SONG PREMIERE/INTERVIEW: Trumpet Virtuoso Dan Rosenboom Shares “Apes in Rapture” & Talks New LP ‘Absurd in the Anthropocene’

Dan Rosenboom, a musician at the forefront of Los Angeles’ ever-thriving creative music scene, boasts an international reputation for boundary-pushing projects and relentless productivity. A trumpet virtuoso equally at home in improvised and classical music, Rosenboom returns with his new album Absurd in the Anthropocene out on January 31, 2020 via Gearbox Records.

Absurd in the Anthropocene is loaded with an absurd crew of musicians, including producer and keyboard master Jeff Babko, legendary drummers Vinnie ColaiutaGary Novak, and Zach Danziger, renowned bassists Jimmy JohnsonTim Lefebvre and Jerry Watts Jr., Rosenboom’s longtime collaborator Gavin Templeton and jazz icon David Binney on saxophones, guitarists Tim ConleyAlexander Noice, and Jake Vossler, electronics wizard Troy Ziegler, and horn-playing colleagues Brian WalshRyan DragonJuliane Gralle, and Javier Gonzalez. The record’s first session was recorded at Capitol Records with prized engineer Steve Genewick, while the second and third took place at Stella Sound Studios under the direction of revered producer, engineer, and mixer Justin Stanley.

Glide is thrilled to premiere “Apes in Rapture” (below) off the new album, a spontaneous combustion of improvisational delights and wonders. Rosenboom, along with Kamasi Washington, leads the charge of a new pulsating jazz movement that all younger generations can relate and attach to. Glide also had the chance to speak with Rosenboom about his creative process and what makes his brand of jazz so captivating.

What can you tell us about “Apes in Rapture” and how it came together?

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to communicate in music. Ultimately, I want to share a sense of human connection and a pursuit of joy with both my band mates and our audience. “Apes in Rapture” is really an embodiment of that pursuit, realized as a wild ride through some really fun grooves and some wickedly difficult meter changes and horn lines. The title “Apes In Rapture” reflects the almost giddy character in the music, and is a funny collective self-reflection: in our best moments, we humans are all just apes in rapture!

When Jeff Babko, who produced and played keyboards on Absurd In The Anthropocene, told me that the legendary rhythm section of drummer Vinnie Coaliuta and bassist Jimmy Johnson were down to record for the album, I was super excited and a little intimidated, to be honest. I’ve admired them both for such a long time and this would be my first opportunity to meet them, let alone work with them, so I wanted to put something really special together for this opportunity. In a flurry of inspiration, I wrote “Apes In Rapture” in about two weeks. The piece is a bit of an homage to one of my musical heroes, Frank Zappa, and a feature for both Colaiuta and Johnson, as well as for saxophone icon David Binney, who takes a brilliant solo early in the tune.

As the song developed, I imagined a full horn section — 3 saxes, 2 trumpets, and 2 trombones — in addition to the rhythm section, and called several of my close friends and long-time collaborators, Gavin Templeton, Brian Walsh, Javier Gonzalez, Ryan Dragon, and Juliane Gralle to join in. With a 10-piece band we needed a beautiful room to record, and were fortunate to secure a spot at the legendary Capitol Records Studio A at the very beginning of January 2019. So, after a whirlwind of planning and only a couple hours of sleep, we rolled into Capitol Records at 10am, and threw down this bohemoth of a piece!

With this piece, I wanted to share the joy I felt at the opportunity to work with these legends and close friends with both the ensemble and our audience. Over the years, I’ve made a lot of intense music, and I wanted to do something that really brought the intellect and the soul together in a light-hearted way. So, as complex as the tune got, I wanted to maintain an almost euphoric sensibility in the performance, and I hope that comes across in the music. So much music, especially instrumental music, takes itself really seriously and so do the musicians. It’s important to remember that elevating our sense of shared humanity and pursuing joy is really the main point.

How do you translate such thoughtful opinions and views on responding to culture into instrumental music – what is your process to get out what you want to say into something compositional?

One of the reasons I gravitate toward instrumental music, is that it leaves a lot of room for the audience to participate in the interpretive process. When I’m responding to culture or politics, or any topic really, I sit with my own emotions around the topic, and those emotions inform the sound in melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic terms, as well as instrumentation, texture, and overall vibe. This all serves to set the mood, but it leaves the specific message open to interpretation, and invites the audience to interact with the performance on their own terms. It can also allow the piece to take shape in a variety of ways, and transform over time.

Words are hard for me, in general. I feel that words are often an inadequate tool for expressing human experience, though our history of incredible writing might beg to differ. Maybe it’s the way I experience words personally, but I find that reading or writing them feels very specific. And I feel like my experience as a human in the world, is much more nebulous and indefinable.

That said, the title of a piece can act as a frame for the subject matter at play. I’m not in the business of telling people what to think. I just like inviting them to think while they experience the music. And hopefully the sound and emotion we create as performers can inspire people’s own intuition to think more deeply about the world in which we live.

What specific ugly facets of culture do you feel can most be cured by music and to be more specific – improvisational music?

I’m under no illusions that a piece of music can “cure” any ugly facets of culture. What music, or any art, can do is inspire people, and inspired people can come together to enact change. So I look at the creative act as a “pebble in a pond.” The ripples expand from that initial point of inspiration, and with any luck they inspire some people to raise their consciousness.

Right now, we see people pushed in negative directions by a sense of isolation and a distortion of both self and communal value. The A.I. bots that shape our online experiences are really good at pushing us to the edges of what we’re willing to consider, and as we drift farther away from each other we lose our sense of shared values and purpose. Many people are confronting difficult realities about the imbalance in our world, injustices that have been perpetrated for centuries, and cultural and political trends that are deeply entrenched and resistant to progress. Many people feel unseen, their experiences and values trivialized, or worse, ignored. Many people feel squeezed from every angle and have to fight to exist. These are just some examples of very real and palpable ills that plague our modern world.

Art that seeks to communicate a sense of shared humanity, and seeks to inspire people to pursue joy, even if that means exorcising very painful experiences and emotions, serves to bring people closer together. In that togetherness, we find strength, and a way forward. Thinking in terms of “cures” is a fallacy. There’s really no “cure” for anything, if you take the long view. Everything is always in process, and if we can find our sense of shared humanity, we can guide our culture toward the pursuit of joy.

Without getting too far into the metaphysical, I like to think about the idea of creative magic. The implications of an honest creative act can be far-reaching, yet unknowable. People draw inspiration from the unlikeliest of places all the time, and one can never know who might be inspired by their creative work. In the current age, the Anthropocene, where humans are having an effect on the structure of our planet, our solar system, and our universe, a single point of inspiration literally has the potential to ripple throughout the cosmos and affect the very nature of reality.

To me, that’s why improvisational music is so vitally “now.” Improvisational music, by its nature, is of the moment. It can respond to the energy in a room, or any stage, in a way that no other art can. It can channel emotions in a way that is incredibly spontaneous, heart-felt, and real. So, it has the potential to connect on a human level, or even a primal level, to a shared energy between performer and audience, and reach people on an emotional level in a profound way. That’s why I believe improvisational music holds the most promise for the future. It’s infinitely adaptable, malleable, renewable, and indisputably poignant to those who can ride the emotional waves of sound.

Absurd in the Anthropocene features many collaborations – did you work on these songs before heading to the studio to record with each member? How much of this album was born on pure spontaneity?

One of the best things about being part of a thriving musical community, like the one in LA, is that there are so many incredible people to make music with. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of making music with most of the people on this record in a variety of contexts. The idea of Absurd in the Anthropocene was to showcase some of my favorite musicians in a variety of ensembles, each of which have slightly different takes on my writing. So, in a sense you could say that the “sound” of the album has been developing for quite some time.

Each piece had its own development, which ranged from well rehearsed to completely improvised. All of the tunes have an improvisational element, which you really can’t plan out. That happens in the moment. Some of the tunes, like “Pushed to the Edge of Ideas by Dispassionate Bias-Algorithm Bots,” took a fair amount of rehearsal to work out. Others, like “Nebulounge” or “Forget What You Know” were 100% improvised on the spot. A couple of the tunes were a little older and had been performed live several times, so they were well developed by the time we went into the studio. “Apes In Rapture” is a tune that would normally require a bit of rehearsal, but logistically that wasn’t going to happen, so I did a ton of prep work ahead of time. When we got to the studio, I had a pretty clear plan, but the band was sight-reading. The result is pretty insane!

We recorded the album in three sessions, one per rhythm section. Each drum and bass pair had a very distinct sound and approach and they’re all totally incredible! The first session, with Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and Jimmy Johnson on bass, produced “Apes In Rapture” and “Obsidian Butterfly” in just under 3 hours. The second session, with Gary Novak on drums and Jerry Watts Jr. on bass, featured a band that had played live quite a bit before, and recorded “Pushed to the Edge…,” “Green Moon,” “Still,” and “Drowning on the High Ground,” mostly in one or two takes. The final session, with Zach Danziger on drums and Tim Lefebvre on bass, was a combination of tunes and free improvisations with no rehearsal ahead of time: “Mr. Lizard Said,” “Heliopteryx,” one tune which was written the morning of the session, “Lemonade,” and the two improvisations I mentioned before. All in all, every tune on the record was basically worked out in the studio, and everyone who played knocked it out of the park!

I can’t overstate how integral each individual involved in this project was, musicians and engineers alike. Everyone added their own personality to the music in a way that couldn’t be replicated by anyone else. Jeff Babko, who produced and played keys, did an amazing job helping to put the lineup together and creating an atmosphere where people could really be themselves. I want to give a special shout out to Gavin Templeton, who crushes on saxophone throughout the record, and has been my partner in crime for nearly 15 years. Alexander Noice, Jake Vossler, and Tim Conley all gave mighty guitar contributions, and Troy Ziegler took “Heliopteryx” to outer space with some wild electronic effects. David Binney’s solo on “Apes In Rapture” is mind-blowing, and the horn section of Javier Gonzalez, Brian Walsh, Ryan Dragon and Juliane Gralle blew the walls down. Steve Genewick and Justin Stanely did a beautiful job engineering the sound. Justin also mixed the entire record and made it sound just phenomenal. And Caspar Sutton-Jones from Gearbox Records mastered the album with a gorgeous, rich, earthy sound. This record gives everyone space to express themselves. That’s one of the things I love about this album so much — it’s a personality piece, for me and for everyone who worked on it!

Your music combines elements of jazz, rock and classical – to amuse our readers – who from the past or present in each category would you most enjoy collaborating with?

Without a doubt, it would be Frank Zappa! If I had to go by each category, my answers are probably unsurprising: Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, and Igor Stravinsky. Miles, for his clarity of vision and uncompromising forward thinking; Jimi for his raw fire and wanton panache; and Igor Stravinsky for his ingenuity and sense of rhythm, and his willingness to shock and surprise audiences, critics, and peers alike. These are reductive answers, no doubt. I could write endlessly on each. But to me, they all had an attitude and a forward vision that I really admire. Not to mention that they all made some of the coolest music ever created. To bring it back to Zappa, I really think he brought all this together in an amazing way. He had a compositional ingenuity and rhythmic complexity, the exploratory improvisational edge, the rock-and-roll flair, and the keenest of eyes for the cultural and political moment. He’s one of my biggest heroes and I would have loved to work with him!

You have a reputation for boundary-pushing projects- where does this one fit in your resume?  Is this the most ambitious one yet?

 I always find that “boundary-pushing” label funny. Most of the time, I’m not really thinking about pushing boundaries, but that’s often how people characterize my work. I think what people usually mean is that I’m not really playing into any preconceived notions about what a particular genre should do. I don’t like the idea of separating music into genres. At this point it’s all so ubiquitous that it all mixes into a stew in my brain and comes out as some kind of amalgam. It’s often different from project to project, but it’s never a conscious blend. It’s just a blend because I like a lot of different things!

That said, Absurd In The Antrhopocene is definitely the biggest undertaking so far. Interestingly enough, most of the music didn’t feel like that, though. Most of the music actually happened super fast and fluidly. But the scope of the project, from the personnel to the production, definitely happened on a bigger level than I’ve attempted before. But that’s always the thing: every time I do a new project I tell my wife that I think it’s the best one yet! I mean, shouldn’t it be? That’s why we keep going — there’s always that next mountain.

As far as ambition or boundary-pushing, I think all of that is sort of beside the point. The point, to me, is to make interesting art that hopefully connects with people and offers some insight, perspective or inspiration. It all comes from a place of honesty. I’m exploring what’s inside my own soul, and trying to share that in a way that’s both serious and fun. If it pushes boundaries, cool! But that’s not the main drive.

You currently reside in LA – ever consider relocating to San Fran, Seattle or NYC or overseas? What keeps you in LA?

It’s funny you should mention that. I love all those places, and we’re actually playing in or near all those cities in February! I have thought about relocating many times in the past. There are amazing scenes in all those places, and in many other places around the world. And who knows what the future will bring?

What keeps me in LA, at least for now, is really the incredible community here. There is just an amazing wealth of great music happening all the time everywhere in LA, and it’s an exciting place to be. And people are really supportive of each other here. I’m also really fortunate to have a career working as a studio musician recording for movies and television, and to work with the incredible studio musicians who are part of LA’s recording legacy. It’s really inspiring to be able to work in a variety of capacities in the LA music scene, and I’m happy to say that it keeps me busy and inspired. I wish more of the world took an interest in what’s happening on the ground floor of LA’s creative music community. There are so many world-class artists working under the radar here. I think people around the world would be amazed to learn just how deep the scene goes!

 You have some live shows in 2020 – how do you hope to perform these songs live and what can we expect?

One of the great things about writing music like this is that it’s incredibly malleable. Most of the music on Absurd In The Antrhopocene is designed to work in a variety of ensemble sizes and instrumentations — really anywhere from trio to 10-piece band! That’s the range of ensemble sizes represented on the album as well. The books for the Absurd band contain well over 50 original tunes that are wide-ranging in style and scope. So I’ll be doing shows throughout 2020 with a variety of ensembles, and it’ll be exciting will be to see how the music shape-shifts from one show to the next. Here’s a fun video of one incarnation of the band from the 2019 Angel City Jazz Festival featuring Gary Novak, Jerry Watts Jr., Alexander Noice, Jeff Babko, Gavin Templeton and me.

 

Absurd in the Anthropocene Release Tour
Jan 31 – Los Angeles, CA @ Barnsdall Gallery Theatre
Feb 06 – New York, NY @ Nublu 151
Feb 11 – Seattle, WA @ The Royal Room
Feb 18 – Berkeley, CA @ California Jazz Conservatory

Links

https://danrosenboom.com/

https://www.instagram.com/dan_rosenboom

https://www.facebook.com/DanRosenboom

https://twitter.com/dan_rosenboom

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