The Art of the Trio

This project started out as a suggestion from my friend, Jason Weitliespach. I had done a recording session in his studio where I had brought over my large percussion set up. A few weeks later, he said to me, “What if you bring your set up to the studio and we invite different people to come in and play with you?” Always up for musical adventures, I heartily said, “Yes!” So the call was put out on Facebook for people to sign up to come in and record duos with me. Each person would be assigned a time and have basically 30 minutes to come in, set up, improvise with me, and then tear down, making way for the next person. We ended up with a list of 16 people. In all, we recorded some 3.5 hours of music! It was demanding, it was exhausting, and ultimately it was rewarding.

The Art of the Trio features:

John McCoy & Sarah Heuer (electronics)
Jessica Kroha-Anderson (piano) & Mike Neumeyer (vibes)
Erin Brophy (sax/flute/voice) & Daniel Kern (Theramin)
Dave Gelting (double bass) & Joshua Lesniak (drums)
Zoe Biller (piano) & Mike Caldwell (sax)

This is the 3rd of 3 releases from that session. This recording was preceded by 'The Art of the Duo I,' and, 'The Art of the Duo II.’ I hope you enjoy it as much as I did recording it all.

~ MB

'The Art Of Improvisation' video series

In addition to these audio recordings, I also recorded video of myself improvising in the studio during these sessions. The videos also have commentary, with me describing what I was doing, and what I was thinking, as I was playing and improvising during the different musical settings. The idea a here is to get a window into the creative process, hopefully learning and understanding what it takes to improvise. These videos are viewable here: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnS9yhlFVhi1bDAXtFS_JMth7rjq8J2bS.

~ MB