A quick multi-track sketch of an idea for four or five or six basses . . .

Return (sketch)

another quick sketch of an idea. Tell me what you think ... I know what I was going for and this isn't quite it, but it's closer to my vision than silence.

Swan

Spanish Guitar and Electric Bass; Polyrhythms and phasing procedures deployed against extended modal and/or angular harmonies.
A pandemic-forced experiment in spooky collaboration at a distance.

SARDINe Demo Mix

Cerulean Demo Mix

Recorded at the Chicago Bass Festival, February 1, 2015.
Composed by Igor Iachimciuc, 2014.
Chicago Bass Ensemble with Matthew Coley, marimba and Leslie B. Dunner, conductor.
D. Johnson, A. Anderson, J. Romane, J. Harrison, J. Harper, N. Rodack.

Rural Sketches

Metrically phased music for guitar and bass.
Recorded asynchronously from 2023 to 2024.
This album represents the first documentation of our collaborative Moire-patterned compositional process. We employ different levels of metric and harmonic coherence, uncovering compelling ways to create form and theme out of the interference and synchrony of independent musical thought-lines. Borrowing from minimalism, aleatoric music, and jazz, and using techniques like looping and collage, we are working to create a musical space that has a unique identity, with eclectic roots and an unusual spirit.

Cerulean consists of tight heterophonic riffs, with short sections of soloing trading off quickly between instruments through the form.

SARDINe is a hypnotic piece that uses metric mutation to transition through an intricate harmonic progression. It demands tight focus from the performers, and offers the listener meditative space.

The Order of Apparent Non-Importance uses a skeleton of short pentatonic motifs as an instigation to improvise.

Sleng Teng Fantasy careens rapidly through a series of precessing-phase sections, mercurially interposed with chromatic passagework. And some modern organum too.

The Texas Sharpshooter presents two characters: a funk inspired bass in 7/4 joined by spazz guitar in 6/8. The title refers to the harmonic structure: I totally meant to do that.

As a duo, we try to place both instruments on equal footing. In much music the bass is relegated to a supporting role, with guitar as foreground. By rejecting this traditional formulation, we open space to explore in full the roles available to both instruments.  

3 Order of Non-importance

4 Sleng Teng Fantasy

The first performance of Tony Osborne's "Rocket Man" for bass quartet. Live recording from the Chicago Bass Festival, 2013, by the Chicago Bass Ensemble.

Rocket Man

Written by Teppo Hauta-Aho. Performed by the Chicago Bass Ensemble at the 2013 Chicago Bass Festival

Why?

Written by Daniel Armstrong. Performed by the Chicago Bass Ensemble at the 2013 Chicago Bass Festival.

Wildebeests & Warthogs

from the second book of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, arranged for four double basses by Joel DiBartolo. Performed at the 2013 Chicago Bass Festival. Anton Hatwich, Jacque Harper, Hans Peterman, John Floeter.

3 Order of Non-importance

pitch-rhythm