Newspaper Article

GUITARIST WITH A TASTE FOR NEW FRONTIERS

Kozinn, Allan, Allan Kozinn is a co-author of "The Guitar: The History, the Players, the Music," published by Morrow/Quill

1986

Overview

''It's simply a question of the kind of life I want to lead,'' he adds. ''It may seem cut off, but it's not, really. It's only cut off in terms of what people expect a musical career to be. People assume that if you can tour - if you can get the work, become well known, and make a lot of money -you will want to keep going. But it doesn't have to be that way. For me, there's so much happening in London, musically and socially, that I've chosen to stay here most of the time. For all its economic and social problems, London is the greatest musical city in the world, and has been for two generations. We have between 12 and 15 full-time orchestras here, plus all the smaller ensembles and visiting orchestras. I like to be around for all that.'' ''I'm in London for things that are not what we might call high-profile professional performances,'' he says. ''For instance, if the London Sinfonietta puts on an all-Takemitsu weekend, as they did recently, I'll go along and play. Or, I might go down to the recording studio to play on a film score. I enjoy that, even if it's only twice or three times a year. It's very nice - you just get in the car, drive across the Hammersmith Bridge, play the session and have a cup of coffee with your mates in the orchestra. These are things that come up when you're part of the constant musical life of a city. They don't come up if you're likely to be off touring in Timbuktu. If I wanted to spend seven months on the road, I could. But why? That's not the life I want.'' In the meantime, he had started to stray from the conventions of the strictly classical fold. In 1970, he recorded ''Changes,'' an odd collection of classical works played over soupy orchestral arrangements, juxtaposed with an Indian raga and tunes by Django Reinhardt, Joni Mitchell and the Beatles. One of the selections, Stanley Myers's ''Cavatina,'' was used as the theme of the movie ''The Deer Hunter,'' and more film work followed, his latest project being a film score of his own, for ''Emma's War.'' In the mid-70's, he continued his explorations with an LP on which he accompanied Cleo Laine (a second volume was released this past year), plus a jazz-rock effort called ''The Height Below'' and a [Bach]-meets-disco disk called ''Traveling.''

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: Frost, Robert / KOZINN, ALLAN / MUSIC / Segovia, Andres / WILLIAMS, JOHN (GUITARIST) / Williams, John Jr