (from Atlantic Records), Barbra Streisand (from CBS Records), Led Zeppelin, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Airto Moreira, Jim Hall, Wah Wah Watson (Melvin Ragin), Ray Barretto, Philip Glass, Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd for his interest in Bob Marley compositions, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam and others...
...where I worked with Earl "Speedo" Carroll of the Cadillacs (who went from doo-wopping as a kid on Harlem streetcorners to top of the charts to working as a janitor at P.S. 87 in Manhattan without ever losing what it was that made him special in the first place), and with Jake and Zeke Carey of The Flamingos (I Only Have Eyes for You)... stuff like that.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay (they paid).
Matrix founding creators are behind "one of 10 of the best (radios) around the world", per The Guardian.
Salvador is our base. If you plan to visit Bahia, there are some things you should probably know and you should first visit:
www.salvadorbahiabrazil.comAcross the creative universe... For another list, reload page.
This list is random, and incomplete. Reload the page for another list.
Wolfram MathWorld
Ex Terra Brasilis
Alicia Svigals
Susan Rogers
Julian Lloyd Webber
Clarice Assad
Kamasi Washington
Randy Brecker
Roberto Mendes
Luciano Calazans
Gustavo Caribé
J Velloso
Lázaro Ramos
Fernando Guerreiro
Maria Marighella
Russell Okung
Bule Bule
Caetano Veloso
RÁDIO MATRIX