Hanah Jon Taylor releases Hyr Plasis, his newest CD
Space between the notes
Space between the notes
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 2 of 2
We sit in his rented house by the lake with the cold and darkness held at bay
from the house within. The darkness bleeds out across the frozen lake. And here
in the house of a musician, there is silence, the space between the notes. Hanah
Jon Taylor is a gracious host as we drink wine and talk about his latest CD,
“HyrPlasis,” defined on the CD jacket as “A state or feeling of momentary or
augmented euphoria after having completed a vertical climb.”
HyrPlasis is more thoughtful than and dare I say mellow than other Taylor
performances that I have heard, which doesn’t mean that Taylor doesn’t have his
moments of free-flight. Perhaps it is my own moment of HyrPlasis as I get on in
life, but this is the best that I have heard from Taylor. It has wisdom and
reflection. It is a sound track for the cold and darkness outside.
While many of us may have an idea and then proceed to make it a reality,
Taylor almost approaches the whole process backwards. When he talks about
the pieces that are on HyrPlasis, he speaks of them almost like separate entities
with a life of their own that came to life through the interaction of artists
performing.
Part 2 of 2
We sit in his rented house by the lake with the cold and darkness held at bay
from the house within. The darkness bleeds out across the frozen lake. And here
in the house of a musician, there is silence, the space between the notes. Hanah
Jon Taylor is a gracious host as we drink wine and talk about his latest CD,
“HyrPlasis,” defined on the CD jacket as “A state or feeling of momentary or
augmented euphoria after having completed a vertical climb.”
HyrPlasis is more thoughtful than and dare I say mellow than other Taylor
performances that I have heard, which doesn’t mean that Taylor doesn’t have his
moments of free-flight. Perhaps it is my own moment of HyrPlasis as I get on in
life, but this is the best that I have heard from Taylor. It has wisdom and
reflection. It is a sound track for the cold and darkness outside.
While many of us may have an idea and then proceed to make it a reality,
Taylor almost approaches the whole process backwards. When he talks about
the pieces that are on HyrPlasis, he speaks of them almost like separate entities
with a life of their own that came to life through the interaction of artists
performing.
“The way I come across these ideas is kind of backwards in that I rehearse with the band and while I’m practicing, I think about a lot
of things,” Taylor said. “And I try to put some of what I am thinking with what I hear the band responding to. And it is only after I listen to the
piece that I give it a title. Having these impulsive feelings that you share and dialogue with the band, speak to you on playback. So the
music actually tells me what it is. It tells me what its name is. I don’t name it. If you give it a little time and you listen to it, it eventually it
gives you the information you need to know what to call it. That’s how all my compositions work. To a lot of ‘creative’ composers, that is a
backwards way of working. But it happens to be the only way I can work. I’ve tried to work the other way. And the pieces that I have
produced have been pedestrian in comparison. So you have to work with what works.”
What Taylor was feeling was a part of his life when they started playing. “When Betty Met John is about a story my mother told me
about the first time she met my dad, the first time she laid eyes on my father,” Taylor said. “That’s as far as I can go because I wasn’t there.
It was 1946. But she told me that she could feel that her life was about to change. To her, he looked like a Black Clark Gable. And I guess to
him, she looked like a Black Betty Davis. And they kind of were drawn to each other. But it was her story.”
Precious Time was inspired by the time that Taylor has and hasn’t had to spend with his sons. “The time that I obviously spent with
them is obviously precious and the time I have not spent with them has been precious in so far as it has given me time to think about the
times that I did spend with them,” Taylor said. “It’s about time deferred. In that sense, time is like justice. They say justice deferred is
justice denied.”
There is a tune called Vertigo, which is about the fear of heights and Songo Red was inspired by the Afro-Cuban pattern that Vincent
laid out on percussion in response to what Taylor was playing on his flute. Istanbul was inspired by some performances that Taylor gave in
Turkey.
“I found myself not playing with the people that I felt I was going to play with,” Taylor recalled. “The people I was supposed to play with
wanted to play standards and the people with whom I wound up playing with played the ethnic music of the country, of the nation. And so, I
played with them for a week and a half, longer than I have I played with whom I thought I was going to play with. What I was playing was
basically the same thing that I am playing on Istanbul, only with a rhythm section. I applied that idea to a trio with bass and drums, two
instruments that do not conventionally exist in Istanbul, in an Istanbul ensemble.”
And 7-7-5-7 is a progression of notes that Taylor prescribed to his fellow musicians, although no one knew which notes would be in
the progression. “7-7-5-7 is about the element of chance,” Taylor noted. “So here is an opportunity for the music to take us someplace in
contrast to the other pieces I did actually prescribe that prior to us playing it. I prescribed 7-7-5-7 and the cats were looked at me just like
you are looking at me. ‘You want to do what?’ But it worked. Sometimes you have to introduce a lofty notion even to those who are on the
plateau with you in order to take another step. So that is what that was about. It was a structured notion, but not one note was written. It
was completely improvised.
Taylor has played with the artists who appear on HyrPlasis for years, so the recording of the CD went quickly when the musicians
were able to get together. Mainly the musicians would eat and talk and then get down to making music. Their interaction on the CD is like a
conversation between old friends. It isn’t hard to pick up where the last conversation left off and they often times finish each other’s
sentences. HyrPlasis is that conversation taken to another plateau in Hanah Jon Taylor’s life.
HyrPlasis can be found in any record store in Madison or it can be purchased directly from Atylor by e-mailing him at
hanahvision@hotmail.com. To listen to a taste of HyrPlasis, visit www.hanahjontaylor.com.
of things,” Taylor said. “And I try to put some of what I am thinking with what I hear the band responding to. And it is only after I listen to the
piece that I give it a title. Having these impulsive feelings that you share and dialogue with the band, speak to you on playback. So the
music actually tells me what it is. It tells me what its name is. I don’t name it. If you give it a little time and you listen to it, it eventually it
gives you the information you need to know what to call it. That’s how all my compositions work. To a lot of ‘creative’ composers, that is a
backwards way of working. But it happens to be the only way I can work. I’ve tried to work the other way. And the pieces that I have
produced have been pedestrian in comparison. So you have to work with what works.”
What Taylor was feeling was a part of his life when they started playing. “When Betty Met John is about a story my mother told me
about the first time she met my dad, the first time she laid eyes on my father,” Taylor said. “That’s as far as I can go because I wasn’t there.
It was 1946. But she told me that she could feel that her life was about to change. To her, he looked like a Black Clark Gable. And I guess to
him, she looked like a Black Betty Davis. And they kind of were drawn to each other. But it was her story.”
Precious Time was inspired by the time that Taylor has and hasn’t had to spend with his sons. “The time that I obviously spent with
them is obviously precious and the time I have not spent with them has been precious in so far as it has given me time to think about the
times that I did spend with them,” Taylor said. “It’s about time deferred. In that sense, time is like justice. They say justice deferred is
justice denied.”
There is a tune called Vertigo, which is about the fear of heights and Songo Red was inspired by the Afro-Cuban pattern that Vincent
laid out on percussion in response to what Taylor was playing on his flute. Istanbul was inspired by some performances that Taylor gave in
Turkey.
“I found myself not playing with the people that I felt I was going to play with,” Taylor recalled. “The people I was supposed to play with
wanted to play standards and the people with whom I wound up playing with played the ethnic music of the country, of the nation. And so, I
played with them for a week and a half, longer than I have I played with whom I thought I was going to play with. What I was playing was
basically the same thing that I am playing on Istanbul, only with a rhythm section. I applied that idea to a trio with bass and drums, two
instruments that do not conventionally exist in Istanbul, in an Istanbul ensemble.”
And 7-7-5-7 is a progression of notes that Taylor prescribed to his fellow musicians, although no one knew which notes would be in
the progression. “7-7-5-7 is about the element of chance,” Taylor noted. “So here is an opportunity for the music to take us someplace in
contrast to the other pieces I did actually prescribe that prior to us playing it. I prescribed 7-7-5-7 and the cats were looked at me just like
you are looking at me. ‘You want to do what?’ But it worked. Sometimes you have to introduce a lofty notion even to those who are on the
plateau with you in order to take another step. So that is what that was about. It was a structured notion, but not one note was written. It
was completely improvised.
Taylor has played with the artists who appear on HyrPlasis for years, so the recording of the CD went quickly when the musicians
were able to get together. Mainly the musicians would eat and talk and then get down to making music. Their interaction on the CD is like a
conversation between old friends. It isn’t hard to pick up where the last conversation left off and they often times finish each other’s
sentences. HyrPlasis is that conversation taken to another plateau in Hanah Jon Taylor’s life.
HyrPlasis can be found in any record store in Madison or it can be purchased directly from Atylor by e-mailing him at
hanahvision@hotmail.com. To listen to a taste of HyrPlasis, visit www.hanahjontaylor.com.
Internationally known jazz musician just released Hyr Plasis,
a thoughtful and mood evincing CD, that reflects on his life
through sound.
a thoughtful and mood evincing CD, that reflects on his life
through sound.
