Playing small rooms part I

It's been a hot July here in New York, hottest ever recorded I heard. It's also been a month of lots of musical activity in the city. I went out to hear several good performances, seems the climate inspires venting and disarms people somewhat, encouraging us to pay attention to somebodyelse's stories for a while. A friend of mine for about 9 years, Kyle Forester, hosts a monthly series every second Monday of the month, aptly named Kyle's Korner at Otto's Shrunken Head on 14th Street between Avenue A and B. Once you walk in you're in a rather divey bar, equipped with a pinball machine and probably fake leather couches. There's lovely bartenders there. A corridor leads to a backroom where the musical action takes place. This room is rather small and has a Hawaiian theme, it's a tiki lounge with an AC, a mini stage, a PA, drums and some amps. I've played in Kyle's Korner several times before, with Gunnar, solo, and sitting in with other artists. This time Kyle was out of town, gracefully handing over the evening to me. I decided to ask two friends to join me, whom had never played together before. Gladly, they both agreed. I recently took a private lesson (first one in 8 years!) from Brahim Fribgane, an astonishing musician from Morocco. He plays a myriad of different instruments; various percussions, oud, guitar, sintir, and sings. I asked him to bring whatever instrument he wanted, mutually understanding that less is more in this type of situation. He played a cajon that night, a wooden box played with the hands, nice choice. Ras Moshe and I have played quite a few times over the past 8 years or so at different venues. He's one of my favorite horn players and a genuinely good dude. He played tenor sax and flute, I played my Les Paul Gold Top. I had a good feeling about this trio combination and had selected a few of my tunes, new and old, that would be fun and easy to use as a base with no rehearsal. Both of them dove right into the music with me and tuned in listening was going on right away. It pleased me to hear Ras play the melodies and going for it, and Brahim's timefeel and spur of the moment sense of direction is deep. We played "Reminders" from the AORTA book, "Powers", and "One foggy Night", two so far unrecorded songs, and a free piece. A problem free performance. The audience was very attentive and seemed to enjoy our flights. I was glad to see some friends and unfamiliar faces in the room.

The Hot Trio

For the first time ever I have started a cover band! However, do not expect Mustang Sally, Final Countdown or anything like that. The Hot Trio plays music from the 1920's & 30's. Jazz tunes from the books of Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, Fletcher Henderson, and seldom heard songs such as Moonlight on the Ganges, My Bucket's got a Hole in it, and That Da-Da Strain. Jazz drummer Lou Grassi has decades of experience playing dixieland, swing, hard bop and free music. He's also one of my oldest friends in America. Dan Shuman plays upright bass; another good friend with musical abilities of great flexibility. The focus since my early 20's has been original and freely improvised music and I'm still pursuing those paths with undiminished verve. A couple of years ago though, I got smitten by the vibe of old Ellington and Fletcher Henderson recordings, and so one thing has led to another. I wanted to indulge in this often quirky, bluesy, emotive, and strangely happy music, because it engages and speaks to me. In the spirit of aforementioned recordings made during the roaring 20's and the depression era's boozy culture, I wanted to see what we could do with this music in a boiled-down, turned-on guitar trio format. Now, of course a lot of this music was "big band" music, before the updated big band setting of today became the norm. So the imaginative instrumentation, palette of colors and sound effects of the orchestrations (muted brass, oboe, clarinet, banjo, various percussion etc.), is a big influence and guide, along with the often succinct and unique arrangement for each tune. To dress the guitar tone, I switch between pick-ups on my Les Paul between certain sections of pieces, employ fuzz, wah, tremolo, reverb, etc. when called for. Lou's kit is small but pronounced and includes splash cymbals, and other soundtools. We have been playing this repertoire of about 50 arrangements for over a year now at various places in the city at parties, clubs and restaurants. Please send me an email if you are interested in more information.

Husbands

In May 2009 the theatre play "Husbands" had its world premier at Visual Arts theatre in NYC. I was contacted a few months prior by the director and creatively conceiving soul of Doris Mirescu. The play is a wild and intense version of the already wild 1970 film by John Cassavetes by the same name. While the play zooms in on and explores the reactions and lack of comprehension over a friend's death, I was given very free and inspiring directives from mrs. Mirescu. I soon understood that what I wanted to deal with was expressing these powerful emotions and facing death, and its sibling life, right in the face. I watched the movie and got insights from the director as to what's going on and is expressed/isn't.
The musical setting for our play is one of a solo guitar performance, I'm on stage the entire time playing on and off. The "psychological" role of the music the way I see it is to emphasize, capture, state, and/or surprise. I came up with a theme that can be manipulated in many ways, a theme and variations kind of thing, to have a red thread to weave with for some of the scenes. This choice was mine, and not required, but I found it helpful to come up with an emotional "character" for the play and to have a recurring, gradually unfolding story take place, hitting (perhaps) various human pockets of vibration.
With such great freedom and the nakedness of the one man band concept I greatly look forward to performing this piece again at the Public Theatre in New York as part of the Under The Radar festival, january 6-17 2010.