It was January of 2022. Covid-19 was still very much an issue with the new contagious Omicron variant sidelining things left and right. The session had been booked for months and people were on edge. The concerns were many, including a baby on the way for a couple of the participants. Steps were taken to ease minds, including extensive testing days-out and day-of as well as creative use of iso booths. Then, a few days before the session, the drummer caught Covid.
Against the odds, we pushed forward. The engineer, Norman, and I devised a plan… I (a drummer) would overdub the drums later. The band was skeptical and rightly so. This music is very improvisatory and malleable. It was going to require a lot of imagination on the part of the players.
The plan: Norman hooked me up with a headset mic (like Britney Spears). While I conducted the band I whispered cues to my future drummer self. At the end of that long tracking day, I jumped on the drums and did a pass of everything while the others packed up. There was no time to second guess anything I was doing or do multiple takes. My single drum take would have to do. After many days, I listened back and I think the most discerning ears would never know. I’m damn proud of what we accomplished. I hope you enjoy it!
-JG

About the music...

GARDEN VARIETY (Prelude and Postlude) 2018(ish)
These two pieces are built around a set of four bundt cake pans. I have a collection (largely provided by my mother) of 30 pans and the ones used were selected based on the "scale" they made. The pitch material is derived from what I heard in the pans. Like many pieces for this group, the material for both the prelude and postlude were originally conceived as one piece, leaving us the option of flowing freely from the spacey stuff (later labeled the prelude) to the interlocking more rhythmic part (postlude). Only later did we start performing these as separate pieces. The funky nature of the postlude came from an intense period a few years ago where I couldn't stop listening to Parliament Funkadelic. Special attention should be given to Rei Scampavia and David James. Both players improvised their parts: Rei, the other-worldly keys in the prelude and David, the grounding rhythm guitar in the postlude. For me, what they did MADE the music.

THAT'S QUITE ENOUGH, 2019
This modal jammer is a typical BEAK piece with a couple wrinkles that made it particularly difficult to overdub the drum part. It has three sections, the first featuring a slinky solo by Rob Ewing. Then through a series of meter changes and gradual speed up we enter the second part which has a brief but ripping solo by Beth Schenck. This ends with a hard cut to a vibe feature. Mark Pascucci-Clifford does an excellent job making up for my blind spot as a composer, bridging the gap between what came before and the coda that follows.

A PLANT, 2018
This one is my first attempt at a long form piece. Generally, I keep the amount of material to five "things" (melodies, ostinatos, lines, whatever). That way it's easy to cue things without using two hands. For this piece we ended up with about sixteen "things". To keep it to one hand, I created sub groupings. For example "eye" 1-5 (point to eye then hold up whatever number of fingers). There was also "nose", "mouth" and "elbow", each with numbers attached. Aside from the beautiful solo by Lisa Mezzacappa amongst the bird calls and rattles, there really isn't any improvising in this piece. Well, Bob's percussion isn't really prescribed... you don't tell Bob what to do!

THANK YOU Norman, Karl, Rei, Lisa, David, Mark, Bob, Rob and Beth for being game for all the madness.
There is NO way this recording would have happened without the constant support and thoughtfulness of Lisa Mezzcappa. I’m forever in her debt.

Many inspiring friends helped shape this music, including Robert Lopez, Will Northlich-Redmond, Max Judelson, Geneva Harrison, Brett Carson, Tim DeCillis, Nava Dunkelman, Jon Arkin, Jason Hoopes, Michael Coleman, Kevin Robinson, Theo Padouvas, Cory Wright, Ava Mendoza, Sam Ospovat, Susana Santos Silva, Matt Nelson and Austin Vaughn. Every one of them impacted future versions of these pieces. Thank you all for your creativity and generosity!

This record is dedicated to John Finkbeiner and New Improved Recording, you are missed.