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	On paper, it sounded like a far-fetched daydream. Four legendary performers and arrangers from the heyday of Jazz and Funk were to collaborate with six of their most forward-thinking counterparts in the world of underground electronic Dance and Hip Hop. The resulting compositions would then be showcased in a one-off performance utilizing 36 classical musicians and an accomplished Jazz/Funk rhythm section at the McCaw Hall in Seattle, for all the attendees of the 2005 Red Bull Music Academy and the free- thinking citizens of Seattle to attend - well, for free. With donations being made to the Vera Project, a Seattle-based youth educational charity, for every seat filled. This news alone was enough to have our jaws dropping lower than a 20 Hz oscillation 2 km below sea level.
Why arrange ArRange? The event was dubbed this way to represent ‘a range’ of styles, as well as (and hence the name) the art of arrangement. Arrangement is the special calling of many largely uncredited artists: the composers who remained in the shadows. They are the people who made today’s records what they are. Back in the golden years of Funk, Disco and soundtrack compositions, they already elevated them beyond mere musical commodities. A defining characteristic of famous arrangers such as Quincy Jones and Henry Mancini was that they knew what to listen for, and how to make you listen. With charts and heads full of ideas, these arrangers flipped themes and motifs into funky orchestrations, using many of the same creative approaches used by their modern-day counterparts.
The notes in today’s dance opus may be sampled rather than played, but the architects of today’s musical landscape are well aware of the legacy to which they pay homage.
	The names of the composers, producers and arrangers who would participate, orchestrate, conduct, and generally create magic at this event? We were excited to hear that Eumir Deodato would contribute. Deodato is a national hero in his native Brazil, and has made many contributions to the development of modern music - reaching well beyond the shiny disco balls and his producer credits for Kool & The Gang’s »Ladies Night« and »Celebration«. His rendition of Richard Strauss’ »Also sprach Zarathustra« co-incided well with Kubrick’s use of the classic piece in »2001« and brought jazz-funk to the masses. He’s been an in demand arranger and session musician since the 60s, and on labels like New York-based CTI Records, has worked with notable artists from Antonio Carlos Jobim and Astrud and Joao Gilberto, to Roberta Flack, Walter Wanderley and Wes Montgomery. Deodato also has a Grammy Award and a bunch of film soundtracks under his belt.
Another participant was a man who we’ve been lucky enough to meet at the Academy on a prior occasion. David Matthews: not the self-same Dave Matthews of a certain jam band, but the influential Kentucky-born musician, composer and arranger who at the age of 24 was filling in charts for James Brown, at the top of the funk icon’s raunchy career. Matthews’ achievements include a role as house arranger at CTI and KUDU records in the mid 70s, writing essential compositions which have been plundered for samples by platinum-selling hip hop artists. He is also known for kicking funk in its teeth with the rarest, and perhaps one of the best, JBs-related singles, The Believer’s »Across The Track«. Mr Matthews is largely credited with bringing the influence of Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat into the all-American funk of the JBs. And he’s just such a likeable fellow.
	Also scheduled to participate was Clare Fischer: a name that savvy crate diggers are always scoping for in record sleeve notes. Born on October 22, 1928 in Durand, Michigan, two-time Grammy Award winning self-styled »jazzer« Clare Fischer worked with a lot of musicians from Detroit as a young man. And one of them was Donald Byrd. And when Dizzy Gillespie heard Fischer’s work with Byrd, he asked him to write for him. It was the resulting arrangements that kickstarted Mr Fischer’s rise to - if not exactly fame - then notoriety amongst music aficionados. This multi-instrumentalist scored music for a plethora of TV shows and motion pictures from the 60s and 70s, and though his specialty was the orchestration of organs and keyboards, with the help of his son Brent Fischer (a composer in his own right), he eventually made the leap to popular music, writing charts for people such as the Jackson 5, Prince, and Rufus and Chaka Khan. Dr Fischer also wrote several albums for Jazz-fusion figure Cal Tajder. Played on some, wrote others. Tip!!
To see any one of these artists’ works performed by the Northwest Sinfonia would be a blessing and an honour. But to have the opportunity to see how they had heard and interpreted works by some of our favourite contemporary producers (and vice versa) - well, it was all beginning to feel a bit overwhelming. There were six new school producers who had been invited to participate. Galaxy 2 Galaxy/Los Hermanos were slated to represent Detroit Techno: the original source of »techno« music as it is heard today, which has influenced dozens of producers (and even more punters) since its beginning in the mid 80's. Underground Resistance members Mike Banks, Gerald Mitchell and DJ S2 are known for their inspirational example of music making and mythology, illustrating ideas of invisibility, of anonymity and of hidden power and control structures. With their soaring melodies, heart-stabbing chords, and contrasting tough locked grooves, they are renowned for laying down their futuristic ethos without compromise.
	California-based Hip Hop producer Oh No was on the bill too. Oh No (Michael Jackson) is the younger brother of indie hip hop icon Madlib (Otis Jr., a.k.a. Madvillain, Quasimoto, Jaylib) and, just like his sibling, he triples as an MC-Producer-DJ. Oh No has produced for numerous rappers including Medaphoar, Wildchild (half of Secondary Protocol) and Murs, melding heavy drum rolls and hypnotizing melodies with video game samples, via Roland keys, MPC and Protools, keeping it dirty and raw peppered with plenty of chopped up cuts.
In keeping with the apparent theme of producers with an ear for melody and originality, from across the pond came Kirk Degiorgio - a producer who has been hugely influential in the development of the U.K. techno/electronica underground. With his project As One, on influential labels such as Ubiquity (San Francisco), Mo Wax (London) and Versatile (Paris), he is renowned for fusing modal jazz with hard funk breaks, techno basslines and drum n bass programming techniques. Formed in 1991, Degiorgio’s label A.R.T. released early tracks from Black Dog and B12/Redcell/Stasis, and helped bring wider attention to a core of U.K. artists working in a vein inspired by (but not simply reducible to) the music's Detroit originators.
	Last but not least, classically-trained wunderkind Todd Simon was on the bill. Otherwise known as »That Kidd from Illsville«, Todd is an arranger, trumpet player and music teacher by trade. This 28-year old recently enabled Yesterday’s New Quintet (by, yes, Madlib strikes again) and the project »Sound Directions« to be showcased for an eager Los Angeles audience. His work can be heard during various TV-programs, and he lent his discerning touch to seminal deep house tunes like DJ Spinna’s Mix of Shaun Escofferey’s »Days Like This«.
To man the desk and keep an eye on the live sound mix, we were also lucky enough to expect the presence of Bob Power: a producer who provided sonic blueprints for the New Beat Generation - D’Angelo, A Tribe Called Quest, Erykah Badu and The Roots being only a few of the artists who undoubtedly wouldn’t sound the same without him. You can watch a lecture by Bob Power in the »Moving« section of this website.

After hearing the above roll call of personal favourites and incendiary types, the mind was boggling more than an underground computer game hybrid of Frog Bog and Bubble Bobble. The wait seemed long, but we had plenty to keep us occupied and enthralled, as the Academy was underway in Seattle, a humming hotchpotch of late night recording sessions, snapping strings, comfy bar stools, new perspectives and non-stop music nerdisms. Finally, after a week or so of rehearsals and revelations, the day of the concert dawned. December 6^th, 2005.

We arrived at Seattle’s McCaw Hall at around 5 pm, where DJ and Running Back label head Gerd Janson was playing Disco and Boogie records for the gathering crowd. McCaw Hall is quite an impressive building, its location adjacent to Seattle’s Experience Music Project, its foyer wrapped with a glass curtain. The turnout numbered around 1600, a mix of Techno, Funk, Jazz, Hip Hop and just-plain-music lovers across a range of ages, from elderly fanatics to their adolescent grandchildren. It was time to settle down in a seat, so we positioned ourselves close to the stage, in the erstwhile orchestra pit.

We won’t go into full details of all the songs here - best wait to see and hear the real deal for yourself when the DVD of ArRange is released later this year. Suffice to say the heart swelled upon hearing the orchestra play the first notes of Kirk Degiorgio’s interpretation of the David Matthews score »Can Heaven Ever Be Like This«, with Mr Degiorgio positioned to stage right behind his laptop.

A definite highpoint was when David Matthews conducted the assembled musicians through a supremely funky rendition of Oh No’s »Beat No.29«, especially when the arrangement boiled down to a very low, slow pulse, creating tension in the best possible way, and seemingly joining the dots between him, Axe and Gil (what he did to UR’s »Aguila« - you’ll have to wait for the recording to get an idea what was the epicentre of discussion at afterparties later). Meanwhile, to accompany the concert, a video projector screened the live etchings and brush strokes of some favourite Seattle artists. NZ-born Iosefatu Sua freestyled repeated motifs in fat lines/blue ink while the honourable Clare Fischer played his original piano solo »Of Friendly Bears and Taco Crumbs«.

Other highlights included seeing Todd Simon conduct and play horn over his own twisting version of David Matthews’ »Sandworms«, only to be joined on stage by Oh No dropping lyrics that gave props to all of the producers and composers involved in ArRange. Oh No and Todd Simon’s arrangement called »Clare Fischer Meets Deodato in a Box« was dope, a 4-beat medley with a less-chopped-up-than-usual bassline extended over extra bars for the orchestra’s sake. Deodato sat down at the piano to play his solo arrangement of Ravel’s »Pavane For a Dead Princess«, a rather heartbreaking song that surely belongs amongst the tools of any young gentleman who wishes to woo his own (hopefully living and breathing) princess.

After him rejuvenating another Detroit Gospel Classic, »Hi-Tech Jazz«, the evening was brought to a crescendo with an ecstatic interpretation of Deodato’s »Keep It In The Family« by Galaxy 2 Galaxy/Los Hermanos and Todd Simon: amazing energy, electronic beats, string section sawing away, with Gerald Mitchell, Mike Banks and a member of the Northwest Sinfonia eliciting a rising wave of melody on synthesizers. The energy and atmosphere in the concert hall was at fever pitch, with cat calls and whistles ringing out, and when the music ended the entire audience rose in a standing ovation.

It’s still hard to believe that it happened. Much thanks to the composers, musicians and organizers who made ArRange come to life, drawing lines between the past, present and future of music in such a celebratory manner. As Oh No put it, ArRange was real live. Surely many connections and parallels between the methods and attitudes of these composers and musicians were discovered in the making of this concert: and we’re not only talking about that instance, when some members of the Northwest Sinfonia had been present when Clare Fischer played a concert with Cal Tjader in Seattle in 1977, as a young Brent Fischer looked on. There must always be an audience to take the music into their own hearts, just as the arrangers have adopted and adapted the music with their own ears. So we would finally like to thank the people of Seattle for welcoming us, for coming along to this concert, and for listening.