Two thoughts crossed my mind when I got the initial question to write this suite for orchestra. One: wow, that’s a big project. Two: do I have a clear notion in my head of how I want an orchestra to sound? What would I want to do with it? I started seeing the opportunity in developing a new language, started being aware of the biggest thing you can imagine. After that, I just jumped. These opportunities don’t come along that often. I’ve always been interested in composing in the broadest sense of the term. Starting at age 13, I was listening to very diverse kinds of music: jazz, electronic music, but also extreme underground rock and avant-garde music. I was always seeking new sounds from early on, be it on the piano the synthesizer, of going round with my little tape recorder to record some pots and pans or other percussion. I was alway thinking more or less – not orchestrally
but – orchestrationally. I could envision the range of possibilities an orchestra has to offer.
I’m very much looking forward to the rehearsals with the Brussels Philharmonic. I really don’t know what to expect. I’m heavily leaning of the skill set of conductor Ilan Volkov, who’s a big piece of the puzzle since he’s quite versed in influencing, guiding and shaping the improvisation of the orchestra. It’s all about letting the precomposed material and the improvisations be meaningful in relation to each other. Duke Ellington looms very large when I’m composing. He is one of the great orchestrational and improvisational minds, especially in the African-American music tradition. I studied his stuff, along with Billy Strayhorn’s and Fletcher Henderson’s music, how they transfer their piano playing into a score for a larger group. Voicing chords, they all were masters in suggesting the right instrument for a specific voice.
Music has always been a part of my life. I can remember my dad’s enormous vinyl collection, stuffed with Chicago blues and jazz – records he amassed growing up in Chicago. He was a psychologist, but also played the piano – mostly by ear and for his own enjoyment. I too started playing the piano myself, at age 11, but never did actual jazz studies. When it was time to choose a university, I went to Ann Arbor. Not only because they had a great liberal arts program, but also because it was only a 40 mile drive to Detroit. I found myself playing music four nights a week there. Even though I wasn’t in music school, I was devoting as much or maybe even more time to actually learning this kind of stuff.
The Detroit scene really got a hold on me. The jazz scene has a strong history of mentorship. A lot of young players got gigs and performance opportunities via older musicians. Marcus Belgrave saw me play one day, and starting booking me for all types of gigs – even little teaching performances, where you found yourself playing Louis Armstrong tunes to a bunch of kids. That tradition of nurturing really is something I still cherish to this day.
The HeartSpokenSuite is dedicated to three people: Tassili Bond, Geri Allen and Mark “Trent” Mitchell. They all were important people to me, when I was still playing in Detroit. It was my way of honoring the influence they’ve had in my musical and personal life. Mark “Trent” Mitchell was a fantastic bassist, who I’ve met in my early days in Michigan. Similarly, Tassili Bond was another great bassist who I used to play with. And Geri Allen is one of my heroes in music. We never played together in Detroit, but she became a friend when we were both touring with McCoy Tyner. When I was writing the score and working on the music, I didn’t really understand what I wanted to tell and what I was going to write. But as the music was pouring out of me, I startingly noticed it sounded so much coming from Geri’s sound world. So it was evident I would dedicate the movement to her legacy. There was something about my time in Detroit, and the musical spirit of the place. I decided to dedicate the movements to these three people, but more generally speaking to all the creativity and energy from my experiences in Detroit.
Craig Taborn
