Youtube video of a recent gig

Hey guys,

I just found a video somebody took of a concert I played recently with a newly formed band we call MEMPLEX...it's a composition written by me called "Augenblicke".
Unfortunatelly the alto saxophone is quite out of tune..

Hope you can get something out of this.
Beware its quite free form music!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHOcWzFqZuE

best
Niki

Niki wrote:Hey guys,

I just found a video somebody took of a concert I played recently with a newly formed band we call MEMPLEX...it's a composition written by me called "Augenblicke".
Unfortunatelly the alto saxophone is quite out of tune..

Hope you can get something out of this.
Beware its quite free form music!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHOcWzFqZuE

best
Niki

Excellent composition! your sound is great and your style reminds me of Brian Blade! excellent drumming indeed..nice Gretsch drum kit btw
regards!

Beautiful recording, Niki, and so fun to see you in action. Very skillful stuff. I hope to give myself opportunity to play free because not only can it be fun and beautiful, but what an imagination workout. I don't think I'm capable of doing it justice now, but you certainly are . . . great flow.

Being from Chicago where this form was born/blossomed, I've exposed myself to a lot of it and have had a hard time with it occasionally in large groups like AACM (Art Ensemble) and some Sun Ra which is easier to stomach. But in smaller groups I've had a better time, i.e., Vandermark Quartet. Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake are quite a pair, together and separately.

Though this kind of free form music really isn't my cup of tea, I can appreciate
what you did with this, Niki. I dug the way the tune would go in and then out
of "structure".... I also thought your playing was very fluid and tasteful. Yeah,
the horns seemed a bit out of sorts tuning wise but the injection of their ideas
definitely fit the bill...

Again, it's not something I'd listen to but I can surely appreciate the work behind
the concept and what you all did to bring the ideas to an audible and visible reality.

Thanks guys for taking the time to listen and comment on this piece! It's highly appreciated!!
Don, never say never! You just listened to some free form music. It has entirely composed parts also though! :-)
Thanks again!
@ woof just do it!!!!

LOL! Well, Niki, I believe that being objective is a large part of growing.
I listened to this out of curiosity with what you are doing musically. My
feelings in this direction are such that it is a great musical approach to
experiment with and to analyze... Outside of that I struggle to listen to
this kind of music for listening's sake...

But here is the REAL beauty in what you are doing.... You're doing just
what you want to do. You say: Hey folks, check this out, I hope you like
it. But if you don't, I'm going to do it regardless! This to me represents the
true meaning of ART. It's about representing YOU and then presenting that
to the masses rather than playing to appease the masses.

Art demands a kind of selfishness... Any other way and it would not be genuine
art.... Keep doing it as you see fit though it can be a wide line between representing
the arts and keeping food on the table. Though I keep the faith...

You certainly have my admiration.

Thanks for your thoughts Don! I agree on what you are saying! In the future I want to keep the themes even prettier and catchy and then go out onto wherever it fits in the solos and free parts...

Here's another Youtube find of another bands first gig:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udjh8BMNWqI

Thanks for your time and interest!!!
Niki

here's another one...this was "war on stage" due to very bad monitoring which would have been quite important in a big hall (or playing unplugged would have been the best I guess)..anyway...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl6hl278p18&feature=related

Peace
Niki

Niki wrote:here's another one...this was "war on stage" due to very bad monitoring which would have been quite important in a big hall (or playing unplugged would have been the best I guess)..anyway...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl6hl278p18&feature=related

Peace
Niki

This is good stuff, Niki, very stylish and sophisticated playing. I really enjoyed listening to and watching this clip.

Thanks, Don! Glad there's something you like!

Niki wrote:Hey guys,

I just found a video somebody took of a concert I played recently with a newly formed band we call MEMPLEX...it's a composition written by me called "Augenblicke".
Unfortunatelly the alto saxophone is quite out of tune..
Hope you can get something out of this.
Beware its quite free form music!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHOcWzFqZuE
best
Niki

The venue itself (Oxymoron) speaks toward the seeming contradictions within the compositions. Mind you, the contradictions are only "SEEMING" to be within one sentence (composition)... yet they are cohesive and musically make sense.

Splendid Niki Dolp. You cover it marvelously and with your own personality. I'd love to see the chart that your band-mates were interpreting.

As an added note, I wonder how some might say they love Mahavishnu Orchestra (clearly more explosive with the personnel there), but there is no comparing these two treatments from an appreciative point of view. I just happen to love what you did (do) as much as I love what MO did.

Very cool! Very cool indeed.

Since I'm sitting at the table also, please allow me to share my thoughts on Niki's performance(s) with my perceptions in mind (in the light of two individuals here that I'm most in touch with:

D. Slam wrote:LOL! Well, Niki, I believe that being objective is a large part of growing. I listened to this out of curiosity with what you are doing musically. My
feelings in this direction are such that it is a great musical approach to
experiment with and to analyze...Art demands a kind of selfishness... Any other way and it would not be genuine...art.... Keep doing it as you see fit though it can be a wide line between representing the arts and keeping food on the table. Though I keep the faith... You certainly have my admiration.

So true Nephew Don! Art is truly an outward expression of an inner condition...especially in a day and time in this 21st Century when so many others are trying to mute the voice (muzzle the oxe) that treads out the corn. You already know where I get that sad news from. Deuteronomy 25:4 . Oh, I'm not supposed to remind anyone of the sources? Well none of us here are dead (asleep) yet!

This music is my cup of tea Niki... in fact there are many different kinds of "tea." Maybe some need to drink coffee to wake them up to the influences; and acquire a taste for what seems so foreign to them [and Nephew - don't you dare think that I speaking about you; simply because I love your playing with what YOU want to do]. And in case anyone thinks that I'm a musical bigot, then I'll admit that perhaps Bluegrass out of the GA/TN/KY Appalacian mountains will be what I should listen to next. I just don't need to experience what Burt Lancaster and his crew experienced in the north Georgia mountains before Lake Lanier was formed. I'm already DELIVERED!

woofus wrote:Beautiful recording, Niki, and so fun to see you in action. Very skillful stuff. I hope to give myself opportunity to play free because not only can it be fun and beautiful, but what an imagination workout. I don't think I'm capable of doing it justice now, but you certainly are . . . great flow. Being from Chicago where this form was born/blossomed, I've exposed myself to a lot of it and have had a hard time with it occasionally in large groups like AACM (Art Ensemble) and some Sun Ra which is easier to stomach. But in smaller groups I've had a better time, i.e., Vandermark Quartet. Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake are quite a pair, together and separately.

Woofus - the reason why you're not "up to it" as you say, is simply because of an attitude (or simply not being around folk who desire to do what's already in YOUR heart. To say that Chicago blossomed this avant garde style is incorrect in my opinion. Such is tantamount to saying that Chicago pizza is better than New York style pizza. Who cares (?) ... either eat them both and enjoy it, or acquire a taste for one or the other and being able to make it from scratch. I could go to Memphis and BBQ or to Texas and eat their style of BBQ. Then the low country BBQ out of the Carolinas is totally different from the either two. It's all good... just make 'em and play (metaphorically speaking) according to your taste.

Niki... there are elements in your playing that those here knowing the appeciation having done it themselves will appreciate (e.g. Boomer, Alex Sanguinetti, etc). I'm certainly in concert (agreement) with you. Any ART, whether musical or otherwise, is an outward expression of an inner condition. The beauty about this truth is that when seen, heard, tasted or otherwise, that expression is MOST personal.

Kudos to you young man! You're both blessing and a miracle!

Thanks so much Suss, you're too nice!
I can see that some people have no access to music like this and it's no problem at all. It's kind of a more art music approach and I see that some people don't see the point of doing more abstract things. It also may be some kind of University influence and also some European thing of different background. Although I'm not sure if that's a point. But it's just that European music doesn't have Blues roots and Jazz music over here mostly tended to Art music than to Gospel..we all have our different influences and people around us I guess!
It's all good! I love so much music and I'm glad I do because I have a lot of good times with a lot of different stuff!

Funny you're talking about the contradictions in the piece. The title of the tune "AugenBlicke" can be a word game in german. It means Eye (Augen) and Glimpse (Blick), together it means something like in the twinkle of an eye.
It was written for my exgirlfriends eyes, whose eyes were very imposing...changing and sometimes contradicting to here tellings....I tried to capture the different stories of her eyes although I know it was just an attempt and I hope I can do better with my writing in the future in order to capture things which cannot be outspoken because they are a deep mistery in itself...

Thanks for your time to listen and commenting! It's highly appreciated.
Peace
Niki

And I will try to post the score!!
How can I do so??
I have it stored as PDF!

Niki wrote:Thanks so much Suss, you're too nice!
I can see that some people have no access to music like this and it's no problem at all. It's kind of a more art music approach and I see that some people don't see the point of doing more abstract things. It also may be some kind of University influence and also some European thing of different background. Although I'm not sure if that's a point. But it's just that European music doesn't have Blues roots and Jazz music over here mostly tended to Art music than to Gospel..we all have our different influences and people around us I guess!
It's all good! I love so much music and I'm glad I do because I have a lot of good times with a lot of different stuff!

Funny you're talking about the contradictions in the piece. The title of the tune "AugenBlicke" can be a word game in german. It means Eye (Augen) and Glimpse (Blick), together it means something like in the twinkle of an eye.

It was written for my exgirlfriends eyes, whose eyes were very imposing...changing and sometimes contradicting to here tellings....I tried to capture the different stories of her eyes although I know it was just an attempt and I hope I can do better with my writing in the future in order to capture things which cannot be outspoken because they are a deep mistery in itself...

Thanks for your time to listen and commenting! It's highly appreciated.
Peace
Niki

Ich weiss was “AugenBlicke” bedeutet! I knew what it meant. I’d have to spend some time again over there to get my German, and Spanish, up to par. However the music speaks for itself Niki. You are a gifted young man, and I absolutely am into your vibe when it comes to the freedom (and liberty) of expression. Like you said Niki, it’s ALL GOOD! Sehr shoen, einfach!

Niki wrote:And I will try to post the score!!
How can I do so??
I have it stored as PDF!

I can do Adobe PDF! Please post it so that I may download it. I really just want to see the manuscript of what escapes so many in a blink of the eye. I have my reasons from a musical point of view. Please trust my motivations when we all are seeking to interpret another’s point of view.

P.S. Oh, by the way… I’m not too nice Niki. I’m just real and love to have fun with our stuff in this community. Shouldn’t it be that way for everyone anywhere on planet Earth regardless of what we do? Natürlich – Of course/naturally! You keep sticking mein freund! Das ist mein Gebet und Zweck im Leben. [... that is my prayer and purpose in Life...]

John can you pm me your email adress? I'm not sure if I still have it....
I will send you the pdf then.

Also as posted on the other part of the forum, Don, check out that articel:
http://www.daveliebman.com/Feature_Articles/europe.htm

Hi Niki,

I private messaged my email address to you. However, it's been awhile while waiting on the PDF file. I suspect that if you're trying to send it to me as an attachment here, you'll run into having to know where the "target file/source" is going to reside.

Otherwise, just use your own email address and send the chart to suss@johnsussewell.com. That is my public email address. I'll private email you my "private" address again.