Third Coast And Jlin

Third Coast Percussion put out the first single from Vernacular this month, their collaboration with Jlin. It’s called “Premonition,” the album lands October 23rd on Rockwell Records, and it’s their twenty-fifth.

What interests me about this pairing is that it could have gone the easy way. A quartet commissions a producer, the producer writes something percussive, everybody says the word “genre-defying” in the press release. That version happens constantly and it is almost always the acoustic ensemble politely absorbing somebody else’s language.

This one is built for five performers — Jlin is in it, live, with the electronics as an instrument rather than a backing track. Which means the seam between acoustic and electronic has to be negotiated in real time, in front of people, every night. That’s a much harder problem and a much better one.

They’re taking it to Zankel, the Barbican, and the Philharmonie de Paris. I’ll be listening on October 23rd.

Dolly

Dolly Parton died this week, at 80.

I live in Tennessee. You don’t get to be a musician in this state and not have some relationship to her, even if your own work sounds nothing like hers — and mine doesn’t.

What I’ve always taken from Dolly is economy. She wrote songs a child can sing back after one hearing and that a professional can study for a career, and those are usually two different skill sets. She got both out of the same three chords. That’s not simplicity. That’s someone who knew exactly what to leave out.

Most of what I do is the opposite — more information, not less. Which is probably why it lands so hard when somebody does it the other way.

Nevarro’s Hottest Tracks

One of my favorite videos I’ve come across on YouTube recently is this one, documenting the creation of the score for The Mandalorian by Ludwig Göransson. I’ll never forget how much this music immediately drew me into the Mando universe, which has become one of my favorite titles of all time. It set the tone for such an amazing adventure, and me and the kiddos frequently blast it in the car while running errands. I can honestly say I’ve never had a desire to learn to play recorder until now! Always inspiring to see the creative process of others.

Season 2 fires up at the end of October, and can’t come soon enough. This is the way.

Sounds from Studio AB: Alicia

Alicia Keys’ new album ALICIA kept me moving last week in Studio AB, but also got me thinking about the way we digest music vs. information. Listening to an album in full feels more like a commitment, much like reading a book. Often I'll get in the car and play whatever is on my top playlists, which leads to hearing the same tracks, but also to consuming at a much lower level of focus. By spending a week with an album I can usually get through it a few times, and I get to know it better—I get the arch the artist was intending, and thus get to hear the entire story, just like reading.

Conversely, I wondered what it would be like to listen to tracks of our favorite books or podcasts in this less-focused state. Wouldn't it be nice to get the highlights from these things in three-minute “playlist style” versions every so often, just to keep those principles front of mind? I guess maybe it's time to finally check out Blinkist.

Sounds from Studio AB: The Pieces That Fall to Earth (Christopher Cerrone + Wild Up)

I’m really happy for my friend Christopher Cerrone for his new release with LA-based Wild Up, out now on New Amsterdam Records. I’ve been listening to the album now that I’m back home from IL this week and am really enjoying the extended work, which comprises three vocal cycles. In fact, today NPR Classical named it one of their top albums for July.

I’ve loved Chris’ music for quite some time. We recently played his percussion quartet + voice Goldbeater’s Skin at the Nief-Norf Summer Festival in June, and I have a performance of his new ambient percussion solo A Natural History of Vacant Lots lined up for my 2019-20 season. If you’re looking for a soundtrack for your work this week, I highly recommend checking this out and supporting these folks.

Brimstone & Glory

This Friday I'm thrilled to be conducting Nief-Norf at the Big Ears Festival here in Knoxville, TN on a live film score to the documentary Brimstone & Glory, in collaboration with NYC's Wordless Music. Directed by Viktor Jakovleski, Brimstone & Glory traces the National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico, a celebration used to pay tribute to San Juan de Dios. Here is the official trailer to the film.

I was fortunate to be contacted about taking on this project by Wordless Music more than a year ago, and am thoroughly enjoying watching it take shape this week. The film is stunning to watch and the music, scored by Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin, features a percussion quartet concerto with chamber orchestra. Wild grooves and beautiful melodies emerge throughout the score and I've become more and more engulfed with the entire work after each morning of studying. Friday's screening will be the first live performance of the score, using a newly orchestrated version of the score done by Sam Torres.

One of the most poignant moments of the documentary, for me, traces a young boy named Santi and his courageous debate on whether to join the Dia de Los Toros (Day of the Bulls) with his older family members. As a Dad with a son at a similar age, I found myself feeling protective of Santi, and the narrative took me on quite an emotional journey.

I so look forward to joining all 22 musicians on stage Friday for our live score performance of this film in Knoxville's historic Tennessee Theater at 1:30pm. There isn't a better venue out there for such a concert or a better audience/festival to share this project with.