Welcome
When playing the original
compositions of Self-Immolation
by David Elaine Alt, we proudly honor,
embrace, and attempt to channel the great and
diverse Jazz tradition while staking out our own ground.
To provide a point of departure, artists whose influences
are most apparent are listed [ indicated after each title ],
and the songs are grouped into three stylistic programmes.
We hope you enjoy our music, and please get in touch.
Blues
Blues is the heart and soul of Jazz, and is indelibly present.
5) Roberta, Roberta [ Louis Jordan, Dexter Gordon ]
1) Oxtail Soup [ Horace Silver, Charles Mingus ]
2) Bike Lanes (Coming) [ Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner ]
11) Bike Lanes (Going) [ Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Gil Scott-Heron ]
Roberta, Roberta has the kick of a jump blues. Screamin’, moanin’ and wailin’–this ditty gets down with an old-fashioned, unlaquered sound. Harmonically it is nothin’ fancy, but has an invigorating bridge in waltz time, and a little slyness at the end to support its lyric.
The recipe for Oxtail Soup is a savory Jazz Blues. A solid twelve-bar form with a swinging bridge on the side, its tried-and-true chord substitution flavorings are indescribably tasty; generously punctuated with breaks, it builds using contrasting textures of walking, two-feel and double-time 6/8 choruses.
Bike Lanes is like a mass of wheels that never stop turning, even at traffic control signals. So look out! Raw, punctuated and deceptive, it captures the cadence of a blues and never lets go. Warning: serious earworm material.
“Standards”
Instant classics, as fresh and appropriate today as they would be in 1948.
3) 44 Magnum [ Bernard Hermann, Billy Strayhorn ]
6) Series of Adjustments [ Thelonious Monk, Lester Young ]
9)A Classic Base [ Nat King Cole, Eric Dolphy ]
44 Magnum is a ballad that instantly transforms the mood of a room, evoking both sultry and lonely notes. The trumpet and alto saxophone collaborate on telling a story, taking you on a journey that crescendos with hope and resolves with beauty.
Series of Adjustments alters your alignment with its angular and syncopated take on the venerable institution of I Got Rhythm changes. Soloists stretch out and counterpose the traditional Rhythm chords with Series’ own mad bebop progression, punctuated and smoking.
A Classic Base is lyrical swing that recalls the innocence and earnestness of a first kiss. It is wistful and melodic almost to a fault, saved by a wonderful dizzyness of vintage instrumental overlapping.
Modern
Adventurous compositions that blur the lines between inside and out.
8) Self-Immolation [ Johannes Brahms, Bill McHenry ]
4) Cupcake Flavor Profile [ Tadd Dameron, Ahmad Jamal ]
10) Rising [ Wayne Shorter, Abbey Lincoln ]
7) This Unmemorable Evening [ George Russell, Steve Lacy ]
As the signature song of this album, Self-Immolation is an immortal transformation from ashes to ashes. It elaborates a process of self-reflection and expansion that ends up sounding like Ethiopian Jazz. Germanic and organic, it is a symbiotic, lyrical and poignant fanfare and counterpoint.
Rising is a love song and mantra with devotional, ecstatic and pragmatic moments. Featuring extended instrumentation (voice and woodwind trio), it showcases textures associated with sublime infatuation that otherwise lie silent and implied.
Cupcake Flavor Profile is anthem-like, navigating through a vertiginous and winding call to arms, to and fro, with a gravity of coherence and a bebop bridge.
This Unmemorable Evening is a waltz danced by obsession and isolation, with schizophrenic bass and breakdown.