"I have a basic mechanical knowledge of the operation of the instrument, and I got an imagination, and when the time comes up in the song to play a solo it's me against the laws of nature. I don't know what I'm going to play, I don't know what I'm going to do. I know roughly how long I have to play it, and it's a game, where you have a piece of time and you get to decorate it." - Frank Zappa
Decorating Time
I'm James Gilmore, a guitarist from North Carolina. In January 2020 I recorded a trio album of my own original music with Kassem Williams and Butler Knowles. We are raising funds to pay for the production and release of the record, which I'm calling Decorating Time.
This record is a product of our individual and joint musical identities, forged in central North Carolina's fertile musical environment. When I met Kassem and Butler at jam sessions at The Shed, a short-lived but important venue in Durham, I had an injury that prevented me from playing for about a year and a half. During this time I listened to music constantly and intensely, sometimes listening to only one record for a period of one or two weeks. Especially on repeat were 'big' sounding albums, music with lots of space, like Sonny Rollins' epic Live at The Village Vanguard and Miles Davis' complete Live at The Plugged Nickel. I also transcribed, composed, and explored meditation and other ways to deal mentally and emotionally with the fact that I could not play. What emerged from this time, after an eventual surgery and return to playing, were the pieces of a new relationship with music, as well as a number of compositions that eventually morphed into this musical document, Decorating Time.
The music is not mine, though. The group and the songs evolved to fit one another, and right now I can't imagine playing it with anyone but Butler and Kassem: I love everything they did on this record and I think you will love it too.
Kris Hilbert was a gift to this group. Plenty of engineers and musicians know about him already: I hope more musicians in this vein will seek him out.
Enjoy the pitch video by Kassem Williams / Hodari Productions. All the still photos are by Daniel White.
The CD and visual materials related to the record will feature photos of amazing artworks by Jenna Schwartz. The photos of her work were taken by Harrison Haynes, and they are works of art in their own right!