The first of a series of reflections from Australian artists who have made an overseas foray. There is quite a contingent of Aussie musicians in New York, James Muller, Sean Wayland & Barney McCall spring to mind. They often go on to record overseas, not to mention take up residence. Then there are those on the European content such as Aron Ottignon, Tony Buck and the list goes in.
We invite musicians to write to us and tell us about their experiences. This article is by Dave Jackson a Sydney based saxophonist.
“Sean doesn’t know this but it was during a gig of his that I had a musical epiphany which led to 2 years hard practise and a complete shift in my musical values. A few years ago Sean Wayland brought NY drummer Mark Guiliana out and presented a couple of sets of music at the Basement with James Muller and Brett Hurst. It was an outstanding gig. I left the Basement that night asking big questions of my own approach to music. The combination of that experience with the trouble I had every time I tried to play with Warwick Alder’s band led me to make some changes. The result was a 2 year – unpaid apprenticeship that I forced upon myself. I decided not to pursue any creative music projects, I was going to stick to a vigorous practise routine and deal with some of the fundamentals which were missing in my playing.
Up until that point I’d approached and experienced music in a very emotional way, to me music was about expression and that was the bottom line. Although I still hold this view my approach has become more complicated. Being both the departure point and the desired destination of my music, it became very apparent that if emotional expression continued to be the central component, I could never hope to achieve such musical clarity as I heard that night. A new door of understanding opened for me and I started to see how the craftsmanship of music ultimately offers the artist more musical adjectives, more tools for describing what it is they see in the world and want to share. So I knuckled down and did a bunch of practise (and continue to now and will continue to indefinitely).
About 12months ago this 2 year period was just about up and although I’d become slightly obsessed with practise and felt as though I’d barely achieved anything, I stuck to another promise I had made myself which was to re-engage musically after 2 years, knowing that there was a danger I would just sink deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of Jazz Practise. It was at this point that I decided to consolidate my ‘apprenticeship’ by going to NYC and studying with some of my favourite musicians in the world. I applied for the Skills and Development grant through AUSCO and late in November 2011 I found out that my application had been successful.
During my mesmerising month on the world’s most ambitious little island I had the opportunity to study with some of my hero’s – Dave Binney, Donny McCaslin, Will Vinson, Joel Frahm and Sean Wayland among others. I was completely overwhelmed with new information but I recorded all the lessons and although I couldn’t absorb it all at the time I intend to work through it and turn it into knowledge over the next few years. One of the highlights of my time in NY was actually getting to know Sean Wayland – I was so impressed by him. As a person, artist and musician – I found him to be one of the most dedicated and honest I’ve ever encountered, it made me proud to be an Australian Jazz musician. I didn’t know this at the time but a couple of weeks later, by the end of my time in NYC, I was going to be holding a USB stick in my hands which contained a recording session from a studio in Brooklyn of Sean and I playing my music together with a couple of locals on board to help out.
Earlier on, one of my intentions was to hire a few ‘heavy’ rhythm section guys and get together for a few plays – with the intention of getting feedback and paying them as though it was a private lesson but I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to try and get a session together instead. With Sean’s help I found a willing Bassist and Drummer in Orlando Le Fleming and Greg Hutchinson. It all came together very quickly, I found out on the Sunday that everyone and the studio were available and we were in the studio on the Wednesday with only 4 hours and no rehearsal. To spite being extremely intimidated by my company and environment I was determined to hold it together and just focus on playing the best I can play. I found out (after the session was over thankfully) that one of the mics I used was a mic that Coltrane used to play on, as if the whole situation wasn’t already overwhelming enough. In the end the result was 5 releasable takes on 5 tunes, one of which is the Bernie McGann tune ‘D Day’ the others all being my compositions.
At the time I was obsessing a little with the nature of the study of the Universe – i.e. basic justifications for the big bang theory and reasons why we are so pre-occupied with cause and effect in the observational sciences. The EP is called Cosmontology which refers to the study of the study of the universe (my own little linguistic invention, see what I did there) which was something I indulged in a little when I couldn’t practise, wasn’t studying or checking out gigs etc. The musical platforms are all very simple, focussing on strong melodic material and very open substructures for the musicians to play comfortably over. I feel the result is strong and I’m very proud of it."
"It's great to hear Dave and Sean playing so well with such a good NY rhythm section. The music is very impressive in the best way… It’s another step up for Australian Jazz." Mike Nock
If you want to hear the results of this collaboration Visit www.davejacksonmusic.com
