trio no 6

May 1, 2010 5:41 PM

a free improvisation - trumpet, double bass and percussion. slightly groovy near the end. sort of.

this was recorded in a south london studio last week for possible inclusion on a possible album by the trio of
ian r watson - trumpet
me - double bass
paul may - percussion

the trio is somewhat boringly named watson, marsh and may, but a better name would be good...suggestions welcome. this is by my reckoning the sixth time we've played together as a trio (three others were gigs), but we've all played together in various combinations a lot.

it's freely improvised, but there's a bit of a groove at the end. this kind of thing is regarded as heresy by many proper free improvisers, but yah boo sucks to that.

posted by peterkins (5 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite

this kind of thing is regarded as heresy by many proper free improvisers

Either you hang around with the wrong kind of free improv-ers, or I do. In Demons of Gyrophonia, our general approach is that whatever happens, happens. In fact, when a groove comes out of nothing, it can be a really cool thing. As long it's not forced, and arrives organically, it's hard to do wrong with improv.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 12:29 PM on May 2, 2010


This is really quite great. The flow of the improv at the beginning into the kind of avishai cohen + miles davis jam is nice and organic. I would definitely call the whole thing a success, and I hope to see more from you.

I love it when someone else posts crazy weird shit instead of just me or man vs sun.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 1:25 PM on May 2, 2010 [1 favorite]


thanks a lot. i hoped you'd catch it! yeah, i think i've been hanging around with the wrong types...i wasn't being entirely serious about the heresy thing, but there is (or possibly was) a hardcore bunch of players and listeners who don't really approve of any melodic consonance or metric rhythms in improv. i'm sure they have their reasons, but it seems contrary to the notion of 'free'. i guess derek bailey's description 'non-idiomatic improvisation' does kind of rule out a bit of groovin', in the sense that groovin' will always be idiomatic in some way. blimey, i do go on when i've been drinking. apologies.
posted by peterkins at 4:13 PM on May 2, 2010


ha. No worries. The idea of ruling out anything original, regardless of form that it may slide into/through seems contrary to the spirit of free improvisation. In my own personal experience, trying not to do something is just as much of a recipe for failure as trying to do something.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 5:09 PM on May 2, 2010


I could listen to that all day. Thanks, that's just great. And it's too bad you don't live in my neighbourhood.
posted by nicolin at 6:29 AM on May 5, 2010


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