Sam Rivers, a jazz visionary who is still alive and going (at 72 years old) last
month asked me to do turntable manipulation/DJing with his free jazz trio (as
sort of a Sam Rivers Trio vs. Q-Burn's Abstract Message thing). He's totally
into the idea of utilizing electronics as an extension of the 'outwardness' of
the jazz medium. Anyway, it was successful for most of the show, as we
improvised together... I mainly added vocal snippets (sung vowels, not spoken
phrases) and scratched in instrument bursts, using the pitch selector on the
1200s to match the key of the song. These parts were rhythmically scratched in
or transformed. I also used a digital delay to do some dubby echo effects and
feedback, helping add to Sam's trio's sheet of sound. Now, keep in mind this was
total jazz improvisation (I only had a vague working of some of the song
melodies, but the structure was freeform) with me 'playing' the turntables. I
did create notes and tones, as well as rhythmic patterns. Now, I'm not the first
to do this (and not the first to do it with Sam Rivers, either... DJ BMF has
that honor) but this technique of turtable improvisation does show the DJ as a
'musician'.
Also- listen to the first cut on the new DJ Krush LP (can't remember the
title... the one with CL Smooth) and pay attention to what Krush is doing.
Extremely 'musical', and all done on turntables. And quite brilliant, too, I
might add.
PEACE 'em
Michael Donaldson
EIGHTH DIMENSION RECORDS