I’m not aware of another project quite like the Duo Exchange / Lost Civilizations collaboration, which was renewed on August 16th in front of a small gathering at the Black Squirrel in Washington, D.C. The musicians who form Lost Civilizations—Ted Zook (basscello) and Mike Sebastian (saxophones)—improvise from the beginning; on this night, Sam Lohman accompanied them on drums. The words—Rod Smith and I doing business as Duo Exchange—have no predetermined order. The entire performance, clocking in at just over sixty minutes, invents and reinvents. For a free listen (and free download) at SoundCloud, click [HERE].
Rod and I continue to experience amazement (even awe and
euphoria) over the accomplishments of the musicians. It’s hard not to think of
language like “tensile sway, swing-swang, magical fracture, muscular patterning,
projective texture” when listening to them. For me, the night created at least three
maps: (a) the music; (b) the words; and (c) the two layers together. As a
reader, I’m always stunned at when the music pushes me to deliver language with
emphases and cadences I hadn’t counted on; these effects undoubtedly bounce
back and forth from Us to Them, from Them to Them, and from Us to Us. The
learning curve is steep and enormously gratifying.
On this night, I should point out that we were joined by a
fellow who, attracted by the music, came downstairs to participate a little
bit. You can hear him in the 47th minute, as well as when he repeats a word (“honky”)
from the grand finale. Did I mention that we had a grand finale? Rod and I both spoke at the same time as the band honked, rattled, and sawed, from about 47:50
through 52:05. I’m not saying you should fast-forward there, automatically, but
you should know that it’s coming. In all my years of writing and reading, I
never before experienced the raw satisfaction as I derived therefrom. I’m very
fortunate to be a part of this collaboration.
Finally, I’m reminded of a jazz hero—Sonny Rollins—and one of his great songs, “St. Thomas”—as Lost Civilizations played onward. I want to say St. Sonny. Oh yeah!
5 comments:
Photographs by Sausages.
Wow -- what a nice review. Thanks so much for the kind words; I know that Mike Sebastian, Sam Lohman and I look forward to doing it again!
My pleasure, Ted. Rod and I enjoyed the night quite a bit. I hope the five of us can try it again soon!
Cheers,
Dan
i was there that night, my second time hearing lost civilizations w/ duo exchange. amazing. -- casey
hey anonymous casey,
i hope that you and laura are having safe travels & see you soon back in the dmv. thanks for these kind words. we missed you this time around.
up the swans!
---d.g.
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