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Chicago jazz duo boots up
Lexington Herald-Leader, October 3, 2003
Grey Ghost
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9 tonight at Natasha's, 112 Esplanade.
As members of Chicago's expansive jazz underground, Aram Shelton and Jonathan Crawford found their improvised music was in need of some electronic goosing.
Thus, Grey Ghost was born. Augmenting the organic trade-offs that Shelton and Crawford engage in on saxophone and drums, respectively, are colors from electric keyboards and assorted sounds processed live onstage through a laptop computer.
Grey Ghost brings its modern version of free-jazz thinking to life tonight at Natasha's as part of the Outside the Spotlight series.
"In Chicago, there is so much stuff going on in the improvised music worlds, both acoustic and electronic," Shelton said last week. "It's nice to focus in on a group where you can work with somebody and figure out a way to make this music make sense. We're not just juxtaposing really weird electronic sounds. We want those sounds to be part of what we do.
"I will put in live sounds into the laptop, process them and then take that on to the next thing. What comes from the laptop isn't the finished product. What Jonathan does on the keyboard isn't a finished product. It's just this process of getting to the next point. In some instances, we may replicate these sounds for a certain song. But for the more improvisational things, the electronics are just as open as the live playing."
Together since early 2002, Grey Ghost will release its debut album in November. Until then, the curious can check out Grey Ghost's inclusion on Document Chicago, a sampler album featuring works by 13 Chicago jazz modernists. Better yet, see how acoustic improvised jazz mingles with electricity at Natasha's.
"For some people, our music isn't jazz," Shelton said. "It's certainly not rock. We're somewhere in this other world."