You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Is Peter Crazy For Trying To Make An Album In 1 Take?

Episode Date: August 24, 2023

Peter lets us in on his newest project where he will attempt to record an entire album of original music with his quartet all in one take.Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipeCheckout courses from Adam, Peter and more at Open Studio🎹 Head over to our YouTube channel for a better look 👀.Follow us on Instagram

Hey Peter. Hey, what's up? What are you thinking? What do you mean? What are you talking about? Are you crazy? Well, crazy like a fox, I hope. I heard a rumor.

Yes. That you're going to record an album in one take with musicians that have not played together before on YouTube, life. Yes, partially true. That's insane. Let's talk about it. I mean, it's an intervention. That's what it is.

I'm Adam Annis. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear a podcast. Music advice. Coming at you. Coming at your day, sponsored by Open Studio. Go to Open Studio Jazz for, oh, your jazz lesson needs. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Can I get that vocal warm up in? That's very good. Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. It's always about you. That's right. It's always about you. We have some, we have some musical and friend and Open Studio royalty in the house. You cannot see him, but Max Gameez, who has got a little bit of fame and fortune in the world here.

He does, yeah. Actually, in the room with us. So we're a little nervous today. We're super excited. All the way from Durango, Mexico. That's right. Right. He is in the house at OpenCOHQ.

It's been very exciting. Yeah. And we've got some cool stuff that we've been doing. We're going to talk about maybe in the next episode. Okay. But today I want to, you know, I was feeling good about this. Then you got me a little bit nervous with this crazy man talk. Well, let's break this down.

Let's do the interventions, but I want to come out of this feeling even better. So let's do some spleen in. First of all, take your shoes off and put him in the corner. Just you can't run while we're intervening. And there's a car waiting outside. That's right. No. So I'm very excited

because you're about to record your first album is a leader in a few years Yeah like seven years Your last album was in like 2017 Right? I think so Yeah I should know I was

I played a little guitar on it You played on it It's really fun And you're gonna be super involved With this one so I hope to be We'll see if I can hang on this one There's some heavy hitters happening

So it's a quartet album Quartet You want to tell the folks Who you got in your set Yes Gregory Hutchinson On drums Ever heard of it Ever our friend and compatriot

Ruben Rogers on bass Sarah Hanahan on saxophone and I just want to say a little bit about each of them probably many of you know all of them but you may not know Sarah as much because she's pretty young and it's relatively fresh on the scene

She's so burning though She's so burning and she is known already because she's been firing up the New York scene and beyond An amazing alto player I've never really played with her I mean we played together just a little bit but never like a gig or recording

But when I first heard her which was at the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program run by Jason Moran and the good folks at the Kennedy Senator about three years ago. As soon as I heard her, I was like, okay, I want to create something that includes her. Like that's, she had that kind of musical magnetism. She's super cool, too. I got to know her a little bit. That's like a bonus.

But like her playing, it's just she plays in a way that is so exciting for the listener, but for me as a musician. And so I'm really kind of excited to bring her into the fold with Greg. and Rubin, who I have played with a whole lot. Yeah, yeah. So this is kind of my thought process of putting this group together. It's called Generation S, by the way. Love that name.

Also known as Gen S. This is the first time we're announcing that. Gen S. It's the Gen S band. It's a good name, man. Yeah. Because everyone's calling me Gen X, but this is Gen S. And the S stands for socks or...

Swing. Swing. That's right. What? Although we're not really a swing band. Seweed? Seaweed. I do like seaweed, but it's going to swing, though.

Yeah, yeah. We're going to get to some swing. But yeah, so Greg Hutchinson and Rubin, Rogers and myself have played together for many years. I mean, I first met Greg when we were, you know, 16, like actually the second day I was in New York City when I was 16 years old, I met Greg. And he's been like just a fixture in my life as a friend and, you know, playing partner. And he's just somebody whose music, I respect, you know, as much, if not more than anybody.

I think it's safe to say he's one of the greats at this point. And, you know, it's fun to kind of know and play with over the years one of the grades. Ruben Rogers is the same thing. And so we definitely have like a hookup. But I thought it would be fun. to bring in and like I didn't want to do like the typical trio thing I love quartet you know sue me I love I love a great quartet with saxophone piano bass and drums you're a supportive guy I'm a supportive guy but I just love all the different possibilities I love trio too of course it's a different

it's a whole different vibe it's a whole different vibe and I always feel like when you do have a long standing rhythm section or trio like what can you do to kind of change things it can be the music it can be the personnel it can be the shirts it can be a lot of things but I think that I might have hit on knock on wood, you know, a nice little augmentation of some slightly older heads that have been doing their thing with somebody new and fresh, but also just a different kind of format, you know. And the different kind of format is kind of special. So you're going to be recording this album live, no stops, no stops, no edits, no punch-ins. Right, no edits, yeah. And you're doing it on, what's the date you're doing it? September 7th. September 7th, live and, we're going to live stream it also.

We're going to live stream it on Open Studio so, like, the world can watch. That's right. The tightrope walk. Here's the thing, though, this is what I love about this is it's really not a tightrope rock for you guys because you're all so good. We haven't done it yet. But, I mean, the risk is still there. The danger and the feeling of this is a live thing. This is why jazz and all improvised music is best consumed live and in person because there is a feeling in the room when it could all, like, what could happen?

Nobody knows. And there's no going back to fix anything. And I love that you're actually committing to that for an album album. It feels right. It feels right. Well, this is the way I look at it. And I think, yeah, you put it together right. I mean, for me, when I'm going to hear music, really any kind of music, but especially jazz, this is something that we excel at everything.

You know what I mean? I mean, there's certain things that jazz musicians. Marketing. Right, right. Not great at marketing. Right. I mean, we can't be great at everything. We don't need to be.

Dancing, often not great at dancing. Yeah. The Lonez monk was pretty good. But outside of that. But I mean, but what can we do that that is really interesting? Merch? We're not great at merch. Sorry, our merch is bad.

Black shirt with like one, you know. But playing in the moment, creating something is something that we're known for and is super interesting. I know as a listener and as a player, it's just fun. Yeah. And I think that when I go to hear music, how the story is going to unfold is such a cool thing. So like even if you're playing, and actually this is going to be all new compositions. So that's going to be, I think, interesting and hopefully really good, too.

We'll see. But, you know, even if it's, whether it's a standard or a jazz standard or a new composition, there's an opportunity to tell a story that is a little bit different, every performance. So, like, that's the whole point of being there live and creating something live. So I'm glad you mentioned.

So these are all new tunes of yours. You're writing on tunes, which you're an amazing composer. Can we get a sneak peek? Maybe it's something. Uh, sure. I was about to be like, tune in September 7th. No, give us a little sum. Give a little nugget.

And maybe talk about like the process of writing and how, you know, for the, for the podcast listeners, I know you've been doing some stuff on Instagram. Yes. Like some shorts on the process of writing. But maybe if you can give a little bit longer explanation of like, if you want to pick this one, I think you're going to play this thing here in seven and maybe just talk about your thoughts behind that. Yeah.

I mean, I think for all these compositions, it's always sort of a distinct play. and luxury to be able to write for a specific event. You know, be it a recording session or a live performance like this is going to be both and for a group of musicians because that you know the individuals. And I mean, I'm guessing some, I'm not guessing I'm having to use my imagination in terms of how these different personalities are going to come together and what they're going to do with what I present to them. But I look at it as an opportunity to like, how do I come up with the minimum framework

necessary to give the support, to give the direction, to give the foundation for the storytelling, but no more than that so that these great players can put their little sparkle and fun. And more importantly, the interaction between us, like, how can we become, you know, greater than the sum of these individual parts? And so there's definitely an art to like, how do you write like that? And I don't always get it right, but I'm definitely thinking about that. So, yes, I want to come up with like cool stuff and different grooves and things that are fun to play. Fun for me to play.

You know, and that's what I really go off of and then are hopefully fun for others to play. But also like how do we set it up in a way that it's almost like a ramp? You know, it's like, you know, we talk about risk. I came up in the 70s looking at evil, caneval shout out to the to Jen Xers out there. That's a character. Yeah, you know, it's like he did some live. He was a live streamer. None of them.

And they were risks because none of all of them worked. Some of them he fell very hard into a canyon. Right. So if we fall down, it's not going to be like no physical danger. So this tune, and I think this is going to end up being first. I always kind of heard it that way. It starts with this. It's called an obligato.

Would that make me sound fancy? Obligato? Astonato. Oh. Right? I'm like, I don't know. I don't speak Italian. Do you speak music?

So it's that kind of repeated thing. That's obligato. Astonato. Asinato, yeah. Yeah. So, and what I did was just like, I really, you know, it's just like you have one idea that you want to use for a tune, and this is kind of based around as much that melody down there in the root, but like immediately jumping down to the third and then all this is C minor

pentatonic. Yeah. Yeah. And it used to me, when I was younger, I'd write stuff and it was, if I found it was like all pentatonic or something, I was like, ah, I got to make that fancier. I got to, that's too basic. but now you're embracing it but yeah for this what okay so where this sings though is you do introduce an a natural yeah so this is f minor but then everything else or f major yeah everything else is in that

sort of a flat major or f minor yeah sound right that parallel minor or i like to think of it i think as you do too it's like we're an a flat major really right right f aoleon which is just a flat major and for me i think about that in terms of the religious but here's where that c pent the c minor pentatonic it works over both major and minor. Right. Which I didn't realize. Yeah. But that's what's so cool about it.

You could use C minor pentatonic over F major and F minor. Or F major or dominant or whatever. So that's what, I mean, it's not just like a pentatonic melody and you're an E flat. It's not that at all. Or even C minor, which is fine. But all of this is over. C minor pentatonic over like FATonic over like F. major and f minor is cool different right yeah and i love stuff that can like move around a lot but

that you can play one thing over it you don't have to like especially when the rhythm is a little bit complex like this is kind of a i didn't realize it as i was writing it but i was like oh shit this is in seven do you have any hit you seven seven one two six seven one two three four five six seven one yeah i don't know i just kind of hear it like that but it's it's it's i mean trust me, it's not from a like, I want to, I wrote a tune years ago called La Prigunta. La Prueunta. And I was convinced this was not in, actually, wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on. Is that same?

Five. He's gone, he's gone. Oh, the bridge, I think. Anyway, that's an old tune, man. Why are we talking about that? Why are we talking about it? No, I thought that wasn't seven. But you're not, I think the key to this, and I think this is very good for all of our

budding composers out there is you're not, like, strategically. planning that first. Yeah, you're not strategically like, and then the bridge is going to go to seven, and I'm going to go back to a big six. No. Which I think that's the six you were playing is like, it's something.

That's a big six, yeah. It's a big six, but that's probably a 12-8 or even like a, it's something interesting that's like, because you're breaking it up somewhere half in the bar. Any drummers are people who are more rhythmically literate than I am. It can count better than us. Let us know.

Play it again, play the old tune again. Yeah, it's like four and two. Oh, yeah, that's right. It's like two. Yeah, it's six. It's a six. Yeah. It's six four. But like it's your, the way you're feeling is, let's not get it.

But I mean, but just stuff in general. So from a harmonic standpoint, but also from a rhythmic standpoint, like how do you make something that like has some handcuffs, but you kind of free it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? And so that, that is the idea on this. And then when the melody comes in, so this continues this obligato slash ostinado. Oh, this is a mother place.

Where's the bridge go? Where is the first chord? I can't remember. No, it's. So this is. Is this moo? It is. But it's G major 9 over B?

Yeah. That's the Open Studio Mue. Yeah. The major 7. The major 7. No, that's the Moo. Open Studio Moo. Open Studio Moo would be without the major 7, with the major seven.

You know what we called it, Peter? Do you remember? Smoo. Is it shmoo? What is it? Oh, the meow. The meow. Oh, so I think it goes next to a real mea.

It's really, you could be, you could call that a B minor, uh, flat six too, if you wanted to, you know, some people call it that, but yeah, but it's just, not all the music is this complex. Like this one, and this one, I don't think it's actually going to be as hard for the play. I mean, we'll see. We're going to have some great time to rehearse for this, which is a super big luxury. And I want to, full disclosure is this is not like we're showing up. We've never played together. We're going to record.

We're going to have the luxury of some great just like hanging and playing, hanging with the music, hanging with each other. Nice. Really getting a chance to kind of craft thing. you know, I've got a couple of ballads. I got some stuff in three. I just, I just kind of wrote stuff that I like,

and I'm at a place where I'm really excited because it's like, it's like, I wouldn't say it's no judgment that I have on myself, but it's the least I've had in my whole life. It's a good feeling. Like, as I'm writing, like, I don't care if it is a tricky time or if it's not, it is what it is.

Yeah. And like, I, like, if it's fun and interesting to me, if it feels good, yeah. Let's see where it goes. Yeah. If you love it, that's all the matter. Yeah. And I mean, if people love it to,

you're all, audience. I hope so. And if they hate it, then, you know, I'll try to do better next time. But the idea is like, I am confident with this that it is, what I'm trying to do is like create music that feels good as the entertaining. I'm not trying to change the world with the music. But I know that if people are feeling good and engaging with music and other artists are doing that, that does change the world. Like, I'm just trying to serve in this one way. And so the idea about doing it live and inviting, and this is going to be on Open Studios YouTube channel, 8 p.m. Eastern, September 7th, Thursday. The reason we're inviting everybody in to watch this is because not only do we want to have the energy, you know, like there were a live audience there, but we can expand that to everybody in their living rooms or wherever they are.

I wonder if you could talk about because it has been a while since you've put out an album as a leader. And this process, I mean, there's a lot going on. This is a specifically big project. Yeah, because we're doing video. It's the album and it's the video. We're flying musicians in from all over the world. On aeroplanes. On aeroplanes.

Aerial planes and there's a lot of logistics and you have of course, you know, we have open studio here to help present and it's going to be streamed and then videos are going to be produced or whatever. But I love that it's a big scope project. But I wonder if you could talk about the importance, even not on this grand of the scale, but because it's been so long since you've made a record. I'm so happy you're making a record because I know for me, like there's no better stress test of what I'm working on and what I'm doing, not just musically, but professionally and personally, then can I put something out in the world that is, there's a lot of problems to be solved. Musically, you know, financially, whatever, whatever it is. And I wonder if you could talk about how you're feeling after working on it for a while and like what, how that, is that important to you? Like this feeling of releasing something. Yeah, I mean, I kind of forgot how important it is. If I remembered, I would be doing it every year. Yeah. It is a lot to do it now, especially with everything else that's going on that we're trying to do here. But I bring it up because I kind of made that my goal

to do something every year. Yeah, and you've been really good about it. I mean, probably not as good as you think, but like, you know, when you had your trio, you were doing, you know, I remember one time we were super busy and you're like, I'm going to come in here in the evening. We're just going to do a trio album.

Yeah, because I want to keep something moving forward always. I think it's important. And I think it's important for like the listeners and the fans and the community more than we realize sometime. Like, because we're putting so much content out, but at a certain time,

like it's such a great marker to be like, this is an album. Even if nobody gets the CD or the LP or if they consume it streaming, I don't really care where they get it. But the fact that we're saying this is a set of music, this is a little, a moment in time when we are. And that's why I wanted to do it live. And that's why I wanted to do it in one take because I'm at that place where I know we can do that. Now, could we make it a more polished thing if we all went to isolated rooms and maybe improve the sound? I mean, and I think the sound is going to be killing on this.

And the video is adding a whole other element. element and I think the live part is important for that. Right, right. And so, I mean, I'm more interested in not the perfection that we're achieved that. I think most people wouldn't even, that's more like of a selfish thing sometimes. Like to sit there and tweak everything. That's more for your eagle. I don't think the listener matters that much.

No. It doesn't matter that much. And actually, I don't like perfect sounding music. And some of our favorite recordings, there's loads of things that weren't planned and you would probably take out if you could. And I, I mean, I haven't been on. I've been on a lot of sessions over the years in the studio. Yeah.

Where we do multiple takes, but the first take, I can't remember a time that the first actual complete take wasn't the best take. And usually it has... And they sometimes don't use them, and maybe the later one was a little more perfect, but it doesn't have that energy. I know. You don't have that vibe. The energy of the first take is always the one, even with the mistakes,

which are inevitable. And probably, by the way, in the perfect take, too. Yeah. But the more perfect you try to make it, the less juice you lose from those, like, things that could happen and that risk that's involved. And I think by perfect, we're not talking, this is be clear, we're not talking about like things fall apart, the beat gets turned over, somebody gets lost or whatever.

This is like, we're talking about you know the music and you are, I do feel like there's a certain level of professionalism where, you know, barring the power going out or like there being an earthquake or something that we should and are able to execute on something no matter what. Now, will you look back on it and be like, like what I'm hoping to look back on it and not be like, oh I could have done this or be like wow that's what happened in that moment that's what we're trying to do that's what

happened that evening with those people watching with those musicians in the studio and we captured it you know and I'm good with that September 7th live on Open Studios YouTube do not miss it we're going to have an early show for our European folks and a late show for our North American

South American folks right go to Open Studio YouTube and until then you'll hear it one two three