Jazz requires a keen ear and a loose interpretation of the rules allowing the artists to play off one another for pure improvisation. Jazz is a conversation.
That’s why the Columbus-based jazz duo The Knots decided to face each other from behind their respective drum kit and L-shaped keyboard-piano combo when they joined The Post for Athens Sessions back in January. The duo does a lot to experiment with various sounds, both natural and electronic, switching between a Yeezus-like bass sound on the keyboard and the frantic high-pitched strike of the hammer on the piano’s strings.
You can see The Knots perform two of their original songs at thepost.ohiou.edu.
We sat down with the Ohio University graduates to discuss their days on campus and the new sound they are trying to make for a college crowd that might not always rank jazz among their favorite genres.
The Post: Did your years at OU help prepare you for this project like this?
Troy Kunkler: Yeah, definitely that’s how me and Caleb met.
Caleb Miller: Yeah, that’s how we were influenced to where we are today.
TK: Right in the same dorm.
CM: Freshman year, then four years after that we did this.
TK: I never really played with Caleb that much in school this has just happened since we graduated.
CM: Very recently … this past fall is when the idea came together and now we’ve really just started pushing for it.
The songs you’ve played for us are all original tunes, correct?
TK: Yeah, we also have some covers. We have Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear and Blink 182.
CM: A lot of indie rock bands.
How does that translate to piano and drums in a jazz setting?
CM: I think pretty well. We change some of the other aspects of it that maybe it’s not totally clear. We’ll change the harmony, change the meter, change the tempo, so maybe it’s in the sky, it’s not direct.
TK: It’s more like a lullaby version of the original tune. … I think one of the important things about covering popular newer tunes like that is that until lately jazz standards have been tunes that were originally recorded in the ‘20s and ‘30s and ‘40s — the great American songbook. We’re just taking the tunes of our time, which one of our favorite groups The Bad Plus has been doing with songs from their generation.
Your setup today is the two of you facing each other, can you tell us why you chose that arrangement?
CM: There’s only two of us, so I think it’s the most direct to have this type of communication when you’re able to see each other. A lot of our communication is unspoken because we’re not using words per se. So maybe the height of my hands…
TK: If I can see his hands I know what he’s doing.
CM: I can cue things that way, he can cue things that way and it allows us more control when we’re facing this way, you don’t have to strain yourself.
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