Whirlpool

The Coriolis Effect

Jazz record labels have gone through a lot since the 90’s. When I was working at Tower Records there were hundreds of them, each with a 3 letter code. When Tower went bankrupt in 2006, I had to call Bob Rusch, the owner of Cadence and the CIMP label, to tell him the well had run dry. Tower owed him a considerable sum, more than I bet people think. My first recording was on CIMP in 2002 called Handling The Moment. Bob paid $500 a man and you signed a contract that said he owned the music. He was known for listening to all demos and responding with an honest feedback form letter. One time in big red letters he wrote back to me “Don’t waste my time!” in yes, a letter mailed in an envelope. The recording itself was a trip. Travel all day, eat a huge home-cooked meal, and then HIT. After long traveling and eating I want to sleep, not record. Bob had a clip board and rejected our first take, all gathered around a microphone in his living room. I had never been in a room recording with a producer who had that level of creative power before. I shook it off and we got down to business. I’ve recorded for several labels over the years, the big ones being ESP and Silkheart. Silkheart was still mad at me for under-performing sales years later, even though I lost $2,000 up front just making the record. I had a great run on Unseen Rain and I’m proud of the work. I’m living at Mahakala Music now and their creed is one hundred percent true: “We publish aggressively beautiful music, connecting geographically and culturally disparate musicians.” Releasing this May from Mahakala is a special quartet that Chad Fowler and I co-led in a recording we call Whirlpool.

The great drummer Bobby Kapp is the real deal. I first met him while working at Sam Ash music and he believed in what I was doing with my 12 Houses Orchestra. He came down to Nublu and played with us for 2 Sundays. I remember asking him for a free samba, and bam! there it was. As I got to know Bobby I came to find out he played with none other than my buddy Giuseppi Logan in G’s prime. In an incredible moment they played at the Village Theater with Dave Burrell, Norris Jones (Sirone), and also Clifford Jarvis on drums. Bobby and Giuseppi also played with trumpet player Dewey Johnson (some may know him from Coltrane’s Ascension) and he told me that Dewey would sometimes play drums. Dewey was tight with Daniel Carter, who also plays drums on occasion. Bobby told me that during that time Trane was known as the Chief, and he would show up low-key and unannounced to check out other musicians-you might not even know he was in the house. In a very personal exchange upon greeting Bobby, Trane whispered to him “you drink too much.” Bobby spoke of the famous October Revolution and that the vibe of the time was do your own thing. For his influences on drums he spoke of Elvin, Roy Haynes, Cozy Cole, and a very unexpected and interesting mention, Barrett Deems. Master Kapp has recorded with Marion Brown, Gato Barbieri, Noah Howard, and Ivo Perelman. Bobby spoke of going for sound first, noting that Grachan Moncur III loved abstract drums without the sound of straight time. The sound of the drums without the responsibility. (This idea is also core harmolodics). Bobby had no need for categories like jazz or free jazz, though he believes changes can get in the way of expression. One of the aspects of his personal musical belief system is that all notes matter, regardless of place and time. For the music on Whirlpool we reached out to Bobby for his unique set of human dynamics when he plays. Check out Bobby and Matthew Shipp on Cactus. Bobby and I also have the same birthday that we share with Philly piano legend Raymond A. King coming up soon in Aries town.

Bassist and composer Ken Filiano is one of who I call the master originals. He’s completely open with truly incredible chops in search of the musical moment. Ken is also, just by being himself, a master of harmolodic bass, but he goes even further. Ken is free of the responsibility and expectations of the bass, but he still gives you that sound that you need from the bottom end, while joining if not leading the conversations with horn players. In his early days, his brother played saxophone and Ken played trumpet. (He was also thinking about getting into ocean geology). Ken wasn’t just playing trumpet in high-school, he was on the trumpet path in college. His teacher was master James F. Burke, heard here on the famous Carnival Of Venice with a display of epic cornet articulation. You cannot train with someone on this level without complete commitment. Ken was into jazz as well however, so much so that he was at a jam session on Fire Island with Pepper Adams and had the incredible experience of playing trumpet with Elvin Jones. In time he hit a trumpet wall and started hearing bass. He touched a bass during a session, and left the trumpet forever. He checked out Richard Davis, Scott LaFaro, Cecil McBee, Jimmy Blanton, Fred Hopkins, and another interesting mention, George Mraz. Overall musically he cited the Third Stream album Jazz Abstractions as a key influence, in particular what Ornette was playing on it. Ken also drew attention to the significant impact of Shostakovich and his Symphony No.13, affectionately known as Baby Yar, an epic piece for bass, bass chorus, and large orchestra. The scope and depth of this music is vast, music that stretches beyond centuries. Ken has been playing now at the highest levels for decades. He cites Dreams From A Clown Car as a recording he led for listeners to take in, with an incredible band. Over the years his work with Roswell Rudd, Connie Crothers, Jason Kao Hwang, Fay Victor, Vinny Golia, and Karl Berger, comes to mind. I’ll never forget seeing Ken live with Bobby Bradford, with Ken all out being himself. (Do check out his bio linked above!)

Going deeper, Ken and his music encompass the natural self. As he states, you have to mean everything you play, and own your mistakes. Story and human meaning are his prime directives in music. He believes in authenticity and intention. Ken cites the book The Music Of Life by Inayat Khan as a window into the relationship between music, nature, and life. As a long time friend of Ken, three moments stand out. One time I ran into him and without knowing anything about my relationship status he told me that my heart chakra was wide open and that I was completely in love with someone. He was right! Another time he connected me to a powerful Chinese herb specialist who didn’t speak English and I wrote down the wrong dose, leading to a wild night. For me the ultimate and my favorite Ken Filiano story is that he had a friend who was blind. He asked his friend what it was like. His friend agreed to show him. Ken was blindfolded and spent the day getting around NYC without sight and only his friend as his guide. There is only one Ken Filiano and only one Bobby Kapp. It was a joy to create with them.

Now how about the horn players? Matt and Chad are vocal horn players who often engage in the act of emotional sound expression and projection that comes through the sound of the human voice. The sounds humans make through a horn, or without one, lead to a myriad of complex personal emotions. Sound cannot lie. When you play horns this way your core feelings and even psychology are revealed, even the feelings we ourselves may not fully understand. You are listening to the inner sounds of the process of being human and experiencing life on all levels. The thing is that Chad and I play in a way where we are compelled to express and get these sounds out, no matter how personal they are. The horns we play on this recording are truly rare in use. They are virtually designed for unique, different vocal expression and emoting. Strich, alto flute, alto clarinet, pocket trumpet, and piccolo clarinet may be to personal and different for most. We are the sounds we play. Overt use of instruments not typical in music is I daresay an innovation, and part of what remains in jazz as the unexplored. Like Bobby Kapp, Chad also recorded a duo with Matthew Shipp. Check out the entirely unique album Old Stories. Matt Lavelle made the only ever solo alto clarinet record called The Abandoned Sound.

What happens when we put all this together in the studio? The universe brought us all together in Brooklyn in 2022 and we invite you to listen in for yourself. My meta-physical listening and writing response follows. To the journey!

Whirlpool

It only takes a few notes to create an entire world. The main theme in movie soundtracks is often just one simple and short phrase. This concept can be used to create something that can only be imagined first. A giant whirlpool, miles wide in the center of the ocean is rotating. New York City is on the periphery, and at this point there is no doubt that the NYC we know will be pulled down to the center into the abyss. The whole human race is swirling on down to be reborn. Greed on Earth will no longer be tolerated. Ken and Bobby summon the natural force of the Coriolis effect. Nature will take it from here.

Tazz Left Town

I have had 3 affairs where I cheated on and then left my trumpet. I was with flugelhorn for 2 years. Cornet for 7 months, and pocket-trumpet for 2 years. Each time she took me back. I was living with my pocket trumpet Sunspot when we recorded. Roy Campbell and Joe McPhee are the pocket trumpet kings after Don Cherry. I was always interested in it’s ability to sting and swing. Pocket trumpets take away all your power and ego abilities, but they can still snap, bite, and butter your biscuit. The way the swing masters made their horns talk, Roy Campbell vastly extended that language not by assaulting sound but by creating deeper levels of personal meanings, including complex emotions never expressed in jazz before. Roy’s transition was sudden and cold, and this is one of many tributes to him. Using a plunger on a pocket trumpet or flugelhorn, Roy was the first to do it. It was Art Blakey who gave him the nickname Tazz and would say when Roy arrived, “Uh Oh! Here comes trouble!”

Ozarkastra

Simply put, we took a ritual dance apart, and paused at a life celebration to play life.

As Above, So Below

Above

Walking into a ritual where spells are being cast and all present are surrendering to the moment. Ken is the Earth during a sweat lodge, while Bobby is the smoke inside, and the wind outside. As the visions begin 2 mystical solos are conjured and come into focus.

Below

Ken takes us into deep dark waters before a clearing and cleansing. My piccolo clarinet is a bird on a tree top dreaming about flying in the clouds. Back on the ground, Chad receives uplifting news and walks down Main St with the whole town watching, all knowing he is headed to a welcome destination.

School House

We’re sitting on a country porch under a clear sky with stories to tell. Ken speaks of the times he witnessed the forces of creation. Chad reminds us that sometimes life lessons come complete with a huge helping of joy. My story is about an incomplete romance, and how I’m headed back into town.

The Sky Boat

The ritual continues with music from ancient realms where you could sail the sky. Chad is the boat as I bask in the sun. The Sky Boat encounters turbulence where Ken’s lines cut, break, split, and flash like lightning. I reach out to touch the sun. As the sky clears the boat returns to the sea. As we pull into the dock the sky changes from yellow to purple.

Matt and Chad

The melody is all you need in the right hands. Ken mines if not plunders the melody with love, extracting it’s essence for whatever design comes to him first from his limitless reservoir of variation, extension, and new possibilities.

The melody can give you the feeling of the piece, and that feeling might be all you need. Sound engineer and musician Jim Clouse stunned me by saying in reference to the melody “You can just smell the cocktails.” I thought of the sound of playing drunk and how Paul Gonsalves could stand in front of Duke Ellington’s orchestra in front of 5,000 people in Paris and sound hypnotize everyone with his tenor, when even the nearby birds have to come down and join the vibe.

Rhubarb

Once the leaves are trimmed off, the crisp red stalks are dipped in honey. That tart and sour flavor then saturates the tongue. As we savor the flavor the seed bursts and transforms into a full grown plant in seconds. The Rhubarb will never, truly, end.

Funeral Dance

Dancing at a funeral is an embrace of faith and trust in the process of life. Everyone leaves town sooner or later. Thoth can weigh my heart now, I think I’ll pass but there’s still so much art to complete. Sometimes growing pains makes you forget the good times. One way through it all is to just let the room spin and leave early, knowing you were born so that you could live. A heartfelt salute to those with the trust, courage, and tenacity to do just that.

Whirlpool will be released on Bandcamp this May. (I’ll update here with links)

Thanks for reading and stay tuned.

Subscriptions are $5.11 a month. They are needed and appreciated. Paid Subscribers, write me if you have a topic you would like me to explore, I have one of these in the cue now.

Peace in the Middle East and No Kings!

ML

Whirlpool artwork by Matt Lavelle with design by Chad Anderson