The jazz bass participant Matthew Garrison doesn’t prefer to decelerate. “I’m at all times pondering, doing,” he mentioned.
As a performer, he has toured with Herbie Hancock, and as a producer, he’s serving to to arrange upcoming reveals with the pianist Jason Moran, the drummer Jack DeJohnette and others. However most days, he’s targeted on producing music occasions via ShapeShifter Lab and its nonprofit arm, ShapeShifter Plus. He additionally created the app Tunebend, which facilitates digital collaborating and recording amongst musicians.
Mr. Garrison, who’s the son of Jimmy Garrison, the bassist for John Coltrane, appears to love pushing boundaries within the jazz world. “I’m actually uninterested in the stagnant music scene, the place this membership solely books a sure kind of band and that membership solely books musicians that play this style,” he mentioned.
For a decade, Mr. Garrison ran a efficiency area in Gowanus, Brooklyn, additionally known as the ShapeShifter Lab, but it surely closed final 12 months. Quickly, he’ll open a new venue. “My new area can be a place for performers, these genius rejects, who wouldn’t in any other case be capable to play within the metropolis.”
Mr. Garrison, 52, lives in Park Slope along with his enterprise associate, Fortuna Sung, 51.
DARK AND QUIET Time has been wonky post-pandemic. It sounds horrible, however typically I get up as early as 4 a.m. I get a lot of labor out of the best way. I code for my apps, together with Tunebend, and set up issues on my pc for a few hours as a result of everyone seems to be asleep. There’s nobody round calling, texting or bugging you.
CAFFEINATED NAP I may need some espresso and a gentle breakfast. I’ve a bizarre relationship with espresso lately. It doesn’t preserve me awake. I now use espresso as a sleep support. I don’t know the way that works. So after I work for a few hours and drink some espresso, I typically return to sleep.
WORKING WEEKEND I get up once more round 9 or 10 a.m. and I’ll have one other cup of espresso. The music trade is a 24-hour factor. I talk with of us in Europe and Japan on a regular basis, so my weekends don’t depend as a time off. I’ve to divide my work hours and dedicate sure days to my three ventures to get every little thing carried out. On Sundays, I attempt to get to the stuff I couldn’t do throughout the weekday. However I make a mess if I multitask an excessive amount of.
STEPS Then I would compose for a number of hours. Or I’m going take a stroll in Prospect Park or zigzag via neighborhood streets. Generally I enterprise out into Gowanus and Carroll Gardens. Fortuna says I stroll too quick, however I have to get my coronary heart fee up. My physique is telling me I want it.
SONG LAYERS I hearken to music on Tunebend whereas I stroll. I hearken to see how all of the bits and items that have been recorded can change into layers in a music. You possibly can swap out totally different performers for a similar half, so I do a lot of listening and rearranging. However I’m additionally interacting with the app as a person to see if something must be tweaked. I do know it doesn’t appear to be it, however that is how I decompress.
PIECING IT TOGETHER Whenever you’re coding or composing music, you’re problem-solving. You’re in steady analysis mode to determine why one thing is completed in a explicit manner. Within the jazz world, there’s a lot that it’s a must to know and be capable to play in a fraction of a second. In coding, you even have to recollect all these bits and items to construct one thing. The one distinction between the 2 worlds is the pay!
NEW SPACE I lastly received the keys to a new efficiency area that we’ll open by the tip of the 12 months. To date I’ve carried out a livestream workshop on methods to use the Tunebend app, however I’m gearing up for a lot of fund-raising so we are able to placed on reveals and occasions for all sorts of musicians right here.
SUSTENANCE We get our errands carried out within the neighborhood, together with groceries from the Park Slope Meals Co-op. Fortuna, whose household is from Hong Kong, is the higher cook dinner. Her artist dad and mom additionally owned and operated a restaurant, so she is aware of her manner round a kitchen. Once we eat out, it is perhaps Japanese or Thai. At present we had dinner with my mother at Littleneck.
OLD-PEOPLE TIME After dinner, I’ll watch TV or learn. I’m news-centric: There’s a lot stuff to maintain up with, which makes me perceive how I could make this world a higher place. I additionally like tech stuff, like articles concerning the latest plug-ins for music software program. My mother nonetheless scolds me that each one my studying is completed on a display. Now I’m on old-people time: I’m in mattress by 9 or 10 p.m.
Sunday Routine readers can observe Matthew Garrison on Instagram and Twitter @garrisonjazz.