southern records

Q: How did you and Brassland hook up?

Erik Friedlander: I met Bryce Dessner five or six years ago when he came to my loft in New York to play a run through of a particularly difficult solo guitar program he was preparing. We began to correspond via email and whenever he was in NYC we would have a lunch. Later in 2001 I contacted Bryce to perform on a project I was working on which became my "Grains of Paradise" CD (Tzadik, 2002), a project inspired by Middle Eastern Pop music and the music of Bollywood.

After Bryce, his brother and Alec Bemis began Brassland Records we talked about the possibility of my creating a project for their new label. By chance I recorded Maldoror during some brief downtime while on tour in Europe and when I described this new solo CD Bryce was immediately interested.

Q: Where do you live and rehearse?

Erik Friedlander: I live in Soho and usually rehearse in my loft, though at times I use a warehouse rehersal space/recording studio in Williamsburg called Context (www.contextnyc.com).

Q: You play a lot of shows at the Lower East Side avant-jazz club Tonic, and often operate within that scene. (i.e. You played well over a dozen shows there in September, during John Zorn's month long 50th birthday celebration at the club.) Can you describe your involvement with Tonic?

Erik Friedlander: We all want to play live so everyone looks for venues that are hamish -- that is, not too uptight, won't complain that your "crowd" doesn't drink enough beer, and basically a place that doesn't treat musicians with contempt at worst or often, with just the barest tolerance. TONIC came along at a great time when many of us were quite exasperated with the Knitting Factory. It's a place I feel at home trying out new ideas from the latest band I've put together, to the six week radio drama serial I scored and produced last summer.

Q: More generally what is it like being part of the downtown New York jazz scene? Do you have a particular connection to NYC and could you explain it?

Erik Friedlander: New York City is filled with musicians. We are kind of like a prairie-dog colony, living in close proximity, working together but also scurrying around taking care of our own business -- writing music, playing gigs, booking tours, hounding record labels, starting our own labels...being musicians. Little communities of like-minded musicians have a "scene" but then these little scenes morph as musicians from other scenes join in, other players leave on tour, people move out of town or new amazing players show up, close friendships lose momentum and breakup, older players reach out to younger musicians for fresh ideas or to have their own ideas fulfilled by players who won't question their authority. It's a mad, sane, exhuberant, inspiring and troubling community of very talented people. If you're in the business of looking for inspiration, which I am -- I consider it my business -- than I can't imagine being in a better place than New York.

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