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Wyndfall
Published: March 2004
Story: Patrick Kirchner
Photo: Fly Magazine photo by Donza Sloane |
The life of Tom and Laurie Reese is an improvisation. One big,
beautiful improvisation surrounding a series of concentric
improvisations.
From playing to recording to teaching to booking to coalescing with
new bandmates to being interviewed to making instruments to whatever
else you could possibly think of in regard to music, each day
provides the harmonic backdrop for the husband-and-wife duo to do
what they do best - improvise.
Even the character of their band seems improvisational. As the brain
and spinal cord of Wyndfall, Tom and Laurie are the only true,
changeless "members" of a band which sees a generous host of
virtuosos come and go. In fact, the more you dive into Wyndfall, the
more you realize that it's just another part of the whole, an
extension of the musical mammoth the couple has created through
multiple bands which span the genres of classical, traditional folk,
rock, blues and jazz.
Laurie plays cello while Tom mans an arsenal of woodwind instruments
in the flute family. Depending on the night you catch Wyndfall, Tom
and Laurie may be joined by any combination of violin, guitar, lute
and various exotic percussion instruments, such as tabla, djembe,
congas, dumbac, etc. Each night provides new circumstances and the
duo adds players as needed.
The Reeses are relentlessly tenacious in performing. In a typical
week, Monday through Wednesday are reserved for "office work" and
private lessons; but Thursday through Sunday, the Reeses will play up
to four gigs a day at restaurants, concert halls, clubs, nursing
homes, weddings, private parties and planetariums. Planetariums? Yes,
even planetariums, because their music is so accessible. There is a
definitive magic about the music of Wyndfall and the Reeses' jazz
band, The Reese Project, which draws you toward it. It has gravity
which is recognizable yet foreign, inviting to the average listener
yet intelligent enough for true aficionados. There is something for
everyone in the Reeses' music.
While Wyndfall predominantly stays within the realm of Irish folk
music, the band can very easily slip into personalized versions of
classical, rock, blues, or even jazz almost unnoticed by the common
ear. Many listeners find themselves recognizing a well-known tune
half-way through because the melody lines are so meticulously
shrouded in Wyndfall's thematic improvisations. This is somewhat
expected, as Laurie comments, "Our whole goal is to create new music.
Every time you play a piece it should be different - we want to
recreate it each time so it sounds fresh." At a gig at McCleary's
Public House in Marietta, Laurie took the room by surprise with a
haughtily distorted solo rendition of Bach's "Prelude to Cello
Concerto in G." The sounds she was drawing from her instrument would
make even Bach look twice.
Spanning various musical genres seems a natural occurrence for
Wyndfall. They really can't help but be affected and influenced by
the Reese's other musical endeavor, the Grammy-nominated Reese
Project. Musically the bands lightly bleed into one another, yet
still remain eons apart.
With Wyndfall, expect good drinking music that remains true to the
bouncy melodic lines found in indigenous Irish ballads, plus an
occasional divergence into Bach or Jethro Tull. With The Reese
Project, expect something more cerebral, something more harmonically
savvy that harkens back to the intimacy of jazz by Miles Davis or
John Coltrane. Not surprisingly, Tom considers Coltrane's A Love
Supreme one of the greatest albums of all time. "A Love Supreme was
Coltrane's gift to God - it's painful. I mean you can pick up his
notes off the ground and hold them in your hands, they're so
deliciously juicy."
It's not every day that you come across a statement like this, and it
gives a good insight to the nostalgic passion Tom has for music,
regardless of the genre.
Both Wyndfall and The Reese Project are extremely niched to specific,
separate genres, but both are captivating in their own musical
rights. And the Reeses wouldn't have it any other way.
Laurie somewhat apologetically comments on this, "If we do one thing,
we get bored ... we have to make sure we don't get stuck in a rut.
... Our whole goal is to create new music, but we're trying to narrow
things down for a little more consistency."
But considering The Reese Project's brilliantly written album, Blue
Etude, was nominated for a Grammy Award, neither Tom nor Laurie need
to apologize - they must be doing something right.
While performing is the main focus of Tom and Laurie's passions, it's
a mere note in the improvisation of life for them.
Both Wyndfall and The Reese Project are completely do-it-yourself
operations. Much of the Reeses' off-stage energy is devoted to
booking, recording, producing, promoting and distributing their
music. And though this may be exhausting, it makes the process that
much more heartfelt, and the rewards that much sweeter. It really is
no small feat - especially from a locale as small as Lancaster - that
a self-recorded, self-promoted and self-distributed album, Blue
Etude, posted six No. 1 songs (from an album of nine songs); was
ranked the No. 1 jazz album in 13 states; was ranked the No. 18 jazz
album in the world; and was nominated for a Grammy Award. This is
about as strong an argument as you could pose for how good the
compositions are - and they are good, stunningly good - as well as a
beautiful testament to the dedication Tom and Laurie have to their
music.
The easy assumption would be that a Grammy nomination would catapult
a small, Lancaster County jazz outfit into instant stardom, but this
hasn't quite been the case for the Reeses. "It helps, but not a lot -
we don't regularly get calls about it," Tom explains.
While Blue Etude has earned The Reese Project more bookings and
contacts (including an interview for Tom on National Public Radio's
"Desert Island Discs"), Tom still does the majority of the band's
scheduling personally, and the band is currently in the process of
self-releasing (with no assistance from any outside record label) its
forthcoming follow-up album to Blue Etude entitled Dark Kat.
This may be a stark comment on the state of jazz in America today.
Tom points out that there is a wealth of jazz musicians out there,
but, "The art is struggling. Jazz education to the public is not at
an all-time high and there is a lack of appreciation for it," which
is ironic as "jazz is the only indigenous music to America, yet
America is the least jazz-appreciative country in the world." As a
flautist, Tom often takes a lot of flak: "I get it all the time.
People always assume that I play saxophone too." But he doesn't, and
this is just a tiny example of a larger problem in the general
ignorance about jazz.
In their "spare time," both Tom and Laurie offer private lessons to
approximately 30-40 students each. Laurie was trained in classical,
Tom in jazz, so they present a sizable musical gamut to students. Tom
even offers workshops in building ocarinas, ancient woodwind
instruments made from terra cotta clay, which, depending on size and
shape, can take on various registers and timbres.
Tom also carries out the unique idea of composing scores to silent
films and performing them live while the movies play. On the third
Thursday of each month, Tom and an amorphous group of players perform
original compositions to films such as "Nos Verotus" and "The Lost
World" at Zoetropolis theater in Lancaster.
It's a tough racket for do-it-yourself musicians in the industry
today - if you do it, you do it for, above all else, an insatiable
affinity for music. The Reeses undoubtedly have that affinity, and
for a do-it-yourself operation, they've done a commendable job. For
information on bands, upcoming shows, or recordings, check out Tom
and Laurie's Web site at wyndfallrecords.com.
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