[ Glacial Erratic, 2018 ]
CD - limited run press in gatefold UV Gloss paperboard sleeve.
Produced/released by Joe Morris in 2018 on his Glacial Erratic imprint.
Joe Morris: guitar
DoYeon Kim: gayageum
This recording was first made available here in 2018. We re-visited this set in 2025 while preparing DoYeon Kim's Wellspring for release, and were knocked out anew by the depth & breadth of these wholly improvised duos. This is a very special work indeed, displaying both artists' improvisational and instrumental prowess in full. So, we reached out to Joe to see if he had any copies of this beauty left to make available to you now; thankfully he did!
// From original solicitation text:
Recorded in September and released in December 2018 by Morris on his own Glacial Erratic label on occasion of this duo's visit to Korea.
DoYeon Kim is a masterful performer on the gayageum or "kayagum", a traditional Korean string instrument. Their duo is an impressive and captivating example of incredible skill and a diversity of approaches from both players, including pointillistic improv, rich rivers of chords, languid moments of beauty, and moments where it's difficult to discern who's playing what. The mix of exotic interplay and fascinating challenge of hearing a unique combination of instruments that yields unexpected results draws in the listener.
// Additional Words on this work, and DoYeon, from Joe Morris, Feb 2026 when we received this new batch of original press CDs:
DoYeon and I worked together for 3 years at NEC when she did her Master's and then a Graduate Diploma. As with all of my students she played Ayler, Ornette, Dolphy, Cecil, Sun Ra, Braxton and worked on the methodologies of all of that and also that of Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, and Barry Guy, to name a few.
We did lessons for years. We played using those methodologies and it became a very good collaboration. I was concerned (because when I met her she had never played free music and was a classical virtuoso trained in Korean Music) that she was happy going that far with her playing and she said repeatedly that she felt that for her it "opened up the universe."
We made the recording and released it quickly because she had arranged for us to play in Seoul. We also did 2 workshops at universities there. I talked and she translated and we played a duo concert and one with 3 other young women. All of whom were incredible musicians.
In Korea, like at NEC, I could see the way people respected DoYeon. She's brilliant, a true soul and virtuoso who can do anything, and a tremendously focused performer.