In Search of Softer Selves (for 10 piece jazz ensemble)

In Search of Softer Selves

For 10 piece jazz ensemble

Commissioned by Edgefest

With support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts

Premiered at Edgefest 27, Ann Arbor MI

Forces:
Clarinet in B-flat and Tenor Saxophone (one player)
Tenor Saxophone and Soprano Saxophone (one player)
Baritone Saxophone

Trumpet in B-Flat
Trombone
Trombone

Drum set
Piano
Upright Bass
Upright Bass

Premiering Ensemble:

Wendell Harrison, Marcus Elliot, Kaleigh Wilder, Allen Dennard, Vincent Chandler, Zekkereya El-magharbel, Jonathan Barahal Taylor, Michael Malis, Marion Hayden, Ben Willis

Purchase the score here: https://www.michaelmalis.com/store/in-search-of-softer-selves-for-10-piece-jazz-ensemble

Imperfect Intervals (for solo piano)

For Piano Solo, or any other instrument or instruments.

Purchase the score and recordings here.

Available in two versions:
1. Text score for any instrumentation
2. Nine traditionally notated piano solo movements

Imperfect Intervals came together accidentally. This music did not start on the page, but rather as sounds. I recorded nine pieces as improvisations in October and November of 2020, and labeled the files "Sound Diary" on my hard drive. When I was making them, that's all they were: daily diary entries, documenting a period in my life of deep reflection.

But with each new recording, I started to notice an emergent improvisational process. It seemed like the improvisations were being guided by a logic. That logic had musical implications, to be sure -- there an abundance of fifths and fourths in these pieces, the so-called "perfect" intervals. But those intervals are mediated by all sorts of other intervals, some small and some as vast as the whole piano. And the sonority of my piano, which was beginning to drift out of tune while I was making these recordings, certainly made these intervals seem "imperfect" to my ears.

Moreover, the process that was unfolding wasn't really about musical intervals. I began to realize that it was more about a manner of approaching the instrument. It was a mindset, a headspace. Gradually, I began to realize that the notes were the least consequential aspect of the music. The notes could have been anything, as long as they were infused with the energy that I was bringing to the piano. That energy behind the music was the music.

The text of the score is the closest representation to this energy behind the music. If anyone, on any instrument, wants to play Imperfect Intervals, they can use that text as their score. Certainly, when I do an Imperfect Intervals improvisation, the approach laid out in this text is my guiding force.

Nevertheless, I've decided to reproduce transcriptions of my nine Imperfect Intervals recordings. These transcriptions are pieces all on their own. But they also provide a clue for how the diffuse process of improvising through this particular lens might manifest. Of course, the possibilities are limitless.

From Darkness We Awaken (for violin, violoncello, alto saxophone, prepared piano, vibraphone, and percussion)

Commissioned by Virago

For violin, violoncello, alto saxophone, prepared piano, vibraphone, and percussion

Score and Recordings will be available late 2021/early 2022.

I composed From Darkness We Awaken in the middle of what has proved to be the most chaotic period of time that I've ever lived through. As I write these words we are in the midst of a global pandemic that has killed millions, a fascist is attempting to consolidate power in the United States, mass protests are erupting across the country to affirm that Black Lives Matter, and a mounting climate crisis is threatening to destroy us all.

Against the backdrop of these intersecting crises, another personal upheaval occurred for me: in March 2020, my wife and I found out we were expecting our first child. Now, in October, we're less than two months away from our baby's arrival.

Of course, we couldn't be more excited. But while 2020 continues down its intensely toxic path, in our house it's been eerily quiet. We've essentially been in quarantine since March, rarely venturing out, terrified of what a Covid-19 infection could do for our growing baby. We've thrown our pent up energy into preparing our home, our hearts, and our lives for the arrival of a new human. It's a strange juxtaposition, to be simultaneously balancing so much joy with so much fear.

The one thing that has kept me relatively grounded in this unique moment has been writing this piece. I've worked quicker than usual, immersed myself in it, and put my whole self into it. As I progressed deeper into the piece, I observed it taking on more and more of a central role in my well being. I started to notice myself using this piece as a forum for processing these transformative changes. From Darkness We Awaken became a proxy for my emotional preparations for the next phase of my life — a diary documenting my personal metamorphosis. It became an avatar for an awakening of sorts: for myself, for our future baby, and hopefully for our society.

From Darkness We Awaken works to bring together several concerns that have been central to my creative practice for years — namely, the tension between composed and improvised music, and a desire to blur the lines between these two dispositions. This piece started as a series of vignettes for solo prepared piano that were structured improvisations. When I decided to transition it into a chamber piece, one of the chief concerns was to retain the open, improvisational quality of the original while utilizing the wider coloristic palate made available by the introduction of new instruments.

I'm grateful to BethAnne Kunert, Sofia Carbonara, Wesley Hornpetrie, and Meghan Rohrer of Virago for commissioning this work. Their collaborative and open attitude has given me permission to completely be myself, without a second thought.