Trio Untold, with James Miley on piano and keyboards, Mike Nord on guitar and electronics, and Ryan Biesack on drums, is the thirty-third release on PJCE Records. It drops Friday September 14th. Stream and buy it at pjce.bandcamp.com.
Episode Transcript
Welcome to Beyond Category. I’m Douglas Detrick.
Trio Untold, with James Miley on piano and keyboards, Mike Nord guitar and electronics, and Ryan Biesack on drums, iss the thirty-third release on PJCE Records. It drops Friday September 14th. Stream and buy it at pjce.bandcamp.com.
I wanted to bring you something a little different with this episode. You’ll hear me speaking the liner notes I wrote with a few songs from the album. I hope you enjoy it.
As we press keys, as we strike drums, as we pluck strings, we send sounds shimmering into the air, ranging out like bees to hum and buzz in the ears of anyone who might be near. The exchange between the bee and the flower is coded into their genes, orchestrated over millions of years. But even though music itself is older than language, the exchange between musician and listener is constantly evolving.
Trio Untold’s music, completely improvised in the confines of the recording studio, sounds carefully sown, and intently cultivated. Where some improvised music sounds like a fight between broken-down robots, or like old friends catching up after years apart, this music sounds like a garden. Sure, the shadows around the potting shed get spooky at night, and a family of raccoons lives in the old truck that rusts away in the corner, but that just keeps it interesting. The best gardens surprise as much as they nurture.
Flowers are a sure sign of a fertile present, and from a biological perspective, an expensive yet necessary investment in the future. They are the substance of hope transformed into a commotion of color and scent. And music is the same—beautiful sounds spent like a down payment of idealism, hoping for a return in opened hearts. Musical styles change, and so do the physical and economic conditions of music making. But the evergreen optimism of creating and sharing music stays the same.
The music you heard was from Trio Untold’s eponymous album on PJCE Records. If you like what you hear, be sure to head on over to pjce.bandcamp.com. You can stream the whole album there and purchase a hard copy or a digital download. And you can learn more about this band at pjce.org.
Don’t forget that you can support everything that’s happening at PJCE by becoming a PJCE Sustainer. All you have to do is make a tax-deductible contribution of as little as $60 per year, or an automatic contribution of just $5 per month. PJCE is performing a new score to the classic 1968 thriller Night of the Living Dead, a film often called the first zombie movie, on October 25th at Holocene in Portland. If you become a PJCE Sustainer, you’ll get access to a special discount code for $10 off any ticket to the show. Go to pjce.org/sustain become a PJCE Sustainer. I promise it will make you feel good, and your dollars will go directly to the making of incredible music in Portland and across Oregon.
This has been Beyond Category, I’m Douglas Detrick, Executive Director and Podcaster-in-Chief of the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble.
Thanks for listening.