Re: prerecorded loops

[Dave Trenkel <improv@peak.org>]

I have a project that's essentially a duo with a DJ. He also plays 
drum kit and analog synths, in addition to turntables and a phrase 
sampler. I play keys(Rhodes and Nord Lead), bass, and program a lot 
of grooves and textures into an MC-303, ER-1 and Nord MicroModular, 
as well as live looping w/JamMan and Repeater. One of the ways that 
we keep the prerecorded material fresh is that neither of us will 
have heard the other's preprogrammed loops before the gig. The stuff 
we do is probably the closest to hip-hop as far as the grooves go, 
but there's a lot of improvisation. At our last gig, we added a 
trumpet player, sax player and guitarist. Several audience members 
noted after the show that we seemed to be genuinely surprised at 
times at the sounds we were making, and that this carried over the 
the audience's experience as well, they stuck around just to see 
where we might go next. It was pretty satisfying. These gigs are hard 
to pull off because of the amount of gear, and consequently set-up 
time, it takes to do them, and the difficulty of explaining to club 
owners just what to expect ("No, it's not a DJ set, no it's not a 
"live" band per se, yes it'll sound like the CD, but no, we won't 
play any of the material from the cd, blah blah blah"), especially in 
a part of Oregon not exactly known for being on the musical cutting 
edge (Ted K., I feel your pain :-). Still, it's one of the best 
contexts I've ever found to play in.

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Dave Trenkel                                New and Improv Music
http://www.newandimprov.com         improv@peak.org
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