Flicker: Chad Makela Quartet album, more from Paul Rushka
Following up on my interview with Paul: a scene from the “director's cut” of the interview
Today, I have a follow-up on my interview with Paul Rushka: a scene from the "director's cut" of the interview.
I know Paul's bass playing from local albums like Departure by the Bill Coon Double Quartet, Cory Weeds' Little Big Band Explosion, and the James Danderfer Group's Accelerated Development.
But Paul also played on one of my favourite Cellar Live albums: Flicker by the Chad Makela Quartet, with Chad on baritone saxophone, Brad Turner on trumpet, and Jesse Cahill on drums.
Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 13, 2022
Originally released in 2005, it came to me at Cory Weeds' Cellar Jazz Club when I was a high school student. My dad and I bought a box set of Cellar CDs at the time, which incluced it.
So I had to ask Paul: what did he have to share about Flicker?
Paul Rushka on the Chad Makela Quartet
"I love that band. I love playing with that band. I think Chad Makela is a unique voice on his instrument, but also he has a particular thing as a composer.
"That band kind of came out of a slightly different lineup, and it came at a really good time in my life. I don't know exactly when Chad moved to Vancouver back from the States, maybe around 2001, maybe around 2002 that I started playing with him. I was still 24, 25, relatively young. Hadn't been out of Capilano very long.
"I was always interested in contemporary music and new things, and around that time period, a lot of people were getting pretty deep into different meters [of rhythm], and I was interested in that. Chad had all these tunes, all kinds of meters – a lot of things that I'd never played before, and it was good for me. I had to figure out how to do all that stuff from scratch, from playing and listening to some different recordings."
Flicker track-by-track
Paul's deep-toned bass is the first thing you hear when you put on "Flicker". As Brad's trumpet steps aside after the first solo, the trio of Chad, Paul, and Jesse immediately rocks together.
The melody of "Comfort Levels", is the most memorable to me. Paul is adventurous as he follows Brad through the trumpet solo.
"Secret Code" has an insistent bass groove, though Paul sounds more tightly positioned in the mix for some reason.
"Seventh Day Rain" is a ballad by Chad in free-ish time, where Paul runs between Jesse's mallet and cymbal colours to answer Chad's melodic phrases.
"Underdog" is interesting because another band – the Redline Trio plus Brad Turner and Steve Hudson – released a version of this tune of Brad's on their latest album, just last month:
Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 16, 2023
Brad also recorded "Underdog" on the Brad Turner Quartet album It's That Time:
Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 16, 2023
And that's "Underdog" across three decades!
Back on Flicker, the last two tracks are the standard "My Ideal", at a medium swing tempo with a great extended solo by Brad and a dexterous one by Paul; and the Joe Lovano composition "Uprising", which ends the record at a lively tempo while featuring Jesse.
But according to Paul, Jesse wasn't even the drummer at first.
Getting into the mix for Flicker
"There was a period of, I would say about a year and a half or two years where I think every Thursday, Chad, myself, and Paul Townsend would get together and play. We'd just do a session at the house Chad was living in at the time, every week. We were playing a bunch, like mostly just playing together – I don't think we gigged much.
"Then, I honestly can't quite remember what happened. Maybe Paul Townsend had something else going on, but the band morphed, to Jesse Cahill on drums. And Brad got in the mix, for that record.
"A lot of the tunes on the record I'd played before, but not a lot, because he had a huge book. I remember when I first started playing with him, he gave me a binder and it was this thick.
"We did one rehearsal for a concert, it was like 45 minutes long, and then we recorded an album. It was crazy! But I felt like there was a real nice spirit to that group. I loved playing with Chad and his, just this whole vibe. Very intense, of course, but exciting, interesting music."
My gratitude to Paul for discussing this album with me. Though I saw Chad play bari for the Jill Townsend Jazz Orchestra recently, I've still never spoken to Chad; I look forward to another chance to meet him.
