Of all this year's golden Angel City Jazz Festival offerings (Oct. 1-15), the Sat. Oct. 9 Orenda Records sampler at 2210 Arts + Archives provides the most convenient one-stop shopping. Orenda -- the latest in a distinguished line of Southern California jazz labels that has included Dial, Contemporary, Nimbus West, Nine Winds and Cryptogramophone -- is helmed by trumpeter Dan Rosenboom, leader/member of numerous ensembles and a vortex of musical connections. Via email, MetalJazz inquired about his event and his viewpoint.
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When you hear any music for the first time, what are the positive and negative factors that grab your ears?
Whenever I listen to music for the first time, it's all about energy. We all know that feeling -- when music reaches out and connects with something in our souls. As I listen, certain other aspects start to pop out: Does it grab my attention? Does it invite me in? Can I feel the intention? Is the expression authentic and distinct? Is this something I'd want to listen to while driving, while chilling, while making food? Or does this require focused attention?
I prefer not to think about these things in positive or negative terms, it's just how it connects with me -- and if it doesn't, that doesn't necessarily reflect negatively on the music. Listening is such a personal experience, and there's no right answer.
Have any labels served as inspirations for Orenda? When and what was its first release?
I've always admired musicians who have created space for their communities to thrive. I think about John Zorn with Tzadik, Vinny Golia with Nine Winds, Dave Douglas with Green Leaf, and so many others. So creating a label for my community was something I had always wanted to do.
Flashback to 2013: I had just finished recording my quintet album Fire Keeper, and I reached out to a trusted friend who knew a lot about different labels in the jazz/avant/indie worlds. I asked if he had any recommendations for places to pitch my record, and his response was literally, "Man, I dunno. You should just start your own label." He didn't know that this was an idea I'd been considering for nearly a decade! So I just went for it. I reached out to a few friends who I knew were completing albums at the time: Alexander Noice with his band Falsetto Teeth, Cathlene Pineda with her quartet, Gavin Templeton with his trio, and my improv-jazz-rock band DR. MiNT. Before we even launched, we had seven records on deck!
After we announced, the projects started pouring in and really haven't stopped. It began with close friends and collaborators, but word quickly spread through the L.A. scene and beyond. Since 2014, we have released 92 records with several more ready to go. I'm saving #100 for something special, though!
From what geographical regions outside Los Angeles have Orenda artists hailed? Do you get many submissions?
We've released albums by artists from L.A., New York, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Reno, Seattle, Chicago, Ireland, Serbia, etc. It's been amazing to see how word travels. We've received submissions from as far away as Japan, Italy, France, Iran and other places.
Honestly, we get way more submissions than I can handle! Almost every record in our catalog has come in as a submission or through our extended community. I try to consider each submission that comes in, but we've probably only released about a quarter. And I feel incredibly fortunate for that!
Where did you first encounter the word orenda?
I first came across the word shortly before launching the label, but I feel like the concept is something that has been a central part of my life and relationship to music for a long time. It's an Iroquois word that very loosely translated means a spiritual energy that permeates all natural things, animate and inanimate, all people and their environment, and can be harnessed and transmitted according to the will. One author wrote that it accounts for all human attainment. While I certainly don't claim to be an expert, I feel a strong resonance with this, and it directly describes the shared energy exchange I experience as a creative artist. It is that thing we all feel when we connect deeply with music.
Do you believe in spiritual powers? If so, how do you think people connect with them?
I suppose I do, though it's more an intuitive sense than a practice. When people put their energy into an idea, it ripples outward, and for some who come in contact with that, it can resonate in dramatically powerful ways.
I do believe in manifestation and conjuring, at least through art. I think we can create a space for people to transform, transport and transcend. In the liner notes for a recent duo project, one of my closest friends and musical collaborators, guitarist Jake Vossler, wrote this: "Music, after all, is a harnessing and directing of energy, in accordance with the will. This is exactly the purpose of ritual magic. It makes me wonder, is making music ritual magic? It is if we want it to be, and I find that beautifully inspiring."
With Orenda Records, something that started as the germ of an idea instantly flew into the ether, and in less than a year we had released 12 records. I mean, is that not manifestation?
Is there such a thing as a natural musician who needs less training than others?
Maybe -- but at a certain point everyone needs to train and hone their vision. Everyone is born with unique talents, some of which emerge through exposure and opportunity (nurture), and some from an inner sense (nature). Everyone has a unique combination of these. Perhaps a natural musician is someone who finds their niche early in life. But any master will tell you there comes a point where training is everything. How you train is the biggest difference maker.
Can you suggest a source for your energy and drive? How early did you know you would be a musician?
I grew up around music, and found a passion for it early on. I'd say I was about 12 years old when I knew I would be a musician. But I think the source for my energy and drive comes more from my community, colleagues and friends. Any time I embark on a new project, one of the first questions is "Who's involved? Who do I want to hear and work with?" Whatever the answer, those individual personalities inform the direction of a project from the outset. Once you can envision the people involved, it becomes a game of how to utilize their unique voices. There's never a lack of inspiration -- just mix and match the people, and new projects spring forward like popcorn!
What would you tell a young person who aspires to be a musician?
It's totally worth it! Being a musician takes a ton of dedication, training, perseverance, resilience, etc., but it also takes a strong sense of community and sharing. For me, music never exists in a vacuum. So for any young person aspiring to be a musician, I'd recommend surrounding yourself with as many like-minded people as possible. Listen to music together. Play music together. Play games. Experiment. Find the people who energize you and who love what you do. And let that circle grow forever.
Can you outline the basic qualities of the group leaders on Orenda Night that most characterize each?
I can describe some of what I see in them, and how they work into the Orenda tapestry.
Jon Hatamiya is a fresh voice in the Orenda family whose expansive progressive jazz-rock compositions for big band touch a real poignant humanity through both his writing and his trombone playing. Jon and many of the players in his band, some of whom have their own records on Orenda, represent the young vanguard of the Los Angeles scene, and are all making waves and killer music! In a sense it's a "who's who" band of the rising LA jazz stars.
Bridge to Everywhere, led by composer and artistic director Derrick Skye, embodies the global vision and connection through music we seek and share. The group's debut was on Derrick's 2015 release Prisms, Cycles, Leaps, which we produced in preparation for his world premiere of a piece by the same name with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Their music brings influences from all over the globe into an intricate multicultural compositional approach and features a modular ensemble that performs in a variety of configurations. Since that original record, they've become a true collective and will be presenting music composed by several members of the ensemble. This one is sure to be stunningly beautiful and moving, and give audiences something they haven't heard before!
The three band leaders in the second part of the evening represent the first three albums Orenda ever released: Cathlene Pineda, Alexander Noice and myself: catalog numbers 1, 2, and 3!
Cathlene Pineda is as soulful a composer and pianist as exists on the world stage. Her music is deeply personal, often reflecting difficult or transformative experiences in her own life. She's been one of Los Angeles' brightest lights for over a decade, and has coalesced her vision into a quartet of luminaries who bring her music to life with heart, grace and fire. David Tranchina on bass and Tina Raymond on drums both have their own albums as leaders on Orenda Records, and trumpeter Kris Tiner is essential family to most of our community. This quartet is something really special!
Alexander Noice is an iconoclastic guitar player and composer whose music draws from strains of both minimalism and maximalism. His sextet is an almost operatic experience with two sopranos singing in tight coordination over highly energetic, intricate, pattern-based art rock. The band is a collection of virtuosos, and they shred through his Phillip Glass-esque patterns with both surgical precision and pyrotechnic energy! Performing under the moniker "NOICE," they go for a futuristic aesthetic and dazzling rock-show experience that tends to leave crowds giddy!
For the Dan Rosenboom Quartet, I'm bringing together some longtime friends and collaborators in a brand-new configuration to reimagine music from a variety of my releases over the years. As someone who's spent most of his musical life eschewing traditional formats, I thought, "What better way to emerge from a year and a half of hibernation than with a straight-up acoustic quartet?!" Mind-blowing pianist Joshua White, powerhouse bassist Richard Lloyd Giddens Jr. and marquis drummer Mark Ferber bring such an inventive approach to my writing that the old tunes feel new, and it's an opportunity to stretch for the moon. We're going all the way with this set -- I guarantee it!
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Get tickets for all the Angel City Jazz Fest shows here.
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PHOTO BY AUBRE HILL.