http://www.andrewoliver.net

Please change your links, etc.  Very sorry for the inconvienience, and this will be the only time this happens!

See you over there…

Meanwhile, the Andrew Oliver Kora Band’s newest studio adventures are up for listening and downloading at the sounds page of our site.  These tracks are the first studio recordings we have made since Chad joined the band, and we’re really happy with the way they turned out!  They represent some of our newer tunes, including a Gambian tune with some great vocals by Kane, who in addition to being the fantastic kora player that he is, also speaks and sings in Gambian Mandinka!  I hope you enjoy the tracks and thanks for listening.

Regular blogging will resume at the new site next week.  Stay tuned!

I’m finishing up re-doing my main site at andrewoliver.net (thank you, WordPress!) and will be relocating this blog over there very soon.  There is no way to have  a redirect page from a free wordpress blog, I’ve discovered, so you will have to just update your links.  I promise this is the only time I will ever do this!!  It should be finished within a week.  I will post again at that point, at which time I can finally move forward with my forthcoming series of posts on early jazz and more thoughts on other aspects of modern-day web promotion.  Thanks for your patience, and I will leave you with this live performance of Dan Duval’s “Public and Republic” by my sextet at last week’s awesome PDX Pop Now! Festival, which we were fortunately selected to appear at this year.  Featuring, as always, Mary-Sue Tobin on clarinet, Willie Matheis on tenor, Dan Duval on guitar, Eric Gruber on bass, and Kevin Van Geem on drums along with myself:

Enjoy, and look out for a version of this song on our next album, which we’ll be recording Aug. 15-16.

In his free e-book (definitely worth checking out), Andrew Dubber brings up an important point:

Your website is not an electronic pamphlet about your business. It’s not promotion for your business. It’s not a way of generating business. Your website IS your business.

This is not really news, especially for the music industry side of things, but from the musician’s perspective, particularly in the jazz world,  I am constantly surprised by the many great musicians whose web presence is difficult to navigate, not user-friendly, and unattractive.  Unfortunately the default easy-to-make site for any musician is a MySpace, the functionality and aesthetics of which are so abysmal that it’s amazing people still use them.  Still, the ease of setting up a WordPress page (or using any other blogging software for that matter) has gotten to a point that it’s hard to have an excuse, unless you’re so famous that you don’t need to promote yourself online (try finding Mark Turner’s website, for example, though I still wonder why such musicians, who clearly have the means, haven’t had someone set up a site for them, at least to have access to their fans who want to spend money on them!!)

The “standard” musician’s website seems to fall somewhere in the aesthetically pleasing but generally content-weak “pamphlet” type of site, well-articulated in this post at the always-thought-provoking Music Think Tank:

You have to think about what is going to draw someone to your website and why they are going to stay interested in going back to visit again and again. Unfortunately, way too many artists have very sharp websites that are only updated with gigs or with updates that are quick, pointless blurbs that are not all newsworthy.

On the other end of the spectrum are an ever increasing number of  jazz musicians who have taken this to heart and jumped 100% onto the bandwagon, notably Darcy James Argue, whose Secret Society page/blog/free audio archive (see #2) has been very successful in accessing a wide audience for his music.  Here in Portland,  Andrew Durkin has mentioned to me how his online presence has enhanced his visibility in the music world.  From an independent jazz label perspective, Dave Douglas’s Greenleaf Music is a great example as well, with the blog on the front page and constantly changing content.  These sites, I feel, all have content which is updated regularly, is diverse in media and scope, and certainly holds my attention as a regular visitor, as well as having the requisite aesthetic qualities that prevent me from closing the window as soon as I visit the site (which is, unfortunately common it seems…)  These are musicians who have definitely done their homework and are using the new-found power of the web to full advantage to get their music to as wide an audience as possible.

However, there is an issue nagging at the back of my head during all of this talk.  We all know that in pop music, the actual talent of the artist is often not the determining factor in their success, or lack thereof.  Instead, careful production and marketing strategies can turn any schmuck into a pop star.  Are we doing the same thing in the jazz world through the internet?

On one hand, I am confident that great musicianship will always be recognized by those who know what they are hearing, and many of those who don’t as well.  In that sense, the Mark Turner (or whoever)-esque lack of concern for having a website is irrelevant, as their extremely high level of musicianship will not only make up for it, but also guarantee that they will have a sustainable career with increasing fans, etc.  And, of course, the musicians such as Dave Douglas who are on a similarly high level can obviously distinguish themselves from the throng musically without their web presence, but choose to utilize it to their advantage as well.

On the other hand, what about mediocre musicians who gather a substantial fan base online and therefore have some degree of success, but are somewhat lacking in musicality?  Is that a problem?  I am inclined to believe that the mediocre but well-intentioned musician who has success due to his/her web presence is just as deserving as anyone else who establishes themselves online, a task which takes a substantial amount of time and effort (to a scale I am only beginning to realize!)

I suppose the real question here is whether or not the ability to market yourself online will lead to an average decrease in the quality of improvised music.  I’d like to think that this will not be the case, and discussions of the “long tail” (selling less of more – i.e. the increasing availability of niche products in the online marketplace) seem to indicate that the much broader variety of music which can be exposed to audiences now (compared with, say, 25 years ago) indicates a probable increase in the average quality of music, certainly in the sense of more creative and unique options.

Anyone with thoughts is welcome and encouraged to weigh in.  In the next couple of weeks I hope to address a few other issues of this nature, particularly the musically dark side of the the “creative and unique options” I just referred to, as well some totally unrelated thoughts on some early jazz musicians, another strong interest of mine.

(photo by Maureen Oliver, more photos from the concert here)

Well it seems that the PJCE is taking up a lot of space on here recently, although I have some other posts in the works (as well as lots of projects, the list of which was rather frighteningly long when I read it out loud to someone!)

But, for now, a wrapup of last Friday’s PJCE concert.  We really had the best turnout and response thus far, which was gratifying – sans any decent press writeups or radio appearences, I feared for the worst but was pleasently surprised.

As always with a group this large (14), this many new compositions (9), and limited rehearsal time, there were some imperfections, and the Old Church’s acoustics were not helpful in that regard (as you will hear).  However, despite all of that, there were some great moments which I’d like to share with everyone.

1. Finished Products – as promised, a follow up on my previous post about my new mini-tunes.  They were really quite successful and basically accomplished my goals of writing pieces that would be playable with only one rehearsal but were still intriguing, were self-contained, dealt with one basic musical theme each, and would sound good in the Old Church.  This was a good move for me as a composer, as I tend to follow the youthful stereotype of trying to fit everything possible into each composition, and I was finally able to get outside of that significantly here.  Have a listen, each movement is about 2 minutes long:

I

II

III

2. Fearless Frogs – There were some other highlights as well, co-director Gus Slayton write a rockin’ tune based on his recent camping experiences, “Fearless Frogs.”  I am always impressed with Gus’s fine big-band voicings and his willingness to write in whatever style he damn well pleases, eschewing whatever big band conventions are left in this day and age.  Part of why I love the PJCE as a project is this attitude of both experimentation and a lack of pretension, which I think most of the musicians and composers have picked up as we’ve moved along.  Here’s Gus’s tune:

(Alto Solo: Mary Sue Tobin, Keyboard Solo: Andrew Oliver)

3. Cave Dweller – And, along the same lines, Galen Clark wrote a funky number “Cave Dweller” a year or so ago that he re-arranged for us.  It will be featured on his band Trio Subtonic‘s upcoming CD, which, if you happen to be in Portland, will be celebrated with what will surely be a great show at Jimmy Mak’s on Aug. 7:

(Trumpet Solo: Levis Dragulin, Tenor Solo: Gus Slayon, Drum Solo: Kevin Van Geem)

4.  Grabby McGee – At the risk of this becoming rather lengthy, I will leave you with two more tunes to enjoy.  One of the PJCE’s newest friends and collaborators Andrew Durkin (of the Industrial Jazz Group) wrote a fine piece for us entitled “Grabby McGee,” which although in a post about the concert on the IJG blog he claims “stuck out like a sore thumb” was, in my opinion and in that of the audience as well, one of the highlights.  Andrew also exemplifies the nonconformist attitude I was talking about a few paragraphs ago, which I greatly appreciate.  And, his piece was the only one which featured people yelling “Cha-cha-cha”, which is not to be underrated!

(Bari Solo: Lee Elderton)

5. Caribbean Project - And finally, our friend Chance Hayden was in attendance and took a video of trumpeter Levis Dragulin’s tune “Caribbean Project”.  Levis is a great trumpeter but spends lots of time on cruise ships in exotic locations, so we were lucky to have him in town for this concert:

(Trumpet Solo: Levis Dragulin, Guitar Solo: Kyle Williams, Drum Solo: Kevin Van Geem)

All in all, a great evening.  I didn’t quite get to everything in the concert on this post but I want to keep it a manageable length, I will probably put some others up eventually.  Meanwhile, enjoy the music and any thoughts or, better yet, compositions for our forthcoming shows are always appreciated!

We have 9 pieces on this program, all of which are new to us, and 6 of which are premieres!  I feel quite lucky that all these fantastic composers have lent their talents to our group.  A preview:

- from Andrew Durkin, “Grabby McGee”, which features major triads, synth vibes, and a maniacal calypso ending (classic, for those familiar with the IJG)
- from Eric Allen, “Casually Imported Unicorn,” which is second only to “Senioritis,” which some of you may remember from last year, for his most EPIC composition thus far.
- from Galen Clark, “Cave Dweller,” an arrangement of a great groove tune from the Trio Subtonic book
- from Gus Slayton, “Fearless Frogs,” an undeniable groovy thing!
- also on the groove track, “Caribbean Project” by Levis Dragulin, who also arranged John Zorn’s somewhat Klezmerish “Kisofim” for us, featuring a woodwind intro and organ!
- my “Finished Projects” (see previous post)
- from Michael Owcharuk, “The Cat and the Watering Can”, a cute (but not trite) reggae thing with lots of great flute work by Lee Elderton.  Michael is coming down from Seattle to play it with us!
- and from Nick Sweet, arranged by Stephen Connolly, “Tricks and Tests,” a beautiful wispy composition and arrangment.

This organization is really about as “grassroots” as they come, partially due to the logistical difficulties inherent in organizing a 14-person ensemble, and partially due to Gus and my busy schedules.  I think it’s about time to bring some more people on board for ease of organization and functionality.  I still have aspirations to incorporate as a nonprofit, perhaps later this year or early next year.  This, however, is a huge task and requires probably more time than I have to spare.  Does anyone with experience in nonprofits or in large group jazz bands have any suggestions for the future health of our organization?

Meanwhile, stop by the concert tomorrow night at the Old Church!!

http://www.pjce.org

I have learned a great deal about large-group composition not only by composing for this group myself, but also from checking out my peers’ (and teachers’) charts, some of the best of which you can enjoy at the “Music” page of our site.  My original effort was a 3 part Afro-Suite for big band, featuring various West African drum rhythms.  This was pretty successful.  After this I arranged some of my own and others’ small group tunes, which was a fun exercise.  For the most recent concert in February, I continued on my lengthy multi-part composition kick which had been instigated by listening to a lot of Claudia Quintet and Franco (the great Congolese guitarist and bandleader from the 50′s-90′s).  However, that piece, “Right Lane Turns Right Ahead” (sound familiar?) was actually not compelling at all, and didn’t accomplish my goal of taking the listener on an interesting journey through various musical styles and ideas, instead just sounding disjointed and incomplete.

Therefore, this time I have taken the total opposite approach, one partially inspired by my interaction with Adam Benjamin at Banff.  I have written 3 (and am working on a fourth) very short pieces entitled “Finished Products 1-4″, each of which deals with only one idea and is under two minutes.  I hope that this will be an instructive compositional exercise in addition to being an enjoyable listening experience.  So far, so good – I think I may have finally set enough restrictions for myself to compose something which isn’t trying to be “everything at once” – the young musicians’ worst enemy, it seems!

I’ll post the recordings up here after the concert and you can judge for yourselves whether I’ve been successful or not!  Meanwhile, encourage your friends in Portland to come check out the show, we have many new and exciting works by composers from here and from Seattle!

Friday, July 10, 2009
7:30-9:30 PM

The Old Church
1422 SW 11th Ave
Portland, OR 97201

Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble
Directors: Andrew Oliver and Gus Slayton
Trumpets: Joel Griffith, Levis Dragulin, Tree Palmedo
Trombones: Dave Bryan, Dan Evans, Douglas Peebles
Saxophones: Mary Sue Tobin, Willie Matheis, Gus Slayton, Lee Elderton
Rhythm: Andrew Oliver; piano, Kyle Williams; guitar, Bill Athens; bass, Kevin Van Geem; drums

$10, $8 students

http://www.pjce.org

So on Thursday night I was invited to play in the Creative Music Guild Large Ensemble directed by Swiss virtuosic improvising saxophonist Urs Leimgruber.  The CMG is a great Portland-based nonprofit that brings many fantastic creative improvisers to town.  They are now moving into involving more local musicians as well, which is fantastic.  We had an 18 piece group (2 drummers, 2 bassists, piano, harmonium (I played my low-quality but endearing Indian harmonium which my college roommate brought back for me from a trip there), cello, violin, 4 electronics guys, 4 saxes, guitar, pedal steel) – many of them musicians I haven’t met or worked with before – the amount of people doing crazy innovative and “under-the-radar” things in Portland is immense!  Anyway, Urs led us in some vaguely structured and cued free improv – his discussions about the primacy of sound over everything else really helped the vibe and I feel that at least by the end of our hour-long set we went some really fascinating places sonically.  His obsession with playing extremely softly was also rather mind-0pening, especially with such a large group.  Having all those people with no input mixing boards and what not was very intriguing to me, as I rarely work with that crowd.  However, I am only starting to realize the sonic possibilities of collaborations of that genre.  Yes, more projects!!

Before our set, Urs played a riveting 40-minute solo set involving bird-like multiphonics with three or four separate registers of material going on at the same time, the disassembling of his tenor mid-performance, and a great interaction with a passing freight train. Here’s a short YouTube clip of Urs for an idea of his sound:

It’s always a great pleasure to hear masters of free improvisation, people who are able to create genuine structure and hold the interest of the audience in an extended solo performance, which brings me to the ever-popular issue: How does “the general public” react to “avant-garde” / free improvised creative music?  Are people’s opinions clouded by weird preconceptions?  Is it more attractive to the audience if the artist’s theories or ideas (or compositions, for that matter) are explained, as in a modern art gallery with verbose paragraphs near every painting?  I posed these questions to my girlfriend (not for the first time) after the rehearsal with Urs on Wednesday.  We didn’t come to any definitive conclusions, but I always enjoy these discussions.  I tried to argue that if this music is presented in the right way (whatever that is), that non-musicians and people heretofore unexposed to it will respond positively – there is not the whole baggage of the jazz tradition to understand and internalize before you can hear the form or chord progression of the music.  Someone may argue at this point that the tradition and precendents of avant-garde music also must be understood on a certain level, and although I admit that having a knowledge of that tradition does add to my understanding and enjoyment of the music, I still believe that the inherent simplicity of the idea, even when it is very structured out with graphic scores a la Wadada Leo Smith, etc., contains a certain directness which open-minded listeners can hopefully access with relative ease.  At the end of everything, Steph countered that no matter what, it is still art music and therefore in the realm of a very small audience sector – I suppose this is true but then again, attempting to bring as much music to as many people as possible is something I hope to remain positive about for a long time, lest I lose my motivation due to cynicism.

I am reminded of a time I took Steph  to a Paxselin gig, before we were even dating – and her reaction to what was relatively free improv on short, simple heads, was remarkably positive (at least compared with the way my non-musician friends had reacted to such things in the past) – she related everything to movement or abstract art in some way, which I thought was a fantastic initial reaciton.  Incidentally, this also reminds me of the directions Tony Malaby‘s discussions of free playing often went last month at Banff – he began his artistic career as a painter and often described things in surprisingly concrete visualizations “I will put some pointillistic stuff in above the pianist’s more cloud-like foundation”.  I have tried to keep this in mind in various free playing situations recently to, I hope, great effect – though I am yet unsure as to how clear this has been to either the listeners or the other musicians, it is at least a fascinating exercise.

This is, of course, an ongoing discussion which I will probably reprise soon enough.  If anyone has thoughts, disagreements, agreements, let’s hear them!  Meanwhile, stay tuned for some exciting news on new serieses, grants, and other positive happenings in the Portland scene!

Matthew Berrill, an Irish clarinetist who I met in Banff, decided to do a short “Northwest Tour” afterward, visiting Vancouver BC, Seattle, and Portland.  In Seattle, Chad McCullough put together a quintet to play some reflective music he wrote at Banff with me, Matt, a bassist named Devin, and John Bishop on drums.  We did a short recording session, the fruits of which I hope to share with everyone soon…when Matt made it down to Portland, we also had a mini-house concert in my backyard, which was amazing!  The lack of venues in Portland these days, and increasing number of fantastic players (Chris Lawrence, for example just moved here last month and is killin!), is leading me (and some others) to want to do something about it!  One solution are small house concerts, of which I hope the recent one won’t be the last – even the neighbors I thought we might be annoying were enthusiastic and stopped by!

Meanwhile, I am organizing the summer PJCE concert on July 10 – the first rehearsal last night was very promising – lots of great new music in a variety of styles, as usual.

I don’t really have a concise wrap-up of Banff events and subsequent thoughts, but hopefully I can craft one soon.  Meanwhile, Dave Douglas has a nice section of his blog on it here, and Adam Benjamin (who was on faculty the first week), has written a nice post today as well which is very wise and succinct and deals with many of the reasons that Banff seems to be somewhat more successful than many other endeavors in jazz education.

More to come, and more freqently, I promise!  Thanks for reading.

Many great things have happened this week – master classes with Hank Roberts and Edmar Castaneda were definately highlights as well as having the opportunity to play a gig with Don Byron at the Club last night, performing music he wrote for string trio and rhythm section + sax and clarinet – it was a great experience and great music.

On Wednesday, the EPIC sextet finally recorded in the studio – we put down some amazing tracks and some mediocre ones, but it was a great pleasure to get to record the material and hopefully we can move forward with a tour with that band next summer.

I have been hanging out with Marshall Gilkes, trombonist who is on faculty this week, quite a bit.  We had a nice session today with Pat, Tyson, and the 2 Chads (Chad Lefkowitz-Brown and Chad McCullough – who, amazingly, have the same birthday!)

Matt Berrill, an Irish clarinetist, is going to come down to Seattle and Portland to hang out next week – he has a couple weeks of vacation booked after the workshop.  Hopefully we’ll get to do some playing and maybe recording with him.

Matt, Chad McC, Tyson, and myself went on a fascinating hike last Sunday to a place called the Ink Pots.  These are freaky pools produced by cold underground springs that have a very high mineral content and are therefore various colors of blue and green.  It was a fascinating hike:

Our time here is nearly at an end.  I am very excited to go home, being somewhat burned out and overwhelmed with information and lack of sleep, but it has been a remarkable experience which has tought me many important lessons both musical and nonmusical and has given me the opportunity to meet and hang out with many great musicians from all over the world, many of whom I hope to connect with in the future.  When I get home I will post some more pictures, thoughts, and info on what has happened up here as well as continue to post my various thoughts/tirades/etc up here for your reading and (hopefully) thought-provoking enjoyment.