Jair-Rohm Parker Wells and NS Designs Forge Ahead

21st century eclectic bassist Jair-Rohm Parker Wells continues his partnership with NS Designs with dates in US and EU

During the upcoming months, twenty-first century eclectic bassist Jair-Rohm Parker Wells will find himself behind NS Designs basses in both the US and EU. Starting with a trio set at South Harlem’s freshest venue Silvana (300 W. 116th Street, SW corner of Frederick Douglass Blvd/8th Ave) that promises to be as close to a Machine Gun reunion as ever. Robert Musso; guitars, Elliott Levin; saxes, flute and voice, Jair-Rohm Parker Wells on NS Designs NXTa and electronics plus a very special appearance by poet John Lunar Ritchey. They start at 7PM and won’t play for long so please come early and get a good seat. Admission is free.

September 29th will find guitarist/banjoist/conceptualist Dr. Eugene Chadbourne, the Belgian harmonica virtuoso Steven De Bruyn and Jair-Rohm Parker Wells in Degenfeld, Germany at Der Rätche for an evening best described as: “Sonny and Brownie from Mars”. The three improvisors will barnstorm through The Great American Songbook, its relatives and OMFUG (other musics from the underground). More info here: https://www.raetsche.com/programm/eugene-chadbourne-steven-de- bruyn-jair-rohm-parker-wells-sonny-and-brownie-from-mars/

The highly acclaimed Miche Fambro Trio will be on MS Silja Serenade for the month of October. Sailing between Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland, the drummer-less Jazz trio will be performing Standards and Jair-Rohm Parker Wells originals under the moniker “Beautiful Music for Beautiful Places”. The trio features vocalist/guitarist Miche Fambro and Romanian pianist Aurel Dragalina.

Jair-Rohm Parker Wells plays both the NS Designs NXTa and WAV electric upright basses. His processing chain differs from performance to performance and can include any number of boutique and common stomp boxes to homemade software processors (mostly coded in Csound). He plays German bows of graphite by Glasser and various vintage wooden bows. His amplification is by Phil Jones Bass and Line 6.

photo by: Agata Urbaniak

The Wire…

Last year, the new music publication The Wire did a feature on me and also previewed some tracks from my upcoming release “Koheleth” . You can read a blurb and listen to the previews here.

I’m especially proud of the album “Koheleth” and for this reason, had refused to release it digitally. As it was conceived and produced as an album – a gesamtwerk  – i wasn’t going to compromise it by having it disassembled and lost in the sea of “download only” singles that are all too overabundant on the Internet. I started a crowdfunding campaign on Patreon to raise the money to finance a proper release. It has yet to produce the result i aspired to. I’ve considered abandoning the Patreon campaign and then something happens to inspire me to press on. So, for the time being, i’ll continue working on that.

In the meantime, #blacbuc continues to get closer to a premiere. Watch this blog for updates and info and, of course, more music.

 

 

 

 

I went to Iran…

more soon 🙂

Modelling…

I’m surprisingly satisfied with the sound of the Zoom B3. Digital modelling has arrived. I actually made the decision this week NOT to invest in any more sexy analog gear because on listening back to recordings from my last gigs, i’m not only impressed with but also surprised at how good it sounds. My current insights fly in the face of even my own prior principals.

Life can be like that…

 

The Zoom B3 with continuous control pedal.

“June Blue”

As promised in response to the comment by jazztraveler, here’s a recording of my tune “June Blue” from the cruise ship last month. This piece is characterized by a long, near-ambient improvisation followed by a brief improvisation on the chord changes of the theme, an open one chord improv section and ending with the “A” section of the actual theme. The order of these sections changed every night. Sometimes the theme would be sandwiched between two long improvisations. Sometimes the theme would only be stated once at the end of a long improvisation and so on. The combinations of theme/improvisation are endless.

Dynamics…

As with all Music, dynamics play a very important role in improvised music. Dynamics can (and should) be used very effectively as a structural/organizational device. We’re not just talking about volume here.  Getting back to an earlier post on this blog, eleven aspects of improvisation are delineated. Each of these parameters can be dynamically modulated. In other words, one can vary the amount of any of the defined parameters one utilizes in a phrase, note or statement. This is to apply Braxton‘s eleventh (of the twelve types) “Gradient Formings” – the serialization of dynamics.

One very, very good illustration of this is the “Pulse Track” of Braxton’s Composition #108B. This graphic score may be freely applied to volume and/or pitch.

Braxton describes #108B as “a series of possible curve line sounds or curve line dynamic changes” (311), implying that the lines can indicate pitch and/or volume… – Graham Lock

 

Another album…

Here’s an album that i’m featured on. It’s by the German saxophonist Biggi Vinkeloe. There is some really amazing music by some of the most inspired improvisors around. The entire album is available as a free download. Check it out 🙂

 

Moving forward…

It’s all about moving forward. Forward. “Left, right, left…” Think about it.

More about methodology soon.

 

Machine Gun…

Wow, we did our first gig together in 1986. Time flies.

 

Us at the Court Tavern ca. 1986

The “J” word…

Before i continue with my discussion of solo and group improv methodologies, i wanted to mention that i’m giving some serious thought to abandoning the “J” word. The term “Jazz” appears to do the opposite of what language is supposed to do.

As much as the word is a part of my identity – both personal and cultural – i question very seriously its ability to communicate anything remedial about the subject to which it’s applied.