Minimalist Music by George Grella, Jr, reviewed

We look at this study of the emergence and influence of minimalist music, from it’s origins in the 1960s, through it’s rise in popularity, and influence across wider musical genres. See more about Minimalist Music here. 

Minimalist Music reviewed

The distinctive style of Philip Glass and Michael Nyman in particular are more well known than you may realise, especially if you have watched Scorsese movies. Steve Reich is also of course deeply influential, if perhaps slightly less well known to some. George Grella does a great and even handed job of taking us through the origins of the emergence of minimalist music, and then its cross fertilisation and inspiration of other artists. David Bowie quickly saw the value and inspiration of Philip Glass’s music, even before you had Brian Eno and Philip Glass then reworking the epic Berlin period of Bowie’s music for a return rebound musical reworking too.

Grella very clearly describes how Reich and Glass were peers, even born in the same year, and students together too, and how both were vital, but significantly different key drivers in the creation of minimalism. Both created beautiful, emotionally significant, but very different types of music. Interestingly another pillar of minimal music, and also art critic too, Michael Nyman, actually coined the term too. For many people the stunning movie Koyaanisqatsi, 1982, was the perfect visual introduction to the work of Philip Glass, bringing him to a much wider audience, and also illustrating the power and beauty of what minimalist music can do.

Grella also includes an important, relevant, and interesting chapter on the fusion and expansion of what minimal music could be. Perhaps slightly sadly for some of these groups, like The Orb, and Orbital, despite being inspired by Glass and Reich, they were not actually seen as successors to their lineage. Despite this slight, for us, as more neutral listeners, it is clear that the Orb, Banco Di Gaia and many others have a clear debt to minimalism, and we are richer for it.

David Letterman is quoted in the book as introducing Philip Glass to his show by describing him as one of the most successful people to bridge popular and classical music. As Grella rightly points out, prior to ‘classical music’ being seen as elitist and not for the masses, it actually was popular music for the last several centuries. Philip Glass described himself as a composer of music for films and popular culture. and, with the subsequent interaction and evolution of ideas by Robert Frip, and Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead) it is clear that this music has inspired many people working in many areas. We are richer for this, and, despite the brevity of this book. it is a great read by Grella and helps to give the reader a better understanding of what minimal music is, and is not. Well worth a read.

More about Minimalist Music

Minimalist Music looks critically into the music’s past, shows how the genre thrives across styles, and points the way toward minimalism’s ongoing future.

Minimalism as a genre is best defined not by any style or flavor but by its means. Certain rhythms and chords in other music may identify things like jazz or bossa nova or reggae; take those same elements and put them through the processes of minimalism and you have minimalism with the hues of other musics.

A still young genre with ancient roots, minimalism is much less any kind of style than a practice, a manner of making music. Reviving those means and applying them to contemporary sounds and experiences, the pioneers of minimalism created a new and avant-garde music that immediately communicated its power to listeners of all kinds. The global appeal of minimalism and the way the methods adapt to myriad styles open up a view into how music actually works as an art and an experience, how through time it connects in a fundamental way to how we as humans listen.

Minimalist Music is also available in audiobook format from audiobook retailers.

More about George Grella, Jr.

He has written about music and culture for over thirty years for print and online publications, and has contributed to the Grove Dictionary of Music and the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. He is Music Editor at The Brooklyn Rail, publishes the Kill Yr Idols newsletter, and is the author of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew (Bloomsbury 2015). He has played jazz, classical, and improvised music from CBGB to Carnegie Hall.

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