During the last few weeks, and especially since the first weekend in December, the dealings of the Burr project had entered a new stage of progress. A couple days before Thanksgiving, Ted Reichman (who produced the recording session) sent me all of the raw takes, which I sifted through with great enthusiasm. We recorded over three hours of material, and had a lot of decisions to make about good takes, bad takes, potential splices etc etc. So, after a few emails and maybe a phone call, Ted came up with a rough edit that would be mixed before NEC's Winter break. He sent the first mix (dated 12/5) to Burr and I for feedback, and gave us a few days to come up with notes. A second mixing session took place on 12/10, by which time I knew I might be visiting Boston for a few things. With a third date of 12/15 or 16 set, I knew I'd be there.
Just before this, I hosted BUCK HAMMERSTEIN CLEAR RIVER CHAPAUKEE (my friends Nigel and Fausto) in Burlington, and had been talking to Heidi Aispuro, another friend I wanted to visit before she left for the holiday. I knew I'd miss her after coming through Boston on Christmas morning (as I had already scheduled), and since I found a show to play when Fausto and Nigel were back in Boston, I thought that these things combined with the possibility of another mastering session were a good reason for a trip. I bought my bus ticket a week in advance, and headed down on Tuesday the 11th. I went back to Burlington on Friday with Mark Goldstein, Sonny Lalchandani, and Clare Twohy. I knew Mark and Sonny would be visiting that weekend, so it seemed like going back with them would be pretty logical, and a good end to the trip. Clare joined us on a whim.
On the 11th, I took the usual 4pm Megabus, and arrived in Boston shortly after 7:30. I immediately went to Outpost 186, where I heard Fausto + Nigel play with our teacher Joe Morris, and the great Drummer Luther Gray. I ran into a bunch of folks I knew there, and the music we all heard was fantastic. I left the Outpost with Mark, who drove us over to NEC. He practiced for a bit, and I got some food. We decided before we left Cambridge that we would go to this party that some friends of ours were hosting. It turned out to be a fiddling party. We left around 2:30am, and though a lot of people had left there was still music happening! I always love when there's some form of live music at a party - no stage, just a bunch of people with their instruments, great ears, and some common interests. I got to Heidi's place, and went directly to sleep.
The recording session was the next day, so I slept in a bit, and spent the early part of my day looking over the score beforehand. We were mixing from 3-5, and we came up with what should be the final mix. We were all happy, and somehow ended up listening to the track below. While I'm not sure how we got to it, Judy in Disguise and Voyage in a White Building I do have some similar sonic qualities:
The show I came to play was happening on the same night in Lower Allston, a residential neighborhood known for its basement venues, which have been under great police scrutiny city-wide. Around 8pm, I went to Peter Negroponte's senior recital at NEC, and headed over to Allston around 10 with Tara, who had just played an orchestra concert! This was the first FULL CIRCLE TIME MACHINE performance since May, and the first set that we've ever completely improvised. I brought my valve trombone, and we didn't really talk about what/how to play, except that we kind of wanted to freak out a bit. We got there, I think:
After our set, we caught the last 66 Bus to Brigham Circle, and I took a cab back to JP from there (it was after 2:30).
I spent the next day mostly in JP with Heidi. We decided on making stir-fry (a favorite for both of us), and around 3pm we went shopping for specific ingredients. We didn't quite make it up to Super 88 in Allston, but managed to hit Trader Joe's in Brookline, and the JP Whole Foods. We made up a huge amount of Thai Peanut sauce, and then cooked everything else. We were done with cooking, eating, and clean-up by 10, when we headed out to the Back Bay. Heidi went to the Y, and I ended up running into a bunch of folks around NEC who were headed back to JP, Nick Neuberg and I decided to grab a drink, and Heidi met us at JJ Foley's in Forest Hills. From there, we went back to Heidi's, and were convinced by our friend Grant Randall to barhop. We went to Brendan Behan's, probably my favorite bar in Boston, where by chance, we ran into some other folks we knew!
While at Foley's, Nick and I had a really interesting conversation about how musicians should document what they're up to in addition recordings and videos. There are publications that tell you about where these shows are happening, and people are always writing analysis of historical periods. My point was why is there so little analysis of today's situation(s). There are good things out there
(signal to noise and Arcana are examples), but I think if there were more among even younger generations, it might help us continue, think critically about our situations, and make tomorrow a bit brighter for people who want to go after this kind of stuff.
On Friday, I left JP for NEC, where I kept all of my stuff, practiced, and met up with more people I hadn't seen. Sonny had a final until 8, so we knew we'd be making a late night trip. When he was finished, we drove over to their apartment in JP (Mark, Sonny, and Clare all live in the same place), and Sonny got a few things together. Clare was there, and decided to come with us to VT last minute. It's always the most fun for me traveling in numbers slightly greater than 3, but less than 6.
We got to Burlington at 2 am, and passed out. My roommate had his kids this weekend, and they managed to keep quiet until about 7:30. We got up and went to Henry's, a diner downtown, and then saw the waterfront. It was cold, but it did get a bit warmer. Later, we went over to the Redstone campus, and made tea at the church. The sanctuary was in use, so we went to the music building so Sonny and Mark could practice. I think I took a nap. We tried (unsuccessfully) to go to the Fleming Museum, but then drove around and got some great pizza in S.Burlington. Leonardo's. It was half pesto, and half Thai Peanut sauce - why more people haven't done that, I can't say!
When I was in Boston before Thanksgiving, Mark and Sonny planned on coming, and Sonny wanted to do a sitar set somewhere. I emailed a few folks, but nothing came up. We ended up playing in the church where I work on campus. There were 9 of us, I think. Mark and I played together first (trumpet/piano), then Mark played a solo, I played an organ solo, and Sonny played a raga. Clare wanted me to play a Hymn that we could all sing, but I (and a few others) objected. Our evening ended at an on-campus apartment occupied by our friend Alec Layman, where we played pool and air hockey in the common area. We had beer and Bailey's, too - not a bad way to end a night.
Shortly after we got back to my place, Sonny and Mark went back to Alec's (they were crashing there). Clare and I got a call from Sonny a few minutes later, and they figured it would be better to leave overnight, and avoid today's snow (there was snow). So they came back, and took off. I was a little sad at first, but when it started to snow, I saw their point. I've seen stranger departures...
-----------------
It's been a really interesting week. I hadn't gotten to play trombone much since my set with Frank and Leah at Out of the Blue last month, and it was great to dive back into it. Although we didn't record our little concert at the church, my duo set with Mark was the best we've ever played together, and I think everything had a flow in general. like my set with Tara earlier in the week, Mark and I didn't talk about what we were going to play, and this is really working for me right now. As I've said before, I'm hoping to get more improvisers from Boston to visit. I've realized that my greatest performance interest at the moment is working with the people I started things with a while back. Because we haven't been consistent, but have otherwise kept in touch, I think it's worthwhile to re-hone some of these musical partnerships. I have also realized that if/when I move back to Boston, I'd like to be in Cambridge, near Central or Inman. It's very similar to Burlington in a way: Compact, and there's alot of interesting things happening there. It's hard to live in Boston or Cambridge without traveling outside your neighborhood too much, but given my trips back, I think it's safe to say that I could manage.
No comments:
Post a Comment