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After making their debut with the highly acclaimed Brass, Bows, & Beats, the Jazz Mafia Symphony return with symphony #2, The Emperor Norton Suite. Fresh off performing in front of 10,000 people at Summer Stage in Central Park with Roy Ayers, and a hometown show at the Stern Grove festival, The Jazz Mafia Symphony are gearing up to release their first studio album with The Emperor Norton Suite, the follow up to 2010's live Brass Bows & Beats album. SD: Emperor Norton was a man originally named Joshua Abraham Norton, born 1819 and self proclaimed himself Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico and called himself a “celebrated citizen of San Francisco”. He was considered eccentric and to some insane. After learning a bit about Emperor Norton whom you have named your latest symphony after, “Emperor Norton Suite”, I can’t help think your choice of name is perhaps poking fun at your successes with Brass, Bows and Beats…as Jazz Mafia and particularly you Adam, are definitely considered “celebrated San Franciscans”, do you have some insights to share with me… who developed the name for you newest body of work? Adam: Dublin and I have collaborated on hundreds of songs together since we started working together about 13 years ago. We've always loved working conceptually and often exchange ideas and brainstorm about new ideas for songs, albums and in the past 4 years have been working on these large-scale Symphonies. About 5 years ago we were both talking about our mutual fascination with the pre 1906 San Francisco. We traded some books that we'd been reading on the subject and started work on some songs based on stories, characters and events from old time San Francisco. We kicked the idea around for a while about doing some sort of concept album around the idea but it was put on hold because of the development of the grant opportunity with Brass, Bows and Beats, which ended up taking up much of the next 2 years of our lives. In short, I'd say that the idea for the inspiration of this Symphony, Emperor Norton, Old time San Francisco and beyond, has been something that Dublin and I really feel deserved to have new light shed on it and that's why we chose the Emperor Norton Theme as a departure point. In the summer of 2010 we started discussions about how much fun the experiences we all had were with the Brass, Bows & Beats project and how it felt like it was time for us to take that project even further. I started communicating with many of the musicians who stood out to me throughout the BBB adventure and asked them if they'd be interested in doing a more collaborative large-scale piece. This time around, we didn't have a grant so it would have to be created in our "spare time" as opposed to having a dedicated budget and seemingly endless time to write like I did for BBB. Out of the brainstorming discussions the idea of doing something that tied into the historic San Francisco seemed to resonate and keep coming up. SD: Who are the primary composers on this piece? Dublin: Adam would probably have a more precise answer on that as far as the music goes. As far as lyrics are concerned the emcees (myself, Solati, and Aima the Dreamer) wrote all of the raps and some of the hooks while the singers/vocalists (Joe Begale, Chris McGee, and Crystal Monee Hall) wrote many of the choruses and some of the verses as well. Musicians also made suggestions here and there and those were sometimes incorporated as well. Adam: Dublin (lyrics, lyrics director) Adam Theis (writing/orchestration/musical director) Jeanne Geiger (writing/orchestrating) Joe Bagale (writing/orchestrating/lyrics) Jon Monahan (writing/orchestrating) Colin Hogan (writing/orchestrating) Brandon Werlin (writing) Soulati (lyrics) Aima The Dreamer (lyrics) Eric Garland (writing/orchestrating) Chris Mcgee (lyrics) Pat Korte (writing) Teeko (writing) and we were lucky to have our long time friend Dorian Fougeres as the collaborative facilitator. SD: What is the collaboration process like – what are some things you have learned in creating work like this? Does anyone have a final decision? Dublin: I wouldn't recommend this process as a way to make a piece for everybody. Art usually is made by dictatorship. But in our case it worked because everybody was pretty much on the same page and was committed to the same vision. Two of the drummers/composers, Brandan Werlin and Eric Garland, both wrote some early sketches of beats for two tunes and that set the tone for a lot of the rest of the music. It had the Norton feel. Final decision? It's hard to say. The thing just seems to grow organically and everybody seems to understand what's working and what's not. Adam: This collab was unlike anything I've ever been involved in creating in the past and I've never seen any music created this way. Surely we only scratched the surface of what could be done but the results that we achieved are very powerful and wouldn't have been achieved writing in any other more conventional manner. We met weekly for about 3 months, brainstorming, having discussions, playing musical examples and inspirations and tried to narrow in on what it was that we wanted to accomplish. Many demos were made and about 25 songs are parts of songs were thrown around. We narrowed that down to about 12 which became the final 70 minute long suite. Dorian also helped immensely with facilitating the collaborative process and made for some really fun meetings where we could all just kick back and let our imaginations run free. SD: If I recall your process correctly on the Brass, Bows and Beats symphony in regards to the writing process I believe you worked with the computer first and later scored charts… was the process the same? Or can you explain how you come to path of music that becomes a symphony? Adam: Yes, similar but with more human interaction in the first part - Rather than me in my room making beats on my computer, there was much live playing and recording of demos in studios with live instruments - I think that gave it a more organic or visceral feel. SD: Adam, you mention in one of your blog notes that “Dakah Hip-Hop Symphony” was a major influence for you in creating the work you do… You mention how they have persevered over struggles… What are some of the hurdles you have had as a composer, band leader and travelling with so many people on the road? How have you triumphed? Adam: Well, there's been a TON of hurdles for sure but looking back they all have helped us grow as a group, develop new solutions and of course, gave us some crazy stories to tell! Getting into Canada with a van full of convicted felons wasn't easy - We thought we might miss our gig when they detained some of them for questioning but fortunately it worked out - but it was quite a scene with 30 of us in the Immigration office all twiddling our thumbs! Probably one of the most potentially stressful things has been playing festivals and not having more than 10 minutes to soundcheck sometimes. I guess through the many shows we've done like that I've kinda gotten used to that but it totally freaked me out at first - a 50 piece band having 10 minutes to soundcheck? I thought it was impossible but it actually can be done. SD: What has been your favorite BIG venue experience – you have played so many celebrated festivals and venues – does one performance stand out amongst the others for you… Dublin: For this piece it was Stern Grove in San Francisco. For the last piece Brass Brows and Beats it was Montreal Jazz Festival. Adam: What he said. I think most in our crew would agree. SD: What is one your “on-the-road” stories you would like to share? Dublin: The best ones aren't appropriate to tell. Although I would say that the meeting of people, getting to shake people's hands and have brief conversations and connect through the music and the work, is the best aspect of the road. Without that then sleeping on floors and freezing to death is for the birds. Adam: When we were on tour last summer and played Montreal, we had such an awesome time there - The first day Jazz Mafia kind of took over the festival and 6 sets by Shotgun, Joe Bagale and Crystal Monee Hall. The second day we hit with the 50 piece BBB Symphony in front of a ridiculous amount of people...that was unreal. Then, instead of bouncing to go play upstate NY, we decided to stay in Montreal and sleep on couches, bus and go jam with bands for another 3 days. It was incredible getting to hang out and connect with so many of Montreal musicians and artists. It's SUPER rare to have time like that while on tour, to have 3 days off, especially with dozens of your super homies out there on the road with you. SD: What are your wildest dreams for your music? Dublin: To see it live on. To see other people pick up the piece and perform it and add their own little spin. For it to be performed long after we're dead. It's a long shot but hey, you said wildest dreams. Adam: Ya, I agree with Dublin that to see the music live on would be the HIGHEST compliment for sure and that's a concept I hadn't thought about until as recent as the past few years. Another major dream of mine is to break into the Symphonic scene and be able to do commissions for major orchestras all over the world. Other goals I have: Record/release the hundreds of unfinished songs I have. Develop our education program to a point where it is really thriving and having a major impact on hundreds or even thousands of lives. SD: I know this maybe a lame question – but I love to cook – and so I want to ask you – if you could eat just one thing – what would it be – what is your absolute favorite food? Dublin: Anything with mushrooms. A burger with mushrooms. Pasta with mushrooms. Pizza with mushrooms. It's just gotta have mushrooms. Adam: That's funny, I had NO idea that you had a mushroom fetish as well Dub! I've been kinda addicted to Mushrooms in the past year, I cook everything with them and if I don't have em, I often don't want to cook the stir fry or make the salad that I was planning on making. I also go crazy for artichokes - Baked/stuffed etc... SD: Any final comments…. Adam: Having an Orchestra, or a 30 piece band or even a 20 piece band is one of the most insane things that any musician could ever attempt to do. I feel like this whole phase of my life that started in late 2008 has been like a giant learning experience -Sometimes like a playground, sometimes like a final exam, sometimes like AFTER SCHOOL DETENTION...but ALWAYS it's been one of the most rewarding and socially gratifying musical experiences I've ever encountered. I can't imagine that there are that many opportunities in life to get that feeling of standing in the middle of a group like the Jazz Mafia Symphony and feel the energy from all those inspiring players, feel the sound vibrations up close and to feel such a unique, individual connection to each one of the musicians onstage...I wish more people could get to experience that...Maybe we'll have to start bringing audience members onstage in the middle of the show...hmmmm..... |
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Jazz Mafia Presents: Emperor Norton Suite |
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