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When the Voyage of self discovery leads you…where, exactly?

I don’t remember exactly when, but at some point in the last decade or so I made a conscious decision to walk away from “progressive rock” as a composer and performer. So it was not without some trepidation when much to my surprise I suddenly found myself neck deep in the goings on at ProgStock 22.

Let me clarify things by starting off with the fact that Prog Rock was a HUGE part of my life and musical upbringing. I never did care for “regular rock and roll” when I was a teenager – boring, repetitive and “focused on guitars” (which as a keyboard player I just couldn’t get with).

Let’s back up a bit: As a young musician (age 11) in training, certian classical works were already wired in: Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Stravinsky. In addition I listened to and readily absorbed whatever was on the radio. Some of the tracks that caught my ear were “Space “Race” (Billy Preston), “Crimson and Clover”, 2001: A space Odyssey”, and anything that had a synthesizer in it, a sound I fell in love with after hearing “Switched On Bach” at age 10. The Deodato arrangement of 2001 firmly fixed some of the foundations of jazz in my mind while simultaneously giving me the desire to try my hand at arranging. Those influences stuck – records like “White Rabbit” (George Benson) which was my introduction to the playing of Herbie Hancock, had made a big impression on me. Around this time someone gave me a copy of “Birds of Fire” but it was too advanced for me at the time and I didn’t understand what I was hearing. And although I had been introduced to Bird and Diz and Miles from a friend who was a big bebop fan, I couldn’t connect the dots just yet. A copy of LiveEvil (Miles Davis) also made it into my hands and was similarly dismissed. I just couldn’t dig it…yet.

2 years later (or so, you know how memory works): 1972/73 proved to be a big turning point. Someone gave me a copy of ELP’s record ‘Trilogy”. Now here was something that lit me up – it had serious jazz harmony, burning synthesizers and it ROCKED. Then at a party in South Nyack I saw the inside picture from the record jacket of “6 Wives of Henry the 8th” by Rick Wakeman. As I gazed at that picture I suddenly knew where my destiny lie. I needed to be doing THAT. Surrounded by keyboards. To be honest, I didn’t really care for the 6 Wives record…. (I loved Rick’s work on “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and “Tales From Topographic Oceans”, but I heard those later.)

The idea of being a keyboardist with multiple instruments checked a lot of boxes for me even in my 13 year old brain. The idea of keyboard orchestration established the keyboardist as an orchestral component. Crafting parts and arrangements was part of the game, and I could hear it being done on what I was listening to. Then the records started showing up en Masse: Tales from Topographic Oceans” was discovered in my mother’s record collection; “Headhunters” in my father’s. Tarkus, Sextant, Foxtrot, Spectrum and more made it into my personal regular rotation. Birds of Fire was finally appreciated for the masterpiece it was. Records like Abercrombie’s “Timeless”, Jarret’s Survivor’s Suite and Towner’s Solstice and others grafted themselves to my musical DNA expanding my musical palette and interests beyond reasonable limits.

Then another turning point, this one in 76 at the original laserium show: a tune I had never heard before had hands down the coolest synth solo I ever heard – Wakeman, Emerson, Banks, Moraz – great synth players all, no denying it – but to me in this moment, this was a profound revelation. The song was “I Remember Me” and the soloist was Jan Hammer. The combination of the sound of the synthesizer (including all the pitch bending and incredible articulation Hammer is known for) against the backdrop of truly modern harmony was next level shit. Have a listen:

“I Remember Me” [YouTube Link]

These and other influences (Pink Floyd, Bill Evans, Weather Report, Steve Reich, Herbie Hancock etc.) helped create my musical mindset. It should be noted however that absent from this list are the works of John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, Ornette Coleman, Duke Ellington, the Stones, the Beatles, and many other artists considered foundational by most people I talk to. I went back and rediscovered their work much later, but my own personal foundation was already cemented in. 

I remember being at a party in Queens NY when I was about 14 or 15. It was the first time I had ever seen a Hammond organ up close. Naturally I asked for a chance to play it; however I had no clue and no access to one on any kind of regular basis. At this same party someone insisted I listen to Jimi Hendrix. At the time it did nothing for me. How foolish that seems now…

I started my first official band in 1978 (or so, again that memory thing) and started writing music – really writing. Those early tunes of mine had all the influences – elements of Mahavishnu-esque uptempo odd time things, crunchy Crimson style rock, modern jazz and avant- garde free jazz. A little keyboard pyrotechnics thrown in for good measure a la ELP and I thought we couldn’t lose. The band evolved into what would be called “A. Animal”, and would run, with time off here and there, from 1981 thru 1994.

OF COURSE That’s when life happens, and those best laid plans get scrambled to bits. In the mid 80’s in NYC no one was remotely interested in what I was trying to do musically – ‘jazz fusion’ had become a dirty word, and besides our music started leaning towards more rock based stuff. When we finally made our one album “Overhaul” in 1990 we had included a cover of Jeff Beck’s “Freeway Jam” and a few originals that were decidedly in 4/4. We also had a couple of epics (“Reality in Check” was one such piece) and a series of pieces (Overhaul pts 1 & 2) that were an homage to Crimson’s ‘Larks Tongues in Aspic”. We had more planned for that series but we didn’t make it. That’s not the focus of this story, however.

I was at Progstock 2022 at the behest of my friend, the drummer/composer/bandleader and Mahavishnu Project founder Gregg Bendian. Gregg had been tapped to act as musical director for Rachel Flowers, a young woman of extraordinary talent. Rachel was slated to perform 3 of her original works. 1 was a piano trio in which she also played flute (she plays flute incredibly well), the 2nd was a rocker with lots of guest musicians (quite a lot of them, including myself on auxiliary keyboards) and the third an amazing piece for Piano, band and orchestra. Rachel created all the parts on the recording herself; I was tasked with transcribing the orchestral parts and rendering them into playable keyboard parts. (I should pause her to mention that Rachel is completely blind.)

Rachel was also going to perform “Tarkus” (ELP) complete and I was also responsible for setting up her synth rig – selecting gear for her to use, (a Moog Voyager was all that was available); programming the synth and it’s associated controller keyboard (the Voyger keyboard isn’t long enough to accomadate Keith Emerson’s parts, since they were originally played on a 6 octave modular keyboard), setting up a 2nd synth for sound effects (in place of a ribbon controller) and trigger all her patch changes in real time during the performance. As I said at the beginning, “Neck Deep”. I worked quite a bit – essentially 10 hours a day for 4 days – but it was extremely rewarding and exciting, especially working with the amazing Rachel Flowers who is even more amazing then I have words to convey. 

This re-immersion into the world of Prog Rock set me on a path of some serious soul searching and inward looking examination: I had moved away from Prog to align myself with Jazz Centric circles, but I couldn’t deny my prog roots, as they were inextricably linked to my classical music upbringing. It is worth noting that I spent a good 10 years in “The Machine“, that well known Pink Floyd Tribute, starting in 96 – long before I made my decision to turn definitively towards Jazz and away from Prog. Floyd was accepted in prog circles but was never really considered “true Prog” by official definitions, and I had many conversations with folks about this. It seems the term “Art-Rock” best described the Floydian genre. Of course Prog is actually a type of Art Rock, so the lines tend to get blurred….but again, while relevant, it is not the focus of this story. The focus of this story is a recent more thorough examination of my influences and how I am attempting to synthesize them into my own personal musical dialect.

So where am I now? Well, as I said my Progstock experience led me to re-examine my roots and my choices. In taking a closer look at what I tend to align myself with (and here I’m not even mentioning the giant catalog of ‘required listening” and historically significant artists and/or recordings) I find a lot of what my friend Dean Sharp calls the “Muscular” stuff; what I consider  “hardcore” fusion: Mahavishnu, RTF, The Jan Hammer Group, The Tony Williams Lifetime, Weather Report, Allen Holdsworth, The Headhunters, Shakti, and McLaughlin, plus certain records by Jeff Beck, Cobham, Herbie, etc etc. This is not a large body of work, and rarely do I come across “new entries”, but also there’s plenty that I love that fits outside this self imposed categorical limitation – pianist Bill Evans, guitarists Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, John Abercrombie and Ralph Towner, Brian Eno, Keith Jarret, minimalism a la Steve Reich, Phillip Glass, Terry Riley and others; more modern artists like Squarepusher & Bjork, and too many other artists in multiple genres to mention. What I have found is that there are certain elements in common across artists whose work really speaks to me. Among these elements are contemporary harmony (both modern classical and post bop jazz), flexible time signatures (5/4, 7/8, etc, drawing a lot from indian classical music), a combination of acoustic and electronic sounds (including use of loops and other devices), soundscapes, synthesizers and a demonstration of craft and an understanding of how a sonic “space” can trigger an altered state of consciousness (for me Zawinul and Wayne Shorter accomplish this by combining electronic keyboards with deliberate playing). All of these elements, consciously or unconsciously, inform my own personal musical direction – whether it be with NAIL, solo as Nail Jung or when composing for the X Ensemble

But it is only when confronted with my past obsessions and prior choices does a clearer picture of my trajectory, often obscurred, come into some focus. I’m always at work trying to sort things out for myself, and my recent experience at Progstock was an opportunity to really step back and observe: What do I define as my personal musical language? As 2022 comes to a close, with the craziness of the last 2 years (pandemic, insurrection, #metoo, #blm, etc) and the global uncertianly caused by the growing climate crisis, the humanitarian crises in many parts of the world and now the war in Ukraine, this quesion I ask of myself is more urgent than ever. 

Art & life, if nothing else, are profound voyages of self discovery. And as journeys go, “one foot in front of the other”.

 

If you’ve made it this far then many thanks for listening, and best wishes for 2023. 

  • NAIL

2018: That’s a wrap (up)

Performing with Cloudburst at Quinn’s in Beacon NY?

If you read my December 2018 Newsletter (it’s here if you haven’t and would like to) you’d have seen my season-to-season recap, with most of the amazing things that happened this year listed chronologically…. and that’s a good way (certainly for me, anyway) to get a good sense of how my year went.

But there’s always more to the story, of course – and so I thought I’d take a moment to recount some really significant moments, and what I think I learned from them. ..Or not! Hey, it’s all relative, right?

/First Things First/

It seems in the last 8 years or so there have been a lot of ‘firsts’ and 2018 was no exception… Local musician and educator Michael Hollis contacted me in August about his new composition, ‘Edge of the Hill’, a chamber music piece scored for string quartet, 2 horns, 2 winds, percussion, piano and electronics. Michael needed a conductor for the premiere performance at the O+ Festival in Kingston and granted me the opportunity. After reading up on the principles of conducting and minimal rehearsal time I did my first performance as….a conductor.

Working as a keyboardist and co-producer on Peter Furlan’s new CD is another first. I’ve made my share of records, but this lets me take all my experience and musicianship and apply it in a new way. As of this writing we’re still in the middle of mixing.

Recording with Peter Furlan

/Various Goings-on/

Way back at the beginning of the year a bunch of things all happened at once – I did 2 shows with Mr Gone, a performance at Roulette in Brooklyn with the Sky Music Ensemble, and a gig with “The Machine” – the first in 12 years. This was a 1-2 punch that started the ball rolling down the hill, and it just got more intense from there…

In the spirit of “old business before new business”, in March I finally finished and released “NAIL: Live at the Blue Note NYC” recorded in 2007, and Solo Piano Vol 2 (Darn That Dream Live in LA) recorded in 2013. The solo piano CD features my transcription of Igor Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre” released for the first  time. I did some wonderful Jazz/Indian hybrid music in NYC with Bobby Rosario’s ensemble Rudra. In April our house concert series featured the wonderful Charles Shriner. Also in April, I brought an 11 piece version of NAIL (2 guitars, 2 basses, 3 drummers, 3 horn players and me) to the Falcon Underground to play 2 1/2 hours of my favorite music. We blew thru tunes by Jeff Beck, Robert Fripp, John McLaughlin, Weather Report and a ton of old originals waiting to see the light of day again for many years. It was super fun!

In May a tornado touched down in Newburgh leaving us with some damage and taking out our power for a few days. That same week our only child graduated College! In June, performances by NAIL for the 3rd consecutive year at Newburgh Illuminated; Rudra at Drom in NYC; launched into my 15th year playing Ballet classes for the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center summer program; and a radio interview on Rita Ryan’s outstanding “LocalMotion” show from Vassar College. Listen here.

July was mainly “pulling back on the spring”, because August was jam packed – gigs with NAIL, Ray Levier, Premik Russel Tubbs, Peter Furlan, the Flying Obersons and the X Ensemble – all within 2 weeks! The big one for me was my “X Ensemble” performing a site-specific piece I composed for the interactive art festival “Dusklit” titled “Sunset Variation”. The outdoor performance featured a 7 piece ensemble with musicians traversing the grounds of the Seligmann Center with wireless microphones, culminating on stage at the moment of sunset.

Fall 2018 started my “4th Saturday Jazz” (4SJ) residency at the Wherehouse, as well as a “Neil Alexander Presents” series at Dogwood in Beacon.

On top of that, all year long there were ongoing performances with the Monroe Quinn Trio, Peter Furlan’s trio, Thunderhead, Supercluster (with Robert Kopec and Dean Sharp) and a host of others. 

/Forever Jung/

My Solo Electronic Music performances continued throughout the year as well:

  • At “EEEM”, a small gathering in Rutherford NJ produced by my good friend Gianni Intilli and featuring a lot of the NEEMfest crew
  • At the Cosmic Crossings performance series in Washington’s Crossing NJ,  guitarist Monroe Quinn and I performed the Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays landmark ambient jazz composition “As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls”. What a rush! Watch the Video.?
  • Then in September I went back to Homer, NY for 2018 NEEMfest, a big family gathering of sorts without the drama.. !

At the always amazing Ableton LOOP conference in Los Angeles, I ran into fellow EM creator and Ableton Certified Trainer Afro DJ Mac, who set me up for an interview on his Music Production Podcast (listen here). The Ableton Hudson User Group met twice in 2018 year, and will hopefully be increasing our meet ups to 6 times this year.

In December I got a last minute offer to open for the experimental group NOUS at the Linda Theater in Albany NY. The performance will be broadcast in March of 2019.

At some point I made an executive decision to change my solo electronic music performance name from Nailgun to “Nail Jung”, for what seemed like obvious reasons. I’m working on the first Nail Jung CD and hope to have that out by spring. (You can sample a taste of it here.)

/Attitude Adjustment Hour/

One musical situation directly affected by my attitude is “Cloudburst” – a Woodstock based ‘jam band” that has proven to be great fun and a source of joy, just relaxing and enjoying the groove with my friends Mike Colletti and Tony Parker. Not worrying about whether things will go well makes a world of difference, taking our shows to new heights and keeping it a singularly positive experience. Cloudburst did 6 shows in 2018, including the venerable Rosendale Street Festival.  I’m constantly trying to improve (or at the least maintain) a more positive attitude, and my success or failure manifests in a variety of ways. I’m just trying to pay attention to that…

/Dance: Off/

I took a much needed leave from SUNY Purchase in the fall, but still involved myself with a handful of choreographers and dance performances over the year, including The Small Plates Choreography Festival right here in Newburgh. Also, Ophra Wolf and I reprised a bit of “Hidden Landscapes/Inner Windows” at a 2nd Wednesday Experimental music night at Quinn’s in Beacon. I guest accompanied with my bro Dean Sharp for a dance class at Bard College, and actually started to miss playing at Purchase a tiny bit… but not the commute.

/In Closing/

I think perhaps that’s ENOUGH for this post! There’s more but I’m exhausted just reliving it all. I’m overjoyed that the musical quality & diversity I’ve been cultivating is starting to really flower. In addition to that, the gig pay has been on the increase in surpassing and most welcome ways. And of course none of this would be possible without the love and support of my sweetheart of 30+ years, Nita Rae; and you, the fans and supporters of this magical art called music.

All in all, it’s been a Damn Good Year. Peace and Blessings, and best wishes for all of us in 2019.


100 Years Ago this week…

It’s Tuesday May 28th. Tomorrow, Wednesday May 29th, will be exactly 100 years since Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite Of Spring” premiered in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, with choreography from Vaslav Nijinsky. The infamous riot (or whatever actually happened – look it up, it’s debatable that it was an actual riot) is now a part of our collective consciousness.

The stories & details of this event are numerous and can easily be found around the web, so I will not bother with reproducing or quoting them here. But I do want to speak briefly about my connection with the musical part of the work, which goes back to 1967. I was 7 years old, and my parents took the family to see Walt Disneys “Fantasia” – a film which had it’s original premiere in 1940 (Wikipedia Article). Why it was being shown again I can probably guess, but the seeds were sown: The now iconic footage of the formation of the Earth and prehistoric life – namely Dinosaurs – was the stuff of every boys dream.

My dad was an ametuer classical pianist, so there was a Chickering Baby Grand Piano in the house, and music was on the stereo. No surprise here: I wanted a copy of that music! I was given an LP of the complete piece. At the time, I didn’t know that the producers of “Fantasia” had cut and resequenced parts of the “Rite” so that it was considerably different from the original version. All I knew, at age 7 was “This isn’t it….it’s different”.  I put the record away; and while my memories of that first film experience still resonate, it would be years before I found myself in the company of the work again.

Fast forward: 1977-ish. I’m in High School.  There seems to be TONS of great music EVERYWHERE: The airwaves are flooded with tunes and everyday someone hands me something great to listen to. I’ve been playing piano now for 9 years or so, and have made some (what were to me) incredible discoveries about the music I liked and it’s history. Deodato’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra” was a big influence, and a big radio hit at the time. I asked my current piano teacher to help me learn it, and it sparked an interest in arranging which I realized by arranging some music for my HS Jazz band – in 9th grade. I was 13. Also during this time, someone gave me a copy of Mahavishnu’s “Birds of Fire”. I didn’t understand it, but… there was something about it, some kind of connection.

After that, as a keyboard player, it was a short trip to progressive rock where keyboards actually had some meaning. Bands Like ELP, Genesis and Yes were central to what I thought was “cool”. King Crimson’s “Larks Tongues in Aspic” and Starless & Bible Black rounded up the hard edged composed music aesthetic. Soon after I rediscovered the Mahavishnu Orchestra – even more complex and exciting – and thru it Miles Davis. The whole of Jazz came flooding after, it’s complex harmonic language which I later learned was directly influenced by the “Rite Of Spring.”

Classical music had always been an underscore thru this time – Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, Tchaikovsky – some of the biggies. But it wasn’t until my late teens that I began to see the other stuff – Bartok’s String Quartets & concerto for Orchestra; Scriabin, Hindemith, Ives – and Stravinsky came Roaring back. And When I say Roaring… for several years the ritual was to point the speakers out the window on the first day of spring and play “The Rite” as loud as the system would go. Oh yeah, baby. It was AWESOME.

Fast forward again: 1982. Struggling in NYC; didn’t finish High School, didn’t go to college. Parents divorced. No family support. Just my music to hold on to…

During this time I received as a birthday gift a copy of the Rite for Piano 4 hands. At the time I had a fledgling interest in prehistoric culture, driven by a fascination with places like Stonehenge & Newgrange (in Ireland).  Suddenly I had in front of me the Complete Rite Of Spring – and its original scenarios and meanings captured my imagination.

I had begun to play for Dance Classes at NYU around this time; and while I didn’t really know much about the ballet – or that there even WAS a ballet – I quickly learned. I continued to work with dancers and choreographers. I learned of all the major version: Pina Bausch, Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, and various balletic versions. But for my money, the Joffrey Ballet‘s reconstruction of Nijinsky’s original choreography is to me the most visceral, the most powerful. A fascinating documentary exists, “The search for Nijinsky’s Rite of Spring” that describes the reconstruction and ends with a video of the performance from 1987.

This whole situation strikes me as a sort of “fractal” – reconstructing the Rite, which is itself reconstructing things from Prehistory; and my connection with so called “progressive” & avant-garde music of which the “Rite” played such a huge part in both harmonically & rhythmically; and my subsequent work with Dance, that part of the premiere that is oft overlooked. It locks together music & events in my life into what is for me a startling mosaic.

 

My story from there is a little more well known, documented in press releases and reviews of my performances. All of this has culminated in my current “100 Years Of Spring” project, and I am thrilled to be performing this work in the year of it’s centennial. While I have no actual performance scheduled for May 29th, I will be celebrating with a trip to the Nicholas Roerich Museum in NYC. Nicholas Roerich has the distinction of working with Igor Stravinsky to create the sets and tableaus for the original storyline of The Rite – “Le Sacre Du Printemps” – in which a primitive  pagan russian tribe celebrates the return of spring, and ends with a sacrifice as a young maiden dances herself to death.

I hope to continue and “Dance the work to Life” as my performances continue into the next year, with my next show in Los Angeles on June 16th. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll come join me in celebrating this masterpiece.

– Neil

 

The Sunlit Path: VISHNUFEST 2009

“A long, long tine ago…I can still remember how that music used to make me smile….”

It’s been a long way around. But if, as the physicists say, the Universe is curved, then it figures you’d end up back where you started. So why am I still somewhat surprised? If you’d told me someday people would want to hear this music again I might have laughed, and given a sad little smile…

First, a little background: I first got the “Birds Of Fire” disc back when I was 12 (13?) years old. At the time I was deep into ELP – particularly “Trilogy”, and was just discovering bands like “Yes” & “King Crimson”. (Alternately, another friend I used to hang with would play me Charlie Parker records ALL DAY.)
Anyway, when I tried to listen to “Birds”, I really just didn’t get it. I could tell it was something special, interesting, but…. just “out of reach” of my developing ears..
As time was passing, I was being introduced to more and more great music: the Classic Genesis Lineup; “Tales From Topographic Oceans” and “Relayer”; Patrick Moraz “Story Of i”; also “Bill Evans at the Village Vangaurd”, Herbie Hancock “Headhunters” (and way too many more to mention). It was an exciting time. I was also playing with my High School Big Band, and was writing and arranging for them. I was in it up to my ears, and…loving it.
But I noticed a disparity (at least in my mind) between the Rock & the Jazz worlds.They kind of didn’t “talk” to each other. (What a shame, I thought….)
There were many “moments” – you know what I mean, those points where you experience music in a new way, or hear something startling that changes you’re whole perception..
One of those moments that sticks out in my mind as being relevant is when I went to see “Lasarium” at the Hayden Planetarium in NYC (now the Rose Center). Amongst the Pink Floyd and other prog and experimental tracks was a weird little piece that featured, without a doubt, the coolest synth solo I’d ever heard. The track was called “I Remember Me”, and the synthesizer was played by non other than Jan Hammer. Here. have a listen:
I Remember Me

I don’t remember exactly when, but at some point I pulled out “Birds of Fire” and listened, with new ears, to the most astonishing music I had discovered yet. Around the same time I became aware of their other records – “Inner Mounting Flame”, “Between Nothingness and Eternity”, “Visions Of The Emerald Beyond”. Then I got my hands on the Mclaughlin Book, which has the first 4 CD’s in score form – every part written out! My musician friends and I dug into this stuff will military-like discipline. We each learned all the parts – not just our parts, but all the parts. We would mix & match. Play them slow, fast, in different registers, etc. We “workshopped” this stuff to death! I made it my personal mission to get inside this music and be able to play it well – not just to be comfortable with the odd time signatures, but to “feel” them, to internalize them. I learned and memorized 90% of the material. In addition, the music had very strong spiritual connotations, and I was very drawn to it on a lot of levels. I began to see the odd time signatures as “mantras”….

Over the next few years the house of cards slowly came down, and the heyday of Jazz Fusion and Prog Rock came to an end. To quote George Duke from the Billy Cobham/George Duke Live record, “Disco’s taking over the universe”. Disco and Punk Rock. (The latter I learned to appreciate, thanks to my beautiful wife.)

I continued to play this music, mostly with my group “A. Animal”, but interest was waning. We played a lot of original stuff too, mostly in the progressive vein. It became apparent that people were “just not that into it”. (I’ve only recently realized a satisfactory blend of prog rock and jazz elements with NAIL, but that’s another story).

In 2000, I finally gave up the ghost, and looked towards playing new music – moving forward into uncharted territories. One of the first folks I met along the way was drummer Dean Sharp. We began to work together, producing the CD “Galvanized” along the way.

Around the same time, drummer Gregg Bendian was forming “The Mahavishnu Project“. At the time I was full time in “The Machine”, and trying to reinvent NAIL to include ALL of my influences (from Eno to McLaughlin to Metheny to King Crimson to Bill Evans). But they certainly caught my attention, and I began to court the band as something I was interested in. It just so happened that I knew all the music…!

I finally secured an audition with Gregg in early 2008, and did my first gig with the MP in May of that year. It was a little rough getting “back on the horse”, but much to my delight, like riding a bike, it all came back.

And now we come to something I thought I would never see, not to mention get a chance to play: a live rendering of “Visions Of The Emerald Beyond” – complete with string quartet, winds, and vocals. And at a killing NYC venue besides!
Well, I’ve gone on too long already. I’ll stop here, and present to you:

Vishnufest 09

Vishnufest 09

THE MAHAVISHNU PROJECT Presents:

THE 4TH ANNUAL VISHNUFEST
REDISCOVERING & EXPLORING THE CUTTING EDGE JAZZ-ROCK OF JOHN McLAUGHLIN & THE MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA.
3 Shows in 2 Days. Info: Mahavishnu Project
JULY 7th & 8th, 2009
It’s All Happening At:
Le Poisson Rouge
158 Bleeker St. New York, NY
Tickets are $23 at the door / $18 in advance
ADVANCE TICKETS STRONGLY SUGGESTED. THREE SHOW DISCOUNT PASS AVAILABLE.
THE MAHAVISHNU PROJECT (Vishnufest 2009 band)
Gregg Bendian, drums
Chad McLoughlin, guitar
Neil Alexander, keyboards
Zach Brock, violin
Jim Cammack, bass
Melissa Stylianou, voice
Premik Russell Tubbs, reeds
Esther Noh, violin
Matt Szemela, violin
Jon Weber, viola
Leigh Stuart, cello
Randy Taber, live sound
And introducing The VishnuVoices Choir with Melissa Stylianou, Abigayl Ventner, Missy Castleberry, Martha Cluver, Avery Griffin, Roosevelt Credit, John Young and Matt Hensrud.

…Maybe I’ll see you there?
– Neil

Rules of Engagement: Fighting Frustration as a Performer

NEIL’S “3 Rules Of Engagement”: My three personal requirements that make a gig, well, worth doing.

I have been a performing musician now for more then 35 years(!). I still LOVE it – and that’s saying something! But in the last decade or so I began to find myself in situations that were not entirely to my liking, breeding anger and frustration. Hmmm…

I’ve heard it said that being a Pro musician means that you take a lot of work that maybe you’re not that happy with…or does it? When I left “The Machine” and began to take a wider variety of gigs, I found myself getting tremendously frustrated in certain situations. I had to ask myself some tough (for me) questions – did I want to be a professional musician or not? Does that mean I have to do gigs I hate? How can I keep myself from falling into the trap that so many have fallen into before me? After a bit, I came up with these three “rules”, or guidelines:

1) Acceptable Financial Compensation. Commensurate with the work involved. ‘Nuff said.

2) High Visibility/High Profile
. A situation that puts me/us in front of a LOT of people, or the RIGHT people, and makes visible use of my abilities – in other words, lets me show my stuff.

3) Spiritual and/or Personal Satisfaction. This one’s a little harder to define. It could mean music that brings me great enjoyment or other such satisfaction, or that lets me experiment in a very creative way. Generally, it’s music that I can feel good about and gives me a sense of accomplishment. I can generally tell, as I find myself getting angry & frustrated with music that doesn’t have this quality – even if it’s an “easy” gig.

Generally, any TWO of these rules MUST be met for me to take the gig. For example, playing extremely creative music to an empty house for no money WON’T do it for me. Subsequently, playing a show that pays well but doesn’t have at least ONE of the other qualities, well, doesn’t really do it for me either.

Though these “rules” are not generally “hard & fast’, they can really help in critical decision making. It’s especially important to apply these guidelines to my own Group NAIL, lest we find ourselves in situations which are not beneficial to the group’s presence in some way.

I have to say that at this time, the Mahavishnu Project (as great as it is), is only meeting ONE of these requirements (can you guess which one?). In addition, I have been putting in a lot of time in rehearsals, and am beginning to feel frustrated. I had to do a bit of looking inward – and that’s when I remembered my 3 rules of engagement. (My next post will be about the upcoming Vishnufest shows…!)

Whenever I am offered work as a performer, be it gigs or recording, I look to these guidelines. When taken into consideration, they can save me a considerable amount of frustration and help me to make what can sometimes be difficult decisions about whether or not a gig is worth the trouble!

As usual, your comments are always welcome. Thanks for reading. 🙂

The Jazz: FREDDIE JACOBS QUARTET – KENSHA

FREDDIE JACOBS QUARTET – KENSHA

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FFHJBUtsX0

From a recent jazz gig with Trumpeter Freddie Jacobs. This guy has been a great influence on my jazz playing. Featured here are myself (pno), Freddie (tpt), Cameron Brown (bass) and Bob Meyer (dms), another cat who has been extremely supportive and helpful to me. It’s a pleasure to work with them, and they have made me feel at home in the world of traditional Jazz as I never had before.
This was recorded at The Falcon in Marlboro NY, on April 25th 2009. Enjoy. 🙂

Upcoming Posts. Yeah, right.

Just thought I’d pop in to let you all know what I’m working on, blog-wise. There are a few ideas bouncing around my big fat head, and I try to keep a running list of things I want to share. Here’s the partial:

Tribute Band Part 2

Tribute Band part 3

CD’s I really want to make

Playing Mahavishnu:

Birth of an Idea: Working with a Vjay

There are more, but rest assured I’m planning on getting to those ASAP.

Now, how many charts do I have to write this week?

Best to all,

– Neil

Goodbye to a dear friend

This is about someone I knew. Someone I cared about, someone who sometimes drove me crazy, made me mad, made me feel compassion, made me laugh, who loved me no matter what, who just wanted to always be with me; someone who helped make me whole.
This is about our dog.
Her name was Missy. Not our choice – she came that way. She was a rescue.
We live in the City if Newburgh, NY. This city has a problem (to be saved for another post, for sure). The result is, a lot of displaced people, pain, poverty. We happen to live next door to a couple of apartment buildings, one right next to us (smaller) and one on the corner. There are some good families there, and some transient folk – some more trouble than others. Most of the ones know are in the closer, smaller building.
One of the transients was a woman (who’s name I can’t even remember). She was sent to jail; Missy, as a puppy, was abandoned in her apartment.
Finally, one of the other families in the building broke her out. That same day, the whole building next door (the smaller one) was having one of their many summer barbecue parties in the front yard of the building. (We’ve always been invited, though we’ve never attended.) I think my daughter was 3 or 4 at the time.
Anyway, story goes (I was actually out of town at the time) she leans over the fence and says to the neighbors “we’re going to get a dog someday!” and the neighbors, in their infinite wisdom, said – pointing at Missy – “take this one. She’s free.” They handed her over the fence to my wife.
And so began our 8 year relationship.
  • Our dog as a youngin' -
  • Our dog as a youngin’ –
  • At First she was so scared, she would stand behind us, so that as we turned around she would shuffle around so as to be invisible. Over the years, she proved to be a LOT to handle. I tried to train her to walk off the leash, and got pretty far, too. But this was my first dog, and I had (and probably still have) no clue.

    Super high energy, “high maintenance” as was said. But a fierce protector – heaven help the poor soul who tried to open my front door, or even the front gate!

    At First she was so scared, she would stand behind us, so that as we turned around she would shuffle around so as to be invisible. Over the years, she proved to be a LOT to handle. I tried to train her to walk off the leash, and got pretty far, too. But this was my first dog, and I had (and probably still have) no clue.

    Super high energy, “high maintenance” as was said. But a fierce protector – heaven help the poor soul who tried to open my front door, or even the front gate!

    Becky & Missy

    Becky & Missy

    One of her favorite things to do was to tear around the yard at what had to be 50 miles per hour, challenging me to catch her. She would play in the snow till she couldn’t stand any more, paws freezing, and still she was ready for more. She lived life to the fullest possible for her…

    We tried, and for the most part unless it was too hot or cold, took her everywhere with us. We found dog friendly camp grounds, hotels. Even my sister in law’s place, where she was not welcome at first…. but surely as eggs is eggs, she worked her way into your heart.

    She would bark at visitors for what seemed like hours. When people were here, she had to be on the couch, along with everyone.

    She had a tremendous vocabulary and could recognize what seemed like 200 words. She would vocalize, making sounds that sounded like “walk:, out”, “baseball”, and more.

    I could go on and on….. but I’ll stop here.

    She will be missed.

    Dog|God – coincidence? I don’t think so. Not any more.

    -NAIL

    My Musical Life. Reinvented.

    So.

    Here we are, June 2008 – almost July… that sweet sweet summer air. Wearing shorts – every day. And working – always working. And even a bit – though just a little here and there – of relaxing.

    It’s been 2 years and 3 months since I made the conscious choice to rework, to take control of – to reinvent my life. It’s still (and I suspect it will continue to be) a work-in-progress. That’s a good thing. It enables me to roll with changes and adapt to different ways of working, different mindsets. The work situation has really come around (after an abysmal winter/early spring). I have students again, after a long time without; commissions from Choreographers; some session work, lots of acoustic jazz gigs – and of course the main event, Neil Alexander & NAIL. Too few gigs for my taste this summer. All the other work is definitely awesome. But I know how great the band can be. Our gig Thursday at Cafe Mozart in Mamaroneck was nothing short of pure magick for me.

    I have been applying myself towards the band’s marketing; trying to come up with a significant tag line and one sentence description that really resonates with me. It continues to elude me for now… but I am spiraling in, I can feel it. Synchronistic events are building around me, around my intention. As is said. where your put your attention, energy follows. I am putting 150% percent into the band, and the energy certainly comes back at least as far as our shows are concerned. I have also been working on my open mindedness; letting go of fear on the bandstand Obviously, I don’t want to “suck”, but for real magic to happen there needs to be a certain level of spontaneity. You can’t rehearse that, but you can be in the right frame of mind. I have a huge sonic arsenal at my disposal, samples, multiple synths, etc. I found I was actually afraid to use them, sticking to my few “primary sounds”. I think this is in part to being nervous about the band – having to cue them, making sure we’re at the same place in the music, the “right” feel (this can change – thats the spontaneity I was referring to), etc. I guess it’s also about me being comfortable on stage, letting my imagination go. BUT NOW – the band is so together, so on the same page. Nadav Zelniker and Charlie Kniceley – the magick really happens with these cats, to an extraordinary degree. I find myself and the group in that ever-so-exciting uncharted territory, where anything can happen musically. It’s a place I think most musicians dream about. I know I sure have. Point is, I was so comfortable on Thursday night I found myself using sounds and samples I hadn’t used in months. And playing things differently – old tunes taking on completely new life, in the most wonderful way. I was ecstatic. The audience could feel it too. We were on fire – breaking new ground, forging and working our truly original sound.

    I should mention that for me personally, there are other factors at play. Making a continuous conscious choice to be positive. Staying in the moment (day to day, all the time). And learning finally to believe in myself, in whatever project I’m involved in. It’s really starting to add up.

    Another factor is a book I just read. I can’t stress the personal significance of this book for me. It’s not that it’s “so great” (it actually is, but….), but it helped me reconnect with a part of myself that I had all but forgotten. I actually did forget, for many years. When I remembered, I think I only remembered what happened – not how I felt. This book brought me back and helped me reconnect with how I felt at a specific time in my life – a time of infinite possibility and connection.

    And then a remarkable event took place in my mind – I was able to connect a lot of dots, of lot of disparate elements of my life, taking a great step towards a cohesive whole. I’d done it with music. Now it’s time to hook up the rest of my experiences. This completeness, along with a new-found level of musical trust and openess, is why I think we excelled on Thursday. It was so happening, I find myself relaxing – even though we don’t have that many shows, I’m less worried. It’s an awesome feeling.

    As for the aforementioned book, I’m going to save it’s description, as well as it’s significance for me, for another post… Trust me, I’ll get to it.

    For now, a new slogan has emerged: THIS BAND BLOWS MINDS. (A takeoff on Woody Guthrie’s “this machine kills fascists” sticker on his guitar.)

    Ok World – NAIL is here.

    I love you all – be well!

    Spring is here…

    “Spring is here….” so the song goes. “Why is my heart not filled with gladness?” Well, in fact it is. I know it’s in there somewhere. Trying to stay on the positive sometimes seems more difficult than it feels like it should be. Truth is, with gas prices, a lack of work in the early part of this year (leading to a sort of financial “crisis” for me and my fam) and the molasses-like  progress of NAIL, it’s been rather hard to stay upbeat. A challenge, to say the least. I find the “patience” thing to be a big part of it. But – it is a MOST beautiful spring day. I will be going outside today (even though I have more than enough work to keep me in the studio for days on end) to enjoy a little self enforced downtime.

    In reality, things are still moving. I just picked up a gig for the “Art Along The Hudson” kickoff event. This 2 hour party takes place at DIA Beacon, one the most fantastic modern art museums on the east coast (and just across the river from me). It’s like performing at MOMA, a coveted gig under any circumstances. I had to do some serious wrangling of schedules tomake it happen – but I was successful. Special thannks to our good friend Kippy Boyle, who put the right word in the right ear at the right time…..!

    Also, our very good friend George Dubose, one of the great NYC Rock ‘n Roll photographers, just shot a whole new series of press pics for NAIL (and a few solo shots, too). So even though I don’t have the time or the money to really do NAIL’s press the right way, it still goes forward.

    I had to push myself into writing today; it’s been too long. I am going to stop here, however. as I have no intention of spending all day at this computer I would advise you all to take similar action: go outside. Get some fresh air. Take 5.

    You dig?

    Love ya all –

    NAIL

    One of George Dubose\'s new pictures.