gschmitt Blog – Pasado Meridiano rehearsals

First off, Happy New Year and thanks for checking out my blog…..and special thanks to everyone who is signed up for the Email Newsletter. It’s very much appreciated.

After the holiday break, I got a call to come into a rehearsal of a local jazz fusion group, Pasado Meridiano. Ariel Cedeno, the same Ariel from my disk, is their drummer and he got me connected with the outfit’s director, main composer and arranger, Juan Manuel Rivera. Being friends with Ariel, I’ve gone to see them play live and I was totally impressed by how tight and well-rehearsed they were; as well as the quality of the songs. Needless to say, i was definitely into the idea of taking on the spot of guitarist with them.

I really dig it because the music is challenging on pretty much every level. As with most higher-level fusion jazz stuff I’ve heard, both the players and the listeners have to exert energy and some amount of effort to fully enjoy what’s going on in the compositions. The entire genre is not as accessible as your average pop song, and that may be some of the allure for me. Sometimes, the listener has to suspend their initial reaction and trust that the group and composer have something real to say and it’s not immediately available. (This little concept came to me a number of years back with Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew.”)

Another challenge besides the non-standard and somewhat purposefully dissonant melodies is the sheer difficulty of playing it all at tempo. Some crazy intervallic leaps and odd-meter grooves have had me hitting the practice room harder than I have since college and in a way, it’s nice to be back. This music calls for more chops than my own material and it’s re-awakening a mindset that I hate to admit has been asleep for a while.

With one rehearsal down and seemingly good feelings all around, I’m thinking it’s going to be a good time once I’m ready to be part of their live gigs….let’s see what next month brings.