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A Place to Call Their Own: ShapeShifter Lab Helps Shape Artists The ShapeShifter Lab is a creative music and arts space that’s changing the way music is made in Brooklyn.

Bright Dog Red holds center stage on a lifted platform lit only by blue stage lights on the floor and warm spotlights overhead. Joe Pignato, eyes squeezed shut, switched unconsciously between cymbals and tom toms on his drum set. His hands seemed more in charge than his head. Beside him, bass player Anthony Berman plucked at his strings and lead the end of the band’s set. As the last deep tones of the bass round out, the crowd collectively released the breath they did not seem to notice they were holding.  

The band just finished playing at the ShapeShifter Lab, a music venue on an obscure street where Brooklyn’s Park Slope and Gowanus neighborhoods overlap. The Lab is just what the name would suggest – a space where musicians can experiment with their music.

Matthew Garrison, 47, began the lab in 2012 to give artists opportunities to develop their skills. After quickly making themselves a staple in the Brooklyn music community, Garrison is looking to make his next big move, a music application designed to give artists the very experimentation that he envisioned for his lab.

“It’s a completely different way of presenting projects,” Garrison said, showing off the application. “We’re making it as flexible as possible.”

The program allows artist to record their individual portions of a song. Each part is fully isolated and allows for a near infinite range of different mixes. The band or group can tinker with the mix until it comes out just right, similar to working with a multi-track session in something like Adobe. Garrison said it is essentially a new digital music workstation.

Garrison is incorporating artist bios, music charts, video, and sharing capabilities similar to ITunes as well. He said there’s a monopoly in music that limits artists. He wants them to be flexible and willing to try new things.

“We want to have everything in one place. So the artist creates and it’s just there, it’s updateable,” Garrison said. “This is critical, because it will keep changing.”

The application garnered the attention of SFJazz, a jazz music collective in San Francisco that has become Garrison’s primary partner. Both YouTube and Google have expressed interest as well. Garrison does not have an official name yet, but does want to release the application in the fall.

Garrison’s willingness to allow creativity and growth is why artists like the ShapeShifter Lab so much.

“The Lab part of ShapeShifter is real appropriate, because it’s a very nurturing space and you can try a lot of different things,” said Pignato, 49, leader of Bright Dog Red who played ShapeShifter for the third time in July. “Since it sounds so good, you’re not afraid of taking risks.”

Garrison wants to hear just that from artists who play in his Lab.

“That’s all I want people to do,” said Garrison, referring to the artists’ willingness to experiment. “What are you scared for? It’s music!”

At its core, the ShapeShifter Lab is all about music, especially jazz. It has been named a “Best Jazz Venue” by Downbeat Magazine, who cover “jazz, blues and beyond” four years running. However, the space lends itself to a variety of artists. In a single week, the Lab might host bands of jazz, electronic, Spanish folk, and single-person big band backgrounds.

“Many people play here. The turnover is extremely large and it provides a really important outlet for a lot of musicians,” said Robert Sabin, a musician who also enjoys the space as a frequent audience member. “You can do whatever you want here.”

The Lab hosts artists both established and new. Ron Carter, a Grammy-award winning jazz bassist who knew Garrison’s father, has played there. John Yao and his band – John Yao and his 17-piece instrument – have frequented the space as well since their conception in 2013.

Garrison addressed a misconception that jazz music may not be as popular as it once was. He said jazz musicians’ influence is evident in categories like R&B, Hip-Hop & Pop.

“That’s what’s getting all the hoopla at the Grammy’s and all that stuff. But those folks are jazz musicians you know?” Garrison said. “I mean what I really appreciate (about Hip-Hop and Pop artists) is they know when there’s serious musicians and they can gain something from that experience. The jazz musicians give it a nice twist.”

Keen examples are Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly and Lady Gaga and Tony Bennet’s 2015 Cheek to Cheek.

According to Nielsen, the industry's leading source for music data and insights, in terms of album sales jazz accounted for 3 percent in 1999 compared to 1 percent in 2016. The shift in Internet streaming has not helped. Streaming now accounts for 38 percent of all audio consumption and jazz music still heavily relies on physical album sales.

Still Garrison is not worried. He said a shift in younger artists and musicians in the industry means that the music will stay viable.  In the meantime his ShapeShifter Lab will continue to make music of its own.

“Whoever’s doing it, saying that there’s no money in jazz, it’s a lie,” Garrison said. “And the fact that it’s not viable or the fact that young people are not doing some really cool stuff with jazz is a lie because I see it here all the time.”

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The Reading Room at Bryant Park is an outdoor library open to the public of New York City! Kiara Alfonseca and Avery Braxton report for CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism.