[NewMusic] Marco Eneidi's Animal Farm

[Phillip Greenlief]

-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of George Cremaschi
Subject: Re: [NewMusic] Marco Eneidi's Animal Farm

I go back, along with Spirit, Alex Weiss, Goodheart etc,
to the beginning - the Marco Eneidi / Glenn Spearman Creative
Music Orchestra, which, with no disrespect meant to anyone
who came later, blew away every subsequent orchestra, stars
or no stars. Two big reasons: rehearsal and Glenn Spearman.
We rehearsed all day every Sunday at Beanbender's, and often,
the rehearsal was followed by a concert. An actual residency,
just like those Monday night at the Village Vanguard bands!
And it was really a band - the same people every week.
We all knew the music, and we all knew what to do.
Marco's music has nothing to do with efficiency, and
everything to do with understanding the system.
Which takes time. And yes, to anyone who doubts it,
there is a system. He is, very consciously, connected
with all sorts of traditions - most of them oral and rote-learning
oriented. Unfortunately, two rehearsals doesn't even begin
to whip something like that into shape.

And Glenn Spearman - well, as a co-leader, he was perfect
with Marco, very verbal and interested in explaining 'the music'.
Glenn was not shy about telling folks what they should be doing.
And as a player, I'll put it this way - I still get shivers thinking
about the times the band would be at a full boil, and Glenn
would stand up and take a solo and effortlessly sail over
the top, bringing us all up there with him. Lifting the
bandstand, they used to call it. The only other person
I've heard do that on that level is Peter Brotzmann.
When it was all happening, it was a religious experience.

-George

PG:
You got me there. I know...it is really hard to find people who are
willing to make a commitment to play on a regular basis anymore. And
when people do make a commitment over a long period of time things
really happen in a group. The Lost Trio (OK, different music), has been
together for 13 years now, and we rehearse regularly, whether we're
playing out in public or not (more often it's "not"...). There's nothing
to compare with getting really deep into your band-mates playing and
your group's repertoire. We have an enormous book of material after
being together all these years; we have enough new material at the
moment to make three albums. We don't do "subs" if someone can't make
it; if we all can't make a gig, we say no to it.

ROVA has achieved the same goals - nearly 30 years of music making with
weekly rehearsals: an enormous repertoire; a deeply entrenched "group
sound"; the list goes on and on. There's a reason why these bands sound
as good as they sound...time: music exists in time, and it takes time to
make great music.

I guess my comments about Marco's "system", is that for what happened (a
"quick" residency), there are limitations as to what you can achieve
with that system. If Marco still lived here, and was able to do what
happened back in the day, then the system works fine. It's a long, slow
to develop process; and anyone that loves Mexican food or other cuisines
that function on slow cooking, will tell you that's where it's at.

The original Marco Orchestra happened nearly 15 years ago. How many of
those original players would be able to make such a commitment today?
Where would the weekly rehearsals and performances take place? How many
people on this list, honestly, would be deeply committed to such a thing
today? I tried to have a monthly workshop (ImprovGarage), hosted by a
variety of extremely talented and innovative musicians. People lost
interest after 9 months and the "regulars" whittled down to just a few
people (3 - 4). Why did that happen?

These are the kinds of questions I ask myself when I consider putting a
band together. I've put together a new trio that needs a lot of
rehearsal to learn my new compositions. It took us two months just to
get a rehearsal schedule together, and we're all musicians who are
seriously committed to "the work". We've had three rehearsals, and we're
doing a little performance today at the school where I teach, and I have
to tell you, we're not really ready - we're doing the "easy
compositions", three two-hour rehearsals have not prepared us to play
the other stuff...so I get it, believe me; I get it!
 
Faced with these kinds of problems, I made the comments that I made
regarding the Marco process. They are comments and considerations that
don't seem to go away. I am looking for solutions to these problems.
That is why I took part in this dialogue, not to argue the merits of
Marco or his system. I said it on the onset, and I'll say it again -
Marco is a great saxophonist who has given a lot to the community. And I
agree with George, when that band was rehearsing regularly it was an
amazing experience, no matter which side of the bandstand you were on. 

And I will also repeat that I MISS GLENN SPEARMAN immensely!