Trapper Keaper is Will Thompson (keys/effects) and Marcello Benetti (drums).
All of this music is completely improvised and was recorded live in New Orleans on January 15, 2015 at The AllWays Lounge; March 17th, 2015 at The Blue Nile Balcony Room; and May 14, 2015 at The AllWays Lounge.
Produced by Trapper Keaper & Jeff Albert.
Will Thompson - keys/effects Marcello Benetti - drums
Special Guests: Mike Dillon - percussion (tracks 2, 5, & 8) Dave Easley - steel guitar & guitar (tracks 1, 4, & 7) Rex Gregory - keys & sax (tracks 3, 6, & 9) Ashlin Parker - trumpet (tracks 3, 6, & 9) Jeff Albert - trombone (track 2)
Cover image by Marco Zara
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jeff Albert
Special thanks to The Blue Nile and The AllWays Lounge for their hospitality; to Hannah Lichtl, Hillary Albins, Erin Thompson, Matthew Thompson, & Cedar Howard for working the door at these performances; to Jeff for a great job recording live; to Dave, Mike, Rex, Ashlin, & Jeff for sharing such great music and energy; and to TR Johnson and Scott Borne for your support in the media and for being such great fans.
Rex Gregory - soprano and tenor saxophones Ray Moore - alto and baritone saxophones Jeb Bishop - trombone Jeff Albert - trombone and laptop Chris Alford - guitar Helen Gillet - cello Jesse Morrow - bass Marcello Benetti - drums
Recorded on September 18, 2013 by Steve Panacek at Vital Sounds Recording in New Orleans, LA Mixed and mastered by Jeff Albert Produced by Jeff Albert & Jeb Bishop Jeb's appearance in New Orleans made possible in part by New Orleans International Sound Exchange (noise-nola.org) Cover photo by Jaki Cellini
In early 2006, I traveled to Chicago for the first rehearsals and performances of a band called the Lucky 7s. The band was the idea of my friend, fellow trombonist, and Chicagoan, Jeb Bishop. It consisted of members of the Chicago scene and a couple of Katrina refugees from New Orleans who landed in Chicago, and me. That band eventually released two CDs, played the Chicago Jazz Fest, and made some pretty good music. That first trip to Chicago introduced me to a wonderful thriving scene of creative musicians who took control of their performance opportunities, and made things happen for their music in their city. I wanted a scene like that in New Orleans.
Today, thanks to the continuing work and dedication of many people, New Orleans has a pretty strong scene for creative and improvised music, and this album is a reflection of part of that scene. Long Sidewalks is like an inverted Lucky 7s, in that instead of me traveling to Chicago to work with the musicians there, Jeb traveled to New Orleans to work with the musicians here. Jeb's visit was one of the first projects of the New Orleans International Sound Exchange (NOISE), which is a non-profit dedicated to fostering interactions between New Orleans based improvisers and other world class musicians based in other places. The group of New Orleans musicians who make up 7/8 of Long Sidewalks represent a significant portion of the free jazz/improvised music/whatever you-want-to-call-it community. There are a couple of complete extant ensembles contained within Long Sidewalks, and a couple of other groups that have majority representation.
About the name: drummer Marcello Benetti started visiting New Orleans in 2008 and moved here in 2011. He has had a wide ranging influence on the community, especially in social contexts. One thing that Marcello has introduced to us is the concept of the staffa. This is an idea that he brought from his native Venice. The staffa is the last drink one has before leaving the bar or party. Staffa translates to stirrup, meaning that the rider has already started to mount his horse by the time he has this last taste. Of course Marcello has also taught us that there does not have to be but one staffa. Jeb liked the concept, so it found its way to a song title, then seemed the obvious choice for the name of the album. We hope you enjoy this staffa.
-Jeff Albert
Lucky 7s came to be in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, and the visit I made to New Orleans for the Long Sidewalks work was my first trip there since before the storm. Maybe for that reason this project feels to me in part like a celebration of the regained vibrancy of the musical life of this indomitable city. I want to thank Jeff, Marcello, Helen, Rex, Ray, Chris, and Jesse for all their beautiful work. It was a wonderful if too brief musical adventure this time -- I hope we'll be able to do it again soon!
-Jeb Bishop
This music was recorded on the afternoon of July 15, 2014 in Dave's home in New Orleans. These eleven pieces are all of the music that was recorded that day, with the exception of one aborted take. All of this music was improvised, with only basic discussion of a target vibe or organizing idea before each take. They are presented in the order in which they were created, although there were breaks for long conversations, walks to the store, and a brief interlude of me frantically rearranging travel plans around a flight the next morning that had been cancelled. You may hear that in the music at some point. The pieces are simply numbered, so that the listeners may find their own meanings in the music with out the influence of a title or description.
I have been playing music with Dave Cappello in a variety of contexts for over 10 years. He is one of my favorite musicians, and every time we get to make music together something interesting happens. Dave Cappello is a special musician, who is tragically under recorded, and hopefully this album can start to rectify that situation. He brings a rare vitality and creativity to music making, and those qualities shine through on this recording.
Enjoy the music. -Jeff Albert (19 February 2015)
Dave Cappello - drums and percussion Jeff Albert - trombone
Produced by Jeff Albert. Cover photo by Jaki Cellini.
Live in Lafayette was recorded in concert on June 14, 2012 at Cité des Arts in Lafayette, LA. The recording was direct to 2-track with one stereo microphone. This was the first meeting of Chicago based percussionist Tim Daisy, and Josef Butts, with Jeff Albert being the common link, having worked with both Joe and Tim previously.
The original plan for this concert was that it would be a quartet, and the group would play from Jeff's Instigation Quartets, but last minute changes turned it into a trio concert, and the band decided to freely improvise, until the end of the set when Jeff introduced his melody "504 No More...?". This recording is the complete first set from that night.
Tim Daisy - percussion Jeff Albert - trombone Josef Butts - bass
Recorded direct to 2-track on June 14, 2012 Recording mastered by Jeff Albert Cover photo by Jaki Cellini
This album is only available as a digital download. You can listen to the whole album in the player to the left, and can purchase and download the files from that player or our bandcamp site.