JOHN MARTIN - Finding the Hidden Notes
Interview by Chris Baber
Photographs of John by Ellen Tovey
John Martin’s recent CD, The Hidden Notes, was CD of the week on Jazz Views and his combination of straight and multiphonic playing was intriguing enough for me to approach John for an interview to discover more about his detailed investigation into this intriguing sound world.
In multiphonic playing, two (or more) distinct notes, which are not part of the same harmonic series, are produced. The effect could be created through unconventional (or ‘false’) fingering but often requires changes to the embouchure to sustain the note(s) or keep the sound from shifting into unattractive squawking. Saxophonists have been using multiphonics for years but mostly as an occasional special effect. This could range from the honking sounds of the Rhythm and Blues players of the 1950s to the harder examples of Free Jazz players. For many saxophonists, the ‘discovery’ of multiphonics is more a curse than a blessing and they seek to avoid the odd sounds that this produces.
Martin was sufficiently intrigued by the sounds that different fingerings produced to begin experimenting with as many of these as he could discover. This led to the study of the main publications on saxophone multiphonics. In general, these books present all manner of weird and wonderful multiphonics, but do not attempt to order or refine the tuning of these note combinations for use in a tonal context. As Martin says, “I’ve studied several of the current books on multiphonics and looked for recordings and videos of the authors playing, but interestingly I heard almost no use of multiphonics in their playing. I wonder if the reason for this is that, although it’s a real achievement to document all the multiphonics sounds a saxophone can make, it’s really just the beginning. For me, the bigger and more interesting challenge is to create a system that allows people to internalize these sounds so that they actually become useful.” This notion of usefulness means that the sounds should become second nature for the player and can be played in a controlled manner in the context of tonal music. “That’s one of the main challenges: to find multiphonic fingerings that are in tune and interchangeable with standard fingerings. You don’t want to have to change your oral cavity too much when switching between a straight sound and a polyphonic, so you need to mess around with venting until you find fingerings that are interchangeable without too much of an embouchure adjustment.”
Photographs of John by Ellen Tovey
John Martin’s recent CD, The Hidden Notes, was CD of the week on Jazz Views and his combination of straight and multiphonic playing was intriguing enough for me to approach John for an interview to discover more about his detailed investigation into this intriguing sound world.
In multiphonic playing, two (or more) distinct notes, which are not part of the same harmonic series, are produced. The effect could be created through unconventional (or ‘false’) fingering but often requires changes to the embouchure to sustain the note(s) or keep the sound from shifting into unattractive squawking. Saxophonists have been using multiphonics for years but mostly as an occasional special effect. This could range from the honking sounds of the Rhythm and Blues players of the 1950s to the harder examples of Free Jazz players. For many saxophonists, the ‘discovery’ of multiphonics is more a curse than a blessing and they seek to avoid the odd sounds that this produces.
Martin was sufficiently intrigued by the sounds that different fingerings produced to begin experimenting with as many of these as he could discover. This led to the study of the main publications on saxophone multiphonics. In general, these books present all manner of weird and wonderful multiphonics, but do not attempt to order or refine the tuning of these note combinations for use in a tonal context. As Martin says, “I’ve studied several of the current books on multiphonics and looked for recordings and videos of the authors playing, but interestingly I heard almost no use of multiphonics in their playing. I wonder if the reason for this is that, although it’s a real achievement to document all the multiphonics sounds a saxophone can make, it’s really just the beginning. For me, the bigger and more interesting challenge is to create a system that allows people to internalize these sounds so that they actually become useful.” This notion of usefulness means that the sounds should become second nature for the player and can be played in a controlled manner in the context of tonal music. “That’s one of the main challenges: to find multiphonic fingerings that are in tune and interchangeable with standard fingerings. You don’t want to have to change your oral cavity too much when switching between a straight sound and a polyphonic, so you need to mess around with venting until you find fingerings that are interchangeable without too much of an embouchure adjustment.”
Martin plays a silver 1937 Selmer Balanced Action Tenor. It has a slightly bigger bore then more modern saxophones, which seems to work really well for multiphonics. The mouthpiece is a copy of a metal 10* New York Otto link which he found on sale at Howarth. “I knew straight away that there was something special about this mouthpiece but it was also always a little temperamental. Ed Pillinger fixed some imperfections in the facing and made me an Ebonite copy, which has retained the special sound quality but is easier to play.” The ligature is handmade by Marc Jean in Canada. The reed sits on two narrow wooden rails, which seems to help with a more harmonically rich sound. He uses 3 strength Francois Lewis excellence Reeds which have an extra thick tip and work really well with long open facings. Again they have a slightly thicker more harmonically rich sound. On his first CD, Dawning, he played soprano saxophone and we asked whether he had explored multiphonics on the soprano. “Yes, I started off thinking I would develop both instruments in parallel but it was too confusing as multiphonic fingerings between the different members of the saxophone family are not interchangeable. The same fingering might produce a multiphonic on both tenor and soprano but unfortunately with different note combinations.”
Not only is there a challange in working out the fingering to use, but the additional problem lies in how to learn so many random fingerings and sounds. Martin's approach was to firstly compile a comprehensive database of all the most usable multiphonics ordered chromatically up from the lowest note combinations to the highest. He then created charts of all the multiphonics that are diatonic to each major key. This produced many combinations which formed the basis of short diatonic multiphonic compositions which he uses to build muscle memory and develop his compositional language. In this way, he has internalized the hundreds of combinations to a level where they become a standard part of his saxophone vocabulary, eventually allowing him to use them freely both in composition and improvisation.
On The Hidden Notes many of the compositions start from an overtone pattern or a multiphonic sequence, which is then arranged and harmonized. Some of the compositions have a separate prelude which illustrate the inspiration for the piece. The preludes to 'Tick Tock' and 'Folklore' allow the listener a chance to hear the multiphonics more clearly but these are not any more involved then the polyphonics in the main body of the compositions. “As you mentioned in your review, unless people are listening carefully they might miss the sonic complexities and wonder what all the fuss is about but if I played the same thing with a clean sound and then multiphonics, people would hear a clear difference and would realize how much these sounds add.”
In terms of live performance, Martin feels that reproducing the sounds isn’t too much of a problem “although it sometimes feels like a bit of a marathon to get in shape for gigs as I play a big setup and some of the circular breathing is fairly demanding.” The album was recorded with everyone in the same room, apart from the vibes, so the sounds had to be pretty much nailed in real time. The main problem is amplification. Some of the sounds are fairly quiet and have restricted dynamic range in contrast with normal playing volume so they need amplifying and ideally with a few different volume settings. This has led to him experimenting with boosters, volume pedals, and special compressors but there’s more work to be done here.
Not only is there a challange in working out the fingering to use, but the additional problem lies in how to learn so many random fingerings and sounds. Martin's approach was to firstly compile a comprehensive database of all the most usable multiphonics ordered chromatically up from the lowest note combinations to the highest. He then created charts of all the multiphonics that are diatonic to each major key. This produced many combinations which formed the basis of short diatonic multiphonic compositions which he uses to build muscle memory and develop his compositional language. In this way, he has internalized the hundreds of combinations to a level where they become a standard part of his saxophone vocabulary, eventually allowing him to use them freely both in composition and improvisation.
On The Hidden Notes many of the compositions start from an overtone pattern or a multiphonic sequence, which is then arranged and harmonized. Some of the compositions have a separate prelude which illustrate the inspiration for the piece. The preludes to 'Tick Tock' and 'Folklore' allow the listener a chance to hear the multiphonics more clearly but these are not any more involved then the polyphonics in the main body of the compositions. “As you mentioned in your review, unless people are listening carefully they might miss the sonic complexities and wonder what all the fuss is about but if I played the same thing with a clean sound and then multiphonics, people would hear a clear difference and would realize how much these sounds add.”
In terms of live performance, Martin feels that reproducing the sounds isn’t too much of a problem “although it sometimes feels like a bit of a marathon to get in shape for gigs as I play a big setup and some of the circular breathing is fairly demanding.” The album was recorded with everyone in the same room, apart from the vibes, so the sounds had to be pretty much nailed in real time. The main problem is amplification. Some of the sounds are fairly quiet and have restricted dynamic range in contrast with normal playing volume so they need amplifying and ideally with a few different volume settings. This has led to him experimenting with boosters, volume pedals, and special compressors but there’s more work to be done here.
In contrast with his first CD (Dawning), the group of The Hidden Notes includes guitar and vibraphone, giving an expanded tonal palette. Originally the band started off as a piano quartet, but Martin says he kept hearing vibes as an important complementary colour to the metallic sound world of saxophone multiphonics. Several musician friends recommended Ralph Wyld who was studying vibes at the Royal Academy at the time. “Ralph was fantastic, in fact it was the first time I had heard some of the lines played with all the right notes! It was also clear from that moment that the vibes was an important part of the sound I wanted to create. I think we had our first quintet gigs in Oliver’s Jazz Bar and The Forge in November 2014 for the London Jazz Festival. I remember we were all pretty excited about the combination of instruments and players and it was from this point that I felt I had finally found the sound and band I had been looking for.” The music usually goes down very well live and especially with non-jazzers. Overtones and multiphonics are beautiful and strangely alluring in their own right. They can create very strong, effecting atmosphere that thankfully you don’t need a trained ear to appreciate. “The quintet is also made up of a pretty phenomenal bunch of musicians and it’s also a lovely combination of instruments so there’s plenty for people to enjoy aside from saxophone polyphonics.”
Martin’s compositions use the instrumentation in lots of different ways but always being mindful to leave enough frequency space for the multiphonics and overtones to be heard and not overpowered. On tunes like Heptopia and Pentacision Part Two he has written circular rhythmic patterns for the vibes, which interlock with the bass and drums. These play an important part in defining some fairly unusual rhythmic divisions of odd time grooves that are made up of long patterns that go across several bars. The guitar mostly takes care of chordal duties but also has some interlocking rhythmic lines and melodies. Martin plays very few conventional single note melodies so on tunes like Whisper and Eddies the vibes and bass take the melody instead whereas he has a more chordal or rhythmic role either with a circular overtone pattern or descriptive multiphonics that outline the harmony. The clear sound of the vibes also brings out the top line of some of my saxophone overtone pattern and multiphonic melodies or adds definition to a bass line that also doubles as a melody.
In terms of improvisation, his approach is the same as musicians that don’t use multiphonics: he works off the chords and think of multiphonics and overtone patterns as additional complimentary colours which can substitute for a single clean note. From his practice and the internalization of this multiphonic palette, he is aware of the notes in each of the multiphonics and generally use note combinations that are diatonic to the chords. There is still work to do when it comes to fully incorporating multiphonics into tonal improvisation because you need to know everything twice as well as there is so little time to think but with time it will be possible to do some pretty incredible stuff.
“I believe this project has huge potential for further growth as I am still discovering so many new, exciting things every day. My long-term plan is to publish a book on the system I have developed, which will benefit future saxophonists and composers, as well as continuing to explore and develop the possibilities within the saxophone's polyphonic sound world both as a performer and a composer.”
In terms of improvisation, his approach is the same as musicians that don’t use multiphonics: he works off the chords and think of multiphonics and overtone patterns as additional complimentary colours which can substitute for a single clean note. From his practice and the internalization of this multiphonic palette, he is aware of the notes in each of the multiphonics and generally use note combinations that are diatonic to the chords. There is still work to do when it comes to fully incorporating multiphonics into tonal improvisation because you need to know everything twice as well as there is so little time to think but with time it will be possible to do some pretty incredible stuff.
“I believe this project has huge potential for further growth as I am still discovering so many new, exciting things every day. My long-term plan is to publish a book on the system I have developed, which will benefit future saxophonists and composers, as well as continuing to explore and develop the possibilities within the saxophone's polyphonic sound world both as a performer and a composer.”
Catch the John Martin Quintet as they continue their UK Tour:
Friday 29 July
6.30pm - LONDON - National Portrait Gallery - Late Shift, St. Martin's Place WC2H 0HE
Free http://www.npg.org.uk
Saturday 30 July
6.15pm - BRISTOL - Colston Hall Foyer, Colston Street BS1 5AR
Free http://www.colstonhall.org
Sunday 31 July
8.00pm - ASHBURTON - Ashburton Live @ St Lawrence Chapel, St Lawrence Lane Devon, TQ13 7DD £10/5 http://ashburtonlive.co.uk
Wednesday 3 August
8.00pm - LONDON - Vortex, 11 Gillett Square, London, N16 8AZ
£10 adv/£12 door http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk
For information visit thehiddennotes.com
Click on the album cover to read our review.
Friday 29 July
6.30pm - LONDON - National Portrait Gallery - Late Shift, St. Martin's Place WC2H 0HE
Free http://www.npg.org.uk
Saturday 30 July
6.15pm - BRISTOL - Colston Hall Foyer, Colston Street BS1 5AR
Free http://www.colstonhall.org
Sunday 31 July
8.00pm - ASHBURTON - Ashburton Live @ St Lawrence Chapel, St Lawrence Lane Devon, TQ13 7DD £10/5 http://ashburtonlive.co.uk
Wednesday 3 August
8.00pm - LONDON - Vortex, 11 Gillett Square, London, N16 8AZ
£10 adv/£12 door http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk
For information visit thehiddennotes.com
Click on the album cover to read our review.
