Experiments

[Gary James Peters]

Hi All

I know there is only a tiny minority of you who are likely to be into the more experimental end of what I spend my time doing (and that's fine by me), but for the one or two of you who might be interested, you can find some new material here. Personally, I think the steel stands up very well in such contexts, but then I would wouldn't I?

https://soundcloud.com/peterspeters

Have a listen anyway

Gary

[Haddock]

Hi Gary
I had a listen to a few of them and there’s some interesting stuff in there. Keep up the experimenting. It’s nice to hear steel outside of the country genre. It can do so much more! The problem, however, with prolific artists like yourself is that there’s just too much stuff to listen to and the gems may be lost in the midst. I go the other way with my experiments which I knock up daily using my looper. Once I’m finished, they are gone (like ‘tears in rain’ to quote Mr Hauer) and its on to the next one. Which is probably a good thing for the forum members ears! This week I’m mainly playing in Locrian mode......

Cheers
Calum

[Donny Johnston]

Calum, I await with trepidation your experiments in the Locrian mode. Can you do Canon? LDN.

[Gary James Peters]

Thanks for your feedback Calum. Yes, I do churn out far too much, I should stop really, but I obviously I won't. When I was a serious jazzer, way back when (Young Jazz Musician of the Year 1979...it's actually true!!) my Bible was George Russell's 'Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization,' which required you to master all the modes (Locrian included)...fun times! He made a great album called something like 'Into The Hot' I have it on vinyl, must find it. As regards non-country steel, in my opinion too much of it (what little there is) is either gimmicky or trying to give the steel guitar some bogus 'future' which it doesn't necessarily need. From my point of view, I'm just trying to bring out the incredible beauty and intensity of the steel regardless of context. That's the dream, so working on that. In the meantime, I'm also working on a version of Shenandoah, so you'll be hearing from me again later.

Gary

[Haddock]

Hi Gary
Well it’s obviously you i should have been boring to death with my modal lockdown summer! Took it upon myself to find the ‘spoonful of sugar’ in each mode while I had the time. Left Locy till last for obvious reasons. Can’t stand much jazz after Kenny Ball so I suspect I might find the book heavy going. All wee dots and lines to me! But I am partial to a bit of Fripp! With that in mind, which of your tunes should I listen to?
Cheers
Calum

[Gary James Peters]

Hi Calum

Have a read of this, which appeared recently, and then click on the youtube video embedded in it. No steel back then for me, but you might find it interesting. It was an incredible band...but then I would say that, wouldn't I?

https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2020/04/30/jj ... y-winkles/

G

[Haddock]

That’s certainly a good review. I listened to a good bit of the link and its the kind of jazz that doesn’t really do it for me but I can appreciate what’s going on and clearly your all having fun so where’s the harm. I think as a form, free jazz like that doesn’t enjoy being recorded. If i was to use my usual joke, ‘it’s not as bad as it sounds’! Strangely enough, if it gets more extreme to the point where you’re listening to someone hitting a bit of metal with a hammer for half an hour, I find that quite relaxing. Repetition is a wonderful form.
Back to the Devil’s Mode for me.....
Cheers
Calum