MFM Presents: “Music Is Essential” ZOOM Talk Event #9 with MFM Member Christopher North Speaking about his Score for Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes with Special Guests Cole Davis, Lawrence Fields and Andy Blanco
Report by Dawoud Kringle
On Thursday, November 2nd, 2023, MFM presented its 9th Music is Essential Zoom Talk. The guest speaker was Christopher North. The topic was his score for Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes. Special Guests for the Talk were Cole Davis, Lawrence Fields and Andy Blanco.
Adam Reifsteck was the host and moderator.
Christopher North is a native of Texas, now living in Brooklyn. He is a composer for film (inc Grammy Nominated), TV / original series, theater, dance and various ensembles. He’s a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He had performed at Carnegie Hall and on Grammy award-winning recordings. He released 20 albums, and scored over 60 films.
Cole Davis is a bassist. In 2017, he won the Ron Carter Bass Competition at age. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Manhattan School of Music in 2019, he was awarded the rare honor of being accepted to the Juilliard Artist Diploma and Graduate Degree Program concurrently. He works as a sideman in New York City and abroad, has played at The Kennedy Center, Rose Hall, The Appel Room, The Jazz Standard, and many other venues. His first etude book, “Freedom of Movement,” was released in August of 2020. They were lauded as a game-changing method in upright bass technique. He endorses Yamaha basses.
St. Louis native Lawrence Fields is an up and coming jazz pianist. Between 2019-23, Downbeat Magazine has placed him close to the top of the keyboardist category in their “Rising Stars” critics poll. He has performed with Joe Lovano, the Christian Scott Group, Branford Marsalis, Herlin Riley and Russell Malone, Terri Lyne Carrington, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Yasushi Nakamura, Warren Wolf, Jaleel Shaw, Steve Slagle, Nicholas Payton, Christian McBride, Nate Smith, Delfeayo Marsalis, Takuya Kuroda, and Robert Hurst. He is featured on North’s score for Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes.
Andy Blanco is a percussionist in New York City with a diverse career of performing and recording with symphony orchestras, opera companies, chamber ensembles, bands, singers, composers and on Broadway. He is currently the percussionist and assistant conductor for the TONY Award winning Broadway revival of Hello Dolly, starring Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce. He has most recently performed with the Broadway productions of An American in Paris, Bullets Over Broadway, and Nice Work If You Can Get It as well as with the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, and Novus NY. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Classical Percussion and a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. He maintains a private teaching studio in New York City and endorses Pearl, Adams, Sabian, Evan, and Innovative Percussion.
After Reifsteck opened the talk, he introduced North. North began to discuss the process of composing the score to Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes. One thing he shared was his trepidation of placing his own music aide by side with that of the masters; Roach, and those he played with. He introduced and gave salutations to Davis, Fields, and Blanco, who’d worked on the project with him.
Davis offered his thoughts about Max Roach, stating that while he was an integral part of the development of bebop, he progressed beyond it. This was his template for his own contributions to the project.
North introduced Field. He spoke for a moment about channeling his inspiration into the project.
North spoke about the challenges of composing and recording jazz to be included in the context of a documentary film. He had to remain aware that the music had to allow for the inclusion of dialogue form the on-camera people. This is something jazz does not normally allow.
He introduced Blanco, and asked him about the recording process. Blanco went into considerable detail on the recording process he used. North added some explanations of the recording process.
Then North shared some of the music from the project. He played a clip from the movie, and an isolated track which he offered some information on.
North said something interesting: “If I do my job in this film, nobody notices me.” This was quite profound. It implies that the film composer is something of a puppeteer. He works as an invisible manipulator and augmenter of the story.
At this point, North opened up the discussion, and invited questions and comments. This led to Blanco giving a virtual tour of his personal studio, and North playing another clip from the documentary. North also offered more insights in how the music was placed within the context of the film. It was actually quite detailed; he had to sync accents and individual notes with the visuals, without interfering with the dialogue.
Davis and Fields commented on how difficult it was to record the bebop compositions using modern recording technology. The aesthetic of classic bebop emerged within the context of the recording technology of the day.
More questions and answers regarding the details of the compositional and recording process were explored and discussed. In addition, more clips from the film and more music was shared. The discussions around these went deep into the workings of the production, and into the essence of the music.
This Talk was fascinating, and provided a great deal of insight and instruction for those who tuned in. MFM continues to provide valuable services for its members and the music community.