Republic of Jazz: Rik Wright's Fundamental Forces

Friday, October 14, 2016

Rik Wright's Fundamental Forces - Subtle Energy (Live) 2016

On January 16th 2016, Fundamental Forces went into the Jack Straw Cultural Center studios to record a live performance for Doug Haire's Sonarchy Radio program. Sonarchy Radio has a long and revered history, being on the air for over 20 years and showcasing hundreds of Pacific Northwest musicians. Sonarchy is broadcast on KEXP, Seattle's world renowned independent radio station.

Rik has an affinity for how the clarinet and electric guitar sound in unison, and so he and James DeJoie decided to perform the live show with just clarinets in the front line. This required transposing many of tunes from alto and baritone saxophone to clarinet and bass clarinet, as well as writing new arrangements to fit the new instrumentation.

The band had a wonderful experience recording the Sonarchy show. So much so that they decided to leave their gear in the studio in order to come back the next day and record the material straight through a second time.

All of these songs appear elsewhere in the band’s catalog, somewhere amongst in the color-themed trilogy of recordings they released from 2013 to 2015. However, this time, not only have the tunes been rearranged and re-orchestrated, but the band played them straight through in one sitting, live with no overdubs. That second day of recording, on January 17th 2016, is what you have here.