How long have you guys been doing Shortwave?
John S. Levis: We've been working together as an ensemble for about a year, but we only started taking it in this direction over the last month or so.
"This direction" meaning?
JSL: We've always been doing open-ended improvisation, but in association with dance. We're taking that and going in a different direction, more open and free-form.
Does Shortwave play out a lot?
Tim Motzer: (laughs) This is our world premiere, actually.
What do you guys do when you're not doing Shortwave?
TM: Well, actually, I do a lot of things, a lot of R&B work. I do a lot of recording work. I've been playing with Kenny Latimore, who's an R&B singer for Columbia Records, touring around a bit with that. I'm also in a group called "Jazzheads", an acid jazz group that plays around the tri-state area.
JSL: I work at the University of the Arts as an accompanist and composer for the dance department. I compose, I have a small studio that I work in, that's basically what I'm occupied with full time. Composing, playing the piano.
What kinds of music are you doing these days besides improvisation? What kinds of music are influencing you?
JSL: Well, the stuff that I do at work is classically-based. Because of the dance vocabulary I work with, there is a set structure to things. I improvise a lot within that structure. That's more influenced by classical, Romantic music, but also by "modern" music. I bring all those influences into my work. Shortwave is exploring another side. I think we all come from different backgrounds, and I think that's what makes us interesting. We each come from a different direction. It's been very interesting to work in this way, to deal with texture, and color, and then also things that sort of emerge and happen spontaneously. It's an extension and another aspect of what each of us does individually.
Jim Hamilton: I have a recording studio. I work with various types of ensembles, everything ranging from R&B to whatever. Shortwave is more of a combination of all the things I've been doing over the years, really. Shortwave represents a combination of all different kinds of music. As a result it's kind of like no kind of music at all. It's a new thing, a blending.
So am I going to hear you play some R&B stuff during tonight's performance?
JH: Probably not.
So you worked with Boyz II Men?
JH: I worked with Boyz II Men for a long time, with a band that did the live performances, touring. We did do some studio stuff, recording backing tracks for TV appearances.
Shortwave is sort of a statement, but it's also a process. It's a way of amalgamating all these things that we hear. Hopefully it will be successful.