Settling Scores (Softcover)

Settling Scores: A Life in the Margins of American Music details one life lived in the margins of America's musical consciousness. From a working-class background in gritty North Philadelphia to the sanctity of European concert stages, from imagined dangers lurking along the waterfronts in mysterious Asian cities to the real dangers lurking in the narrow minds of those who uphold the status quo in American music, this book reveals the life of one who embraced change, and, in the process, gained political leverage and intellectual freedom. It is the story of Joseph Franklin and a legion of collaborators, both musicians and composers (including Pauline Oliveros, Cecil Taylor, John Cage, Conlon Nancarrow, Philip Glass, Guy Klucevsek, and James Tenney, just to name a few) and it is a snapshot view of a slice of America's musical landscape in the final quarter of the 20th century, including a history of Relâche and The Relâche Ensemble.