creating music on the fly requires flexibility, especially when the cube orchestra has been playing the same refrain for the last ten minutes and someone decides it’s time for a change. that moment of change can come about unexpectedly, or it can evolve quite naturally, but it always creates interest

the example below demonstrates how a tune can morph from one genre to another and how this change can invigorate the players as they play. it’s a track called ‘bedlam b&b’, recorded at the cube microplex on 11 november 2015. it begins as if the listener has been transported to the hallways of a victorian mental institution, the sounds rambling and eerie, but this excerpt arrives eight minutes in with ghoufran literally throwing cymbals at the stage floor, accompanying a sketchy, jazzy period in the track. but listen closely, the rhythm flexes and jean-michel’s guitar adapts, shifting the sound from jazz into the most mental psych-country rinse-out. you can feel the tension rising, quickening the pulse, making your foot tap out of control, drawing us all in to experience its inevitable crash landing

at the time we could all feel the growing excitement in the music and i think it can be felt in the recording

let yourself be carried away for two minutes, the take a rest

bedlam b&b (morphing mayhem)

the players on the night:

jon shepherd: bass, vocals
jean-michel: guitar, percussion
ramon sanchez: sax, percussion
marcus valentine: keyboards
david insua-cao: percussion
ollie owen: guitar
chema gala: sax, vocals
steve radford: alto sax, vocals
gerry barnett: cello
tom bronson: guitar
david walsh: guitar
alexandra corral: acoustic guitar, percussion, vocals
casey hale: acoustic guitar, darbuka, drum app
rob hague: bass, trumpet, vocals
sammy weaver: flute, vocals
ghoufran warlow: piano, percussion
keef chemistry: melodica, vocals, percussion, effects

click to download the two-minute excerpt