Improv Band Project — Looking for musicians!

All kinds of instruments, even non-conventional, are welcome! But please read everything below first.

Table of Contents

    Project idea / introduction

    In a nutshell: The goal is to write groovy and nu jazz-inspired compositions that are springboards for improvisation.

    The pieces would be written with a base harmonic structure that tells a general narrative or story. There can be a “main story” (AKA the main theme), but each member of the band will be given the chance to “tell their side of the story”. Or another way to say it: Each member are given the chance to “sing” using their instrument. The role of the band is therefore to provide the rhythmic and harmonic support to whoever is “singing” or “telling their story”.

    Nu jazz was chosen as an inspiration because it has a recognisable groovy vibe that still has an inexact style. This should provide a somewhat clear direction, but still with enough space for creative freedom.

    What is “nu jazz”?

    Nu jazz is a young jazz fusion-esque (sub)genre, and the definition written here is a personal interpretation that I came up with after listening through a few nu jazz albums and a selection of tracks.

    Nu jazz, for me, is the attempt to use “real” instruments to play in the style of electronic music that are inspired by jazz themselves. Think of electronic genres like broken beat, trip hop, and downtempo: These have a lot of jazz influence and sometimes even use jazz record samples. Because these electronic artists are not bound by a set of “rules”, it’s common for their compositions to have unusual rhythm patterns, harmonies, or both. Now, imagine these unusual patterns are played with “real” instruments, instead of just pressing play.

    There are of course some deviations to this general idea, and each artist or band have their own ways of playing nu jazz. The nu jazz sound, as with any modern genres, is (still) very much fluid.

    (Have a listen to this Spotify playlist for a good “taster” of nu jazz, or this YouTube playlist.)

    Compositional elements

    Using nu jazz as an inspiration, the basic elements of a composition would be:

    • Syncopated, choppy, and sometimes frenetic drums or percussion at the core. Think of the broken beat styles of Yussef Dayes, Moses Boyd, JD Beck, and Kassa Overall.
    • On top of that is a layer of looping bassline that is both melodic and groovy, with some tasty fills here and there.
    • The two above will form the foundational groove, which is then blanketed by a harmonic section, telling a narrative by playing the necessary sequence and combination of both simple and complex chord voicings.
    • Above it all is a lead instrument playing the main theme, or different instruments taking turns improvising.

    These are, of course, not hard rules. They are guidelines that can be bent or even broken, as long as it’s still in “good taste”. (More on this later.)

    Project setup

    … or “the kind of instruments the project needs and the skill and experience level required”.

    Instruments needed

    This project’s vision is not bound to specific instruments. What is important is that an instrument can fulfill specific roles in the music.

    1. Drums/Percussion — Whether you play a drumset, Latin percussion, or even non-traditional percussion instruments or styles like finger drumming, beatboxing with a looper, or even everyday objects a la Blue Man Group, as long you can consistently play syncopated / broken beat-style rhythm, then this project is for you.
    2. Bass — This spot is already filled, but the project is also open to playing with two bass players, as long they can play upper-register harmony or chords.
    3. Harmony — This is are usually either keys or guitar, but any instrument that can play chords are welcome.
    4. Melody / Lead — Any instrument that can play melodies or singing lead lines.

    Required musical skills and experience

    This project requires musicians to, first and foremost, have “good taste”. Knowing if someone has good taste is nebulous, but musicians who have this often also demonstrate the following behaviours and attitude:

    1. They listen to multiple genres and understand the various musical styles.
    2. They can pull bits and pieces of influences from these styles and genres, and mix-and-match them to produce something that still “sounds good”.
    3. Understand what works or what doesn’t work, depending on a given musical context.

    The application of “good taste” to determine if something “sounds good” will always override whatever “guideline” or “inspiration” mentioned here.

    These musicians should also have a very good grasp of their instrument. They don’t have to be masters or virtuosos, but good enough to comp, play lead, and improvise. If you are using a non-conventional instrument, make sure that they are reliable and can consistently reproduce the needed sounds.