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Musical Internet Collaborations

 

It´s almost unbelievable: More than sixty years are gone, since I started making music! New Years Eve of the year 1955 I joined my first band. I had owned my clarinet a couple of months and I considered myself to be a master on the instrument. Well, probably it sounded terrible. In the years to come I had the opportunity to catch up on some musical and instrumental skill and in 1959 I toured the north of Sweden with a band playing swing-based dance music.

 

In general, the 1950s was the era of the Revival of the New Orleans music of the 1920s. We college students listened to musicians like Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Bunk Johnson and others and we considered 1910 – 1920 to be the “Golden Era of Jazz.” And we tried to play like they used to play in New Orleans, in the beginning of this century.

 

This had consequences on my musical development: The musical style, that I first learned and that has influenced me the most, was “modern” more than 100 years ago. I am an oldtimer with my musical roots in a time long gone. Consequently, I am not the most likely candidate when it comes to composing the next Pop Hit. On the other hand, I have personal experience of the music of the last century and most of my music reflects the styles of the 1940 – 1950s.

 

In the 1950s, the concept of “Collaboration” had a very different meaning than today. We worked together probably much more than today, but the “collab” was not possible unless the collaborators came together in the same room and space. Furthermore, we did not have any technical equipment to help us out and most of the music was performed live. We were lucky, if we had a simple tape recorder and a single amplifier at our gigs The meaning of word “computer” and “DAW” was unknown to us.

 

The collaborations of today are much more versatile. Over the Internet the collaborators can exchange musical ideas and comments in real time. It does not matter, if they physically live on different continents and on different sides of the globe. The communication works in the same way as if the two artists would be in the same room. At his computer, the musician can collect samples and virtual instrument sounds covering a whole orchestra. It is today possible to achieve all the instruments you need to a very reasonable cost and with a very good sound quality. As you have all you need, it is easy to forget the advantages of collaborations. Collaborating with other artists you are forced to test new ideas and find other solutions than you are used to.

 

On MP3 Unsigned, where I am a member since many years, I have made many collaborations with Terry Wigmore. I am grateful for all the vocal recordings he has performed based on my instrumental backing. Terry has an unusual feel for the styles of the 1940s – 1950s. Terry´s vocals have given my instrumentals the lift they really needed.

 

Master Peo – Uppsala Sweden – October 2018

 

(listen to Peo's music on mp3unsigned.com )

 

 

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