Gordon Grdina starts off 2020 with Nomad Trio's debut recording
Credit to Author: Stuart Derdeyn| Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2020 19:00:35 +0000
When: Jan. 8, 8 p.m.
Where: The Annex
Tickets and info: From $20, at eventbrite.com
Nomad is the new album from guitarist and oud player Gordon Grdina, pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer Jim Black. The trio’s debut, to be released on Jan. 10, the latest in a string of projects between Vancouver-based, Juno award-winner Grdina and assorted N.Y. jazz scene fixtures to result in a record.
A few years ago, Grdina outlined his plan to get involved in the American metropolis’ legendary music scene. Today, he sees himself as entrenched in it, with a number of groups on the go.
“A lot of my closest friends are in New York, and I feel really a part of both musical communities,” said Grdina.
“But none of these groups in either city play together regularly, because everyone is too busy. Instead, I’ll book a tour, we’ll get together and play a few warm-up shows in New York before heading out, tour the project and then go into the studio at the end.”
Gordon Grdina’s Nomad Trio, from left, pianist Matt Mitchell, drummer Jim Black, and guitarist/oud player Gordon Grdina.
Grdina has multiple documents of his groups, both on the East and West coasts. The atmospheric improvisations of the N.Y.-based Gordon Grdina Quartet — Oscar Noriega (reeds), Russ Lossing (piano) and Satoshi Takeishi (drums) — and Vancouver’s dynamic Egyptian orchestra-meets-jazz big band Haram both have two recordings.
Keeping projects going over time leads to better studio results, even if the players only come together for periodic tours.
“I’ve been trying to create real group sounds rather than sessions of people thrown together, so I’m very specific about who I’m asking to join and why,” Grdina said.
“Any time that there is that understanding that the band is an ongoing thing, that there will be periodic longer tours, it results in more commitment to the music. That’s pretty much how everyone in New York does it, and how longstanding musical relationships are built.”
The Nomad Trio takes no time in getting fierce on its record. The opening track Wildlife is nearly 11 minutes of Grdina’s continuous fast picking played off against Mitchell’s heavy piano trills and Black’s always spot-on drumming.
This is a power trio relying on the drive of both percussive piano and drums to craft heavy backing for the guitar to slice through. Benbow and Lady Choral are the sole “ballads” and bring a beautiful calm to the six-track album.
Grdina says the music for Nomad Trio is some of the most challenging to write as each player is inhabiting their own distinct rhythmic place within the compositions. He admits that he has driven himself “a little nuts” writing new material for the upcoming tour to push every player’s boundaries.
“Nomad Trio came out of wanting to work with Matt and also to finally get together with Jim, who I had been trying to work with for years,” said Grdina.
“As it turned out, all we could work out was a week’s window to get together, tour, record the album and get Jim to the airport to go off on another tour the next day. This year, we have the luxury of a larger time window both front and back and I expect we’ll record another album after this tour.”
That “luxury” time window is about 14 days.
Such is the reality of how jazz musicians ply their trade — everyone is planning and scheduling months, even years, in advance. So much for that whole rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, it pretty much goes out the window if you want to be a world-class improviser and maintain control over your recorded output.
Over the past few decades, Grdina has carved out an impressive reputation for both his guitar slinging and his performing on the oud, a traditional Middle Eastern lute. Where these two instruments might have been separate parts of the whole earlier on in his career, today they blend into almost every project he has on the go. Reviews for all of his recent recordings have been consistently glowing.
He won a 2019 Juno for instrumental album of the year for his highly inventive solo oud session, titled China Cloud in honour of the popular Vancouver improvised music venue.
“Twenty years ago, learning the oud as a new instrument, I had to pay attention to the tradition, to really learn how to play it and respect the culture it comes from,” he said.
“At the same time, I had my own artistic inclinations to just use it and not compartmentalize it, but it took a lot of time before I felt comfortable to do that. Personally, I still think I’m just scratching the surface with it in so many ways.”
Bringing the oud into ensembles with players who might not be otherwise used to the sound generates uniquely rewarding sessions. Grdina says that he’s liking what he is able to do with the instrument in non-traditional settings, or when non-traditional players join him in more traditional combos.
He’ll be putting that skill set to work when legendary avant-rock guitarist Marc Ribot joins Haram on Feb. 28 (8 p.m. at The BlueShore at CapU, North Vancouver, tickets from $39 at tickets.capilanou.ca).
Also due out in the new year on Irabagast Records is Resist, featuring the Gordon Grdina Septet, with guest saxophonist Jon Irabagon. The musician says that he would still like to get together with drummer Kenton Loewen to write a new record with the Juno-nominated instrumental duo Peregrine Falls and unleash his inner rocker.
“Both of us have been really deeply into other things for awhile, but we really want to write another album and play again, so it will happen” Grdina said.
“I’m also involved in a history of the blues thing at elementary and high schools with the amazing Dawn Pemberton on vocals, John Roper on guitar and bass and Geoff Hicks on drums. Blues was the place where my whole interest in improvisation started, walking around Burnaby in cowboy boots and hat dreaming of being Stevie Ray Vaughan.”
Grdina still credits his heavy picking style to those early forays into overdriven electric blues.
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