Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Andrew Munsey.
Performed by the Ars Combinatoria String Quartet:
Erik Carlson, Norman Sifronsky, Christopher Otto, Michael Nicolas
Produced and edited by Erik Carlson.
Critical Listening by Ellie Moser, Matthew Barber, and Christopher Otto.
Album art by Rosemary K. J. Davis
Released December 12, 2017
Originally released on Bandcamp, Babbitt’s String Quartets No. 2-6, are now hosted on Erik Carlson’s website (Midnight Sledding), free to listen. Donations encouraged.
The recordings are also included in the anthology-like project Erik Carlson: Slowly Expanding Milton Babbitt Album, which now features 51 Babbitt recordings, many of them first renderings. Read Ethan Iverson’s review of the project here (DO THE M@TH), which includes a special mention of All Set, Babbitt’s work for a jazz ensemble configuration, and on which I also played drums. – Andrew Munsey
Whenever a student brings in 12-tone jazz or other complicated charts with a notated drum part, I play them All Set, for Babbitt kind of closed the book on that stuff all the way back in 1957…
It is the best All Set so far. The speed is faster than before and each note sings. Perfect music, perfectly realized.
Ethan Iverson