Rick and Jerry Bryce are originally from Portland. The 2 brothers in jazz started recording themselves live in the studio in the mid 1980s. I asked Rick(sax) & Jerry(guitar) about their music and their methods.

CDelicious: What's your process for writing songs?

Rick: We jam. For hours and hours. We start with a groove...usually a drum loop...and jam to a groove, then add a riff, then a progression, then finally a structure develops and it becomes a song.

CDelicious: Do you record these jams?

Rick: Sometimes, but not always. I go by the approach that if you can't remember what you did then it probably wasn't very good. You know? 

Jerry: Yeah, if you come back to it the next day and you have to get the recording out to remember it then was it really special?

Rick: If it's great it'll be running through your head all day the next day.

CDelicious: Do you come up with patterns based on their ease to solo over?

Jerry: Not really. It's more about how cool they sound harmonically...and that's the thing about every facet...harmonic, melodic, rhythmic. We seem to like Em or Esus (laughing).

RicK: Yeah, or E to C. Every progression breaks down to E to C eventually. That is Em to C ....or 6 minor to 4.

Jerry: Everything in the modern age...but it's all just Esus.

CDelicious: So who are your influences?

Rick: Chick Corea, Coltrane, Brecker, Ron Gerard my band teacher in high school.    

Jerry: Pat Methaney, John Scofield, even Jimi Hendrix.

CDelicious: I hear all that except Hendrix.

Jerry: He was amazing, rough, and sloppy, and bluesy, but spacey too, and with tons of feeling.   Rick: I hear the Hendrix influence but that's 'cause I've seen it develop over the years.

CDelicious: Are all your recordings live in the studio?

Rick: Yes. That's our thing. We have to do it that way - that's what we know and like.

CDelicious: It works fine. You guys always sound great. How many takes till you get a keeper?  And then how many fixes or punch-ins?

Jerry: A few small fixes...a few bars here and there. And the average number of takes is about 2 or 3.

CDelicious: Was there ever a moment when you knew the process completely came together?

Jerry: About 6 months after we recorded our 1st CD we started to jam and accumulate songs for the 2nd CD and that's when we got into a pattern that made sense and we've stuck with it ever since.

To hear a preview of the Bryce Bros... 

http://www.cdelicious.com/products/Rich-%26-Jerry-Bryce-%252d-Guitar-Saxophone.html