Masada in Warsaw & Sylvie in Augsburg
+ a Classic Guide to Strategy bumper sticker!
Sup lovers?
It’s been quite some time since I last checked in, but I can assure you there has been no shortage of activity happening on the Fladik front.
For starters, I made a pilgrimage to Warsaw, (of all places) for the New Masada Quartet and Brian Marsella Trio double-feature! This was all funded on the back of one of Fladik’s greatest fans and biggest supporters, Mr. Kenny Wollesen, who generously purchased so many copies of Days of Zorn 1 + 2 that my flight costs were basically covered.
What an experience. The crowd at Warsaw Summer Jazz Days was vast – several hundred people packed into every seat of the Stodoła Club, and even more standing patrons further lining the walls and balcony. It had been a pretty hot summer’s day, and although this heat was hard to avoid inside the venue, the crowd atmosphere was warm to match.
It was hard to believe that Ches Smith had only stepped off the plane from NYC earlier that day, given how energetic he was behind the kit for the Brian Marsella Trio. Unfortunately this show was just a quick stopover for him before flying to Spoleto for another show with Barbara Hannigan, so we only got to hang for fifteen minutes before he had to go back to his hotel.
He told me to meet him in the foyer. I told him to watch out for a guy who might hound him for an autograph, because he’s selling a photo of him right there at the merch table. Ches said: “I’ll buy it.”
A friend of mine had directed my attention to an article in Acoustic Guitar magazine about Julian Lage’s new Speak to Me album, which starts with the quote “Whether you’ve been out of the Lage loop or you’re simply Lage-curious…” This quote has now worked its way into my vernacular, and anytime I see something related to Lage, I realise over and again that I too am “Lage-curious.” The merch table was covered in photographs of Zorn-Orbit musicians, including the boy wonder himself…
Fifteen minutes was just enough time to give Ches a Classic Guide to Strategy bumper sticker and catch up on some of the gossip about his latest work. “Trey (Spruance) has just given me a bunch of new music to learn and it’s fuckin’ complicated…,” he fearfully confided. I assured him that if anyone was gonna be able to pull it off, it was gonna be him: Ches fucking Smith. I think he knew it was gonna be fine, just the travelling and lack of sleep made the task at hand appear slightly more daunting. In a funny twist of fate, it just so happens that I will be in New York in time for the debut performance of this "complicated" music from Trey - will Ches be able to learn it in time? Stay tuned to Fladik News for the follow-up to this nail-biting cliff-hanger…
There is not much left to say about the genius of NMQ at this point, other than to relive the most hilarious highlight of the night. Julian Lage had just completed his passionate, effortless guitar intro, gently noodling around quietly for a bit, before seamlessly transitioning into "Dalquiel." The audience erupted into an enthusiastic applause which, instead of naturally subsiding, evolved into a spontaneous clap-along to the beat! This greatly amused both Zorn and Wollesen in particular; Zorn instinctively "conducting" the audience when to clap by punching his fist outward on the “1,” while Kenny cackled loudly in delight, drumming in time, (as drummers do!)
Someone did post a video clip to YouTube though, so the magical moment has thankfully been captured…
After the show Kenny and I met up for cocktails and catch-ups in a fancy little watering hole named appropriately enough, Bar Wieczorny. “Top Shelf!” proclaimed Kenny, with his signature open mouthed grin, “Take whaddever you want!” The attentive bar folks hooked me up with a personalised prosecco-cocktail, while Kenny went for the finest martini on the menu. It wasn’t too long between sips that some fans approached Kenny asking him for a photo.
If Zorn is the photographer’s nightmare then Kenny is a dream come true, jumping at the chance to get everyone in the photo, myself included, (even though I had nothing to do with anything, really). He relished in the accolades and made plenty of time to answer questions, and listen to all the fans. Tote bag filled with wax at the ready, Kenny proposed to the fans: “Say - do any of you guys listen to… VINYL?”
The friendship group kind of looked around and shrugged, in a collective "no," seemingly unaware that Kenny would have distributed free wax among them, right there and then. ”Oh…” came his somewhat deflated response. “Well… have some stickers!” He gleefully handed out stickers to all. Hands were shook, and days were made.
Suffice to say, if you ever see Kenny out, he REALLY appreciates his fans.
A couple of weeks later I was invited to come and see Sylvie Courvoisier's latest band, Chimaera, with Kenny on vibes and drums, but also an impressive "who’s who" on the sextet roll call: Christian Fennesz on git/effects, Nate Wooley on the trumpet, Nasheet Waits on the skins, and Drew Gress on the bass.
It was a great honour to be invited to join the band for a pre-show dinner, just a short shuttle away from the Augsburger Botanical Garden where their performance would be taking place. We went to a restaurant with about 10 billion items on the menu, which made for a difficult choice. Surrounded by wonderful musicians, I did not have much of an appetite because I was just too excited, but I managed a salad and a glass of wine to chill out. Naturally, I had made glow-in-the-dark bracelets for everyone with CHIMAERA and their names on them. A little reading material was passed around, which people seemed to find quite amusing, as you can see in the photo, haw haw:
Everyone in the band was so lovely and fun to be around. Fennesz was super shy. Wooley was, "Feeling good! Just spaced out." Waites and Gress were sharing jokes and Sylvie was catching up with her friend Barbara, who had previously worked for their touring company. She had travelled three hours just for the show! Personally, I was just happy to be amongst it all, and pumped for the show that was coming up.
Returning to the rotunda surrounded by roses, the band took to the stage. The crowd was really huge and there were a couple of helium balloons swaying gently among the people, as decorations. I had deliberately avoided listening to the album before seeing the show, as I wanted to be completely surprised, and Sylvie & co did not disappoint. As clouds and sky softly rolled onwards, the music drifted and meandered along, swelling with the characteristic sounds of Fennesz’s effect-laden guitar. I really feel that his unique tones are an integral part of this project, and that it is very much the ambient glue, giving the work a distinctly thick, dense, electronic identity. This, along with the two sets of drums, full-bodied vibes, and of course, Sylvie’s own signature brand of piano playing. I had never seen her play live before, and sadly, my seats did not afford me a view where I could see much of anything going on, but what I heard was beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable. Wooley's trumpet elicited a few gasps here and there, clearly a few trumpet nerds in the audience had picked up on certain technically brilliant techniques.
At one point during the show, a hovering helium balloon attached to a small weight got caught behind the chair in front of me and was bob-bob-bobbing against the back of another chair. The girl in front of me got annoyed with the subtle brushes of the balloon interrupting her listening experience, so she picked it up and placed it elsewhere, on a path. This in turn obscured the view of a young man who moaned in frustration at the silent orb, partially obstructing his view. He got up out of his chair, marched towards the poor, innocent balloon, seized it from the ground and threw it forcefully into a bush, huffing as he returned to his seat to watch the Sylvie show in peace.
The show was quite long at over an hour and a half, and some of the older folks were starting to flag - the people who left early only did so for reasons of endurance. But the music itself was by no means the most accessible - there were moments where the walls of sound reminded me of genres such as noise/drone, which is not everyone’s cup of tea. But at this level of musicianship and creativity, early leavers are always to be expected. The majority of people stayed till sundown, when the sky had changed colour completely. The band took their bows, played an encore, and we all loved it.
Later on over midnight drinks at the hotel, Sylvie asked me what I thought of the show. I relayed my thoughts, as written above, and concluded by asking her in return what she thought of the show. “I loved it!” she proclaimed, “I love playing with these guys, it’s so great.” After a little while I admitted to her that normally when I make bracelets for bands they have dirty jokes on them making fun of the artists in a cheeky way. “Blue balls!” She announced, “I want one that says BLUE BALLS!” I burst out laughing, and needed to know more. “Why Blue Balls, Sylvie?” “Because I have an album The Rite of Spring with blue balls on the front cover.”
So I guess now I am required by law to make a bracelet for Sylvie Courvoisier that says BLUE BALLS.
In other news, Days of Zorn 1 celebrated its 2 year anniversary on July 22 - can you believe how much has happened in the space of two years? I know I certainly can’t… I didn’t even have my own webshop back then. Now i’ve got fladik.net and it’s the shit. If you know someone who still wants a copy of Days of Zorn 1 or 2, hit me up or direct them to fladik.net, and i’ll hook em up for ya.
Oh and one last thing…
I received two ‘classic’ photos the other day…
There’s only two folks who get a Classic Guide bumper sticker and thats Zorn-orbit musicians and pledging members of Fladik News. If you pledge today, you will be supporting the shit out of me and my addiction to journalism, AND you get this fucking hilarious sticker for your car’s bumper. “KEEP HONKING! I’m listening to The Classic Guide to Strategy, I can’t tell the difference”
(Ches has also translated this sticker into Haitian Creole, for all you haitian subscribers out there: “Kontinye klakson! Map koute gid klasik nan estrateji a. M pa ka di diferans lan.”)
Thanks for your ongoing support guys, I really appreciate it.
Lots and lots of fangirl love till the next adventure,
FLAKE
CEO Fladik
fladik.net is, indeed, the shit.
Hope I - a huge vinyl listener - run into Kenny.
Great recap!