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Lesson 1 - Reba Extra Credit: Golgi Apparatus
Lesson 1 - Reba Extra Credit: Golgi Apparatus
There are lots of things to love about the American rock band Phish. One thing any phan worth their salt could agree on (and there is plenty we disagree on) is their musical range. They play rock, blues, bluegrass, jazz, calypso, funk, barbershop quartet.....for four white guys from Vermont, they're pretty diverse! I grew up playing the alto saxophone in Denver, and started trying out jazz standards in high school. Though my sax chops didn't take me very far, I continued on my jazz odyssey, and my own personal appreciation of the art form helped get me into Phish (consequently, loving Phish led me into bluegrass, which has also occupied a large portion of my musical time over the years). There's also a really cool band called Jazz is Phsh (a jazz band that covers Phish), but we can save that for another day.
I was a big fan of Thelonious Monk before I'd heard of Phish. I liked his off-syncopated timing, his catchy melodies, his masterful bandleadership (if that's a word), and of course, his name. One thing that struck me as cool and innovative, which hasn't been replicated widely, was the solo from Bemsha Swing, in which he trails his saxophonist in the melody by a stutter step (maybe an eighth or sixteenth note). Check out this recording from Tokyo. Listen to the song, then perk your ears at just about the 4:00 mark, where the asynchronicity begins. It's a cool little little tweak on timing - on what we expect to happen - that makes it really interesting, and technically absorbing.
Flash forward to me in 1993 being turned onto Phish at a party when I was a camp counselor. Two of my most respected counselors were hunched over a stereo in the mountains of Colorado, singing "Bag it, tag it" over and over. It's such a catchy refrain, and the lyrics are so colorful, I was immediately fascinated. One of the best things about Phish is that they jam. And they jam hard - individually and collectively. Yeah, I've heard all the jokes about jamming - loosey goosey, all over the place, rudderless - that's all well and good, but a lot of Phish's jamming is composed. And that's what I want to focus on with Reba.
Here's Reba from their studio album Lawn Boy. A catchy little tune about a sorceress mixing a concoction in a cauldron then selling it to the nation - standard Phish fare. It's all fun and games, then just after 2:30 the composed jam starts - lengthy scales, offbeat timing, tension & release....the band's together. Now pay attention to the melody that begins at 5:12 - Page (piano) and Trey (guitar) are playing the exact same thing. Now listen at 5:48 - it's the same melody, only played on a stutter step - just like Monk & his saxophonist. I've listened to a lot of music in my day, and I've never heard this in any other place.
Ok, if you've made it this far, you deserve to hear what Reba really sounds like. Here it is from their New Years concert in 1995 - arguably their best version ever. Almost twice the speed as the original recording, with the same pinpoint precision. The stutter step melody starts just after 5:00 here.
Extra credit - while we're on the topic of high school, I dedicate this track to your inner 9th grade science nerd. It's a short one coming in under 5 minutes called Golgi Apparatus, off their first album, Junta. Written by Trey and his friends Tom, Aaron & Dave when they were in 8th grade, it's a nonsensical ode to cellular biology, with an earworm of a refrain that will leave you waving your proof of purchase in the air (just don't do it at a show, n00b). They often open or close a show with this one, because it's so tight and punchy. And since we're not yet placing judgment on whether the studio or live versions are superior, I give you both - the studio version from Junta and a live version from Chicago '94 (the show I was listening to yesterday). Enjoy!
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