collaboration with joe formanek

i have been working with drummer extraordinaire joe formanek for a while. the collaboration started as file sharing when joe sent me a series of sketches for which i recorded saxophone and did some processing. joe then reworked the compositions and arrangements and did a series of really cool tracks.

you can hear some examples here:

 

 

more recently, we met in person and recorded extensively over a week. we have a lot of material to work through and we are very excited by the results. meeting was very constructive and playing was easy from the start. joe is a great drummer and improviser and we just seemed to be on the same wavelength. sure enough, some of this work will surface on the net soon.

to finish beautifully this period of creation, we paid a visit to the elm collective down in bristol. we had a few recording sessions there and played a concert organised by ‘uberphonic presents’.

luckily, james (from elm records) very kindly filmed sections of our duo with joe. and with the camera joe had set up, we ended up with a good documentation of the event. so here are some edits from the duo. the sound is a bit rough, but you’ll get a pretty good idea of how it went down…

enjoy joe’s project ‘mirror shards’ with hervé perez on alto sax and joe formanek on drumset and live processing.

 

part 1

joe formanek and hervé perez live – mirror shards pt1 from hervé perez on Vimeo.

 

part 2

joe formanek and hervé perez live – mirror shards pt2 from hervé perez on Vimeo.

Hervé Perez (alto sax) with Joe Formanek (drums, electronics).
Uberphonic Presents this concert series at the Golden Lion, Bristol, 06 august 2014

 

you can hear the whole concert here:

 

 

thanks to james for the warm welcome and the elm collective for great music and setting up this gig for us.

sound and image

here are some videos i made to go with saxophone recordings. i wanted to explore natural elements and landscapes, some of the things that inspire my playing and sound design. but in this case, the audio i used is completely acoustic using natural reverb. these are from my series sounding out.

some of the footage is slowed down to achieve a contemplative mood, to the extent that one is unsure whether it is a still or a moving image. on another piece, i layered water footage, experimenting with various combinations, with the idea of echoing the multiphonic techniques of the saxophone – nearly representing a visual interpretation of what sound could look like.

once again, the video pieces were edited separately and then sound (which was recorded previously) added to it. there is no intention to cut images to sound like a music video. the interaction between the two is down to chance and may appear random, if there is such a thing. however, i find such chance ‘encounters’ – moments of convergence and synchronicity – fascinating. but in the end, when bringing water and sound together, both waves, there is little risk. perhaps the mind searches for connections, recognisable patterns. and perhaps the result just happens to work…

 

 

sweet solitude [sounding out ilam church] from hervé perez on Vimeo.

 

setting sun [sounding out ilam church] from hervé perez on Vimeo.

 

wind over bealach [sounding out clachan church] from hervé perez on Vimeo.

 

 

sounding out the lake district

during a marathon visit to the lake district, i recorded in many locations, sometimes exploring several churches and chapels in one day. here are some of my favourite sites.

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hollow stone
alto saxophone, 12 feb 2014
st michael and all angels church, hawkshead

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high winds
alto saxophone, 10 feb 2014
st martin’s old church, martindale

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white peaks
alto saxophone, 10 feb 2014
st peter’s church, martindale

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