N to The Power played a record release concert at NuBlu in New York City on October 30th, 2024. The whole set was filmed by cinematographer Andrew Lin, and I’ve been slowly editing that material. I started editing with two songs which are actually from our first album (AUTOGENESIS, 2020) because between them they are a good representation of the range of our band in a live setting.
MARRAKESH MEMOSPHERE LIVE AT NUBLU
MARRAKESH MEMOSPHERE began in 2017 when after hearing a field recording of Moroccan Gnawa trance music, Tony Jarvis and I channeled that energy and spirit into an extended improv session using a Turkish bağlama, electric cello, electric guitar, and bass synthesizer. These tracks were edited and overdubbed with bass clarinet, horns, vibes, and additional percussion. Although the inspiration is decidedly organic and human, the finished piece has more in common with contemporary electronic dance music than any other N to The Power track, and the final minute of the piece collapses into electronic bleeps and feedback.
When we decided to play MARRAKESH MEMOSPHERE live, we added a traditional drummer (Chris Eddleton) and a sousaphone (John Altieri), and the result feels even more like vintage Afrobeat than the original tune did — albeit with a still non-standard arrangement.
PEACE PIECE LIVE AT NUBLU
N to The Power have many versions of PEACE PIECE - it is something of a touchstone for the band. The harmonic material and structure (written by jazz pianist Bill Evans in 1958) is so simple as to be almost trivial, but it is tremendously resilient and forgiving as a bed over which to improvise. Jarvis and Leyh have performed Peace Piece in different settings as a duo, and Leyh has performed it solo and with others at sunrise on Mardi Gras morning overlooking the Mississippi river in New Orleans for several years running. We haves a concept called ENDLESS PEACE which we hope to perform in 2025, in which it will be performed in an outdoor space from sunset to sunrise, with a revolving cast of musicians. I’ve wanted to do an all-night musical performance ever since I experienced the Javanese Wayang Kulit shadow puppet performance in an all night performance at The Los Angeles Festival in 1990.
In the Pitchfork review of N to The Power’s 2020 recording of PEACE PIECE, Larry Blumenfeld wrote:
“A 12-and-a-half-minute version of “Peace Piece,” which jazz pianist Bill Evans composed mostly upon a simple ostinato, is elevated by Dharamraj’s expressiveness on acoustic cello and Leyh’s tender touch on a fretted electric one. Its loops reinforce the circular nature of Evans’ concept. In 1962, Evans told a Time magazine reporter that, after playing it at a club, a teenage fan rushed up and said that “when he heard it he felt like he was standing all alone in New York.” This version, offered in the midst of forced social distancing, has the opposite effect: It suggests much-needed communion.”
We are still creating spaces for communion four years later. The times remain dark, and we again strive to come together with music. We hope that PEACE PIECE is still a powerful way to do that.
-- Blake Leyh, November 18th 2024
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