Racer Session #192 | Jeremy Shanok | October 13, 2013
Resolution Revolution!
I just moved to Seattle from San Francisco where among other things, I led a band called “The Broken Robots." The Idea was "free jazz” plus improvised vocals, but with the twist that every few minutes, everyone should switch instruments, and play the instrument that they knew the least! We recorded three obviously unsuccessful albums, each equally demented in its own beautiful way…
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thebrokenrobots
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thebrokenrobots2
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thebrokenrobots3
We also recorded three Christmas albums, which is, unfortunately, not available online (though I will Dropbox it to anyone whose interested, for free…ho ho ho!).
Regrettably, this Sunday will include no robots or elves. Rakalam Bob Moses showed me a lot of the concepts I’m gonna talk about, and if you don’t know who he is, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RWdl_G-qnc
He’s most famous for drumming, especially with Pat Metheny and Gary Burton, but is one of the best free players in the world. But Sunday, I’m probably not gonna really talk about drums much at all. I will be talking about phrasing music in time, using what Bob calls resolution points.
Having resolution points are essential for maintaining a sense of direction, regardless of whether you’re improvising alone and especially if you’re improvising with other people. It’s kind of the opposite of what one might think, as understanding these locked rhythmic points can lead to more freedom then playing without time. If you can count to eight, you’re more then prepared for my portion of the night. As far as the jam after, I want to keep it “free Jazz"—no rules—but you just may find yourselves hooking up on resolution points because you want to!