AARON MCLENDON - New York City Based Drummer . Composer . Educator .

AARON McLENDON Drummer.Composer.Educator.Contact

Manifesto

Live Originals

Commercial Originals

Manifesto THE STYLE OF NO STYLE"Throughout musical history, a single compositional style has generally dominated its era. In the fractious late 20th century, however, composers freely draw on myriad influences to create highly personalized idioms. Eclecticism, once a term of opprobrium, has become a virtue, perhaps even a style in itself, as the boundaries of serious music steadily expand." -Michael Walsh, Time.com It appears that style is nothing more than a consistent emphasis on a certain set of characteristics. Compositions (and their performers) may share common traits that can then be amalgamated into categories. These categories are in turn given names like Classical, Jazz, R&B, Rock, Hip-Hop, Electronica, etc.. This makes music all the more easier to describe, market and promote. It behooves artists living within a system of Capitalism to be able to manifest such periphrasis. However, we must not forget that music is an organization of sound, perhaps representing a narrative or single emotion. Our 21st Century technology allows for immediate access to almost all of the recorded music of this time, as well as the known material from almost all previous eras. Many modern artists cannot help but express such diverse musical influences. Although the more recent classifications of music remain relevant, it appears more and more that the audiences are paying less attention to their meaning. As my own influences are vast, and melody and rhythm are my strengths, it's no accident that I have a multitude of congruent expressions: I hear melodies in their tertian simplicity and chromatic disjointedness. I express rhythm in quantized dialogues and organic multi-subdivisional sparks. Music is my mood, and from day to day, I experience and respond to myriad situations involving a vast array of mental images and feelings. From Shostakovich's 5th Symphony to Coltrane's A Love Supreme, from The Beatles' White Album to Dr Dre's The Chronic, I am affected by all of this music and, in turn, produce new art objects that retain previous inspiration. "The style of no style", as Bruce Lee coined, might prove to be the archetype of a new global paradigm. It is certain that as our sonic borders continue to be blurred, the same truths shall also continue to be present in all great music: That it is beautiful, and that it possess the skill to share its beauty with the world. - Aaron McLendon, New York, NY
Live Originals

PROCESS OF KNOWING 1
PROCESS OF KNOWING 2
PROCESS OF KNOWING 3
TIDES

All Compositions Copywrite 2010 by Aaron McLendon ASCAP

The Process of Knowing, pt.1(A.McLendon) Phil Rodriguez - T., Beth Schenck - As., Matt Wrobel, Simon Kafka - G., Kevin Farrell - EB., Malcolm Kirby - DB. Recorded _ Rose, Brooklyn, NY. June 2010.

The Process of Knowing, pt.2(A.McLendon) (As Above)

The Process of Knowing, pt.3(A.McLendon) (As Above)

Tides(A.McLendon) Ben Wendel - Ts., Brian Green - G., Josh Nelson - P., Harish Raghavan, B. Recorded _ CalState Long Beach for KJZZ. Long Beach, CA. October 2006.

Commercial Originals