Up Here
Our new place in Chicago has an amazing view. Its up on the 33rd floor and I can see all around. It’s a great place to think about things like planning a season, and various other items that are crossing my desk. I find now more than ever I’m getting asked to work on projects like “How do we combine jazz and orchestra in a new way?” or “How do we get these pop songs to work in a subscription concert?” And what I do is pace around the apartment and look out the window at the lake and think about the air meeting the water. Some days it’s prettier than others. That’s kind of how it is with these projects. The truth is I think almost any idea with orchestra can work, but it’s how you do it. It takes a tremendous amount of thought and you really have to know both sides of the coin pretty well. What I like about these projects is that they assume that the orchestra is an amazingly versatile and flexible sound entity, and that’s forward-looking But there is also this tremendous tradition and training and skill with orchestras that you want to draw on as much as possible, or they’ll be bored and using like 2% or the processors.
How do you get the most out of these things? It’s a tricky question, but it’s fun.