Florida composers working together to bring Southern Rock to the Orchestra

Florida based composer David Ott, currently serving as the music director and Maestro with the Panama City POPS (in Panama City, Fl) reached out to composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist David Goldflies a few months ago to see if there was any interest in the Allman Goldflies Band performing songs from its first album release, Second Chance with the POPS.

That one question resulted in the upcoming performance of music by Gary Allman and David Goldflies (one of the former bassists of the Allman Brothers Band) along with rich orchestrations penned by composer David Ott.

The music of the Allman Goldflies Band can be heard on Spotify, Youtube, Itunes, and other digital music outlets. The performance on Oct. 13, 2018, at Sweetbay in Panama City, Fl. will result in high def video and audio recordings.

The group (AGB and the PC Pops) will also perform two Allman Brothers classics – Whipping Post and Midnight Rider. We felt that the typical classical music fans of today are made up of many of those that knew and loved the music of the 70’s and would enjoy hearing the rich sound of the orchestra with the rockin’ sound of the AGB. And for those more traditional listeners, this concert will give them the opportunity to expand their listening zeitgeist and perhaps discover a whole new way to listen to an orchestra.

Allman Goldflies Band

It’s true.  Your own website is the last one that you update. Gary Allman and I  formed the Allman Goldflies Band (AGB) about 2 1/2 years ago (February of 2016). In March of 2018, we released an album of all original music entitled “Second Chance.” We have received some great reviews and some decent airplay (and web play) We also won the LA Critics award for Best Southern Rock Band 2018.

As I finish this post we are in rehearsals for a performance with the Panama City Pops orchestra. Maestro David Ott has created orchestrations for songs from our Second Chance album as well as some classic Allman Brothers tunes – Midnight Rider and Whipping Post. The performance is set for October 13th, 2018 at Sweetbay. a new town development in Panama City, Florida. The collaboration with David Ott has been a highlight of my musical career.  It has taken me a while to not hold back on suggestions for the orchestrations he has sent for review. But he has taken my thoughts into consideration and I think the symbiosis of the AGB and the orchestra has been improved. I guess we will find out at the show!!

We are doing a four-camera shoot that night as well as a 32 track recording of the show. I’ll post some highlights of the show as soon as produce some segments.

Beyond a Song

A long time friend in Bloomington, Indiana, Rich Reardon, has a PRX program, Beyond a Song. Rich conducted an interview with me where we discussed my early bass playing career. Topics include joining the Allman Brothers Band in the late ’70s, recording the bass on the hit single Black Betty, and more. I also recall my time playing with drummer, Butch Trucks.

The show, Beyond a Song is now available online. Rich Reardin did a great job putting this together. Enjoy!

http://beyondasong.com/this-weeks-show/

Or

https://beta.prx.org/stories/199934

 

The passing of Butch Trucks.

A few days ago I heard the Butch Trucks had taken his own life. I couldn’t believe it yet there it was. I’ll never understand. I was fortunate to spend time with Butch while playing bass in his group, the Allman Brothers Band.

Butch once told me…

(I paraphrase) – Good time (in music) is important. Better not to rush or drag time in a song. But if your going to do it, it’s better to rush. When you drag you just kill all the energy in the song.

 I use that quote today with groups I play with.

 

Butch going at it in concert!

 

But what Butch said wasn’t half as important as to how he played and what I learned from him. In particular the different way to play (and feel) a shuffle. Most drummers play a decent shuffle. Butch was able to change not only the swing in a shuffle (moving the third eighth note in the triplet closer to a sixteenth note) but would simultaneously vary the gate time (note length) of the notes. The effect was a dramatic change in feel say behind a vocal (verse)  and a solo that followed. I miss playing with a drummer that is that nuanced with a shuffle.

And powerful, my god. A freight train is a great description. Solid is an understatement. Yet always musical.

Timpani and Bass. TIMPANI and BASS! Brilliant! Exciting! Unique! His whole body played the timpani and it was a dance of technique, song, and rhythm.

Bass and Timpani improvisation.
Bass and Timpani improvisation.
On the road Butch had a clear head and was frequently the voice of reason in the group. Our conversations back then were really enriching. I was pretty young and green and Butch helped me make sense of the situation I found myself in.

 

His death is really quite saddening but I celebrate the gift he gave me in allowing me to directly experience his huge talent. He will be missed and remembered.

Continuing with our drums and bass improve.
Continuing with our drums and bass improve.

All photos by Bruce Goldflies.

Such a little thing. (Mistakes, Electronic Music and Civil Rights)

I made a friend named Barbara Hemmert. She plays clarinet and bass clarinet with the Panama City POPS, which is one of the two orchestras in which I play double bass. Barbara is also the band director of 29 years at Jinks Middle school. As a result of this friendship, I became involved in creating and implementing an electronic music program for middle school students in Panama City, Florida.  And I think that my mom, who was a champion of civil and human rights, would have been proud.

I was taking an online course at Berklee School of Music in Boston to get an Ableton Live certificate.  A bit of background: Ableton Live is music production and performance software. And just to be clear, Ableton is the company; Live is the software. I had been introduced to Live a few years before,

Continue reading Such a little thing. (Mistakes, Electronic Music and Civil Rights)

Adding ambiance to an orchestra using Ableton Live

This post could also be called: An accidental study of technology and the classical musician.

Orchestral Ambiant Reverb Set-up for Ableton Live
Orchestral Ambient Reverb Set-up for Ableton Live

Recently I had the opportunity to perform an experiment using an orchestra, Ableton Live, and the convolution reverb “Spaces” by EastWest. The experiment – adding an ambient environment to the orchestra rehearsals – yielded mixed results but was a success in many ways. Continue reading Adding ambiance to an orchestra using Ableton Live

New Hope

In January of 2013 my piece entitled “New Hope” was premiered by the Panama City POPS Orchestra, Eddie Rackley conducting. This piece started out as “Remembrance”. But when we played Remembrance at rehearsal, what sounded fantastic on the composition software didn’t translate well to the live group. So a re-write was in order.

There were many happy accidents during that re-write and the piece New Hope was the result. Much more playable, full and frankly more interesting.

The premier went about as well as it could go. Don’t take my word for it. Here is the link to the video. The piece start around 4:30.

It has been a while…

I really have to update this more often. So here is what is on the stand this week,

October, 2015.

For the Panama City Pops

“Symphony in B minor” Franz Schubert

“Rosamunde Overture” Franz Schubert

“Magic Flute Overture” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“Roses from the South” Johann Strauss II

“Tritsch Tratsch Polka” Johann Strauss II

“Blue Danube Waltz” Johann Strauss II

“Carmen Quadrille” Eduard Strauss

Other music on the stand
F.Simandl – Well, the last half of the bass method anyway starting a page 64.
Bach for the Young Bass Player
Bourree – J.S. Bach
J. Harbe – 86 Etudes for the String Bass
Nouvelle Technique De La Contrebasse Books 1 – Francois RabbatH.

And finally A Contemporary Concept of bowing Technique for the Double Bass by Frederick Zimmermann.

And that is it. As you can see it is a big stand!

In Search of a Song – New Interview!

In 2012 an old friend of mine, Rich Reardin got in touch. In the mid 1980s I had recorded some music with guitarist Larry Clyman in our group “The Duo” at Rich’s studio in Bloomington, Indiana. Some of those sessions can be heard on my Soundcloud.com page.

Rich has an impressive radio show called “In Search of a Song”, where he interviews musicians of all types. He asked if I would like to do an interview on the show. It sounded good to me. Here is the link to all three parts of the interview. Enjoy!

In Search of a Song interview with David Goldflies

Remembrance – The Joy of Our Lives

Hello. I just finished tweaking a full orchestra piece called “Remembrance – The Joy of Our Lives.” At the bottom of this post you will find links to the audio on Soundcloud and a link to the full score of the piece.

In this post I wanted to talk a little bit about the process used to create this piece.

Continue reading Remembrance – The Joy of Our Lives