Category: Projects

Rotator

Finally I have gotten a real Rotator software plug again, this time directly from the creator himself, Robby Kilgore.

The rotator is a software in this case that for every note I play on my MIDI sax or whatever ads additional notes, from a pattern of intervals. Basically making my EWI into a mean chord monster!

I have long listened to the few demos of this that was previously available online and last spring me and my friend the software developer Bernhard Wagner managed to build a software that did this. However the program was specific to some particular software and hardware and when my old computer burned up I had no way of recreating it on my own. So I was really excited now when I got an email from Robby Kilgore and he had himself built a program that works in Logic. As a hardcore Cubase user since 15years I got straight away and bought Main Stage and started fiddling around.

What you see below is some examples from my first live try of the rotator, or first musical try at least. Some interesting ideas, sounds and places I think.


Youtube tutorials

I’ve been looking through my youtube account and cleaned up a bit as well as started working on adding some new videos. I’ll be making a series of woodwind (especially sax) tutorials which will come up later. I have so far experimented with tecniques and ideas to make them and have a few recorder demos up so far. Have a look if you’re interested. These are mainly thought to be a compliment to my regular teaching, where the students can sit at home and watch my fingers if they need to.

Robby Kilgore ‘Rotator’

It has been my dream for a long time to build a Rotator as Robby Kilgore calls it. You can see it in action in some videos below.

I first got to know about this through my friend Bernhard Wagner and he also just built it so I could fool around with it!

To tell you shortly what it is, it is a software that adds a second note to whatever I am playing on the EWI (or any other MIDI device) with set intervals. It also rotates through this settings so I will have different intervals every time I change or replay a note! As a horn player, I can’t tell you how exciting it is to create harmonies! (I even started playing accordion some years ago to get harmonies)

To read more see Robby Kilgores own website like: http://robbykilgore.com/?p=19

 

Here is Mike Brecker using the Rotator (for some reasons the video didn’t play on phones but on most computers)

The three guys in Caius Cat back together

We where finally re-united the whole group of three guys of Caius Cat in Alicante and Elche in south of Spain last week!

The same day we arrived we did some rehearsing and a gig at the Jazz Bar in Alicante Villavieja 6. That was huge fun and felt great to be back together! Next day we spent the whole day in the studio, what a great place to be and really pleasant engineers working with us. Pedro was interviewed for a Spanish Jazz Radio station, keeping updated how and where you could hear it.

On Saturday we played at a big concert hall in Elche with great sound engineer and light engineer and aweseome staff! Super acoustics, it is really fun to play in concert halls from time to time although I prefer the intimacy of clubs. After that had a great night out with some really cool guys and girls!

Sunday morning then was the last gig at a music school where they have concerts from time to time. I was really honored when a couple came to that show, they told me afterwards that they had been to the concert the night before but wanted to come and see us again while they had the chance.

 

Sax Encounters

The ”newly” started project Sax Encounters is bringing me a lot of joy and happiness lately!

We have started to find a shape and form of the music and getting the sound together. At first when starting with the sax quartet I thought the gig opportunities would be few and that the audience would be pretty scarce. But when you start getting into improvisation, listening to Brass bands, Balkan bands, other great sax quartets such as SaxShop we’ve been getting new ideas. And after making a few concerts where the crowds have been plentiful and super excited I am not having any doubts about this anymore!

We now have a pretty big repertoire of classical music, jazz, traditional jazz (ragtime and new orleans) and party songs. This band is awesome for parties, background music, concerts and big venues all the same thanks to a very varied program and highly skilled musicians!

In the band we’ve got:

Bo Frick – Soprano Sax

Nicklas Dahlin – Alto Sax

Roger Nordling – Tenor Sax

Oskar Forsberg – Baryton Sax

 

And further down the line we will see some doubles and maybe even some guests!

Feel free to like our facebook page and share and you know the drill!

 

Best regards

 

www.facebook.com/saxencounters/

Caius Cat trio – Caius Cat trio

Caius Cat trio

 

Our second cd with Caius Cat Trio is now for sale in physical record stores as well as online, I’ve seen it in iTunes and Spotify so far!
 
Thanks to Pedro Martinez Maestre, Raphael Nick and Gunnar Åkerhielm for the playing, Otto Niklasson Elmerås and Daniel Aldenmark at One Touch Edit music production for recording, Pawel Lucki for final master, Jorge Ochagavia and David Delgado for Cover Design, Daniel Lantz and Do Music Records for Record Labelling and all friends and family supporting us!
 
Listen to it here: https://open.spotify.com/album/2My9viFgiYHzSWEbQSIGHw
Buy it here: https://itunes.apple.com/se/album/caius-cat-trio/id1045705274?l=en

Six Black Cordelias – Release party!

Six Black Cordelias LIVE – Obaren

Vad med o fira Six Black Cordelias debut album på Obaren med live framträdande av bandet.

Six Black Cordelias har beskrivits som en blandningen mellan mörk psykedelisk rock och motown soul med ett smutsigt back beat som grund och den karismatiske Johan Johansson på sång. Debuten släpps den 20 november och första singeln släpps 30 oktober.

https://www.facebook.com/Six-Black-Cordelias-1453982598208215/timeline/

https://open.spotify.com/album/3FqI3KfTtL9Ae9FfbzdgOe

https://soundcloud.com/sixblackcordelias

 

Uppsala Kulturnatt

På lördag är det dags för Uppsala Kulturnatt!

Jag kommer spela med egen trio på Katalin, Vin/jazzbaren ett set vid 19.30, med Daniel Olsson på trummor och Mattias Åström på kontrabas. Mattias har jag aldrig spelat med tidigare, så det blir spännande!

Dessutom har jag hört att det kommer vara något riktigt coolt på Nannaskolan kl 17 och 18, det händer massor med grejer med Uppsala Jazzklubb på Katalin och dessutom spelar såklart Grievous Angels någonstans! Cool natt, önskar bara varje helg vore såhär i Uppsala…

Sedan kommer jag dra till Stockholm för att spela på Harem Nights.

Utöver detta börjar vi spela in nästa skiva med Six Black Cordelias.

 

Proudly presenting!

I am very happy and excited to present:

Caius Cat’s upcoming record!

will be released on DO Music Records probably already in October this year!

It is the material we recorded in One Touch Edit over one and a half year ago, but with the help of a lot of people and a lot of invested time and money it seems as if we’re actually gonna finish this now.

Caius Cat trio is the modern jazz (i.e sixties jazz with a bit of free/atonal too it) trio that I run together with my long time friend and colleague Pedro Martinez Maestre. This bass player and me met first in Texas in 2011 where we booth studied at University of North Texas at the time. Since Pedro moved back to Barcelona and then to Switzerland we’ve kept the project not only going but also accelerating. About two years ago master drummer Ralph Nick joined us and it was love at first note! We’ve been playing mainly in Sweden and Switzerland but also did a tour in Barcelona and another one 2014 in Alicante and Elche, where we was a main act at the Elx Jazz Festival! I believe over the years we’ve done around 50-60 shows. Which is not bad for a vocal-less jazz band that lives 2400km apart from eachother.

Check out some previews here:

Caius Cat in Sweden again!

So Pedro was visiting me again in Sweden, this time with his cool girlfriend. We went kayaking, had a few drinks and did a really cool gig in Uppsala at Creperie Lemonie and another with great weather outside in Skansen, Stockholm at Gubbhyllan!

We also did the annual Family concert in Linnés Sävja, playing music dating back to my grand-fathers father, grand-pa, dad, sisters and me! Pretty cool, but so far no photos. Though I am happy we all survived this the toughest test any family can go through.

Uppsala Summerchestra

Nu är vi igång!

För andra året kör jag tillsammans med Uppsalas mest intresserade ungdomar Uppsala Summerchestra med hjälp av Uppsala Musikskola, Kultur i Vården och ”Sommarjobb och Feriepraktik”. Det är altså ett drömsommarjobb för de som gillar musik. Förra veckan repeterade vi och med start from idag så gör vi 21 spelningar på äldreboenden, demensboenden och andra vårdboenden. Musiken är ett urval av gamla visor och sånger, vissa arrangerade i mer eller mindre moderna arrangemang.

En av mina favoriter är en västerbottnisk hambo som vi kör som bluegrass, eller en finsk vals ”Emma” där vi kör kanon, fioler mot tuba. Jag gillar också våran version av Lars Gullins ”Danny’s dream” eller gitarristen Eric Lindh’s arrangemang av Taube’s Änglamark. Det är mycket bra musik med andra ord!

Med i orkestern har vi i år fiol, viola, klarinett, trumpet, altsax, tenorsax, barrytonsax, fagott, sousafon, kontrabas, gitarr och trummor!

Ett grymt gäng med mycket ös!

Följande är ur Musikskolans utskick:

Uppsala Summerchestra – Feriearbete som musiker

Nu drar elva musikaliska Uppsalaungdomar igång konserter på äldreboenden och i stadsdelscentra runt om i Uppsala.

Uppsala musikskola har i samarbete med enheten Feriearbete och företag på arbetsmarknadsförvaltningen anställt 11 uppsalaungdomar som tillsammans bildar ensemblen Uppsala Summerchestra under ledning av musikläraren Oskar Forsberg.

Repetitionerna är klara och under perioden 29 juni – 10 juli ges konserter framför allt på äldreboenden och servicehus runt om i kommunen.
8 juli hålls en offentlig konsert på Grand inne i Uppsala
 
Gigs:            

29 juni: Stenhagen 10.30 och 11.30 samt Omtanken 13.00
30 juni: Höganäs 11.00 och Liljeforstorg 4 14.00
1 juli: Årstagården 11.00 och Glimmervägen 14.00
2 juli: Björkgården, Knutby 11.00 och Andreas Ands minne 13.00
3 juli: Balders vårdboende 11.00 och Sandellska huset 14.00
6 juli: Eriksdahlsgården 11.00 och Förenade Care Tunåsen 13.30
7 juli: Dalbyhemmet 11.00 och Västergården 14.00
8 juli: Topelius Nyby 15.00 och Public Show på Grand 19.00
9 juli: Myrbergska gården 11.00 och Linnés Sävja 14.00
10 juli: Victum Sävja 14.00

Uppsala Summerchestra 2015 42

Caius Cat Quartet

Two weeks ago I had amazing bassist Pedro Martinez Maestre visiting me and we worked hard with our Caius Cat project. This time with two (for us) new musicians, Jakob Hjalmarsson playing drums and AWESOME Gunnar Åkerhielm playing piano.

Did a couple of gigs on quartet and three on duo as Caius Cat duo, that we’ve been doing a lot before. Aswell as some street jams with dreadlock-girl, Markus Sundbom on sax and some other loose peoples…

We did some low budget recordings that I am gonna post here and facebook soon, but for now enjoy these photos 🙂

Caius Cat duo © Johan Granholm
Caius Cat Quartet