Flung Shui is what happens when 18-year-old Tyzayah Gold-Kiser and 24-year-old Andrew Hagen team with seven other musicians to create the ultimate jam-band palette.
The eclectic duo met when Gold-Kiser, a self-taught guitarist, was performing with the former lineup of Flung Shui in a Nashville bar. Hagen happened to be carrying his saxophone, attending the show that night with a co-worker. Improvising, Gold-Kiser pointed at Hagen and invited him on the stage. He jammed with the instrumental band, wailing on his sax, until Flung Shui’s set was over.
“Nothing was really said until after we actually got done playing,” Hagen admitted.
Gold-Kiser, a graffiti artist with roots in hip-hop, and Hagen, a skilled jazz musician, reformed Flung Shui into the ultimate fusion of genres.
Former members of the band dispersed, so Hagen and Gold-Kiser wrote the framework of the new material together. To create a more layered sound and dynamic live show, the duo said they relied on the help of seven other interchangeable musicians.
The seven-piece band frequently includes figures in the Nashville jazz community. The function of unofficial Flung Shui members is to play various instruments, transcending styles or genre. The keyboards, trumpet and bass are utilized, adding to the depths of funk, Gold-Kiser and Hagen said.
“You have to look at it from the aspect that we play a lot of lead lines together. Say, where a vocalist would maybe be doing something musically like that,” Hagen explained, “we’d actually be playing a vocal kind of line and then behind that we’d have horns backing that up, along with other little instrumentation like percussion.”
Most of Flung Shui’s jams are preconceived to ensure a tight, but still spontaneous union of instruments. The different taste of the musicians performing adds a distinguishing element to create a fresh live show. The duo said that after only one or two rehearsals and a loose skeleton of composition, Flung Shui are now ready to hit the stage.
“We do jam things out, but we like to jam on a structure, as opposed to just wing it,” Gold-Kisser said, adding, “we’ll make eye contact with the players and they’ll know where to go.”
Exploring different avenues of entertainment, Gold-Kiser and Hagen serve as the CEO and artist and repertoire representative of their own label, Combined Visions Media. The label was started after Gold-Kiser produced an album for L.A. hip-hop artist Pow Shadowz. Hagen and Gold-Kiser said they are currently scouting new talent in the urban music category and also plan to start a clothing line, among other ambitious projects.
This fall, Flung Shui will release a live, extended-play disc on Combined Visions Media that the duo said will appease fans until the players full-length debut album drops early next year.
Witness the jamming fuse of jazz and funk at Flung Shui’s 9 p.m. performance Oct. 26 at Wall Street, located at 121 North Maple St on the Murfreesboro square.
To access Flung Shui’s grooves via the web, visit myspace.com/flungshuimusic.
