Nigel Sifantus » Jazz

“After-Math”: a video dedicated to the internal and external volatility of the recent past

Nigel — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 05:41:25 +0000

Challenges and how we respond to them is large part of what makes us who we are. Of course everyone knows the cliché of “with crisis comes opportunity” but just what that opportunity is and how to execute it to its fullest potential is not always as clear cut. From an internal perspective the recent past has been filled with crises large and small that have resulted in improved situations, more complete understanding of those situations, creative inspiration and productivity. However, it was impossible without the cost of exhaustion, disappointment, and unpredictable levels of distress. This internal struggle has been reflected in the world at large with earthquakes, oil spills, economic and political upheaval, all of which have caused major shocks to the system for me personally as well as all else involved both directly and indirectly. All of these crises are at this moment determining what will happen with our lives and the world. Will we make the most of it? I feel like I have in my personal life but it took a lot of acceptance and action on things that were not ever easy. None of the world’s problems now are in any way easy either and I wonder if we humans as a collective have the guts to address them. I have seen too many individuals choose inaction over difficult choices with depressing results. When people work together they are capable of the most amazing as well as terrifyingly manipulative things. I hope that we can stand up to these challenges and restore a much needed combination of reason and fortitude to tackle what has occurred, and what has yet to come in 2011.

The Vault has been opened!

Nigel — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 22:05:11 +0000

During my days in NYC from when I arrived in1998 until around 2005, I used to constantly travel with my mini disc player and audio-technica stereo microphone to capture every bit of my musical life. I recorded everything from amazing class rehearsals at the New School University with some of the most amazing and diverse musicians I had the fortune to collaborate with, live performances with all my bands of the time (Spaceship, Sevenseventeen, Grandfather Ridiculous, L Maestro Presents), and other random concerts and jam sessions. I kept piling up a collection of these discs, some neatly labeled, some not at all, and usually used them to listen to once and analyze what I had just done for musical education purposes. Even though I generally cast them aside in a box, I knew that at some point I would have to revisit this material.

Well at this point the Mini-Disk player is a technology of the past, my disks had been collecting dust for years, and my last working player long been busted from carrying it in my stick bag where ever I went. Recently I opened this box and knew I had to dive in but first I had to get a hold of a player. Enter the wonders of eBay and the next thing I knew I had a great component player for around $40 and I was off and running.

This post is an initial collection of my findings. I’ve got some great vintage Grandfather Ridiculous performances, jazz sessions with some amazing students I was going to school with at the time including Marcus Strickland, John Lee, Richard Cruz, Reid Taylor, Joe Ashlar and others, and some live performances I have re-mixed that I had totally forgotten about.

Enjoy and check back later for more choice additions.

Nigel Sifantus – “The Vault” Recordings from 1999-2005 by Progtronica

Spooky Halloween classic: "Exoskeleton" Live in philly 10/27/07

Nigel — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:32:49 +0000

I figured this was the perfect time to revisit this classic video taken at a Halloween gig 2 years ago with New School University “Super Group” Exoskeleton which features Aaron Dugan on guitar (sevenseventeen, Matisyahu, guitar god in the making) Jason Fraticelli on Bass (Cell theory, L Maestro Presents, Grandfather, and 2/3rds of all other bands out of Philly) Brian Marsella on keys (caveman, beat the donkey, the Flail and my old “super trio’s class with Lee Anne Ledgerwood) and myself on drums. The band name was inspired by the Halloween party scene in “the Karate Kid” where the Cobra Kai kids all had on matching “exoskeleton” costumes when they beat up Daniel son. When we got the opportunity to actually play on Halloween, we decided to make a theme of it and dress in costumes as close as we could find to the ones in the movie and improvise a new soundtrack to the “Karate Kid” while the music was playing in the background.

Warning… This is some pretty weird wild stuff and the sound quality is not the greatest but it is amusing none the less. What we learned from the night is that the “karate Kid is actually kind of a long movie when you try to play continuously throughout. Once the fight scene in the end came up we were pretty much exhausted.

Happy Halloween!!!!

The Cell Theory @the Blue Note "Altered States"

Nigel — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:57:35 +0000

In the midst of moving, I haven’t been able to post any of the new stuff I have been working on, but I did come across this gem from a Cell Theory Show with Taylor McFerrin and Jason Fraticelli at the Blue Note a couple of years ago. This song, at the time called “Altered States” later was rearranged and became the title track to our EP which came out last year “Memory is Energy” (and is available on iTunes). About 3 minutes into this song we get into this deep Pink Floyd/DJ Shadow thing which was a classic performance.
Now that the move is nearly over, I have some new stuff that will really blow your mind. But for now enjoy!