Mystery & Intimacy: The Choir Invisible Speaks
Clockwise from top left: Chris Tordini, Charlotte Greve, Vinnie Sperrazza. Photo by Desmond White.
by Sarah Thomas
Releasing their long-awaited second album on February 16th, The Choir Invisible presents their album release show at The Jazz Gallery this Thursday, February 29. Featuring special guest vocalist Fay Victor, the group explores openness in their new compositions for this album. We caught up with the group last week to talk about their growth as a trio, the process of recording to tape, and what excites them about this new music.
The Jazz Gallery: You have your album release show coming up at the Gallery. Last time we spoke, Chris, you mentioned that this album was coming up, so I’m excited to talk to you all now that it’s here! What were some of your goals for Town of Two Faces as The Choir Invisible’s second album?
Charlotte Greve: Between the first and second record, we grew a lot as a band. On our shows, we started choosing a tempo and then improvising songs. For me, that changed the whole dynamic of the band. It made this record more fluid and exciting, and more connected in many ways than in the first record. We were also a pretty new band at that point. Playing these more open pieces that still held a pulse and a groove really helped us come together as a trio.
In the studio we recorded on tape, which was a new thing for us. That also meant we didn’t have a lot of time. We just did a half day of recording in about six hours, or maybe even less. It was such a special experience to go into the studio very fearless knowing that we had such limited time. We really felt the connection even in the time crunch.
TJG: What about you, Chris?
Chris Tordini: To jump on what Charlotte was saying, I feel like our band now has a clear identity in terms of what we sound like and what we're aiming for, whereas for the first record we were just bringing in whatever pieces we had. We would do sessions at first and just try things out. I brought in tunes I hadn't written with anybody in particular in mind, and that maybe weren't even the best for trio. But I wanted to see how they sounded. For me, that's how our first record is. I like our first record, but we didn't have as clear of an identity at that point.
But then I actually wrote some songs pretty specifically—like what Charlotte was talking about with more open playing. Two of the songs I wrote for the second record are open in a way that I thought fit the voice of the band. So we're leaning into that identity a little bit.
TJG: And you, Vinnie?
Vinnie Sperrazza: One of the other parts of the agenda was to slightly expand our parameters by adding a fourth person. A bunch of names were batted around and all of them were interesting. But the way it worked out was that Fay Victor joined us, which I think was the best possible outcome. Also, having Charlotte singing was another expansion of the band.
TJG: What made you decide to record on tape for this record?
VS: I remember it as Charlotte’s idea. I have some experience doing that, and I much prefer it. The stakes are a little higher and it's just a nicer process in many ways.
CT: Yeah, I think it was Charlotte’s idea because she had been working at The Bunker recording to tape on another record. Charlotte, you were saying how you like the sound and I agree. It's this really nebulous thing when people talk about the sound of recording to tape, but I do believe there's a real difference. Even though after you record to tape it's pushed to Pro Tools then put on a CD, I still think you can hear a difference in the sound quality. For me as a bassist, I particularly noticed a difference in the bass sound, even though it's been taken far away from that analog format by the end.
VS: I just have a different attitude about the playing, knowing that it's going to be on tape and we're going to try not to edit much. We're going to try to make this real. Those are the kinds of games I like to play when I'm recording. It's a way to psyche myself out of the nerves of recording because I know we have limited time.
CG: I agree with both things—the sound and the process. I had never heard that type of sound until I first recorded to tape at The Bunker for Chris Morrissey’s record. I was like, “Whoah! This is how I sound!” I didn't know that was possible to capture. It sounded better than how I hear it live.
And like Vinnie was saying, the attitude and the energy of the three of us was so different. I think when you know you’re not going to do three takes in a row, it’s really like a concert mindset. For our music especially, and having played a lot together and knowing each other so well, that was a good fit. I don't think you can do that with every band or setup, necessarily, but for us it felt really good.
TJG: Fay Victor was a guest on your track, “In Heaven.” How did that come about and what was your process like working with her?
VS: It's very hazy to me. We were all throwing out names, and Chris said, “Hey, what about Fay Victor?” We were like, “Oh. That would be perfect.” I don't know how we got to that specific tune. We're always talking about movies. Anyone else remember?
CT: Well, I think once someone floated the idea of having a guest vocalist instead of an instrumentalist of another kind, I thought of Fay. We had been playing “In Heaven,” already as a band without vocals, and I could immediately hear how that would sound and that it would be a very interesting way to go.
VS: And what an honor to be playing music with Fay. We're all big fans.
CG: Yes, totally. That song is from the David Lynch movie Eraserhead in the scene, “Lady in the Radiator.” I watched it in the pandemic and I was so in love with the weirdness of the movie. All three of us share a mutual love for David Lynch's aesthetic.
That song fit our trio so well already, and when Fay came to the studio I could not believe the way she recorded it. She did two takes. They were both perfect. She just kind of walked in like, “Cool, ready?” The soundcheck took five minutes and she was like, “Let's do it!” It was the most expressive and creative approach to the moment and I couldn’t believe it. She was in and out of there in thirty minutes.
The night before, Fay played with us at Barbés. We told her the key of the song and she was like, “Cool,” and played with us. That was our only time playing together before the studio. Our second time was the first take, which is the version that made it on the record. I was so impressed. The focus was just different.
CT: Also, we kind of take it for granted that she's going to come in and sing this. But she's singing it with a chord-less band. I'm playing double stops and stuff, but it's not the easiest thing in the world to just come in and sing so well over this combination of instruments.
VS: That just speaks to the amazing musician that Fay is. That recording isn’t an overdub or anything. That's raw. That's exactly what happened on the record.
TJG: You talked a little bit about how the tunes on this record are more open than on your first one. I'd love to hear more about what your writing process was for these tunes. Were they written individually or collaboratively?
VS: There was some collaborative arranging, but they were written individually. I know for the pieces I wrote, I thought it was like they were auditioning for the band. They passed the audition, and we recorded them. Now I wish I'd done some things a little differently, so in our shows coming up we'll play them in a new way. That's my writing process.
CT: I'd say about half of the songs on the record were ones that we have been playing in one form or another for a while. But the other half are ones that we wrote for the record. So we all started to bring in a couple of tunes and rehearse them. It's very evenly distributed. It's three originals from each of us and the one cover with Fay.
CG: One song I brought in happened in a way I have always wished it would happen in the past. Sometimes we get together to rehearse or just to play together, and we improvise either to a tempo or nothing at all—just an open improvisation. And oftentimes these improvisations sounded like complete pieces to me. Every time this happened, none of us recorded the rehearsal.
But once I recorded one of our improvisations and I made a piece out of it. It's the song, “Sustained Imagination.” I have a voice memo of that piece fully improvised, and although I cut a couple of things, the song is basically a transcription of the improvisation we did.
I wrote the one song I'm singing on during a phase where I tried to write a song every day for a week. There were a bunch that I didn't really like, but this one was pretty good. It was also the favorite song of one of my best friend’s 4-year-old. She always asked me to play it again. But at the time, I had no band that I could play it with and I didn't want to play it solo. When I brought it to the trio, I remember Vinnie said, “I was born to play this song.” So I was like, “I guess we’re keeping it.”
TJG: What is it that excites you most about getting this music out into the world?
VS: For me, everything. To be making sounds with Chris and Charlotte in real time is so great. I'll go anywhere to do that. So that’s the basic thing—just to be together playing music is a great honor and a great privilege, no matter what the circumstances are.
Then, more specifically, we're going to share with our audience all the progress we've made together creating our own sound. We're much more in our own zone now, and that's a result of hard work and the great musicianship and talent of Chris and Charlotte.
CG: I went back to the old record because we might play a couple of songs off of that when we go on tour in Europe. It's good, but it's not as intimately connected to me as the current record is. There's a lot of depth and intimacy in the playing when we play very soft, or when we play very loud. What I'm excited about is the interconnectedness of the three voices and trusting that.
Especially in the open tunes, we're trusting that we're going to tell a story now for the next five minutes or so. I'm excited that that came out on the record, because oftentimes that can happen on stage but not really in the studio. But it was a more fearless record, whereas I remember I was not very fearless in the first recording. I was also very insecure on the horn and with everything at that point. But with this one, we all really went for it which I'm excited to share.
CT: I'll just add that our first record came out in the height of the pandemic. Our release date was August 2020 and we had a CD release show at Barbés to no one. It was a streaming show and we were in there by ourselves. It was very sad. So I'm very happy that this time around we have a proper release, and it could not happen in a better place than The Jazz Gallery.
TJG: Are there other things coming up you’d like folks to know about?
VS: Well, we're honored to be at The Jazz Gallery on February 29, and we are going to be in Europe in the last week of April. Charlotte, can you say where those shows are?
CG: We have four shows in Europe. Three of them are in Germany—in Nürnberg, Berlin, and Cologne. Then we play one or two shows in Switzerland at Bird’s Eye in Basil. Our next show in New York will be on May 16 at The Owl Music Parlor in Brooklyn. It’s a double bill with Grey McMurray, which I'm also very excited about.
The Choir Invisible plays The Jazz Gallery on Thursday, February 29 for their Town of Two Faces album release. The group features Vincent Sperrazza on drums, Charlotte Greve on sax & vocals, Chris Tordini on bass, and guest Fay Victor on vocals. Sets are at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. ET. $25 general admission ($15 for members), $35 cabaret seating ($20 for members), $20 Livestream ($5 for members). Purchase tickets here.