TOUR/RECORDING DIARY SUMMER 2004
a personal and sometimes "politically very uncorrect" diary by the famous writer, bass trombone player, composer,
arranger & conductor Ed Partyka.
Junas,July 31st
Recordings,August 1st
Recordings,August 3rd
Recordings,August 4th & 5th
Recordings,August 6th
Recordings,August 8th
Recordings,August 9thGüssing-Freiburg-Willisau, August 27th-30th
Hello Vienna Art Orchestra fans! We thought it would be a good idea to keep you up to date on the progress of the process involved in the production of the new CD as well as share some of our experiences over the last few months. If we can get Jörg’s digital camera to cooperate with Adrians’ laptop we will also have a photo gallery posted so you can see the band hard at work in the studio.
As you all know, we will be on tour this fall from October 21st until November 21st visiting alot of our old friends in Austria, Germany, France and Switzerland. We are also very excited about our trip to south america, a first for the band. Our new program “Big Band Poesie” is going to be a knockout. We have been rehearsing for three days and it is already sounding great. mathias really wrote his ass off and without giving too much away, there will be plenty of surprises for our old fans and once again mathias is pushing the boundries of jazz orchestral writing even further ahead. Martin Koller´s electronics setup has to be seen to believed and Alegre’s got every percussion instrument known to man (and a few things brought back from outer space!) mathias has also put some of the band’s soloists in new and unexpected musical environments so get ready for the next step in the evolution of the jazz orchestra.
This spring and summer we have been on the road a few times, doing single concerts or weekend “mini-tours”. Our trip to Belgium in May was very nice. The city of Brügge is wonderful and it was a great crowd for Ellington. We helped Vienna’s 21st District celebrate with a “best of” program with Ellington, Strauss & rüegg in a rare VAO appearance on the “other side” of the Danube.
In July we went to France twice. First was a trip to the Paris Jazz Festival with an afternoon concert in the botanical gardens “Parc Floral”. The first annual VAO mini-golf tournament was held and needless to say, I came in last place. We flew back from Paris and we were picked up at the airport by the festival organizers from the “Musikfest” in Waidhofen/Thaya. They prepared a cold meal for us in the bus and keep us well fed and watered all night. Once again it was a great crowd and terrific hotel (a golf resort with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside).
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Our second trip to France was to the Festival “Jazz a Junas” in the south of France. The setting was wonderful and once again, the festival organizers treated us like royalty. The crowd was very reserved at first but by the end of the concert we had won them over and they demanded two encores. A great meal (and red wine) under the stars followed and the next day we traveled back to Vienna. |
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Our trip was complicated by the fact that the last stage of the Tour D´France was being held in Paris at exactly the time we had to get through the city to the airport. It was a close call but everybody made it and we got back to Vienna for a bit of sleep before the rehearsals for the recording began on Monday.
We will keep you posted on our progress and on some of the night-time activities of the band.
For fans in German speaking countries, there is an article about the VAO in the current issue of the magazine “SONIC”, available at all fine bookstores! (www.sonic.de)
July 31st
On Thursday night we played through five of the songs from the new program for a select group of invited guests representing Universal Records and several newspapers and magazines. This was an early “sneak preview” for people from the industry to give them a taste of what the new program is all about. Afterward there was the usual hang in the 7th district of Vienna with Ronny, Mario, Jörg, Ed and mathias being joined by Austrian pop and jazz diva Marianne Mendt. Ed got into hot water with the missus by coming home past his curfew and is still in the doghouse as a result of this transgression (I´ll keep you posted).
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chief! are you sure you want me to play such a lot of notes??? |  |
Friday was devoted to sectionals and detail work during the day and our first full run through of the program in the evening. It went better as expected, with only a few “misunderstandings” and other transition – related problems. The new program has alot of metric modulations and tempo changes which keeps us on our toes, but need to be played a lot to feel confortable and organic.
The plan for today is a lot like yesterday, with the exception of added rehearsal time for out “other” new program “Swing & Affairs”. This is a new best-of show that mathias has put together with compositions and arrangements from the whole 28 year history of the VAO. There will be original charts from Mingus and Ellington (1993), minimalism from Erik Satie (1983) and many more surprises from “Tango from Obango” to “Artistry in Rhythm”. Tonight we´ll do another run through and mathias has granted us a day off tomorrow, to prepare for the start of recording on Monday.
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August 1st
We wrapped up our week of rehearsals yesterday with the afternoon being devoted to the best-of program and detail work. Some of the tempo changes are still giving us problems and volume is a big issue this time, because a lot of the pieces only work if played softly enough.
| Georg, Alegre and Martin are doing a great job at keeping the volume down, but sometimes the horn section gets a little too enthusiastic about forte and fortisssimo. |
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We did another run through last night with much better results than Friday. The one thing we are beginning to notice are the places in the program that are hard on the chops of the brass players. Finding places to conserve energy and hold back takes time. Determining what is important and what is VERY IMPORTANT is often only clear after we´ve played the whole program through a few times. This is important when we are on tour and we have to perform the program every night for five weeks. If our chops are blown out after the first week things can get ugly (I won’t tell you the legendary story about the lead trumpet player on Buddy Rich’s Big Band who repaired his split lip with super glue in the intermission of a concert and then played the second half!) so we still have a bit of “tweaking” to do before the program is ready to take on the road. For the recording we have the luxury of taking long breaks after each piece, something we can’t do in concert. Today the band is enjoying a well deserved day off before we go into the studio and make jazz history...
It also seems that most band members were too tired last night to get up to no-good. Thorsten, Mario, Herwig, Jörg and Ed had a few beers in “Wirr” and the normal dart playing crowd ended up at the VAO “office”, but so far there have been no reports of anyone landing in jail or turning up at the emergency room with odd objects stuck in embarrassing orifices.
p.s. Ed’s wife has forgiven him for being out late the other night, but he still feels extremely guilty.
August 3rd
After our day off on Sunday we re-grouped Monday fort he first day of our four days of “studio” recordings. The strategy this time is to get “clean” studio versions of all the pieces on tape by Thursday, mostly without solos. Then the soloists will overdub onto the finished tracks. This way we get very good ensemble recordings and the soloists can work in a stress-free environment to get their very best results. In the past one of the biggest problems we have had was that on the version of a tune where the soloist was really burning, the band wasn’t quite tight. Or the other way around; the band was absolutely smoking but the soloist wasn’t happy with their performance.
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Yesterday we started with the opener (Hank’s solo) and got a couple of versions on tape, but none of them were quite good enough. We moved on the the second piece (Robert’s solo) and got a very good version down after only a few tries. Then we went on to Andy’s solo piece (#3 in the program) and this also went fairly quickly. On most days in the recording studio, there comes a rough period. This came for us with Bumi’s ballad, around 3:30 p.m.
First we got hung up with some intonation problems because of instrument changes and doubles (flügelhorn, tuba, woodwinds) and mathias had a few changes to make in several background sections. We tried several takes but there were always problems. We finally got an acceptable version down, but after consultations between mathias and Heinrich (recording supervisor) they decided the piece was two long and a chorus was cut. Of course this led to more confusion and another few minutes of explanations and rehearsal. Finally it seemed like we were getting close when another problem surfaced. It seemed that a strange combination od voicing in the trumpets/woodwinds combined with the use of cup mutes in the trumpet section was creating a strange “overtone”, a note that no-one was playing but that could be heard on tape. Unfortunately this note didn´t belong in the chord and sounded very very very wrong! The offending part was cut and the problem solved. After that it was clear sailing and after two more takes we had that tune “in the bag”. Then we tried one more version of the opener and achieved our best results yet, but it’s still not perfect. I’m sure we’ll get it in the next couple of days...
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we know, we are still not perfect as he dreams of! but we will get it!!! |
After the studio recordings are finished on Thursday, we start with “live” versions over the weekend. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday will will perform the program live and record. These versions are usually the most exciting and have a higher energy level than the studio versions, but sometimes aren’t quite as clean. After that the real work for Heinrich & mathias will begin. They will have to listen to hours and hours of tape and determine which takes are the best based on the soloists, ensemble performance and general vibe/feeling. Only then will the CD be edited, mixed and mastered.
Of course the VAO only uses the very best in technical equipment for it´s recordings and live concerts. I’ll have full “tech-specs” for you in the next day or two, but this would be a good spot to thank one of our sponsors:
AKG Microphones! You can visit their web-site at: www.akg.com
August 4th & 5th
Our second and third days of recording were very tiring, but we are pretty much “on schedule“, if not exactly as far as we wanted to be. After our successful first day things were bound not to go as smoothly on Tuesday. We just didn’t seem to find our groove until late in the day, but we still got another version of the opener down, a couple good versions of Christian’s solo piece and Florian’s blues, as well as a much better version of the ballad.
Day three started with Klaus’s piece followed by a great version of Flo’s and then we moved on to what is probably the most difficult piece in the program; the dreaded “number 10” (Matthieu’s solo).
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This piece is a very fast swing with half-time 12/8 and a few ¾ bars thrown in for fun. After rehearsing for over an hour we tried a few takes, but never got very far. After a few changes and edits we finally got through it but the band was unanimous in it’s wish to immediately try another take. This one was about 4500% better and even though there were a few small things, it was a very very good version of a very very, very, very, very, very hard arrangement. Afterward we did another couple takes of Christian’s piece and rehearsed Alegre’s solo number, even though we were too tired to attempt a recording.
Today we will get Adrian’s and Alegre’s pieces on tape and try for an even better version of the opener. We also have to record a piece that is not in the program, a special arrangement mathias wrote for a “Mozart Sampler” CD that will be coming out to celebrate the Mozart Year 2006. It is very special and it will be quite a surprise to everyone involved.
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different ways to do a short break |
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And now, for all you geeks and trainspotters out there who want to know what kind of equipment we use to get that special “VAO Sound”, here is a list of the mics, mixing boards, cables and other things that make engineers drool, musicians frustrated and normal people fall asleep:
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Wolfgang Großebner catched a serious moment during the rehearsels |
Equipmentlist
VAO Recordings 2004
Stage:
- 12 Kleu stage riser 2m x1m
- 28 40cm stage riser feet
- 12 65cm stage riser feet
- 8 20cm stage riser feet
- 24 stage riser clamps
- 4 Meyer Sound UM1P floor monitors
- 1 Mackie VLZ 1402
- 16 K& M mic stands norm
- 4 K & M mic stands medium
- 8 K & M mic stands small
- 1 K & M mic stands extra heavy
- 1 wireing system 48 ch by R.Matky
- 26 K & M music stands
Rehearsal / Playback system:
- 1 Soundcraft series five 40/8/8/3 mixing desk
- 4 Meyer Sound MSL4
- 4 Meyer Sound UPA 1
- 2 Meyer Sound UPA 2
- 2 Meyer Sound PSW2
- 1 Behringer Powerplay
- 1 Sennheiser HD25 headphone
- 3 AKG K165 headphones
- 1 Yamaha SPX900
- 2 TC M2000 efx unit
- 4 DBX 1066 efx unit
- 2 DBX 1046 compressor
- 2 DBX 2031 compressor
- 3 DBX 2231 eq
- 2 DBX 3231 eq
- 1 PC with wavelab recording system
- 1 Denon MK2 cd-player
- 1 AKG SST1 Inear System
Micros:
- 10 AKG c4000b used for trumpets, tuba, soloists
- 10 AKG c3000b used for trombones, c-bass
- 8 AKG c414 b-uls used for reeds
- 2 AKG c414 tlII used for soloists
- 4 AKG c2000b used for trumpets
- 2 AKG c546 used for cajon & bassdrum
- 4 AKG c5900 used for voices and percussion
- 8 AKG c391 used for hihat and percussion
- 2 AKG c460 used for overhead
- 1 AKG d112 used for bassdrum
- 2 AKG c426 used for overhead and ambience
- 1 AKG c568 used for ambience
- 6 SCV di-boxes used for bass and guitars
Studio:
- 1 Mackie D8B console
- 4 Mackie HDR24 HD-recorder
- 48 TLA Micpreamps
- 24 Focusrite Micpreamps
- div. TC Machines
- 2 Genelec 1031
- 2 JBL
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A big thanks to Ronny for taking time off from fishing to put this list together! |
August 6th
Well, we got through the most difficult four days with only a few frayed nerves and as far as I know, everyone is still speaking to each other. The level of concentration was incredible on the last day of our “studio” recordings yesterday.
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We got the whole program on tape and our recording team of Jürg, Heinrich and Martin did a superb job of getting things edited and spliced together. They are the folks that don’t get any glory but are just as important as the musicians as far as the final product is concerned. When we (the players) are falling down drunk in some tacky bar in the 7th district, Jürg, Heinrich and Martin are still slaving away at the computer in the basement of Porgy & Bess trying to make us sound good with the help of all the latest technology and powerful stimulants.
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Also a big thanks goes to Christoph Huber and the team at Porgy & Bess for hosting us in their summer break. For the band it is ideal to record in an environment we all know and feel comfortable in and it’s nice to be home in Vienna during the production. Thanks also to Verena Sternbach and the other P & B bar keepers for keeping us well fed, hydrated and pumped up on coffeine during the recording. A special compliment for Verena’s miso soup – YUM! |
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Today the soloists are overdubbing their solos during the day and the whole band has a “clean-up” rehearsal this afternoon followed by a recorded run-through at 19:00. For any VAO fans not on holiday who would like to get a special sneak-preview of the new program and be a part of the recording, feel free to stop by and listen to any of the three recording sessions tonight, tomorrow and Sunday at 19:00. But be advised: You must arrive before 19:00, there must be absolute silence at all times and applause is not allowed.
| But if you are a hardcore VAO fanatic, this is a great way to support the band and be involved in the creative process (beer, wine and soft drinks will be served and -
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August 8th
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Our first run-through on Friday was not all that great. The soloists didn´t feel comfortable because there was no monitor and there was a general feeling of insecurity and nervousness. The air conditioner had also been turned off overnight and it was really hot and sticky in the club as well and the salsa dip was too spicy and my dog ate my homework and G.W. Bush is an asshole... ENOUGH EXCUSES!!! |
Yesterday we rehearsed a bit and got the monitor situation taken care of and mathias gave us a small lecture about volume (another VAO problem) and as a result the recording went much better last night. The ensemble was tight and mistakes were minimal. A few of the soloists were unhappy but it was a good, solid performance from everybody. There was a film crew from Swiss National Television and our own photographer to document the evening and afterward the band ended up (as usual) in the 7th district, but in a wonderful restaurant with terrific wine, food and service. It´s called “Wiener” and it´s in the Hermanngasse 27, 1070 Vienna. It was a refreshing change to the usual VAO “office” and of course the hard-core dart players ended up there later anyway.
Today we do it one last time and then we say goodbye for a few days before our trip to Italy next weekend. I´ll give you a full report and keep you posted on the progress of the CD as well, but now it´s time for brunch and a spin along the Danube on my mountain bike.
August 9th
Well, we did it! With alot of hard work, sweat and a few tears we managed to get the new VAO CD recorded.
Now comes the hard part for mathias, Heinrich, Jürg and Martin -
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- as they have to listen through hours and hours of tape and decide on the best takes for the CD and then do the final editing, mixing, mastering and polishing before sending the finished product to the factory to be copied and sent out to a record store near you so you can support the VAO with your purchase.
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August 14th–16th
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Our trip to Berchidda Italy for the “Time in Jazz” festival began on Saturday with our flight to Rome on the new Austrian airline from Niki Lauda, called “NIKI”. After bad experiences with several other budget airlines we were expecting the worst, but “NIKI” is doing a great job. Friendly staff, new airplanes, yummy sandwiches and groovy space-age uniforms got our trip off to a great start. |
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We had a long stop-over in Rome and Klaus & Mario helped the financial situation of the I.G.I. (Italien Grappa Industry) and we witnessed one of the biggest examples of airport price gouging we´ve seen in awhile when one bar charged an exorbitant €4 for a small beer. Several band members were also observed at McDonald´s poisoning themselves and supporting American cultural/culinary imperialism. SHAME ON YOU!
As is usual in Italy, our flight was delayed. We finally got to Sardinia as the sun was going down and after our long travel day we arrived at our small, quaint hotel to be confronted with Italien-style bureaucracy. The hotel owner needed all of our passports and then wanted to fill out all the appropriate forms before we could go to our rooms. She said it would only take an hour (which was the wrong answer) and no amount of pleading could change her mind. Finally Anna and Francesca (our translator from the festival) were able to work out a compromise and we got checked in and then we were taken to get our back stage passes and our first taste of the incredible hospitality of the festival organizers. The catering area was great and for the length of our stay we were well fed and wined. The food was great and the local red wine fantastic. After stuffing ourselves we found a table at an outdoor cafe and absorbed the vibe of the town and listened to Richard Galliano and his wonderful project “Piazzolla Forever”. Later, festival organizer and trumpet player Paolo Fresu joined the Michel Portal quartet for a killer set on the main stage and the Tiger Dixie Band wandered around town until the wee-small hours keeping the thousands of festival-goers happy with their brand of infectious dixieland and swing.
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Sunday was spent sleeping off hangovers and being lazy around Berchidda. Our soundcheck was uneventful except for the wind conditions, which were a pain in the ass for us, but amusing for mathias to watch as we struggled to keep our music from flying off into the hills of Sardinia with every gust. Ronny did a great job with the sound, but they had someone on the monitor mix who should be doing something else professionally. There were problems for the whole soundcheck that only got worse during the concert. Congrats to trumpeter Lorenz Raab (no relation to “TV Total” star Stefan) for sight-reading his ass off and playing some great solos in his first concert with the band.
Our set was good with Anna being the star of the evening with her stunning renditions of “Day Dream” and “Something To Live For”. On the former she was joined by Paolo Fresu and the effect was just breathtaking. Gonzi´s version of “Little Max” was also a reason to celebrate, which is exactly what he did do until almost five in the morning. This led to him over-sleeping and Florian having to get the master key from the hotel owner to roust Mario out of bed and into the bus for our trip to the airport at 7:30.
Our trip back to Vienna was uneventful, with only a “difference of opinion” with some really stupid Austrian tourists worth mentioning.Once again thanks to Paolo Fresu and the entire staff at “La Follia” (www.timeinjazz.it) for a wonderful time in your wonderful town.
August 27th-30th
What an eventful weekend!
Our four day “mini-tour” started on Friday with a bus ride to Güssing, about two hours from Vienna for a performance of Ellington at the “Kultursommer” in the historic castle located there.
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There are a few more photos at their web site:
We got back to Vienna around midnight and most of the band went home to sleep for a few hours before our 5:40 a.m. bus departure on Saturday. I won´t mention any names, but a couple of the guys decided it wasn´t worth sleeping and spent the few hours between bus rides doing some work in the “VAO Office” and playing pool before having a quick shower and making it to the bus, looking remarkably awake but still reeking of gin, cigarettes and cheap hookers.
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We took the bus to the airport in Bratislava and flew to Zürich, which was followed by a train trip to Freiburg, Germany. |
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We were met at the station by a very friendly jazz festival organizer and taken to our hotel to get a few hours of rest before dinner and our gig at the “Le Gipfel du Jazz” later that evening.
Since we didn´t have time for a sound check, Silke and Ronny did a fast line check and discovered that the local sound guys had really messed up, plugging the microphones in at random, with absolutely no rhyme or reason. This took almost an hour to sort out while the huge open air crowd was kept waiting, growing more impatient by the minute. We finally got on stage over an hour late, but from the first number we knew the listeners were with us and we fed off the wonderful energy they created. Harry smoked on “Very Special” and Adrian tore it up on “Smada” and “Diminuendo”. Thomas and Matthieu burned and Mario killed “Little Max”. The sax section was great and Anna was inspiring. All in all it was a great concert and one of the best audiences we´ve ever had. Afterward we found a cocktail bar that had terrific bartenders and terrific long island ice teas, a very bad combination. Fortunately the bar closed at two a.m. and since we had a late departure on Sunday everybody got to catch up on their sleep. A huge THANK YOU to Freiburg and your wonderful jazz festival!
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to joke or not to joke... |
We took the train down to Willisau, Switzerland and upon arrival went straight to a rehearsal of our new program “Big Band Poesie”. We recorded it only a few weeks ago, but mathias wanted to be on the safe side for the premiere at the 30th annual jazz festival in Willisau. We rehearsed a few transitions and tempo changes and the program order was revised to help with the flow and shape. Our lighting man Alex was given a few tips and since he had not yet heard the music live, we played a couple of things for him so he could get his lighting cues in sinc with us. After a break, we were picked up and driven to the festival for our sound check. Since it was going to be broadcast live on Swiss Radio we wanted to make sure everything was perfect. Thank God we had Jürg Peterhans on hand to do the recording, he has been recording the VAO for years and always does a fantastic job. The exact opposite was the case with the monitor guys from the festival. They were two really incompetent, annoying pricks that caused feedback six times during the soundcheck, couldn´t get the monitor levels right at all and were constantly bitching and mouthing off. I suppose it was no surprise that one of the assholes was American, the kings of incompetence and rudeness. It´s also hard to believe that a great festival like Willisau would employ such idiots.
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Impressions from one of the most impressive saxophone-player - Hank |
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Oh well, on a positive note, the rest of the staff was great and we were well taken care of very well fed and watered. The opening band was a very interesting duo from China. Wu Wei and Xu Fengxia play traditional Chinese instruments but combine Chinese music with modern classical techniques and improvisation. Calling it jazz would probably piss-off Wynton and his friends still living in 1947, but it was an amazing performance and they are two incredible musicians. As is the habit of many jazz festival performers, they played almost twice as long as they were supposed to. I don´t understand why almost every band in the whole world does this, it is so insulting to the groups that have to perform afterward. Of course festival organizers let it happen, so everybody involved is at fault. Of course, ending the performance of a group with the proverbial “hook” mid-concert isn´t a good solution either. More respect from fellow musicians and a bit more control from festival organizers might be a start...
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The highlight of the premiere was without a doubt mathias´ new suit and shoes. He really went all out this time and looked great.
foto by: Marcel Meier |
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The concert got off to a bit of a shaky start, with a slight sense of nervousness palpable within the band. We got through the concert with no major train wrecks and even several very nice moments of music being made. For me the highlights were Hank, Harry, Klaus and Anna.
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we are proud to have such incredible musicians in the band - Anna & Harry |
The new ballad that Anna gets to sing is really great and should be #1 in the pop charts by November. It is another sign of just how versatile mathias is as a composer. Actually the whole program is wonderful and I think it will be one of the VAO´s most popular. Afterward we enjoyed more of the hospitality of our hosts and there was a room party where the hard core of the VAO hung until the early hours.
foto by: Marcel Meier
| Congrats to mathias, the band and the production team for a job very well done. |  |
As does occasionally happen, the party got out of hand. We got kicked out by mathias at about 3 a.m. and adjourned to the “office” for darts and much more booze until almost 5 a.m., at which point this puppy decided to pass out while certain members of the rhythm section continued on into the “night”. Once again my poor suffering wife had to endure a booze-soaked, snoring drunken lout in bed with her. My sincerest apologies, it will never happen again, the check is in the mail and I won´t cum in your mouth...
