MP3 Elam - Escape Velocity
Inventive, ethnic-tinged flute improvisations interwoven with original beats, drone textures, and otherworldly sounds.
15 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Jazz Fusion, NEW AGE: New Age
Details:
Elam: Escape Velocity
Improvisational / ElectroJazz / Jazz Fusion
Interview With Elam About His First Flute Release, "Escape Velocity"
Q: "Elam, What is this album about?"
A: "Well, the title is a command: ESCAPE VELOCITY. We''re all hurtling down the road of life, every second of every day, charging down a very clear and distinct path... It''s easy to keep going the same direction down that same road - because we have so much velocity, so much momentum! But the key is to Escape Velocity. If you can break the velocity of your current direction in life, then you can steer yourself down any road, and to anywhere you please."
Q: "Where did the idea for this album come from?"
A: "Well, after making a lot of ambient and pop-type music, I had come to a place where I felt confident enough with my electronic and recording skills, that I wanted to bring my flute playing into the mix. I got my first flute in 1991, a used Conservarte brand flute that my father & mother bought for me from a pawn shop in Cocoa Beach, Florida. I learned how to make some noise on it pretty quickly; I taught myself all the fingerings from a Mel Bay method book. It grew from there; over the years I studied with some of the greatest living masters & had some noteworthy success on the performance & competition side, including two concerto performances with full-orchestra and several first prizes in concerto competitions and the like. But as with all good things, times change & so do people... Meeting Mr. Hubert Laws in the spring of 2003 opened a new channel inside me - that of improvisation. Now my aim is to express myself through music, whether that be with a reinterpretation of a Bach Sonata, an improvisation set against a drone, or a flute riff captured and electronically manipulated to sound like an electric guitar... In developing this album, I fully enjoyed the ''play'' in the playing of music!"
Q: "How many song did you initially record for this album?"
A: "Just 15. All 15 made it to the final cut. I was about to remove one or two tracks, but I decided to keep them because they grew on me."
Q: "Anything else, mister Elam?"
A: "I''m extremely proud of this album, for it represents my own creative ''awakening''. Up until the spring of 2003, I was focused solely on performing music that had been written by someone else. Within a few months time, I began improvising, composing, producing, recording, mixing, and everything inbetween. I took out student loans to buy recording & production equipment. It all happened very quickly & in a whirlwind-like fashion, I was possessed like a madman! It took two full years after that initial ''awakening'' for me to feel confident enough with my skills to release an album featuring my flute playing. There will be lots & lots & lots to come in the future - including albums similar to Escape Velocity (100% improvisational in nature), but also I''m planning some classical-remake styled albums, somewhat similar to Ms. Vanessa Mae''s violin+electronics recordings. And as I connect with other talented acoustic musicians over the years, I will be incorporating more acoustic sounds into my albums.
Everything you hear on Escape Velocity, all the sound textures, all the beats, all the instrumental lines, and of course all the flute improvs - they are my own creation. There are no prerecorded beats of any sort. I programmed & sequenced & produced every thing you hear on the album. Truly, Escape Velocity is all ''Elam''!
One last thing: All of the flute lines you hear on the album are truly improvisational; no composition or printed music or pre-planning. I pressed ''record'', jammed out, and then built all the other aspects of the album around the flute improvs!"