Edgy and Scratchy

Algarve Portugal, January 2020

This afternoon I had been invited to join a rehearsal. Just when finished writing my obligatory three pages per day, it was getting chilly and I found myself in great necessity of moving away from the place i had been sitting around for during the last couple of hours. The studio of Joao the drummer is tiny, comfy and warm. It was exactly the right thing to get drifted away by these three musicians in jam session, who have come together for the first time in this constellation. I sat on the floor between Tomas on guitar and Fabio on Alt-Saxophon.

I suddenly remember these rehearsals in a goat stall in the 80ties on Formentera. One of my stepfathers played the drums and his twin brother trumpet and violine. They both arrived to the island in the 60ties and only played jazz. I had watched them doing music for years and fell asleep with jazz music played from a cassette player every night. Especially Miles Davis. My room had no doors as it was the little space above the chimney room to be climbed up on a ladder. So all the weed and dope smoke from the adults sitting in front of the chimney arrived to my bedroom. I did not really care as slept with an open window right next to my head.

But the more important thing is that my comprehension for music had started from very early age on. My ear has gotten used to difficult sounds and searches for the more edgy, itchy and scratchy sound combinations. Atonality is a challenge. Once i listened to a concert of Arnold Schönberg, conducted by Daniel Barenboim in the Staatsoper Berlin. What an experiment! Therefore I prefer Free and Experimental Jazz nowadays.

Unfortunately the skills for doing music myself had always been more than poor. By the age of thirteen i was given an Alt-Saxophon. Tried to play on it, hidden in an old Volvo parked behind the house without traffic circulation papers as no insurance and british number plates. The car was filled up with trash and i felt comfortable to be alone. After a while i managed to blow the appropriate way to get a sound out of the wooden plate. Had no teacher though, so i lost interest and left the Sax by the trash in the car. A clear evidence for no talent at all.

Back to presence , I enjoy listening to the guys creating a really good sound emerging to a song. They decide to make a pause and let some fresh air in the small studio. As we step outside, the full moon appears with all its presence on the crystal clear sky.

Time for me to go on.