George Grella joins the podcast to discuss his book 'Minimalist Music' and argue that the genre has nothing to do with sparse materials and everything to do with time.
------------------
Today, we're putting The Tonearm's needle on George Grella, one of the sharpest music critics working today.
George is the music editor of The Brooklyn Rail and has written for The Wire, the New York Times, and, luckily for us, The Tonearm.
George just published Minimalist Music, part of Bloomsbury's 33⅓ Genre series. His central argument is that minimalism isn't defined by sparse materials or specific harmonies; it's defined by how it uses time. Understanding that distinction impacts how we approach and hear the music, and what happens to this music when its originators are gone.
We talk about that thesis, the line between minimalism and post-minimalism, and what it takes to build a life in music writing. We also take a detour into John Zorn's visual art.
The musical excerpts heard in the interview are Terry Riley - “In C” (performed by Bang on a Can All-Stars on the album In C ), Philip Glass - "Music in Twelve Parts: Part 1" (performed by The Philip Glass Ensemble on the album Music in Twelve Parts), and Steve Reich - “Drumming: Pt III” (performed by Steve Reich and Musicians on the album Drumming).
------------------
00:00 Introduction
00:01:28 The book promotion problem — and finding the right audience
00:03:34 The thesis: minimalism as the marking of time
00:06:58 Writing about living critical subjects
00:08:07 A decade of thinking, and On Minimalism
00:09:58 Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and the distortion of classical music history
00:12:36 Reich and Glass as public musicians — not academics
00:15:53 Where The Rest Is Noise left off
00:17:49 Minimalist vs. minimal: drawing the distinction
00:19:59 How Reich and Glass made their accidental discoveries
00:23:29 Jazz, bebop, and the American vernacular
00:25:27 Frank Zappa and the road not taken
00:26:31 Morton Feldman: radical and conservative at once
00:29:12 Kind of Blue, modality, and Miles Davis in the sixties
00:31:17 Bill Laswell's Miles Davis remixes
00:36:42 The annotated discography and the recording era
00:39:25 "Minimalism at the End": are we at a turning point?
00:42:47 Live performance, tribute bands, and why music needs bodies in the room
00:46:04 John Zorn and the Drawing Center exhibition
------------------
Visit George Grella Jr. at The Brooklyn Rail → https://brooklynrail.org/contributor/george-grella where he serves as music editor
and on The Tonearm → https://www.thetonearm.com/author/george where he is a contributor
Subscribe to his Substack newsletter, Kill Yr Idols → https://killyridols.substack.com
and follow him on Bluesky → https://bsky.app/profile/gtra1n.bsky.social
Purchase 'Minimalist Music' (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026) from Bloomsbury → https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/minimalist-music-9798765123447
Bookshop → https://bookshop.org/p/books/minimalist-music-george-grella-jr/a9fa7df37b986537
or your other retailer of choice
------------------
For extensive show notes, links, and podcast information, go to https://podcast.thetonearm.com
Be sure to check out The Tonearm, an online music + culture magazine featuring fascinating perspectives and conversations with creative people → https://www.thetonearm.com
The Tonearm on Mastodon → https://social.lol/@thetonearm
The Tonearm on Bluesky → https://bsky.app/profile/thetonearm.com
The Tonearm on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-tonearm
------------------
• Did you enjoy this episode? Please share it with a friend! You can also rate The Tonearm ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
• Subscribe! Be the first to check out each new episode of The Tonearm in your podcast app of choice.
• Looking for more? Visit podcast.thetonearm.com for bonus content, web-only interviews + features, and the Talk Of The Tonearm email newsletter.
------------------
#Podcast #GeorgeGrella #MinimalistMusic #SteveReich #PhilipGlass #TheTonearm #ClassicalMusic #NewMusic #MortonFeldman #JohnZorn #Minimalism