Intergenerational Improvisations in Space
My son came over to borrow a microphone and this happened...
I’m taking an extra week or two to edit the next Chapter in Blues, Preludes & Feuds because the next chapter needs…help. In the meantime, this happened.
My son Emanuel came over the other night to borrow a microphone while he awaits the arrival of a new cable for his high-end-ish mic (we have the same high-end mic.) So I lent him a mid-end mic.
While we were in my studio, he suggested that we do an improvisation. “We haven’t done one in a long time.”
He was right. When he lived here, we’d do them occasionally—mostly him on guitar and me on piano (what else?) He’s doing more vocals and less guitar these days.
I have to admit, a small part of me was reluctant to jam with him again. Don’t get me wrong. I respect his talent, craft, and ambition. He does his thing at a very high level and cares deeply about getting his craft and art right. He gives a shit about the details, which is awesome.
So the reluctance wasn’t about his talent or ability. Instead, it stemmed from the fact that we come from essentially two disparate musical universes. I’m not clear that the laws of his universe work properly in mine and vice versa.
The Emanuel (AKA Phantom Xanon) Universe: Roots in the music of the early 2000s (e.g., early Gaga, Jay-Z, Kanye), 90s Grunge (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains), some metal (Deftones.) Mostly he listens to modern pop and hip-hop these days, artists like Post Malone, EDM, etc. I have nothing nice to say about those last two, so I’ll stop there.
The Me (AKA Peter Saltzman) Universe: Rooted in the pop of the 60s (Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Dylan, Paul Simon), jazz (Coltrane, Miles, Ellington), and classical music (Beethoven, Bach, Stravinksy, and too many others to mention.)
I do like a lot of what he likes including that whole Grunge movement, Jay-Z, some Kanye, and Gaga. He likes the Beatles and Stevie Wonder and knows their music pretty well. He doesn’t listen to much jazz or classical but does like Coltrane.
So there is some common ground. I’ve also noted that we share a love of certain types of scales (e.g., the Phrygian mode and certain Middle Eastern-sounding modes.) Maybe he inherited some of that from me, or maybe not. I don’t live vicariously through his achievements, so it’s fine either way. I will say that he listened to a lot of my music when he was younger.
In any case, respect between us is mutual, so even with my misgivings about trying to enter into his musical space and not end up sounding like an old fool, I said, “Sure, let’s do it.”
We did a couple of takes, one slow and one fast, without recording. Then, encouraged, I said, “Let’s record one.”
He said, “Sure. Let’s start with a slow groove.” I agreed. Our attempt at a faster groove before recording felt a bit forced—like I was trying to sound hip and failing (e.g., being an old fool.) I can’t quite get a handle on contemporary grooves, even though I have written a lot of hip-hop for the SciFi Musical Drama TV show I’ve been working on for the past five years. (More on that next month.)
So I fired up my recording software, turned on the mic, created tracks for voice and piano, and pressed record. No click track, no groove, we didn’t even use headphones. Just like the old days! (Watch the Beatles Get Back documentary on Disney, and you’ll know what I mean.)
Here’s the result:
I’ve got to say; it’s quite beautiful, evocative, dreamy, spacey. It isn’t perfectly consistent or without mistakes, but it’s an authentic meeting of our two musical universes. Weirdly shifting time signatures (a lot of it in 13/8): that’s my thing. I do that without thinking about it. One day I’ll explain how that came to be. The melodic style is pure Emanuel. He probably does that without thinking about it. The whole thing evolves organically and has a shape: even the suggestion of a verse and chorus.
What makes it works in that common ground we share: love of the weird modes, dark ambient moods (as Emanual terms it.) A meeting of two musical universes like this requires compromise: I stayed away from the kinds of complex chord changes I like to use that make no sense in Emanuel’s world. He rolled with the weird time signatures from my world.
It works.
Maybe we’ll do an actual album one day.