Matt Traum - "James"

Published on Feb 2, 2013 PatchmanMusic·9 videos

"Matt Traum improvisation on Pat Metheny's classic "James".

I am playing the Steinerphone EWI on this. I thought I would play a little improvised version of Metheny's "James" harmonized ala Michael Brecker. This is a one-pass recording with no overdubs. The harmonizer is an Eventide Eclipse with a custom patch designed by myself being controlled in real time via foot switches.

I am playing what I call a "Hyper-EVI Steinerphone". It's the exact same model Steinerphone EWI Michael Brecker played for many years in the mid to late 1980s with Steps Ahead and on various studio sessions. This model was the first EWI that Brecker played and he took the instrument to amazing heights. This horn was hand made by the great wind controller inventor Nyle Steiner. It is an EWI (woodwind type controller)- but I have modified it internally so it fingers like an EVI (brass type controller). The horn plays incredibly well- it's the Stradivarius of wind controllers. It is hooked up to a companion synth system also designed by Steiner. In this system are two Crumar EVI synth modules and a Steiner "wood and glue" formant filter unit (which is not used in this video). Only one Crumar module is heard in this video fed into the Eventide Eclipse processor.

A little trivia on this system you see in this video: This is the actual synth unit that Doug Norwine played on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson with Melissa Manchester when she performed "La Vie En Rose" (you should be able to watch it on youtube).

Learn more about Nyle Steiner here:
http://www.patchmanmusic.com/NyleSteinerHomepage.html

Learn more about wind controllers at the Patchman Music Wind Controller FAQ:
http://www.patchmanmusic.com/WindControllerFAQ.html

If you are interested in buying a wind controller or anything relating to their use, Patchman Music is the place to go.

Matt Traum
Patchman Music
http://www.patchmanmusic.com"