Single nr. 3: Cute, with David Arthur Skinner

David Skinner is an amazing musician, playing old jazz music in new ways. While taking a quick break from renovating his home, he sent me a new 5/4 version of the old standard Cute. Originally, Cute is a tune that’s famous for its drum fills, played by Jo Jones in the Count Basie Orchestra, and, notably; with brushes.

Naturally, I spent a lot of time getting comfortable in the 5/4 time signature. David and I decided that I would play the exact melody together with him during the head, but also fill the breaks in between the melody. This turned out to be super challenging for me. The melody has long notes, and requires me to hold my balance, whereas during the breaks I felt obliged to try to produce fast and intricate rhythms. Shifting gears like this was hard, but after a while I developed a set of groove steps and some more “fancy” steps that I thought fit well. I called my neighbor and drummer Ulrik Ibsen Thorsrud, and asked for some feedback.

Tips from Ulrik were:

• Be more consistent in the swing groove
• The quarter note is the most important, especially before a syncopation
• But be careful of too many heavy beats
• Incorporate some slides and small sounds in the long notes of the melody, to keep the flow
• Be intentional with the start and end of the slides

Another great insight I got was that I had had the wrong idea about the sound of my stamps. I thought they would resemble a heavy and emphasized note on the drums, but it turns out the stamps are more loud and high pitched than bassy-sounding. Really it is my heel that sounds closer to a bass drum. Adapting all of this feedback caused me to reconstruct how I tap danced the piece completely. I choreographed a whole new part, so that I could do the slides without falling, play the ghost notes and accents, and all the while shift my weight where it needed to be.

Then we went to work at Nynorskens hus, a huge ballroom with a high ceiling, beautiful paintings and chandeliers, where Norwegian folk dancers have their training and events. There were two very different floors there. On stage was a black, raked, non-slip floor, sounding quite muted. The rest of the room had a lacquered parquet floor, quite slippery, with less bass and more high frequencies. On stage my movements were more restricted, because I was more stuck to the floor, and since the sound was more muted I could dance “harder”. There were already a lot of subtle sounds in the floor, for example scraping sounds were soft and nice. On the slippery parquet floor it was easier to tap dance at speed, but the sound was also a bit high-pitched and hard. Nevertheless, when David started playing, adding all of his sounds to the room, the tap dance sound fit better and I liked how it sounded together. Also, we were physically closer, so it was easier to stay connected. Actually, the track we chose for the album was just a joke; we did it at a ridiculous speed, just for fun. Listening back to all the recordings, this one is where I’m the least exact, and many of my sounds disappear in the rush. But we decided that we like it best, because the recording bubbles with energy, interaction and fun.

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Performed by David Arthur Skinner (piano) and Janne Eraker (tap dance on a parquet floor)
Composed by Neil Hefti
Recorded by Audun Strype at Nynorskens hus
Mixed by Audun Strype

About David Arthur Skinner
David Arthur Skinner is a jazz pianist, bandleader and composer, who specializes in swing jazz and stride piano. He has released three solo piano albums based on these genres, namely Diagonal Jazz (2013), Cubistic Boogie (2015) and Skinner plays Skinner (2017), in addition to the duo album Look Both Ways (2022) with the drummer Magnus Eide. Skinner  is interested in atypical time signatures, as well as other ways to tease and confuse his audience. He has absolute control over the groove, all the while overlaying it with asymmetrical melodies and polyrhythms. Skinner also performs (usually in a regular four beats to the bar) at his own monthly jazz club “Café Society Oslo”, where the best swing dancers in town gather to dance to the music.