Terry JENNINGS
Winter Sun

I discovered the name of Terry Jennings in 2006 while deepening my research on La Monte Young, Young whose Trio for Strings fascinated me. Jennings was one of the very few proteges of La Monte Young, a detail that particularly aroused my curiosity!

His sad and enigmatic biography could be summed up simply: child prodigy - virtuoso - precursor - died during an altercation with his hard drug dealer. A life quite close to that of Julius Eastman.

Despite all my attempts, none of my contacts, none of my friends composer could provide me with Jennings' scores.

If for some composers, it is easy to obtain their scores, there I was faced with a wall: the only work available was the strange and refined Piano (1960) which could be read in An anthology of chance operations by La Monte Young.

It wasn't until 2009, when I met composer Mamoru Fujieda in Japan, that I was finally able to obtain other sheet music: "All the existing ones", in Mamoru's words!

I discovered music that was less « white » than Piano (1960), but just as strange. These works were eerie, icy and elegant. There were strange chords coming from nowhere and none without any particular direction, melodies as mysterious as that of Satie's Vexations, stretched out like a winter sun on an immense snow-covered American plain. Terry Jennings was the missing link between Dennis Johnson's November and Alvin Curran's Inner Cities.

Public reactions have always been very positive, (I was able to create these works in France, Ukraine, Monaco, Azerbaijan and Belarus).

The story does not end there ! In 2019, Terry Jennings' niece contacted me through my website to thank me for all the work I had done. During our discussions, and insisting a little, we discover in a draft notebook by Terry Jennings, a brand new work that was not mentioned anywhere: Untitled Piano Piece (June 1962)! This piece is less radical than Jennings' other works, but just as haunting. It gives us a glimpse of new paths that this composer could have followed. If there are other unreleased items from a few collectors, please don't hesitate to contact me!