John Ferrara: Zeros and Ones

Today we’re sharing an amazing video of John Ferrara performing “Zeros and Ones” from his latest solo album, A Lesson in Impermanence. The song has complicated passages and implements two different polyrhythms, but ultimately it’s about breaking things down to work them out.

“I named this song ‘Zeros and Ones’ because it’s a phrase I gravitate towards a lot when I’m talking about breaking things down,” the bassist explains. “I tell my students to do it whenever they’re learning something complicated and I’m asking them to play it at whatever pace it needs to be in order to see it through. In a broader sense, I use the phrase to mean ‘take yourself on your own terms,’ to start from where you are and don’t force anything. Like most things we learn from while studying music, this can also be applied to how we live our lives, and with immense benefits.”