| Interview: |
1. At what age did you start playing guitar and when did you start playing jazz?
I started playing guitar at 13 (I'm 43 now). I played mostly country blues and bluegrass (with some Grateful Dead thrown in.), then ragtime and Celtic, then stride and R&B, then started modern (be-bop) jazz (I was about twenty one or two), then played with Hank Roberts in my late twenties and then started composing and playing my own music, which I continue to do, as well as play "standard" modern jazz.
2. Which people influenced you as an improvising musician?
At first, Jerry Garcia! Since then, Jim Hall, Joe Pass, Hank Roberts, Bill Evans , John Stowell, Eric Dolphy, Chet Baker, Charlie Parker, Ken Carrier and many of the amazing guys I've played with over the years.
3. Did you take guitar lessons when you were young?
For a short time. When I was older I studied with Steve Brown in Ithaca, and Jim Hall in NYC.
4. What do you listen to today?
I don't listen music very much, any more, but when I do I listen to Bach, Jim Hall, Pendereki, Bill Evans, some Bill Frisell, and older pop music when I get nostalgic.
5. What gear do you use and what was your first guitar?
I play a D'Angelico NYL-2 with an Acoustic Image Clarus 2-R and a Daedalus cabinet. I also have a Reazer's Edge Stealth 10 cabinet. For non-traditional jazz tone I use a Roland ready Stratocaster and a Roland VG-88 through the same rig.
My first guitar was an Epiphone (F-140?).
6. Do you get frustrated about your guitar playing sometimes? What aspects of guitar playing do you feel you need to improve on?
Absolutely! I try not live in the frustrated zone however. There was a great piano player I knew in Ithaca, Biff Hanon, who said, "Put your mistakes on a mental blackboard and erase them every five minutes". I try.
I can always use improvement in arpeggios, especially using sweep techniques. I have a particular way of putting small chord voicings in the middle of my lines that is an ongoing work in progress that will probably never be finished!
7. What is your practice routine like? How much time do you devote to studying music and guitar?
My practice routine is extremely variable, depending on what projects I'm involved with, and how much I'm traveling to gigs. My basic approach is to list the work that needs to be done in practice, and divide the time I have set aside for practice to spend some time on each segment. Anything I work on is in all twelve keys, all possible positions on the neck. If, for example, I am able to finish a particular subject in five keys, the next day I'll start that subject in the sixth key.
8. How much time do you devote to studying music and guitar?
Complicated question, as I compose while I watch movies, practice in my head while waiting for things, and practice as often as possible.a lot, I'd say.
9. Do you teach music? What do you hope a student gets out of your teachings, besides the obvious?
Yes - I teach jazz guitar at Western Oregon University one day a week. Until about two years ago, I was teaching 50-70 students a week privately. I finally had to stop - decent money, but it was stressing me out and affecting my performance as a player.
Um - what's the obvious? While I certainly hope they become great musicians, I consider it a successful lesson if they walk out of the lesson room feeling better about themselves when they came in. Anything else is gravy.
10. What are your favorite standards to play?
I like old tunes better than "jazz" standards, generally. I like "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face", "On the Street Where You Live", "Emily", "I'll Remember April", "I Hear a Rhapsody", tunes like that.
11. Do you make a living as a professional musician? What did you have to do to make this work for you? What are the pros and cons of being a professional musician?
Yes. I'm very versatile - I can play almost any kind of music, and I'm willing to! I play a Christmas pit band gig every year, I play casuals, I give concerts of my original music, I've done strolling old-timey gigs, I back up singers, I play every era of jazz music from Dixieland to VERY Avant-garde.As I said earlier, I used to teach a lot of private lessons and I still teach at a local university.
Cons - hard way to make a living! You've got to be self motivated and diligent, and you have to take a lot of crap from people who know nothing about what you do.
Pros - as the quote goes, "if you have no choice, it's the greatest job in the world". I love music, and won't quit doing it for my living until I'm dead.
Tips for people starting in the music business: be versatile, be on time, be polite, wear the right clothes for the gig, get good gear, pay attention to your calendar, complain minimally, and don't forget all the little things like adapters, extension cords, strings, music stands, batteries, etc. These things often matter more than how great you can play over "Giant Steps"!
11. What projects are you working on at the moment?
I'm working on a new CD - "Dead Men Are Heavier Than Broken Hearts". It's a tribute to Raymond Chandler, with some of his words set to music, as well as instrumentals using his work as an inspiration. It is not in a "noir" style. It's my compositions and style, dedicated to Raymond Chandler, one of the greatest detective writers of all time. The instrumentation is guitar, saxophones, trombone, bass, drums, and voices.
12. Do you have any advice for beginning jazz guitarists?
Work hard, practice everything in twelve keys (yes, Bird heads too!), get a good teacher, transcribe a lot, and compose - remember, improvisation is spontaneous composition, and composition is very slow, organized improvisation!
|
