Joe Alia (playing sax on the left) and I play together at UMM’s Open Mic Nights whenever we both manage to be there, but usually without any real practice or preparation since we never seem to have the time for either of those things :-). It’s really quite wonderful, actually. I’d read/heard of people who would just get together and improvise without any script, but it always sounded kind of unlikely to me. How, for example, do you know when to stop?
Then I had the good fortune 1.5 to 2 years ago to play with Joe (whose day job is chem prof), and it just sort of worked! The experience of it as a player is rather hard to describe, but as Joe oft remarks, it’s really all about having a conversation. All conversations need something to get them going, and then they have natural ebbs and flows, with some of those ebbs marking an end that everyone recognizes. Like a good conversation, though, there are certain skills and sympathies necessary to make it really work. You have to be able to hear what the other person is saying (playing), for example, and respond in some way so you’re not just talking past each other. This is one place where Joe really shines, and where I’m still growing, esp. if I’m struggling to control my instrument (whether it be voice or drum). It’s really exhilarating when it works, though. (No idea, really, what it’s like in the audience, and I’ve never heard a recording of us.)
The photo above is from the 22 Feb 2007 Open Mic Night, where I got to play Joe’s wonderful darbuka (which he brought back from a recent trip to Turkey). This was a surprisingly short performance. It started with Joe just playing a few warm-up notes, which I took to heart and responded to. Joe returned the favor, and we were off, running through several tempos and dynamics over 2 to 3 minutes, and then we were suddenly done! Joe ran down a line that had a certain “finished” feel to it and looked back towards me. I looked back, and it was somehow clear that we were done, so we quit! It’s cool playing with someone where you can synch up like that :-).
Thanks to Joey Iverson for sharing the photo! It’s not exactly a technical masterpiece, but it’s certainly the best photo of Joe and I playing that I’m aware of, and I really like the way it manages to include a sense of movement without being so blurry you can’t tell what’s happening.
There are videos of this Open Mic Night, too: part one (includes Phi and Sub-Evil Boy singing “Fat Fly” and “Crabgrass”), part two (includes Phi drumming with Joe), and part three.
Well spotted! It’s a good thing I’ve go you trolling YouTube for us :-). I never did get around to making a post about the first set of videos, so I really should do something this time.
Thanks!