Winter Tour Diary

February 3, 2010 by Rafiq

A belated Happy New Year, everyone!

When co-founder Seth Rosner first asked me to become the blog’s editor-at-large, he did so with the goal of creating “an opportunity to let people know where a student of this music’s head is at.” With that in mind, this post is documentation of the tour that I recently completed with my ensemble, The Rafiq Bhatia Collective, which also features saxophonist Jeremy Viner, trombonist Corey King, bassist Jackson Hill, and drummer Alex Ritz.

Those of you who have followed my previous posts have noticed my concern for the state of exposure to creative music among general audiences, as well as my concern for the lack of opportunities for young musicians and ensembles to develop necessary skills. In addition to bringing those issues to light, I’m doing my best to be a part of the solution, and am currently focused on finding ways to leverage the existing infrastructure for the presentation of creative music to create opportunities for community outreach.

Armed with support from the Oberlin Creativity & Leadership Project’s Conservatory Grants Supporting Imagination and Excellence (CIGSIE), the Collective toured Boston, New York, and North Carolina, performing and speaking in schools and clubs. Below is a (long) account of the whole affair – enjoy!

Preface—Rehearsals: Brooklyn, NY

On the morning of the first rehearsal, I found myself busy attending to logistics. An hour before rehearsal was scheduled to start, I was still at the local stationary store making copies of the sheet music, when I was interrupted by a phone call from Jackson. In a voice that brought to mind the soliloquies from The Blair Witch Project, I was informed that Jackson’s bass was in pieces. Built in 1870 and purchased less than a year before, the instrument had slipped out of his grasp as he was walking down the steps of a friend’s apartment building. The bass hit the wall at the bottom of the stairwell, causing the neck to split and forcing a vulnerable piece of the side inward. [As a courtesy to the reader, I must immediately mention that the bass is reparable, and that the $3,000+ in damages is going to be covered entirely by insurance, which so far has cost a total of ~$150.]

This setback was the first of many on the tour to be remedied promptly by a viable, albeit temporary, solution: Jeremy was able to find a bass for us to borrow for the day, delaying rehearsal by a mere hour (special thanks to Jeff Ratner). Jackson later found another bass to borrow for our dates in Boston and New York.

Even the tragedy of the morning was offset by the immediate chemistry we began to achieve during rehearsal. Every band member old (Jackson and I have been playing together for 5+ years) and new (it was Jeremy’s first day in the group) had put the necessary amount of time and effort into learning the music, and I was extremely grateful to have two days for us to work together to realize and refine the compositions. Additionally, while I have been working for two years to seek out individuals who are best suited to inspire, challenge, and shape the trajectory of the music and band on and off the bandstand, I was very pleased to find that my arrangements for the new instrumentation (featuring a heavy low-end: tenor saxophone and trombone, in addition to deep bass and big drums), in tandem with the creative minds of the musicians, seemed to be propelling us into new and interesting territory.

Day One: Cambridge, MA

We congregated at Jeremy’s with the intention of grabbing a quick breakfast and hitting the road. However, as we approached Alex’s car with drums in tow, we realized that the rear passenger-side window had been smashed in. Alex’s suitcase (which he had mistakenly left in plain view in the back) was taken, but aside from some clothes, nothing irreplaceable was lost.

Although the police station was a mere two blocks away, the boys in blue took over an hour to arrive. The confusion that ensued delayed us significantly enough to force a cancellation of our afternoon engagement with the youth team at Close To Home, a domestic violence prevention initiative in Dorchester, MA. However, we again had little trouble finding a fix—Jeremy had been working to insulate his windows, and happened to have window sheeting on hand in his apartment! After a few failed attempts at finding a replacement window and an intensive taping operation by Alex and Jeremy, we were ready to depart. Thankfully and amazingly, our mock-window didn’t let any air in, allowing us to make it to Boston and back without too intimate an encounter with the elements.

We arrived in Cambridge just in time to check in to our hotel (thanks to the Oberlin – otherwise, we would have had to settle for far less comfortable accommodations) and immediately head to our performance at Outpost 186. Despite the fact that we have yet to release an album and that none of us know many people in the Boston area, we were pleased to find ourselves performing for an intimate audience. This was undoubtedly thanks to the decision of The Boston Globe’s Kevin Lowenthal to include us in his weekly “editor’s picks”. Although marked by its share of first-performance kinks, we all felt that the concert was another step in the right direction.

Day Two: Brookline, MA

After seeking out breakfast/coffee, we made our way to Brookline High School, home of Carolyn Castellano’s Creative High School Music program. A drummer and graduate of Boston’s Berklee College of Music, Castellano started Creative High School Music as a way to connect high school students with current trends in improvised music. Recognizing the reverse-chronological perspective on music shared by many young people (see my first entry for this blog), the program focuses on the collaborative process, with students arranging instrumental versions of their favorite music, as well as selections from past masters. The program has been visited and supported by such luminaries as Andrew D’Angelo (who I believe is also a graduate of the program), Jim Black, Chris Speed, and John Hollenbeck, and we were happy to have the opportunity to interact with and learn from such inspiring students. After playing a couple of pieces, we spoke at length with the class, doing our best to answer questions about composition, orchestration, internalizing rhythmic forms, and ways to structure improvisation. We also stole the opportunity to receive feedback from Carolyn on our approach, and she gave us a number of very useful pointers, many of which we successfully employed later in the tour.

We spent the afternoon getting a taste of Anna’s Taqueria, Boston’s most highly recommended Burrito spot, and afterwards I joined Alex in his quest to replace his stolen wardrobe.

In the evening, we returned to Brookline High School for a performance exchange with the Creative High School Music Ensemble. Their performance, consisting solely of a collective arrangement of “Gobbledigook” by Sigur Rós, revealed a seasoned and finely grained ensemble—a display of orchestrational nuance and improvisatory wit. We followed with our set, which was beginning to take shape…

Day Three: Brooklyn, NY

Jack and Jeremy left for New York early in the morning (due to Jeremy’s obligation to attend a photoshoot at Juilliard), and the rest of us drove straight from Boston to the soundcheck at Barbes. After realizing that we had set up incorrectly (the venue no longer permits bands to place drums near the side door due to cranky neighbors), we were forced to re-arrange ourselves. Upon completing the move, we realized that a sizable audience was present, and that it was past time for us to start.

Perhaps it was this immediacy that set the tone for the evening—something pushed the band further into the void that night. We found ourselves approaching the thresholds that we had been striving to reach the past two nights, and the music that resulted was a glimpse at what may lay beyond. By this point, I had begun feeling more comfortable in my newfound role in the rhythm section (we have previously employed a pianist), and Jack, Alex, and I were beginning to synthesize the building blocks of a common vocabulary. Similarly, although Corey and Jeremy have been playing together in various contexts for years, this was the first night where they seemed to find that connection in the repertoire.

Day Four: New York and Brooklyn, NY

After a relaxing morning, I set out for the East Village to meet Mr. Lee Koonce, Executive Director of the Third Street Music School Settlement. As the oldest community music school in the country, Third Street provides excellent arts instruction to thousands of young children who may otherwise never have such an opportunity. It was a great honor to meet with Mr. Koonce. I spoke with him at length about my goal to create opportunities for young ensembles to be able to develop through community outreach, increasing access to creative music among the general public. He was very interested in our work and ideas, and generously provided feedback, criticisms, and suggestions. I came away from our conversation concomitantly inspired and daunted—the challenges are immense, but so are the prospects!

In the afternoon, the band met for setup and soundcheck for a private audio/video recording at 58 North Six Media Labs, the Williamsburg-based creative outpost of the great trombonist/composer Josh Roseman. We met the crew and were given a tour of the amazing space, which Mr. Roseman has been working to develop into a comfortable yet state-of-the-art space for creative musicians to document their work in the audio-visual medium.

The space was fantastic, and the audience was filled with both friends and special guests. However, this proved to be one of the most challenging performances of the tour. I personally found myself nervous in the unfamiliar live-recording environment, and learned later that I had not been alone. The band limped through the set; we made mistakes in the most unlikely places, and generally struggled to generate momentum. Nevertheless, people seemed to have a favorable opinion of the performance, and upon listening back to the recording, I realized that we had some good moments and some great footage. The proprietor himself was there for the duration of the event and expressed enthusiasm for what we were doing. Afterwards, he was kind enough to offer us his continued support, and gave me some very useful feedback and advice. After noticing that I was disappointed with the way things had gone, Mr. Roseman chuckled and gave me a reminder: “Recording sessions are like car accidents—if you walk away in one piece, it went pretty well”.

Day Five: Raleigh, NC

My alarm went off at 5:50 a.m., signaling the start of a very long day. We congregated in Park Slope, and split a cab to LaGuardia International Airport to catch our flight to my hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. Our booking on such an early flight was on account of our commitment to present a workshop/performance at William G. Enloe High School (where Jack and I met and began working together). Although we had heard tales of unwieldy lines resulting from the foiled terrorist plot just weeks before, check-in and security were a breeze, and we found ourselves eating breakfast near the terminal within a few short minutes of arriving.

Over breakfast, we distilled what we had learned from our last masterclass experience, as well as the advice that we had received from Ms. Castellano and Mr. Koonce, into a refined plan of action for our workshop in the afternoon. Having an idea of the level of knowledge and interest in the subject to expect, we chose talking points that we thought would best engage the students and strategies for including them in our music.

The flight over was smooth, and arrived on time. We were counting on a punctual arrival, as our schedule was extremely tight. Thankfully, with 10 minutes to spare, we managed to make it to Bojangles Famous Chicken n’ Biscuits, the Raleigh locations of which I can safely say serve some of my favorite food in the world. Disguised as a fast-food restaurant, Bojangles consistently delivers southern specialties soaked in flavor, and the location on New Bern Avenue is something of a cultural center for the inner-city community. While Jack and Alex are well acquainted with “the tase” (pronounced with a hard “s”), as we jokingly refer to it, Jeremy and Corey were eager to see if our incessant hyping was justified. The answer is best expressed by the fact that nobody spoke during the time we were eating, and that Corey asked if we could go again immediately after the workshop.

Word of our presence had spread quickly, and our back-to-back masterclasses were filled with students, as well as a few old teachers of ours. We performed for both groups, did our best to give general explanations of the music (both for musicians and non-musicians), and answered a variety of questions. Additionally, we tested a suggestion from Ms. Castellano: we asked student musicians to join us in playing one of our compositions. Ms. Castellano had noted that younger students often feel as though they don’t understand the sort of techniques that creative musicians employ when composing and improvising, and that this approach tends to help those students see themselves in the music. The suggestion was extremely effective, and we enjoyed seeing the students gracefully work their way through the music.

In the evening, we regrouped for soundcheck at Marsh Woodwinds. The longstanding woodwind and brass retail/repair shop is owned by saxophonist Rodney Marsh. When Marsh moved the location of the store across town, he made sure to find a space with an upstairs, which he has converted into the best local venue for jazz and experimental music. Marsh provides use of the venue as a service to the community, allowing bands to take everything they make at the door, and goes out of his way every time to prepare tables worth of hors d’oeuvres, desserts, as well as lots of soda, coffee, beer, and wine. We were honored to be performing in such a great place, and the band immediately felt at home.

At close to one hundred people, the audience that night was the largest that we had played for over the course of the tour, and we were later informed that it was the largest audience that had the venue had ever had. From the first note, the band was focused and incisive, and we rebounded from the difficulties of the previous evening with our strongest performance of the tour. Those listening were visibly and audibly moved, and we came away from the experience with a sense of purpose.

We closed the tour in good spirits, inspired by the results of our efforts and aware of how far we have yet to travel. I’m already working on planning the next one…

posted February 3, 2010 by Rafiq