On Memorial Day the Chicago-based trio of bass clarinetist Jason Stein, bassist Damon Smith and drummer Adam Shead stepped in front of Blue Lake Public Radio’s microphones in the Dave Myers Performance Studio and recorded an hour long program we’ll hear tonight at midnight “Out On Blue Lake.”
While on this two week, 14-concert tour the trio focuses in live performance on creating music that is fast and in long form duration. For their appearance on “Blue Lake In Session” they took a different tack – shorter spontaneous explorations of different textures, tempos and orchestrations making this hour unique in their on-going development.
When encountering collective improvisation such as this, music with no predetermined meter, form, harmonic structure or melody, what is an unfamiliar listener to do? Though there’s a decades long, specific musical tradition that this trio arises from, you as a listener don’t HAVE to be up on that legacy to engage with this music. Because as you listen you can ask yourself very easily answered questions about this abstract music: is it loud or soft, fast or slow? Is everyone playing together or separately? Are all three instruments always playing, or do they group in different combinations, from solo to duo to trio? And are they playing these instruments in ways you would expect them to sound, or is it different? (When Damon Smith inserts drums sticks between his bass strings up high and down low and then thwacks them, the answer is very much, yes, different).
One thing that jumped out at me as I experienced this music in the studio was how the drums/cymbals/bells and blocks are pitched high against the low register bass and bass clarinet. So I brought that up, and Adam Shead’s answer explains the musical reasons for his choice of orchestration. Far from obtuse, these musicians are interested in communicating about their music and, honestly, isn’t that what Blue Lake is all about, music education?
Here’s hoping you can hang for the entire hour, be swept up into the sounds and come away with a unique musical encounter. Thanks for listening.
