In a discussion with Sean Murray at the Bean & Leaf I'd learned that the New London-based band The Hempsteadys are back in action with a lineup thirteen musicians deep, making Above/Below no longer an anomaly. Big bands, at least in the Whaling City, are on the rise.

We were without the Gallaghers last rehearsal but we covered a lot of ground on our two newest tunes that came together quite nicely, and quickly. I would imagine every band approaches song writing differently, yet I am amazed at how neatly A/B songs come to be. The first song, working title 'J-Street,' is the first time we took a set of Gabe's lyrics and paid absolutely no attention to his pre-recorded beat. Kevin offered up the chord progressions of Hektor Lavoe's 'Que Lio' and suggested we keep the Latin feel. Having the structure of the song Reilly took the initiative to arrange it and after a few passes at it the room was
pleased with how it sounded. He also arranged the second song, a revision of 'The Recipe,' and after suggesting a structure for it got help from Kevin who peppered the choruses with a little Bird for a little flavor (puns intended). To further add texture to the tune Reilly suggested that Hollis alternate between heavy and light sounds on the guitar which, while taking some time to resolve, resolved itself quite nicely after all.

Hollis is looking forward to sitting with Cristin and having her write some lyrics to a riff that I refer to as 'Moody Song.' Like 'J-Street' it has a very distinct and different sound from the other A/B material, and is a good canvas for Cristin to sing over.

I'm constantly impressed by the musicianship of so many members of this band. While their playing speaks for itself one aspect of their skill that the audience will never see is how they approach song writing and how they resolve problems. To the musically trained I'm sure this is all elementary, but to the drummer who has long since lost the ability to read music and remember his theory it's something to admire and use as inspiration to re-acquire lost skills.

Above/Below will be playing Connecticut College on April 2nd
to reach a new audience. With two Conn faculty and one alum in the band
we're looking forward to our first college gig. Plans are in the works
for another New London performance in late April so keep an eye out and
an ear open.

Thanks,
Jonas
For A/B

[Last record on the turntable: Ron Carter -- New York Slick]

Before practice a few weeks ago we all sat down and ran through a post-mortem of our OASIS show. After a lengthy discussion we set out to arrange new music, which continued last Monday, albeit with a diminished lineup due to the snow storm. Thankfully, a little more than half the band lives within walking distance of each other and so the rhythm section plus Gabe and Kevin T. got together to throw some ideas around, the goal being to rough out some songs to present to the full band. Hollis offered up some riffs he'd been keeping in his back pocket while Kevin handed over some chord changes to what was to become The Recipe,an old tune of Gabe's that we wanted to re-do. Keeping the lyrics, Kevin took the music in a different direction, hearing in his head a certain series of chord changes with a Latin-flavored break beat behind it. It didn't take too long for rhythm section to establish the framework and feel, but the tempo didn't suit Gabe's liking for the song. He instead starting rapping his lyrics for another song (working title J-Street) and found it to be a perfect fit. 

Afterward, Reilly threw out a bass line for The Recipe which capitalized on the playfulness of the lyrics and will provide a springboard for the song to develop. So far these are nothing but sketches to be presented to the band. Inevitably things will shift and change as more hands weigh in with suggestions, but at least we have something to discuss.

ABOVE/BELOW will be playing at Conn College on Thursday, April 2nd. More details on this performance will follow.

This Saturday evening, after a night of art openings at every gallery in downtown New London, ABOVE/BELOW will debut its full lineup for the first time at the OASIS PUB. Testing their sound at the Unheard Mentalityshow at MUSE last month, the band has since added a guitar player and lengthened their songs at the request of many of their listeners. The result is a 10-piece band that draws from their collective tastes in hip-hop, jazz, funk and soul and fuses it into something fresh. Audients may catch sounds hinting at De La Soul, Digable Planets or Mingus, but taken as a whole the music suggests something new, and proves that - music and band alike - the sum is greater than all its parts.

Opening for ABOVE/BELOW will be a fractal of the band playing a set of jazz, both standards and improvisation, experimenting with the latest in digital music interfaces. Band members came across this sound-space during a performance at the R080T 1NV4510N .09 show and enjoyed the freedom these improvisational digi-analog experiments yielded. Closing out the evening will be DJ Sir Round Sound, continuing the funk and jazz theme on the turntables. He'll be sure to keep you moving the rest of the night.

Saturday, February 21st - See some art and join us at the after party at the Oasis.

Gabe phoned me this evening and asked me if I needed/wanted anyone else to arrange some songs for the group.  I'd told him that Hollis rang earlier, looking for Mr. Reilly to answer some questions about Equal Opposite which he'd been working on.  I also reminded Gabe that Kevin was going to arrange The Recipe for us.  I was curious--who additionally did he have in mind who'd want to arrange for us?

When he told me Dale Wilson wanted to my brain shorted out.  For those of you who don't know him Dale is a music professor at Conn College and somewhat of a dynamo when it comes to writing and arranging music, especially jazz.  Gabe had introduced me to Dale after a show at the college, only after telling me he was a mean piano player.  Dale was cordial and dreadfully polite.  I had asked him to sit in at one of our jazz sessions but he respectfully told me he preferred these days to write music, not play (at least in public).  When the NYC Jazz Nonet performed at Conn Dale introduced the ensemble and announced that the group would play several of his compositions, some he had written specifically for them.  The tunes were great.  And while Dale didn't perform, Chris Reilly, having had Dale as a professor for several classes while in school, would later attest that Dale's playing is as significant to his writing ability. 

Gabe told me that Dale's going to swing through on Monday to check out the rehearsal and to hear our material.  He apparently would like to contribute some writing to the group.  It's just funny how these things happen.

We had received feedback that people wanted more - longer songs and a longer set - so that they could dance more, and groove more.  I had always considered the songs short, and thought that they could easily be extended just by expanding the solo sections in each.  Gabe arrived to rehearsal first and we had this discussion and mutually agreed that it would be a good idea.  We also agreed that Foundation needed a complete overhaul, that we would save the lyrics and completely reconstruct the music to re-up the tempo and make it easier to solo over.

The beginning of practice was a jam out on Equal Opposite, a tune we pulled out of the vault and played with just a rhythm section backing it, with horn solos blown over the bridge.  We never got around to arranging this as a band so when Hollis requested we rehearse the tune so he could solidify his part it turned into a nice long warm up with some ideas coming to the fore.

Who Got The always seemed to me the next likely candidate to be arranged.  Gabe's existing recording of the track is nice as is, with layers of parts one can easily hear divvy-ed up with the horn section.  It begins with a standout baritone sax intro which, in my opinion, needed to be exploited by Mr. David Dorfman.  Gabe asked for me to throw on Moanin' by Charles Mingus on the turntable.  This tune has a wicked bari melody and we as a group collectively liked the sound of it.  I had thought that the jazz group would do this song but Gabe had plans to use the melody for Who Got The.  David worked the line and the rest of us layered on our parts once the part was solid.  It worked out great with a hip-hop back-beat and solos taken in turn by all save the rhythm section.  We tried organizing the solo structure two different ways and need to weigh which we like best.  Either way the song, a nice homage to Mingus, worked.  Gabe said he looked out my window during one run through and saw someone dancing in front of the Dutch.  So, there you have it - a danceable song, and a long one.

After practice Gabe and Kevin stuck around and we talked for a long while. During that conversation Gabe suggested we write a song where he could rap in 7 (beats per measure) and would I give him a recording of a 7 beat.  Kevin suggested we explore the different ways Gabe could accomplish this, using different beats to feel identify the pulse.  I'd always suggested that Gabe rap in odd-meter so I was surprised and excited that he was open to the idea. 

Kevin also accepted my request for him to try his hand at arranging another one of Gabe's old tunes, The Recipe.  Above/Below only benefits from the fact that many of its members have arranging ability and the desire to do so.  Hollis also offered to share his musical ideas if there was an outlet for it.  It's one of those talents to bring to the table that will create unique and original music, a talent I myself don't have.  I have ideas, but it's nice that so many in the group have the skill to take those ideas and shape them.  I think spreading out the composition and arranging chores will yield great results.  If the quickness with which Who Got The came together is an indication, then A/B's set list will expand in no time.

[Last record on the turntable: Charles Mingus - The Art of Charles Mingus]

"Sticks or brushes...?"

My question for the evening.  When Above/Below played MUSE's anniversary party seven months ago I had used a pair of hotrods, thinking that sticks would be too loud in such a small, sonically-bright room.  By the end of that set I had managed to break the rods, feeling that, while playing, I was being overpowered.  This time, we had a full-horn section, but I was still worried that sticks might be too loud...  They weren't from the audience's perspective.  I on the other hand couldn't hear the rest of the band well at all.

A/B closed out the evening's bill which included other acoustic acts by Meghan Yates, Roadside Attractions and Mah Ray.  Everyone played so well, the first three acts beautiful acoustic treatments with featured vocal performances.  We were the wild-card  - still acoustic but nothing 'folk' about us.  It was a contrast, but one appreciated by many who took the time to thanks us and congratulate us for our efforts and the uniqueness of our sound.  Thank you all who appreciated the music.  We enjoyed playing it for you.  It, however, was not free of challenges.

A/B suffers where smaller acoustic acts don't regarding the need to use monitors.  I know Gabe and I suffered for it; I'm not sure about the other guys and gal.  And I've learned that I'd gotten use to our round table approach to practice, where everyone stands in a circle in my living room playing while facing one another.  I like visually communicating with the band, something that will have to be ironed out in the performance configuration--details that don't rear their head until showtime.  That's a lesson that needs learning quick.  With everyone in front of me with their backs to me it's not only hard to communicate with them, it's harder to hear them.  Once again, monitors would be helpful.  We'll be facing similar conditions and challenges at the Oasis, but at least they have monitors.

Patrick's trombone was in the repair shop, forcing him to use a loaner, which presented its own set of challenges especially notes in the lower register.  But despite these small issues we had a great time presenting the material.  Monday will see us back in rehearsal arranging a list of songs in the wings.  Many present great opportunities to exploit the full strength of the horn section and hopefully elicit collaborative arranging among the brass and reeds with everyone weighing in with ideas.  The rhythm section will do its thing, absorbing Hollis when he's not soloing.

Our next show will be at the Oasis on Saturday, February 21st.  We hope to see you there.

[Last CD in the tray: Joe Henderson - Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn]

Last night's A/B practice marked the first time we played our songs with any chordal accompaniment.  There were a few sessions early on with Ed Briones on guitar, but beyond those sessions the music had always sustained itself on a piano and guitar free diet. 

Hollis Dunlap lives in the adjacent building and is a phenomenal painter.  I found out early on that he played guitar and he mentioned he'd like to jam if schedules permitted.  He wasn't involved in a band at the time but had plenty of music side projects.  Essentially, he was looking to play more, and with other people.  It took a while before we connected but when we did he came upstairs and met the band.  We didn't play any A/B songs, we just jammed out and had a good time with it.  What became immediately apparent was Hollis' easy going demeanor and the impressive tone of his playing.  What impressed me the most was the volume he kept his amp on - low enough so as not to drown out the other instruments, especially Mr. Reilly's upright bass which he plays unplugged.  Hollis was there to listen, and that got my attention.

It would be a while before we would connect again.  In the meantime A/B decided it would tighten up a short set list before bringing in a guitar player, and that guitar player would adapt to the already established song structures.  Future songs would allow for more contributions to the songwriting process, but  for now we needed a player to fill in the gaps.  Last night Hollis did just that and he did it well.

Him being there also made us play the songs over and over, good grease on the cogs as we are playing out at MUSE on the 24th.  While waiting for Patrick to arrive we took a break from the set list and played some blues.  Of course, it went unrecorded.  A shame, too - it was full of ideas that could be used later.  We acquitted ourselves, however, with Patrick's help, by writing a new conclusion to Fly In My Soup that we felt was just as good as the original, so I suppose we just need to get used to working in a more spontaneous way when it comes to writing.  Although, it would have been nice to have written down that new conclusion... oh well.

This past Monday's practice was our first after a two-week break due to the holiday.  It also marked the first practice without Gabe, who's in California for another few weeks or so.  Given the time off and the lacking our emcee, I had expected us to take more time to get back into the groove of things.  I was mistaken.  The groove was present from the start, a testimony that things are coming together quite nicely, where the music is beginning to seep into the bones.

We ran through the material unaffected by Gabe's absence.  We marked out time for his verses, 16 bars in most cases, and tightened up the music.  It'll be seamless when he returns.

The downer of the evening was our failure to remember the horn arrangement Mr. Reilly had come up with for the end of Fly In My Soup, which was brilliant.  Unfortunately, no one remembered it, and it wasn't written down.  The part played the brass against the reeds against one another and ended on a sweet chord.  Patrick, who couldn't make this past rehearsal, is our final hope.  If he can't remember it then that stroke of genius was meant to be played only once.  Then it's time to write something else.

Cristin brought a new song to the table and the last part of rehearsal was spent flushing it out.  What I enjoyed most about the evening was this process.  I don't know what other people's songwriting processes are, but whatever they may be I find that to be one of the most interesting aspects of music.  Even before performance musicians must create something.  It, to me, is less important than how it came to be.

This was our first chance to arrange a song from the start.  Gabe's songs were nearly fully formed from the beginning, and many had produced beats that we used as a springboard for musical arrangements. Cristin's song (which was untitled to my knowledge) had a full set of lyrics and some thematic ideas for the verses and choruses.  After singing it to us the way she heard it people began weighing in, pushing it this way, pulling it that way, sharing opinions and offering different directions where it might go.  This was difficult, but by night's end we had some rhythmic ideas for an intro and the chorus, none of it set in stone, but it set us on a course.  We have something to individually think on, to develop or trash next week as we please.

[Last record on the turntable: John Coltrane - His Best Years]

This time of year naturally lends itself for some time off.  For a band it's a necessary evil.  Gabe's back in Cali, Kevin in Georgia, and Mr. Reilly will soon be, if not already, heading north to New Hampshire.  For those of us who remain, most are busy with the pre-Christmas routine so naturally group practices are suspended which can be an irritating thing... especially when the last one was so good.

Pressure and demands, both personally and from the group, has upped the ante considerably in this group.  Collectively the desire to put out something not only good but challenging is paramount.  And we touched upon it last practice.  The horn section continues to gather its own momentum, taking ownership of their arrangements with a little input from Mr. Reilly, whose keen composition skills are coming to the fore. 

Last night I caught the Gone For Good show at the Oasis and was the first time that I'd seen Adam, Patrick and Johnny blow horns for them.  They sounded great, accompanying the band on three or four songs.  The demands of the music required them to accompany.  I'd like A/B to demand that they become our frontmen - soloists, as well as composers.  That was the idea from the very beginning.

We worked Fly In My Soup and Foundation and brought both tunes to a great place.  The percussion breakdown for Foundation needs some serious resolving, after the glorious train wreck with conductor Gabe on the cowbell.  KPGsus has a wah-wah-ko conga beat in mind and after some rehearsing we'll be able to build a nice rhythm around it complete with a cowbell part.  I asked Gabe to wear the bell around his neck in the spirit of Flava Flav.  He brushed me off.

Most of the finessing of these tunes are predominantly horn arrangements and the assigning of solos, and final decisions on how to conclude some loose endings.  There is excitement anticipating the composing of new tunes after the new year.  I know Cristin's got a few ideas and that Gabe's been writing new lyrics.  On my part I've been mining my record collection for some themes and came up with two that would totally take advantage of the horn section, especially the baritone sax.  The first is Moanin' as done by Charles Mingus, the second is a song which escapes me at the moment by Dexter Gordon. 

My personal practice continues daily, and I've been playing with sticks more frequently.  I'll ask for the forgiveness of my neighbors ahead of time, and hope that my playing doesn't exorcise them from their dwellings.  If it's an issue they can take it up with Johnny.  He's the one pushing me...

[Last record on the turntable: The Horace Silver Quintet - Six Pieces of Silver]

I've always wondered in the back of my mind if a band the size of Above/Below could hold itself together.  What I mean by that is that the band, not unlike film production, my profession in a previous life, is a lot of moving parts held together, for the moment, with a purpose.  The group, like any other band, is imposed upon by a lot of outside forces most of which run contrary to the demands of a musical group.  Ideally the band will exercise enough flexibility to weather the impositions of the 'daily grind,' and when it is unable to then something's got to give.

Above/Below is fortunate to have maintained it's gravitational pull so far, but it hasn't been without its casualties.  The demands of everyday living has reclaimed Jessie English and Adam Demorest who, while having the desire to continue, do not have the time and commitment at present.  They were approached and asked to join this group for the contributions they would bring, and they've certainly contributed their fair share, for as brief a time as it may have been.  The invitation is always open to sit in.

The structure of A/B is more like a jazz band in that soloists can sit in and play, and, if they're familiar with the lines, they can blow and/or sing on those too.  This is only made possible by having a core group - a band - know its material and arrangements.  The group has reached that point of wanting to play out sooner than later, which means a need to tighten up the material already at hand.  The rhythm section was already established - it's how the group started - and what was needed most was a solid horn section to tackle the structuring and arranging of the melodies in and around Gabe and Cristin's lyrics.

Above/Below is lucky in that it's gravity can draw the right kind of talent to fill in the gaps.  David Dorfman continues to come to rehearsal with his baritone sax, a surprising commitment from the Head Chair of the Dance Department at Conn College and a family man.  We're fortunate to have him.  His horn continues to shake our guts.  And filling the chair for alto saxophone comes Kevin Thornton, recently arrived from Baltimore, MD.  Classically trained then easily converted, Kevin is now an all-out jazz player.  With the addition of both saxes to Johnny and Patrick's horns the section is complete and has recently gotten to work on the arranging tasks at hand. 

Last night's practice was, to me, one of the most productive practices the band's ever had.  The motivation was high, risks were taken, and the approach to practice was disciplined.  We had previously agreed to finalize seven of our most developed songs and at the end of the night four of them were eighty-five percent there.  We Must Go Out, Lovely Day, Jazz Black and Getting By were worked, again and again, and finally reached a place where I think all of us were happy with the results.  Our sound was the fullest I've heard and the soloing was very inspired.  The horns got it done, and they got it in.  For Kevin's first time sitting in we couldn't ask for anything more.  He learned the lines quickly, added some of his own contributions to the arrangements, and gave us all the soloing the songs needed.  All that plus the wine that Joi and Kevin brought - the night was a huge success.

Above/Below - that unforgettable sound
Bringing you up then taking you down
Coming at you from every side
Making the rhythm and rhyme collide

[Last record on the turntable: Miles Davis - 'Round About Midnight]