jazz

About My Latest Story: “Animals with Nowhere to Go”

~ davidbiddle ~ Leave a comment

I was so happy to see my story, “Animals with Nowhere to Go”, published this month (January) at Jerry Jazz Musician. I wrote “Animals” specifically to enter the Jerry Jazz 55th short fiction contest last fall. Even though it only wound up short-listed (go to “Chromesthesia “ here to read the wonderful winning story by Shannan Brady) it is an honor to see my work alongside so many other great creative people’s.

I discovered Jerry Jazz about fifteen years ago while researching material for my novel Notes on the Golden Country (still a few years to go before it’s out). At the time, I was writing a rather freeform essay on the effect that Ralph Ellison’s work had on American literature. You can read that brief essay here. JJM is a wonderful repository for all things Ralph Waldo Ellison. I’d found my people.

I am a writer who has a tendency to connect his fiction and essays to musical questions and mysteries. I often go find the Jerry Jazz Musician website whenever I’m feeling beat up and ragged out from projects I’m working on. It’s a great source of inspiration for jazz culture lovers on all sorts of levels with poetry, essays, fiction, photos, videos, and book reviews on everyone from John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk to James Baldwin and jazz chronicler Gary Giddins.

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Independence Day with Global Illage: Improvisational Music and Freedom

~ David Biddle ~ Leave a comment
http://www.1krecordings.com/home for availability

We had the opportunity last night, Independence Day Night, to attend an album release party for the new Global Illage album “The Complete Portland Sessions.” I’ve written about this mind blowing quartet previously. They’re all about improvisational music and, truthfully, I think they’re channeling the 22nd Century pretty forcefully. Global Illage is Chris Cuzme on reeds and bass; Dan Sears, trumpet and keyboards; Jim Hamilton, percussion; and Tim Motzer playing guitar and electronics (like a winged angelic mad professor blend of Frank Zappa and Pat Metheny). Their music grooves, flies, digs, screams, settles, electrifies, and calls forth the spirits of so many of our greatest musical geniuses of the past 100+ years.


I asked a couple other people at the concert last night what we would call this stuff. Our final pick was global acid jazz fusion beat. Each musician brings his distinct musical intelligence to the mix. And each musician is a world-class performer who could probably sit in with anyone from Yo-Yo Ma to Taylor Swift.

I did a lot of chuckling last night. Most people hadn’t heard a lot of the work these four wizards were spinning for us. I had. My friend Jim Hamilton, the band’s percussionist extraordinaire, gave me an advance demo of the album about a month ago and I’ve had it cranked every morning since while I do layout and editing of the paperback version of my novel Beyond the Will of God. I was chuckling because while I heard pieces of the tunes from their album, they were taking us off on insanely fascinating uncharted musical adventures in each of the maybe 10 compositions they performed over a 2 1/2 hour trip. 
It was Independence Day and most of the country was jostling for parking space and a piece of ground to watch fireworks. We were in Jim’s backyard with 40-50 other likeminded jam lovers watching four cats groove as independent musical thinkers in a totally American far out way. [Note: Philly has the blessing of The Roots as our 4th of July houseband down on the Parkway before fireworks, so that’s a pretty descent improvisational crew sending out their own vibe for the half million who show up there, too]. In fact, we weren’t just watching guys jam like few others can jam, we had the added visual treat of a digital light show by Dejha Ti and Eric Silverson flashing and swarming the colonial era barn behind the band.
Near the end of the concert last night I was struck quite cleanly between the eyes by the revelation that the creative improvisational act has to be one of the most powerful altered states available to us as humans. I chuckled at that as the Ill boys were winding down their last number. We were standing in a dense urban neighborhood in the city where liberty was born watching astounding musicians demonstrate the magic and height of freedom. 
Thanks Tim, Jim, Dan and Chris. You guys are the best. Miles and Trane would be proud.

Global illage: Music to Drift into the Wilderness With

~ David Biddle ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes you are blessed with good friends who have so much artistic talent they inspire the hell out of you. As I work through final edits and publication formatting for Beyond the Will of God, I have the privilege of listening to some of the most interesting music I’ve heard in a long time. My good friend Jim Hamilton, percussionist extraordinaire (a big-time student of Brazilian rhythm of all kinds), has provided me with a rough cut of extended compositions by an iteration (or something) of his electro-trip-jazz band GLOBAL iLLAGE.

Rest assured, if you pay attention, the most amazing music you will ever hear is yet to come.

I have no idea when these tracks will find their way into finished form, but you really need to be on the lookout for this album. It’s establishing one helluva supreme manifestation in my head. My novel Beyond the Will of God, is all about the transformative, transcendent power of music. It is a murder mystery wrapped up in a music mystery wrapped up in a set of cosmic questions. (And, yes, you forgot about those questions, I know, but they still require an answer!) That’s what this music is all about (except the murder).

So, I’m listening right now to some of the best free-form, swirling, groove beat, wilderness-inducing music I’ve heard since their first album, “SushiLove Sessions.” I’m kind of afraid to put on headphones and crank this stuff. Our house might float away…. 

The SushiLove Sessions was my go-to CD (a double disc tour de force) back in the early Naughts as I finished the second round of revisions to Beyond the Will of God and a teaser story called “The Significance of Music: The Egg Journals.” Sushi has an “ill side” and a “chill side.” They’re both right up there with my favorite intelligent music of all time. 
What comes to mind listening to the Global dudes is Weather Report, Miles Davis, Don Cherry, and Mahavishnu Orchestra all squeezed into a 21st Century Zip-Lock Baggie full of sparkling Brazilian and African World Rhythm served up through very loving, gentle melodic riffs that are actually surprisingly soulful and inventive all at once. This is dance music as tripped-out and far-fetched as anything you’ve ever heard, but joyous, full spirited and extremely touching in parts — and insanely wild in others. 
You can find out more about SushiLove Sessions, here. You can also track it down on either CD Baby, or iTunes. Buy it and listen to it when the sun goes down…or just before the sun comes up. I will try to keep you posted on when this next album is coming out. It’s amazing.
-DCB