performance
the viper matrix vol.1
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Friends often become collaborators and whenever I team up with someone, I like to push the boundaries. This case, I wanted to see what could be done with a particular harmonic and rhythmic matrix. The sky is the limit! After much tweaking, a few hits and bowed pianos, I came up with this little gem.
The coolest part about this piece is that it is very intuitive to perform. This track is easily performed live, and is constructed so that no matter how hard you try it will sound different every time. This opens up many ways to improvise and interact with additional instrumentalists… As a bonus, all of the samples are acoustic. The goal was to make a live, interactive patch that sounds as if it were a musicological field recording.
poetry from the bowery
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Here’s a musical snippet from the last performance at the Bowery Poetry Club in NYC. (see this post).
This venue has been home to many colleagues of mine over the years and it was a pleasure to perform its stage!
As many may already know I’ve been busy writing music for several albums and there’s no better way to develop new ideas than to hash it out on live – It was a lot of fun playing with these guys, and I’m eager to keep delving deeper into the sound of this repertoire.
the bass frog!
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Brussels Bassist Olivier Stalon invited me to be apart of his impromptu band he affectionately called “hot frogs”.
Oliver Stalon – Electric Bass
Adam Arruda – Drums
Michal Vanoucek – Rhodes
Miro Herak – Vibes
Eden Bracket – Baritone Sax
Yours Truly – Alto Sax
a bootleg clip from the road
Here is an audio clip from a mini-tour I put together alongside co-leader Travis Reuter. We called ourselves “The Vacant Project” a title that was inspired from one of Travis’ tunes, entitled “Vacancy at 29″ (see below). We played gigs in Rochester, NY; Ottawa, ON; and Toronto, ON. Five nights, Five gigs, all of which were warmly received and enjoyable to play. Greg Chudzik was playing bass and Max Goldman was behind the drums.
This is an excerpt from Travis’ composition ”Vacancy at 29″:
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steps in the snow
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Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “Steps in the Snow” a improvised duo recording featuring London based pianist Katya Sourikova. This album was recorded in 2006, and was a very spur-of-the-moment session where we simply set up a bunch of mics, hit record and played spontaneously for an hour. Wholla! We called it an album. This is also the first inaugural release on the new “Weave Records” Label, also based in London. Last year I recorded again with Katya but this time in a quartet setting. Stay tuned for that release, also on Weave Records. You can buy this album on CD Baby by clicking Here. Or iTunes by clicking Here.
Here is what Katya has to say about the album:
Steps was recorded live, in a single take. There are no edits. Should we simply say the pieces are free improvisations? Some people have found it impressive, and somewhat surprising, that free improvisation could sound so accessible and harmonious. We have not set out to break any common assumptions or prove any points. To those less familiar with improvised musical forms, we think that the album is a gentle reminder that it’s not all fast, furious and sonically challenging.
Steps is a spontaneous collision of two musical minds and personalities. Nothing was pre-planned or discussed beforehand. There are moments of true musical telepathy that both slightly spooked and delighted us at the time. As is the nature of these sorts of musical encounters, the magic is in the moment. The process of unravelling each sonic thread takes you through unexpected twists and turns. It’s a real delight to find that your musical partner, if not following you every step of the way, is there to meet you at the next corner. We lost ourselves in the momentous magic of it all. Happily, the result was captured here in this recording.
