The
Story of Lobster
Leaps In
In 1988, the Microscopic Septet recorded Beauty Based on
Science (The Visit) for Stash Records, a label mostly known
for such novelty albums as Reefer Madness and Sissy
Boy Blues. We were playing regularly around New York, and
occasionally touring the United States and Europe.
As a reviewer wrote, we were “New York’s most
famous unknown band” and it seemed that everything was about
to happen for us. We were selling out Friday and Saturday nights at the
old Knitting Factory regularly, playing big concerts like Town Hall,
the JVC Jazz Festival and Lincoln Center, and were being sniffed around
by the major labels. For the next few years, it seemed we were always
on the verge of being signed to a major label and on the road to the
Big Time. We took meetings, did private auditions, and were
glad-handed. But somehow at the last minute things would always fall
through. One week we’d be about to sign on the dotted line,
the next week the executive who was about to sign us wouldn’t
be working at that label anymore; with no explanation there was no more
interest in us.
This went on for five years, with us not recording for another small
label, because it seemed we were always just about to be signed to a
big one. Yet all the while we were playing regularly to a loyal
following, and constantly rehearsing and performing new material. When
I finally decided that the record deal was never coming, and decided to
do some different things, we folded down with 180 tunes in the Micros
book, of which we had recorded on our four LPs about 35.
If you've bought the Cuneiform reissues, which contain the music from
all of our LPs, plus some previously unissued material, and read the
liner notes, you will have heard about these 180 tunes. I will be the
first to admit that not every one of these 180 tunes is a full blown
sui generis Micros masterpiece on the level of “The Lobster
Parade” or “The Waltz of the Recently Punished
Catholic School Boys.” Contained within these 180 tunes are:
1) Tunes written (or adapted) by other people for the Micros which
never made into our repertoire because they didn't really fit in with
the rest of our material. They were well-intentioned, but we
didn’t sound good playing them. Some examples:
“Samba di Hiccup” by Guy Klucevsek, “The
Ridge, The Bridge, The Kid” by Bill Horvitz,
“#3” by Mikel Rouse, and “Waffle
Tune” by David Simons.
2) Arrangements of tunes by Thelonious Monk. Monk was probably the
seminal composer for both Joel Forrester and I, and his work was at the
heart of everything we did. We performed our arrangements of his tunes
for years, though the only one we ever recorded was Joel's arrangement
of “Crepuscule for Nellie” (originally on Off
Beat
Glory). Others in our repertoire included: “Worry
Later,” “Misterioso,”
“Brilliant Corners,” “Bye-Ya,”
“Evidence,” “Off Minor,” some
of which we performed at most gigs.
3) Tunes by Bob Montalto. Bob Montalto, for those who don't know, is a
legendary pianist and composer who has lived for years in a kind of
half-hearted self-exile in Athens, Ohio. He used to live in New York.
We recorded one of his tunes, “The Dill Pickle
Tango,” on Beauty Based on Science, and
two others,
“Bee Beep “and “Party at PJs,”
are on Seven
Men in Neckties, out-takes from Let's
Flip! We once
presented an evening of Bob's music at the Village Gate in New York,
featuring Bob at the piano. We easily have a CD's worth of Bob Montalto
tunes. Among the tunes that we performed often but never record are
“Bob's Perfect Waltz,” “The Neanderthal
Strut” and “Bob's Popular Tango.” Among
the tunes we rarely performed were “A Religious
Experience,” “Weary Samba,” and
“Steak & Jelly Beans.”
4) Arrangements by John Zorn, our original alto player, from the early
days of the band. These were not original tunes, but his idiosyncratic
arrangements of various music for which he had enthusiasms at the time.
The most oft-played and well-known at the time was his arrangement of
“Tico Tico,” but the list also includes, among
others, Sonny Clark’s “Nica” and
“Eastern Incident” and the theme from
“The Barney Miller Show.”
5) Tunes of mine that I became disenchanted with. I have a habit of
falling out of love with stuff I write and discarding it. These include
tunes like “Obeying The Chemicals,”
“Ex-Manager Rhythm,” “The Four Just
Men,” among others.
6) Micros “blowing tunes” – these were
perfectly good tunes, mostly by Joel, but also by me, that had simpler
arrangements than the tunes we recorded. We played these more like
conventional jazz tunes; in-head, solos, out-head. These were heard at
the many three-set-a-night gigs we played regularly (this alone shows
how long ago it was) and we used them to stretch out a little more. A
few examples: “Dimwit,”
“Teddy’s True Life Blues,” “Sky
Channel,” “I Missed You In Montreal.”
7) Joel’s vocal tunes. Other than the short band
“shout” vocals on tunes like
“Let’s Flip!” and “Hey
Wayne,” there were tunes with full vocals, the only recorded
example of which is “You Know What You Know,” which
appears on Surrealistic Swing. Others include
“You’re So Nice,” “There You
Are,” “Feeling Lifelike,” and
“Plain Sailin’.
8) Additional miscellany, which included my arrangement of Joe
Liggins’s “I’ve Got A Right To
Cry” (with vocal by Dave Sewelson); “Queen
Mary,” a folk tune half-remembered by Dennis Charles and
transcribed by Joel Forrester; and a bi-tonal arrangement of
“Auld Lange Syne.”
Finally, there were many, many tunes which were just as good, just as
complex, just as whacked out as the tunes we recorded on our records.
There were just more of them.
Which brings me to our new recording, Lobster Leaps In.
After finally
realizing my dream of getting the Micros LPs issued on CD (Seven
Men in Neckties
& Surrealistic
Swing
),
and our successful reunion
concerts, the next Micros-related idea that occurred to me was to
record some of the tunes from this list of 180. While it was clear that
we would never be able to match the tightness we had in the
‘80s when we were playing regularly, often every week for
months at a time, I hoped that the wisdom and experience of age, and
our enthusiasm for being together again, might at least partially
compensate. Joel and I negotiated a list of tunes, we rehearsed, did a
week of one-nighters in Europe, came back and played in New York on a
night of some of the worst weather of the year, and went into the
studio the next day.
For Lobster
Leaps In
we recorded a set of
tunes
that we had honed over
years on the road and at home, beginning with Wayne Horvitz’s
“Night Train Express,” a tune that we opened gigs
with for years. It included popular favourites like “Got
Lucky,” “Lobster Leaps In,” &
“Almost Right,” some of which dated from the early
years of the Micros, as well as a few less well-known tunes from the
later years, such as Joel’s “Lies “and
“The Big Squeeze.”
Again, I will be the first to admit that not everything on that list of
180 would be of interest to any but the most obsessive completist. But
there are probably at least a few more pretty good CDs in there,
including, but not limited to, The Micros play Monk,
The Micros Sing!
(well, maybe better not) and The Micros play Montalto.
Phillip
Johnston, 9 Sep 2008
So, from the Dept. of Dirty Underwear, here are a few lo-fi samples,
live recordings transferred from cassette, from those heady days.
The Micros play:
"Tico Tico," composed by Zequina Abrew, arranged by John Zorn,
recorded
live at Folk City, NYC, July 7, 1982.
Listen to Tico Tico
"There You Are," composed by Joel Forrester, featuring himself on
vocals,
recorded
live at Folk City, NYC, July 7, 1982.
Listen to There You Are
"I've Got A Right To Cry," composed by Joe Liggins, adapted by Phillip
Johnston
from the original Joe Liggins & the Honeydrippers
recording,
copying it more or less exactly, including the solos.
recorded
live at Folk City, NYC, July 7, 1982.
Listen to I've Got A Right To
Cry
"Misterioso," composed by Thelonious Monk, arranged by Phillip
Johnston,
recorded
live at The Knitting Factory, NYC, Nov 23 7, 1991.
Listen to Misterioso
Order Lobster
Leaps In from
Cuneiform
Records
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Photos of the Micros performing live at Radio Bremen in 2007 by
Christine Meyer