The spring has been good to ulu. On March 24, the band made it debut appearance at New York's Irving Plaza, on the same bill as Soulive and John Scofield. A few weeks earlier, the group's new release Live at Wetlands Preserve appeared on the Phoenix Pres ents series. In addition, on April 20th the band will embark on its first southern tour, a string of dates which then will lead the group back north for a headlining gig at Wetlands on May sixth. The following interview took place with keyboardist Scot Chasolen. In it he describes ulu's origins, evolution (moving from a trio to a quintet and then down to a four piece) and current projects. For more information on the group, visit its website, http ://www.ulu.net

DB- Let's begin, well, at the beginning. How did ulu come together?

SC- I met David (Hoffman, drummer) when we were both going to Syracuse University at the time. That was a long time ago, 1991 or 92. We personally and musically were compatible and we became friends. We always talked about playing together but it never ha ppened until he graduated. We added a bass player and we were a trio for a while. Eventually we decided to replace the other bass player with Justin (Wallace), who happened to be that guy's best friend. So it was kind of a really weird situation.

DB- Well that have been a strange dynamic.

SC- It was kind of weird, I didn't know how it was going to go over at first. But he still he comes to see us all the time and he's good friends with all of us. We played for a while as a trio.

DB- You played out?

SC- Well actually never had a gig but we took it really seriously. We wrote songs and we rehearsed pretty often. The first ulu songs were written by the three of us, including one that appears on the first album, "Prince Igor." We wrote it together. Actua lly there was a recording that we made in my basement one night. We recorded "Walking on the Moon", a jazz tune- "Stolen Moments" and "Prince Igor." It'd be a prize to get hold of that (laughs).

DB- We did you decide to expand?

CS- We just felt limited, particularly me. What we wanted was to have a guitar, sax, trumpet player and percussion player. We put a small ad in the village voice, and we received a ton of phone calls. Eventually we auditioned eight people out of seventy. The only guy we called back was Luca (Beneditti, guitar). It felt really good playing with him and he had a great feel. And he said, "I'm definitely interested in playing again, I have this friend who plays tenor, do you mind if I bring him?" And that was Aaron (Gardner). It was so easy.

DB- And then Luca remained with the group through the fall?

CS- Actually, Luca was in the band until we recorded the last CD. That makes the album kind of special to me.

DB- Why did you decide to part ways?

CS- We just had different goals musically. He was more interested in hanging around town in New York and playing with lots of different people, and we wanted to travel and go on the road and grow as a band. He didn't want to put in the time travelling, so the five us decided that we should go on without him.

DB- I know that plenty of people find this present line-up real interesting. I'm curious though, have you considered bringing in another guitarist?

CS- It's been discussed a lot, and we've had people come and play with us, friends of ours. Actually, it's been great to hear the guitar after it has been absent so long. I think we're open for lots of different things. Personally I would love to have ano ther guitar player but we're exploring this quartet right now and it's really opening new horizons for us all musically, especially me because all of the sudden I'm having much more responsibility,. Sometimes we leave the space there and sometimes we choo se to fill it.

DB- Well the band is pretty versatile. On a given night you personally vary the textures a bit depending on what instrument you decide to play. You have a range of keys to choose from, what is your instrument of choice?

CS- Actually, I think the instrument that I feel most comfortable on is the claivinet.

DB- How long have you been playing it?

CS- Six years now. I actually got one by accident, I didn't even know what it was. This guy sold me an organ, a B-3 and a cabinet for really cheap, it was great. And he said, "Oh, by the way I have this clavinet, it's an old box of wood with string in it. The thing sucks, do you want it?" He threw it in for free and that's the best thing that ever happened to me.

DB- Well I would imagine you'll bring that south with you in the your new van. In your newsletter you have a column where you tell the story about receiving a van as a gift. Why don't you tell our readers how that came about?

CS- I have a student, Ray, and during one of our lessons he showed me some lyrics he wrote. I felt connected to them so I wrote some music. Then I brought it to him, and he gave me something else. Eventually we had a lot of material and Ray said, "I want to record this." So I got ulu to play on it along with a bunch of other friends and we did the pop thing. As a thank you, Ray provided us with the van. It was an incredible gesture and really important to the future of the band [editor's note: if you want to purchase a copy of this album, "Pawns of the Game" send a check or money order for $12 to Scott Chasolen, 5 Hansen Place, Wayne, NJ 07470. Heck, I'm intrigued].

DB- Well that reminds me, how would you describe the challenge of being in this band? The day to day issues you have to work out to stay on the road and keep the momentum rolling?

SC- The biggest challenge that we face is, how can we balance everything in everybody's lives, so that the music is the number one thing. How can we have an income and still play music and go to places where we've never been and survive in the market and still support ourselves. It's about balance. The hardest thing has been getting out on the road for an extended period of time because everyone has their responsibilities during the day. But we're getting so much closer.

DB- I want to talk about the new album but one more quick question. I noticed in the newsletter that you're soliciting song titles from your fans. What's the story there?

SC- (laughs). What happened was we probably had three new tunes we had written after Luca left and we couldn't name them. No one could agree on a name. We kept calling them New Tune A. New Tune B, New Tune C. It was getting silly. So we decided to ask our friends to help us out.

DSB- Have you received any interesting ones yet?

SC- We got one response from a guy who came up with all these name using the letters in Live at Wetlands rearranged [editor's note: if you want to play along, send your suggestions to Ulu, 210 East 15th Street Suite 11J, New York, NY 10003.]

DB- Okay, so how did the new album come about?

SC- I think we all kind of knew that chapter one might be coming to an end. Phoenix had been talking to us, and they were all gung ho about doing the record and we wanted to do it. So went ahead and decided that this would be Luca'a last show. It was a pr etty emotional time for all of us.

DB- What's your favorite song on the album?

SC- I am most happy with 'Personaface." I think that collectively as an improvised piece, we've never been on the same page as much as we were. When I listen to that, when I hear the places that we travel to successfully together it makes me smile. I'm r eally proud of that. We picked three tunes from the first record and the rest is stuff that hasn't been recorded. I always like to hear live stuff versus record studio tracks so that appealed to me. Especially with "Personaface" which on or first record i s four minutes and on this one its sixteen.

DB- How had your sound evolved since that first release?

SC- We're much better listeners and we play as a unit instead of separate individual people. That's one of my favorite things about us, we can and often do play soloist roles but a lot of improvisations are collective where no one is really taking a solo, we are all just going there together as a band.

DB- One thing I like about the disc is that SMB made it on there (the band plays with the theme from the Super Mario Brothers video game). I can still remember the first time I heard it, that moment of recognition when I figured out what it was. I love be ing in a club and watching the faces of new listeners when they first get it. How did that one come about?

SC-. I'll take credit for that one. I have Super Nintendo and I was sitting there playing it and I started thinking, "Oh man, this is such great music." I've always tended to like the music from video games. So I transcribed it as I was playing and gettin g to different level, scratching down notes. I just had this vision of getting into the warp zone music. Actually ever since we started we've actually added another level to it. It's not kind of fun to expand on things.

DB- Maybe Frogger's next.

SC- Actually we do have something new for the tour coming up. It's not a video game but it is in a similar vein.

DB- Any other favorite moments on the disc?

SC- The last tune on the record, Luca wrote it, "Opa " It's really an emotional composition and it happened to be the last thing we played that night. It's the last thing that ulu played in that incarnation. There actually is something else inserted after "Opa," which we also recorded that same night. "Opa" ends and it makes a great statement of closure but then this crazy atonal weird groove fades in, and makes a twisted deranged statement for a few minutes and then fades out. It kind of leaves you wonde ring. I think that's our goal, musically. I like the ability to explore a musical realm within a place where an audience can still understand what we're doing. I think the element in ulu that really appeals to people is the fact that there's always a puls e. Our music has an urban quality to it because its always pulsating, there's always this subway type rumble. Plus I love the fact that if you hear one version of one of our tunes it will never sound the same. We're always exploring new territory. We'd li ke to like you to be scratching your head, scratching your imagination. I like to leave people wondering but still have them feel satisfied.