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The
instrumentation of horn, violin, bass clarinet and flute,
vibraphone, bass, and drums creates an uncommon texture, one
that combines classical chamber music elements with improvisation,
and truly defines the term chamber jazz.
Looking back on the lead up to the excerpt this!
project, Unsworth confesses, "It took me weeks to call up
these jazzers. I was terrified they would get a good laugh
out of it behind my back. The thought of hanging in with these
great players was daunting."
One by one the calls went out, and one by one the acceptances
came in. Looking for an atypical jazz timbre, Unsworth looked
to instruments generally found in the classical realm. He
thought the horn, violin and bass clarinet blended well to
fashion this new sound. Unsworth pieced together a virtuosic,
yet motley crew, selected what he felt were his best compositions
from the last decade and went to work.
Diane Monroe, violin and Ranaan Meyer on bass are graduates
of Curtis Institute of Music. Both compose and perform quite
capably in many different genres, each with their own respective
ensembles. Individually, they combined their classical sensibility
with improv fluidity and dexterity, and made rich and informed
contributions to rehearsals and sessions.
Les Thimmig is Unsworth's ingenious former University of Wisconsin-Madison
composition professor and a highly accomplished clarinet,
flute and saxophone player, equally adept in both jazz and
classical idioms.
The vibe player was the resident humorist and fired off one
inspired idea after another. Tony Miceli's invaluable originality
and comic relief eased some tense moments throughout the process.
The eleven page-long vibe part on Third Time's the Charm "messed
with his head. Not your typical jazz chart."
Unsworth considers the MVP of the bunch to be drummer, Cornell
Rochester. The rumor mill had it that he was great but he
was also a rocker, so Unsworth had initial reservations. "The
first time Rochester walked into the studio, he immediately
removed his shirt and sat down. He brought outstanding grooves,
insatiable curiosity and high energy to the sessions. Every
time I'd make a suggestion to him in rehearsal, he'd look
to the ceiling for at least fifteen seconds to apparently
regroup, then came back to us as if he was the recipient of
some divine inspiration. I now believe that to be true."
Prior
to recording, Unsworth met and rehearsed with each player
individually. Unlike classical preparation, jazz guys think,
"What can I bring to this?" When they ultimately came together
as a unit, they had eight hours of rehearsal, followed by
a dry run performance at Chris' Jazz Café. The next three
days each included five hours of intensive recording. Unsworth
commented that he didn't know if it was his disposition as
a leader, but "studio time turned out to be an open group
collaboration," more teamwork than he had originally anticipated.
"Having artistic say-so was nice too, yet I remained open
to hearing their ideas about my music." The outcome was the
kind of 'group-hug' thing that goes on at the end of summer
camp. It was an amazing experience and has Unsworth more musically
invigorated than he has ever been in his life.
The greatest experiment of Unsworth's career has morphed into,
"When can I do this again?"
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