Here’s
a theory/some information for you to disregard completely[i]:
For better or worse, whether standard operating procedure or totally
idiosyncratic to my personal process, when I go to see live music and know that
I’ll want to (or have to…) write it up later, it’s pretty basic what I do
during the gig. I sit there, watch and listen, and occasionally jot down little
notes or ideas that the music stirs into my head. Generally I’ll have at least
2-3 ideas or observations that come for each tune. Here’s the catch: these
thoughts about the music can behave like a dream upon waking: if they’re not
captured while I’m having them, or very soon thereafter, they dissipate quickly
with next to no chance of retrieval. Gone like a train. Like the music, certain
thoughts and ideas about the connections of things can be very “in the moment.”
Of course, not all my observations end up being so interesting, clever, or
illuminating. But I’ll generally get enough down to allow myself a good jumpstart
on writing something.
So
what’s all this bullshit about writing process, ideas, thoughts behaving like
dreams, yada yada yada have to do with Paul Bedal, Tim Daisy and Charlie Kirchen?
In a way, nothing I guess. But maybe this: I wrote nothing down as I was
checking out this trio’s three-tune set. Why? Because all that “writing
process” crap I tried to explain involves a certain level/style of thinking. The music these guys were
making was wayyyyyyyyy too good for me to interrupt my enjoyment of it by forcibly
turning my thought process away from the music to trying to capture and
transform my thoughts in the moment to describe that music. Fuck that. Often
the music can be really great but there are enough breaks that I can get my thoughts/ideas
on paper without much interruption in the enjoyment. But this trio was too good
and too consistent. Thinking would’ve gotten too much in the way.
The music was all freely improvised and in some key
ways outside most folks’ listening comfort zone (pulse/no-pulse, lack of standard melody,
structurally loose, etc…). But the fact that the group’s instrumentation was basically
that of the most recognized and oft used jazz trio - piano, bass, and drums -
and that, for the most part, the instruments stayed relatively close to their
regularly scheduled timbres, gave it something of a built-in accessibility.
This accessibility in no way should be seen as detracting from the creativity
and depth of the improvisations. Apparently you can eat your cake and have it too. Bedal’s warm and inviting electric
piano tone was at the heart of making this music immediately digestible while
remaining adventurous to anyone within earshot. Kirchen and Daisy followed suit
in their ability to combine the eating of things with the having of them. But
no, they didn’t drop any musical references to tunes from the band Cake.
Though that woulda been fine by me - I love me some Cake…
This
trio made a killer, classic rhythm section; with Bedal functioning as icing on
the rhythmic cake (what’s up with all the cake?). Daisy and Kirchen came off as
something of a rhythm section within a rhythm; and Daisy seemed to be a rhythm
section within a rhythm section within the rhythm section. Daisy’s barrage of
non-stop ideas and techniques in no way interrupted what ended up being an
unbroken flow through each of the three pieces played in this endlessly
enjoyable set. The ideas built on one another like findings through scientific
method. And even when Daisy is playing free, there seem to be
hidden rhythms present, which one can only feel and never count; like secrets
which can only be told through the subconscious. Kirchen regularly seemed privy
to the inner workings of Daisy’s secret method (maybe I should’ve called it his
secret Cake recipe?). In addition to Kirchen’s clear and intricate bass lines,
his focus and attention to his fellow players was empathetic and razor sharp:
See his entrance with Daisy after the drummer’s short introductory solo on
Piece 2 below. It may seem like it was outta nowhere on a dime, but he was
simply paying close attention to his band mate, then trusting and acting on his
own musical instincts; which can be harder than it sounds.
Particularly
impressive is that the current premise of the ongoing Myopic Books Experimental
Music Series is “no bands;” 1st time encounters only, please. Yes, this
was Bedal, Daisy, and Kirchen’s first time playing together and their music was
completely improvised. But there are other groups who completely (or near
completely) improvise their music that play together for years, yet don’t come
off as cohesive and fluid as this first time meeting. It was like making a
perfect Flourless Chocolate Cake on your first try, and eating it too…
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