Diversity?

So, this past weekend I set out to record some music I had written with lyrics in instrumental form. So, after writing some charts, my roomate Danny and I setup the basement studio to get some recording going. Recently, a bass player who I hadn't played with since high school moved into our quaint neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn, so I asked him to sit in. It's always interesting playing with people you haven't played with for years, the learning curve is a bit less steep, but it's still difficult to find that level ground. It took a some time for everyone to adjust to the situation and find the time, but eventually we all settled and were ready to make some music. Here's a rough mix of one tune (pump the volume a nudge):

Later that same night, inspiration hit. I had this vamp stuck in my head. So, I took my mic upstairs to my piano and recorded. After putting some effects on it in the box, I realized that the overtones created by the antique piano in conjunction with some creative delay and reverb formed a natural percussion groove. Then I added some subtle layers, a hook, and some verses. Also, a whistling passage that has some cool feedback delay on it. Soon I'll add some more aggressive drums. Check it out so far:

Dionysian, personified.

Last night I had a Brooklyn experience. Probably an experience you can only have in Brooklyn nowadays- the quintessential raging loft party. I went with one of my oldest friends who was working taking pictures of the event (which I'll hopefully put up if I can coerce her to send them to me) and invited me to tag along. This party got me thinking about the Dionysian in everyone and in myself. So, this post is about something I briefly linked to in a previous post, Rick-Hop (a name so poignantly bestowed upon me by my friends in Miami). I think it deserves some explanation:

So. By this time (well, maybe a bit earlier- around March) last year, I was fed up with Jazz. I had spent my life learning and implementing advanced harmonic concepts, sophisticated melodic phrasings, and "space" in my solos. Apparently, the prodigious use of space is supposed to make you sound mature.

At any rate, this bombardment of drivel from academia led me to start a project based in a completely different musical world than that of music school: Hip-Hop. I grew up with hip-hop. I listened to Jay-Z, Biggie, Redman-Method Man; all of the music coming out of the 90s scene. Moreover, I grew up breakdancing and listening to the sounds of Run DMC, A Tribe Called Quest, Afrika Bambata, and the Rocksteady Crew.

Thus, tentatively, I created my first "beat". I sang a hook on it, having to do with an inside joke about beautiful girls who my friends and I called "harans" (or "ha" for short), and showed it to my roomates. The response was one of considerable wonder, as I don't think they would have pegged me to make something like this, and of genuine amusement. To be honest, I was amused with myself. It would be more than fair to describe the response as positive. And so, I wrote another song having to do with another silly inside joke (and, as it were, actual event) called "Girls Night In", and brought one of my good friends then girlfriend to record a girl verse on it. Again, the response was of considerable enjoyment and amusement.

Gaining a bit of confidence, I set out to see how far I could take it. I set my sights on the current hip-hop climate, and let myself go completely. It felt great. I put onto tape those Dionysian desires that I think everyone has, yet few are brazen enough to relate to the larger population. It was fun and absolutely hilarious, and I got many of my amazingly musical friends to record raps, hooks, horn lines, and guitar parts.

Though the lyrics get silly, and certainly are in many ways myself and my friends "personified", I think we should all let ourselves and our inhibitions go every once in a while. See the results below:

Rick Hop's Profile Songs

Writing, writing, writing

Recently I've thrown myself into a new project. Unlike a few previous projects, I'm trying to take myself seriously (I say with a straight face). Well, maybe that's not what I mean, but I mean to write music that truly means something to me. Music that I guess you would call "no apology" music. Music I'll be excited to get up on stage and share with an audience. Music with lyrics, even.

I love sitting at the piano and sussing out Ideas. I can sit for hours and play the same thing; change things, experiment, and dive into sonic realities until I find a piece I really like. Yet, when it comes to writing words to songs, I get sheepish when other people are home. And, living with 4 other people in a Bushwick apartment, you better believe everyone hears everything.

It's surely not that I'm afraid to sing in front of people, or for people (if you don't believe me please see Rick-Hop). I think it has to do more with the meaning of words. When you play music without words, as I have done for many years as a jazz musician, you learn to derive your own meaning from everything. When you add words into the mix, suddenly you add context to the equation. With context, unless you're writing completely abstractly, people can explicitly what you mean. I think I'd rather not have people listen to my thought process and would much rather present an end result. I guard my thought process closely, whether it's in improvisation or writing raps (again see with aforementioned Rick-Hop) and I'd rather not share.

The point of this is to say I like to write alone. I don't like the feeling of someone looking over my shoulder. Though that's not to say I don't like writing with people- only that I like writing my music, simply, by myself. Do you relate?

Though, to be fair, here's a snippet of a song I wrote with my friend Ryan. He wrote the lyrics and the verse music, I helped write the chorus melody and harmony.

He's singing the verse, playing guitar, and bass; I sing the chorus, play the farfisa, and drums (please don't' mind the drumming!)

Welcome Post and Some Solo Piano

I intend for this blog to host everything I wish to share with people. Below are the songs that are currently on my Indaba Music profile (the company at which I currently work and host my own theory blog), and a youtube video of me playing some piano. Basically, it's all the information I have on Myspace- I'm probably going to get rid of that thing. Blogs are at least %313 cooler.

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Enjoy this stuff for now, I'll have some other stuff up later (this is a blog, of course). The Indaba tracks are solo piano tracks I recorded in a neighbor's studio on an awesome sounding piano (a 6 1/2 ft Mason Hamlin with Steinway hammers, a lush tone, and tremendously sensitive action) and then had mastered. Album (or more likely a solo piano EP) is probably forthcoming as soon as I can get around to packaging (or doing good nu-age D2C), licensing the rights to the standards, and essentially putting it together. They're largely improvised and often depart from the regular harmony. Also, I was in the process of diversifying the interplay between right and left (something I continue to do today) and I love some of the "stumbles" that occurred during the process. I recorded them completely alone acting as engineer for myself on a farm up the road, which was amazingly comfortable. Somehow, recording solo piano in a studio or in a hall doesn't seem natural. Recording in solitude also, I think, for the first time in my life, really brought out the ballad in me. I also didn't feel like I had to strive for perfection. It was more about vibing with the song and trying to make something happen internally rather than externally.

Check out a few of the tracks, let me know what you think:

Also, enjoy half of a piano solo and a drum solo over Solar: