+Bel.08 “8-BIT Jazz Furlough” by Balli-Marraffa-Balli Trio

The enduring, deep-rooted link between free jazz and chiptune is a well known fact. Far less debated is the cabalistic obsession that these musicians seem to have for number three, as proved by the triangular line up they almost always opt for (with the classic team featuring game boy, cardboard cut-out and saxophone as the set up of choice). Interpretations of this odd rule varied from time to time, but according to most of the experts the trinity scheme refers to the nature of the virtual game: the player, the goal and the way to get it, acted by the game boy player, the lifesized standee and the saxophonist respectively.

Anyway, the most unfathomable aspect of the free-chiptune mythology is probably the pretty obscure album they adopted as a kind of a musical totem, that is to say Jazz Furlough by Danny Long Trio, dated back in 1964. An apparently cryptic choice: why picking such an anonymous piece of quiet cool jazz muzak as the holy gospel for one of the most radical styles ever conceived? The most plausible answer may be hidden precisely in that ambiguous title: after all, the idea of departing from the jazz tradition in a jazzy way is pivotal in a philosophy which tries to combine iconoclasm and nostalgia.

What’s more, look closely to the original cover of Jazz Furlough: it will appear obvious all peeps in the Ken Veeder picture are cardboard cut-out. What is portrayed in that 1964 shot is clearly the human beings’ bidimensional replicas coven in action. Since the release of the beta version of “Flatland” by Edwin Abbott in 1894, the need of escaping tridimensionality became urgent. American society of the early sixties undisputably revealed how technology was extending dimensionality edges to a point of no return: in response to this, the above mentioned flattening counterculture emerged with its trailblazing soundtrack.

8-bit jazz, be-bop chiptune, arcade swing, game boy fusion: call it whatever you want, as long has it is melodic & noizy, 4 to the floor & whimsical, robotic & sweaty. Last sensation of this tradition, the Balli – Marraffa – Balli 10” debut. Let’s dive into the tracklist. A Super Mario Supreme sets the devotion towards the moustached 010011 God, elevating the listener to a Level 2 spiritual experience. Of complete different nature the dizziness produced by Grand Theft Auto Jazz Club
a limitless praise to speed driving. But every race has to stop as Time out? Continue suggests closing the A side of the record.

8 Bit Ra’s starship teleports us in a bidimensional space travel where everything is Game Boy & sax and sax & Game Boy. A Kind of Arashi is a challenge against the renown free chiptune school of the rising sun, ending up in Shibuya. GAME OVER Now’s the time for Staff Credits. Enter the Balli – Marraffa – Balli code to access the 8-bit jazz sound conspiracy.

Diana Ossyanovich,
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga,
department of 8-bit core