ORGATRONICS INTERVIEW for ACID JAZZ MAGAZINE
- Rich speak about your crossover musical training between classic
music and jazz..
I studied classical guitar with the renowned teacher and scholar Graham Wade at The Leeds College of Music from 1992 to 1996. Even though I was doing a degree course in Jazz studies I spent the whole four years playing in a classical guitar duo which specialised in contemporary classical and avant-garde music. This was my first passion and was very successful when we were doing recitals at festivals, classical venues etc but we soon realised we could not earn a living playing gigs with this style so we both drifted into Spanish music, flamenco and eventually Bossa Nova which became my great passion when I left college. After becoming obsessed with the works of JOYCE and other Brazilian MPB artists I turned my back on classical music and started playing my own style of Bossa Nova and Samba which incorporated many of the flamenco and classical techniques I had studied at college as well as taking on the rock and contemporary jazz influences I had always had.
- Rich please tell us something about your experience with Latin-jazz
combo Saudade?
It was soon after leaving college I was offered a gig at a restaurant called Pizza Express in Leeds
(I have been to Italy and the English Pizzas do not compare to yours!) for a duo and had no one to do it with. I called on an old friend from college who played double bass, Courtney Thomas, and we started playing together every week in this restaurant. It was here we cut our Latin jazz teeth and developed our sound and style over the next 2 years. We played Bossa Nova tunes and jazz standards from the 50s 60s in a Latin style. Eventually Courtney progressed to 5 string electric bass which enabled him to play chords like a guitar and we both used foot percussion which gave us a very full sound. After we had done as much as we could as a duo and because we were getting bigger and better gigs we started to incorporate up to 8 musicians in the Saudade line up but due to cost and suitable venues we eventually settled as a trio with Sam Bell playing the cajon. Saudade became an acoustic Latin jazz power trio which had its own very unique approach and was heavily reliant on soloing and diverse arrangements of Latin Jazz tunes. It was from the roots of SAUDADE that Sam Bell and I decided to form Orgatronics as a more jazz restrained and accessible version of the band.
-Sam explain your roots in music between Africa, Cuba, Trinidad and Brazil influences, please....
My initial interest in African and African derived music was sparked in the late 80s by an influx of touring African bands on the UK scene such as Baba Maal, Salif Kaeta, Thomas Mapfumo and Youssour nDour and Farafina. This coupled with tuition from Gambian master drummer Musa Suma of the Ballet Afrikan who was living in Leeds at the time. After this it was a natural progression onto Brazilian, Cuban and Latin music in general as there was a thriving scene developing in the UK in the early 90s with the now legendary club nights Casa Latina and the Yardbird Suite on my doorstep. Run by the Dig family, whose passion for latin jazz, afro beat and Bugalu had a great influence on not only rich and myself but on UK music scene in general . The next big step for me was in autumn 95 when I persuaded Bretton Hall College, where I was studying at the time, to fund a trip to Havana. This was a fantastic opportunity to study drumming at one of its major influential sources. The trip still inspires and fuels my desire to play music to this day. The Trinidad connection goes back to college too as one of lecturers was Trinidadian and he devised and staged a spectacular carnival interpretation of Handels oratorio The Messiah which got 5 star reviews. The acclaimed production was then taken back and staged in Trinidad itself so I had another great opportunity to play with the countries top drummers for 2 months and to appreciate the wealth of culture the New world had given us despite such tragic and brutal histories. My love of Brazilian music goes back long before my intoxication with Cuban music and though I have played Brazilian music for 15 years now I have not yet managed to visit the place but its only a matter of time.
-Sam tell me something about your experiences through the years with Latin bands like Casa Latina, Bugalu Foundation and The Mastersounds and with special dance company like The Northern Ballet, Phoenix Dance Company and The Reggae Jazz Contemporary
-
One of my most cherished memories playing with The Casa Latina All Stars has to be supporting and meeting the late Tito Puento at Hammersmith Palais in 98. Even though his show by them had gone slightly cabaret it was good to see him and his band in action. I am still gigging hard with my own band The Bugalu Foundation as people really appreciate it there is no one else doing that style of Latin soul/ funk which I find so irresistible, needless to say I am planning a release before the years out. As far as The New Mastersounds goes they are going from strength to strength, fresh back from the states and about to go to Japan. However my favourite gig with them has to be at La Cova in Minorca as you cannot beat playing in a cave 100m up a cliff face over looking the Mediterranean with amazing sunsets while recording a live album which has been recently released through One Note Records to mark the event. My other passion is to play for live dancers as there has been a strong tradition of dance in Leeds as a result of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Phoenix Dance Company and The Northern Ballet Theatre. This spilled over into the club life with the likes of Reggae Jazz Contemporary Dance Company regularly entertaining the crowds down at Casa Latina and Yardbird Suite with their jazz and latin dance exhibitions. I still play regularly for dance classes, apart from anything else it keeps me match fit and is great fun so I still try to make time for collaborations with contemporary dance companies.
-Why did you have the idea to put together elements of jazz, Latin music and flamenco with the rich electronic sounds and pop music influences?
The idea came about mainly due to the fact that although SAUDADE was successful it was still heavily based on jazz and soloing which does tend to turn a lot of people off unfortunately. We were also largely influenced by the restrained ambience of some of the earlier Caf Del Mar compilations and so thought we would try developing a sound that still had the instrumentation and accessibility of SAUDADE but using more updated sounds and technology to smooth out the edgy and in your face feel of the earlier band. Although we both played jazz, salsa, bugalu, and samba we were both still very much influenced by the classic rock and psychedelic pop music of our youth so it seemed a natural progression to unify all these influences and styles in ORGATRONICS.
- What is your relationship with the club culture and the electronic music scene in UK?
As we are just breaking out of the studio our relationship with the club culture is in embryonic from. We are at the moment working on some more material which has a more up tempo/club vibe which we are hoping to release and start touring with in the summer. We have had some tracks included on compilations by dance label Mettle Music (Latin vibes and Jazz Vibes series) and the Balearic club La Cova (Mosaic de Mar). We are also hoping to start touring the European electronic scene with festival appearances in the near future.
-Do you think it is possible to call your music ambient/lounge or not?
We think our sound has elements and qualities of ambient lounge music but due to our choice of instrumentation and our musical influences has some more depth and interest as well as not been as smooth and overproduced. Our myriad of Latin influences are never far away from our music and this comes through on even our more laid back tracks.
-Can you tell us something about the Moonfruit Sessions?
The MOONFRUIT sessions began in mid 2004 when we put down some simple guitar and cajon parts. We then experimented with various musicians over the next few months. We were searching for a particular style and sound although initially we could not put our finger on it. We eventually called on our friend Dan Goldman (keyboard player with MORCHEEBA) and it was when he added some Moog to a few or our tracks the sound and our ideas became crystallised. We wanted a vocal element in our music though we were not sure whether this meant lyrics as such, we contacted another friend of ours Emily Levy who as well as singing with hip-hop band The Deck Shufflers also sang medieval music in a classical music group .This sounded ideal for our vision of the band and she came in to do some sessions for us. We wanted to use the voice as an instrument rather than for a message and Emilys technically perfect and unique style was perfect for this. It was then just a matter or asking our old friend Malcolm Strachan to come and join the band. Malcolm, who is now touring with Corrine Bailey-Rae, is a trumpet virtuoso and his lyrical and passionate playing was the perfect last element for our vision.
The album MOONFRUIT has many diverse styles on its original compositions but because of the musicians we used and the stylistic continuity we employed it works as whole album rather than a random collection of tunes. You can check out many of the tracks on the album on our website www.orgatronics.mooonfruit.com or at www.myspace.com/orgatronics and the album is widely available to buy online as well as on i-tunes.
-What kind of music are the other Orgatronics musicians involved in?
At the moment many of the orgatronics musicians are busy with many other projects though this summer when we are planning to play live we are also going to return to the studio to record some more material. This new material will feature the same line up but we plan for many of the compositions to have less of a lounge feel and more of an up tempo club orientated style. Dan Goldman is still busy writing with Morcheeba as well as his own project JD73, Emily Levy is currently working on a new album with the Deck Shufflers and Malcolm Strachan is just releasing an album by his hardcore funk band The Haggis Horns as well as touring with the UKs latest biggest selling vocalist Corinne Bailey-Rae.
- Please tell us something about the arrangements and the instrumental interaction of FOOTPRINTS, the track included into our sampler this month...
The album MOONFRUIT features 9 original compositions but we also decided to include a tune from the Saudade set list done in an Orgatronics style and this is the Wayne Shorter, Blue Note classic Footprints. Originally a moody jazz waltz we wanted to lighten the spirit of the original song and give it a fresh summertime vibe so we changed the time signature and gave it a samba feel typical of Airto Moreiras style in the 70s. After a chilled out 4/4 intro featuring synth, guitar and voice interaction the tune bursts out into a 7/8 samba feel with Emily taking the vocal line. All the percussion on this tune is played buy Sam Bell, this includes cajon, triangle, cuica, cymbals, tamborim and congas. The first sole is actually originally an early Dan keyboard solo which, due to the wonders of technology, we changed to marimba. The second solo features Malcolm at his best followed by an extensive keyboard workout by Dan. After this roller coaster Rhodes solo we enter the samba section which features Sam bell on tamborim conjuring up a Rio Carnival Escolas do Samba vibe followed by a last re-run of the tune.
Sam Bell Cajon, cuica, congas, triangle, tamborim, cymbals, whistle
Rich Arthurs Guitar, keyboards
Dan Goldman Moog bass, marimba solo, Rhodes solo
Emily Levy Vocals
Malcolm Strachan Trumpet.