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Pedal-steel guitarist Susan Alcorn
started her career in Texas western swing bands before debuting solo with
Uma (august 1999), a collection of lengthy compositions like
Uma's River Song of Love (10:46),
Thrace/Kalimankou Denkou (11:12),
The Royal Road (10:17),
and The Bells of Amden (14:33).
Then came
Curandera (recorded between 2002 and 2003), with Broken Obelisk (10:46)
Concentration (recorded in 2004) featured
collaborations with Audrey Chen
(cello, voice ), Karen Stackpole (gong), Andrea Parkins (keyboards), Le
Quan Ninh (percussion), Todd Whitman (reeds), Joe McPhee (reeds and
trumpet) and Jesse Quattro (voice, electronics), in particular
Four Mountains Four Rivers (22:56).
More solos appeared on
And I Await The Resurrection Of The Pedal Steel Guitar (june 2006), that opens with the recitation of a Buddhist sutra, was inspired by
Olivier Messiaen's Et Exspecto Ressurectionem Mortuoram,
and whose centerpiece is
And I Await the Resurrection of the Pedal Steel Guitar (15:52
Ambient Visage (2005) documents improvised duets with LaDonna Smith (violin and viola).
Touch This Moment (released in 2010) is another solo album and includes
the 23-minute Time And Marigolds.
Mirage (november 2011) was a collaboration with
bassist Michael Formanek and tenorist Ellery Eskelin, notably
the 27-minute Downburst.
Janel Leppin arranged some of Alcorn's old compositions for the live performance documented by The Heart Sutra (july 2012), featuring Anthony Pirog (guitar), Janel Leppin herself (cello), Jessika Kenney (vocals), Eyvind Kang (viola), Skuli Sverrisson (bass) and Doug Wieselman (clarinets).
Soledad (Relative Pitch, 2015) was a tribute to Astor Piazzolla's music, a collaboration with bassist Michael Formanek.
The 44-minute improvisation of 2.14.15 (february 2015) featured
guitarist Bob Hoffnar and trombonists Alex Heitlinger and Steve Parker.
The solos of
Evening Tales (released in 2016) include The Healer.
Invitation To A Dream (september 2017) documents a trio with Joe McPhee (trumpet and sax) and Ken Vandermark (sax and clarinet).
Alcorn also formed a quintet with Mark Feldman (violin), Michael Formanek (double bass), Mary Halvorson (guitar) and Ryan Sawyer (drums) for Pedernal (november 2019).
Alcorn on pedal steel, Leila Bordreuil on cello and Ingrid Laubrock on tenor & soprano saxes recorded
Birds Meets Wire (april 2018).
The trio of Susan Alcorn (pedal steel guitar), Patrick Holmes (clarinet) and Ryan Sawyer (drums) recorded
From Union Pool
(march 2022), containing
three lenghty pieces, notably the 14-minute Naar and the 17-minute Nett.
Manifesto (august 2022) was recorded with José Lencastre (alto and tenor saxes) and Hernani Faustino (double and electric basses)
She formed the Septeto del Sur
with Luis "ToTo" Alvarez (guitar), Claudio "Pajaro" Araya (drums, cuatro), Francisco "Pancho" Araya (charango), Rodrigo Bobadilla (flute, quena, zampoña, vocals), Amanda Irarrazabal (double bass, vocals) and Danka Villanueva (violin, vocals) that debuted on
Canto (november 2022).
Filament (may 2022) documents a collaboration with Catherine Sikora (tenor sax).
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