Jes Berge’s
SPACE JAZZ MONSTROSITY
A free flowing guitar driven jazz experiment that wanders through genres and motifs
About Jes
- Originally from Indianapolis, he
resides in Los Angeles and works in
the film industry.
- He is better known (well, not much)
for his electronic music released as
‘Avant Grade’.
- He played in bands when he was
younger and recorded some guitar
tracks over the years, but had
mostly quit playing the guitar until
the pandemic hit.
Track Background Quote
“The pandemic reinvigorated my former passion for guitar. I started off attempting to master Frank Zappa’s ‘Twenty Small Cigars’. Then I revisited a twenty year old Arnie Berle jazz guitar book and learned some Wes Montgomery before I became distracted with the octave driven Space Jazz Monstrosity. I had no intention of doing a jazz song with live instruments, but all the training I was doing led me toward creating this track. I wanted to make something with a free structure, where the only general rule was that the music must continue moving on to somewhere new.”
A Constantly Evolving Production
The track began as a solo guitar work, but constantly evolved. After the addition of drums, Berge let the project get out of hand. He sourced more instrumentation from various internet session musicians. Berge was selective about what was used in this version, but so much material was recorded that he plans on making an alternate version without guitar. “I envision this track as a mother to other projects. I’ve considered sampling the track for an electronic/downtempo release, or reaching out to some of my favorite electronic musicians to see if they’ll take a stab at it. I would also love to split it up to use as cues for a psycho-noir film.”
An International Effort
The project was an international effort. Featuring Brazilian jazz drummer Igor Willcox and a short vocal section by Erika Boschi of Italy. The rest of the players are up and comers from all over America - Vibraphonist Morgan Walbridge, William Porter on Saxophone, Scott Hearn on Trombone, and bass by Quincy Njemanze. It was a project born from the pandemic.
