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Tairaku,
I was wondering what inspired you to cover this piece? And if you have the notation for it that perhaps you would be willing to share? I love this piece. Thanks,
-Sean.
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I have been listening to Albert Ayler since my teenage years and he's been a strong influence on me. I learned "Change Has Come" originally from Dr. Eugene Chadbourne. We used Western notation and I was playing it on bass. That was before I started playing jazz on shakuhachi. When I decided to bring the shakuhachi to jazz I tried to find melodies that had some of the characteristics of honkyoku playing i.e. free rhythms, note bending, a yearning sound, etc. and this was one of the first melodies that came to mind. I was also seeking jazz tunes that had a spiritual message. So I basically took the version I was doing on bass and transposed it to the shakuhachi. I think Ayler has nice melodies most of the time, sometimes you can hear them, other times they are buried under a barrage of noise and static. When I do a cover of a song I like to work on it for a long time, but never refer to the original, so that it changes. I think my version has a somewhat different melody and also switches between 3/4 and 4/4 unlike the original which is all 3/4 (I think?). He also plays what seems to me a harmony for some of it, whereas I play the implied melody. It is the most recorded song of my brief shakuhachi recording career. There is a honkyoku style version on "Purple Field" (solo, no improv). Free jazz versions on "Shakuhachi Club NYC" and "Taimu". And I have a different freebie version on my MySpace site that was recorded live.
Regarding notation, I have both Western and Kinko versions I made when I taught this piece at the London Shakuhachi Summer School, but they are somewhere in between the US and Tasmania at the moment in a shipping crate. Maybe one of the students has a copy they can send you or post?
Thanks for your interest, I believe that we have to find new ways of using shakuhachi that still refers to the tradition and doing songs like "Change Has Come" is my solution to that particular quandary. I also think it's fun to play free jazz that works in a chamber setting and doesn't rely upon bombast for its energy.
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Sean,
You should be able to download the notation here. I hope it works, I just used a file host which came up in a quick search...
http://www.filehosting.cc/file/20219/Ch … e-pdf.html
Tairaku,
Hope that's fine with you to share it like that.
It's a great tune and fun to play and btw do you know on with of Ayler's Albums the song is actually on ? - I couldn't find it on any I've seen.
bw
Thorsten
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Thanks, Thorsten.
eB
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Thanks Tairaku and Thorsten,
I too have been into Free jazz for quite some time. I've been playing free music for over 10 years. When I first started we coined the term "Freedom Core". which was basically everyone doing whatever they felt like doing whenever they felt like doing it, and we would tried to find some structure in the chaos. Wasn't always great, but it was always fun. The best kinda party. where everybodys playing music:)
Coltrane has been a strong influence for me. Ascension really had that chaos with melodies flying all over the place- particularly interesting when you've had a few.
I definitely agree that particular jazz songs that have that yearning, mournful sound are really nice sounding on shakuhachi. Not that I've heard many, but you can sense the potential you know. Alabama might be really nice...
I have much respect for what you and other players are doing with bringing shakuhachi into a free jazz setting, as well as the crazy Taimu shakuhachi that you and Ken are designing, revolutionary stuff.
-Thanks Thorsten for the notation!
All the Best,
-Sean.
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