Sound Vespers by Tom Varner

For about five years now, I have been fortunate to present a series of annual concerts at Seattle’s Good Shepherd Center Chapel Space, inspired by the idea of “combining forces” of our local improvised music community and members of the Seattle Phonographers Union, a group that presents improvised multi-laptop field recording sound collaborations. When I first heard an example of Steve Peters’ close-mike recordings of termites munching on an old Portuguese church pew, I was hooked, and immediately had the idea of mixing up “live” improvisers with field recording/electronics artists. Of course, the Phonographers are also “live” and improvising as well, just like the other instrumentalists.

For our first concert in February 2015, I thought of multiple brass ensembles in a church and those wonderful strange sounds, giving our concert the name of “Gabrieli and the Holy Termites.” For me, it was magical, especially because all the improvisers, whether on brass, percussion, or laptops, knew when to play, when to not play, when to blend in, when to clash, when to truly leave silence, and when to blast that silence with something new.

Almost all the other concerts that we’ve done since early 2015 have been in late August (2016 to 2022), and had a meditative transitional “summer is over, fall is coming, day changing to night” feel to them. The beautiful light in the Chapel Space would slowly change to dark when the concerts were over. Thus, a kind of reflective “sound creation vespers service for all”—or, Sound Vespers.

By 2019, I realized that I really should record one of these events, but instead of simply “live in the Chapel,” I would try to do what we might do in the Jack Straw recording studio, with everyone miked up close, and have the chance to be more creative in the mixing, with reverb, panning, and “close ups,” and perhaps one or two of the takes experimented with. Steve Barsotti took a “brass only” take, and with reverb treatments turned it into something else entirely—that brass band went down into the Marianas Trench! Steve did some other treatments on “Sewing Machine Water Train,” but all the other tracks are simply “as they were.”

And those sounds! I gave up at a certain point trying to figure out “what was what.” That’s not the point. There were sounds from microphones stuck into the sand at low tide, sounds of tap dancers practicing overhead in a parking garage, factories, unknown animals, crackling ice, heartbeats, slabs of quartz for a kitchen counter, along with assorted hand percussion, muted trumpets, low brass long tones, and a lots of brass player air sounds. During the mixing I told Steve Barsotti, “I loved those weird crickets at the end of that take!” And Steve answered “Tom, that was not crickets, that was my old Chicago radiator.”

Other that my suggesting duos to begin certain takes, there was no “structure” planned—the forms took care of themselves, with such experienced improvisers. Each take had a different focus, each one creating something new. As Greg Campbell told me last week, “Tom, you had your two big ingredients: beauty and crunch!”

This project would not be successful if it were not for the incredible unique players: Greg Kelley, Samantha Boshnack, Jim Knodle, Ray Larsen, Haley Freedlund, Greg Campbell, Steve Peters, and Steve Barsotti—each were so human and expressive in their own way—I was blessed to be playing with them in the studio that day. And, they “got it,” with no rehearsal, no explanation, we just laid down the tracks. There were no out-takes.

It has been a rough three years for so many of us. I hope these Vespers can bring you some beauty, humor, reflection, and joy.

- Tom Varner, August 4, 2022

Special thanks: to Cornish College of the Arts, to Jack Straw Productions, to Greg Williamson, to all musicians who have played on the various Sound Vespers concerts, to Steve Peters and the Good Shepherd Center, to the musicians who played on this recording, and to Steve Barsotti who put these sounds together so beautifully!

Tom Varner is internationally known as one of the top living pioneers of jazz and improvised music on the French horn, as well as an inventive and passionate composer for his different ensembles, which have featured many jazz legends. Varner has been awarded grants from the NEA, Doris Duke Foundation/Chamber Music America, and the Jack Straw Center. He has 18 recordings as a leader.

tomvarnermusic.org
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