History

Around 1997, with the help and support of Ron Black and the Mermaid Lounge, I was trying to make a recording of the music that I had been writing and performing with my small ensemble, Naked on the Floor. The lineup was usually Arthur Kastler (Bass) and Stanton Moore on drums. However, due to the gig scheduling pressures that are involved in local New Orleans musical life, I had the pleasure of playing the music with many others. I was trying to capture the flavour of how the music had been developing by playing different tunes with slightly different configurations. I was trying to match the flavour of the tunes to the energy of the personalities. For the final piece of the session I wanted to record one of the first pieces I had written, The Little One (it hasn't made this recording but if the opportunity arises for a future recording it will be there). I heard the piece with more colours and since it came from a past time it was filled with the memories of having played it with so many people, there was a warmth in that and I wanted to play it with all of the sounds that I had heard from the people who played it with me.

How to do this? How to do this?

Many of them were teachers and mentors. All the people I wanted to use I had a lot of respect for and was afraid to waste their time. I had no money. I offered food and music that I hoped would interest the musicians. Perhaps, put them in a slightly different headspace. Best I could do. Somehow, everyone showed. That was the first Naked Orchestra event.

Now it seems that the project is something hard to maintain but precious while it can exist. We are an independent ensemble operating outside of an academic situation or other funded system. That gives us a different sort of unconstrained freedom in our expression. It does, however, pose some organizational and fiscal problems. But the opportunity it affords us to write for a large ensemble in a free manner far outweighs any of that. It is also a grand opportunity for listeners since I don't think anything quite like it is going on in New Orleans currently.

It gives us a forum for the players involved to write music and have it performed. I'm sure more of that will be on its way. When it started, I wrote all the pieces but a few were arranged by Jimbo, Doug Miller or Rober Wagner. Now we've done pieces by Doug and Jimbo also.

Three years down the line we were able to get a gig. That was a couple of years ago. Brief Repairs is what has developed since then. Many players not on the record put in a tremendous amont by being involved and putting up with the craziness. I hope we all play together again. Thank you!

--Jonathan Freilich