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| All songs composed by Joe Smith. |
- Shroo
- Rebel
- Sasa SIngs
- Gulp
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- Sassy
- Y
- Long
- Sad
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Liner Notes Reviews
Produced by Joe Smith
Executive producer: Jordi Pujol
Recorded by: Jordi Vidal at Laietana Studio, Barcelona, November 22nd and 23rd, 2003
Mixed and mastered by: Joe Smith and Jordi Vidal
Photographs by: Natalia Cedrés |
Joe Smith
- Drums
Born in Chicago, 1971. Joe attended the Cincinnati Conservatory and
the Manhattan School of Music studying with Vernel Fornier, Jimmy
Lovelace, John Riely and Jeff Williams. During the 90's, Joe lived
in New York City where he was the leader of many groups featuring such musicians as Reid Anderson,
Ethan Iverson, Chris Lightcap, Jason Lindner, John Stetch and Ben
Waltzer.
In February 2003, Joe will be featured on the latest
recording of Jazz Legend John McNeil. Joe was also a founding member
of the African Funk group 'Fatima' and will be
featured alongside Jesse Murphy and Jorge Rossy on a new disc to be
released this spring. Joe is currently living in Barcelona. |
Bill McHenry
- Tenor Sax
Born in Maine, 1972. Bill attended the New England conservatory in
Boston where he studied with Bill Garzone, Dewey Redman and Jimmy
Juffry. Playing a major role in the New York City Jazz scene for the
last 10 years, Bill has been featured as a sideman on the discs of many great young Jazz musicians
such as Chris Lightcap, Reid Anderson, Ethan Iverson, Ben Waltzer,
Rebeca Martin, Guillermo Klien and John Stetch.
As a leader, he has
released two discs for the Fresh Sound New Talent label, both
receiving honors from the New York Times. Bill's latest disc
features jazz legend Paul Motion, Reid Anderson and Ben Monder.
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Guillermo Klien
- Fender Rhodes
Born in Buenos Aires, 1969. Guillermo received his degree in composition from Berklee in 1993 where
he had studied with Inessa Zaraevtzy and Sofia Rossoff. In 1995, he moved to New York City where he
began developing and performing with his own group Big Van and later Los Guachos. Many of the finest
young Jazz musicians have played in his groups such as Diego Urcola, Chris Cheek, Bill McHenry, Tony
Malaby, Ben Monder, Marlon Browden, Jeff Ballard, Luciana Souza and Claudia Acuna. As a leader Guillermo
has released four discs, the last three by Sunny Side Records. In 2002, he spent three months in
India, producing and arranging two albums, working closely with many famous Indian musicians. He is
currently living in Barcelona, Spain.
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Jorge Rossy
- Piano, Drums
Born in Barcelona, 1964. Jorge has lived in Boston and New York. During the 90's, he met and began
playing with musicians like Mark Turner, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman and Perico
Sambeat. He formed the group The Bloomdaddies with Chris Cheek and Seamus Blake, and collaborated with
many other musicians of the new generation. He is at the moment the Spanish musician with the most
international projection, and from 1996 has regularly been the drummer of the Brad Mehldau Trio,
with whom he has recorded several discs and made tours all over the world. The musical trajectory
of Jorge Rossy is documented in an extensive discography, in which in addition to the before mentioned
musicians, appear musicians like Mark Johnson, Chic Corea, Jimmy Knepper, Danilo Perez, Avishai
Cohen and many others.
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Gorka Benitez
- Tenor Sax
Born in Bilbao, 1965. Considered to have one of Spain's most personal and
expressive voices in Jazz, Gorka has been a leader in the Jazz scene in Spain for the last 15 years. After living
in New York in the 90's, he has been living in Barcelona where he leads his trio and plays in the groups of David Xirgu,
David Mengual, Marc Miralta and with the Mingus Dinasty Big Band Condicio Humana.
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Chris Lightcap
- Bass
Born in Pennsylvania in 1970. Chris has studied with bass legend Milt Hinton,
Jeff Levine, Cameron Brown and Bill Dixon. In 1992 he moved to New York City where he began working regularly with the
Cecil Taylor Big Band. He has performed with Archie Shepp, Sunny Murray, George Garzone, Paquito D«Reviera, John
Abercrombie and Jeff "Tain" Watts. Chris recorded two Discs as a leader featuring Tony Malaby, Bill McHenry and
Gerald Cleaver, "Lay-up" in 2000 and "Bigmouth" in 2003 for the fresh sound New Talent label. Chris can also be
he ard on over 25 discs as a side man with Joe Morris, Tom Harrell, Anthony Coleman, Matt Maneri and many others.
Since 2000, he has toured and recorded extensively with Jazz Violinist Regina Carter and is feature on her latest
release for Verve Records entitled "Pagannini: After a Dream." He has also toured and played major festivals with
such bandleaders as Mark Turner, Ravi Coltrane, Matt Wilson and Terrel Stafford.
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"Melodic Workshop" Liner Notes
- by Joe Smith
Melody!!!!!..... dictates all.........bass note, chord color, time signature...form......emotion............expression!
Melody with countermelody.......melodic conversations.....Drama........in as many different scenarios as possible. ......it's
the(my) only goal.........
The History.............. been developing in the melodic workshop for 2 years..........first gigs at the end of july 2002 with
Gorka and Nic and friends......... first tour, december 2002 ...enter old friend and collaborator Bill....New friend Guillermo
too.....Jorge can make some of the gigs!!!!!!¡¡¡Que Bien!!!! ..........more gigs with my small group,,,,,,, working the music........
planning.....on the phone......culminating in.... November 2003..."Lighty" jumps aboard.........gruelling 2 week tour in Spain with 2
days in the studio .....to document all that's happened.......
The first chapters.....free form melodies ...... harmonizing later ........if
it could sing standing alone...... first songs were
Shroo and Gulp...... Second period of composition..... using melodies to connect random tonalities (some harmonically far
apart)............third phase...... addition of countermelodies in most songs ...the most complex being Sad (4 countermelodies)
and...... words......
The Instrumentation......... electric bass....... exploiting the built in sustain qualities..... to leave more space for the 2
drums..........2 drums ...overlapping rhythms creating a sonic pillow.....2 keyboard instruments .... Rhodes is so warm.... lots
of colors........stereo.......2 saxes .... Melody and countermelody....... same instruments playing together shows how original
their personal voices are.....it's challenging..... tenor madness!!!!!!
The musicians.........all play solos from ideas.........all have such distinct musical personalities (and personal ones also...you
have to meet them!)
The name for this group(project) has been the Melodic Workshop........first it was Free-Melodic Workshop........once it was
Melody Band.
The Disc......I wanted to make a "listenable" disc.....have a lot of the same elements in every song.....sustain energy from
tune to tune.....As in any voyage, you start in one place and end in another.....
For me... a pleasure......to watch the project grow and change ......from musical and dramatic ideas in my head...... to feeling
the sensation of improvising and performing with the group.... to listening and shaping an album from what was really captured in
these recordings......
the melodies
Shroo ...this melody is a separate entity from the pulse based rhythms that lie below it...there is no "1" or ...
there are 6 different "1's"...its a trip..... large, open spaces..time... passing.... Rebel...this title reflects
the feeling I had while composing it.....my ear was rebelling...finding melodies and harmonies in obscure places... ...
it's mystery...the flute is vulnerable... and yet rebellous....again, the solos reflect huge open spaces.......
(for those who know me, you realise I couldn't resist overdubbing the Gong...........)
Sasa Sings......123...12...123...1 +.......a mixolydian sound...I searched a long time for the way out of it ...
and found it ....check out me and Jorge's musical "karate" battle...(no one was hurt......)who is Sasa??????...
Bill thinks I named my Gong "sasa".......She knows who she is and I hope she continues to sing......OK , it's in
11 mostly... Gulp..... is the sound we make when we drink or in this case breath air, very rapidly.......Don't be
afraid..... there might not be a set pulse but....time passes...melodies, improvised and written have coherent
movement.....the band is together......it is Music.... Sassy.....I vaguely remember a cartoon about a big "cool"
dog and a small "tag- a- long" dog....this melody is the Big dog...or a super funky mama......as you like
(or as I like)...check out the story.....the changes are wierd......Y(no tengo dinero).... there are a lot of
things happening in the world right now that many people might feel powerless to change.......there are 2 parts
to this title....firstly....the melody of this song seems to always be asking questions in a futile manner.....
the counter melody tries to console .....Guillermo heard the second title as lyrics for the last melodic phrase....
when these titles are put together, all musicians can relate... Long.......this is a song about my long._______..........
road through.......No.....It's a melody that came to me that is full of expression......I hear ya Gorka!!!!!!!!.....
Sad.....I wrote this melody some time ago....it felt "sad"....later... I looked for the saddest event in my life
and wrote lyrics about it.......it's simple..........Melody......countermelodies....emotion....I like to imagine
that all 5 voices are one person..... the lead melody being the conscious mind .........
Thank you.........Bill, Gorka, Guillermo, Chris and Jorge for the dedication, the truth, the tour and the great playing......
to "Coda" for all the rehearsing, memorizing and for the great singing(Guapas!!!!) ........to all the other great musicians
who have been a part of the group.....Nic Thys, David Xirgu, David Mengual, Marti Serra, Llibert fortuny, Dani Perez, Benet
Palet, Esteban Hernandez and Chris Higgins......... to Jordi Vidal for the great sound and patience..... Natalia Cedres for the
great fotos......to Rafa Ross for arraigning them...special thanks to Mauri Estrugi for looking for gigs.....to Kim Bacon,
Montse Roig, Adrian, Stephan Lisbin , Jose Alberto Medina, Juan Pablo and all the people at Jamboree and "The Project".....
to my family.....Anna, Ron, Betty, Jenny, Scott,, John and Rick and his family........ and .....of coarse.....a big special
thanks to ......the big man..... Jordi Pujol ...for doing all that he does!!!!!!!!!!
These melodies are dedicated to the loving memory of my grandpa Charles Smith
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