Space Jazz

I found another musician who was keen to explore the kind of improvisation I was experimenting with. A kind of mood writing for musicians. The idea was to simply respond to each other. Yes, we might resort to patterns, chord progressions, or "licks" that were familiar and in our "vocabulary", but we would attempt to fall on them spontaneously without a preplanned form.

His name is Ed Patterson, an established "Roots" guitarist in Edmonton. He got us a gig at a nightclub called "The Point" and we actually did this mood playing thing live:


All that time spent out in space, it was inevitable that we would gravitate back to a tune. We co-wrote the tune "And Life Goes On", which got airplay on CKUA. As well, I was invited to talk about our special brand of space jazz in a feature interview on CKUA's "Arts Alberta" program.



They were exciting times. Ed and I were even invited to play at the famous Edmonton jazz club, "The Yardbird Suite", but it came too late for me, as I took a full time gig with the Canadian Forces Band Branch and left Edmonton. But there was one last jam and it was at the Yardbird Suite to make a demo tape AND it was with Bill Emes, Jim Pinchin, Don Bradshaw and Owen Howard and they joined me in the the good, generous, creative spirit that I remember Edmonton musicians shared when I was there.