Adversary from Gradient by Machado Mijiga

This is the most recent piece I've composed; the band didn't get to look at it until the week before the session.

Tōru Takemitsu is one of my favorite classical composers– I really appreciate his ability to think outside of the box musically, especially when it comes to format. He would often compose music that didn't follow the conventions of classical composition, or any other form of Western music notation, and I sought to borrow from that within the jazz idiom.

"Adversary" doesn't have a "melody", and piano is the only person that get a written musical part. Everyone else simply has directions that point to a specific duration of time, or number of repeated ideas or concepts.

This piece has TWO upright bassists panned hard left/right for a stereo effect. Andrew and Garrett were given plenty of freedom to explore sonically, but they had a fairly rigid piano framework to build around, and had to deal with the "traffic jam" effect of two people playing instruments with the exact same range and overall sound. Lots of ping-ponging strings and chaos, but controlled by the steady rhythmic pulse between piano and drums.

Noah was given a very clear limitation on trumpet by recording his solo with a fairly extreme delay effect applied. Delay prevents you from playing too many fast lines or ideas in succession and requires you to be more mindful of the space you're leaving with your sound. Noah is a master of commanding a room with his sound, so I didn't feel this limitation would be oppressive to him at all.

George had perhaps the hardest job, because piano is the only instrument that plays a steady and consistent rhythm throughout. George Colligan is one of the most recognizable names and faces, not only in the Portland jazz community, but worldwide. An absolute powerhouse multi-instrumentalist and educator, I wanted to hear George play in a uniquely challenging, perhaps unknown musical environment, and he managed to thrive in the chaos, as I suspected he would.

I had no idea what this piece would sound like since it was only rehearsed for about 20 minutes at the dress rehearsal, but am happy with how it came out.

Tracklist

8.	Adversary	8:05

Credits

from Gradient, released March 13, 2022
Personnel:

Noah Simpson, trumpet
George Colligan, piano
Andrew Jones, bass
Garrett Baxter, bass
Machado Mijiga, drums

License