(Modern Creative, Experimental, Avant-Garde Jazz) Michael Blake - In the Grand Scheme of Things - 2012 [Songlines], WEB, FLAC (tracks), lossless

Amor de Cosmos (Songlines, 2007) was Michael Blake's first record created for a Canadian group - although he's from Vancouver originally he's lived and built his career in New York over the last 25 years. His new Variety Hour quartet retains dexterous Vancouver keyboardist Chris Gestrin and masterful, internationally acclaimed drummer Dylan van der Schyff while adding the idiosyncratic JP Carter (Inhabitants, Fond of Tigers, Destroyer, Dan Mangan) on trumpet and electronics. All three are equally adept in relatively straight-ahead to totally free contexts. They have an intuitive connection from many years' playing in various bands, and they take Blake's music to unexpected places. Says Michael: "I feel very comfortable with these musicians. It's in the way they leave space, suggest motives with the simplest of gestures and listen to each other. I feel at home and I'm embracing that."
One unusual aspect of this quartet is the fact that Gestrin is playing both Rhodes and Micromoog bass (he also recorded and mixed the sessions, beautifully). "Chris is without a doubt a world-class artist and his Moog playing on IGST is exemplary. His independence on both keyboards is obvious, but how he engages both instruments in conversation is really amazing. He really makes it sound like we have another person playing bass."
"After our first shows I began to write tunes that I thought would work well with the Moog. 'The Variety Hour' is a good example of that. Dylan came up with the groove for 'Road to Lusaka'. There are many examples of this open-ended style of arranging because I want the band to participate in the construction of the pieces. That's why we sound like a band! I admired and studied how Miles Davis did it, especially after his music got more freeform. I prefer to let things flow and a lot of notation can hinder that." It's notable that the title suite was written in one afternoon - though not for this group - and recorded in a single take, its sections linked by improvs.
Throughout, Michael is there, shaping the music's emotional qualities. It's a cliche to call certain kinds of moody, atmospheric jazz 'cinematic', but it's also true that Michael is a film fan, has composed for film, and is interested in music that speaks directly to our shared human experience. "I am obsessed with how a chord progression changes the way a melody feels to the listener. For example on 'Willie' I wrote mostly major and minor triads but the mood of the tune changes in relationship to what melody note is played within each chord. Simply inverting a chord from major to minor can alter the color enough to satisfy my need for substance. Also, voice leading in a way so that one or two notes sustain while the root tonality is altered really appeals to me. This is a very common tool in many film scores. I am seeking an emotional response that is very intentional and quite manipulative too. Another example of that in 'Willie' is at the end of the melody: I asked Chris to repeat the last three chords and it creates a sort of melancholia that wouldn't work earlier on in the piece. But after the free-spirited tenor solo we need to reset the mood and retain some of that feeling we got earlier on. Willie is a lonely cowboy, after all. I try to compose ideas that contain fragments of things that we can all relate to - like memories, predictions and whatever is happening in the moment...No words are required, and every listener can still follow a dialogue that is being expressed through melodic, thematic and lyrical improvisation."
As for the Otis Redding cover "Treat Her Right," Michael comments: "I love to play classics. It's perhaps a generational thing I picked up from friends in NYC. Long before The Bad Plus came along Steven Bernstein's band Sex Mob led the way covering pop and rock tunes. My friend guitarist David Tronzo heard me playing like King Curtis and we started a band (Slow Poke) that played mostly covers. I learned a lot about playing melodies from these guys. It's almost a lost art, and many of us feel committed to carrying on this tradition that stems from Ellington and early jazz. My inspiration on 'Treat Her Right' was to phrase like Otis with the hefty warm tone of the great tenorman Gene Ammons. In my opinion there's a good way to play blues and soul on the sax...and it's hard! Most players (myself included) get so wrapped up in pyrotechnics and mimicking iconic players that they forget how to play the melody."

Michael Blake is often classed on websites as avant-garde, although to this day I've never really understood why? His early associations with the Lounge Lizards seem to have set up a precedent which follows him around. In my view Blake is better classed as 'left-field', looking at jazz from a very different angle compared to the average mainstream jazz performers coming from the states. However, Michael Blake's music isn't what you call avant-garde, it's very accessible and often melodic in content. His releases 'Right before your very ears' and 'Control this' on the avant-garde label Clean Feed are often very melodic even in there wildest moments.
On 'In the Grand Scheme of Things' Michael Blake again comes up with another multi-faceted 'Blake-ish' offering, something that doesn't really sit in any particular basket (*), and probably one reason he's not better known in the jazz world. As with his wonderful Blake's Tartar Michael Blake covers a lot of territory. The album is an attractive mix of rock, jazz, semi-free, gospel and electronica, bringing several directions together musically. A tune such as 'Willie (the lonely cowboy)' hovers over a lovely melody, gradually sliding into an out of tempo (rubato) improvisation. This develops organically with the soloists leading the ensemble. On the other hand there's 'Cybermonk' a swinging tune which could of come from his tribute album to Lucky Thompson. Another facet heard on the album is 'The Searchers', a long piece which stretches out to develop interesting atmospheres, melodies and solos. The last half of the album really moves into open space territory. The themes 'A View of Oblivion' and 'Freedom from Exile' are very strong pieces using the possibilities created by the electronica present of a Moog, keyboards and JP Carter's processed trumpet. The melody and development of 'Cordial Drive' particularly caught my ears as it conjures up an almost modern Bitches Brew musicality. The one track (last but one) that again falls outside the rest of the album is 'Treat her right', an old chestnut which became a hit for Otis Redding (among others) which is played with much respect.
Michael Blake has assembled an interesting group around him known as the Variety Hour 4tet. Two of the musicians Dylan van der Schyff (drums) and JP Carter (trumpet and electronics) have often popped up on our blog, the third Chris Gestrin (keyboards) I know less well. All three are perfectly in tune with Michael Blake's music - Gestrin and Van der Schyff have already played with Michael Blake (check the above musicians links on this blog). Looking at the musicians (above) you'll probably notice the group doesn't have a bass player. So, much of the bass qualities are created by Chris Gestrin using a Moog synthesiser combined with his keyboards. This creates some fine 'spacy' sounds which float round in the pieces and at the same time manage to anchor down the chords/harmonic progressions. The other very important ingredient in the groups musical palette is JP Carter. 'JP' rarely plays any direct solos, but uses his trumpet/electronic set-up to create floating lines that either shadow Blake's own voice, or create (as we say in the jazz trade) 'guide tones' which give the colour of the harmony.
An excellent record and very clever (very creative) in it's use of electronica.