What Would Ellington Do?
“What would Ellington do?” I grabbed that idea from director Billy Wilder (“Double Indemnity”, “Sunset Boulevard”, “Ace in the Hole”, “Some Like It Hot…), who asked “How would Lubitsch do it?” in reference to his hero, filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch, as I began work re-thinking the material for a new ensemble project, Edition XL (expanding the quartet of Erez Dessel, Lily Finnegan, and Beth McDonald to a sextet including Josh Berman and Nick Macri).
On August 1st and 2nd this group will perform at the Green Mill, one of my favorite places to play in this or any city. As much as I love to have shows at this club, the task owner Dave Jemilo requires is tall: three one-hour sets a night. Edition Redux has been developing a specific methodology to working since March of 2023, one that is totally wired into the band’s way of thinking and playing. Though my initial idea for Edition XL was to present a more expansive version of those compositional procedures, I realized that the way the quartet works is expansive enough. I needed a new system for the sextet and, having already composed new music that was rehearsed by the band, I started over from scratch. So, how to create enough material for three hours of completely different music when faced with limited rehearsal time due to six different and very complicated schedules?
The solution was found through a modular system that allows for interchangeable “stacking” between parts. Each composition is a triptych with a primary and second melody, as well as a background part that are superimposed on top of each other. Each part can be singularly or in multiple, the instrumentation and density completely changing how the piece sounds. In addition, the compositions are assembled in sets of three based on key centers, each triptych a different tempo. Along with these factors, the three parts from each composition can be interchanged with the others. This means that three pieces can be assembled many, many times over, allowing the need for less material to be learned while still providing many performative options. The question was, would this system work?
As I began the process of composing, I was lucky enough to attend the opening of the “Albert Oehlen & Kim Gordon” exhibition at Corbett vs. Dempsey:
and also, the incredible “Nothing Is: Sun Ra and Others’ Covers”:
https://corbettvsdempsey.com/exhibitions/nothing-is-sun-ra-and-others-covers_cvsd/
Though Kim Gordon’s music was integral to the installation, it was the modular nature of the large Oehlen works that resonated with me most: each component was specific and recognizable yet perceived differently based on its location in a piece and how it was painted, how the painting ran across the metal shapes. It was as if Oehlen’s work verified I was on the right track with my own. Then, even more fortuitously, I was able to make a visit to John Sparagana’s Chicago studio (more on John: https://corbettvsdempsey.com/artists/john-sparagana/) to look at two new pieces of his. I’ve been fascinated by John’s work for years and we have often discussed the parallels between his visual art and my music: the modular use of cutting and reassembling, blurring the lines of perception with concrete materials. By chance, John was investigating a similar creative problem as I am for Edition XL. Here I had the benefit of listening to him describe how the same piece had been made different through his process of assembly- so close to what I am also trying to do with this new musical system.
These visits to “Albert Oehlen & Kim Gordon” and John Sparagana’s studio are case studies in why the intersection between the arts have become more and more crucial to my music: examination, verification, inspiration, reassessment, evaluation… the list of cross pollination and motivation is endless. And Ellington’s role? I reinvestigated his late recordings over and over again as I was composing for Edition XL. He showed me that, in order for the music to succeed, the superimposed layers had to leave room for the music to breathe while intersecting. As with Oehlen and Sparagana- nothing replaces the impact of going to the source.