Extradition Plays Byrd

Composer Joseph Byrd was a member of the New York avant-garde during the remarkable 1960–63 period that also saw the emergence of composers Philip Corner, Malcolm Goldstein, and James Tenney. In late 2026 and early 2027, Extradition will follow up our concerts dedicated to those giants by presenting EXTRADITION PLAYS BYRD, with three concerts focused on the composer’s early-1960s compositions.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2026
Homage to Jackson Mac Low (1961) * The Defense of the American Continent from the Viet-Cong Invasion (1966) * Untitled I (undated) * Prelude to the Mystery Cheese Ball (1961) * Two Pieces for Richard Maxfield (1960) * November Dragon (1961) * La Virgin de la Macarena (undated)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2026
Densities I (1962) * Loops and Sequences (1961) * For David Tudor (undated) * Four Sound-Poems (1962) * Fish (1961) * Animals (1961)

SATURDAY, JANUARY 23. 2027
Aria (undated) * Raga + Desert Music (undated) * Untitled II (undated) * Dialogues (1961) * Tired Dragon (1960) * Sonatina in A-flat (undated)

All concerts at Leaven Community, 5431 NE 20th Ave., Portland, OR

Doors 7pm, music 7:30pm

Joseph Byrd (1937–2025) was a participant in San Francisco’s seminal musical avant-garde in the late 1950s, where he befriended young composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Steve Reich. Moving to New York In 1960, he quickly became a fixture on the downtown scene, performing with Young, Riley, David Tudor, Philip Corner, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Charlotte Moorman, Jackson Mac Low, Terry Jennings, Yvonne Rainer, and many others. During this time he also studied with both Morton Feldman and John Cage, whom he assisted with the preparation of Atlas Eclipticalis for performance by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. He presented the first full program of his music on March 4–5, 1961, at Yoko Ono’s Chambers Street studio, part of the legendary loft series curated by Young. He also participated in performances by the Judson Dance Theater, was an early member of Fluxus, and presented a concert of his works at Carnegie Recital Hall. In 1963 he returned to California, where he studied ethnomusicology, co-founded the UCLA New Music Workshop, co-produced the first West Coast festival of experimental arts, wrote the liner notes for Cage's Variations IV LP, and played in a blues band with Linda Ronstadt. In 1967 he formed the psychedelic art-rock band The United States of America, with whom he released two albums on Columbia Records. In the 1970s he taught at California State University; became a recognized authority on 19^th-century American popular music; and began a long, distinguished career as an arranger, record producer, and film music composer, working with the likes of Phil Ochs, Ry Cooder, Agnès Varda, Robert Altman, and Don Buchla. In 1986 he moved to Humboldt County, CA, where he remained active in music and taught at the College of the Redwoods. He spent his final year as a resident of Medford, OR.

Extradition is an ensemble dedicated to exploring the history and depth of the American experimental tradition and the global disciplines of open composition, guided improvisation, and other forms it helped inspire. We collaborate closely with both known and emerging composers worldwide, producing quarterly concerts and intimate recital events that unite composition and improvisation, deliberation and chance, clarity and silence. www.extraditionpdx.com