Cork audiences to get a unique Jeff Mills live show at Cork Jazz Festival

Jeff Mills, the pioneering techno DJ and producer from Detroit, first emerged in the late 1980s. Known for his innovative use of minimalism and space-inspired concepts, he co-founded Underground Resistance and later launched his own label, Axis Records. Renowned for his high-energy DJ sets and futuristic sound, Mills has influenced electronic music globally, releasing acclaimed albums and performing at major festivals and legendary venues. 

His fearlessly forward-facing attitude has also seen him move into other media and several open-minded multi-genre collaborations. He collaborated on an album, ‘Tomorrow Comes the Harvest’, in 2018 with Tony Allen, best known for his legendary Afrobeat drumming, with Jeff playing drums, percussion and synthesisers. The project featured spontaneous performances that blended electronics, live drumming, and jazz influences, with keyboardist Jean-Phi Dary often joining them. Sadly, Tony Allen passed away in 2020, but using the same principles of improvising, Jeff continues playing live with Dary, and they have invited Tabla virtuoso Prabhu Edouard to complete the trio.

Jeff values what each of them brings to the table. “We perform from a multi-perspective. There is a relationship that we have from simply being three musicians, but we’ve spent so much time together over the past few years that we’ve got to know each other personally. We are connected to each other’s opinions, and we listen to them for many hours, just speaking about our ideas and what we think about things. All of that is kind of connected to the way that we perform and what eventually comes out as a result. For example, John likes to tell stories as an example to kind of prove his point, and sometimes these stories can go back various steps. So in speaking with him, you really need to listen very closely to it, and that plays a role when I’m on the stage and I’m listening to what he’s doing, my approach is really connected to the way that we communicate. It’s more than improvising based on how we feel, you really have to have a sense of who you’re playing with, who you’re travelling with, and share the confidence to know there’s this assurance that no matter what happens to me, I have two other people that will fill that space.”

When Jeff first embarked on this idea, he had no pre-determined outcome: “I did not have any idea of how this would develop. I was mainly focused on the combination of sound and what we might be able to do if – if – we were able to create these bridges between the musicians that would allow us to be able to approach different types of formats of music, styles and genres of music. I started with Tony Allen at the very beginning of this concept. He could be very shy and kind of reserved, so we didn’t have very long, in-depth conversations; they would be kind of short and to the point, and then you might say a few more words after a few minutes. We were quite minimal in the way that we communicated, but always very thought-provoking. This has also been developing naturally with Prabhu and John. I think we know enough about each other to know that that we understand what the objective is when we take to the stage, and each of us has our ideas of how to get there. We know that each performance should result in a higher point than where we started from.”

While Jeff accepts that his techno fans might have had expectations of this project before they heard it, he hasn’t noticed any particular pushback. “There was not as much as I thought there could be, my experience in dealing with classical orchestra previously was that it was either ‘this’ or ‘that’, and it was a very thick line in between those two sets of people – electronic music fans and classical music. I won’t say they were disappointed, but they perhaps thought that it would be something else, so it was new for everyone, not as danceable. Some people might have preferred a bit more synthesiser, but the more that we perform and the more that we travel and play, the less we hear, actually. I think a certain demographic of people is becoming more attracted to the project, and those few people who are wishing to have something else realise that it’s not going to happen. I think that’s normal and natural, probably for any artist. That is trying to do something different or away from what they’re known for.”

Other than making sure all the equipment is working correctly, Jeff doesn’t feel like he has to specifically prepare for these shows. “I’ve been dealing with music like all of my adult life, a lot of it has been playing it, programming it, or DJing it in front of people, in front of audiences. This has been most of my life, so there is nothing that I turn on to change my perspective; it’s become personal, part of my personality. So I don’t need to break away and gather my thoughts before I take the stage; many other musicians need to do that, but I’m the same all the time, in front of an audience or speaking to you, it’s always the same.”

While Jeff has very high professional standards, he is also quite holistic about how he works and the standards of performance he sets himself. He continued, “So, there’s nothing to really turn off or turn on. It’s a little bit of honesty and a little bit of accepting the reality of it. I never think that I need to be perfect in front of people. I just need to be myself, I’m speaking to people, or I’m playing music for people. Nobody’s perfect, so when things happen or don’t happen, it’s okay because I’m not a supercomputer or super AI type, mishaps and mistakes are part of life, and to be able to recover and adapt with those mistakes to take a step forward is what life is all about.”

As the live performances continue, Jeff has decided to make what they do even more ephemeral. “As this current trio, our first album, ‘Evolution’ was the recording of only the second time that we had played together. I thought at the time, maybe we should record all our performances, and then we would have a lot of material and content that we could make use of, so we were doing that, but then I realised that maybe it wasn’t necessary. It kind of freed up a little bit of space for us, because each musician knew that what we do was what it was. It’s not going to be reheard or reapproached at another point. So I think the concept became even freer when they realised that these are one-time-only type of performances. They’ll never happen again. We do continue to record occasional shows for specific reasons, but not everything.”

The fact that they aren’t touring a specific album of studio tracks means that Jeff knows the audience can’t be waiting for a certain song to appear, and since they in effect have nothing to be recreating, audiences can’t be expecting anything specific. As a result. Jeff has noticed a dynamic shift in the group. He continued: “This has less of a connection to the music industry and more about the artistry, since we’re not archiving and replicating things we don’t have to deal with marketing, advertising and release schedules, and instead we just have to be more concerned about, showing up on time, making sure the equipment works and things like that. I think that really makes you feel like you’re really achieving things because it’s about people and not about product, and it’s not about things like that. So before you take the stage, there is a wonderful ease and relaxed state, and then after you perform, you go back to that. When I’m DJing, I have to think about what I did more than I do in this case, to be honest.”

• Jeff Mills presents “Tomorrow Comes The Harvest featuring Jean Phi Dary and Prabhu Edouard, in The Cork Opera House on Sunday, October 26, at 11.55pm, with support from Shane Johnson of FishGoDeep. Tickets available at www.corkoperahouse.ie