Again, I have opted not to post anything over the last couple of weeks as there was not a great deal to say. Of course I have been practicing and listening to as much music as possible but nothing remarkable to mention. However, over the last week or so there has been a little flurry of activity which I thought I would write about, briefly.
Fiction Factory Gig:
At the weekend I was playing at the Rewind Festival in Henley on Thames with a band that were big in the 80′s called Fiction Factory who people will probably remember best from their hit ‘Feels Like Heaven’. The video below is them performing this song on Top of The Pops in 1984.
It was a short set but we performed to somewhere in the region of 30,000 people and it seemed to go down well. It was nice to take on the role of the sax player in a pop/rock band (like Clarence Clemons…I wish!) as it requires a completely different style of playing, both in terms of sound, role in the group and approach to improvisation. These issues were particularly apparent since the songs we were playing: (a) were very tightly structured and beautifully written songs, and (b) that they didn’t have any saxophone in them when they were first written and recorded back in 1984.
With regard to the sound of the saxophone, the band wanted a strong/harsh sound that would lift the music when the sax started playing. This was great fun as it gave me an opportunity to listen to some pop/rock saxophone solos and get a feel for the style. I know I’ve mentioned Clemons already but (and this isn’t topical sentiment since he died recently!) I have always loved his sound when he plays in the E-Street band and am very fond of his solo on Jungleland. To me, this is very interesting as, despite being recorded in the mid-1970′s it is reminiscent, in many ways, of the sound of sax solos in 1950′s and 1960′s rock ‘n’ roll. One of the main differences, of course, is that this solo is nearly two minutes long and is clearly an important part of the song, rather than a chorus on a 12-bar as may have been the case in some of the rock ‘n’ roll music of the previous decades.
This prompted me to have a look around for other sax solos in this type of music so I could listen to the way that they are used and what the sax player does. An interesting one was King Curtis’ playing on the Buddy Holly track ‘Reminiscing’ as this is often cited as one of the best sax solos in pop/rock music. Although I don’t necessarily agree with that, it was great to hear how the saxophone had been threaded through the track as if it were another voice in a duet with Buddy Holly’s singing. In fact, this was of more interest to me as it was a great lesson in how the sax can feature throughout the music and add interesting fills without playing too much, whilst still maintaining a strong presence in the music both sonically and melodically.
Another interesting example was Bobby Key’s solo on ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ by the Rolling Stones due to the harsh, powerful sound of the saxophone and the way that it fits the song beautifully, providing melodic and rhythmic interest. Another Rolling Stones track of interest, on this subject, is ‘Waiting On a Friend’ in which the sax solo is performed by Sonny Rollins! This really caught my attention as I am very familiar with Rollins’ albums and it was great to listen to him play in this rock context. With regard to sound, his tone is slightly more raspy and aggressive than usual but it is very obvious who is playing as the onset of the notes still has that hollow resonant sound and you can still hear a bit of that fluffy vibrato in the decay, both of which are (to my ears, at least) real trademarks of Rollins’ sound. Towards the end of the track, it’s almost as if he cant help playing with the melodic line of the solo and it almost strays back towards the type of improvisation you would normally associate with him, however, the track fades out just when you get the impression that he’s about to really start playing.
I suppose a sound/feel that seemed to be more appropriate for the music I would be playing (i.e. 80′s pop) was Andy Hamilton’s sax solo on ‘Rio’ by Duran Duran. This has the harsh sound (so much so that it’s quite sharp in places) and the energetic feel that was required, however, in places it feels like having the sound of the sax on the track is more important than the solo itself. Also, the fact that the sax solo as seen in the video is mimed by members of the band on-screen suggests that the imagery is more important than what the solo adds to the track.
So, with regard to sound it seemed that aiming for energetic and harsh/raspy was certainly the way to go and in terms of trying to fit into the band and only play things that were going to add to the music I tried to bare King Curtis’ role on the Buddy Holly track in mind. As for the approach to improvisation in this pop/rock context, I was aiming for a cross between the energetic feel of the solo on Rio and the lyrical playing on Jungleland. I fully appreciate that this might seem like a strange combination but I’m not talking about content, purely the approach to structuring improvisations both in solos and in fills.
The process of listening to and thinking about the various elements of this type of sax playing was great fun and I feel I’ve learned a lot from it. Playing with the band was also great fun and I hope to do so again.
Writing:
I have also been writing a lot for new music over the last few weeks with a view to having more than enough material for a new album. The hope would be to have it all written in the next couple of weeks and to start rehearsing properly in the next month or so. If this works out then hopefully there might be time to record at the end of the year. Fingers crossed!
I have been enjoying the composition process recently as I have been trying my best to keep writing in the top-down manner that I mentioned in a previous post. Having been inspired by the likes of Alasnoaxis, for example, I have been really thinking about melody which has actually had a positive effect on harmony etc too as it has left me free to use harmonic elements of the music to colour the melodies in interesting ways. In the past I would often start with an interesting harmonic progression and then try to build up from that which could sometimes leave the melody feeling stunted or tied to the harmony so strongly that it didn’t really stand up on it’s own. I know that both strategies are valid and neither is better than the other, it’s just interesting to be consciously trying another approach and enjoying the results.
Hopefully there will be more to follow on this and announcements of new music in the coming months…
I never had much to say of any interest over the last fortnight so decided not to say anything! Since then I have just been practicing a lot(!), working on some harmony ideas and also trying to do as many dexterity exercises as possible. I’m loving it as it is allowing me to explore things that I have not thought much about in the past but also to brush up on things that I should be a lot better at than I am at the moment. Taking time to really go into detail, rather than skirting over certain issues, has been really nice (and illuminating) but has also helped with developing some compositional ideas – largely because it helps with hearing things more clearly and, in turn, considering and understanding the application of what I’m playing.
In addition to all the practice, I have had a bit of time for listening too. One of the things that captured my attention most was the band Alasnoaxis who I got into when I heard their album ‘Houseplant‘ (Winter & Winter, 2009) and then quickly tried to get a hold of as much of their back-catalogue as I could find. I really enjoyed their albums and overall sound and was constantly aware of the fact that there was something unusual, yet strangely familiar, about the music. The record came out in 2009 so it would be ridiculous (and boring for all involved) for me to try to give any sort of ‘review’; rather, I’ll mention a few things about why it interested/influenced me.
It’s actually quite difficult to describe the music without starting to sound like a record-reviewer meaninglessly banding around references to genre. That said, it is probably quite important to highlight the obvious ‘rock’ influences (whatever that means) in the music which is performed by drums, bass guitar, electric guitar and tenor saxophone. Maybe it’s just my strong bias but, at times, I heard strong elements of Radiohead-influenced grooves which are particularly noticeable in the way that the drums and guitar coordinate and the long, flowing melodies played by the saxophone which, in many ways, takes the role of a vocalist if we continue to liken the sound to that of an ‘alternative’ rock band. This was particularly interesting to me as it is something that I have tried to do for a while but never felt as if I had it quite right. I suppose that this is what I was aiming for on a track that I wrote a couple of years ago called ‘I Never Gave it a Thought’:
As I continued listening, I started to notice some similarities with Polar Bear which is quite interesting as one main thing that the bands have in common is that they are led by drummers (Jim Black and Seb Rochford, respectively) who also, for the most part, compose the music. Largely, the music seems to work in layers of composed material based mainly on the interaction of the saxophone and guitar from a melodic point of view with inventive approaches to harmony, for example, seeming to be less of a focus. Could this be something that might be a result of the strong influence of drummers? Perhaps, although this may be entirely over-simplistic – I’d like to look into this a bit more as it could be an interesting issue to research (informally, of course).
One thing that has come out of listening to this music and noticing these small compositional/performance elements is that it has made me think a lot more about melody, both when writing and improvising. Consequently, I have specifically sat down and written two pieces of music and forced myself to start with the melody and work down, which was quite alien to me. It has, as a process, yielded some interesting results and was particularly helpful in getting over a period of feeling quite frustrated with the music I was writing. More to follow on this and hopefully some recordings in the (not-particularly-near) future.
I’m going to try to get back to writing this blog a bit more regularly. There’s not been a great deal to say of late but there are a couple of things coming up that might be quite fun to write about.
After a week of feeling quite under the weather, I have triedto get back up to speed again. Not playing for most of the week (long story) has been frustrating but I have been able to make the most of it by listening to a lot of music and trying to get on with some composition and a wee bit of practice too.
Listening:
One of the things that I have been listening to most over the last week or so is the eponymous album by James Farm. This is a quartet consisting of Joshua Redman (sax), Aaron Parks (keys), Matt Penman (bass) and Eric Harland (drums) which, by most people’s standards, equates to something of a formidable line-up of creative and interesting players sure to produce something spectacular. Frustratingly, it seems that this record surpasses this expectation in some respects but falls short of the mark in others. Clearly the performances are of a very high standard and this is most apparent in Joshua Redman’s playing (as one might expect) however, it seems to me that the players really shine during the improvised sections and that the other areas feel less interesting. In this sense, it almost feels like the composed sections are merely vehicles for the improvisations and this feels quite unsatisfying, to me. This might seem like a ridiculous thing to say about a jazz record – it may even be expected that this would be the case, however, it’s not what I had expected of this type of group.
Redman, for example, has a back catalogue which is brimming with music that strikes a perfect balance between compositional sophistication and improvisational interest, so much so that it’s often difficult to tell what is composed and what is exceptionally skilled and tasteful improvisation. In many ways I feel that the blurring of the imaginary and unhelpful line between that which is pre-composed and that which is performed extemporaneously is a good thing that helps to make whole (collective) performances more meaningful and coherent rather than series of individual ‘solos’. However, in this recording, I often felt that there was a strong demarcation between the ‘composed’ and ‘improvised’, and in general found myself enjoying and thus attending to the the improvised sections more. One notable exception, however, was the tune ‘Chronos’ which has a really interesting Eastern European feel both rhythmically and harmonically and is a lovely dynamic performance.
Throughout the record the production is beautiful and the instruments sound absolutely gorgeous – particularly the drum-kit and the saxophone. In many places it felt as if the band had a lot in common with piano trios such as EST or The Bad Plus and, of course there were a lot of Brad Mehldau influences to be heard. Considering the ensemble in this sense, i.e. a ‘power-piano trio’, augmented by a saxophone is not an unreasonable way to look at the overall sound. This is in no way a criticism, rather, perhaps the essence of what I really enjoyed about the record. More specifically, I feel that when the whole band plays together on this record it does not feel like a soloist backed by a rhythm section but rather a slick and coherent unit. Equally, however, when Redman is not playing it does not feel as if he has merely stepped aside to let the next musician play a solo, rather that the rhythm section really feels like a strong core band capable of interesting and powerful performances as a trio. This balance is what is so interesting to me about this record and I am confident that it is one area where my expectations of such an interesting group of musicians were exceeded.
Writing:
Strangely, I have spent a bit of time this week writing a piece for two cellos. I’m finding it really interesting and learning a lot as I’ve only ever written for cello as part of ensembles in the past. Writing in this way is really making me think about the various sounds the instrument can produce and how writing for two players allows for more exploration of such. Learning about different techniques is also great fun and I have come across some really exciting sounds and textures that I wasn’t really aware of before spending a bit of time learning about the instrument. I hope to have this finished by the end of next week and who knows, maybe even a recording at some point in the following weeks (if it’s sensible and playable!) as it would be nice to see how the final product sounds. More to follow on this music…hopefully!
Also, following on from a previous post in which I was waxing lyrical about piano-less trios, my enthusiasm has been pricked and I have put together a few tunes that I hope will work well in that context. In doing so, it became apparent just how difficult it is to write something that combines the sounds of the sax and the bass (not to mention the drums) yet still conveys interesting harmony, groove, texture and power. A great example of a track which combines all these elements so successfully, in my opinion, is ‘Kosher’ by Petter Wettre from the album ‘Live at the Copenhagen Jazzhouse’ (Household Records, 2003). I think that this is so effective as it starts with a strong unison riff on bass and sax which sets the basis for the track in terms of the syncopated feel and the ‘altered’ sound. This riff is carried on by the bass for the majority of the head, changing to outline the chords, while the saxophone plays a less regular and almost manic (yet beautifully controlled) melody. The combination of the regular and driving bass groove with the saxophone’s intense angular melody creates a wonderful whole, rich in interesting harmonic and melodic content and completely devoid of the need for a piano. Yet another wonderful piano-less trio and one that is very inspiring to me, both in terms of playing and composing!
Practicing:
Only in the last couple of days have I began playing the saxophone again after nearly a week off. However, I’m pretty sure I’ve rushed back into it as my throat hurts when I play and I feel quite dizzy, therefore, I’m going to give it a miss again for a couple of days! So, what have I been doing instead, by way of practice? I’ve been taking the opportunity to organise myself and to think about things that I need to work on…where to start?!!? Basically, I am trying to go back to basics as much as possible over the coming weeks and trying to cement some things that have slipped in recent years while I haven’t been playing as much. This includes really basic things like instrumental dexterity, timekeeping, scales/arpeggios and range etc. which could always be better or more accurate, for example. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that these elements have disappeared but now that I have the luxury of a bit more time on my hands to practice I want to make sure that I am doing all I can to brush up any rusty parts of my playing and to progress and improve efficiently.
I think that by going back and spending a bit of time brushing up on some of these comparatively more basic areas of playing for the next couple of weeks, that it will allow me to progress to more specific areas of saxophone playing and improvisation that I want to study. One unexpected bonus of this is that I’m really thinking about the way that I am communicating such ideas when I am teaching and feel that I am more effective in this capacity, as a result.
Fingers crossed that the throat and tongue get a bit better this week so I can get on with it!
This week has been really busy and this is the first chance I’ve had to post on here. The main musical activity this week was a couple of gigs with the Red Hot Chilli Pipers at the Celtica 2011 music festival in Valle D’Aosta, Italy.
Everyone met at Glasgow airport to start our journey to Milan via Heathrow. When we arrived in Milan, we still had a 3 hour drive to our hotel in Courmayeur which is a beautiful little town in the alps. We arrived in the early hours of the morning in complete darkness and did not notice at this point that our hotel had an amazing view of Monte Bianco (Mt. Blanc) – this was a lovely surprise when we woke the next morning.
We had two gigs to play while in Italy, one on the Saturday which was on a large stage in a beautiful forrest and one on Sunday that was in the Forte di Bard which is a beautiful hilltop fort a couple of hours away from where we were staying. Both gigs seemed to go well and the large audiences seemed to really enjoy the music and the show. I preferred the gig in the Forte di Bard as I think the performance was of a higher standard and we were not battling against the cold to keep tuning etc stable. However, the audience at the gig in the forrest was extremely entertaining as the majority of them were dressed in ‘wizard robes’ or warrior costumes, many with swords, shields, bows and staffs etc. Many people even had fake ear extensions in order to give an elven appearance…
I had no real idea what was going on but by speaking to people I found out that they were dressed in this way as they believed that this was the appropriate authentic garb to don for listening to celtic music! Far be it from me to disagree with them, but from the outside looking in it seemed more like a Lord of the Rings convention than a music festival…people were even drinking mead from animal horns!!
Anyway, from a musical point of view it was good fun and it was nice to be playing the alto sax for a change as I don’t do that as often as I’d like to, particularly as part of a horn section.
Just a short post this week but I’ll try to make up for it next week…
This week has been a good one with regard to music, for a number of reasons and I want to write about three of the reasons why in this post. Firstly, I have been playing a lot and have had my eyes opened to a number of interesting things to work on. Secondly, I’m really pleased with a well-received performance of ‘Deacon’ in London, on Saturday and thirdly, I have been listening to some music that I have not really been aware of that has really interested me.
It’s nice to get to the end of a long week and feel inspired (albeit exhausted) and to be looking forward to getting stuck into the next week!
Practising and Writing:
I’ve spent a lot of time playing and writing this week and feel very enthusiastic as I have been inspired by some interesting ways to think about practice and it’s application to performance and composition. As a result, there are a number of elements of my playing and writing that I really want to spend time working on over the next month or so… more on this in future posts (perhaps) as any detailed discussion of this could be considered esoteric at best but more likely just downright boring for the vast majority of people.
At present, however, suffice to say that I have a lot of things that I want to spend time exploring now and intend to do so thoroughly over the next few weeks.
‘Deacon’ in London:
Deacon is a suite of music commissioned by MED-EL UK LTD in 2009 that is specifically designed to improve the musical experience of cochlear implant users. We were invited to perform the work to the National Cochlear Implant Users’ Association in the University of London and it seems to have been very well-received.
The day started with a 5:30am rendezvous with Richard Kass, Garry Boyle and Sean McLaughlin at the train station after a gig the previous night, meaning that I had enjoyed approximately 45-minutes of sleep before catching the taxi to Waverly. Despite this, we had a fun (and at times, hilarious) journey and arrived in London without incident where we met with the other performers Findlay Napier and Justyna Jablonska before taking the cars to the venue.
The performance went well and we had a chance to talk to quite a few of the audience members after the performance who told us that they really enjoyed the show. This was particularly pleasing as the music was specifically composed for cochlear implant users based on research for my PhD. A number of people took the time to mention that this was the first time that they’d been able to enjoy or ‘understand’ music in years and others noted that this experience has inspired them to start listening to music again. Comments of this nature are very encouraging and I am very glad to have had the opportunity to speak with members of the audience. Additionally, each of the audience members received a copy of the CD/DVD of the show which was recorded live at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, in September 2009. I would like to say a big thank you to the organisers for inviting us to perform this work and to the musicians for their hard work and great playing.
For any enquiries related to this work please feel free to contact me.
See below for a short sample of the work:
Listening:
By complete accident I stumbled upon a live album by Rahsaan Roland Kirk that I wasn’t previously aware of called ‘Brotherman in the Fatherland’ (Hyena, 1972). For some reason, unbeknownst to me (although I have a suspicion it’s unfairly based on my perception of the simultaneous instrument playing) I had overlooked Kirk and not spent much time listening to his playing. However, hearing this record has really pricked my ears up and I’ve been dipping into his back catalogue a lot this week. Having done so, I have mixed feelings ranging from complete excitement to near boredom depending on which record and also which instrument he is playing. It should be highlighted that I am irrefutably biased towards the saxophone and find it difficult to detach myself from this background when listening to other saxophone players. This said, I found a lot of Kirk’s sax playing particularly exhilarating but was less interested in the music when he was playing other instruments and even less so when he was playing multiple instruments simultaneously. Don’t get me wrong, the multiple instrument work is very impressive but I find it very difficult to engage with it in any way other than as a novelty ‘sideshow’.
One thing to say is that the influence of Coltrane on this record is very apparent, both in terms of track-listing and in the general sound and phrasing of Kirk’s playing. I have to admit that I really didn’t realise that there was such a strong sense of Coltrane in this music but am very intrigued by it and enjoying it a lot! The intro which segues into ‘Like Sonny’ and the final track ‘Blue Train’ are obvious examples of elements of Coltrane’s influence (notice the quotes from ‘A Love Supreme’…) but the inclusion of tracks like ‘Lush Life’ and ‘Afro Blue’ also seem to be nods to this influence – especially considering the manner in which they are played. ’Afro Blue’, for example, is played on soprano sax with a very nasal tone in a manner very similar to that of Coltrane’s soprano playing (in fact the review of the record on Spotify by Thom Jurek even misattributes the track, composed by Mongo Santamaria, to Coltrane) and ’Lush Life’ is performed in a very similar way to Coltrane’s version, albeit a bit faster. Instead of finding this strong influence, which at times almost felt more like a tribute, irritating as is often the case when people try to ape Coltrane I found it very interesting and felt that there was enough original creativity and consideration for this to really stand up as a great example of how people can approach material that has a great deal of historical and cultural weight , especially given that it’s recorded a mere five years after Coltrane’s death.
There is also a cover of the Smokey Robinson song ‘My Girl’; I think the less said about this the better…!
I’m going to spend a bit of time really getting to know some of Kirk’s records now and maybe trying to do some transcription. Maybe I’ll even attempt an analytic comparison of his recording of Coltrane tunes with the originals – I’m sure there would be a lot of interesting things to learn from that! If I do, maybe it will for the basis of a future post.
This week I have been inspired by listening to a handful of albums featuring piano-less trios, i.e. saxophone, bass and drums. I’ve always loved the sound of this format, especially when performed by Coltrane, Rollins and Ornette Coleman but have been particularly taken by some specific albums this week. I’ve also been very keen to play in a group with this line-up for a long time but am now going to make a concerted effort to ensure that this happens soon, especially as I have been writing quite a bit of new material recently.
In an effort to think more critically about what I have been listening to and to understand why I am so interested in it, I am going to spend a bit of time writing about a couple of tracks that have been particularly captivated by.
1. ‘Zarafah’ by Joshua Redman from the album ‘Back East’ (Nonesuch, 2007)
This track really stands out from the album for me for a number of reasons. Firstly, the arresting opening line on soprano saxophone grabbed my attention and then immediately settled down to create a one note (after the initial note, a tone below) accented groove that is quickly superseded by the bass in order for the saxophone to play the main melody. Although this is a really simple idea, I found it very effective and was immediately drawn in to the music as a result. In a regular quartet this space might well have been filled by a piano or guitar, for example, and may have led to a more complex introduction, rich in stylistic and harmonic connotations. In this case, however, the fact that the saxophone plays only one note means that there is no real sense of harmonic expectation and it allows for the groove to be ‘passed’ simply and elegantly to the bass before the start of the head. It should be noted, however, that because the initial note of this riff is a tone below the rest, there is a feeling of momentum created which helps to build this as a rhythmic foundation for the track rather than just a series of repeated notes. This device is also employed later in the track, albeit in a more developed way, during the bass solo giving the bassist (Christian McBride) more room to manoeuvre than may have been the case if there was a piano on the record, for instance. Additionally, this allows for the drummer (Brian Blade) to be more creative and focus on the sounds he is producing in the context of the ensemble rather than fulfilling a role primarily related to time-keeping.
Using the saxophone in a way that makes it function as a member of the rhythm section (a la Rollins as early as 1957) is something that I am very interested for two main reasons: firstly, that it provides harmonic cues but in a way that is less prescriptive and obvious than a piano or guitar playing chords, for example; and secondly, that it changes the relationships of the instruments in the band and breaks down the idea that the saxophone is the frontman or most important soloist. By supporting the other instruments while they improvise, the saxophone moves away from being seen as the icing on the cake and becomes an integral part of the ensemble that is no more important or worthy of focus than the other players but rather, an element of something that I believe to be, consequently, greater than the sum of it’s parts.
2. ‘Sounds Like a Sandwich’ by The Thing from the album ‘Action Jazz’ (Smalltown Supersound, 2009)
I have been listening to two albums by this band: ‘Action Jazz’ and ‘Bag It’ and have been enjoying them both a lot, particularly ‘Sounds Like a Sandwich’ from the former. The raw and almost angry atmosphere that is set up by the band in the first few seconds of the track is something that I really like and admire, especially given that there are only 3 of them producing such a huge sound. The first thing heard on the track is the drum (stick-click) count-in which is presumably something of a knowing nod to the aggressive, yet playful style that ensues, contributed to by the trashy cymbal sounds and the aggressive vibrato and overblown tone of the baritone sax. I love the fact that we hear two cycles of the melody in ABA form before the band moves on to a free and frenetic improvisation and then returns, after another count of four stick-clicks, with a shorter version of the melody (AB) before the end of the music; perhaps the inspiration for the track’s title. However, at this point just as you think the track has ended, you notice that there are approximately ten seconds left of the track and a faint laugh is heard. This laugh is distorted and sounds very much like the distorted tone of the baritone sax, making me think that it might be a nice little remnant of Mats Gustafsson (the sax player) laughing at the end of the take. This brings the track to a nice close and further emphasises the light-hearted, almost satirical feel of the music.
So, why have I been so interested and inspired buy something as simple as a band without a piano in it? There are many reasons but I suppose the three main ones are that (a) it gives the music an entirely different timbre and a feeling of space (b) it allows for more exploration and spontinaety as the harmonic structure is less rigid and dictatorial, and (c) that there is a more reciprocal and democratic relationship amongst the performers, with the contribution of each member having more impact and creative affect on the music as a whole.
As a result of this weeks inspiration and taking the time to think about what it is that pricked my interest I have already begun writing two tunes which I hope to try out in the format of ‘piano-less trio’ in the VERY near future. In the mean time, I will spend any free time I have this week writing music for this type of group and listening to bands with this format. As I write, I have Greg Osby’s ‘Channel Three’ on and next on the playlist is David Murray’s ‘The Hill’. Perhaps I should save discussion of how much I like Joshua Redman’s experiments with the double trio format for another day…
