As the music unfolded, Roitstein, seated in the producer's chair next to Paakkari behind the mixing console, observed his students through the wall of glass separating the control room and the studio floor, listening intently as the engineer made on-the-fly adjustments to the sound.
Roitstein's smile broke into a wide grin at certain parts. He especially liked the section in the second half where the horns came together and resolved harmonically in a single note. DeCastro's trumpet provided a bridge to a manic tenor solo by Slocombe, who improvised over minor-chord punctuation from the horns and Fukushima's piano. The piece climaxed with Slocombe's solo transitioning into an eruption of keyboard, punctuated by more jabs of rhythm and horns, then broke down to piano, percussion and horns holding long notes into the fade. The feeling at the end was exhaustion combined with exhilaration, and for the fly-on-the-wall reporter, a bit of déjà vu.
Roitstein without
hesitation called the players into the control room to hear a playback.
"All of you guys sounded great," Roitstein enthused. Paakkari, cueing
up Take 1 for a second listen, agreed: "Yeah, that was beautiful, great
job.”
"Everybody was definitely in the zone," the producer continued. "See why I wanted to record this the last session of the day?”
"Yeah, it’s not a 10 in the morning song!" Fukushima said.
“I think the best part was how Nate's solo came in -- it felt really natural,” Roitstein added. “And Pete, you ripped that solo, man -- real dog-whistle s**t!"
"I was so relaxed when we were recording it," Morgan said.
"There were a couple times I just wanted to yell, 'HELL, yeah!' during the take," DeCastro remarked. "That was the hardest thing, because we're used to shouting a lot when we play."
After hearing the playback, players, producer and engineer alike were still just as jazzed. Discussion of a second pass lasted maybe seven seconds before all agreed Take 1 and Only was the keeper. "Great work," Paakkari reiterated as he saved the track to a digital file, in preparation for three days of mixing and final mastering sessions at Capitol the following week.
"Awesome!"
Roitstein said, taking a breather outside the studio as the day’s session
wrapped, a little earlier than expected. "You can never predict that
kind of magic. That whole session lasted less than an hour, from setup to
sound levels to take. I didn't think it was going to happen so fast, and on
the first take. But that's what you always hope for."
Released Monday, May 16, 2005, and available free to the public, the new "CalArts Jazz 2005" CD features 10 original compositions and performances by California Institute of the Arts jazz studies musicians, recorded at the legendary Capitol Studios in Hollywood.
A
CAPITOL EXPERIENCE
-- Sessions for the new "CalArts Jazz 2005: 16th Annual" CD unfolded
in April at Capitol Studios in Hollywood. Student Tonatiuh Avila's sextet
recorded his "Esta Luz Tambien Se Ve en el Frio Saliendo de las Nubes
Grises" on the first day. David Roitstein, CalArts Jazz chief and CD
producer (left) and Avila get ready for the sextet's first and only take.
(Photo: Stephen K. Peeples/The Signal)
singer and violinist Andrea Hammond and quartet; "End Class" by tenor sax player Matthew Logan Otto and quartet; and guitar player Joel Peloquin's "Eyes of Jade," a duet with faculty guitarist Larry Koonse.
The album is the 16th in a series of annual compilations CalArts Jazz produces in association with the studio and its parent company, Capitol/EMI. The project provides student musicians hands-on experience in a professional studio context, and exposes the talent the prestigious Valencia school produces to a wider audience.
Each year, Capitol/EMI presses 2,000 CDs for CalArts to distribute to the participating artists plus faculty, key media outlets, and jazz fans -- until the supply runs out.
David Roitstein, CalArts Jazz program director and producer of all 16 albums, directed the marathon 10-hour-a-day sessions April 14 and 15, with Charlie Paakkari (pictured at left), a Capitol staff engineer, behind the mixing console in Studio A.
On the ground
floor of the Capitol Tower on Vine Street near Hollywood Boulevard, the facility’s
largest room is steeped in recording history. It’s where icons like
Nat “King” Cole, Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin recorded with full
orchestras in the '50s and '60s. In summer '66, international media packed
the room for The Beatles’ “Revolver” gold LP presentation
and press conference.
From 1977-1980, this reporter spent many hours in Studio A’s original
analog control room, part of duties as editorial director of Capitol’s
PR department upstairs on the ninth floor.
Completely remodeled and updated since then, Studio A is now a ProTools-equipped digital room with several isolation booths now adjoining the room’s large open floor.
Roitstein’s final session late in the afternoon on the first day tackled the ambitious composition by drummer and percussionist Tonatiuh Avila, 29, who's originally from Mexico City and will pick up his Master's Degree in CalArts' graduation commencement today.
Avila wrote the piece for a jazz sextet, and rounded up a group of CalArts classmates to rehearse and record it.
"The title ‘Esta Luz Tambien se ve en Frio Saliendo de las Nubes Grises’ refers to light coming out from the grey clouds in the cold, or when you need some hope," explained Avila (right). "That's the image I have in mind when we play the music, so it's very visual.
"The composition is structured so the musicians have a lot of freedom to improvise between the sections with specific goals, and I really appreciate the contributions of each of them, because that's what makes the music happen, what brings life to this piece," he added.
"If you look at Tonatiuh's score, you can see that it's actually very structured," Roitstein pointed out as Avila showed the sheets of music to a visiting drummer who’s semi-literate at reading music.
Avila, who said his influences combine elements of traditional and contemporary jazz, recalled he was listening to works by Wadada Leo Smith and Vinny Golia while composing "Esta Luz...." "I was trying to figure out a structure that would be perfect for this kind of group, and fit the length of about six minutes," Avila said.
"We've played this piece about six or seven times before today's recording," he added. "We performed it at CalArts in my recital after a couple of rehearsals. We also played it at the CD audition concert at CalArts, and rehearsed a couple of times before then."
The sextet took their places in the studio, positioned so they could all maintain eye contact. Charles DeCastro (trumpet), Nathaniel Morgan (alto sax), Peter Slocombe (tenor sax) and Gary Fukushima (piano) were all set up in the large room, with Nicolas Rosen (bass) and Avila (drums) ensconced in adjacent isolation booths to prevent sound bleed between the instruments.
The players jammed a few minutes so Paakkari could make final sound level adjustments in thew congtrol room, then lit up "Esta Luz..." in bright, lively and cinematic style.
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Inside
Historic Studio A:
CalArts Jazz Sextet Digs
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