An 18 CD box set of music, entitled Here Comes Everything, by two renowned Adelaide jazz musicians — saxophonist Derek Pascoe and pianist Chris Martin — is being officially released by De La Catessan Records on 7 July.
Pascoe and Martin work individually with numerous ensembles and have also collaborated as a duo over a span of nearly 25 years. Here Comes Everything is one of the most innovative developments in music — 18 CDs of improvised music for tenor sax and piano.
Each CD contains a recording of a single improvisation, and each is given a title that is taken from the 18 chapter titles of James Joyce’s legendary 1922 novel Ulysses. The music is endlessly varied, seeming to emerge from a limitless source of musical inventiveness and taking the listener on an enchanting journey.
Derek Pascoe (L) and Chris Martin (R), photo Denis Smith
As well as a frequent performer in jazz and experimental settings, Derek Pascoe has for many years been a lecturer at the Elder Conservatorium at the University of Adelaide. In 2008, Chris Martin was the first graduate of what was then the Elder Conservatorium’s new PhD program in performance. His project involved studying and applying techniques from classical music to jazz improvisation.
The recording and the production of Here Comes Everything was crowd-funded. [Disclosure: this writer was one of the numerous contributors.]
In an edited conversation via email, Derek Pascoe talks about the genesis of Here Comes Everything, and his work with Chris Martin and producer Luke Altmann of De La Catessen Records:
Derek Pascoe: Firstly, the reason(s) for doing this project:
Before I slip into my dotage, I felt the need to document — almost as an audio autobiography — the physical skills I have acquired on that hunk of metal. It would be sad to think that when I sit on my veranda (shouting ‘get off my lawn…’) that I would lament, thinking I used to be able to do that, etc.
I really wanted to document my relationship with Chris Martin… This project needed to be as substantial as the relationship, and just like the music we play needed to be connected to my heart. I have loved the sentence that was a preface in the book The Go Between by L.P. Hartley: ‘Only connect’.
Whilst talking to Luke [Altmann] at his kitchen table, I realised that here was a person who was giving me carte blanche to do what my ‘heart’ desired. Thus, the book [Ulysses] was the obvious cabinet of curiosities to display the musical oddities that have formed my musical inner dialogue. When I first read it circa 1977, I could not understand most of it; but also knew it was a work of genius.
It slowly dawned on me — not long after finishing the 18 recordings — my desire to make a ‘long form’ project was a subconscious pushback against the Spotify world. I knew that in the world of Spotify ‘more was less’, and 18 hours of music was not tailored for the music streaming platforms.
Chris Reid: Each of the 18 CDs has a title that is taken from one of the 18 chapters of James Joyce’s Ulysses. Why have you related your music to Joyce’s book and what is the nature of that relationship?
Derek Pascoe: The Book was perfect for my purpose (mine because Chris was unaware). The book is a ‘warts and all’ writ large of the human condition. I was never going to try to portray a literal musical depiction of each chapter, like a film score. However, there are so many layers in the book, at the core — love, a father looking for a son, a son looking for a father, a father mourning a dead child, and allowing his wife to take a lover — to be known publicly as a cuckold. A wife admitting to herself that despite the ‘dalliance’ she deeply loved her husband. All of these were at the core of each chapter displayed in the many layered musical relationships that I share with Chris.
I came to each chapter ready to steer the musical dialogue into a direction (albeit unbeknownst to Chris, at least for the first 6 chapters) but also ready to jump ship and go in the direction chosen, when Chris decided to ‘turn left’. It wasn’t until all 18 chapters were recorded that I set about deciding which best fitted the Joycean chapters.
CR: Ulysses traces a day in the life of an individual through a stream of consciousness. Your music might also be said to be a stream of consciousness, but Joyce’s book makes references to Homer’s Odyssey and to the politics and society of his day. Are there references in your music to any such external ideas or issues?
DP: This is a very good question. When we play, we respond to each other knowing that the music works best unencumbered by malice aforethought (ha) and without referring to the years of ‘baggage’ that comes with studying jazz, licks, patterns, theory etc. etc. The music reflects how we are feeling at that moment, including our relationships with loved ones (alive or dead) current events socially, politically, romantically, and thus, cannot fail to be present (imbued) in every note. That does sound a bit hippy, I know… smile.
CR: You took a walk around Port Adelaide, and this is mentioned in the CD booklet. What was the intention of the walk. What did you encounter and how did it inform your music?
DP: I wanted Luke to be a bigger part of HCE [Here Comes Everything] because I bent his ear so much regarding my aims for all aspects of the project, and by workshopping some unformed aspects that solidified with our chats, it felt right that he should be part of the initial booklet somehow. So rather than have a ‘chat’ documented, I wanted to record a chat whilst walking in our neighbourhood (it was a walk with Luke not Chris, btw). By pure circumstance all the parties involved including Denis Smith (photography) and Michael Hocking (artist) live in the Port Adelaide area. I also felt it would be another ‘nod’ to Joyce’s neighbourhood Dublin.
CR: The music on the CDs is endlessly varied. To what extent is the improvisation entirely spontaneous and unique or does some of it rely on musical ideas and motives that you have used before?
DP: Chris and I NEVER talk about music either before or after, when we record. It was always the intention to keep the integrity of the music by not changing anything — things that were played sometimes felt stillborn and I sometimes remembered feeling ‘nothing is happening’ but because of the ‘long form’ nature of the project, there was a trust/confidence that was instilled in our performance that meant that while parts of the music felt like a ‘mill pond’ in the studio, when listening back at home a few days afterwards the POWER that existed in that static moment of music was palpable.
Also, there was nothing discarded that we played. Chris was always perfect, for myself, there were things that I played that I hated, but it needed to be played, to allow what came after to happen. Having said all that, after so many years (near 25) of playing together, there comes a recognition for both of us where the other is going with their musical thought, not unlike an old married couple finishing each other’s sentences.
CR: What are your intentions for future performance of the work? Will every future improvisation the two of you engage in constitute an addendum to Here Comes Everything or do you have new developments planned?
DP: HCE has been a big part of my thoughts for at least 3 years (?!) and it needs to be out of my head for other ideas to float to the surface.
A brilliant quote that both myself and Kirsten [artist Kirsten Coelho] love is from John Cage: ‘From the work comes, the work’. Only a person engaged in a creative process can really understand the truth of that. I’m fully aware that the hopes and dreams of an album release is dampened by the tsunami of apathy. And this release will be no different, however, with the long form nature of this project it may possibly allow a longer existence e.g. 18 Bloomsday release dates ending 2043.
Chris Reid
Derek Pascoe and Chris Martin will perform at COMA at the Wheatsheaf Hotel, George Street, Thebarton, at 7.00pm on Monday 7 July.
A limited-edition release of 300 copies of the box set and a digital version of Here Comes Everything are available from De La Catessen Records.
More info: delacatessen.bandcamp.com
De la Catessen Records is at PO Box 343, Port Adelaide SA 5015.
