Big Dipper (album)
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| Big Dipper | |||||
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| Studio album by Drop Trio | |||||
| Released | 2003 | ||||
| Recorded | February, 2003 | ||||
| Genre | funk jazz | ||||
| Length | 45 min, 20 sec | ||||
| Label | Independent | ||||
| Producer | Ian Varley, Nuje Blattel, Nino Batista, John Griffin | ||||
| Drop Trio chronology | |||||
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Big Dipper is the 1st album released by Drop Trio. The album debuted in 2003 and was self-released by the band. The 45 min record has heralded by critics all around the world, and is a premier example of melodic funk jazz.
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[edit] History / Premise
Drop Trio formed in 2002, and immediately recorded two demos on their own, a 5 track EP titled "Little Dipper" and the all acoustic EP "Plonk" (both now out of print). Having already recorded 2 homegrown demos, Drop Trio went into SugarHill Recording Studios in early 2003 to record their first, official record. This debut was dubbed "Big Dipper" and was produced by the band and SugarHill engineer John Griffin.
[edit] Recording session
Drop Trio recorded Big Dipper between 10pm and 6am at SugarHill in late winter 2003. The all night marathon session was essentially recorded live, as the band performed each song together (a recording practice especially common in jazz). The instrumentation setup was Sonor drums (Nuje Blattel), Rickenbacker bass (Nino Batista) and Rhodes piano and Roland VK-7 (Ian Varley). Varley recorded a few overdubs of organ and Rhodes piano during a subsequent session a couple of weeks later. The album's organic sound is attributed to both the band's roots-focused performance as well as the album having been recorded to 2" analog tape. (tracks were mixed and mastered digitally, however.) Further testament to the down-to-earth vision for the album, it is of note that the opening track, "Wreck Of The Zephyr", is in fact the unedited 1st take of the song.
[edit] Reception
Big Dipper was immediately universally praised in both jazz and jamband circles from Houston and around the United States. The same was said of their subsequent live performances. Numerous requests for the album prompted the band to distribute the record on as many internet-based, digital download distributors as quickly as possible. Printed CD copies sold out several times as the band's initial run disappeared almost immediately. To this day, a good portion of Drop Trio fans cite Big Dipper as their favorite album by the band. Songs from the album have been used as backing tracks by several artists, including Solange Knowles ("Lefty's Alone") and LRJ ("Slapjack"). The same can be said for independent filmmakers, who have used songs from the record as backing music for short and feature length films. Remixes of songs from Big Dipper are still being released by Houston and international artists. It is not known how many remixes currently exist or by how many different artists.
The follow up album Leap was such an immense departure from Big Dipper that many fans were shocked when the album was released in 2004. However, Drop Trio's 2005 album Cezanne was itself an immense departure from Leap. Depending on a fan's music preference, they may cite any of the three Drop Trio records as their favorite.
[edit] Track listing
All tracks are credited to Varley/Blattel/Batista
- "Wreck Of The Zephyr"
- "Second First"
- "Melody-Melody"
- "Wallawalla"
- "The Allan Smithee Show"
- "Invisible Pants"
- "Wet Dog"
- "Lefty's Alone"
- "Flux"
- "Abbey Rhodes"
- "Gin & Nothin'"
- "Slapjack"
[edit] Song Titles
All the songs on Big Dipper have a defined, albeit candid, meaning. Nino Batista, co-founder and bassist in the band from 2002 to 2004, expounded on the song names from Big Dipper as follows:
Wreck Of The Zephyr "I actually wrote this track, and decided to call it 'Wreck Of The Zephyr" because I always like that Chris Van Allsburg book as a child."
Second First "Silly, but...we titled this song "Second First" because it was the 2nd - or 1st - song that Nuje and Ian wrote together. And we couldn't remember which."
Melody-Melody "Ian tended to recount this one's meaning onstage fairly often. It's the name of a character, a rare one, on the You're In The Super Bowl Charlie Brown cartoon special from years back."
Wallawalla "This one is Ian's doing. I still don't have any idea why he named it that, but I dig it."
The Allan Smithee Show "We got a lot of feedback at shows that this cut sounded a lot like a 1970's sitcom, namely Taxi. If you don't know who Allan Smithee is...find out."
Invisible Pants "I have a vague memory of Ian's wife penning this name...I think Ian had lyrics for it once, however it's rarely performed live. Or ever"
Wet Dog "Nuje wrote this cut. Once, during a practice session at his home, his dog entered the room from outside. It was raining outside. We needed a song name."
Lefty's Alone "Nuje wrote this one too, from top to bottom. Had the whole piece done from beginning to end and presented it to us one night. Also, he's left handed."
Flux "A more matter-of-fact title, I named it 'Flux' because the time signatures fluctuated often. Which was by design as the song was always more of a study than a piece."
Abbey Rhodes "While I don't think there is a lawsuit pending on this one, I will say that the name was spur of the moment. Also we make ourselves laugh."
Gin & Nothin "Ian again. He named this song, and when I heard the name I laughed for several minutes. Actually I still laugh to this day when I think about it. It's so simple but so damn funny."
Slapjack "As far as I can recall, this name just sounded cool. Again, Ian's doing."
