The lockdown period has been an opportunity for some musicians to record and produce their own music. York-based Trumpeter Ian Chalk, a regular performer at Scarborough Jazz, has recorded his second quarantine album June 2020. Entirely self-recorded and produced, Ian’s album continues the theme of previous albums featuring reworkings of jazz standards. You can stream and download the album here. We caught up with Ian to find out more:
LOCKDOWN:
Three months ago everything stopped overnight. No gigs or concerts, no jamming or rehearsing, no face-to-face teaching, in many cases whole livelihoods on a cliff edge… what is it you are missing most?
Ian:
It’s 2 things mainly; being able to run rehearsals for the 6 weekly jazz education ensembles and gigs. So I’ve gone from working with about 100 developing musicIans every week to a small number of online 1-2-1 sessions so I’m really missing that interaction. Similarly with gigs not happening. You can lose your sense of purpose, your sense of identity.
LOCKDOWN:
‘June 2020’ is your second album recorded during lockdown. Is keeping a focus on who you are and what you do partly what has prompted you to make this music?
Ian:
Partly but also it’s to do with creating arrangements that our ensembles can work on when we are eventually able to reconvene. Essentially all the material on the album ‘June 2020’ started life as brand new arrangements for either the youth jazz orchestra or the adult education big band. It then occurred to me that I could play and record all the horn parts on flugel and trumpet (sax and trombone parts on flugel and the trumpet parts, well, on trumpet!). For the rhythm section, for which the instrumentation varies depending on the arrangement, I’ve created using technology options and synths, samples etc. So on a couple of the tunes there are 11 separate horn tracks but never fewer than 8. It’s a big band/jazz orchestra album but I’ve made all the noises!
LOCKDOWN:
It sounds like a LOT of work. Did you keep a record of how many hours writing and playing are represented on the recording?
Ian:
I haven’t kept a record but it must be hundreds of hours in total! It’s also a good way of making sure that the arrangements will work for the educational ensembles as well as allowing them to hear the phrasing etc. before rehearsals can start again. Having said that there are another 9 arrangements I’ve completed during lockdown that haven’t made it on to the album. Maybe they will be released at some point when I get around to it! The only horn parts I couldn’t include on the tracks were the baritone sax and bass trombone as they are pitched too low for me for play and the technology-based alternatives don’t sound very convincing.
LOCKDOWN:
We’ll leave the opportunity for a trombonist joke just hanging there… trombonists aside, what are you most looking forward to once we can start to make live music again – is there perhaps something that for you is symbolic of what’s so important about making and sharing music with other people?
Ian:
The live performance of music and, perhaps, jazz in particular creates the opportunity for spontaneity and surprise. So I think that’s what I’m looking forward to as well as the community-feeling and the virtuous circle that is created between performers, the audience and the room you are all in.
Ians album June 2020 is available as a pay-what-you-want release here