Free jazz: Outside Looking In

Outside Looking In
Live performance, recorded recently at UofT.



Featuring:

• Robin Jessome (trombone)
• Jim Lewis (trumpet)
• Tania Gill (trumpet/melodica)
• Sienna Dahlen (mouth)
• Andrew Downing (cello)
• Rob Fekete (piano)
• Mark Segger (drums)

The chart is a simple rhythmic figure, used as a springboard into free improvisation.

Dig:

Click here for mp3: UofT Grad Ensemble
Click here for pdf lead sheet.


...
Also available: excerpt from an alternate version. Kind of shows how different musicians will take it different places...the piece is totally reliant on the musicians, since there's so little information given. This version features: Brent Mah (alto sax), Robin Jessome (trombone), Hugh Fraser (piano), Mike Herriot (bass), Karl Schwonik (drums).

Wow dude. Amazing how you did so much with so little lol. By the way, got an awesome drummer there. Where is the voice coming from?

It sounded fun, kept me entertain and is a pretty interesting idea. Sometimes the chaos got to me, but that's the nature of these things from time. Overall fun to listen too, especially the beginning and end. Sometimes the voice pissed me off at times though.

Originally Posted by DOFTS

Wow dude. Amazing how you did so much with so little lol. By the way, got an awesome drummer there. Where is the voice coming from?

Oops.

I totally forgot Sienna was there. Sienna Dahlen is the singer. [fixed original post].

And, thanks a lot for listening! Glad you enjoyed it.

Originally Posted by DOFTS

Sometimes the chaos got to me, but that's the nature of these things from time. Overall fun to listen too, especially the beginning and end. Sometimes the voice pissed me off at times though.

Also, I know what you're saying and do tend to agree. The 'chaos' can get a bit meandering sometimes...and vocals in free-improv have never been a favorite of mine.

I liked this a lot, I do not have much to say since you are substantially much better than me when it comes to this. I will basically just praise you silly

Is the vocalist Scandinavian by any chance? And oh! You usually get visual, well you have a lot of visual material on YouTube; did you get any this time?

Nice work

Wow, that is quite the syncopated rhythm...

Great stuff - I love how Jazz just "happens". I think I actually prefer the solo version because it strikes me as having a more fluid, intimate feel.

Do you perform regularly with these guys?

i liked the alternate version much better

Originally Posted by Mike

Great stuff - I love how Jazz just "happens". I think I actually prefer the solo version because it strikes me as having a more fluid, intimate feel.

Do you perform regularly with these guys?

Thanks! The drummer and I play frequently (several different ensembles - from my 11-piece to small combos, to improv duo), the rest of us have been playing for this past school year. Big ears, great musicality...works well

Originally Posted by pliorius

i liked the alternate version much better

Yes, I expect most people would. It's considerably more accessible, while maintaining some of the inherent raw freedom.

Thanks for listening guys!

Even though I personally think that Free-jazz is rubbish, the alternate version really got to me. Perhaps it was because it wasn't AS free as the first one. I especially liked the syncopated head.

I think free-jazz is just noise for the sake of noise, but hey perhaps there's something there that I don't hear.

Just my opinion.

Originally Posted by Franzman

I think free-jazz is just noise for the sake of noise, but hey perhaps there's something there that I don't hear.

Someday, your ears might develop to the point where you 'hear it'. There's definitely something there...but it did take me a while to get into it too

Just stumbled across this and I loved it. Brings back old memories too. I've never been much of a jazzer, but my first piano teacher was heavily into free-jazz and we often improvised together.

Of course it's the nature of improvisations that not every moment is "perfect", but that's also what makes it so interesting: You never know when a truly great moment is going to come, it's just suddenly there and everything fits and all players are becoming a oneness. Maybe it will only last for a second before it vanishes again, but that second alone can be magic.

Of course, a great part of this magic gets lost in a recording, so I'm generally not a huge fan of recording improvisations. But I still experienced some of these really special moments that were a real joy to listen to. (Well, I liked listening to the whole thing too.)

I found that lead sheet absolutely brilliant too, in its simplicity and effectiveness. Random pitches on one single rhythmic figure (well, it's not so much a rhythmic figure as a pulse of course) work very well.

I understand the scepticism towards voices in improvisations very well and they often annoy me too. Not at all in this piece though. I found the voice very fitting and it gave the piece a unique sound that I liked quite a lot.