At any given moment of a live show, 9 and Zen may draw from a wide variety of genres and or approaches. We may accurately execute a jazz standard by reading the chart, we might take a chart and twist it far away and leave the head recognizable, or we may do an experimental 1 chord 20 minute funk jam.
We also dabble quite heavily in an art form called looping. "Looping" as an artform and as an approach to both recorded and live music is more than simply an intriguing novelty. With various pieces of technology, the performer is simultaneously composing, providing all the instrumentation, and improvising over the top of his or her creation. The beauty of the medium is the breadth of it: it can be simple, raw and visceral, deeply meditative, or seriously intellectual. More than this, each performance is wholly unique as the audience is taken for a journey along with the artist who is constantly exploring new grooves, textures, and places within him- or herself.
We are working on a Christmas album of some really stretched out versions of favorite Christmas tunes, and we have several tribute medleys in the works, including but not limited to: Van Halen, Rush, Queen, The Eagles, Iron Maiden, and MANY MANY more. We also have a gig bag full of half-complete originals that have grown over the last few years from some of our favorite moments described above. We've even been known to build a groove that lends itself to a freestyle rap (MINUS the rap).
Here's the way a typical 9 and Zen gig works:
We have certain equipment for each musician that must be there just in case. We show up and then set up, (set up and tear down take us ROUGHLY 1 hour so we are rarely able to share the bill with other bands) and at showtime we just let it flow. No one knows what is going to happen at our shows- including the band! One of Greg's favorite things to do is to establish a simple jam and then hold a "WORLD'S WORST SOLO CONTEST" So if you ever stumble upon a live 9&Z show, and its sounds like something is going horribly wrong?
It's PURELY FOR SPORT!
(We keep reminding Greg that this is a bad idea for first set of the night!)
Come check it out sometime. We guarantee, you won't know what to expect!
