02/15/2013 (12 Moons Solo Improvisation Day 46)

12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 46

Date: 02/15/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: A room in my mothers house.  Edmonds, WA

Notes:

With the release of my new solo saxophone album tonight, my spirits are high and my energy is coursing.  I recorded this improvisation today without any kind of pre-scripted model or preparation before hand.  This is an energy piece centered around small motives, and developed with a steady line of intensity throughout.

A few weeks ago I performed Roscoe Mitchell’s amazing composition Nonaah in which I played a transcription of the piece verbatim from his landmark recording “The Solo Concert.”  The moment I began this improvisation today I was struck by the spirit of this piece.  Unlike Roscoe’s recording, which maintains repetitive traditional note themes with crystal-clearn precision, I approached this improvisation with smaller melodic fragments.  There is some melodic repetition, but this is done very little.  I use false fingerings to mute at least 50% if the pitches, which, when overblown, these muted tones often speak mulitphonics.  Instead of allowing these multiphonics to resonate, I clipped them off with my tongue to create a harsh, halted action on each pitch.  This created the puckish sound heard throughout.  

-Neil