Scotty Böttcher and Evan Jagels have never played a composition together. They have never written music as a duo, nor played a jazz standard, nor even discussed their music, even conceptually, prior to creating it together. As a duo, they are committed to improvised music – preferring to be unconfined by the prescriptive nature of musical text. Their debut recording, however, does echo the shadows, moods, and reflections of the night. This was likely due to the fact that their parts were mostly recorded during the night, nearly 4,000 miles apart; improvised music often reflects the setting in which it was created. As something of an act of devotion to these circumstances, they named the album Night Service.
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It is only natural that Böttcher and Jagels play exclusively improvised music together. They met on January 3, 2020, just minutes before taking the stage together at Blue Note in Dresden, Germany in a concert of improvised music organized by mutual friend and saxophonist Paul Berberich, featuring Berberich on sax and flute, Johanna Summer on piano, Steffen Roth on drums, Böttcher on vibraphone, and Jagels on bass. The concert was very well received and after Jagels returned to his home in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, north of New York City, he and Böttcher remained in close touch.
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Shortly thereafter, the world was drastically changed by lockdowns, travel restrictions, and a near ban of live music. Böttcher, a native of Dresden, contacted Jagels with the idea to create an album together by sending files back and forth to one another. First, Jagels recorded improvised bass parts on both upright and a homemade electric bass. Upon hearing these, Böttcher improvised his parts on a KORG SV-1 Stage Piano and microKORG synthesizer. After, he then mixed, cut, and mastered these parts, Night Service was born.
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Evan Jagels
Bassist, Composer, Educator