I paid my respects last night by listening to It's A Man's Man's Man's World and thinking about the rehearsal of his that I was honored to witness. His loss obviously saddens me a great deal, and his loss is tremendous.

I will not leave a post a traditional obituary for JB instead I leave you with a quote...

“I went to see the pope, and the pope told me that I should never come to church, because I can do more out there (on the street)… Music is the soul of the people. That’s why I’m the Godfather of Soul. I wouldn’t want to be anything else — wouldn’t want to be a king, or an emperor. I just want to be with the people.”


Rest in Peace




Listening to JB

Labels: Rememberance

For months the ONE campaign has been working to make sure that the "third-country fabric" provision of AGOA, a clause that could have been overlooked and forgotten, was voted on and passed.

All in all, they sent more than a quarter of a million messages to members of Congress placed a full page ad in the newspaper Roll Call, and spoke with our representatives one on one. With a late-night vote in the House on Friday and an early-morning vote in the Senate on Saturday, they let us know they were listening.

By extending this provision until 2012, Congress did not just save as many as 150,000 jobs in some of the world's poorest countries. They created the sustainability needed for businesses to invest in a growing African industry. Please take a moment to thank Congress for continuing a U.S. economic policy that is working to fight poverty.

Also I hope that all of our readers & listeners can join me on January 25th as we can collectively raise money for the ONE Campaign at our R.O.A. concert.

Listening: the second time around the Jazz Standard recordings,String Quartet of New York, Aaron Copland Sextet, & Lady Day.

Labels: Artist Thoughts

The gig from this past Friday at Veni Vidi Vici that featured the trio was recorded and is now being considered as a potential release on Blacksmith Brother Music. I am also considering starting a monthly mp3 program for rare tracks similar to that of Greenleaf Music. Friday night’s performance was a really nice retrospective of the trio book. It really allowed us to play some of our older works (3 Legged Form) in addition to some new material. The gig featured some great playing by my bandmates, and hope that we can soon share that with those of you that couldn’t make it. Below appears our 3 set-lists from Friday. Look for some of these tracks in early 2007!

*All compositions by Armen Nalbandian except where noted.

Set 1
1 Distance
2 Blues to Steve Lacy (Dave Douglas)
3 December Song
4 Afterwards
5 3 Legged Form

Set 2
1 Dormant
2 Hawking
3 Theme to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Jon Brion)
4 Peaceful
5 Sun Station

Set 3
1 Click
2 Camouflage
3 Manchester Born
4 Cry Drum
5 Spokane
6 Holdin’ On (Nino Moschella)


Listening: Live @ the Jazz Standard—Dave Douglas Quintet

Labels: Artist Thoughts, Artist Update

A listener approached me tonight between sets and remarked on “how refreshing” it was to hear me utilizing the piano again instead of the Fender Rhodes. This wasn’t the first time someone had commented on my recent exploration of the Rhodes, but perhaps the defining moment when I knew that commenting about my playing of the instrument was probably warranted.

Almost a decade ago, I strictly performed using the Rhodes. At that time, it was more as a result of convenience than preference. I had a very good friend who was kind enough to supply me with a Rhodes on most every gig that didn’t have a piano available (most of them). At that point, the instrument really didn’t concern me much, I was more concerned with the actual technical aspect of improvising.

Since my return to Fresno and during my tenure as the Musical Director of the F.A.M., I have been very fortunate to have had a piano to my disposal. Prior to that, I wouldn’t take a gig if there wasn’t an adequate piano available. I would never play gigs using keyboards; to a point that, I never bought one, and would rather not play than play on electrics.

Recently, I started writing music specifically for the Rhodes to be used. First, there was the Broken Ground ensemble that utilized one, and then most recently my Balance ensemble. However, my recent performing with Nino Moschella has allowed me to play the Rhodes exclusively in that group. As a result, I started falling in love with the instrument again. It provided me so many colors that obviously the piano doesn’t and the beauty of the sound is phenomenal.

I don’t play the Rhodes as a novelty. It is not a novelty instrument to me nor do I equate it with keyboards. For those who may not know, the Rhodes utilizes hammers much like a piano does. In fact, even though the Rhodes is a keyboard instrument, the approach to playing is very different to that of the piano. Just like if I were going to start playing a new instrument, I started studying countless recordings that utilize the Rhodes and have learned a great deal. In fact, my greatest lesson in playing the instrument came from watching Uri Caine play the Rhodes with Dave Douglas’s Quintet. Breathtaking!

Recently, I have begun to toy around with using the Rhodes with the trio. In fact, at our last R.O.A. concert the trio performed for the first time with me playing the Rhodes. There is something about the tone quality of the Rhodes and the way it functions in terms of timbre within the trio that really appeals to me.

Of course, this does not mean that I will be abandoning the piano and playing the Rhodes exclusively, but there definitely has been an increased frequency in playing it and that will most likely continue. In fact as has been written before, my next recording Manchester Born will feature 2 discs, one with the piano trio and the other with the Rhodes trio. Hopefully, this will give all the listeners the opportunity to analyze the difference between the two instruments for themselves.

Listening: Still chipping away at Dave’s Jazz Standard recordings

Labels: Artist Thoughts

One of the most exciting aspects about creating an ensemble for me is writing a new book of music for the group. Generally, with every group I create, I end up writing about 15-20 compositions to start off the book. It always ends up being good a practice to rehearse through all of the music even though we may not end up performing all of it. In fact some songs are only played in rehearsal and are never performed. Playing through all the music I feel gives the ensembles a good idea of what my aesthetic vision for the group is.

After the group plays the initial 15-20 compositions, if I decide to keep the ensemble active I will start to eliminate songs from that list until I have really captured the real core of the group’s sound. Usually off that basis, I will start to compose again with a new vision of the ensemble and even occasionally introduce into the group songs written by other composers. That is actually a very thrilling concept: using songs by other composers that capture the sound of the group I created and allow for the musicians in the ensemble to express themselves thusly.
It’s great when it works!

Other than the trio I have a few existing ensembles that work continue to perform and in fact I also have scheduled performances for the premiere of 5 new ensembles thus far for 2007…each with separate personnel and book of music. The trio however is primary performance ensemble and will continue to be. In fact this Friday, December 8th, the trio will be performing at Veni Vidi Vici in Fresno, CA (our irregular regular gig) and will be playing three sets and exploring the material that we have been building since the group’s inception. The band’s book is derived a little from the Armen CD, some music from the Rhythms of Art series, and additional music that I have written specifically for the trio. In addition to that, we will be playing some new compositions that we end up being released on our forthcoming CD. Songs written by other composers is a little limited with this group but there are a few (Dave Douglas, Thelonious Monk, Nino Moschella, & Jon Brion). I have narrowed the trio’s book to about 30 compositions and we will be performing a majority of them on Friday.


Listening: Dave Douglas Quintet-Live at the Jazz Standard (Brilliant!)

Labels: Artist Thoughts

Below is a questionnaire that appeared on the Bad Plus’ BLOG (Do The Math). Not only is it answered by the group but also Guillermo Klein, Brad Mehldau, & Jason Moran. I couldn’t resist answering the questions myself. I hope my answers are interesting and also that you also take the time to explore your favorites. If you do, shoot me an email at armen@armennalbandian.com. I look forward to hearing everyone’s answers.

GIVE US AN EXAMPLE OR TWO OF AN ESPECIALLY GOOD OR INTERESTING:

1. Movie score. Punch Drunk Love (Jon Brion), Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo from the opening of Raging Bull (but not written for it), The Life Aquatic,
2. TV theme. Sesame Street Pinball Number Song
3. Melody. Filles of the Kilimanjaro-Miles Davis, All Monk & Ornette Melodies
4. Harmonic language. Gil Evans (of course), Bill Evans, Trane, Wayne Shorter
5. Rhythmic feel. Jarrett Trio on the Solar “Extension” (Live at the Open Theater East DVD) Amazing!, Boomer-Brad Mehldau,
6. Hip-hop track. “The Light”-Common
7. Classical piece. Mahler’s 9th Symphony
8. Smash hit. Stevie Wonder (Songs in the Key of Life, Innervisions, Music of My Mind, Fullfillingness’ First Finale)
9. Jazz album. Miles Davis-Plugged Nickel Recordings
10. Non-American folkloric group. Musicians from Ethiopiques #4 & Kyaw Kyaw Naing
11. Book on music. Improvisation-Derek Bailey

BONUS QUESTIONS:

A) Name an surprising album (or albums) you loved when you were developing as a musician: something that really informs your sound but that we would never guess in a million years:
Sammy Davis Jr.-The Wham of Sam
James Brown-Sex Machine
James Booker-Spider on the Keys
& various Smokey Robinson, Tony Bennett & Frank Sinatra

B) Name a practitioner (or a few) who play your instrument that you think is underrated: John Hicks, Uri Caine, Myra Melford, Marilyn Crispell, Bill Charlap, Jimmy Rowles, Misha Mengelberg, Elmo Hope, this really and endless list.

C) Name a rock or pop album that you wish had been a smash commercial hit (but wasn’t, not really): Kid A & Amnesiac-Radiohead, Mark Hollis-Self Titled


D) Name a favorite drummer, and an album to hear why you love that drummer: Paul Motian-listen to the Bill Evans Trio, The Paul Motian Trio (w/ Lovano & Frisell) & The Keith Jarrett Quartet for starters.
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Labels: Artist Thoughts

In composing any music my first consideration is for whom I am writing the music. I don’t mean just the instrumentation but the players (improvisers) themselves. Each unique individual who plays my music can guarantee that the part they are playing was written was especially for them. This of course is not an uncommon practice. Probably most infamously, Duke Ellington employed this type of ideology when writing for his various orchestras as do many of my contemporaries. The obvious advantage is that you can compose to one’s strengths and personalizing the part. Now that is part of the equation but that description is limiting.

When I write for an individual I always take into account past musical experiences, ability, style, nuance, etc. So that when I give them a part, I want it to be something they will be comfortable with but at the same time challenging and conducive to have their musical voice be incorporated into mine. I also refer to many recordings when presenting the music. Something like: check out Tony Williams’ ride work on the Walkin’ performance from the Plugged Nickel recordings. At which point, if the musician hasn’t heard of that particular recording, they usually can voice that so I can give them the recording to listen to and absorb.


The chance I take every time I select compose for musicians that I may not be familiar with is that the large amount of freedom I may give the musician can be confused with emptiness that needs to be “filled in.” I suppose that this is a rather natural tendency however, if the music does not breathe and utilize all of its musical components what will result is disaster. The primary objective I urge for all my musicians to utilize is listening when playing. I’m aware of redundant that might sound some but it is crucial.

There is listening as a basic function and then listening exists as a very very focused activity. When I listen to the recordings of the best units in music you can feel an immense focus and it is obvious that the band is connected. Listen for yourselves. Check out: The Miles Davis 60’s Quintet, Keith Jarret Trio, Paul Motian Trio, John Coltrane Classic Quartet, any of Henry Threadgill’s groups, and Cecil Taylor’s units too. That is nowehere near a complete list just a starting point.


Listening: Tom Waits

Labels: Artist Thoughts