Pandora's Box - Ora Pro Nobis

(If you want to skip right to the music, scroll to the bottom of this post, then scroll back and read on.)
Edit: Ok, you can start by right-clicking here, open in a new tab, click play, then navigate back here if you want to read.
Edit #2: Ok so I realized that dsound kinda fucks up the tags, adds nonsense tags such as multiple "dsound-jazz" etc., so I have edited/added/deleted what I can manually. Hopefully this will reach the right audience in the end (which is all of you, to be honest), and that you enjoy the listen and the read.
Edit #3: Forgot to add, this is previously unreleased on any platform. Waiting for 'artist approval' on musicoin, a platform which unfortunately seems dead in the water.
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I've been asked a multitude of times since my introduceyourself post, if I couldn't share some of my own music. So far I've been very hesitant to do so, my main concern being copyright reasons (which I won't get into further here, that entire discussion is definitely something I will save for the future). I've also spent countless hours trying to find something that seems viable as an alternative to mainstream and centralised music streaming sites, but has so far been unable to find that golden nugget I'd love to find and support. The only alternative available (please please educate me if I'm wrong) for the steem blockchain is dsound, which unfortunately fails to stream anything half the time and is woefully lacking in anything resembling an FAQ. I don't know if dsound is dead or not, or if I'm not doing my research correctly, but there it is... I'm going to give it a shot, and I apologise in advance for any audio or streaming issues you run into. I also apologise if I have to edit this post heavily after posting, since I don't know what will happen after I upload.

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Anyway, I feel obligated to "put my money where my mouth is", so here goes.

I think the majority of musicians on here will tell you, that it's slightly scary to "let your baby go". For me, music is an extremely personal thing which evokes many emotions, and as such becomes difficult to share. Personally, I feel much less self-aware in a live situation, compared to working on a piece of music for days, weeks or months, record it, and after some takes, there it is, it stays that way forever. A live situation has more pressure, but also less pressure, depending on the perspective you choose.

One of my first teachers ever, once said "Don't worry if you play a wrong note (at a concert). Don't linger on it when you are performing. The moment has passed. You cannot go back and change it. It is done. What you can do, is remember and try your best to learn from it."

But the flipside is, a recording is a snapshot, it's a moment in time, it's something I can listen to and it calls forth memories. It may provoke reflection, (re-)action or any multitude of emotions associated with it.

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The recording process

When I attended the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, we had the most amazing facilities at our disposal. About 20-30 small-sized "boxes" for individual practice or a max of two or three persons inside. About 50-60 mid-sized "class rooms", 5-6 of which could easily house a full big band. Two "secondary" large concert venues with a hundred seats or so, one of which became the student bar, with weekly concerts, all staffed with volunteer students, dishing out beer from behind the bar. A big concert hall, which seats about 200, with a massive recording studio attached. All of which, after school hours, were available for booking for practice, individually or with groups. Fully equipped with drum sets, amps, pianos or grand pianos, mics, the works. For free. (I might do a post on the RMC in the future, just because of the amazing experience it was to attend, and the immense luxury it was, to have access to all that it could provide, for five years straight.) It's very easy to take things such as these for granted, and after I left I've come to realize this more and more. But I digress.

This was recorded back in 1998 or 1999 in one of the mid-sized rooms with one of the two "mobile" studios available to us at that time. These studios could be set up in any of the mid-sized practice rooms within half a day or so, and then be good to go for recording. Being the kind of music it is, we just set up, checked sound, hit record and played. As is usual with studio sessions, it takes a bit to get into the stride and to iron out technical kinks, but after we were satisfied with the first song, we only did one or two takes for the subsequent ones.

(For the tech afficionados; we had 2 OH mics, 1 snare and 1 floor on the drums, 1 line and 1 mic for the double bass, 2 for each of the 3 horns as we were testing the mics for the mobile studio setup as well, and 2 OH in corners of the room to capture, well, the sound of the room.)

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"Pandora's Box"

The band and the name "Pandora's Box" was a brain-child of mine. At the time I was highly inspired by Dave Holland and his quintet and the music they made in the mid-to-late 1980's. They released some spectacular records during those years; "Jumpin' In", "Seeds of Time" ("Homecoming" is still a favourite) and "The Razor's Edge" (check out "Wights Waits for Weights"). These records and the concerts and tours during those years feature giants such as Steve Coleman, Kenny Wheeler, Julian Priester/Robin Eubanks and Marvin "Smitty" Smith. I fell in love with the colours and textures they were able to achieve without chord instruments. There were so much play with rhythm, implied and explicit harmonics, openness and nakedness, simplicity as well as complexity. I wanted to experiment with the same sort of palette that Holland was playing with. The literary and historical/mythical story behind the now-common saying "Pandora's Box" is famous, so I won't reiterate it here. Suffice to say that opening it was a dangerous prospect.

The track I'd like for you to listen to (if you made it this far down the post), features one of the best tenor saxophone players I've ever had the pleasure of working with, Anders Banke from Denmark. He has such an extreme understanding of harmony, he is very inventive, he's a huge bundle of energy and positivity and his tonal quality and mastery of craftsmanship hits me hard "in the feels" every single time I hear him play.

The song is called "Ora Pro Nobis" which is latin for "Pray For Us". It has a certain pleading quality to it, hence the title.

I might try and start this group up again. I would of course have to find new musicians to work together with, and I think I can say without a doubt that it will be a very difficult process. The five of us had such incredible chemistry and intimate understanding between us back then. A "replication" will of course never be possible. This recording was then. Now, 20 years later, it would (or will?) be quite different.

As it should be.

I'm always open to constructive criticism, so feel free to let me know in the comments what you think. I hope you enjoy this little part of my soul.

Personell:
Gunnar Halle - trumpet
Anders Banke - tenor saxophone
Johan Norberg - trombone
Johan Segerberg - double bass
Carsten "Calle" Mathiesen - drums

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Photograph of RMC courtesy of @nelyp.

>Source notes:
Pictures/designs/photographs/music/etc. in this post are by me unless stated otherwise.

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