Recordings of Improvisation

 

 

(last updated:  3/5/10)

 

Vocals:  Andrew Maxwell

Guitar:  Eric Johnson

 

We've jammed with various combinations of guys over the past several months.  We record all the jams, and below are some of the tastier excerpts.  

 

Notes on the drummers in the recordings below

Retten – Great meter, great dynamics, good bloke.  WeÕve jammed once with him so far, in January 2010. 

Nick Crocker – We jammed with Nick one night in November 09.  It was a great dynamic evening.  Some new song ideas were born that night. 

Moore - We jammed with Moore only once, in March 2009 (the same night Ben joined us for the first time).   While it wasn' t a good match on a personal level, there was much magic made that night. 

Bruce - Bruce sat in with us once (in April 2009) as well, and a couple sweet nuggets came out of it. 

Andrew Croeni – A brilliant kid who inspired us a great deal.  We jammed with him about a dozen times between 2007 and 2008. 

 

 

All the samples below are improvised first takes except Motherlode. 

 

 

(Click song titles to link to mp3 recordings.)

 

Venerator

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums: Retten

 

Farther Along

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums: Retten

Some liberties taken with lyrics from a traditional spiritual song

 

Star

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums: Retten

 

Redemption

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums: Retten

Some liberties taken with some Johnny Cash lyrics

 

Convicted

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums: Nick Crocker

Maybe our most epic jam yet. 

 

Sally

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums: Nick Crocker

A sweet groove laid down by Eric

 

Lunar

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums: Nick Crocker

Brief embellishment on a groove of Ben's

 

Bluster

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums: Bruce

A sound check that turned into a song.  The very first minutes of our only night with Bruce.

 

Woke up

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums:  Moore

A good example of a song being born on the fly, one hombre at a time.  Ben launched this groove, then Andrew started singing, then Eric 'wakes up', then Moore clicks in. 

 

Got a record

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums:  Moore

Eric's riff that we all joined in on.  The last couple minutes of the first (and only) time the four of us got together. 

 

Down from the sky

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums:  Moore

Another bit of magic on the one night with Moore.

 

Jump Down

Drums: Andrew Croeni

Andrew C started his 'thunder of the gods' drumming and thus was born probably the heaviest thing the three of us did together. 

 

Reckoning

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums: Bruce

A small ecstatic nugget from our one night with Bruce. 

 

Freaks in the parade

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums: Bruce

Some good guitar textures. 

 

Garden

Bass: Ben McQuillin

Drums:  Moore

Funked-up jam.

 

Light as a feather

Drums: Andrew Croeni

Good drum/vocal intertwinement and one of the best endings ever. 

 

Lifted

Bass: Andy Williams

Drums: Andrew Croeni

Andy (bass) started this one.  Virtually an entire song came out on the first take. 

 

Caress

Drums: Andrew Croeni

A meditation.  Quadruplet vocals over triplet drums.

 

Delirious

Drums: Andrew Croeni

One of our first spontaneous melodic moments together. 

 

Motherlode

Drums: Andrew Croeni

The best version so far of a song we wrote together.

 

Water

Drums: Andrew Croeni

An old riff of Eric's joined by an old lyric of Andrew M's.  

 

Rightful Estate

Drums: Andrew Croeni

The beginning and end of a 1950's flavored song we improvised. 

 

Havoc

Drums: Andrew Croeni

Bass:  Alex

Something good that came out of our two jams with Alex.