"Two In One"

By Richard Mills

"I run into a lot of jazzers who think of me as a rocker and rockers who think of me as a jazzer," says the long-time Atlanta music scene veteran who, in addition to his solos endeavors, also plays with the Tone Poets. "I certainly borrow from rock and there's a groove element to it from having played with funk bands, but harmonically, jazz plays a big role in it. The term I came up with was electric jazz, but it's kind of hard to describe you own thing." 

Tisdale recorded the predominately instrumental CD over the past year at 7th Heaven Studio in Norcross, producing and financing it himself. The self-made approach allowed him the freedom to pursue the variety and original style he might not have had with a record label. 

"Understandable, a lot of record companies want to pigeon-hole you. I didn't want to do that, at least this first time around," he explains. "I wanted to do it on my own terms. There's a little variety on there; that's how I am. To some people it's not jazz, to some people it's totally jazz. I don't care. People can call it what they want. TO me it's just music of mine that I'm trying to get out and see what kind of response I get." 

On the album, there is a number of rock, funk, and blues pieces which use interesting shifts of keys and modes over which Tisdale delivers clean rock-inflected but jazz-oriented fret work. 

There are also two vocal songs. The contemporary ballad, "Let Go," which was co-written by and features Michael Meredith, who sings with Rupert's Orchestra. The ballad "You" features over-dubbed vocals by Michelle Malone, who will perform with Tisdale's band at the CD release party. 

One way Tisdale combines rock and jazz elements is through his guitar tone. "I play with a rock tone," he explains. "I love the sound of Wes Montgomery - a real clean, fat sound. But, having been really influenced by rock, I thought it would be really cool to combine those things - being able to bend strings - almost more of a horn like thing." 

Tisdale's interest in combining rock and jazz springs from his background. Born in Atlanta, he grew up on a south Georgia farm where he began playing guitar, influenced by rock groups like Queen and Led Zepplin. He studied classical guitar for a year at Clayton College and then decided to study in LA at the famous Guitar Institute of Technology. It was there that he got his first jazz training and exposure. 

"For a country boy like me it was overwhelming because there were so many great players and so many styles, but I did go out and work really hard. Prior to that, I was interested in jazz but I didn't really know anything about it. I think it was a desire to try and learn more. I felt like I needed to at least explore these other types of music and see what I could extract from them." 

After his studies in LA, he returned to Atlanta where he has played and recorded with several well known Atlanta musicians over the past several years, including Bruce Hampton, Caroline Aiken, Kristin Hall, and Nancee Kahler. He appeared on Hall's CD, Fact & Fiction (on Amy Ray's Daemon Records) and on Nancee Kahler and Open the Sky's Songs Without Words, both of which received favorable national reviews. 

Working with these various writers has inspired him in his own project. "I played with those people because I liked their songwriting. I like what they were about - the fact that they were offering things to people that I thought were very valid and very good music. Hopefully, it's influenced me to some degree in my own writing." 

Although his tunes are mainly instrumental, Tisdale is committed to having them be approachable. "I'm not really interested in playing for a bunch of musicians. I want people who aren't musicians to like it too. I don't want to be considered just a blowing guitar player; I want people to like the songs. I really tried to write songs with melodies that can get in your head." 

In addition, Tisdale tries for each piece to create a specific feeling. "I tend to call a lot of my pieces mood pieces because they create a little mood for 3 or 4 minutes. With vocal songs you can convey everything with just lyrics; in instrumental stuff that's harder to do." 

Of course, none of the current industry labels really fit his music. "It's not fusion - by the way, I hate that word because it's got the impression of fast and cold. It was a tag put onto that combination of rock and jazz and it is a sensible name, but it's always had a negative connotation." 

He also discounts other labels usually applied to contemporary instrumental music. "That whole instrumental thing - the New Age thing - rubs me wrong. The idea to have something in the background. I'd rather people would check it out or turn it off - I'm not into elevator music much." 

On the CD, Tisdale used a number of skilled Atlanta musicians he has played with over the years. However, he now plans to push his solo project by playing live with his newly formed group which consists or himself, Todd Smalley, bass, Bill Shirk, drums, and Joshua Butler, keyboards. In addition to the CD release, the band will play at the Dogwood Festival April 18 and Tisdale plans for them to travel as well. 

Regarding the possible reception of his music he says. "The Atlanta scene's been really cool. It seems you have two types of people: the rocking thing like with Drivin-N-Cryin'; and the acoustic scene. But this is a different type from either one of those things and I'd like to find some kind of road that I could go down with this type. There's not many bands around doing it. 

:I think the Aquarium Rescue Unit was very good for the progressive scene here," he says. "I think they're living proof that the progressive sound can definitely thrive - there is an audience for it. I don't know how much of a jazz audience there is. We'll have to see." 

The CD has already gotten radio airplay on such diverse stations as WCLK, 96 Rock, and WRAS. Tisdale hopes to use the CD to attract a record company to finance another project later this year. 

Finally, he sees this project as just another step in his creative process. "I'm not doing it to be different, it's just how I am. Time will tell how much of an audience there it, but I'm not interested in playing just for Atlanta, I'm interested in branching out. I've got so far to get to where I want to get, like any true musician; who is never really happy with they are musically."