Recital: Andrew Schiller '22 DMA, Jazz Bass
In the course of completing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at New England Conservatory, performance majors present not just one, but three full-length recitals, for which they also write program notes. It's an opportunity to observe multiple facets of an emerging artist.
Andrew Schiller ‘22 DMA studies Jazz Bass with Ken Schaphorst.
View the concert program here.
This is an in-person event with a private stream available to the NEC community here: https://necmusic.edu/live
- Andrew Schiller '22 DMA, bass
- Caio Afiune, guitar
- Ken Schaphorst, studio teacher
Andrew Schiller | Patchwork: Guided Improvisation for Solo Bass
George Shearing | Conception
Andrew Schiller | Object Permanence
Johnny Mandel | Emily
Andrew Schiller | One That Never Was
Thelonious Monk | Bright Mississippi
This program titled "4 Strings/10 Strings" is split between solo bass performance and guitar/bass duo, and the selected pieces represent my eclectic experience at NEC. I moved to Boston to begin the M.M. degree in 2012 and now aim to complete the DMA ten years later. Throughout that decade, which also included several years living in Brooklyn, my musical persona has gone through many phases—phases which were almost always informed by particular encounters and experiences at NEC. My preferences and focus swung from modern jazz (thank you, Donny McCaslin), to bebop (with John McNeil), to Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk (Ken Schaphorst), to Elliott Carter (Don Palma), and to free improvisation (Joe Morris). With this program, I intend to combine elements of each of these influences—not for the sake of putting on some hodgepodge event—but to (attempt to) show how, with these ten years, such a diverse collection of musical sounds have been processed, digested, and reconfigured as the basis for my own artistic style.
The solo piece Patchwork lies in the space between improvisation and composition. As a written score it merely contains a series of words or brief phrases—such as "flutter articulation," "low + hi, no middle," and "Ellington"—which inform the improvised aesthetic of each section. The remaining pieces are played duo with guitarist Caio Afiune, a setting which allows for a very conversational approach to all of the selected repertoire. Two of the selections are my compositions Object Permanence and One That Never Was, and both feature layers of two-part counterpoint. Conception, Emily, and to a lesser extent Bright Mississippi, are well known pieces in the jazz canon—pieces which act as a springboard for highly improvised dialogue between two musicians.I want to write a special thank you
to my wife, Rebecca,
and my two daughters, Olive and June.
You never stop inspiring me, and never stop cheering me on.
I'm lucky to have you.