Phish phenom airs jazz on Elektra March 9, 1996 - Billboard By Jim Macnie NEW YORK - Seeking alternatives to marketing strategies is what helped catapult Phish to its phenomenal level of success. Seeking alternatives to the process of music-making is the strategy Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio employed for his first side project, "Surrender To The Air." With the help of 15 prominent avant-garde improvisers - including members of the revered Sun Ra Arkestra - Anastasio has sculpted a sprawling 50-minute instrumental suite that draws upon free jazz and progressive rock. Its deliberate abstraction has an extreme, nostalgic tone. "Surrender To The Air," which is also the name of the loosely based ensemble, streets March 12 on Elektra. "It is an experiment, a chance to see if we could get beyond ego," Anastasio says. "I don't think of this as jazz, just a documentation of people working as a team, sharing the music. It's a simple idea that gets back to why I got into this in the first place. "Growing up, I used to have jam sessions in the basement of my friend Pete's house, and it was such a rush," he adds. "His more would be flicking the light for us to cut it out, but we were busy making a joyful noise." No lights were flicked this time. Even though "Surrender To The Air" is an unusual move, Anastasio had the full support of Phish's label, Elektra. "The spirit of the record has everything to do with the Phish spirit, absolutely," says the label's VP of marketing, Brian Cohen. "We knew Trey's tastes were extremely wide-ranging when we signed Phish - that's what we liked about him." The "Surrender" marketing campaign includes a pair of live dates, April 1-2 at the Academy in New York, by the ensemble that created the disc. Print advertising was to be placed in such publications as down beat, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Utne Reader, High Times, and Guitar World. Elektra has reason to feel beneficent toward Anastasio's inspirations. Phish's last record, 1995's "A Live One," sold 317,000 copies, according to SoundScan. But the challenge is surely greater for the label's sales team to promote an album that contains no songs per se. Or is it? "People want everything by the band," says Cohen, "and this is just another part of the Phish mosaic." Cohen admits that the label's expectations for "Surrender" aren't as high as that of a Phish title, but says that he wouldn't be surprised if the record's sales surpassed what the label anticipates. "If it sold 75,000, which is unbelievable for a jazz album, we'd be ecstatic," Cohen says. He adds that "people are ordering the product big time. They think it's going to sell, no matter what we say. They've experienced Phish in the past. It's a phenomenon." Copy on the cover of "Surrender To The Air" won't mention Phish; it will simply list Anastasio's name among those of the other musicians. Elektra will stress to its accounts that it be filed under 'S' in the jazz section, but realizes that almost all stores will also shelve it in Phish bins. Ted Singer, jazz purchaser for the Minneapolis-based Best Buy chain, doesn't see that as a problem. "If we're to learn anything from the past regarding these bands that have large cult followings, it's this: Most anything they do outside the realm of their normal format has big appeal to their audience," he says. "I would think this is the beginning of a great body of work." Labeling it "far-out jazz," Singer says Best Buy will stock the title under both jazz and Phish. Anastasio believes that the nature of Phish's signature jams has helped educate its audience regarding the language of improvisation on "Surrender." The guitarist doesn't believe the audience will hear the new music as a separate sound. "Different people like the band Phish for different reasons," he says. "Some like songs; some like jams. Those that like the jams should really, really like this album." Some, however, do hear "Surrender" as an oddity. In interviews already done with the jazz press, Anastasio has encountered some hostility. "A couple of the writers were really angry and patronizing in their interviews," he recalls, "and I've never had an experience like that. It kind of put me on the defensive. "People instantly assume that I have no knowledge of jazz history, and I do," he adds. "They say, 'Don't you know that free jazz, the genre, came and went?' But I'm not them, and I'm not a jazz musician." However, many of the "Surrender" participants are. Bob Gullotti is a masterful, Boston-based percussionist. Trumpeter Michael Ray, a Ra alumnus who introduced Anastasio to participating Arkestra members Marshall Allen (sax) and Damon Choice (vibes), lives in New Orleans, where he fronts the raucous Cosmic Krewe. Guitarist Marc Ribot and keyboardist John Medeski are active in New York's downtown jazz/rock improv scene. Flutist Kofi Burbridge and bassist Oteil Burbridge play with the Atlanta-based Aquarium Rescue Unit. Phish drummer Jon Fishman was the Ra zealot who initially played the Arkestra's music for Anastasio. Trombonist James Harvey rounds out the band. At age 72, Allen is the veteran of the group. He says it was "a nice session filled with a lot of free-form stuff. It's great to hear a young guy trying to do something different." Ray concurs: "I'd call it a magical session." The music was recorded last spring at New York's Electric Ladyland studios. The players sat in a circle and exchanged ideas on the spur of the moment. "I wanted to play guitar in a different context, where I wasn't the lead voice," says Anastasio. "I wanted to be more supportive; I learned how fun that could be while playing at the New Orleans Jazz Fest with Michael Ray." For Ribot, whose exquisite new solo date, "Don't Blame Me" on DIW, applies extended techniques to such standards as "Body And Soul" and "Dinah," working with Anastasio was an ear-opener. "I'd heard the name Phish, but I'm a little out of touch with rock groups, so when I was first called I thought, 'Wow, this could be a nightmare.' But it turned out to be lots of fun." RADIO CAMPAIGN Elektra is sending "Surrender" to college and NPR stations that play jazz. Chris Douridas of KCRW Los Angeles says, "Commercial radio wouldn't touch it," but "the fact that there's Phish members involved is a little bit of a welcome mat at radio. "I could hear this getting on late-night [programs] here, but it's certainly for the more adventurous," he adds. "Though it is interesting to hear what ignites when these players come together, it's a fringe kind of sound." Anastasio is writing an explanation of "Surrender To The Air" for the Phish newsletter, which is "a major marketing tool," according to Cohen. It has a circulation of more than 100,000, according to management representative Jason Colton. The record will also be featured on the band's World Wide Web site on the Internet. Anastasio feels this might be the beginning of a string of extracurricular activities. At work on Phish's new album in Woodstock, N.Y., the guitarist says some of "Surrender's" tactics have also spilled over to Phish's approach. "We're trying to keep those open-eared goals in mind," he says. "We're doing a lot of weird, pretty cool things." For now, the dialog of "Surrender" is casting a huge shadow on the way Anastasio and associates create. "This is where a piece of my heart lies, definitely," Anastasio says. "Part of me has been moving toward this path of improvisation. It's wrapped up in a spiritual language and energy that's available if you can get your ego out of the way and let the music come through you." article © 1996 BPI Communications