IMPROVISING WITH DOUBLE BASS AND JIM’S BRUSH
Jim and Paul’s 2nd day of improvising produced three works full of motion and color
Paul and Jim Jordan’s outdoor improvisations in summer 2020 involved Jim with canvas on easel, brushes and paint, and Paul and his bass seated close by. Before beginning, Jim had marveled at the fascinating texture and knots on the trunk of a large cedar tree nearby. Using these shapes as inspiration, the two began and created for 25-minutes. It was an exhilarating experience. This kind of live painter/musician communicating was a first for both. A number of other painting/music improvisational conversational pieces followed. With each piece, Jim and Paul analyzed the process, and began to distill what seemed to be most essential. With this evening’s improvisations “Two by Two” Paul and Jim explore the immediacy of responding in gesture, motion, and color.
James & Paul “Brush & Bow” Improvisation #2 July 28, 2020
The cedar tree inspiring Jim and Paul’s first improvisation
Painter James Jordan and double bassist Paul Erhard perform three painting/music improvisations “Two by Two” as part of Paul’s January 19, 2021 University of Colorado College of Music Faculty Tuesday recital in Grusin Music Hall, Boulder. With “Two by Two” Jim and Paul explore the immediacy of responding to each other non-verbally in color, line, and motion.
“Cascading Cadenza”
Jim: “I like the name of the painting “Cascading Cadenza” depicted by the swooping strokes and the confetti-like small rectangle areas. I struggled with my impression of the music but literally settled on what was happening as the music progressed. What I thought of was purples and blues. I found that it was a struggle, even though I’ve had students work with through the same process. I’ve often thought of colors and images when I listened to music but putting them down was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. I finally trusted my instincts to not overthink. In the end it was positive. I am glad for the experience because it enriched my insights into the relationship between time arts and space arts.” Paul writes: “Jim Jordan’s “Blue” is second of our TIME ART SPACE ART collaborations. This project began with me recording a 22-minute improvisation in early December 2019 intended for Jim to use as a tonal backdrop for a new painting to provide some kind of inspiration. Neither Jim nor I had ever tried this process before, so they went into this process as an experiment to see how music created specifically for Jim would work in providing a mood to get visual ideas from. I begin the improvisation by slowly playing the notes of the scale C Db E F G Ab B C ascending and descending which serve as the basis for the improvisation. Accompanied by electronic tambura drone, this improvisation is loosely inspired by my work with ragas of India. The purpose of the improvisation was to create a sound/mood world of this scale, without clear melodic and formal structure, a kind of stream of consciousness. I had previously performed improvised improvisations of his painting “South West” so with “Blue” we reversed the tables. The resulting painting is fascinating. More of this collaboration to come.”
James Jordan “Cascading Cadenza”
James Jordan
Read more about Jim on the “About” page