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jazz bastards
OK, the opener. The main riff of the piece has been around for a long time. At one time the bass & drum parts were in a spastic 3/4 until unseen forces channeled the drums into a 1/2 time feel whilst still catching every horn stab....talk about minefield! The bass is the heart of the number and Bryan turned the chart into a 'liquid' groove that locks in with the kit and sets the feel. The 'bop' section has a composed bass line developed from the verse material which repeats 4x each with a different ending, while the trombone (and what a great solo, Bruce) & tenor solo over a 1x repeated structure. The solos, here, are nailed 'first take,' as are all of the extended solos on the album.
Mike demonstrates, throughout, why he was my first and only choice for guitarist on this album.
dna for beginners
The string intro to this piece was intended to be the backdrop for an extended percussion solo (and may well become so, if this piece makes it to the stage). That's the joy of being your own producer, sometimes the cool part you cut is your own! This number was a real experiment. There were no rehearsals and no 'written' lines for Walt or Mike. It's a long chart and I notated the string/piano chords & modal areas along with various aural signposts, then just let go.
Walt was first, arriving 1/2 hour before the other horns to record this piece. A couple of minutes to warm up, get a level and then one 'take' open, one with a mute...finished! I had originally intended to edit the two tracks to begin the solo with mute, then later move to open, but hearing the engineer (Michael Wallace) cue both tracks simultaneously got us running back into the control room. I could no longer imagine the track any other way.
Keneally relishes these moments of true 'front edge of the train' improvisation. He 'gets' the idea of a piece instantly and chooses the sound that you've heard inside your head, but have been unable to notate. Here again, the chart described the structural landscape of the piece, but ears are better. Magic.
suehiro
This was the first piece recorded and my first meeting with Steve & Walt Fowler and Kurt McGettrick. It sounds deceptively easy now, but was one of the harder tracks to record. I love the bass line. Joel Woods nailed the chart, muttered something about "ball-busting" and left.
Kurt, Walt & Steve insert perfect solos into these very tight spaces. Steve Fowler, especially, takes the track in a whole new direction. The middle section was composed from a piano improv and is as impossible to play as it sounds!
Note: I must say something about my introduction to Joel Woods. My initial meetings with LA bass players were not pleasurable experiences. The charts are demanding and not everybody wants to deal with that kind of abuse (Bryan's word). I booked a lesson at the Bass Center in Studio City with a '5-string player' being my only stipulation. I handed Joel some charts and began to explain. Once we had determined that these were truly playable, Joel offered himself as 'abusee.' Any subsequent suffering was his own fault.
 Link to BASS chart!
theory of forms
Now this is heavy. The basic structure again resulted from improv and 'stream of consciousness' composition. I've long wanted to compose using some of these bi-tonality ideas and also wanted to hear Mike in these surroundings. I think it was at this point in the session where Mike questioned my sanity, hoping that composing this stuff was "some kind of catharsis" for me. He then proceeded to rip the roof off the studio. I had to slightly fade the ending of his solo, but that's the 'take,' no edits. Chords placed in the opening strings echo throughout the piece, but the real tour-de-force has to be Albert's tenor, the only place on the album where a completely notated solo was needed to work with the surrounding structure. The arrangement of the ending leads to new ideas, so I think a larger version of the piece will appear someday.
sid sings
Dedicated to my father - Sid Sadler. He died before the album was recorded and was more of a Frank Sinatra fan, hence the title. (Okay, so it's a vague S. Vicious reference.) This is another piece where a completely notated bass line was needed to intermesh with the L-hand piano.
I remember writing "Miles/Gil" on Walt's mute trumpet solo chart, at the end of which, Keneally does something totally beyond the bounds of reality - which is why I wanted him to play on the album. It's actually quite a happy piece, kind of a 'fusion wake'.
runRim
This, again, is one of the earlier pieces and it's harder to remember all the details. The 'head' is pinned by a 4-bar repeated drum/bass riff which drops 1/16th each bar, while the guitar/alto/trumpet melody is unconcerned in 4/4.
I love Steve's alto solo. It's totally magical for me and arises out of the simplest modal indications.The acoustic guitar part was squeezed into the final moments of the second (and final) guitar session and, yet, transforms the whole piece. This is another track which begs for more time and development. We'll see.
wFb
This is the track which caused Bryan Beller's hatred. Even re-tuning didn't make this bass part any less muscle-numbing. His notated runs are amazing as is an improvised little 'harmonic thing' which I can't describe, you just have to hear.
The piano/horn unison section sounds much easier than it was, in fact, to play. I really like that. Obviously, all the solos are great. WFB was intended as a looser 'blow' to finish the album, but actually builds into something far more intense.
I was also amazingly fortunate to have in engineers, Michael Wallace & Jim Wright, two guys who are equally talented as musicians and have great 'ears'.
I tend to prepare detailed charts, giving the player as much information as possible and then enjoy being open to 'the moment.' Good musicians will have the information to do the job, great players will always transcend the chart. |
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