Sync
Ned Rothenberg - alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Jerome Harris - acoustic guitar/acoustic bass guitar
Samir Chatterjee - tabla and percussion
"Sync might be envisioned as a modified sax/bass/drum trio, where the bassist has been replaced by Jerome Harris on either acoustic guitar or acoustic bass guitar, and where the drummer’s role is taken by Samir Chatterjee on tabla and dumbek. With Rothenberg moving among alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, and the Japanese shakuhachi and composing looping ribbons of melody with odd rhythmic contours, the trio has found a most palatable merger of jazz and Asian music.
The uncommon instrumentation is enhanced by a shared sense of purpose that gives Sync its winning character. Each player displays both the techniques and the sensitivity required to function as both soloist and accompanist, allowing Sync to maintain its three-way conversations after Rothenberg has finished soloing. This is not simply a matter of the leader’s ability to sustain extended melodic and rhythmic variations at lower volumes through circular breathing; it also results from the assurance that allows Harris to sustain a pronounced rhythmic underpinning in his guitar work and rare melodic fluency on bass. Chatterjee, who can sing and then play back the most complex patterns in the manner of the great tabla masters, also senses how to highlight more compact, swing-oriented parts through shifts in accents and dynamics."
-Bob Blumenthal (Boston Globe)
Sync could perhaps be compared to a trio of chefs, experienced in varying degrees in the different musical cuisines of the world. I have the role of leader and imagine the meal that will be prepared. I look for meals to which we can each contribute, sometimes combining ideas in each dish served and sometimes letting individually prepared dishes compliment each other on the plate. I avoid using strictly traditional combinations or going entirely 'nouvelle' (we want to satisfy your appetite, after all), rather looking to combine spices and staple ingredients in ways which while often novel and exotic, also have a sense of familiarity without exact reference. In this kitchen, we want to challenge the palate but not the digestive track.
In addition, each dish should have a distinct idiomatic sense without strictly adhering to any particular style. There should be variety, but not at the expense of focus. A restaurant that has vindaloo, sushi and barbecue on the same menu would probably be a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. But if informed sense of aromatic spice, appreciation of raw simplicity and willingness to get messy but tasty were all combined in meals that worked together, I think there would be a line around the block.
The key to all this (we all know the danger of ‘too many chefs) is band chemistry. (Here I’ll leave behind the food analogies). I saw an article where guitarist Pat Metheny had a great answer when asked how to improve as a musician. It was something like ‘get in a group where you are the worst player and learn to keep up’. I would add, however, that the experienced player can lend a freshness of approach when he tries to negotiate music outside the styles in which he was schooled.
In Sync, there are modes in which each of us is the ‘worst’ and the ‘best’ player in the group. From the first time we jammed together we’ve all felt a continuing learning process in the improvising. I try to build on this in the composition with the aim being to use our individual strengths to constantly challenge each other. Samir brings the skills of a world-class player of tabla, a fluent swimmer in the deep waters of North Indian classical music. But, equally important, he brings an open mind, willing to accept the challenge of trying to negotiate jazz forms and learn rhythmic structures explicated in western notation systems which are quite foreign to him. Jerome is extremely well-versed in the song forms and rhythms we use that are based in the African-American tradition. On the other hand, in “Lost in a Blue Forest”, I asked him to play the acoustic bass guitar with a bottleneck and a pick, something he had never tried, in a very open musical form. The result was a wonderful surprise to all of us. As the leader, I have a leg up because I’ve generated so many of these compositions in musical language which is germane to my solo work and the instruments I play. However, because of the depth of musical fluency of my two partners I am often the one trying to ‘keep up’.
“The music was flat-out gorgeous...” - Stephen Brookes (Washington Post)