From the inception of a musical idea, through the recording process and live performance, this short documentary tells the story Jeff Pifher and his band Socrates' Trial and their idea of what jazz can be today.
About The Music
From the Producer...
While jazz is America's true original art form, this music is highly underrepresented and often disregarded because it may be viewed as too complicated, lacking melody or steady rhythm like a dance beat, and less accessible because it is often completely instrumental. Jazz music provides a rich and colorful pallet open for interpretation. It is unique in its sameness to open a dialogue—a dialogue that only jazz can have with its creators and audience. It is my hope that a look inside the creative process and interactions between a cast of real characters passionate about this music will help expand the jazz and improvised music audience as well as begin to break down negative stigmas and stereotypes long held in place.
The Music...
Several music genres inspired this project: classical, rock, pop, and jazz. In particular, music for film has caught my ear because of its often soaring melodies and more accessible harmonic approach. I wanted to find a way to incorporate these qualities along with improvisation and the jazz language. When people ask me to describe my music, I tell them it's "cinematic jazz". This music has the strong melodic and storytelling qualities that you often hear in film scores or soundtracks but with the long improvised solos we often associate with jazz. It's really programmatic music similar in concept to what composers like Berlioz have done. There are clear themes and story-lines. For this record I took many of the qualities that we hear in rock anthems and adapted them to fit the sound of this band as well as a string orchestra.
This third studio album with my band Socrates’ Trial entitled Anthem is a 60 minute suite that tells a story. All of the tracks combine to make one continuous piece of music. I chose the Declaration of Independence as inspiration. This music follows the historical document's pronouncement for freedom, culminating in its call to set in place "new guards". Many of the titles are taken directly from the text in the document. There are musical transitions featuring different band members between each movement.
I like to think of an anthem as a form of folk music; music that stems from popular culture and influences. Anthems are songs of importance to a particular group of people or culture.
With these ideas in mind, this record represents my anthem.
-Jeff Pifher (September 2019)
Production Credits
Directed by Alexander Craven
Executive Producer: Jeff Pifher
Producer, Director of Photography, Editor: Merlin Showalter
Editor, Graphics, Coloring, Camera Operator: Daniel Riser
Anthem Mixing: Jason LaRocca
Engineer: Brendan Dekora
Live at Bluewhale Mixing: Brad Cobb
Engineer: Brad Cobb
Anthem Mastering: Justin Perkins
Live at Bluewhale Mastering: Justin Perkins
Mixing and Mastering for Picture: Nathan Alef
Camera Operators: Alejandro Echevarria, Dijon Herron, John Wilbers, Ricky Chavez, Issac Park
Camera Assistant: Michael Justin // Jib Operator: Dijon Herron // Additional footage: James Cooper
Performance Credits
Jeff Pifher (tenor saxophone), Colin Cook (electric guitar), Misha Bigos (piano and keyboards),
Eric England (electric bass), Corey Covertone (drums), Ian Wurfl (percussion)
Harlan Hodges: String Arrangements and Conductor
Megan Shung: Concertmaster
Featured Compositions:
“Anthem”, “Prudence”, “For The Rectitude Of Our Intentions”, “New Guards” Anthem (2019)
Composer: Jeff Pifher, String Arrangements: Harlan Hodges
“Equal Station” featuring Corey Coverstone, Anthem (2019)
Modular Synthesizers: Rene´ G. Boscio
“Homage” Anthem (2019)
Composer: Jeff Pifher
“Patience” featuring Misha Bigos, Anthem (2019)
“Anthem” Live At Bluewhale (2019)
Composer: Jeff Pifher, String Arrangements: Harlan Hodges
Production Biographies
ALEXANDER CRAVEN (Director)
Alex’s passion for film began at a young age, watching black & white movies while his grandfather, a jazz musician, practiced every night. His credits include narrative films, commercials, tour management, and helping start a nationwide independent IP-TV network. Heavily influenced by pre-sixties and international cinema, he's interested in cross-genre suspense stories which explore modern identity and relationships.
JEFF PIFHER (Executive Producer)
Jeff is an award-winning instrumentalist, composer, and producer. Recently he has received wide recognition with the release of the short documentary In the Same Direction: Jeff Pifher & Socrates' Trial (2020) which chronicles Jeff and his band's latest projects. With his band, Socrates’ Trial, he has released three studio recordings and one live recording since 2018: Socrates’ Trial (2018), Alternate Futures/Past Realities (2019), Anthem (2019), and Live at Bluewhale (2020). Pifher’s original compositions were inspired by the sounds of both classical and jazz legends as well as his desire to transform rhythms into melodies that tell a story. The influence of rock, pop, and even classical sounds on band members, combined with jazz roots as reflected in extended improvisations result in an expressive yet cohesive playing style that makes for a memorable and entertaining audience experience. Members of Socrates’ Trial have performed with: Jacob Collier, Charlie Puth, Chris Bullock (Snarky Puppy), Bob Mintzer, and played on NBC’s “The Voice”.
Socrates' Trial has performed at several notable Los Angeles venues including bluewhale, Lighthouse Cafe, and Vibrato Grill. They have also played outdoor festivals in and around the Los Angeles area. Socrates' Trial is currently in residency at the venue TR!P Santa Monica.
Jeff has received degrees from Eastman School of Music (B.M., ’07) and University of Miami (M.M., ’11) as well as a certificate in arts entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California. He is currently teaching through the Herbie Hancock Institute and UCLA program Jazz in the Classroom. Jeff is also available for lectures, masterclasses, and private instruction.
Honors and Awards
Electronic Press Kit
Production Images
photo credit: Merlin Showalter ©2020