Preview
N.O.M.A.
TD CANADA TRUST JAZZ FESTIVAL CALGARY
Friday, July 2
Cantos Music Foundation
"Narcolepsy is a sign of pure breeding," says trombonist Tom Walsh. "I happened to witness a Dalmation dog fall asleep in full stride and slide along the grass. When I asked the owner he said this is a genetic problem with purebreds."
Tom Walsh and his band N.O.M.A. have no fear of inducing sleep in their audience. Nor does the band have the problem of inbreeding, with the mix of jazz, rock and improvised music. In fact the whole setup of the band is like a mixed marriage – a beautiful Heinz 57 if you will.
Walsh is in the centre of this hybrid with his trombone and electronics surrounded on either side by guitar trios. On the right is what he calls the electric side, using elements of rock and funk. The guitarist, Guy Kaye, uses "all the pedals known to mankind," and drummer Rob Kazenel borrows hip-hop and beats from DJ culture. The electric bass player, Alan Baculis, is known to slap a few Tom’s way.
On the left is the jazz side, although of course still using electronics. Rainer Wiens plays prepared electric guitar, and has been known to put chopsticks through the strings. Miles Perkin plays acoustic bass and the drummer on the left is Thom Gossage, who leads his own group at this year’s jazz festival.
The group has been around since 1988, with many members scattered in different cities. Finally Walsh got tired of all the members living in different places, ("it was hard to practise," he says), and now all the musicians are based in Montreal. Of course, the sound changes depending on who is in the group because so much of the music relies on the individuals’ abilities to improvise.
Walsh notes the importance of communication in the modern world. "One of the things not addressed by modern music is a degree of care or empathy to the musicians to give them opportunities to interface," he says. "Lots of times excellent musicians, who are really good on their instruments, end up being such solitary creatures in the world of art. They are considered mercenaries by some, smoke this, play that, sign here, bye bye. The idea of being able to create and continue an art in the environment that western culture is giving us now, is becoming more of an oxymoron… With N.O.M.A., the musicians can seed a certain direction – they have much liberty. The written stuff on the page is not to be played beginning middle and end – clock in and clock out."
Walsh is likely referring to himself when he describes excellent musicians called in for sessions, but not required to express their own vision. He is Canada’s most sought after trombone player, working with many well-known names of Canadian culture, making music for theatre and films with Robert Lepage, Michael Ondaatje, Don McKellar and Daniel MacIvor. He has worked with the avant garde in Quebec, including Pierre Cartier, Michel F. Coté, Jean Derome and René Lussier, and mainstream jazzers D. D. Jackson, Oliver Jones, and Jane Bunnett have taken advantage of his chops. His pop credentials stand strong, you’ve probably heard his trombone with Mary Margaret O'Hara, Bobby Wiseman, The Cowboy Junkies, Barenaked Ladies and Bran Van 3000.
For expressing his own musical vision, Walsh uses N.O.M.A., and crucial to that vision is participation and free expression of the players in the group. The increased freedom of the musicians in performance is mirrored by increased freedom in drawing from many musical styles in a plunder-phonics way. Walsh does not privilege one style over another.
"I like to say I am dealing with the genetics of sounds, N.O.M.A. has been designed to investigate all styles and to enjoy all my favourite kinds of music. In a way the musicians are my turntables and I am the DJ."
But Walsh is clear he wants to get away from conducting and do more of his own playing, allowing the musicians their own scope. With the double-trio setup and musicians capable of expressing their own voice, Walsh injects groove and innovative sounds into composition. Walsh refers to N.O.M.A. as his arsenal of defence. Defence against mediocrity in music and, of course, narcolepsy and inbreeding. |
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