Peck School of the Arts Presents Unruly Music: Geography by Steve Nelson-Raney at UW-Milwaukee

The time was 7:33 p.m. when Steve Nelson-Raney arrived to the stage. He was dressed in black slacks, an olive green button up and a brown overcoat. His silver hair looked primped for the evening ahead. Standing about five feet in front of the piano, he crossed his arms at the wrists and bowed graciously to everyone in attendance. The lights dimmed throughout the hall. The only lights that remained shining were on him and a piano.

He readily approached the instrument and sat down on a black leather upholstered stool. He laid his fingers gently on the ivory keys, folded his upper torso above his hands, closed his eyes behind his Lennon-shaped glasses and began to make this instrument sing. Peck School of the Arts presents Unruly Music: Geography by Steve Nelson-Raney.  Nelson- Raney has been working on this musical piece for close to a decade and was making its premiere performance at Unruly Music.

A retired Senior Lecturer from UWM’s Music Department, Nelson-Raney taught theory, composition and Jazz studies courses from 1991 to 2011.  Outside of academic teaching, he is one of the original members of the musical improvisation trio Audiotrope, a member of a free jazz trio called Dreamtime and a trio on world music called Taqsim. Nelson- Raney is also a saxophonist and has done solo performances in New York City. Nelson- Raney is indeed a multi-faceted scholar who introduces anyone who is interested to not only a study he knows academically but lives every day.

Happening in the Music Building’s Recital Hall, this piece was in constant motion for a solid hour.  Nelson-Raney explain that the music being presented was a “snapshot” of where the music currently is. That means not treating this piece as a sectioned finalized piece but music that is evolving and the audience would witness it at just this giving point in time. This piece is mixed with composed to improvised music, and it reflects Nelson-Raney’s connection to his surrounding world.

Throughout the performance, Nelson-Raney kept in complete tonic with the music he was playing and captured everyone who was there to listen. He would stomp his feet, kick his left leg out to the side of the piano sporadically and sounds of humming would follow at times along with his playing. Being in a bigger hall, the acoustics would rattle throughout the room making this performance an experience.

Nelson- Raney started at a young age playing piano.  He finds inspiration from Jazz and Classical music. He, however, identifies this piece as experimental.  Influential composers range from Elliott Carter to Olivier Messiaen. He focuses more on composers who are not mainstream but left wing Jazz.

“I feel like what I am doing is sort of in between the cracks of these different genres that is authentic for me, and it is hopefully fairly original, and it doesn’t really fit into the framework of other kinds of music,” said Nelson –Raney. “And I think that is the point of being a musician that is finding stuff that’s just authentic for you.”

Throughout the hour while playing a crowd, around 30 people had fixed concentration on him the entire time, some coming in groups and others sitting alone. While some had their eyes fully fixated, others closed their eyes to fully submerge. Students to professors and the chair of the music department Jon Welstead were in attendance.

“It’s very clear that it’s very well-focused and thought through, intelligently implied to the instrument,” said Welstead after the event. “So the thing is Steve addresses the piano as part of his exploration.”