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"ONE" release of the Gravity Adjusters Expansion band album onto
CD. 1971. $16. USA, $18. elsewhere. (contact Richard)
It is difficult
to put this music in a genre, as it has elements of Jazz, New Music,
World Music, and occasionally some Rock & Roll and even classical
flavors. At this point of time, 2000 AD, this music is beyond experimental
and yet by its essence it remains experimental. For the most part,
this is wild and risk taking music utilizing both conventional and
not so conventional instruments in a free atmosphere. Being Free Music,
it leans heavily on the creative improvising of the players, as we
seldom follow charts or scores. Most of our pieces begin as explorations
in sound that evolve into a musical form, but the line between sound
and music is so thin as to almost not be there. Occasionally there
is a departure concept expressed in a few words prior to playing like,
“Shall we drone?”, or “let’s do a rhythm piece”,
or “see/hear you in deep space”, etc… Sometimes a piece
is designed around a group of instruments, as in Water Dreams which
utilizes 4 Waterphones. On rare occasions we do a more conventional
piece as in The Knowlton Brothers Blues, or fall into an ethnic groove
like Isla de Roatan. But for the most part the call is “let’s
play”, without charts or preconceptions, and we go for It. We
seldom play the same piece twice and very seldom have rehearsals, but
rather “sessions”, which puts an intensity into the equation.
The musical process is entirely democratic and very open to suggestions
both before and during the music. The majority of the musicians are
multi-instrumentalists, so the instrumentation frequently changes
so do other things, which to my view is organic. This music dips into
chaos and/or silence to extract new forms, changes time signatures,
and follows notions. In this free musical atmosphere, when a musical
form comes together it is exhilarating, satisfying, and sometimes
magical. Experiencing this musical point through time makes for sonic
adventures into an uncharted, cross genre and beyond musical matrix.
For me this is The Ultimate in playing music, as the Spirit guides
us in the here and now. The pieces of music in Water Dreams were selected
from several ensembles/bands/musicians who are or were performing
in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Richard Waters
— Big Island/Hawai’i/year 2000 AD |
