Musicians craft with the raw material of the universe. Vibration is pervasive, even down to the tiniest particle, which, though tiny, is still charged with energy and frequency.
One Bay Area-based jazz trio, The Charged Particles, explores music with an energetic yet crafted skill, using vibration to express and communicate emotions and thoughts mere words can’t convey.
Made up of Bay Area bassist Aaron Germain, Stanford jazz professor and pianist Murray Low, and Stanford psychology professor and drummer Jon Krosnick, the trio is a refined selection of intelligent and skilled musicians who’ll be performing at the Santa Maria Public Library’s Shepard Hall on June 12.
“Even though there are just three of us, we strive for a lot of variety in our sound,” Krosnick said. “The repertoire we do, because it’s a lot of original material, it takes a lot of rehearsal time, especially
at first.”
Krosnick originally formed The Charged Particles back when he taught in Ohio; ever since he started at Stanford, he’s been raring to form a group again. Along with fellow Stanford professor Low and bassist Germain, the group formed again, preparing pieces written by members past and Krosnick himself.
“My composition ‘A Smile of Love’ does have a heavy collaborative component to it,” he said. “In the new band, everybody is bringing their own voice to the piece, so in some sense we are all composing.”
Jazz artists usually have a strong sense of a particular song, understanding all the changes in tempo, tonality, and emotion—but even then, each performance can be different.
“The key thing about jazz is that we know, and the audience knows, that you can never predict what is going to happen,” Krosnick said. “The audience realizes it’s a special experience for them because no one has ever heard what they are hearing and no one will ever hear it quite like that again.”
Krosnick teaches not just psychology but political science and communication at Stanford. His involvement in these fields actually informs his musicianship, he explained.
“I do approach music from my background in psychology and communication,” he said. “We are trying to tell a story and take the audience on a journey.”
The Charged Particles puts an emphasis on electronic and funky sounds while still being true to the jazz idiom. This creates a much broader landscape for the story the band is trying to tell.
“It’s very intellectually interesting,” Krosnick said. “For people who study jazz, they learn that musicians who are not vocalists are actually speaking words with their instruments.”
The upcoming concert at the Santa Maria Public Library will include sections where each instrumentalist plays solo, some duets, and, of course, the full trio. Each set-up gives the ensemble a chance to communicate something different.
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“I think it’s about the emotions jazz offers,” Krosnick said. “It’s the idea that one moment you can be in one mood, and when we move into another piece or another section of a piece, we can move to other moods and feelings.
“Those shifts of feeling of emotion and perspective that happens during our day is just like what happens during our concert,” he added.
Though The Charged Particles does perform for libraries, high schools, and colleges with an educational program, the group will be performing a traditional concert in Santa Maria—though that can be quite educational and full of surprises, Krosnick said.
“The concert has plenty of surprises in it,” he said. “The concert will start in the dark, with no light on in the room at all. We make it a little more interesting that way.”
The group also communicates with the audience before each piece, setting up the idea and mood of it, Krosnick explained.
“We are not like some performers in that we are talking to the audience constantly,” he said. “We will tell a story about each piece.”
The stories and the emotion connect the band with the audience, Krosnick explained, which is something of which the band always tries to remain conscious.
“We think about the audience and what it’s going to feel like going through an hour and a half with us,” he said. “We think about surprising people and hope that they leave feeling human.”
New concert series begins
The Trilogy Summer Concert Series begins with a concert for all ages on June 7 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Monarch Dunes, Trilogy, 1645 Trilogy Parkway, Nipomo. Free. More info: trilogylife.com.
Walk the path
The Crooked Path concert series features live jazz music on June 8 from noon to 4 p.m.. The Crooked Path is at 2885 Grand Ave., Los Olivos. More info: 693-5678, B1@visionears.com, or losolivosnow.wordpress.com.
Sharing words and music
Lucia’s Wine Co. offers an open mic featuring wine, poetry, and live music on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. at the tasting room, 126 East Clark Ave., Orcutt. More info: 332-3080.
Wine paired with music
The Addamo Tasting Room and Bistro present “Wine Down Wednesdays” featuring live music on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Addamo Tasting Room and Bistro, 400 E. Clark, Old Orcutt. Free. More info: 937-6400 or Bethany@addamovineyards.com.
Maverick music
The Maverick Saloon offers live entertainment, including a special live concert with the Little Big Band on June 7 at 8:45 p.m., followed by “Late Night with guest DJs” at 11:30 p.m. The 11th Annual Old Santa Ynez Day “Maverick Music Festival” featuring Spun Honey, Dubley Rogue, The Fourcasters, J.D. Bernal Band, Winchester Rebels, and more, is June 8 starting at 2 p.m. The J.D. Bernal Band performs on June 8 at 7:45 p.m., followed by “Late Night with guest DJs” until midnight at the saloon, 3687 Sagunto St., Santa Ynez. More info: 686-4785 or mavericksyv@aol.com. m
Contact Arts Editor Joe Payne at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 6-13, 2013.