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Travis Laplante Residence at I-Beam

(photo by Peter Gannushkin, Downtown Music Gallery)

Saxophonist Travis Laplante will be in residence this Thursday through Saturday at I-Beam, Brooklyn. LaPlante is a wholly unique voice on the saxophone, and someone who explores the saxophone's overtone and multiphonic possibilities to facilitate his spiritual yearnings. When one watches LaPlante play--and I've embedded some YouTube videos which substantiate this--it is clear that he is really striving for something beyond; not only beyond the idiomatic possibilities of the saxophone, but surely also beyond things of this world. Laplante has evidenced this Ayleresque penchant of his in many settings, but perhaps most notably in his many solo saxophone performances and his work with the ever exciting group, Little Women. But, for his residence at I-Beam, Laplante is playing with three groups which show him in different contexts from those two aforementioned. I caught up with Laplante over email to speak about those projects and you can read our interview, below.

(I-Beam Brooklyn is 168 7th St, Brooklyn NY; Travis LaPlante plays Thursday through Saturday, sets at 8:30)

You're going to be in residence at I-Beam for three nights, and every night you'll be bringing a new group. Can you talk about the trio on the first night with Mat Maneri and Gerald Cleaver? What draws you to these guys? How did the idea to form a trio with them come to you?

Mat Maneri is one of the few living improvisers who consistently brings me to tears when I hear him play. His playing has shattered me for many years and it doesn't lose its edge over time. There is a deep, deep mystery to his playing. He's one of the few improvisers that's not afraid to go into the darkness. So many people are afraid of the truth and close themselves off from certain places within themselves musically, as they aren't comfortable with looking in those certain places, let alone showing them to other people. Especially as westerners, we seem to have the idea that we all need to be comfortable all the time. This is also true for most musicians when improvising. It's not natural. We want to maintain our composure because it would be quite unfashionable if someone found out that we actually have problems. There is a lot that is not going well right now, and it's absurd that it's being pushed under the rug in the realm of improvisation. I'm not saying that there's no music that is real or that music should be darker in general, but I do find that "jazz and improvised" music is sounding quite safe and comfortable these days, like it's in denial of what's happening around it on many levels. The end result often sounds lost and confused to me. Mat is someone who doesn't have a problem bearing all, and I am always chilled to the core and melted at the same time by his music. Gerald Cleaver is able to transform time and space in a very interesting way when he plays. For instance, sometimes I won't actually feel what he's playing until days later. I don't mean this in the sense that I don't understand what he's doing at the time and then I do at a later time; it's not that at all. It's more like he's planting a seed at the concert that then blossoms in the future. It's like things aren't what they appear to be when he's playing, and the transmission he's giving isn't necessarily operating in real time. I know this sounds a bit abstract, but it's actually very real to me.

Gerald works outside of the confines of what "sounds good" and doesn't seem to be concerned with proving anything as a drummer, which I highly, highly respect. Sometimes I've played with him and at the end of the concert it's still unclear to some people in the audience if he's actually proficient on the drums. This is a sign of a true improviser. Not too many people are able to leave their artist ego enough to simply improvise and dissolve into the sounds. Of course the next night you can go hear him completely kill the drums in a more structured jazz setting. I remember having a conversation with him after an improvised concert that I felt like I let my mind get in the way of the true music coming through. It was really great talking to him about it because he really couldn't relate to me. He said that essentially he just looks inside himself when he improvises and that's it. Simple. Just look…

The idea for the trio formed when they were both free on the same night, and I felt like we didn't need to add anyone else. It's a deep backstory!

The second next night you'll be playing with a band "Ancestral

Instrument" which is with some great improvisers who have a long history with each other: Trevor Dunn, Mary Halvorson and Ches Smith. What's your history with these guys? Are you a fan of the Trio Convulsant?

Actually "Ancestral Instrument" is the name of the recording of Trevor, Ches and I that's being released in April on NNA tapes, a great Cassette/Vinyl label based in Burlington, Vermont. This is the release concert. We invited Mary as a special guest. I've known Trevor for maybe 11 years now and he's become one of my closest friends. It's actually kind of odd how much time we've spent together and how we haven't had the chance to play music together all that much. It's quite interesting though how I feel like our musical connection has deepened over the years through friendship and not actually playing music together. It's not like we've actively tried to not play together. We've both been busy with different things. We both know each other so well and that most definitely translates to connecting in the sonic world. It's like I've rehearsed with him for years and our rehearsals just happen to not include playing our instruments.

I have a similar relationship with Ches. We've spent quite a bit of time in a car together, drinking coffee, etc. and it makes playing easy because there is a relationship that has been established and we have been communicating and interacting with each other a lot with the english language, body language, and eye contact.

I know this may sound new age-y or whatever but spending time making eye contact with someone will accelerate the musical connection without a doubt. The eyes are a direct gateway to the heart, and the heart connection is the most important connection for making music together.

Admittedly I've only heard Trio Convulsant once many years ago when they were opening for the Melvins. I really liked it.

The final night of the residency you'll be playing in a quartet with Randy

Peterson, Mat Maneri and Michael Formanek. I've seen video of this band play at I-Beam. It sounded great! What do you like about playing with this quartet?

Well I actually don't "like" playing with these guys at all. The thought of playing with them right now is making me tremble. I find myself incredibly arrogant to have the nerve to add any sounds to what Mat and Randy have cultivated with each other over the years, but the attraction to exist inside of something with these guys hasn't gone away after many years. It's like wanting to play with fire, and even though I keep getting burned, I want to play again, and each time my hands become more able to withstand the heat. I keep coming back to it even though it scares the hell out of me. What I mean by this is that when playing with those guys it often feels torturous, like I'm being forced into places within myself that I'm not forced to face with any other musicians, as if the carpet is pulled out from underneath me immediately. It feels like I'm deaf, dumb, and blind. I often have the feeling that my saxophone is physically broken when I'm playing with them. I mean this in a good way…Like I can't actually play anything that would be "under my fingers" because it's so obviously insincere. It's actually quite a punishing setting.

Michael Formanek is one of the greatest improvisers of this time. He will go anywhere and never lose his integrity. It's amazing to see how he's able to work with primal instincts while instilling genius at the same time.

Can you say a bit about I-Beam and its role in the community?

I-Beam is a place that serves a very important purpose in the Brooklyn Improvised music community. It's getting more and more difficult to find venues in NYC where one doesn't have to jump through a million hoops just to set up a simple concert. It's actually absurd. I-Beam provides an environment that hosts simple concerts, which is wonderful. People come, sit, and listen. The musicians play. That's it. Imagine that. No bartenders being bent out of shape that people aren't drinking enough, no one at the door taking a tally of how many people attended, no sound person putting the "Mayan flute" preset reverb on the saxophone thinking it sounds amazing, no club owner telling us that our set time has been cut and we have twenty minutes to play because there's a rave starting in a half an hour, no people trying to talk over the set in a "whisper" voice which is actually as loud as their normal voice, none of that.

Brian Drye has done a great job making the most of the space, providing a pleasant space for folks to rehearse during the day and providing a space for many concerts at night. It's also getting difficult to find venues that have a nice piano and back line, which Ibeam has, and they maintain the space and the equipment nicely.

What's next for Little Women, post-Lung?

We're beginning to work on the next recording. I don't want to say any more than that.

Do you have any recording plans with any of these groups, your solo

saxophone work, or Battle Trance in the future?

Yes, I'm incredibly excited about Battle Trance's first recording, entitled "Palace of Wind" that will be released August 26th on New Amsterdam Records (with NNA pressing vinyl). It's an album-length composition that I wrote. That band is my most active project, and I'm putting most of my musical energy into that. I literally woke up one morning just over a year ago and knew that I had to start a band with Matt Nelson, Jeremy Viner, and Patrick Breiner. It was very clear that the band had to be with those specific individuals, even though I didn't really know them! It's miraculous how incredible it's been working with them and that we've all been able to devote massive amounts of time to rehearsals and deepening our sound together. We'll be hitting the road quite a bit this fall to support our release: out to the mid-west in September and then hitting the West Coast in November. "Ancestral Instrument", the recording featuring Trevor Dunn, Ches Smith, and myself will be out on NNA tapes this month. I have a solo saxophone record "Invisible Arrow" that's in the can and will most likely be released in late 2014.

What's some recorded music you've been listening to recently?

I've been listening to Mahler's symphonies, Shona ritual music, R. Kelly, John Cage's "string quartet in four parts", Farida Khanum, Gorguts'"Colored Sands", and a lot of Buddhist Chants.

What do you look forward to this Spring and summer?

I'm greatly looking forward to my marriage ceremony and celebration. My Fiance and I also recently opened our healing practice in Brooklyn and we're both looking forward to serving the community with Qigong, Acupuncture, and Chinese Herbs.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://travislaplante.bandcamp.com/album/heart-protector" data-mce-href="http://travislaplante.bandcamp.com/album/heart-protector"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Heart Protector by Travis Laplante&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

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