Sunday Afternoon Music Improv

Posted on by Thor

SUNDAY AFTERNOON MUSIC IMPROV featured musicians from Central FL, Jax, and Miami. The session was on August 18th from 3-7PM at Urban ReThink (625 E Central Blvd, Orlando). When I arrived, Dan Reaves and Lucy Bonk were performing on stage using electronics and a wide assortment of found objects. Lucy used several kitchen bowls, using them like gongs. Dan’s instruments were gathered on a sheet of corrugated steel. He used a foot pedal and a dial with his right hand to modulate the electric sounds which sounded like someone scanning a short wave radio for a signal. Several large nuts on a screw were turned and he had a cow bell, a brass bell which he would use for percussive effects. The performance was on the edge of absolute dissonance. At times the beat and rhythm was mesmerizing to sketch to. When they were done, the electronic sound persisted making it hard to know when, or if, to clap.

Four musicians set up on stage with more traditional instruments. They were Dan Kozak, Kris Gruda, Jim Ivy and A.S. Herring. They had a game show spinning wheel which could be spun to decide if the piece performed would be a solo, duo, or quartet. Large foam dice would be rolled just to pick which musician would spin the wheel. A laptop displayed a visual representation of the next performance but I never got a glance at the screen. Various sayings were used to inspire the performances. For instance one was, “Life is a lamp flickering in the wind” and another was “The fallen flower never returns to the tree.” It was a fun idea to help structure the improvisation adding chance and luck into each piece. Perhaps ten to fifteen people were in the audience with new arrivals all the time. As I was getting ready to go, Chris Belt who organizes the Accidental Music Festival ran into the room drenched head to toe from the rain. Nothing will stop people who want to experience something new, cutting edge and different in Orlando.

Free Jazz, Improvisation

Posted on by Thor

The thing that I find fascinating about the Accidental Music Festival is that each evening is truly unique. I never know what to expect when I walk into Urban ReThink. This evening was unique to say the least. As sound technicians scurried and adjusted mics, I started blocking in my sketch. I was impressed by the drum set which was covered with decals. In itself it was a visual treat. Kris Gruda performed on guitar. He wrestled with the instrument contorting his body to the sounds produced. He experimented with how to create music. A glass was pressed against the frets, a drum stick banged against the strings. The water bottle at his feet became an instrument as he twisted it creating sharp plastic sounds. I loved when he used a kazoo and played it in a cup of water. That was music any dentist could appreciate.

Jill Burton performed vocals. I can’t say she was singing since there were no lyrics. Her vocal chords were just an instrument to create experimental sounds. At one point she sounded like a whale at another like an Indian princess speaking in tongues. Part of me wanted to laugh and yet some passages were quite operatic. Lord knows I don’t understand opera, yet it is considered art. Her throat howled like the wind, filling the empty room.

My favorite performance came at the end of the evening with Michael Welch on drums and Daniel Jordon on saxophone playing a close approximation of Jazz. Drum Talk was a solo performed by Michael and it sounded very much like a beat generation mantra. The sets were long and uncharted. Daniel introduced himself slyly saying, “It has been a long time since I’ve been the corniest cat at a gig.” When the song ended, he thanked Urban ReThink for, “bringing real musical expression to Orlando in what is otherwise a f*cking wasteland. This evening allowed the artists to perform something new rather than reenacting what happened in the past.”