NPD: Catalinbread Heliotrope

[Winston Psmith]

It really came in the other day, but I got to spend much of yesterday afternoon fooling with it.

 

It is basically a Ring Mod, although it's quirky, even by Ring Mod standards. There's no Blend/Mix control, so when the pedal is ON, you know it's On. It's buzzy, noisy, and as often as not sounds like a robot with gastric distress. Crank the Gain knob, and you're into Fuzz territory, as if Mike Matthews had decided to put a Big Muff inside of a Frequency Analyzer, or vice versa.

 

You can "tune" the Carrier Frequency to the Key you're playing in, like with any Ring Mod, but from there, the other notes of the scale are likely to almost anywhere on, or possibly off, the Fretboard. It's nuts, period.

 

This more than fills the Ring Mod slot in my 21st Century Pedalboard. Next up is the Malekko Scrutator (Bit Crusher); I'll probably order that one next month, and I'm set. For sheer perversity, I've thought of arranging an evening's worth of Jazz Standards, but playing them all with the new pedalboard engaged. Go back and listen to the demo videos of the Scrutator or the Charlie Foxtrot, then try to imagine playing Moonlight in Vermont, or How High the Moon with those. There's probably a law against it, somewhere, or should be . . .

[Dannyalcatraz]

 

Jazz through a quirky pedalboard?

 

[Caevan O’Shite]

I vote, "How High the Moon"! Some upwardly pitch-shifting echoes and/or "shimmer" 'verb would go well there, as well.

 

Seriously!

[Winston Psmith]

@Dannyalcatraz - One of my favorite Metal videos! Thank you!

 

@Caevan - I have an original "bootleg" Real Book, from when they were sold out of the trunks of traveling Musicians' cars, and recently picked up a copy of The Hal Leonard REAL JAZZ BOOK for $3 at my local library bookstore. (I also found a copy of Tom Lehrer's songbook, for anyone old enough to remember Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.) There are more than a few tunes that deserve to be . . . "processed" isn't exactly the word, but it'll have to do.

[Dannyalcatraz]

You know...doing something like that, and doing it well could be a defining moment. I mean, consider Deodato"s interpretation of 'Also Sprach Zarathustra':

[video:youtube]

 

Your 'sci-fi jazz' could be a thing.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Some jazz standard nominees that could work:

 

[video:youtube]

[video:youtube]

[video:youtube]

 

And one I know isn"t jazz, but...

[video:youtube]

[Winston Psmith]

@Dannyalcatraz - I remember that Ramsey Lewis version of The In Crowd very well!

 

In all seriousness, I've been working on a Guitar Synth version of the last movement of Stravinsky's Firebird, for some time now. I won't lie, I was originally inspired by hearing Rick Wakeman's take, way back on the Yessongs triple-LP. I'm close, but not ready to try and perform it yet. I feel that if you're going to take a well-known, and well-loved piece of Music, and do something radical with it, you are not allowed to do it poorly.

 

There are maybe three Jazz Standards I'd like to take a freer hand with, but again, not looking to butcher any tune that I love enough to have learned in the first place. Even Weird Al plays well.

 

OTOH, there are some tunes that I feel deserve this treatment -

 

 

[video:youtube]

 

[Scott Fraser]

Love the Bonzo Dog Band, one of the major influences on my way of thinking in high school.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Great stuff...

[Winston Psmith]

Love the Bonzo Dog Band, one of the major influences on my way of thinking in high school.

 

@Scott - Somewhere, probably inside an album cover, I remember seeing a photo of Roger Ruskin Spear, holding a Sax to his lips with one hand, while using his other hand to hold up a sign that said , "WOW, I'M REALLY EXPRESSING MYSELF!" That kind of said it all . . .

[Scott Fraser]

Love the Bonzo Dog Band, one of the major influences on my way of thinking in high school.

 

@Scott - Somewhere, probably inside an album cover, I remember seeing a photo of Roger Ruskin Spear, holding a Sax to his lips with one hand, while using his other hand to hold up a sign that said , "WOW, I'M REALLY EXPRESSING MYSELF!" That kind of said it all . . .

 

That's my music career in a nutshell.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Hey, I've not only used my Octron's Octave-Down Fuzz- carefully mixed in underneath its Direct/clean-blend- for clean, fat, warm, robust-bottomed Jazzy tones, I've used BOTH its Octave-Down Fuzz AND Octave-Up Fuzz along with its Direct/clean-blend when playing three-note m10th and Maj10th grips with the root on the bottom, up above the 12th-Fret, swinging through "All Blues" by Miles Davis with some bona fide and pedigreed Jazz cats (I was in waaay over my head... !! ) at an open-mic jam a few times...

 

It actually works and works well! A little "English" on my fingerstyle-picking 'touch" definitely helped...

[Winston Psmith]

Love the Bonzo Dog Band, one of the major influences on my way of thinking in high school.

 

@Scott - Somewhere, probably inside an album cover, I remember seeing a photo of Roger Ruskin Spear, holding a Sax to his lips with one hand, while using his other hand to hold up a sign that said , "WOW, I'M REALLY EXPRESSING MYSELF!" That kind of said it all . . .

 

That's my music career in a nutshell.

 

@Scott - For me, the rant at the end of My Pink Half of the Drainpipe ("I am not so Normal, if you're Normal, I intend to be a Freak for the rest of my life . . .") did it. I already knew I wasn't "Normal", so between that and Zappa's liner notes to Freak Out (". . . He is freaky down to his toenails. Some day he will live next door to you and your lawn will die.") I knew there was a place for me in this world.

[Caevan O’Shite]

@Caevan - I have an original "bootleg" Real Book, from when they were sold out of the trunks of traveling Musicians' cars, and recently picked up a copy of The Hal Leonard REAL JAZZ BOOK for $3 at my local library bookstore. (I also found a copy of Tom Lehrer's songbook, for anyone old enough to remember Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.) There are more than a few tunes that deserve to be . . . "processed" isn't exactly the word, but it'll have to do.

 

Good! I'm looking and listening forward to that!

 

See my post above regarding Jazzier deployments of my Octron, albeit perhaps more subtly than what you might be cooking up...

[Winston Psmith]

See my post above regarding Jazzier deployments of my Octron, albeit perhaps more subtly than what you might be cooking up...

 

Miles would approve. He knew that Jazz had to be a living, growing Musical form, or it would ossify.

 

Subtlety is in the ear of the listener, I suspect, but again, the idea is to interpret a favorite tune, not eviscerate it. In that regard, the Heliotrope is probably not the pedal for most of my Jazz excursions, nor are most of my recent pedal acquisitions. Imagine one of Jobim's melodies being run through the Charlie Foxtrot!?!?! I leave it to braver, or more demented souls to try.

[Caevan O’Shite]

See my post above regarding Jazzier deployments of my Octron, albeit perhaps more subtly than what you might be cooking up...

 

Miles would approve. He knew that Jazz had to be a living, growing Musical form, or it would ossify.

 

Subtlety is in the ear of the listener, I suspect, but again, the idea is to interpret a favorite tune, not eviscerate it. In that regard, the Heliotrope is probably not the pedal for most of my Jazz excursions, nor are most of my recent pedal acquisitions. Imagine one of Jobim's melodies being run through the Charlie Foxtrot!?!?! I leave it to braver, or more demented souls to try.

 

The most important ingredient is ALWAYS the Cook! I can easily imagine solo passages of one or another tune of Miles' played using the Heliotrope or Charlie Foxtrot, etc. and que sera sera ad infinitum, pip-pip hip-hip hooray!

[Winston Psmith]

Miles was truly "beyond". He also hated to look back over his shoulder. Once he was done with something, he was on to whatever the next idea or inspiration might be. If he were still with us, he would still be leading the way.