Sebastian Rochford & Jason Moran – Years by Days And Nights At The Takeaway

The Leeds based Leaf Label are giving LondonJazz readers a sneak preview of one of two new tracks from Seb Rochford and Jason Moran.

The single (which is part of Seb’s Days and Nights at the Takeaway Project) features two tracks: the original improvisation by Jason and the re-working of it by Seb. It will be available on the Bandcamp Website from Friday the 27th of July.

The Days and Nights at the Takeaway project is a “monthly online singles club.” Seb Rochford records artists in his studio (an ex-takeaway, hence the name) and releases two versions of the tune for streaming and/or purchase online.

This time it was different though, as Seb says, “Since Jason lives in New York, I asked him to send me a recording of himself on piano that I could then mess with at my place.” However, what he received initially seemed quite daunting, “I was blown away by the music he sent and felt a little intimidated by it.”

Seb included the original improvisation by Moran (recorded at a solo concert in Northern Italy) as the second piece this time rather than the usual remix, but what you get here are two almost completely different pieces of music. The opening passages of the improvisation, which in the original are played with an almost Bill Evans-like warmth, are transformed into something almost disturbing, with live drum takes and live iPad and synth figures.

The middle of the piece is remarkable for the rhythmic interplay between his drums and Moran’s piano Seb has taken a small 2 or 3 second phrase of the improvisation and given it perhaps the most prominent role.