Light-in-Toronto:

A short story of the Light I and II improvisation groups brought together by David Rosenboom in 1972-73, while at York University.

Light I (1972) was a constellation of Jon Hassell (trumpet), J.B. Floyd (keyboards), Rick Homme (bass), Terry Clarke (percussion) and David Rosenboom (composer-keyboards), helped by David McKenzie as technician. The collective was conceived as a cross-stylistic improvisation group working with minimal pre-composed starting points and cyclical pattern-related materials – expanding them into larger forms improvisationally. Light I performed only one time during the 2nd season of the New Music Concerts series at the University of Toronto on December 15th of 1972. Compositions How Much Better If Plymouth Rock Had Landed On the Pilgrims and Portable Gold and Philosophers’ Stones were separately performed on that evening. The name "Light," given post factum to the group presented in the program as “David Rosenboom Associates,” was probably inspired by the project Light Inc. of Hassell.

In 1973, after the leave of Jon Hassell, Rosenboom reassembled the group with two new members, Kathy Moses (flute) and Bruce Pennecook (saxophone), and continuing members, Terry Clarke (percussion), Rick Homme (bass) and J.B. Floyd (keyboards). Light II performed a concert at Burton Auditorium, York University, and at a DaySpring Festival in the same year. Later, in 1974, they were recorded for a radio broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Toronto.

The collaboration was documented by Rosenboom in Lightmotifs (1972) – a score containing notations of patterns used as the basis of pieces developed through improvisation by both Light I and Light II.

Read more about the New Music Concerts series here. An archive of programs for the past seasons is here.