Elastic Barrier

[Mike]

I've been practicing (again) lately, which is something that is extremely intermittent with me.
I don't know where inspiration comes from but I always act on it and unfortunately I'm a prisoner to it. For some reason playing the saxophone has been fun again. I think when it comes to saxophone playing I'm bi-polar. lol...
Either I love it or I hate it! There's never an in between.

I do practice playing the guitar everyday which I'm new at, and so far that hasn't weaned. So in between that I've picked up my horn again. Here is an improv I did and some of my timing still needs to be worked out but I was satisfied with the results after a weeks worth of blowing out some dust. What I mean is I'm not a truly proficient player even after all these years of stopping and going. I'm a wild/carefree type of player and feed off of whatever strikes my mind without concern for cohesion in the general sense.

It's a modal piece and I love modal work, or free work. Anything that allows the imagination to dabble.
I'm not a diatonic player and so I enjoy going anywhere my ear takes me. I'm going to try and keep at it some more because I think I can go in some areas I've never been to.
I hope some enjoy it.

Elastic Barrier
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=1176814

 

[Chris]

I liked that Mike nice one...the change on the bass @3.00 kinda grabs you and when you drop the rhythm track and go solo, it still all hung together very well..Plus you where still in time when it all picked up later..The improv always sounded fresh and interesting. Minus points an irritating bleep in the backing track???;}

Chris..

 

[Andrew Sanders]

Excellent Mike,firey and compelling.

 

[Clivey]

Mike. I think I`ve always loved your NY noir Cops and Robber stylee the best of your stuff since I first heard you a couple of years back, and this is very good to my cloth ears. You could easily spoil all this illusion for me by telling me you lived in a shack on long Island or somewhere you can hear the wildlife at night.

It might have been a wee tad long . but I have always had an very short attention span.

I love the boppy bits best of course.

 

[Mike]

Chris wrote:
I liked that Mike nice one...the change on the bass @3.00 kinda grabs you and when you drop the rhythm track and go solo, it still all hung together very well..Plus you where still in time when it all picked up later..The improv always sounded fresh and interesting. Minus points an irritating bleep in the backing track???

Thanks for the support Chris. I think the glitch you heard was from the Soundclick player in relation to our own PC's background activity.
That happens from time to time and always in different spots. Sometimes it's best to wait a few seconds before we press play. That's been my experience anyway.

Andrew Sanders wrote:
Excellent Mike,firey and compelling.

Thank you much Andrew

Clivey wrote:
Mike. I think I`ve always loved your NY noir Cops and Robber stylee the best of your stuff since I first heard you a couple of years back, and this is very good to my cloth ears. You could easily spoil all this illusion for me by telling me you lived in a shack on long Island or somewhere you can hear the wildlife at night.
It might have been a wee tad long . but I have always had an very short attention span.
I love the boppy bits best of course.

I figure The Bronx (da Bronx) could only heighten your illusion! lol...It's true...I grew up in the Bronx for 39 yrs. If you ever heard anything with my vocals on it you could easily hear my Bronx dialect which I'm glad I will never lose despite moving to PA 18 yrs ago. Illusions were manufactured in the Bronx! Nowadays, yes, I do listen to the wildlife at night. Now those animals know how to jam!

Illusion intact? Besides all my work is nothing more than your own illusion as well as my own even if I try to spoil it.....

Thank you Clivey!

 

[andyjb]

sweet

 

[Wade Cornell]

Ah soooo cooool. Wonderful ideas communicated in a way that hopefully most on this forum can easily understand. Only slightly rusty edges that I can ID after hearing you at your peak, but hey, you aren't play the sax much these days. Wish I could play as well as you at your worst.

Good instrumentation that's wonderfully spare and well recorded. Also heard the beep that probably shouldn't be there. Minus the beep it's excellent production and recording. Clear expression of a feeling and (for me) a time/place.

Thanks Mike.

 

[Mike]

sweet

Sweet of you to listen! Thank you!

 

[Mike]

Ah soooo cooool. Wonderful ideas communicated in a way that hopefully most on this forum can easily understand. Only slightly rusty edges that I can ID after hearing you at your peak, but hey, you aren't play the sax much these days. Wish I could play as well as you at your worst.

Good instrumentation that's wonderfully spare and well recorded. Also heard the beep that probably shouldn't be there. Minus the beep it's excellent production and recording. Clear expression of a feeling and (for me) a time/place.

Thanks Mike.

You're very welcome Wade, and thank you!
This is me in a nut shell. As far as improvisation goes, this is my element. Maybe if I could just reach a newer level I'll see where it could potentially take me. I've been spending about an hour a day playing.

I just listened again and each and every time I listened I didn't hear a beep. Where is this beep being heard? I'd fix it if I knew where it was. I was thinking it was just a glitch in the upload process and I'll just re-upload. However, I still did not hear it.
I also burned a copy and I didn't hear a beep on it either.

Thanks again man!

 

[Wade Cornell]

I just listened again and each and every time I listened I didn't hear a beep. Where is this beep being heard? I'd fix it if I knew where it was. I was thinking it was just a glitch in the upload process and I'll just re-upload. However, I still did not hear it.
I also burned a copy and I didn't hear a beep on it either.

The beep is continuous throughout but when instruments are playing loud enough it covers it. Here are the ones I heard up to 2:25 but I'm sure that it continued throughout.
(second count) 21,28,35,40,54,59,103,115,120,124,134,141,143,152,157,209,218,225, etc. Seems like every 4.5 seconds or similar.

Hope you can find the problem.

Cheers,

Wade

PS, still like it even with the bleeps (it's all music)

 

[Clivey]

I also thought the "bleeps" to be part of the piece, maybe artifacts on a sample loop? ..

I quite like them

 

[Mike]

Yes, and thank you Wade and Clivey for taking the time to indicate the issue at hand. Chris PM'd me with exactly what you're referring to. Clivey is correct.
Forgive me, I thought you were referring to an accidental abrasive blip that sometimes occurs when the
Soundclick player pops up, which I have experienced numerous times..

Funny thing, the bleeps in question are one of the aspects of the looped backing track I enjoyed when I first heard it.
So much so that I never heard it again and placed it in my subconscious. So, ya see I had no idea what you were talking about.

Haha, yeah Wade, I guess even if there were abrasive 'blips' it still qualifies as music depending subjectively upon whose ears are the recipient.

Thanks again for replying!

 

[Mike]

I found a version with no 'beeps'.
I tend to agree with some of you. It's definitely better without the beeps in there.
At first I liked the monotony of it but after listening to it without, it's cleaner.

It fit perfectly where the 'beeped' one once sat aligned and so it's now updated....

Thank you!

 

[Mike]

I wanted to have a baritone harmony to my tenor solo.
Sorry, I really love how it sounds. It picks up every inflection. I remember awhile back I heard an orchestra play Charlie Parker solo's and I loved it. I guess it kind of stuck in brain to have something on a smaller scale.

Please sincerely, no need to reply concerning the piece...You've been very kind with the original version.
It's up if anyone would like to hear it.

My next one will not have any type of harmony on the improv. I've actually been practicing! What is this world coming to?

 

[Wade Cornell]

I like it! And I certainly don't miss the beeps. Could have been too much having that lockstep harmony throughout but there is enough going on that it wasn't too much. I did appreciate the little solo break though.

Great to hear that you are back to practicing again. Hopefully you will find some purpose and solace while it lasts. I'm obviously not you, and find it difficult to understand the on and off relationship you have with the sax, but I guess since I'm not also a composer and not attempting to learn any other instruments this doesn't divide my musical time or place any other demands.

Hopefully we will be able to hear some more of your playing while you are still in this phase.

Cheers,

Wade

 

[Wade Cornell]

Meant to say that Asaxuality came up when I clicked on the link. So I had another listen. So glad I did as I got a lot more out of it this time. Actually I liked it a lot the first time as well, but now hear a lot more of what's going on.

Would recommend to anyone who visits the site to check out whatever you can as Mike is a pretty amazing composer as well as player.

 

[Mike]

Hey Wade, thanks man. I'm glad you enjoyed both of them, as well as your kindness!

Sometimes, I just get hung up on something musically that does not require saxophone.
Sax playing takes work and if I don't see real results it becomes laborious and I stop. So far I'm enjoying what I'm working on. Composing takes work too, but in composition it's something that I do not practice. Meaning, I don't get rusty when I lay off it. I have an imagination and I have an ear and so that's all I need. I don't need to be a great pianist to figure things out.

For whatever reason I'm enjoying the sax again because it's not presently laborious and I take it at that level. I don't question it when I pick it up and I don't question it when I put it down, which I know I will ultimately do again. I understand who I am and how I relate to sound. There's always something to do if inspired enough. I do know that if and when I pick up my horn I do gain something from the last 'cycle'.

I've never wished I kept at it for 34 yrs straight, but I have wondered what my level would be at! If I average it out, I may have played intermittently 20 yrs. I'm so fulfilled with the non-saxophone work I've written and that would have never happened if I never stopped playing my horn. It's all in balance!

Much thanks Wade!
You really have to come to the Pa/NYC area one day man! As I said before, the liquor of your choice is on me! ;}