TRiUNE by spike mason

I've always wanted to record a jazz album with strings. So I started composing a whole lot of music for strings and a jazz trio. I booked a studio, and some lovely musicians who would help me to record. But the more I listened to my compositions the less I felt like they were 'right' for this album. They sounded like string music with a jazz trio added - and not jazz music with a string quartet added.
So 2 weeks before we went into the studio I threw all the music out !
Then I set myself the task of writing 1 tune a night for 10 nights - no judging, no editing, just composing, accepting, and onto the next one.

During this new process I was trying to figure out how to tie the whole album together. And then I had a dream - and in it I was playing a melody on the saxophone. The tune woke me up (at around 3am) so I quickly sang it into my phone and went back to sleep. When I woke up - at a more reasonable hour - the tune was still playing in my head.
It's a chant of 4 bars, and contains only 15 notes. But it's simple form, when repeated, builds a foundation on which evolving melodic offerings can be explored.
The chant is TRiUNE.

I finished writing the pieces in time for the recording, composing 'timekeepers' on the night before the rehearsal. The quintet played through the music once at the rehearsal and then we went into the studio two days later. So the sounds you will hear are very fresh interpretations of the music. After the recordings were completed I listened to the takes for a few weeks and wrote the string parts to accompany them. We recorded the strings in my loungeroom a few weeks after that.

It was so much fun recording this new music with all of my lovely, talented, generous, musicy friends. I really hope you enjoy this album.
Love yas all,
Spike

p.s. I’d like to give a shout out to all the beautiful people at Arts Tasmania. If I hadn’t received the financial support through a grant for this album it simply wouldn’t have happened. I can’t thank them enough.

improvising musicianer and composer

- playing the saxophone since before the internet was invented...

spikemason.com