Craftsmanship July 2, 2011

Craftsmanship is a lifetime journey.  In an age where instant fame is celebrated, content is often secondary.  Visiting my luthier of 30 years or so, Al Milburn, yesterday, I am once again reminded how rare and precious true craftsmanship is.  Al was working on the intonation and action of my latest guitar, a Danelectro DC 59 12 string.  Made of masonite and with lipstick tube pickups, they are a true expression of American genius.  Inexpensive, easy to mass produce, with a distinctive tone.  But with some challenging intonation and action issues.  Very few musicians have the privilege of knowing a craftsman like Al, who can take an off the shelf guitar, and turn it into something special: as good an instrument as it can be.  He can do it with an inexpensive instrument such as the Dano, or my Gibson Byrdland, or 00028 Martin.  My produver Cookie Marenco remarked that the 00028 had the sustain of a 30 year old guitar.  Al's magic in shaving the braces turned a new instrument into a classic.

Number 51 September 14, 2010

History is not linear.  One step forward, two steps back, as  Lenin wrote.  From the first sound recordings to the phonograph record (some have argued that 78s and 45s sound better than 33 rpm) recordings generally sounded better and better.  With the advent of digital cds and compression, sound quality declined, albeit without the annoying hisses and cracks of phono records.  The MP3 was most likely the nadir of sound quality, and a generation or two don't really know what good sound quality is.  No less a critic of digital sound than Neil Young   has said that sound quality will improve when the sampling rate goes way up. (He's been saying this for over a decade!)  I believe we are finally turning the corner.  The Sonoma System, developed by Gus Skinas and a team of Sony engineers a few years ago, samples at 2.8MHz.  2.8 million bits a second, in contrast to the 44.1kHz of a cd.  Called Direct Stream Digital, it has the warmth and clarity of analogue tape.  Gus graciously brought out a Sonoma System for the solo violin recording of Emily Palen we did at Grace Cathedral. The DSD files can be read by several consumer level products.  Along with the 96kHz downloads that are available from most of the artists that Cookie Marenco records, high resolution music is a revolution long overdue.

Number 48 July 21, 2010

Today is the official launch of The Valence Project! http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/07/prweb4274354.htm

As you can see from the press release, the recording was conceived, written, and executed in a very innovative and unique way.  I've always loved the Duke Ellington quote, that "Success is doing the right thing, at the right time, with the right people."  With Brain, Kai Eckhardt , Melissa Reese , Emily Palen,  Jon Herrera, Deborah Charles, Eamonn Flynn and many other great musicians, the vibe was fantastic.  The cover art is by Krisztina Lazar. There was such mutual respect and admiration, and enthusiasm!  Engineered and produced by my dear friend and collaborator Cookie Marenco , I think you'll agree it has an awesome vibe.

Number 38 April 14, 2010

We are mixing a new song for The Valence Project.  It was written and recorded the way we have been working so far.  Kai Eckhardt  laid down eleven bass tracks.  Then Brain recorded a drum track, also to 2 inch tape.  While he was looping the tracks in Logic, Melissa Reese and I were writing lyrics.  We often like to incorporate several themes and even points of view.  I had been speaking with her about the origin of the words thugee and hashishin.  Also, a freind had mentioned to me that men looked at her as if they wanted to put her in a cage and own her.  We spoke of some people's need to feel betrayed. All of these ideas somehow wound up in the song, "I Am Shiva".  Our producer Cookie Marenco has been invited to be an Artist In Residence at Indaba  and will be writing a weekly blog for 2 months on how The Valence Project collaborates in the studio.  The blog will be entitled "The Art of Collaboration".

Emily Palen at Grace Cathedral

I first met Emily a couple of years ago busking in front of Niman Marcus. Her playing was extraordinary, and it seemed very brave to me for a beautiful young woman to be playing in the middle of Union Square with all the traffic and bustle. We exchanged cds, and I mentioned that I would like to work with her some time. As she was classically trained, and then moved into rock, her improvisations are very fresh to me. I saw some of her gigs with her band Dolorata, and in duo with Katie Colpitts, also of Dolorata. Emily played with my band at Yoshi’s, and was spectacular. I thought my rhythm section might intimidate her, but she was fearless, and was a big hit. And then I heard her play a solo gig at a wine bar, and was stunned. I realized that in playing in all these different settings, each song she played was a complete composition in and of itself, that could stand alone, even if the other musicians were removed. I realized it would make a beautiful recording. When I mentioned it to my producer and engineer Cookie Marenco, she was immediately enthusiastic, and suggested Grace Cathedral for a live recording.

I live about ten blocks from Grace, and walked up there several times. I wasn’t sure it would be quiet enough with the cable cars and road noise, but when we finally checked it out after hours with the doors closed, Emily sounded wonderful, and there was no discernable street noise. We booked two nights, Monday January 11, and Wednesday January 13. (There was another event on the 12th). We had to set up before 5:15 service, and could only record from six to nine PM each night. We were using the Sonoma DSD Recorder, which has phenomenal sound, and a great array of microphones.

I knew from the moment Emily starting warming up that we would get great performances. It was a very emotional first night for Emily, but she played beautifully. The second night was more relaxed, as we knew we already had a great recording, and Emily’s violin and the Cathedral became one instrument. We were using the vestry as a control room, and on the second night we were shocked to hear a piano and choir practicing above us. Fortunately the sound didn’t bleed into the Cathedral, and Emily couldn’t hear it. When we finally tracked the choir master down, he offered to not use the piano. (It occurred to me he’s probably paid by the rehearsal). It remained an irritant to those of us in the control room, but fortunately didn’t interfere with the recording, or Emily’s brilliant playing.

It was so lovely to walk from my house in the afternoon to Grace, take the crew to dinner, and then hear Emily play for a few hours, that for days afterward I wanted to walk up the hill and repeat the experience. It could be the coolest thing I’ve ever been involved in.

Number 22 November 7, 2009

My engineer/producer Cookie Marenco mentioned to Butch Morris the other week that I go to more concerts than anyone she knows. I have been blessed with seeing all kinds of amazing performances since childhood. From musicals to opera to jazz to blues at The Fillmore West. I subscribe to SF Jazz Festival, The SF Opera, and Cal Performances, among others. The Bay Area is an amazingly rich place for performance art; rivaling New York. This year’s SF Jazz Fall season is exceptional. Thursday the 29th was Ravi and Anushka Shankar. I’ve been going to Ravi concerts for over 40 years, and have seen him many times. He is the ultimate musician to me, and Anushka is well on the way. At age 89, his energy and speed have been in a bit of a decline, but this was the best I have seen him in many years. It was one of the top 3 performances I’ve ever seen, and one of the other two was also Ravi. Later that evening I got to see the paintings of Krisztina Lazar. I think she is brilliant, and I realized one of her paintings would make a great cover for The Valence Project. You can check out her art and design projects at www.transcendentbird.com

Gregory James