What's He Building In There?

"The Album" is not dead!

2012-03-16T09:58:00.002-07:00

I just started listening to the Roots latest album, "Undun", and it's becoming increasingly fascinating. It's a concept album telling the bleak tale of a criminal's life, starting with his death and working backwards in time. In an age when the common wisdom seems to be that people don't listen to albums anymore, it's great to see works like these being made. ?uestlove had an article on Pitchfork writing about his favorite concept albums. I'll have to give another listen to Stevie Wonder's "Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants."

Some of my favorite concept albums: The Flaming Lips - "The Soft Bulletin", Pink Floyd - "Animals", Kate Bush - "Hounds of Love", Tool - "Aenima", David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust.

Jason Moran - "Promoting the abstract"

2012-03-10T15:17:00.001-08:00

There's a short interview with Jason Moran on PBS talking about his new role as artistic director at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. My favorite part is his response to a question about the role of jazz in our culture today, given that the art form has become marginalized.

"We can promote the abstract....Improvisational music and jazz really forces us to focus, it forces us to have an imagination, to create our own ideas about what we're hearing....I want to promote that, that audiences come in as thinkers just as much as the performers are thinkers."

Watch Jason Moran 'Promotes the Abstract' in Jazz on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Firehouse Space

2012-02-29T19:03:00.002-08:00

Minerva played a show on Sunday at a new performance space in Williamsburg called Firehouse Space. It's a very nice room in an old converted Firehouse and they've been having some really great concerts featuring New York-based improvisors and composers, check out their schedule here. I'm very excited about the fact that they have a piano, actually two pianos! And so close to my neighborhood, I'm planning on checking out more music there soon.
We shared the bill with Speaking Tube, featuring singer Elie Sorbsel, Frantz Loriot on viola, and Pascal Niggenkemper on bass.

Live Music Report from Pete's Candy Store

2012-01-31T05:48:00.000-08:00

I had a great time playing with Old Time Musketry at Pete's on Saturday. It's a cozy room with a very unique looking stage. Many bands have gotten great promotional photos out of playing at Pete's, with the signature row of lights above the stage.
It was fun sharing a bill with our friends Surface To Air, here's some video clips of the performances.

OLD TIME MUSKETRY at Pete's Candy Store on Saturday, Jan 28th!

2012-01-21T10:16:00.000-08:00

I'm excited for Old Time Musketry's show at Pete's this Saturday sharing the bill with Surface to Air, a great trio with Jonathan Goldberger on guitar, Rohin Khemani on tabla and percussion, and Jonti Siman on bass.
The awesome poster above was made by Connie Wang, you can see more of her work at www.iconartistry.com.

Winter and Winter at the Stone

2012-01-17T20:12:00.000-08:00

There was a lot of great music at the Stone this month with shows curated by the Winter and Winter record label. I saw two performances, one was a tribute to Paul Motian with Jim Black, Chris Speed, Oscar Noriega, Brad Shepik, and Trevor Dunn. I had never really thought about the link between Paul Motian and the music made by Black, Speed and their contemporaries, but it really made sense to me after this show.
This weekend I saw a duo concert by accordionists Guy Klucesvek and Alan Bern. I wasn't familiar with the several records they have out on Winter and Winter, but the show was really enjoyable. It was mostly composed music, very melodic and quirky.

"The softest bullet ever shot..."

2012-01-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

I've been having a great time watching a new documentary on Pitchfork about the Flaming Lips masterpiece album The Soft Bulletin. The album came out in 1999, and at the time my musical world revolved around rock music a lot more than it does now. Seeing these videos brought back the excitement and sense of wonder I felt hearing the music for the first time. I was lucky enough to see the Flaming Lips on the Soft Bulletin tour at a small-ish club in New Haven called Toad's Place. This concert is still one of the best of all time for me. I was totally blown away by the surreal spectacle of their show, which featured psychedelic video projection, theremin, gongs, and copious amounts of confetti thrown by Wayne Coyne.
The making of the album is a pretty interesting story. The band was about to get dropped by Warner Bros after failing to live up to the commercial hype of their hit "She Don't Use Jelly", and somehow they managed to stay on the label and make two incredibly experimental leaps into the unknown. First by recording "Zaireeka", a 4-disc concept album intended to be played on 4 separate sound sources simultaneously. Then, in the same session, recording the music on the Soft Bulletin which embraced lush MIDI orchestration instead of the Lips' trademark distorted guitar onslaught.

OPEN PIANO: A SHOWCASE OF HYBRID PIANO WORKS this Saturday at I Beam!

2012-01-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited to be performing with electronic sound artist Michael Clemow this Saturday at I Beam. We're going to do a set of structured improvisations with Mike sampling and processing the sound of the piano in real time. The rehearsals have been great, and the unique format has pushed me into new places with my piano playing. Full details about the show are below. Also performing is the composer and pianist Eleonor Sandresky. This concert is presented by Michael Clemow's arts organization Abbatoir Projects.
ABATTOIR PROJECTS PRESENTS

OPEN PIANO: A SHOWCASE OF HYBRID PIANO WORKS

ELEONOR SANDRESKY - JP SCHLEGELMILCH - MICHAEL CLEMOW

Saturday, Jan. 7 - 8:30pm (doors at 8:15pm)
$10 suggested donation

IBEAM BROOKLYN
168 7th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(F or R trains to 4th Ave & 9th Street)
http://abattoirprojects.com/news/events/

8:30pm - ELEONOR SANDRESKY
The Mary Oliver Songs Bk 1: The Return
Based on a poem by Pulitzer prize-winning poet Mary Oliver, The Return, the creation of the piece initially took the poem as a point of departure, although through the process of making this piece, I was increasingly drawn into the story of the slaying of the Minotaur, or, as Ms. Oliver's title implies, the slayer's return after the slaying. The material for the music was taken from a reading of the poem that was recorded and then processed. This yielded certain pitch and rhythmic material that recurs throughout the movements. The titles of the movements, of which there are seven, refer to the text of the poem, although not necessarily in the order that they appear.

9:30pm - JP SCHLEGELMILCH & MICHAEL CLEMOW
Structured Improvisations for Piano and DSP
In this performance we will create a musical structure by joining two distinctly different instruments (an acoustic piano and digital processing) in an improvisational dialogue. The sound of the piano is sampled and transformed in real time, setting in motion a dynamic musical framework where even the smallest sounds can become woven into a complex musical web. As we listen and respond to each other, a world of surprising new sonic textures emerges and evolves from moment to moment.

ABATTOIR PROJECTS - http://abattoirprojects.com
Abattoir Projects is a not-for-profit arts organization whose goal is to provide a platform for hybrid and difficult-to-classify artists to contextualize their own work. We believe in documentation practices that are adequate for hybrid artists. Standardized methods and curatorial contexts are not always appropriate. Using a model that is itself a hybrid — part archivist, part promoter, part publisher — Abattoir Projects seeks to fund and produce documentation of these artists's work in order to preserve their intentions while their practices and ideas are still new.

New Years Rulin's

2012-01-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

Settling back into things post-holidays. I always feel very motivated at the beginning of the New Year, I'm a believer in New Year's resolutions. Apparently so was Woody Guthrie. These are great and worthy goals, and nice illustrations too.

A funny highlight from my time in New Hampshire over the holidays was getting my picture in the local paper while shopping at Turn It Up, our local music store. The accompanying article was about how people are still shopping a lot even after Christmas!

Last show of 2011: MINERVA at the Brooklyn Lyceum on Wednesday!

2011-12-19T19:32:00.001-08:00

Wednesday December 21st at the Brooklyn Lyceum8pm: ByphBen Syversen - trumpetYoni Kretzmer - saxophonePascal Niggenkemper - bassCarlo Costa - drums9:30pm: MinervaJP Schlegelmilch - pianoPascal Niggenkemper - bassCarlo Costa - drums$10 cover

I Beam Piano Marathon

2011-12-18T18:09:00.000-08:00

Last week there was a very special event at the Gowanus performance space I Beam, a marathon concert of pianists from the NYC jazz and improvised music community to raise money to repair I Beam's piano. The concert went from 5 to 11pm and there were about 20 pianists performing solo, mostly improvised sets. It was a fascinating experience to see so many approaches to improvisation in a solo piano context. I played a few pieces by Bill Frisell, which I've been working on for an upcoming recording project. The only other pianist who didn't play a free improv set was Akiko Pavolka, who played and sang some of her original songs. Here are some clips:

Goodbye Paul Motian

2011-11-28T20:05:00.001-08:00

The great jazz drummer Paul Motian passed away last week at age 80. He was such a special musician, it's hard to put into words exactly how I feel about it. I saw him play so many times over the years, most often at the Village Vanguard with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano. That band has always been a personal favorite of mine, they always sounded great but if you caught them on a really inspired night it was otherworldly. I remember seeing them one night where they played a ballad that was so mesmerizing and beautiful that after the song ended there was a moment when the audience seemed to collect themselves, as though waking from a dream. People often talk about Paul Motian as a very abstract player, a kind of painter of sound at the drums. But he had such an incredible beat! When his trio with Frisell and Lovano would play a Monk tune like "Epistrophy" Paul would really dig into it, playing with such joy and near abandon and swinging like hell. There's a lot of Motian's music that I have yet to explore, thank goodness. The Vanguard won't be the same now without him.

"A Little Feast" of new media at Cameo Gallery

2011-11-21T20:32:00.001-08:00

Last night I went to an event of multi-media performances at the Cameo Gallery in Williamsburg curated by Amy Koshbin. I was very excited to see Michael Clemow and Ben Simington's collaboration in a multi-media piece called "999", which was based on a story by Jorge Luis Borges. A short clip is below. Amy Koshbin performed a piece called "Practice" which was a very impressive one-woman show based on her family's history. Michael has some shows in the works as part of the Abbatoir Projects organization. Michael and I are collaborating for a performance at I Beam on January 7th which will feature electronically processed piano.

Minerva at I Beam with Jonathan Moritz Trio

2011-11-14T11:04:00.001-08:00

Minerva is playing at I Beam tomorrow night on a double bill with saxophonist Jonathan Moritz's trio. In our rehearsals lately we've been taking a break from playing compositions and focusing on improvisational concepts. We'll be doing an all-improvised set tomorrow.

Abby Payne's new video

2011-09-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

Abby's new music video for "the Prophet" is now on YouTube, after being premiered at Brooklyn Fireproof last week. It's currently featured on the Deli Magazine's homepage! We all look pretty cool in the video, I must admit.

Off the page

2011-09-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I went to the Douglass St Music Collective in Gowanus to see my friends Patrick Breiner and Kenny Warren play. Kenny was playing with his quartet called But the Monster is Sick. Patrick has just moved back to the east coast after living in Madison, Wisconsin for a few years. He is a mean tenor player and was playing with a trio called Sons of Daughters with Aaron Darrell on bass/voice and Devin Drobka on drums. The band was kicking off a tour, and they already sounded like they had a lot of playing under their belts, rattling off their tunes by memory. For me, the thing that really announces that a jazz/improv group is a Band (with a capital B) is that NO ONE IS READING MUSIC ONSTAGE. This is something that's taken for granted in the rock world, and jazz musicians playing original music could stand to benefit from it. It totally transforms the performance when a Band plays from memory. It breaks down a barrier between the audience and the musicians. The music sounds freer and more natural, and the Band listens to each other better and blends better. It also takes on the appearance of a kind of folk music, where the musicians don't need to refer to the written note, they just call out the songs they want to play. Of course, in a musician's reality this is not always possible. A lot of people write music that is either too complex to memorize, or the charts themselves are necessary guides to performing the music in real time. (Although Steve Coleman's bands don't read music, and that stuff doesn't seem simple). I don't think that a group like the Claudia Quintet is any less of a "Band" for reading John Hollenbeck's labyrinth compositions onstage. It is also not always possible because at least in New York, everyone is quite busy playing with many different groups and trying to make a living that no one has a lot of time to rehearse. So seeing a "Band" playing their music by memory is indeed a rarity. I can only think of a few: Little Women, Kneebody, the Danny Fox Trio, the Bad Plus...umm...I've been fortunate enough to achieve no-reading status with two bands I play with, NOOK and Old Time Musketry. It's a beautiful thing. A long time ago when I was studying at Berklee College of Music, I saw my piano teacher's band play. They played some pretty involved fusion music, and when I saw my teacher at the next lesson he asked me what I thought. I told him that I enjoyed the concert, but that I found it distracting that the band was so engrossed in reading the music onstage. Such a naive comment! My teacher scoffed at it. But there is truth to it. When I work on classical pieces with my piano teacher Sofia Rosoff, she encourages me to memorize, which she calls "getting it off the page". Which makes sense considering that another thing she always says: "The music isn't on the page."

Matt Mitchell at Korzo

2011-09-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

Last week I caught two great sets of music at Korzo featuring pianist Matt Mitchell. The first set was Matt playing solo and the second was a duo with drummer Ches Smith. They played a series of short and rhythmically complex pieces by Matt.

Lou Harrison's "Varied Trio" at Midwood House Concert Series

2011-09-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

Several years ago I made a pilgrimage to Bard college to hear Morton Feldman's "Rothko Chapel", a piece that I was really into at the time and was excited to hear live, as it is rarely performed. The concert was part of a festival of music by composers associated with the New Albion record label, which features "New Music from the 14th Century to the End Of Time."
A lot of the music on their catalog is devoted to contemporary music, much of it very meditative and beautiful. They champion a lot of west coast composers like Ingram Marshall, John Luther Adams, and Lou Harrison. It was on this program at Bard that I first heard Harrison's "Varied Trio", a short piece in 5 movements for Piano, Percussion and violin. I was really taken by the music, and when I heard the piece again in New York a few months later I resolved to get the score.
I was lucky enough to have two great musician friends who were up for working on the piece with me. Martin Urbach and Erika Kapin. After rehearsing on and off for many months we performed the piece in the intimate setting of a house concert series hosted by Mariel Berger and Dustin Carlson.
Here's the first movement of the piece, "Gending".

Mariel played later that evening in a trio with Dustin Carlson and Shannon Barnett. I think this is a song by Brad Shepik.

The Monday Night Ramble at Branded Saloon

2011-08-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

This Monday I played a set at Branded Saloon in Prospect Heights which is hosting a weekly music series curated by Martin Urbach and Zach Brock. I played my beloved Yamaha organ and sampler with Jonathan Goldberger on baritone guitar and Ryan Ferreira on guitar. Jonathan and Ryan have such a great command of the sonic possibilities of the guitar and electronics and they achieved a pretty dizzying array of textures.

Unfortunately Ryan is cut out from most of this clip...

We were sharing a bill with trumpeter and composer Josh Deutsch's group Pannonia. It was a great band, really cool writing and interesting instrumentation with Brian Drye on trombone, Zach Brock on violin, Gary Wang on bass and Ronen Itzik on percussion.

A short clip before my camera battery died!

Abby Payne in the NYC Blog-o-Sphere

2011-08-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

Before and during our Arlene's Grocery show in July, Abby was interviewed and filmed for the Lower East Side blog The Neighborhood. The resulting film was beautifully produced by Dig for Fire and is presented by Audyssey.
Abby is playing at Rockwood Music Hall on August 15th, and then we're heading upstate for a short tour. Check Abby's website for more details.

The Neighborhood + Dig For Fire present Abby Payne from Dig For Fire on Vimeo.

21st Century Rock and Roll Spectacle: Sufjan Stevens at Prospect Park

2011-08-03T21:07:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw Sufjan Stevens perform at the Bandshell in Prospect Park as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn series. My mind was thoroughly blown. I was simply not prepared for the level of sensory stimulation at work in this concert. The large band (pairs of drummers, trombones, guitars, backup singers, dancers, keyboardists, flutists) were decked out in space-age neon garb and the stage props included giant angel wings worn by Sufjan.
Before I go on about the theatrical nature of the show, I should mention that the music was GREAT! They mostly played music from Sufjan's latest record, The Age of Adz, which is one of my favorite recent albums. The music is very epic with a futuristic electronic sound, and meticulously arranged.

Here's a trailer for the tour.

Sufjan Stevens Concert Trailer: Age of Adz / Prospect Park from Asthmatic Kitty on Vimeo.

The visual art element of the concert was very impressive. There was a lot of great video art synched up to the songs and much of it was breathtaking. I think Wagner would have approved, this was definitely a 21st century indie-rock equivalent of Gesamtkunstwerk, the total work of art, or synthesis of the arts. The show also reminded me of seeing the Flaming Lips for the first time, another group that makes very creative use of video art. Sufjan mentioned briefly that the album was inspired largely by the artist Royal Robertson, and the video art in the show incorporated a lot of his images. Here's a description of Robertson's work.

"The Age of Adz refers to the Apocalyptic art of Royal Robertson (1930 –1997), a black Louisiana-based sign-maker (and self-proclaimed prophet) who suffered from schizophrenia, and whose work depicts the artist’s vivid dreams and visions of space aliens, futuristic automobiles, eccentric monsters, and signs of the Last Judgment, all cloaked in a confusing psychobabble of biblical prophecy, numerology, Nordic mythology and comic book jargon. Portions of the album use Robertson’s work as a springboard into a cosmic consciousness in which basic instincts are transposed on a tableau of extraordinary scenes of divine wrath, environmental catastrophe, and personal loss. In Robertson’s imagination, guns, lasers, gargoyles, and warring battleships upend the sins of mankind with the pageantry of a Hollywood B-movie. (A selection of Robertson’s work adds extraordinary color to the album art as well). "

This is a video that Sufjan made using Robertson's art for the song "Get Real, Get Right."

Get Real, Get Right from Asthmatic Kitty on Vimeo.

New NOOK album in the works!

2011-08-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I spent two days recording with NOOK at Motherbrain Studio in Brooklyn. We're all very excited about the music and about the sounds we were able to get at this great studio. We were also very fortunate to have Jon Anderson working with us as engineer. Stay tuned for updates about the new album!

Here's a little documentary video collage.

Upcoming Recording Projects

2011-07-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

The next few weeks are going to be a little intense, as I am embarking on two recording projects with bands that I've been playing with for a while.
NOOK will be recording our long-awaited 2nd album following our debut CD in 2008, Captain Momentum (Himself). Much has changed with the band since our last record. We have two new members, Jeremy Viner on saxophone and clarinet, and Ben Gallina on electric bass. The sound of the band has also evolved but needless to say, we still ROCK. Here's a live clip of one of our new songs.

And then Old Time Musketry is recording our debut album! We've been playing for about two years and we've amassed quite a bit of material. This recording is being funded by the generous and saintly people who contributed to our Kickstarter project back in June. We're very excited to document this music that we've been working on for so long!
We're also playing this Sunday at the Local 269 on Houston St. at 9pm.

Here's a live clip of a song we'll be recording.

The Two Of Anything Band and Niggenkemper/Takeishi/DiMeglio at I Beam

2011-07-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

Here's some live clips from the aforementioned double bill at I Beam featuring the Two of Anything Band and DiMeglio/Niggenkemper/Takeishi.

This trio sounded great, playing compositions by each member of the group. There were some really nice 3-part chorale-type pieces with Satoshi Takeishi playing melodica. This was the first time I've ever seen Satoshi playing drum set, instead of his usual percussion set up.

You can see a few more Two of Anything clips here.

Kalashnikov : Jamie Saft and Mike Pride at Korzo

2011-07-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

Until last Tuesday the only context I'd seen Jamie Saft in live was with John Zorn's Electric Masada, a large group that performs with Zorn conducting, leading the band through rapid stylistic changes like someone turning the dial on an FM radio.
It was great to see him playing acoustic piano in an intimate setting like Korzo, improvising with drummer Mike Pride. In addition to piano, Jamie played two Casio keyboards through effects and at very high volume. It was easily the loudest performance I'd seen at Korzo. Another notable feature of the performance was how Jamie kept a three note motif going for almost the entire set. It kept reappearing first in dramatic minor chords on the piano, later on the crazy Casio organ sounds, then again on the plucked strings of the piano. The music was also very grandiose and tonal, really reveling in the power and beauty of two chords and diatonic harmony. I always find this refreshing. The harmonic language of modern free improvisation and also in the compositions of improvisors is often too gray and atonal for my taste. It's nice to take a long bath in C major every now and then.
Here's a little clip, including the 3 note motif!

The Two of Anything Band at I Beam

2011-07-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

A new-ish quartet project of mine will be returning to action this Thursday, July 14th at I Beam. Our set starts at 9:30pm. We'll be playing some new music that I wrote recently, as well as some classics that we played at a show at Barbes back in March. The compositions explore a non-linear approach to musical development. Especially in the newer pieces, I've been working towards a musical language that is more episodic and unpredictable. Using all different combinations of the instruments is also a priority, and the group ofter splinters into duos doing opposing things. In some ways this is inspired by the flow of modern dance pieces or film. The way that Tim Berne and Ellery Eskelin (especially his trio with Jim Black and Andrea Parkins) organize their music is also a major influence.

The Two of Anything Band

JP Schlegelmilch - Wurlitzer, Synth, Compositions
Jeremy Viner - Saxophone and Clarinet
Chris Tordini - Bass
Devin Gray - Drums and Glockenspiel

Playing before us at 8:30pm will be a trio of great improvisors!

Pascal Niggenkemper - Bass
Chris DiMeglio - Trumpet
Satoshi Takeishi - Percussion

Solo jazz piano tradition

2011-07-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

A good article by Nate Chinen on the art and evolution of solo jazz piano. I really regret missing Craig Taborn's solo concert at the Rubin Museum, but I'm really looking forward to listening to his new solo CD, "Avenging Angel", which has been getting great reviews.

American magic and dread...

2011-06-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

I've been rereading Don Delillo's sprawling epic masterwork, Underworld. Everyday I come across a passage that just stops me in my tracks and I can only marvel that someone can write this well.

One of the characters is on an obsessive quest to find a baseball that was hit in the game-winning home run of a Brooklyn Dodgers vs. NY Giants game. He is confronted by a baseball memorabilia collector who tells him that his obsession to find the baseball has a poetic revenge to it. "The revenge of popular culture on those who take it too seriously."

"But then he thought, How can I not be serious? What's not to be serious about? What could I take more seriously than this? And what's the point of waking up in the morning if you don't try to match the enormousness of the known forces in the world with something powerful in your own life?"

Minerva and Tim Berne at Korzo

2011-06-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

Minerva, a collaborative trio I play in with Carlo Costa and Pascal Niggenkemper, were honored to share a bill with Tim Berne's trio last night at Korzo in Brooklyn. Tim was playing with Ches Smith and John Hebert, and they sounded fantastic. Ches and John have a great rapport that's evidenced in their work with Mary Halvorson's groups, and they really tore into Tim's music with utter fearlessness. Here's a little clip:

We had the good fortune to have our set recorded by Randy Thaler, who has been most generously taping shows at Korzo and giving them to the musicians. People like Randy are such an important part of the music community, and we are very thankful!
Here's a clip of us playing Pascal's composition "Let's Go...I Don't Know"

Let's Go...I Don't Know by JPSchlegelmilch

Between Two Mysteries - Mount Eerie at St. Cecilia's Church

2011-06-27T06:44:00.000-07:00

A first live encounter with a band that you've only known on record is always an experience charged with possibility. Will they recreate the sound of their records, or take the music to a different place? Will they play my favorite song? Will I gain a deeper insight into the message of the music from hearing it from the source in real time?
I was pretty obsessed with Mount Eerie's last record, Wind's Poem. I had heard some of Phil Elverums' work with the Microphones, which was fascinating but I never spent as much time with that music as I did with Mount Eerie. Mr. Elverum is a lo-fi producer mastermind, and Wind's Poem has a very unique and stunning palette of sound. Supposedly inspired by black metal, there are crushing walls of electric guitar and blurry washes of drums, with everything filtered through a warm analog impressionistic lens.
Beneath all this are haunting and mysterious songs that hint at some kind of concept album. The lyrics consistently invoke images of nature; wind, stones, trees. I've always loved stuff like this. I like music that offers a kind of puzzle that you have to figure out, a landscape that you can read your own meanings into.
As I was listening to Wind's Poem for the first time, my ears pricked up when I came to the song "Between Two Mysteries", which references the theme music to Twin Peaks. He even name drops the David Lynch TV series in the lyrics to make it more explicit.

"The town rests in the valley beneath twin peaks, buried in space.
What goes up there in the night, in that dark, blurry place?"

There's definitely a spiritual affinity between the mysterious music on Wind's Poem and the surreal world of Twin Peaks. And both the band and the show are from Washington state.

But back to the concert. I had heard very mixed things about Phil Elverum's live shows. I'd heard that he sometimes arrived with just an acoustic guitar and improvised, or that he would invite people from the audience to come onstage and play instruments. I was relieved when he came onstage with an electric guitar backed by a synth player and they launched into songs from Wind's Poem. The setting of St. Celelia's Church in Greenpoint gave the music even more of an otherworldly, ethereal air.

Here's a clip of them performing a new song.

Triple Bill at I Beam

2011-06-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was a really fun night of music at I Beam. First up was Vavatican, performing as a trio with Owen Stewart-Robinson, Nathaniel Morgan, and Weston Minisalli. I see this group as part of a continuum of composers/improvisors in Brooklyn that is starting to coalesce into a movement of sorts. The compositions incorporate free improvisation often using extended instrumental techniques, but in a very calculated, compositional way that reminds me of early AACM music. The thing that really makes this music a different kind of experience is the use of spoken texts in the pieces. The other bands who are working in this kind of area are Buckminster, and This Sporting Life, whose performances are part avant-chamber-improv and part surrealist theatre.

Next up was pianist/accordionist/composer Mariel Berger leading a new group playing all new compositions, featuring Martin Urbach, Will McEvoy, and Nathaniel Morgan. The music had a very ambitious scope, and all the pieces made a journey through diverse and complex musical material. But there was also a very organic development to the music, and Mariel told me after the performance that she had composed the music without writing anything down until she could hold the entire piece in her memory. Everyone in the band played great and showed a real commitment to realizing the music.

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Then I played a set of solo piano, focusing on the music of guitarist and composer Bill Frisell. I've been exploring this repertoire for a few months now and I've really been enjoying the process of re-imagining this music for piano. Bill Frisell is one of my favorite musicians, and has been a big influence on my composing. I find playing solo to be a formidable challenge, but I feel like I've learned a lot in the few gigs that I've done. My head got cut off in this video, oops...

Minerva CD release concert at Cornelia St Cafe

2011-05-24T21:14:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday Minerva celebrated the release of our first CD, "Saturnismo" at Cornelia St Cafe. The whole concert is now up on YouTube, so you can check it out at your leisure. The music has evolved a lot since we recorded these pieces last summer!
Here's our performance of a composition of mine called "The Valenti", named after an ugly painting.
Saturnismo is available for purchase through Carlo's website.

GOWK at I Beam

2011-05-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

On Friday I caught a set of improvised music at I Beam by some musicians visiting from Belgium led by the drummer Teun Verbruggen. The band goes by the name GOWK. There were also some Brooklynites on hand sitting in, including Kenny Warren and Jacob Wick on trumpets, and Andrew D'Angelo playing alto sax and bass clarinet.
Everyone sounded great, and there was a lot of variety over the course of the evening's music. Many different combinations of instruments were utilized, which is essential to keeping a large group improv concert interesting, at least to my ears. Here are some samples.

Christian Mendoza on piano!

A nice chorale-type interlude with the horns....

Jesse Stacken and Kirk Knuffke at Cornelia St Cafe

2011-05-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I heard pianist Jesse Stacken and cornetist Kirk Knuffke at Cornelia St, who were celebrating the release of their latest album of duets, "Orange was the Color." The new album focuses on the music of Charles Mingus, and they picked some great tunes from the vast body of work of a master composer. Indeed, they played some of my personal favorites, like "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love", and "Peggy's Blue Skylight."
The duo didn't exclusively play the Mingus songbook on the gig, and it was interesting to see the interconnectedness of their repertoire choices. There were two Steve Lacy pieces, who was also a great admirer of Mingus, and who also recorded some Mingus tunes in his duet albums with Mal Waldron. There was also "Such Sweet Thunder" by Duke Ellington, perhaps Mingus' greatest influence. This is from one of my favorite Duke records, also called "Such Sweet Thunder". I did an arrangement of a piece called "Sonnet for Caesar" from that record for Old Time Musketry, you can listen here.

Find more Old Time Musketry songs at Myspace Music

Here's a short clip of Jesse and Kirk's rendition of "Such Sweet Thunder"

There were also pieces by Carla Bley, Misha Mengleberg, and Albert Ayler. Jesse and Kirk have a really deep rapport that can only come from years of playing together, and they kept a really nice rhythmic intensity on the swinging tunes which is not easy to do in a piano/horn duo setting! I also always enjoy seeing musicians taking on a repertoire project, hearing them interpret music that they connect with.

Banda de Los Muertos at Barbes

2011-05-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night I caught a set of music by the Banda de Los Muertos, a new-ish group that plays arrangements of Mexican brass band music. The group was formed by trombonist Jacob Garchik and has quite the all-star line-up of Brooklyn improvisers. They sounded great, a real party atmosphere instantly filled the room as soon as they started playing, although the air conditioner was broken and the room was sweltering! Clarinetist Oscar Noriega said that the band will be starting a monthly residency at Barbes, adding yet another great brass band to the rotation that already includes Slavic Soul Party. How lucky we are in Brooklyn to have access to all this music!

Staring into the abyss of time...

2011-05-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

I saw Werner Herzog's new film, "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" at the IFC this week. It was pretty mind-blowing. I've never seen a 3D film before, and the effect was really magical. The paintings in the cave were so beautiful and so skillful, it was truly hard to believe that they were done by our ancestors over 30,00 years ago. Throughout the film Herzog refers to "the artists" who made the paintings, and one of the themes of the film is that the impulse to create art, to communicate our subjective experience of reality is one of the fundamental things that makes us human. It's pretty awe-inspiring to see these works of art from so long ago, it's hard to fully appreciate what 30,000 years means. Herzog says at one point in the film, "we exist inside history, they did not."
Also, there is some incredibly beautiful music by cellist and composer Ernst Reijseger that perfectly evokes something primal and mysterious, and also a kind of spirituality and reverence. The cave also contains incredible stalagmites that give it the appearance of a cathedral. Herzog's films always awaken a sense of wonder about the world we live in.

The Two of Anything Band at Barbes

2011-04-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

At the end of March I played a set of new music at one of my favorite Brooklyn music haunts, Barbes in Park Slope. The show was part of the Palimpsestic Music series curated by saxophonist Oscar Noriega. I played with a new quartet called The Two of Anything Band with Jeremy Viner on saxophone and clarinet, Eivind Opsvik on bass and Flin Van Hemmen on drums.
I started writing music for the show when I got back from Bolivia in the beginning of March. The material came from recording myself improvising on wurlitzer electric piano and synthesizer, and transcribing parts that I liked. As I was listening back, I found myself more aware than usual of the connections to my various musical influences coming through the music. I decided to embrace this, and as I was developing the material into compositions, I gave each piece two dedications.

Here are a few tunes recorded live at Barbes:

"Research and Development" is dedicated to composer Lou Harrison and my teacher Paul Caputo. There's a part in the piece (not included in the recording) where I play a long line on both keyboards and it has a strange resonance that reminds me of Lou Harrison's gamelan-influenced music, and his keyboard music with different tunings. I developed the lines into a 3-part counterpoint section at the end, and I always think about my lessons with Paul when writing contrapuntal music.

Research and Development by JPSchlegelmilch

"Plant" is dedicated to Jim Black and Werner Herzog.

Plant by JPSchlegelmilch

"Slow Century" is dedicated to Phil Elverum from the bands The Microphones and Mount Eerie, and also to composer Carla Bley.

Slow Century by JPSchlegelmilch

David Byrne: How Architecture Helped Music Evolve

2011-03-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

This is a very amusing short lecture by David Byrne about how the venues where music is performed contribute to the evolution of musical art. After musing about his early career playing at clubs like CBGB's and going on to play in large fancy venues like Carnegie Hall, he questions if musicians have a specific venue in mind when they write music, and if that can be a model for creativity.
He concludes that music has always adapted to new venues and new technology, and that an inescapable reality is that the vessel for the art always exists first. This goes contrary to the romantic notion of the outpouring of passionate emotion coming first, and then taking shape into something. Byrne argues that the passion is still there, but the creation of the art is informed by the way that the art will be received.

Bolivia Tour Documentary

2011-03-13T18:51:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to looking through the footage I shot on my little Flip camera during the tour. The video material is mostly us exploring the cities, and behind the scenes antics. I have no idea if this will be interesting to someone who wasn't there, but here it is anyway.
The day after we arrived there was a massive transportation strike, protesting the price of gas and food. The preferred method of protest in Bolivia is to blockade the streets with cars and shut down the city until an agreement is reached. It was very interesting walking through the city with no cars moving on the streets, and people hanging out and setting off fireworks.
One of the most striking experiences for me was going to a market in Cochabamba. We saw all types of food, fruits, vegetables, spices, and meats that we were told not to eat if we didn't want to risk getting seriously ill. Most fascinating was the "witch market", where you could buy all your occult necessities. A big seller seemed to be llama fetuses. Our guide from the embassy explained that there is a custom in Bolivia when a new house is built, a sacrifice is made to the earth by burying a llama fetus in the yard. They were very scary looking, like little aliens! There were also fortune tellers who would read your future in coca leaves.
Also, a note of warning: there is some footage of a butcher shop. It gets very real. Enjoy!

Bolivia Tour Photo Essay

2011-03-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

We are fortunate that the violinist in our band, Erika Kapin, is also a skilled photographer and took many wonderful photos on our tour. I also just got some pictures of some of the shows we played, taken by people from the Bolivian embassy.

This was a concert we played at the Portales Palace in Cochabamba. It was built by a "tin baron" in the early 1900's and is now a cultural center. It was pretty amazing playing in such a luxurious atmosphere.

These are from a concert we did at the Grand Hotel in Cochabamba. This was the biggest show we did, there were about 400 people there! The audiences at all these concerts were awesome. So attentive and appreciative.

Our fearless leader and Bolivian star-child Martin Urbach on drums.

Javier Moreno Sanchez, playing all manner of basses on this trip. He was also Kenny's Spanish tutor...

Erika Kapin on violin, who made it out of Bolivia with her vegetarianism intact!

Kenny Warren on trumpet, who was becoming impressively fluent in Spanish!

Me.

This is us playing at an orphanage in Santa Cruz. Definitely one of the most rewarding experiences of the trip.

The Bad Plus "On Sacred Ground"

2011-03-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

Now isn't this an exciting development! The Bad Plus are going to perform an arrangement of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" at Duke University with an accompanying multi-media presentation by an architect and a filmmaker. I can only hope that a performance in New York will follow soon. My imagination is already going haywire.
Ethan Iverson talks about the project in this interview, and I was very taken by his response about why they chose the piece:

"Of all the modernist classical music, The Rite is the "hit." With most of our covers, we don't go for the deep tracks, but the obvious choices."

I love the idea of The Rite being a "hit." It also got me thinking how The Rite was the first piece of modernist classical music that I probably ever heard, along with many other unsuspecting children watching Disney's "Fantasia" for the first time. I clearly remember being terrified of the brutal prehistoric landscape during The Rite section of the film. I just watched it again on Youtube. Really awesome.

Home again.

2011-03-03T18:10:00.000-08:00

Just got back to Brooklyn last night from an amazing tour in Bolivia with Martin Urbach's Quintet for World Peace. Martin got a grant from the US State Department to go to his home country of Bolivia and do a series of performances and masterclasses. It was an incredible experience, and my first time in South America. I took copious amounts of Flip camera footage, which I'll be sifting through and creating some sort of mini-documentary of the trip. Hopefully it'll be posted here soon!

Minerva's debut CD coming out on Between the Lines Records this spring!

2011-02-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

Minerva is a trio I play in with Carlo Costa (drums) and Pascal Niggenkemper (bass). We're very excited that the music we recorded in August will be released on Between the Lines Records sometime this spring. Between the Lines has a very impressive roster of artists and we're thrilled to be in such good company.
The CD will feature original compositions by each member of the band, as well as several improvisations. You can hear some excerpts from the CD on Carlo's website.

Abby Payne featured in The Deli NYC Music Blog!

2011-02-10T07:17:00.000-08:00

Abby had some nice words written about her music in the Deli's blog. She was rightfully described as " a whirlwind of talent", and they seem to really like the new EP, "Sasquatch". I'm playing with Abby tomorrow night at Spike Hill at 9pm.

Balancing act

2011-01-21T20:35:00.000-08:00

I had a lesson with Sophia Rosoff this week. I've been studying with her off and on for about 4 years, and it had been a while since my last lesson. I don't always have time to work on classical repertoire, but I've been determined to get back into it, specifically to learn Stravinsky's "Serenade In A".
At the lesson we revisited something we did at one of our very first lessons, balancing an egg. I had heard about this Zen-like exercise from other pianists who had studied with Sophia, and it really blew my mind at the first lesson. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Sophia instructed me to balance an egg first on the carpet, which is pretty easy, and then on a porcelain dish, which is near-impossible. As I sat there moving the egg around, feeling it's weight, but failing to balance it, she finally said "the point is not to balance the egg, but can you feel how all of you is trying to balance the egg?".
I instantly realized that not only was my mind completely engrossed in the activity of balancing the egg, but I could also feel that not just my hands, but my arms and back, and basically my whole body was involved in the process, with the egg being the end point. This is how Sophia says you have to play the piano.
She turns 90 years old next week! As one of her students put it, "90 years of illuminating this world."

Music and dance at the Launch Pad

2011-01-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Old Time Musketry played at a very cool event curated by my friend and colleague Kenny Warren at the Launch Pad in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The Launch Pad is a small community art center, and is a great place run by nice people. Two new Kenny Warren bands had their debut that night, the first was Laila and Smitty, a country-blues-jazz outfit with Kenny taking the role of the singer on the trumpet. Here's a video of them playing Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night." Note especially Myk Freedman's awesome lap steel guitar solo!

There was also a dance performance choreographed by Sarah Zitnay, which I sadly didn't get video of, but it was great!
And then another new Kenny Warren group, Staunch Lad, with Dan Peck on tuba, Devin Gray on drums and Owen Stewart-Robinson on guitar.

"Talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds."

2011-01-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

Just watched Obama's incredibly moving and inspiring address in Tucson, Arizona. I was so depressed this week after reading about the shootings. Obama's remarks really uplifted me and made me proud that he's our president.
Here are some of the passages that struck me:

.."at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do – it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds."

"What we can't do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together."

"Sudden loss causes us to look backward – but it also forces us to look forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us. We may ask ourselves if we've shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order. We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame – but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others."

Thomas Ades' "Piano Concerto With Moving Image"

2011-01-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday I saw a cool concert a Avery Fisher Hall, the NY Phil playing Mozart's G minor symphony, Mahler's "Kindertotenleider", and Thomas Ades' "Piano Concerto with Moving Image". The Ades piece was what brought me to the concert, I've been a fan of his music for a while, especially "Living Toys" and "Asyla".
I think it was one of the best music + visual art performances that I've ever seen. Apparently the composer and video artist collaborated very closely as the piece was composed. The concerto follows the story of Genesis in seven parts, for each day of creation. The images went so well with the music that at some points i felt like spontaneously applauding, or saying "yeah!" like at a jazz show. But you can't really do that at a classical concert, unfortunately.
The music was great, so colorful and inventive, and Ades was playing piano, looking completely at home in his creation.

Endangered Blood at Littlefield and the awesomeness of Skirl Records

2010-11-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

Endangered Blood (formerly known as the Benefit Band) played a double-bill with Icelandic bassist/soundscape-ist Skuli Sverrisson. I was bummed that I missed Skuli's set, but Endangered Blood did not disappoint! I'm not sure, but I think it was all Chris Speed's music. He announced only the last tune they played, most of the set flowed together without any kind of lull. I'm a huge fan of Chris Speed's playing and writing. One of the most inspiring musical experiences of my life was seeing his band YeahNo play at the Knitting Factory and Tonic many years ago. All of the hallmarks of that group, and Chris' other bands with Jim Black were present in Endangered Blood: instantly memorable melodies, balkan-influenced odd meters, and a very soulful, direct manner of expression. There was even a cover of Monk's "Epistrophy" in 7/4. Usually, jazz tunes played in odd meters make me cringe, but this tune really sounded like it fit the band's language. A lot of Chris' tunes use just a single melodic motive, like Monk.
These cats are about to do a European tour AND a US tour! Can't wait to hear them when they get back from that. They already have a CD that will be released on Chris Speed's label, Skirl Records. Skirl is fast developing an amazing catalogue documenting the Brooklyn scene. I'm also excited to hear Ches Smith's new CD with his band These Arches. There's a lot of activity going on in the Skirl circle, they have events planned in Europe, too! Very Inspiring.

Belated Live Music Report/Thoughts on harmony in free improvisation..

2010-11-03T19:21:00.000-07:00

Last week I saw two great sets of all-improvised music, both with the bassist Todd Sickafoose. The first was at Korzo with Eric Deutch on piano and Ben Perowsky on drums. This trio has a very melodic and groove-driven musical language, which seemed to me as something of a rarity in a group playing completely improvised concerts in New York. Their interplay was really wonderful, and the music evolved with great freedom and openness. As a pianist, I have always struggled with the issue of harmony in free-improv situations. I often fear that if I play too tonally it limits the other players, and that I become the "leader" and everyone else has to choose their notes more carefully, and the music takes on a tentative quality that can stop the flow. I think this is part of the reason that a lot of players, not just pianists, avoid tonal improvising. It's a lot easier to "match" when everyone is playing atonal, or playing non-pitch-specific sounds. The same thing with grooves. Sometimes when a groove happens in a free improvisation it can take control of the course of the music too much, or it can be hard to get out of it. The trio at Korzo didn't fall prey to any of these problems, however. I mentioned to Todd Sickafoose after the set that it was refreshing to hear a trio improvise in such a tonal language. He replied "Oh, I'm not afraid. That's 98% of music!"
Then the next night I heard Todd play again in an all improvised set with Jonathan Goldberger and Jim Black at I Beam. This trio has been developing a musical language of electronic textures, fractured grooves, and spacey ambience. Jonathan's guitar effects and Jim's laptop electronics conjured mysterious alien landscapes of sound. And of course, they also HIT! A short sample:

"As a karate expert, I will not talk about anyone up here."

2010-10-19T19:27:00.000-07:00

There I was driving in my car listening in to the NY gubernatorial debate, expecting to hear some outrageous Paladino antics. But wait, what's this?

I wish I could visit an alternate universe where this guy is governor.

Mid-Week Live Music Update

2010-10-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was a really great night of music at Korzo in Park Slope. This week James Carney's music series featured a new Tim Berne trio called Snake Oil, with Matt Mitchell and Ches Smith. They played Tim's music, some of it I was familiar with from his band Hard Cell, which has the same instrumentation but with Tom Rainey and Craig Taborn. Tim mentioned at the beginning that they were also planning on incorporating other people's music into the band, naming Matt Mitchell, Craig Taborn, and Django Bates as possible sources. Their set was great, I was especially blown away by how Ches Smith shaped the music, and what an intense and original approach he has to the drums. I was sitting right by the piano, and could watch Matt Mitchell play those incredibly hard piano parts that Tim writes! Matt is such a great improvisor, I feel like I learned a lot just watching his hands.
Then Mike Pride's band Bacteria 2 Boys played, which was also awesome. So much good drumming! Mike's music for this group really took me by surprise. I had always seen Mike playing drums in very out settings, but this band's music is largely tune-based. There was even one straight-up jazz ballad!

On Wednesday I saw most of a set by John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble at Littlefield. Kate McGarry and Theo Bleckmann were singing together, which was really wonderful to see. I'm always amazed by how many different musical territories that John explores in his writing for this group. I heard him say once that he tries to approach every composition differently, using a different process, almost to try to make each piece sound like it was written by a different composer. The pieces that Kate and Theo sang on were very tonal and almost pop-sounding. Another piece had lengthy sections featuring John improvising with saxophonists Tony Malaby and Ellery Eskelin over cued atmospheric backgrounds.

Put a Motor In Yourself recording project

2010-10-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

At long, long last, this powerful power-trio is recording some music! Here is a mini-rockumentary of our first recording session at I Beam Music in Gowanus. Stay tuned for more info about the music.

Khaira Arby at Zebulon

2010-10-10T06:31:00.000-07:00

Last night I heard Khaira Arby and her amazing band at Zebulon. I hadn't heard their music before, my friend Kenny Warren of Slavic Soul Party had told me about the band after performing on the same bill with them. Seeing them play reminded me about why it's great to live in New York, where you can see a great band from Timbuktu at a small club. The band's rhythmic feel was unbelievable. The drummer was playing the kit in a way that was so different from what my western ears are conditioned to hear, and the two electric guitarists weaved interlocking strands of rhythms over the powerful groove. When they played hits together, it had an uncommon impact, I can't really describe it. It also had the energy (and volume!) of a rock band, but with an incredibly graceful finesse. At one point I commented to a friend about how great the drummer sounded, and my friend replied "everyone in the band is playing like a drummer!"
At the center of the band's sound was Khaira Arby's powerful voice. This is a musical tradition that I know nothing about, and will have to look into. Better just to hear it for yourself. I found this video on Youtube, I think this is the song they were playing when I walked into Zebulon.

The Magic Mountain

2010-10-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

"We live on Magic Mountain. No one leaves Magic Mountain."

I just finished re-reading Thomas Mann's 1924 novel, the Magic Mountain. I first read it about seven years ago, and it made a huge impression on me. I would always cite it as one of my all-time favorites, although as years went by I forgot more and more about the multitudes of ideas in the book. I've only recently started re-reading my favorite books, and am finding it to be an incredibly rewarding experience. In a way, authors have it tough. We listen to our favorite songs or even albums hundreds of times, but most books are read once and put away.
Re-reading the Magic Mountain gave me a glimpse back to my life seven years ago. At certain points in the story, I could remember where I was when I first read it, and the emotions that it stirred had a familiar feeling. It is truly an epic book. I knew when I first read it that a lot was going over my head, such as the allegorical nature of the characters, and the sometimes lengthy philosophical arguments played out between them. But the beauty of Thomas Mann's writing held me in thrall, just as it did when I first read it.
I had forgotten so many things about the story! The best surprise came towards the end of the novel, when the sanatorium in which the hero, Hans Castorp, is living his hermetic existence gets a new gramophone player. The chapter is called "Fullness of Harmony", and describes Hans Castorp becoming an obsessive audiophile.
At a later point in the story, a young girl who is a patient at the sanatorium is discovered to be a clairvoyant medium, and they begin holding seances. Someone theorizes that having music playing in conducive to connecting to the spirit world, so Hans picks out his favorite records to play at the seances. Essentially making a mix tape!

Listen to This

2010-10-05T05:54:00.000-07:00

I have excitedly begun reading Alex Ross's new book "Listen to This". Ross's first book, "The Rest Is Noise", is one of my favorite books about music, he has a real gift for tracing common threads in the work of disparate artists and moments in music history. He's a bit like Leonard Bersnstein in a way, although with a more cool-headed approach. One theme of the book seems to be dissolving the borders between "classical" (a term that Ross derides) and "pop" music. There are chapters on Schubert, Bjork, Bob Dylan. Books like this are like manna from heaven for me.

Some memorable passages so far:

"What I refuse to accept is that one kind of music soothes the mind and another kind soothes the soul. It depends on whose mind, whose soul."

"All music becomes classical music in the end. Reading histories of other genres, I often get a funny sense of deja vu. The story of jazz, for example, seems to recapitulate classical history at high speed. First the youth-rebellion period: Satchmo and the Duke and Bix and Jelly Roll teach a generation to lose itself in the music. Second, the era of bourgeois pomp: the high-class swing bands parallels the Romantic orchestra. Stage 3: artists rebel against the bourgeois image, echoing the classical modernist revolution, sometimes by direct citation (Charlie Parker works the opening notes of The Rite of Spring into "Salt Peanuts"). Stage 4: free jazz marks the point at which the vanguard loses touch with the masses and becomes a self-contained avant-garde. Stage 5: a period of retrenchment. Wynton Marsalis's attempt to launch a traditionalist jazz revival parallels the neo-romantic music of many late-twentieth century composers. But this effort comes too late to restore the art to the popular mainstream."

Current Listening

2010-09-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

The Bad Plus - "Never Stop"
Beach House - "Teen Dream"
John McNeil and Bill Mchenry - "Chill Morn Me Climb Jenny"
Kris Davis, Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey - "Paradoxical Frog"
Arturo Benedetti Michaelangeli - "Debussy: Images, Children's Corner"
Kate Bush - "Hounds of Love"

Lee Konitz Quartet at the Iridium

2010-08-30T20:23:00.001-07:00

I was fortunate enough to catch the last set of Lee Konitz's run at the Iridium with an amazing quartet! I've seen Lee play several times over the years, and I'm always struck by how fresh his playing sounds. There's such a purity to the melodies that he plays, they grab you instantly but are always surprising. One of the things you always hear people say about Lee is that he never seems to repeat himself, although he's played the same repertoire of standards for....a long, long time, he's 83 for god's sake!
The rhythm section was equally fascinating of course; Ethan Iverson, Larry Grenadier, and Jorge Rossy. I had heard about Lee's policy of no amplification, and wondered how it sound. At the beginning of the set, I found myself straining to hear the piano a little, but as the kept playing either my ears adjusted or the band balanced themselves out and everything sounded perfect. I think the lack of amplification also gave the concert a more intimate feel. Ethan mentioned on his blog about what a powerful tone Lee has, and it was definitely true! Lee's alto sound is so clear and strong, and the acoustic rhythm section only made this more apparent.
There were also many surreal moments. Lee wandered around the stage, at times playing right by Ethan at the piano, sometimes at the far left of the stage, and occasionally in the front where the leader is supposed to play. Lee let the other guys start a tune of their choice, and Larry started playing Stella By Starlight unaccompanied with such a powerful and elusive groove, I had no idea what tune he was playing. Then Ethan took an incredibly abstract solo, "jazz surrealism" par excellence, to borrow a term that Ethan uses. At the end of Ethan's solo they started playing the tune in a very straightforward manner to make way for Lee, who had been watching at the side of the stage with an inscrutable look on his face. I couldn't help but laugh when he asked Ethan what tune they were playing. That was the other benefit of no amplification. With your ears more attuned to what was coming from the stage, you could hear all the banter.
At one point, Lee announced that Jorge was going to sing a song. After a somewhat awkward pause, Jorge and son broke into a rendition of Chet Baker's "Dandelion" using that technique where you cup your hands and clap in front of your mouth, making a sound like a tuned drum. It was great! Jazz surrealism, indeed.

Minerva at Cornelia St

2010-08-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to everyone who came to Minerva's show at Cornelia St last week! It's such a pleasure to play at a venue with a good piano and a receptive listening audience. It's actually a little intimidating how quiet it gets in there! I've gotten so used to playing in noisy bars, which is I guess where jazz has traditionally been played all along. I heard Paul Motian remark in an interview once about how playing at the Village Vanguard has changed so much since the 50's and 60's. It used to have more of a casual cafe atmosphere, with people talking (just listen to Bill Evans "Sunday at the Vanguard"), and Motian even said that he preferred that informal vibe to the reverent silence that reigns during performances at the Vanguard now.
I can appreciate both settings, I guess it depends on the music. Sometimes when I see a great band at the Tea Lounge, I get frustrated that people are on their laptops with headphones on while these musicians are playing their asses off. And other times, a dead serious listening space like the Stone can feel a little stifling.
But I digress. Minerva did a recording project in July, and we are starting work towards releasing our first CD! Stay tuned....

New Abby Payne Music Video!

2010-08-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

Abby has a new video for her song "Lost and Found", which will be the first single from the forthcoming EP "Sasquatch". There were some seriously talented people behind the video, which was directed by Elizabeth Leitzell and featured choreography by Emily Vetsch. We had a video release party earlier this month at the House Of Yes in Williamsburg. Definitely a cool venue! They had trapeze rings suspended from the ceiling, and some of those thick gymnastic mats.
The video is now live on Youtube!

I Do Not Doubt I Am Limitless: Walt Whitman's Brooklyn

2010-07-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

I can't think of a happier return to Brooklyn than this. The good people from the ISSUE Project Room and the Brooklyn Heights Association were celebrating the poetry of Brooklyn's own Walt Whitman. There was a great lineup of bands, poets, and musicians
performing in Brooklyn Bridge Park against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline and, of course, the majestic Brooklyn Bridge. I was playing with composer and fellow Silent Leaguer Shannon Fields, who composed a piece setting fragments of a letter that Whitman wrote to Ralph Waldo Emerson.
It was a beautiful day, I wish that I could've stayed for the whole event! I did see poet Steve Dalachinsky read "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry", and Henry Grimes play a short set of solo bass and violin.
Whitman's poetry continues to be a huge source of inspiration for me. Such an incredible spirit of generosity in those words. Something that's good to come back to again and again.

Old Time Musketry Northeast Tour!

2010-06-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

I'm hitting the road today with Old Time Musketry for a 7 city tour of the northeast! So excited to get out of New York for a bit and to bring this music to new places. Our itinerary:

6/23 The Montague Bookmill
Montague, MA

6/24 The Starving Artist
Keene, NH

6/25 The PACE Theatre
Easthampton, MA

6/26 The Elliot St Cafe
Brattleboro, VT

6/27 The North Star Music Cafe
Portland, ME

6/27 The Lily Pad
Cambridge, MA

6/29 Abilene Bar and Lounge
Rochester, NY

Put a Motor In Yourself w/ DDYGG at I Beam

2010-06-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

Put a Motor In Yourself continues it's recent flurry of activity tomorrow at I Beam Music in Gowanus. Also playing that night is DDYGG w/ Brian Drye, Mike McGinnis, Mark Dodge, Khabu Doug Young, and Matt Glassmeyer. This is a reunion gig for them, and will no doubt be a very special evening!
Look at this beautiful poster that Connie Wang made. Sweet!

These people know magic!

2010-06-03T09:09:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I went to Korzo in Park Slope which has been hosting James Carney's music series. First I heard Jesse Stacken's trio with Jeff Davis and Eivind Opsvik. They were playing music from their new CD, which I am very excited to hear. The first full composition that I heard developed very slowly and patiently, with a sort of minimalist repetition. The trio played with the subtlety of a chamber group, with great attention to sound and texture, and really set a hypnotic mood. The set ended with a full out rock jam, which started with Jesse repeating a single note, strumming like a guitar, filling the room with the sound of that one pulsing tone. I don't think I've ever heard a pianist do that before.
Then Kris Davis, Tony Malaby, Eivind Opsvik, and Tom Rainey played an improvised set. I was completely blown away by how well they played together. One thing I always notice with master improvisors is how the music has such an organic flow that it changes almost imperceptibly, like the way leaves change their color. You hardly notice the new directions that the music is taking until the change is already upon you. One of the highlights of the performance was a moment when Kris Davis was playing a repeated 2 note figure on the Rhodes, and Tom Rainey started playing 2 empty beer glasses on a table and THEY WERE THE EXACT SAME PITCHES! The musicians in the audience exchange astonished glances.

Put a Motor In Yourself at Zebulon with The Caribbean and Yer Sweet Chimneys

2010-05-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

I sure am excited for this show tomorrow! Very much looking forward to hearing the Caribbean and Yer Sweet Chimneys. I met Matt Byars (of the Caribbean) at SXSW this March at a party put on by the record label Hometapes, which has some great bands on its roster. Yer Sweet Chimneys sound great, too, and have a very interesting blog that I was just perusing.

Emitt Rhodes tribute at Union Hall

2010-05-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

Last Friday the Silent League played at a tribute concert to the songwriter Emitt Rhodes. The Silent League had recorded one of Emitt's songs for a compilation tribute CD, and we shared the stage with some great bands also featured on the CD, Robbers on High Street, and Grand Mal.
I was not familiar with Rhodes' music, but I took a liking to it instantly. While there's definitely a Paul McCartney-esque spirit to his music, it also reminds me of Big Star and Harry Nillson. The songwriting is very sincere and direct, and the music has a certain quirkiness. While we were rehearsing the song "Fresh as a Daisy", which was one of Rhodes' biggest hits, we had to simplify a few sections that had very irregular phrasing and odd pauses.
You can listen to the Silent League's version of "Somebody Made For Me" here. I love this song!
His career also has an interesting story. He was known as "the one-man Beatles", because he played all the instruments and sang all the parts on his records. He also recorded his first album, "Emitt Rhodes" in a studio he built in his parents' garage! He later signed a recording contract to put out an album every six months (!!) and was sued when he couldn't meet the deadline.

Alone Together concert at Launch Pad Gallery

2010-05-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I took part in a concert with a very unique format put together by guitarist/composer Myk Freedman. The concept was an evening of 10 minute solo performances, featuring some very wonderful musicians: Alan Sondheim, Jacob Wick, Jay Foote, Jason Vance, Jesse Gold, Kenny Warren, Josh Sinton, Mike Kammers, Owen Stewart-Robinson, and of course Myk Freedman himself. I played a structured improvisation piece that I had developed on accordion. It was the first time I've played a solo accordion performance, (besides busking in a park, once).
Playing solo is such a challenging thing, and I think it's a very valuable experience. It was fascinating for me to see how each performer approached playing a short solo piece. I think the experience has strengthened my resolve to work on solo piano playing. I think that when you play by yourself you really come face to face with how you hear music, and your relationship to your instrument.
The concert was held at a community center in Crown Heights called the Launch Pad Gallery, which was an awesome space run by some very nice people. It would be great if every neighborhood had a venue like this!

New Live Videos

2010-04-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

I just posted 2 recent live clips on Vimeo. The first is NOOK performing at Glasslands, and the second is Put A Motor In Yourself performing at Matchless.
In HD! Enjoy.

Benefit show at Glasslands

2010-04-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I took part in a very memorable concert at Glasslands, playing with NOOK and Abby Payne. The concert was organized mostly by Abby as a benefit for two local animal shelters, BARC (Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition) and NYACC (New York Animal Care Control). Several local Brooklyn businesses very generously donated items for a raffle drawing; Cafe Grumpy, Dandelion Wine, Babeland, and Alter, to name a few. There was also great performances by the People's Champs, and Hurrah! A Bolt of Light!. Thanks to everyone who came out to support a good cause (and live music) in one fell swoop!
Here's a link to a video of NOOK performing at the event. Dig the cosmic stage backdrop!

SXSW Roundup

2010-03-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

Now that my head has cleared a bit after being back in New York for a few days, I've had a chance to look through my camera and my scattered memories of the festival. Here are some of my favorite performances by bands I hadn't heard before.

The very first day in Austin I saw a band from Denmark called Slarrafenland, which means "the land of milk and honey." They were awesome! Great musicians, multi-instrumentalists, they had great vocal harmonies reminiscent of Brian Eno, and cool horn parts. Their music had a lot of sonic variety, which I am always drawn to.

Almost immediately after I saw a band called Mount Righteous which was a sort of punk/thrash/marching band thing. The singers sang through megaphones, and their performance was very joyous and strange, I loved it.

Later in the week the Silent League played at a party held by the Hometapes record label. It was a great time, despite the temperature dropping to 38 degrees! (the show was outside, mostly). The first performance was by Sharon Van Ettan, who played solo at 11am while a small but attentive audience had a pancake breakfast. Her songs were hauntingly beautiful, she has the kind of voice that stays in your memory, the feeling of it.

Yacht from Portand, Oregon also blew my mind, they brought the party more than any band I saw that week. So good! More on them in the next post...

The Rise of the Machines: Pre-Recorded Tracks in Live Performance

2010-03-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some of my impressions of the trend I observed at SXSW of bands using pre-recorded backing tracks in their live performance. I was really taken aback by how many bands were playing along with samplers, most of the music being pre-recorded. A staple of the festival was the 2-piece band, drums and sampler, playing dance-heavy disco-electronica. I've never had much interest in dance music, electronica, or DJ culture. I've heard records here and there that I liked, and there are definitely some very creative and talented people working in those fields. I've always felt that live performance of those genres is very boring to watch, but I suppose that's not really the point of the music. At dance clubs the DJ is kind of an invisible presence. At most of the shows the audiences didn't seem to mind at all that the performers weren't that involved with the creation of the sound coming from the stage. It was more about energy, dance energy, beat energy.

The band Memory Tapes was a duo with an excellent drummer who played along with the backing tracks with real fire and a strong groove. The singer played guitar, but the huge pulsing sound created was mostly due to the pre-recorded synth tracks and electronic dance beats on the samplers. By the end of their set, almost everyone in the crowd was moving.

I enjoyed the music, but I couldn't stop thinking that the performance would be so much more alive if there was a full band. But on the other hand, these guys made those tracks exactly the way they want them to sound, so why not use them?

I'm sure that I have a different perspective on all this since I'm a musician myself. I would be bored to death if I played in band that used backing tracks for most of the songs. The joy of playing music for me is interacting with other musicians in real time, whether in a rock band playing the same songs night after night, or playing jazz or free improv. I'm interested in music with a human warmth, and I can't help but be a little concerned by the rise of pre-recorded tracks. I also can't help but feel like an old curmudgeon, thinking "that's not real music!". Maybe I'm also worried about losing my gigs to a machine!

I saw a few bands whose records I was familiar with who were using pre-recorded tracks, and their performance ended up sounding exactly like their albums, which to me is a little unsatisfying. I like to see bands create their music from scratch in a live setting, reacting to things on a human scale like the mood of each person in the band, the crowd, the sound of the venue. All these factors should make for a unique experience, a unique telling of the music. I feel like this becomes less of a possibility when bands play to backing tracks.

Another consideration is that it is very expensive to tour with a full band. If you can cut things down to 2 or 3 people, you can actually make some money. I saw a few solo acts as well, some only pushing buttons on the sampler to cue the next song and singing a little.

It was very telling to me that the last instrument to be replaced was always a live drummer. It's been my belief for about as long as I've played music that the drummer is the most important part of the band. Even though a lot of these groups had electronic drum tracks playing, I'm convinced the reason for keeping the live drummer was for visual impact. There is nothing as captivating as watching a drummer produce a great beat with the synchronicity of his limbs in motion. We see the rhythm personified in the drummer. I think when you take that away, the live performance crosses over entirely into another kind of experience.

As an example, try to picture a rock band being pared down to a duo, or a solo performer with the rest of the band replaced by pre-recorded tracks. It wouldn't fly, no way. I think the reason has to be that as an audience, we enjoy seeing the chemistry of a band. Chemistry meaning combining different elements and watching them blow up, or dissolve, or turn a strange color.

Of course, it's crazy to think that the standard 4-piece rock band will ever disappear. I'm just curious about the sampler phenomenon and how it relates to factors like economics, technology, and what it will mean for the future of music. All of these concerns aside, I really believe that it doesn't really matter what the means are in creating the music, as long as the end product is something that moves people.

Paradoxically, one of my favorite shows was the band Yacht, who played along to backing tracks that were so loud, I couldn't tell if their drummer was doing anything at all. The performance was incredible, the two singers were extremely charismatic, danced and mimed the lyrics to the songs, and put out a tremendous amount of energy and style. The music was heavily indebted to the Talking Heads, the songs were infectious and really fun. They were dressed in tuxedos, the crowd was going nuts.

Letters from the road

2010-03-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

I intended to blog more consistently from the Silent League tour, but things have been pretty hectic and I've fallen way behind! It's now our 4th day at SXSW and I've seen many many bands, played 4 shows, and had some great barbecue and breakfast tacos.

I thought I would try to document a little of what's happened on our way down to Austin, and I'll try to do a SXSW roundup at a later date. I've been taking short videos of my favorite bands, and I'll try to put them up later.

Our first show was in Charlottesville, VA, a very nice college town, a lot of the buildings on campus were designed by Benjamin Franklin. There was also an amazing potato donut place called Spudnuts. Highly recommended!

Then we played in Greensboro, NC at the Blind Tiger, as part of a music series called Monkey Whale. To my surprise, the Brooklyn band Pearl and the Beard was also playing and they sounded great! I had met and played with their cellist, Emily Hope Price before with Abby Payne, and it was great to catch their set.

Then we had an epic drive to New Orleans and played at a very interesting venue called the Pearl. It's an old mansion that's been putting on shows for almost 20 years, a very bohemian setting. I wish I had taken more pictures, the place was really unbelievable! It was my first time to New Orleans, and I wish I had more time to explore the city, which was beautiful.

OK, back to indie-rock summer camp!

March tour dates announced for the Silent League

2010-02-27T19:34:00.001-08:00

This will be my second tour with the Brooklyn-based chamber-pop band the Silent League. I'm very excited to get to go to the South by Southwest Festival in Austin after hearing about it for so many years! I'm going to do my best to blog from the road and the festival.

The Silent League has a few shows coming up in Brooklyn before we hit the road. This Saturday we're playing at Sycamore in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. This will be a somewhat acoustic show, with a small chamber ensemble joining us.

For more info check www.thesilentleague.com

The tour dates:

3/12 Boylan Heights - Charlottesville, VA

3/13 Blind Tiger - Greensboro, NC

3/14 The Pearl Lounge - New Orleans, LA

3/15 Rubber Gloves - Denton, TX

3/16-19 South by Southwest Festival, Venues TBA - Austin, TX

3/22 Venue TBA - Little Rock, Arkansas

3/23 Grimey's - Nashville, TN

3/24 Venue TBA - Columbus, OH

Minerva Trio gigs

2010-02-26T20:35:00.000-08:00

A new collaborative piano trio project played its first public performances this week! Minerva Trio features Carlo Costa on drums and Pascal Niggenkemper on bass. We've been playing together informally for a while, doing lots of improvising and having a great time. At the shows we played compositions by each of us, and improvised a few pieces.

Minerva was a Roman goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, magic, and was also the inventor of music. Not too shabby! She is often depicted with an owl, a symbol of wisdom.

The first show was at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn, a great venue dedicated to experimental music. A wonderful trio called Yugonaut played after us.

Then last night we played at the 5C Cafe and Cultural Center in the East Village. What a great spot! It was a very cozy environment to play in while Manhattan was being buried under endless torrents of snow.

Here is a very short video excerpt from the 5C Cafe. (Thanks, Devin!)