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42 - Adult Music

Chris Pitts

Label: Jazznation Records
Released: 2014
Duration: 00:52:01
Views: 219

Tracks

I Want You Baby: Morning Star:Old School: To Yusef Lateef With Love:One Fish, Two Fish:Smiling Eyes:Redwood Foreigner:Rudy:42:Whoville:Paul's Rondo Beach Party:

Personnel

Additional Personnel / Information

Joe Merrick Guitar on I want You Baby Jame Hill Trumpet on Redwood Foreigner

Album Description

Compositions by all or as noted Chris Pitts is published by Jesmon Music BMI Paul Bloom is published by Bloomusic ASCAP Wes Wirth is published by Crow's Nest ASCAP copyright 2014 Jesmon Music Recorded and Mixed by Joe Merrick at Guilty Dog Studios Marshfield MA A baby is born and it quickly becomes aware of a huge amount of sounds. Eventually, the brain starts sorting these sounds and some become language, some become environmental, and some combine into very pleasant and intriguing creations. As we develop, our ears and brains arrange more of what we hear, rhythm hypnotizes us in a directly primal fashion, repetitive phrases create tensions and releases so when changes occur, it tickles us anew. Tones magically pull and push toward each other. Depending on where one is born, these tones and rhythms can be vastly different. As we grow older, we crave new sounds that produce more of these sensations. We are surrounded and bombarded with music everywhere: on television, on the radio, in stores, on the internet, on our phones, in cars, and this “music” has different purposes. Some are said to calm you down, some will make you spend more money, some will make you look at a product, some will make you feel happy or sexy, and some will make you want to dance. That boom, boom, boom, is primal indeed. Most of the music available and used in advertising is targeted at 12-17-year-old humans and for most of the population, this is where the ears and brains slow down arranging sounds and get on with the business of obtaining shelter and food. We have strong and positive associations with much of the music of our youth and it connects to those memories every time we hear those songs. For the vast majority of the population, that’s enough, that music brings them joy and we can all agree, that is what music, and the arts in general, is for. But have you ever heard a song you loved as a kid but now as an adult you find it thin and flat, not nearly as pleasing as you recall? Blame your brain for this because it is still looking to be surprised, teased, saddened, excited, elated, calmed, and thrilled, but what it has heard before, perhaps many times, won’t do that anymore. Consciously, but mostly unconsciously, every time it hears something different, it records that moment, a new rhythm, a new harmony, an unexpected twist, shift or resolution. The memory of the joy one experienced as a youngster while listening to this music can not override the boredom of the brain to provide satisfaction. This is good news otherwise there would be nothing but nursery rhymes surrounding us our entire lives. If your brain is pleased with the music of your youth or music like it, you should get another record because you will not be able to process the music here. I don’t mean that as some elitist condensation at all, let me explain. Years ago I was producing Jazz for Greenpeace, a benefit concert by about 50 top jazz artists in Detroit. Greenpeace representatives met with me at Alvin’s bar where I held a Monday night jam session. As the pre- production meetings would wind down, musicians would take the stage and start performing jazz standards. Through continued conversation I determined that one of the organizers could not hear any organization in the music, she did not hear repetitive forms, could not hear the bass lines, or the interplay of the various instruments. The music was so new to her ears that her brain could not process the relationships of all the rhythms and notes - it was all cacophony to her. She honestly thought we were just tooting away with no organization whatsoever. I started guiding her through the music by pointing out where the forms would start again, where the melody could be heard ghosting throughout, and where instruments were reacting to each other. Her face registered absolute amazement as her brain began to organize what had been noise - she heard it! It was if she could suddenly understand French. This was all in one sitting! When the brain gets a hook and starts processing, fasten your seatbelts. My point is that unless you have nurtured your brain beyond popular music, you are less likely to hear the organization or interplay of this music and consequently derive any pleasure from it. That said, I believe this recording can meet all kinds of people wherever they fall on the spectrum but perhaps your chances are better if you have had some exposure to music that doesn't rely on four-on-the-floor beats and vocalist acrobatics. Wes Wirth is a bonafide genius. I’ve met many musicians over time and some have distinguished themselves as top artists, I think more than one even received the famed MacArthur “genius” grant. Wes immersed himself in the study of global musics, arts, environment, history, science, and embodies the renaissance man. When he plays, it’s much more than placing notes and intricate lines, it’s about being in a state that connects with a deeper, spiritual, if you wish, mindset that gives a profound and meaningfulness to a performance. This transcends any genre and is what music is really about. He composes so much that we could not even get through much of his material - more to come. He introduced me to Paul Bloom who was still in high school but attending one of his classes at the New England Conservatory. Takes one to know one I suppose. Paul came in with an entire suite of material he had composed inspired by Dr. Seuss. His compositions were flawless, complete poems, pure ideas polished with just the right amount of craft and inspiration without pretense, and he plays the same way. You can hear him approach a tune without any preconceptions, without any agendas of prowess, just pure response to being in the moment. Most professional musicians go a lifetime without reaching this space. Ric Pearlman cares deeply about the music and is always challenging himself, and us, to reinvent what we do and to get out of our comfort zones. If it hadn’t been for Ric, this project would never have happened. I heard him playing on a commercial gig with such power and vigor - the likes I hadn’t heard in the Boston area for 10 years - that I ran up to him in the middle of his set to get his number. I knew we had to do something. I had all kinds of notions about what we should do but after the first rehearsal, it was obvious the best thing was let go entirely and see what happens. Turns out it was all I could do to hang on! After a while, we discovered that playing without any constraints produced music that was as good as anything we had written, in fact, several of the tunes we recorded were made up on the spot. Reacting and using our compositional senses really can be rewarding but it also means failing which is a very important part of the R&D going on here. The late great trumpeter, composer/arranger Herbie Williams told me he would prefer to hear young artists struggling to play rather than accomplished musicians playing a perfectly crafted performance. He relished the unexpected, even mistakes, which for his ears were only creative challenges to his mind begging for solutions. I think Herbie would have liked this recording because while this is not a perfect album with perfect solos, it does contain some truly authentic creativity that teases the brain and takes the listener on some journeys into different places. So what does it all mean? You have the answer in your hands. There have been myriads of studies written about this phenomenon but paraphrasing a theory by the late composer George Russell: the brain will stay actively involved if it can predict about 50% of what it hears and is surprised by the other 50%. If the music becomes too predictable then we lose interest, but if it becomes too hard to follow, we lose interest again. 42 is a lot of things besides Jackie Robinson’s number. It is a balanced and perfect number, it is also referenced in the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Universe as the answer to all things, delivered by an AI that had to process for years and years for that. We were all hoping for more, and perhaps that’s the point.

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