{"id":5130,"date":"2011-07-05T10:50:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-05T10:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/chris-schlarb-time-and-talent\/"},"modified":"2011-07-05T10:50:00","modified_gmt":"2011-07-05T10:50:00","slug":"chris-schlarb-time-and-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/chris-schlarb-time-and-talent","title":{"rendered":"Chris Schlarb: Time and Talent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/strong>Chris Schlarb (Photo by Scott Friedlander)<\/em>

7:15am |<\/strong> This thursday evening, <\/span>Chris Schlarb<\/a> will be assembling a crack team of musicians who will perform his new work, “Psychic Temple,” in its entirety. The performance takes place at the <\/span>Long Beach Museum of Art<\/a> as part of its <\/span>After Dark<\/a> series. Admission is $10, and the event starts at 7 p.m.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Chris has dedicated himself to creating a career in music. He’s a sought after producer, working in his own Sounds Are Active Studios and, when necessary, flying around the country to work with bands on their own turf. He’s an excellent guitarist, at times playing completely improvised music and, sometimes, carefully composed works. He’s also nurtured an innovative and forward looking record label, releasing daring works by <\/span>Nels Cline, G.E. Stinson<\/a>, Mike Watt, Anthony Shadduck and countless others.  He’s also composed music for two games, several films, and produced a documentary about ice cream trucks.<\/span><\/p>\n

His first solo album, <\/span>“Twilight & Ghost Stories<\/a>,” was a critical and popular success. It was created by assembling bits of music from a vast array of artists, each working without any awareness of what the others were doing, and with minimal guidance from Chris. The final piece is a beautiful sonic melange, at times peaceful and, at times, bursting with celebratory energy. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Psychic Temple” is far more composed. In four movements it is expansive, restrained, but always beautiful.  It is melodic, with arrangements that feature strings, horns, voice, pedal steel guitar and more traditional instrumentation. Although the musicianship is excellent, it never favors athletic playing, instead focusing on the aesthetics of the whole  Idiomatically, it feels elusive, but it is engaging and something any lover of music can enjoy.  <\/span><\/p>\n

I asked Chris about how the project got started.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: It took a while. On New Year’s Eve of 2008, Create (!) played a show at the Grand Star in Los Angeles. Justice Constantine and Andrew Pompey both played drums and Danny T. Levin and David Moyer were on horns. Justice was still living in El Paso, Texas at the time, and I hurriedly put a session together before he had to leave. There was a small window of opportunity and I had been wanting to record with Andrew and Justice together for quite a while.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wanted to establish a very different setting than what occurred within Create (!), so I took a few small compositional fragments into that recording session, knowing that I would be changing and expanding them in the months that followed.<\/span><\/p>\n

I knew what the album would sound like before we started recording. However, I need to respond to some kind of stimulus when I am writing. I knew that the drums were the foundational element in what would become Psychic Temple. Unfortunately, I had no melodies and very few chord progressions at that first session.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was more important to have the session so that I could react to the space that the drums created. I played guitar with Justice and Andrew at that first session but, over the next two years, I re-recorded and re-wrote everything I played on that day. The only element that survived was the chord progression on “I Can Live Forever If I Slowly Die”.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: <\/span>So, those early drum sessions were primarily improvised?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: Yes and no. I had very specific instructions for the drummers to follow, depending on the song. For example, “Daughters of Ursa Major” is all brushes. Sometimes I would give them metaphorical descriptions as to what I wanted the parts to sound like. Sometimes it was more practical: Justice, you play the kick drum on this song. Andrew, you play the cymbals, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: <\/span>Can you give me an example of a metaphorical description?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: When describing the approach on “Daughters of Ursa Major” I told them to sound like a flock of birds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: <\/span>So, when the drum sessions were complete, what happened next?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: After the drum sessions I started re-writing the music. Once I had new structures in place, I got together with Danny T. Levin and David Moyer and they played most of the brass and woodwinds on the album. I had all these sounds and textures in my head. <\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve always been a huge fan of Herbie Hancock’s album “Speak Like A Child”. The sound of the horn trio on that album has always been a great inspiration to me and I knew, from the start, that it was a compositional element I needed on Psychic Temple. Over the following two years I would record strings, grand piano, pedal steel guitar, four vocalists, four bassists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: <\/span>And you wrote sheet music for all the parts?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: I wrote sheet music for each main melody, and chord progressions. Corbin Foster and Seth Shafer, both CSULB grads, wrote out arrangements for strings and horns elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember reading a quote from director Robert Altman in which he said that if you cast the right actors for a film, you don’t have to direct them so much. That is the exact approach I took on Psychic Temple. I cast my favorite musicians and gave them a framework to play in. I created Psychic Temple because I couldn’t find any music that satisfied certain rhythmic, melodic, and textural desires I had.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: <\/span>You’ve performed this work a few times, already.  How did that go?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: The live performances have been wonderful.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: <\/span>Were you able to perform with the same musicians, or did you draw from local talent?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: Aaron Roche, who plays and sings on the album, eventually moved to Brooklyn. He was responsible for setting up a performance in New York. To prepare for that we played a few shows in Long Beach and Los Angeles. Most recently, we played at the NMASS Festival in Austin, Texas. There is a core rhythm section that has performed at every event. Tabor Allen and Andrew Pompey on drums. Danny Miller and I on electric guitars.<\/span><\/p>\n

In New York we recruited Kirk Knuffke, Reuben Radding, and Mick Rossi to the ensemble. In Los Angeles, Ian Souter and Paul Bailey are fixtures on trumpet and trombone. Aaron Roche has gone across the country with us: New York, Austin and Los Angeles.<\/span><\/p>\n

It may not be obvious, but the songs were written with the tradition of folk music in mind. Essentially, they could be played with just guitar and voice without altering the arrangement. It all comes back to chords and melody.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: <\/span>But the arrangement… It is so expansive, and glorious.<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: Thank you! That is the luxury a large ensemble affords.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: <\/span>How did you get this gig at the museum?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: Last November I held a fundraiser to press Psychic Temple on vinyl. One of the people who pledged was Sarajeva Vazquez, who works at the Long Beach Museum of Art. Sara has been so supportive of this music and, eventually, an opportunity to perform came about. I haven’t counted the exact number but I think we will have a 10-piece ensemble for the performance. Some new and some familiar faces.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: <\/span>How does it feel, for you, to hear it, to play it?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: It feels incredible. This music means so much to me. The fellowship of the musicians I play with means a great deal, too. The older I get, the more appreciation I have for the time and talent of other people. I approach each performance as a once-in-a-lifetime event. In an age where everyone can interface via computer, there is something very special about occupying a unique physical space together.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: <\/span>In performing this work live, what has the audience response been like?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chris<\/strong>: I’ll tell you a quick story: A few weeks back we performed in Austin, Texas and our audio engineer was a grizzled singer\/songwriter. He had been working all day at the festival and it was 105 degrees outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

After our “Psychic Temple” performance he came up to me with a huge smile and said it was beautiful. Everyone in the ensemble was hugging and smiling. The engineer said, “Okay, that’s enough,” and smiled as he walked away. I just love the fact that he had to catch himself. He has been around music for his entire life, and has probably been through the ringer, yet the performance made him genuinely happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/span><\/p>\n

To learn more about Chris, and hear a track from the album, visit <\/span>ChrisSchlarb.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

For information about the Long Beach Museum of Art, including its After Dark series, visit <\/span>LBMA.org<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information about his record label, visit <\/span>SoundsAreActive.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to <\/span>a conversation<\/a> I had with Chris back in 2009 about “Twilight & Ghost Stories.”<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Schlarb has assembled a 10-piece band to perform his recent composition, “Psychic Temple,” at the Long Beach Museum of Art’s After Dark event taking place this Thursday at 7 p.m. It is a work of great beauty, and this rare performance should not be missed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":69994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6226,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130\/revisions\/6226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5130"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5130"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}