PMC SPECIAL --RAYFIELD JARVIS

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Fuzzyness: an Eclectic Adventure
It's never quite clear how to express sonic concepts based on an expansive, eclectic musical palette. So, creating an album that culls its identity from the progressive essence of jazz, R&B, funk, rock -- well, whatever -- can best be achieved in Fuzzyness, the Nuttmeg Records act that debuts with the album "The Whole of All There Is.
As principle contributors to the Fuzzyness principle, bassist/producer Numui Rayfield Jarvis and vocalist/key lyricist Audra Cunningham deliberately eschew the strictures of stylistic absolutes.
They instead celebrate diversity as a rich roux of styles with substance, soul without pretension. The fuzzy foundation of the album is focused by tracks like the sweet and funky cheekiness of "Woof Tickets," progressive R&B pop offering "Four Walls;" gripping, smooth saga "Love on a Leash," sophisticated yet poignantly jazzy instrumental ballad "Antonia;" and gutbucket bass funk jam "Ol' Friends at Buddy's House."
"The music has a history of all our musical influences," said Cunningham. "Everything is not black and white in life … nor in music. So, when you hear this music, you're hearing it for itself." Jarvis added: "Life itself is a mish-mosh of creative expression. It's just natural for me to be all the things that I am, and I'm all of these things musically.
"I was trying to express some of my more normal, commercial ideas instead of the more avante garde, abstract, progressive music ideas that usually flow from me. I wanted to reach a broader audience without sacrificing the creativity. I wanted to be funny and I wanted to inspire people in a positive way. "I was hoping to be as honest with the music as possible and also hoping that it would somehow fit into some commercial format, but honesty was the most important thing," he said.
"The Whole of All There Is" is a culmination, the first plateau of the many music worlds through which Jarvis and Cunningham have traveled. Considered one of the pioneers of the Los Angeles underground reggae scene, Guyanese-born, L.A.- raised Jarvis nevertheless has been a musical egalitarian.
He explored electronica/techno territory as piccolo bassist with the group Telekin and later cultivated and sated his appetite for progressive fusion music through experiments with band members from Earth, Wind & Fire, Santana and Weather Report. After a seven year lay-off from music performance to start and raise a family, Jarvis became a charter member of Los Angeles underground all-star band Trulio Disgracias. In 1991 he regularly appeared on the L.A. club circuit with members of bands such as Funkadelic, Fishbone, Red Hot Chili Peppers and others. From those associations, in 1995 he co-founded the group Eek with Weapon of Choice guitarist Arik Marshall and in 1997 launched I.D.K. (I Don't Know), which featured Fishbone drummer/leader Phil D. Fish, guitarist Tony Ruffin, keyboardist Keefus and various L.A. DJs and rhymers.
While a member of Eek on tour with Weapon of Choice, Jarvis said he reconnected with Cunningham, who was handling backing vocals with Weapon of Choice.
From 1987 to 1989 Cunningham provided backing vocals for the reggae band Redemption 7 fold and in 1991 assumed the same role in Weapon of Choice as the recorded the Loosegroove/Sony 550 records albums "Nutmeg Sez Bozo the Town" and "Hyperspice." During that period, she also did session work with WC & the Madd Circle (1995), Spice 1 (1995) and Caffeine (1998).
Jarvis said he had known Cunningham since grade school and knew she had wanted to be a singer since she was a little girl. "One night [the band] made her the featured vocalist, and I heard her in a way that I hadn't before," he said. Work didn't begin immediately on "The Whole of All There Is," although some of the songs had been written three years prior to the first lick laid in the studio.
Picking the music that would be recorded presented a challenge, because, as Jarvis admits, "I only had fuzzy idea of what I wanted to do. I really had no idea of what it would be … I just knew if they played it, they would respond. That's they only thing that needed to happen." An admitted jazz fusion addict, Jarvis indulged his lust for the lofty genre on tracks such as the ethereal "Flying," the moody, introspective piano ballad "Antonia" and the pleasantly tropical juju of Jomoto.
There was a spectral impetus for the music - from the spontaneous combustion of "Flying" to the lengthy gestation of "Antonia," a possible NAC track from the album. The fusion-esque "Flying" wasn't even one of the original recordings slated for the track. "`Flying' was something I did at the spur of the moment as I was mixing the album," Jarvis said. "I had to say something in the opening that was really about me … and I just did it from start to finish in about 15 minutes. On the other hand, "I had written 'Antonia' quite a few years ago and was inspired by this young Cuban woman I had met and she was so beautiful and warm … there was just something warm (and fuzzy) about her," Jarvis said. Although he had constructed the compositional framework for "Antonia," Jarvis said, "This particular song needed a great piano solo to make it meaningful, to complete it." The late Kenny Kirkland had heard the song, liked it and was Jarvis' first choice.
Another Los Angeles-based musician -- Billy Childs -- was also considered before Jarvis' former Los Angeles City College classmate Camara Kambon provided piano work that plumbs the depths of the song. Kambon also provides distinctive piano solo work on the gentle musings of "El Camino." Jarvis' Los Angeles High School music teacher inspired the sophisticated funk and humor of "Woof Tickets," which could attract urban radio airplay. "I had a great, great, great music teacher," he said. "Mr. Jackson not only taught me a lot, but he used to say the guys in the band -- when we we're just talkin' Jive and shootin' the breeze -- were just sellin' wood tickets, the slang back in the day."
"This was just my way of saying 'hello' to Mr. Jackson." His children -- Alana and David -- from whom he has been separated for several years, Jarvis said inspired the song "You Miles Away." "The only way I stayed sane was that I dreamt about them," he said. "I could touch them, smell them in my dreams." Jarvis said the song is basically about the longing that anyone may have for someone who they deeply miss.
He provided the lyrical hook " … even though you're miles away, I can feel you in my dreams," with Cunningham symbiotically filling in word-thoughts around it. In fact, Jarvis may have dismissed other songs on the album save the interest of Cunningham.
Jarvis was prepared to purge from his sequencer the tracks that eventually became the instrumental undertow of " These Four Walls." "He played these tracks, and I got inspired in 30-seconds, walked outside and five-minutes later I came back with lyrics and melody for the entire song," she said. Another song that inspired her was "Love on a Leash," which she called a " a real dramatic story about a contentious relationship -- all written to music."
"I just liked the way that entire song is structured," Cunningham said. Fuzzyness has become a liberating experience for Cunningham, who called working with Jarvis "inspirational."
"He encouraged me to go for it, to sound out my ideas," she said. "I've learned a lot." On the Flipside, Jarvis said, "Basically, I charted the course, I determined the destination and I piloted the ship, but Audra was my co-pilot." In addition to Kambon, others who signed on for the journey through fuzzy logic are: Tory Ruffin (guitars), Christopher Warrior (keyboards), Trevor Lawrence (drums), Eric McKain (percussion), backing vocalist Mark Cross (who also kicks rhymes on the track "You Turn Me Around") and Lisa Farr (backing vocals). On the bass jam track "Ol' Friends at Buddy's House," long-time friend and funk bass mentor Dr. Dempsey "Bud" Gordon joins Jarvis.