DC's Diary
( Monthly report...)
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DC's Diary ( Monthly report...) |
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18
November 2006 |
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| Paul Waller and I did our presentation on ‘Starless, Starlight, Startle” in Leeds. *It seemed to get a positive response and gave us a chance to think about the processes we are using. I was very impressed to see Paul at King’s Cross at 6.40 am – I think he’s usually just getting home about that time! |  |
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Thanks to Amy and Leeds College of Music for giving us the opportunity to do this. | |
| Andrew Booker has presented me with a rough mix of the violin/drums session we did on 13th October and it sounds very coherent and musical. I’ll stick one of the rough mixes up on myspace (http://www.myspace.com/davidcross1). Let me know what you think! It’s called CB1 (for now).
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12
November 2006 |
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Everybody is blogging away like mad. I wonder why I find it so difficult to make a diary entry - I can't believe I've posted nothing since the end of September. The gig at Club Astrakan
on 5th October was great fun. The room was set up with quite a gap between
the stage and the front row of the audience (a piece of deliberate distancing?)
- which struck me as a barrier to the intimacy I'm trying to achieve
with Electric Chamber Music, but in the event, it didn't seem to matter.
Nice lights, sound and a good atmosphere. All helped by the provision
of musician- friendly food and drink from Mehereen who runs the club. Paul Waller and I ran a Music Technology day school on 15th October for the Open University PGCE Music course. Students were mostly from the South of England (one came from Leeds) - a lively group with plenty of ideas who really got to grips with recording and mixing. My biggest technology achievement for the day was to get the tea urn to work. I'm involved in a lot of teaching at London Met. University at this time of the year; most fun so far were two sessions on 'Creativity' with non-musicians. Wonderful versions of the musical rules developed by the inhabitants of the high-gravity, dump-site planet Zorg and their realisation in group performances. "Starless, Starlight, Startle' is really getting focused now with a plan for an album in place and quite a bit of the violin recording and sequencing done. Paul Waller and I will be talking about the tedchnolgy/compositional issues this has raised next Saturday (18th November) at an international conference at Leeds College of Music (as I said in my last diary entry). |
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| Andrew Booker (the drummer with Peter Banks' Band) and I got together and recorded some music on Friday 13th October - it was a concentrated session based on some musical ideas from Andrew and I'm looking forward to hearing the results when we meet up this Thursday. |  |
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| The David Cross band may be playing in Rome on 22nd February.... |
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27
September 2006 |
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| Paul Waller and
I are presenting a paper in Novemeber at the Leeds International Music Technology Education Conference 2006 on the work we have done so far on 'Starless, Starlight, Startle'. Working from Robert's 'Starlight' improvisations has actually thrown up all kinds of ideas - extracting time from the timeless, dark from light, re-visiting 'under Milk Wood', producing a midi version of 'Starless'... Time now to pick the strong from the weak and assemble something that works. Looking forward to playing in Finsbury Park next week.. working on
some I now have a myspace slot at http://profile.myspace.com/davidcross1. I suddenly seem to have acquired a lot of friends as well. There's a track from the new solo album Navigator up there...
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3
August 2006 |
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Starless/Starlight
ideas are falling into place – I can see 4 pieces developing from
this at the moment. Richard Palmer-James is working on some new songs
I’ve sent him (particularly taken with the DC band version of
‘Rain, rain”). We were hoping to do some recording with
the DCB in Augustt but Paul Clark has broken a finger (playing football)
so is going to be out of action for a while. I broke a finger when I
was about 17 and it took a lot of work to restore dexterity even after
the bone was healed. Fingers crossed (!), Paul!
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30
June 2006 |
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I’ve been doing some work on a new project that is starting to capture my imagination. Robert Fripp has produced some beautiful ‘Starlight’ soundscapes based on the Starless theme and I’ve been generating new material from this recording. I’ve also recorded a version of the opening theme and started developing some variations. The collaborations with Robert that were featured on Exiles were very successful and I have a good feeling about this one.
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4
June 2006 |
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Mick Paul and Paul Waller have both been listening to the recording of the Camden Town gig (sounds promising). New material is falling into place for the next DC band studio album. Richard Palmer-James has been fitting lyrics to demos and Mick and I have done some new writing. I’ve adapted ‘Rain Rain’ from my Electric Chamber Music solo work and this may be a core theme for the new album.
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17
May 2006 |
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Some of my students performed at the Porterhouse in Covent Garden last night as part of their Music Education course at London Met. Really fearless performances and well crafted material. Unfortunately, they stop doing this when they enter the classroom as teachers. There must be something we can do about this.
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5
May 2006 |
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I’ve found an old diary entry which records that my suitcase containing my stage clothes had gone missing on an internal flight on that day so I borrowed the leather jacket and a white scarf from David Enthoven (the E of EG Records). |
 photo
from www.dgmlive.com/vision.htm?&show=401&id=154 |
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I’m not sure why I’m sporting the glasses – the large black frames are similar to the ones Michael Caine used to wear and are not there as protective goggles during the solo in Larks Tongues part two, as someone suggested. An earlier entry the same week says that my contact lenses had ‘still not arrived’ so I assume I had lost them and I was still waiting for replacements. |
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12
April 2006 |
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I met up with Andrew Keeling at the University on Monday. We got on very well and talked in depth about composition, inspiration, rock, culture, genre etc. I talked with him about ‘Rain Rain’ the solo piece that I have created based around the death of my grandmother when I was nine and how it keeps demanding inclusion and elaboration on the next DC Band album. I came away with more confidence that I can somehow deal with the sentiment of this piece in the context of what is expected to be a fairly heavy rock album. The next day Andrew recorded a CD of his piano music with Steven Wray performing – apparently all went very well. I look forward to hearing it. |
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| Another thing
we talked about was the different ways of conceptualizing music that emerge
from working by ear and by notation. Andrew always uses a pencil and paper.
I haven’t done that for a long time but I remember the pride I used
to have in producing scores – the nearest I’ll ever get to
visual art! |
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I have recently started trying to develop some technique with Sibelius software because I feel I miss something when working completely by ear. I’ll keep you posted…
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26
March 2006 |
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Found
a severed pigeon’s head on the pavement outside the house just
as we were about to leave for Birmingham. Not quite ‘Godfather’
dramatic but not a good start to the day. After driving back the day
after, Alex and Mick dropped the van off and joined Arch, Chiemi and
myself for lunch at home. Looked out the window just in time to see
cars being decorated with £40 parking fines – the only restriction
is between 2 and 3pm and they’d just manage to get the timing
right. Mick then stopped on a parking bay outside the Camden venue and
went to knock on the door – a traffic warden suddenly came out
of nowhere and promptly gave him a £100 fine because the bay was
not useable after 4pm. This was at one minute past – he must have
been lying in wait. |
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| All gigs successful and all fourteen musicians got on well together – not always the case. |  |
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21
March 2006 |
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It’s
amazing how broad ‘progressive rock’ can be. I really enjoyed
the whole show at The Stables in Milton Keynes . Nick May’s ‘Whimwise’
played beautifully orchestrated symphonioc rock with live voice, violin,
flute, keyboard and guitar. Peter Banks declared in the green room that
he had no idea what his group was going to play and he walked on stage
with ‘Harmony in Diversity’ to improvise an impressive set
of music pulled out of thin air. |
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18
March 2006 |
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1
March 2006 |
Robert told me that Andrew Keeling had recorded an arrangement of ‘Trio”. I emailed Andrew and he replied with this: “In 2000 Robert asked me to arrange/write about KC works, and that was the impulse for embarking on the project. I arranged Trio for Renaissance flute, lute and viol (included on Virelai's album Sad Steps. LTIA Pt II, Red, Dangerous Curves and quite a number of RF Soundscapes. The project continues as & when. There was one problem with Trio: it was the range of the violin as compared to the viol. At one point, I had to swap viol (violin part of the original) to Ren. flute (mellotron flute of original) to compensate for this. Initially there's little impact on the two versions till you listen to the original. There's no doubt that it's a very fine piece of music as is all the KC III music. I'm greatly interested between the similarities and differences between contemporary classical music and experimental rock music. The writing, arranging and analysis of it intrigues me, hence the work.” Andrew tells me that the other arrangements are all orchestral – only ‘Trio” is conceived as chamber music. I look forward to hearing this. Andrew’s website is www.andrewkeeling.ukf.net I have been collecting comments on this little piece because I am writing an article about improvisation, recording and ‘Trio’. If you know of any other versions of ‘Trio’ or interesting writing about the track please let me know via Noisy Records (mail@david-cross.com)
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25
February 2006 |
Good things come in threes. Bill has been kind enough to add his thoughts to those of Robert and John. “My memories are of
course minimal. Amsterdam Concertgebeouw I think. All perfectly straight
forward for me. You lot started to play, there was no requirement for
drums / percussion, there continued to be no requirement for drums /
percussion, so I supplied none. A huge fuss then was made of my modest
contribution, by Robert mostly, who ajudged it to be the best thing
I've ever played, and promptly credited me with an apropriate share
of the writer's royalties!” I assume that the intensity here is that felt by the player (which may or may not be shared by the listener). One of the attractions for me about improvising is how I feel when I do it. Improvisation feels very different from re-creation of music. Part of this is the sense of ownership but most of it is the sheer pleasure of being in that relaxed but alert state of mind that is induced by the experience. |
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20
February 2006 |
John Wetton has emailed me with some very detailed notes on Trio. “Thanks for reminding
me of "Trio",I haven't listened for years, and I'm glad I
did. It’s interesting that
Robert and John both remember a later, similar improv and John remembers
an earlier foray in to the same territory. My feeling at the time was
that we were 'played out’, that we had used up our individual
and collective repertoire and so had to collectively seek new inspiration.
Perhaps the exhaustion of conscious control allowed deeper subconscious
processes to determine the musical path. |
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18
February 2006 |
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| Robert got back
to me today about Trio. He writes: “…my memory of trio is bill standing, twitching gently! doing nothing was not bill's SOP. on a recording of another show not long afterwards, we improvved trio virtually identically, but bill had added percussion (glockenspiel, i believe). trio & sheltering sky (1981) are similar: both came out of the blue, and landed fully grown.” I don’t remember the 2nd 'trio’ improv with Bill on glockenspiel – I wonder if it’s on tape somewhere… Paul Clark has started asking me detailed questions about what we are going to play in March – I guess it’s time to do some practice |
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17
February 2006 |
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| Through a dinner conversation it has emerged that my sister had in the past met Colin Sauer, my violin teacher at St Luke’s College in Exeter. He was the leader of the Dartington String Quartet and I would often find him sitting down with his jacket off, practising, while he waited for me to straggle in for my lesson. He used sometimes to talk about the value of mental practice – imagining playing through a piece - whilst on a train, for example. Finally, I begin to realise what this means. Everything is in the mind and that is where practice has its effect – all that’s needed is a lot of experience and a powerful imagination. | |
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16
February 2006 |
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We return by train. The roofs of Torquay station have white-fenced, square turrets keeping watch on the bay. There is almost room for a cricket square in the gap between the up and down lines. But today the toilet doors are padlocked shut. The passengers huddle on freezing benches with no staff to be seen. The waiting rooms are also padlocked; no buffet, no ticket office, no welcome. It is a third-world facility. I visit three toilets on the train First Great Western train from Newton Abbot to London. All of them are blocked and there is no water coming out of the taps. The train has travelled only 40 miles. No one does anything or cares. The tube train stops for a long wait in the tunnel and the driver explains there are difficulties with the signals at Camden Town. How many times have we heard this? What is so difficult about turning a light on and off? |
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15
February 2006 |
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Paignton Pier.
I cannot pass the roulette wheel without betting 2p on the totally impossible
white section; the only white section on the wheel. The odds are astronomical
and so I lose; at least 4 times. I feel disappointed. I believe in psychokinesis
and clairvoyance; I really expect to win (well, actually, I do sometimes). |
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14
February 2006 |
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I spent some of St. Valentine’s day travelling to Torquay. There’s a stretch of train track between Exeter and the Teign valley where the train runs down the coastline beside red sandstone cliffs with the waves sometimes only yards away from the carriages. It usually reminds me of childhood trips to the seaside at one or other of the small towns and beaches along the way. My young daughter looks out of the window dutifully as she hears the excitement in my voice. We managed to miss the white horse on the hillside passing through Wiltshire and I don’t want her to miss this. Chiemi and I are afraid of the sea. Is everyone afraid? |
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13
February 2006 |
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Nick May of
Whimwise is being very active promoting the concerts in March….
No gig in Bournmouth now so just 3 dates. |
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I
found out why my new trainers were so painful when I was being a tourist
in Athens – I somehow ended up with a pair one size too small.
My son seems pleased with his new Vans… |
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| I
emailed Robert for any thoughts about ‘Trio’ for a paper I
am writing on recording and improvisation but he hasn’t replied
as yet. I wonder if Bill and John have got anything to say… Anyone know where Jamie Muir is? |
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10
February 2006 |
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Thank you to all the people who made ‘Live and Intimate” such a moving evening. I hadn’t really considered the meaning of ‘electric’ as in charged atmosphere when I coined the phrase ‘Electric Chamber Music’ but that’s exactly what it was. I really enjoyed Naomi’s solo set – especially the piece that she created from a motif sung by a member of the audience. In one of our duet pieces I found myself playing a jazz bass line – a first time for me! |
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Tomoko again gets the first prize for distance travelled to see a David Cross concert – she came from Italy, this time bringing her husband as well. Many of the audience joined us to eat in the restaurant at Soho Japan – definitely to be recommended! |
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We had a long and useful meeting with John and Lisa of 2 bits design, our new publicists, on Saturday. They were at the concert and now have a very clear vision of what Electric Chamber Music is all about |
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15
January 2006 |
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Mussel souflee? Sid Smith just sent me an awful bootleg recording from 19 March 1974 which John and Robert were not able to identify. The song sounded familiar as soon as I heard it. After a few listenings I picked out the lyric ‘mussel soufflee’ as a possible title. Very interesting to hear this piece because it demonstrates the success that we were having at this stage in integrating the violin with the guitar/bass/drums line-up. The violin emphasizes particular phrases in the vocal and bass lines and at one stage there is a ‘long-line’ composed duet between violin and guitar – based on one of the successful techniques that Robert and I had developed through improvisation. There is a bluesy violin solo in which I seem to be fairly comfortable; it also contains hints of the wide hand vibrato that I later used extensively. There is a wonderful rhythmic chromatic run led by John (elements of which I recognize as part of my vocabulary today) and even the Dr D. riff makes a brief appearance. I have no idea who thought of what in this piece but it certainly integrates some of the ideas that we had been developing in that period. |
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Sid also sent it to Richard Palmer-James who was able to recognize it as “Guts on my side’. He writes: “On the fifth listening,
the barely-discernible word This song is called GUTS
ON MY SIDE, and the lyric as Sweet meat boogie / Take
me to an eating meeting Gotta get our guts on our
side Keep things tidy / Scrape
the sausage off the ceiling Gonna bend the runcible
spoon Mint tea mother / Keep me
feeling bright and happy Drop and oyster straight
from the can Sheeps head salad / Sending
off the indigestion Camembare the cucumber cream Improvise a lobster surpreeze |
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| Christmas Holiday in the Bahamas | |||||
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February Concert The Soho Japan concert in London on February 3rd with Naomi Maki and myself is fully booked now. Perhaps we will be able to play a larger venue next time. With Naomi living in Korea this is easier said than done… |
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March Concerts The David Cross Band will
be headlining at 2 UK concerts in March. Using the title ‘Three
Of the Essence’ the concerts will also feature ex Yes guitarist
Peter Banks with his new band Harmony and Diversity and ex The Enid
guitarist The dates are: For more up to date information check out http://www.3-of-the-essence.com |
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