AAJ: Let's talk about Sketches, the 1994 album you did with WDR Big Band and people like soprano saxman Dave Liebman and Peter Erskine. It starts with a piece by Ravel, but then the meat of it is "Sketches, Part 1-8, which is very wonderful music that really blends so many aspects of what you do. It's a unique recording.
I get the impression the pieces grew out of your own improvised piano sketches?
VM: Yes. But, you know, both the Jazzpaña and Sketches recordings were not originally going to be recordings—at least, I didn't know it was in the plan to actually make CDs out of the music. They were really thought of projects for the WDR to do either in concert or at a festival. Jazzpaña was an idea that Siegi Lock had, I think, and in that way, it was intended to be a record. But in terms of the WDR, they wanted a project to do in concert, and the fact that we recorded it just made a document that the project existed
I get the impression the pieces grew out of your own improvised piano sketches?
VM: Yes. But, you know, both the Jazzpaña and Sketches recordings were not originally going to be recordings—at least, I didn't know it was in the plan to actually make CDs out of the music. They were really thought of projects for the WDR to do either in concert or at a festival. Jazzpaña was an idea that Siegi Lock had, I think, and in that way, it was intended to be a record. But in terms of the WDR, they wanted a project to do in concert, and the fact that we recorded it just made a document that the project existed
Sketches was a commission to write a piece for the Berlin Jazz Festival that featured soprano saxophones. So a lot of the music in that multi-movement work had whole sections playing sopranos—and Dave, obviously. So it was originally a concept of a project that was for a festival, and so my original process was to come up with improvisations that I thought could be worked through into longer-form compositions.
That's a similar process that I take when I'm composing any music—it all starts from improvisations, and then the end result is that it inspires improvisation. That's how I think I can reconcile myself to being a composer in a medium that's not supposed to too composed [laughing].
So, a lot of that piece, or all of that piece, came from improvisations and little sketches that I wrote, and it was made into a longer-form piece and orchestrated for the band.
That's a similar process that I take when I'm composing any music—it all starts from improvisations, and then the end result is that it inspires improvisation. That's how I think I can reconcile myself to being a composer in a medium that's not supposed to too composed [laughing].
So, a lot of that piece, or all of that piece, came from improvisations and little sketches that I wrote, and it was made into a longer-form piece and orchestrated for the band.
Tracks
01. Pavane (Pour Une Infante D´funte)
02. Sketches Part 1
03. Sketches Part 2
04. Sketches Part 3
05. Sketches Part 4
06. Sketches Part 5
07. Sketches Part 6
08. Sketches Part 7
09. Sketches Part 8
CHARLIE MARIANO alto saxophone
DIETER ILG bass
PETER ERSKINE drums
NGUYÊN LÊ guitar
DAVE LIEBMAN soprano saxophone
THE WDR BIG BAND
VINCE MENDOZA director, composer, arranger
Pavane (Pour Une Infante D’funte) composed by Maurice Ravel
Recorded in November/December 1993 at the WDR Studios Cologne, Germany
ACT Records ACT 9215-2