Kuumbwa Jazz

Allen Toussaint Interview

Allen Toussaint will be performing at Kuumbwa on February 11

Few musicians are as beloved as songwriter/vocalist/pianist/producer Allen Toussaint.  An architect of New Orleans R&B since the 1960s, Toussaint has retained his stature and important role within American music. 2009 brought his highly acclaimed album The Bright Mississippi, marking a high point in his career as a recording artist.  These days Toussaint is hitting the stage and tearing it up with his band, and with a deep well of classic tunes such as “Mother-in-Law,” “Southern Nights” and “Working in the Coalmine” to choose from – it will be hard to sit still for this one.

Allen describes the thrill of hearing other musicians perform his songs, working with producer Joe Henry and coming up with rockin’ guitar parts.

Conducted by Bennett Jackson

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

The last couple times you played Kuumbwa were solo piano dates, but I understand that  this upcoming show will be with a full band?

Yes, with a small band, but a band indeed.

Does playing with the band versus a solo piano show influence the set-list you perform?

Oh yes, definitely…it’s always nice to have some company up there and some things don’t rock so well without the band, so those things become optional when I have the band with me.  Of course there are some things I do alone that wouldn’t work as well with the band, and they have their place too.

I remember a very evocative solo version of “Southern Nights” that you did at Kuumbwa last time, similar to the original version on your record.  It’s so different from Glen Campbell’s arrangement [which was a #1 hit], but his version works equally well.  Do you enjoy hearing your material interpreted in a way that’s different from your original approach?

I enjoy [it] tremendously when I hear someone doing another version of a song that I’ve written.  Even if it’s very close [to the original] or really far away from it, I really appreciate it all.  I usually like everyone else’s rendition better than my own.

In your career as a songwriter, did you ever write a song that you’d hoped a particular artist would record, but they never did?

I’ve written a couple of Professor Longhair-type songs, because even after he had passed on I’d sill write some songs with him in mind and spirit.

When you’re in the studio with artists from across the musical spectrum, from New Orleans luminaries like Professor Longhair or The Nevilles, to rockers such as Elvis Costello, does the studio environment change?

Well everybody’s there to make music, but there is a different vibe from artist to artist.  Innately you are always who you are, but by being a producer I’m kind of a chameleon.  Whoever is there at that time, whatever is special about them [becomes] most important.  

Speaking of production, your last record - 2009’s The Bright Mississippi - was produced by Joe Henry and featured a lot of classic, early jazz and blues tunes.  When you were working on it, did it feel different to create an album where you weren’t the principal composer of the material?

Yes, and it was a luxury to have someone else be the sole producer of it all.  He chose all these wonderful songs and chose all the musicians and where and when to record.  He did everything but play the piano, and that was quite a luxury, I must say.  And plus, Joe Henry is such a gentleman producer and lovely to work with.

So on the subject of piano, I heard a radio interview with you recently where you mentioned your guitar playing as well.  If I remember correctly they played a Lee Dorsey track that featured you on guitar.  Do you pick up the guitar to do any writing these days? 

I haven’t picked up the guitar in quite a while…I don’t use the guitar for writing at all.   I’m not proficient enough to rely on it when I’m writing, but I do like the guitar very much…I love the feel of the guitar because you get to hold it in your arms.

A lot of your tunes have such great guitar parts.  Some of the stuff you did with The Meters, like “Ride Your Pony” have very distinct guitar riffs.  Were those riffs created in the studio, or were they something you had composed ahead of time?

To go back back as far as “Ride Your Pony,” [the original] was a little bit before The Meters…that was Roy Montrell on guitar. [sings the riff] that was sort of an embellishment to the bassline…I had those things in mind when I went into the studio and Roy Montrell was a good guitar reader, so I wrote his parts out and he played them very well.  But of course when we got to The Meters and had Leo [Nocentelli] on guitar, I didn’t have to write much out all, because I just loved how funky he did it.  All he needed was to know the [chord] changes.

So are there any plans for a new record, perhaps a follow-up with Joe Henry?

I am planning to do a recording with Joe Henry within this month.  I had a lovely time recording with him and…we have planned a follow-up to River in Reverse[a 2006 collaboration with Elvis Costello] this year.

7pm Show Info

9pm Show Info

Erik Deutsch Interview

The Erik Deutsch Band will be performing at Kuumbwa on January 17

Known to many as the versatile keyboardist in the Charlie Hunter Trio, Erik Deutsch has worked with artists across the musical spectrum, from Norah Jones to Shooter Jennings, Citizen Cope to Rosanne Cash. As a bandleader, he released the album Hush Money in 2009 and Fingerprint in 2007, building up to his most recent release, 2012’s adventurous Demonio Teclado. This new record is filled with funky, slinky grooves and employs vibrant electronic colorings and lush soundscapes from his band of bassist Jeff Hill, drummer Tony Mason and trumpeter Jon Gray.

Erik discusses the recording of his new album, the tarnished legacy of Ike Turner and seeing great shows at Kuumbwa.

Conducted by Bennett Jackson 

—————————————————————————————

Your new album Demonio Teclado sounds great and has killer instrumentation and arrangements.  But one of my favorite things about the album is that it features only two non-original songs, yet they happen to be written by a couple of my favorite musicians: Ike Turner’s “Getting Nasty” and Neil Young’s “Don’t Let It Bring You Down.”  How did you come to pick those tunes?

From my years with [guitarist] Charlie Hunter, I saw how much fun he had playing cover songs and how you can connect to the audience in a fun way through that, so I started to incorporate that into my set.  The Ike tune just felt like a really awesome song that needed to be recorded…we’d already been playing it [live] for a couple of years.  The Neil Young song I played one night and it just worked really well and had a great vibe as an instrumental song.

It’s a shame that Ike Turner’s dark personal life has overshadowed a lot of his amazing music and songwriting.

Totally agree with that…but he was a big jerk [laughter].  Unfortunately that’s just the reality…but there’s a reason this guy is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

I was looking at the list of folks that you’ve played and collaborated with, among them being Rosanne Cash, Shooter Jennings & Norah Jones.  There seemed to be a lot of names popping up from the country world.  Are you a big country music fan?

Yeah, I am.  My mom is from Nashville, so I’ve always had Nashville in my blood.  I lived there when I was ten and I actually went to elementary school with Shooter [musician, as well as the son of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter], so there’s a connection there.  But I mostly grew up in Washington D.C. and there’s no country music there, so I mainly grew up on rock, hip-hop and jazz.  The next place I went was Colorado…where I got a little more connected to folk and bluegrass.  So [playing country] has been sort of a more recent thing, especially playing with Shooter…he’s like a dictionary of country music and he’s a great guy to listen to music with and talk about music with…that’s just been a really great experience.

Does playing with artists who might have different musical backgrounds and sensibilities than you influence the sound of your solo records?

No doubt…everything I do influences [the solo records].  Every time I fall in love with a new artist or style, it’s always going to affect what I’m doing.  When you get to work with great people like Shooter or Citizen Cope, all of it: musically, aesthetically…their style of business…influences me.

You’re based out of Brooklyn now, right?

Yeah.

Did you record the album there?

Yeah, in my building there’s a studio…it’s Jeff Hill’s studio.  He’s the bass player on the record and he’s coming with me to Kuumbwa. 

Did you ever play Kuumbwa when you were on the road with Charlie Hunter?

We played there three times.

Do you have any particular memories of those times playing there?

Well, I’ll tell you this: the first time I ever went to Kuumbwa was in 1999 and I saw Brad Mehldau play solo piano.  He played for an hour or more and then he stopped and said “I’m gonna come back and play my entire new album” and then he came back and played for another 90 minutes.  Then he played an encore.  I’d never seen a solo piano concert that long…he was playing so inspired and the audience was intensely listening and it really struck me at that moment how exceptional [Kuumbwa] was.  When I got to [play] there with Charlie it only reinforced that.  I think it’s one of the great venues in the world and everyone who plays there agrees with that…so I can’t wait to play.

Kuumbwa Show Info

Albert Lee Interview

Albert Lee will be performing at Kuumbwa on August 1

Albert Lee’s name is well-known to guitar aficionados. During the ’60s, before becoming known for his recordings with American country and rock icons, the British guitarist spent his ‘apprenticeship’ years performing in a number of English bands. Later work in the ’70s and ’80s with Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne and more, cemented his reputation as a premier guitar-slinger. When not recording or touring with other musicians, Lee enjoys entrancing fans with his own band, which includes J.T. Thomas on keyboards; Will MacGregor on bass; and Jason Smith on drums. On The Town Tonight is his latest recording.  There will be both a 7pm and 9pm show.

Albert talks about moving to the United States and playing with his guitar heroes, the solos that cemented his reputation as a top tier country player, and how good it is to be playing back in California.

Conducted by Bennett Jackson

————————————————————————————————

Growing up in England, what initially led you to country music?

I was listening to Lonnie Donegan…he was the man.  It was skiffle music, but he was playing guitar…he always had a really nice, old Martin guitar and he was influenced by all the blues and folk figures from the states.  He was playing Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and Carter Family songs, but he was doing it with a cool jazz rhythm section with acoustic bass, drums and a really good guitar player who played in the style of Django Reinhardt.  It was exciting music and that’s what got us all playing the guitar back then, and it was a kind of intro to country music.  Then I started to get rock and roll records but was picking up some more country things too.  It’s always been side by side to me, country and rock & roll, but I got particularly good at country guitar playing around the sixties and I formed a little country band about 1968.  But I soon realized I wasn’t going to make a living playing [country music] in England because there was a limited market for it…by that time everyone was going towards blues and Hendrix.  I soon found out, when I got to America in the early seventies, that my style of guitar playing was appreciated more here [in the US], than it was in the UK.

So there wasn’t really an audience in Britain that appreciated country music, like there was for American blues music?

There wasn’t a big following for country, but all of the guitar players I knew certainly picked up on some of the great solos we heard…mostly from Chet Atkins, Hank Garland and James Burton. 

You seemed to really hit the ground running when you made it stateside, but did you face any initial skepticism since you were British and playing this very American form of music?

Well, the first record I did that got recognized here was with a band called Head, Hands & Feet.  I played a couple country tunes on that record, and they quickly got airplay on radio stations all over the states.  There was a DJ in LA who would play one of the tracks three or four times in a row on the radio!  So I quickly got a reputation here as a country player, and realized that this was where I wanted to be [laughs].

It must have been great when you moved to the US and started crossing paths with a lot of the players that influenced you.

It was a real thrill to be playing with those people.  We were just playing local bars in town.  I played once a week at this little bar in Calabasas and it would either be Al Perkins or Buddy Emmons on steel, John Hartford was there, Doug Kershaw would sit in sometimes, even Glen Campbell came out once.  And there I was, accepted by all these people…one of them, so it’s a thrill for me.

Did Buddy Emmons live in LA for session work?

Yeah, Buddy lived out here for a few years, and he was often out on the road, playing bass with Roger Miller.  He’d play a couple things on steel but he was mainly just playing bass with Roger Miller.  I just felt really lucky that I’d landed in the middle of all this…and for some reason I’d always wanted to be in Los Angeles rather than Nashville.

The early Emmylou Harris records you played on were recorded in Hollywood, instead of Nashville, right?

Oh yeah, we did them all here.  I would run into those guys and then ended up joining [Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band] because James Burton was off playing with Elvis and couldn’t play in both bands.  I just fell straight in with that band…it was great.

(Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band - Albert Lee is 3rd from left)

Did you ever get a chance to play with Elvis and/or the TCB Band?

Not Elvis unfortunately, but I worked with all [the TCB Band members] in one situation or another, either onstage or in the studio.  They’re all very good friends.  I played with Glen D. Hardin, Elvis’ piano player, in Emmylou’s band…did some sessions with Ronnie Tutt, the drummer, and played with James [Burton] quite a few times in different situations.  In fact I just got back from England after doing some shows with him…it’s great fun…these are my heroes and it was great to be accepted as part of the family even though I was from England.

Are there any plans to bring the Albert Lee/James Burton tour to the states?

The tour with James was a lot of fun…he is one of my biggest influences, so I jumped at the chance to tour with him.  There are no future plans, but we both would like to do it again.

2012 finds you gearing up for some 70^th birthday celebrations – of which, a new album is included.  Will you be performing any new material at this Santa Cruz show?

I’ll be playing tunes from my previous albums and perhaps some lesser-known favorites.  My first instrument was piano, so I love to feature it in my shows.  I’ve had a UK band for many years, but this US band is a relatively new venture for me.  I’ve lived in California for almost 40 years but most of my work has taken me to Europe.  I’m hoping to change that imbalance!

Does this birthday anniversary have you reflecting back on some career highlights?  Are there any particular guitar solos or musical partnerships that you are particularly proud of?

This is my 52^nd year on the road, so I have many memories to look back on.  As a teenager in London, I played alongside Eric [Clapton], Jeff [Beck] and Jimmy Page.  We were all influenced by the same kinds of music but of course went in different directions.  Highlights from my career would be working with Clapton for five years, the Everly Brothers for over twenty, Bill Wyman for a dozen or so…my time with Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band introduced me to a new audience in the US and encouraged me to move here in the 1970’s.  Certain solos did introduce my playing to US players…my solos on Emmy’s “Luxury Liner,” Dave Edmunds “Sweet Little Lisa” and my own “Country Boy” enhanced my reputation as a country player.

Did you ever play in the Santa Cruz area with any of those groups?

Yeah, I’ve been through there a couple of times.  In the seventies I played the Catalyst with Rodney Crowell and Emmylou.  It was a good club.  But I’m looking forward to [Kuumbwa].  I’m looking forward to this new venture.  After so many years of living [in California], I’ve never put a [US] band together until now.

We’re glad you’re going to break-in this new project at Kuumbwa.

I’m happy to be working at home for a change.  Working in California is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now, but I always seem to be 5,000 miles away!

7pm show info

9pm show info

Meklit Hadero Interview

Meklit Hadero will be performing at Kuumbwa on July 26

If Joni Mitchell were East African and met Nina Simone for tea in San Francisco’s Mission District, she might end up sounding like Meklit Hadero (pronounced Muh-kleet Ha-dair-O). Born in Ethiopia, raised stateside and nurtured for the last several years in San Francisco, Meklit has a warm and luminous singing voice and a lyrical songwriting pen that moves from the starkly personal to the poetically metaphoric. Her entrancing debut full-length recording, On a Day Like This… was released by Porto Franco Records in April 2010 and embodies her current life in San Francisco.

From Iowa, to Brooklyn, to Florida, to San Francisco, Hadero tells us about her musical soundtrack growing up, including her discovery of classic rock radio!  

Conducted by Bennett Jackson.

—————————————————————————————————

What was your first introduction to music, growing up?  I assume that was when you were young and living in Ethiopia?

Well, I left Ethiopia when I was just under two years old, so my introduction to music was probably some unconscious moment that I can’t remember (laughs), but when it comes to growing up with music, it was really listening to cassette tapes [in Ethiopia] and American top-40 radio [after moving to the US in]…the early eighties, so that was a lot of Michael Jackson.  We never really knew who the person was, or their story, it was more about soundscapes, and those things were always a part of my sonic landscape.

I can relate, because when I was growing up we always listened to Michael Jackson’s Bad on cassette in the car!

Totally! 

So when you first came to the US, where did you live?

We were living in Washington DC briefly and then we moved out to Iowa.  We lived in Iowa for about three and a half years.  It was great in some ways and was a real American adjustment period.  Then we moved to Brooklyn in 1986, when I was six years old, and I spent my elementary years there.

When you were growing up in these totally different environments, did you find that they inspired you musically in different ways?

Yeah, growing up in Brooklyn was all about early hip-hop, so I grew up with a lot of that and really loving hip-hop.  In Iowa it was more top-40 radio…and then we moved to Florida which is where I learned what this thing called a ‘classic rock station’ is!

And maybe Gloria Estefan too?!

Well it was north-central Florida not south Florida, so as much as Gloria Estefan was on the radio in general, Gainesville is more like the South.

So more like Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Allman Brothers, all that good stuff?

Totally…that’s when I first started listening to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix.  That’s also when I started listening to jazz too, because they had great independent radio in Gainesville, since it’s a college town…that’s when I started sneaking out and going to shows and when my sister introduced me to jazz. 

Were there any particular artists that initially drew you into jazz?

I would say it was Miles Davis.  It was something of his ability to create a space you could stay in for a long period of time, a sonic environment you can settle into.  And not to say that it doesn’t have a lot of movement, but it’s a different kind.

So was it when you started listening to jazz that you started thinking you’d like to be a performer yourself?

I always wanted to, it was just a secret desire.  I performed a lot in elementary school and the first time I ever played a true show was when I was twelve at the 6^th grade variety show.   A teacher had given me a tape recording of a record of The Best of Billie Holliday, so I performed “God Bless the Child.”  I always wanted to sing and write songs, I just didn’t really know how.  “How do you become a musician?”  I didn’t really identify with educational music like school band or kids who would just play cover songs, so I didn’t see how to do it.  So then I went to college and got a political science degree from Yale, and when I moved to San Francisco in 2004, I reached the point where I said “I don’t really know how, but I have to start.”  I started taking voice lessons and quickly became immersed in the arts & culture scene here and the Red Poppy House….which very quickly became my creative home.  I become a part of that world and eventually started running that space [Red Poppy House] where people were thinking about the impact of the art in the neighborhood and city.  I really like that.  The idea of art for me is so powerful…like thinking about impact, and maybe my political science degree has something to do with that, and makes me interested in broader arts and culture projects.

You’ve done numerous artist-in-residencies and formed the Arba Minch Collective for Ethiopian musicians.  Is part of your goal to have your work be broader and not solely in music?

It really is.  I like the idea of being engaged in the world and I like that music has so much potential to create an openness in people.  It can ask a lot of questions, or offer interpretations of our world that we can take in at a level that’s not full of stuck ideas about how we should operate, or how the world ought to work.  It’s a much more open place.

Kuumbwa Show Info: http://bit.ly/Qf20RA

The Yesberger Band Interview

Pianist Devon Yesberger will be performing at Kuumbwa with the Yesberger Band on August 9.

The Yesberger Band, an East Coast group founded in 2010 at the Berklee College of Music, is the project of lead singer and pianist Devon Yesberger, supported by good friends Spencer Stewart on bass and Gabriel Smith on drums.  A sensible, groovy and poetic trio, the Yesberger band mixes jazz nuances with bouncy pop. Their energetic live performances are unmatched by most young musicians, and is evidence of a strong passion for the music and a deep friendship between the performers and the audience.

In preparation for his band’s Kuumbwa debut, their namesake frontman Devon recounted for us the trio’s Berklee beginnings in Boston, as well as some of the musical heavyweights they’ve learned from and shared the stage with.

Conducted by Bennett Jackson

—————————————————————————————————-

What was the impetus for the Yesberger Band?  Were you all Berklee classmates together?

Though The Yesberger Band was formed at Berklee about two and a half years ago, there is some history that dates back to high school between the bassist, Spencer Stewart and myself.  We both participated in the All-State and All-Northwest conferences as members of the Jazz Choir rhythm section from Washington and the surrounding states.  We became close friends and both ended up at Berklee starting in Fall 2009.  We met Gabe, the drummer, via various Berklee ensembles and jam sessions in Spring 2010 and eventually I invited him to come along and jam with us.  [The group] definitely first connected over jazz standards, playing our favorite tunes for a few hours at a time, but we soon began experimenting with the few songs I had written at that point.  I loved the sound so much that I suddenly found myself writing a lot more than I had in the past, trying to bring in enough tunes over the course of the next few months to start playing gigs around town.  It was about a year later that we started recording the Bad Weather EP (Spring 2011) and did our first tour that summer hitting the West Coast with dates opening for Bobby McFerrin and The Yellowjackets, and [in] Gabe’s home state of Michigan opening up for The Temptations at Interlochen, the school that Gabe attended for three years of high school.

Was there an initial common ground in musical influence between the three of you?

I’d say we were all music lovers from the start, who happened to direct the majority of our high school musical (no pun intended) attention towards jazz.  Thus we arrived at Berklee and dove deep into the middle of the active jazz scene, but because of the diverse environment at Berklee, I think we all found ourselves being really interested in all the other music that was motivating so many students at the school.  So we got together and explored how we could connect our jazz roots with our growing appreciation for more contemporary styles, and explore the fusion of different styles.  Sometimes the jazz scene at Berklee could get a little exclusive stylistically, so we all felt refreshed by [rehearsing] some cool covers, as well as work on some originals.  I remember being particularly motivated by Brad Mehldau’s cover of Exit Music For a Film at that time, because Spencer and I had played it during our senior year All-Northwest experience and it was a great example of how contemporary music really can make for some neat arrangements in jazz settings.  Furthermore, we all began to really appreciate lyrics, an art that is plentiful in the jazz repertoire, but often underappreciated by instrumentalists.  Not only did we begin to learn the words to our favorite standards (something we should’ve done long before…) but we also got excited about the lyric heavy cross-genre music we were pursuing.

Berklee has some amazing professors, many of which are established/accomplished musicians themselves. Did you or your bandmates have any particularly influential or notable professors?

I have to tip my hat off to Alain Mallet for this one.  He has inspired me in so many ways both as an incredible pianist in just about every style and also as a teacher.  I took an ensemble with him where we studied the music of Paul Simon and Sting ([Mallet] used to be the pianist in Paul Simon’s band in the early 2000’s) and it really made me realize how versatile I could be as a musician – it inspired me to appreciate all styles of music, and try especially hard to have a complete understanding of rhythm.  Not only can this guy rip through any jazz tune, but he can be sensitive and simple for more contemporary pop, or set fire to any Latin rhythm seeing as he seems to know every last rhythmic possibility on this earth.  He really has been an inspiration for me to become a versatile pianist (because I will always appreciate the chance to be a sideman for other people) and a positive bandleader with a constant flow of ideas.  As for Spencer and Gabe, I’m sure they have their inspirations, and I know one for sure is Hal Crook, a rather legendary jazz ensemble teacher at Berklee who really helps his students approach free jazz with clear intent and structure, despite what you might expect based on the discipline (or lack thereof).  Spencer is lucky enough to be part of the Global Jazz Workshop at Berklee and he studies weekly with Danilo Perez…and has regular lessons with John Pattituci who is one of the adjunct faculty for the program. He’ll actually be flying out to the Newport Jazz Festival the weekend before our performance at Kuumbwa to play the main stage with Adam Cruz.

Since Berklee has such a high pedigree for musicianship, does the Yesberger Band do anything in particular to make yourselves stand out amongst such steep company?

We are lucky to have developed a humble confidence that keeps us from feeling like we have to outdo anyone at Berklee.  I think one thing that makes this easy is that we have a bit of a niche at Berklee – we’re the only jazz trio playing original singer/songwriter material that I know of… [and] as a result we’ve been able to go through Berklee without feeling like there were any other bands hot on our heels. There are so many amazing bands at Berklee, but they’re all doing their own unique thing, and as a result, there are way less competitive vibes than you might expect – in fact I feel very encouraged and supported by the community.  It’s so cool to be friends with all sorts of people who are doing amazing things but in such different ways or with such different music…everyone just wants to be able to stand on both feet when they’re done with Berklee and we’re lucky enough to be getting a pretty good head start that makes it feel like we’re easing into the lives of post-college professional musicians. That being said, because we’re at music school and there are such high standards, we definitely rehearse a lot before shows to make sure that we can impress with our clarity and attention to detail.

Kuumbwa Show Info: http://bit.ly/MZer2L

Laurie Lewis Interview

Laurie Lewis will be performing at Kuumbwa with “Hills to Hollers” on May 21.

Bluegrass legend Laurie Lewis, Cultural Heritage Choir leader Linda Tillery and Grammy nominated singer/songwriter Barbara Higbie have created a vocal trio that taps into the most primordial roots of the American musical experience. “Hills to Hollers” explores American music from the hills of bluegrass and country, to the work songs and hollers of the African-American tradition. Performing with soulful abandon, three-part vocals, and champion musicianship, these women take it to the mat.

Laurie Lewis’ new album Skippin’ and Flyin’ is a tribute to bluegrass legend Bill Monroe.  It turns out that Lewis’ relationship with Monroe got its start backstage at Kuumbwa in the early 1980s.  Laurie took a moment to talk about that meeting and the upcoming “Hills to Hollers” show.  John Sandidge, of Snazzy Productions - and producer of that Bill Monroe show - also recounted for us his recollections of when Monroe graced the Kuumbwa stage.

Conducted by Bennett Jackson

——————————————————————————————-

Laurie Lewis Interview

Can you recall the details of your band opening up for, and you meeting Bill Monroe at Kuumbwa?

I had met Bill previously, but I don’t think he would have remembered me before we met at Kuumbwa.  His bus driver at the time, Roland White, was a fan of my interpretation of a song written by Bill’s daughter, Melissa Monroe.  Roland made sure that Bill came into [Kuumbwa] and listened to me sing that song.  As you know, the back room is pretty tiny, and there wasn’t room in there for all the Blue Grass Boys and my 5-piece band.  When we got off stage, we needed to pack up as quickly as possible to make room for Bill’s band.  Bill was seated in a chair, and hoisted my guitar case up onto his lap and opened it or me, so that I could pack up.  He said, “I’ve never done this for anyone before.” and then he told me, “You’re better than you think you are.”

Did Monroe’s playing influence how you approached your music early in your career?

Most definitely.  I was given a copy of “The Great Bill Monroe,” an album of some of his early Columbia recordings, and was totally smitten by Chubby Wise’s fiddling and also by the raw, emotive singing on that collection.  Bill’s mandolin playing may not have influenced me personally too much, but his entire band’s sound certainly did.

Your latest album, Skippin’ and Flyin’ is a tribute to Monroe.  Was there a moment when you realized you wanted to pay homage to him in an album?

I think that it occurred to me to do this when I started hearing people re-recording Bill’s repertoire for the centennial of his birth [in 2011]. I thought about the huge impact his music has had on my music, and I wanted to express that in a personal way…not just by dong a bunch of his songs over again, but by exploring the ways he taught me (unknown to him) to take material from various sources and personalize it.

Will you be doing any tunes from Skippin’ and Flyin in the “Hills to Hollers” show?

Yes, we will be playing at least one song from that album: “The Pharaoh’s Daughter.”  It is about the woman who risked going against her father’s edict to save Moses from death.

How do you, Linda Tillery and Barbara Higbie decide on what material to include in the “Hills to Hollers” repertoire? 

We just get together and try it out, and see what fits us. If any of the three of us vetoes any particular suggestion, we move on, because there is so much material to draw from we have the luxury of making sure we are all on the same page. We like the material that seems to be from that time in American history when rural people, black and white, played and sang a similar repertoire. We use that as a jumping-off point for forays into all sorts of collaborations.

——————————————————————————————

John Sandidge on Bill Monroe playing Kuumbwa

           Somewhere between 1980 and ‘83, early on in Snazzy Production’s career, we brought Bill Monroe [to Santa Cruz] twice: once to the Crow’s Nest and once to Kuumbwa.  The Kuumbwa show really stands out in my mind, though.  At that time I was not very good about knowing what was going on in this business and I got a call [from Monroe’s management] that asked what time I was picking up Bill from the airport, and I said “well, I’m not…” and they told me I’d signed a contract saying that I would!  I looked it up…and I had!  At that time I owned an old Cadillac limo from the mid-to-late sixties, so I fired up the Caddy and went over the hill and picked up Bill Monroe, all of the Blue Grass Boys, Bill’s new wife, plus all their instruments and packed them into this limo and went back over Highway 17.

            When we hit the summit I turned on the radio to KPIG and they were playing a Bill Monroe tune.  Bill asked “How did you do that?!”  I joked and said “it’s new-fangled radio, I could do that anytime” and Bill says: “Well, have them play another one.”  So we get to Kuumbwa, and Bill had a reputation of being a pretty grumpy guy, but he had his new wife with him and he was just in a great mood and he was hanging out with some kids and the younger musicians while he was there.  We didn’t have a hugely [financially] successful show, but it was just a great experience…to have somebody of that caliber come to town…a guy who invented a style of American music that will last forever.

Kuumbwa Show Info: http://bit.ly/IPtDbI

Interview with Tuck & Patti

Tuck & Patti will be performing at Kuumbwa on Tuesday, February 14 at 7 & 9 pm

For three decades, the unique vocal/guitar jazz duo of Guitarist Tuck Andress and vocalist Patti Cathcart has cast its musical spell worldwide, capturing the hearts of lovers, the respect of jazz buffs, and the jaw-dropping awe of guitarists. This Valentine’s Day, join Kuumbwa in embracing Tuck & Patti’s one-of-a-kind formula of what the Boston Globe’s David Gérard has called “unencumbered yet passionate arrangements display(ing) the sort of panache that elevate them above the ‘jazz brunch’ moniker and underscore their music’s timeless beauty.”

Tuck & Patti chat about their Valentine’s Day tradition of playing Kuumbwa, some of the memorable moments on stage, as well as their new endeavors in teaching and passing along on their craft.  

Conducted by Bennett Jackson

——————————————————————————————-

This Valentine’s Day marks another anniversary of your longstanding ‘date-night’ with Santa Cruz.  Do you remember how this tradition of the Valentine’s Day show got started?

Patti (P): The first time I think it just happened that Valentine’s Day fell on a night we were scheduled to play

Tuck (T): Yeah, we used to play there during different parts of the year but 2000 was the year where we first played on Valentine’s Day and we’ve targeted it for that time ever since.

Twelve years!  That’s a good longstanding tradition.

P: We may have missed a few in-between, but we’ve made most of them.  Our music is really suited to it, and its great to see the lovers get together.  We always get requests and have fun…debuting new tunes and stuff like that, and it’s always interesting because both shows [7 & 9 pm] seem to have a different flavor. 

Do you let the set-list unfold on-stage?

P: Yeah, that’s always the best way.  Aside from Valentine’s Day, there’s always stuff happening that [can influence what we play], and if we ever have new tunes to debut we try and do that there. 

Your latest album “I Remember You” (2008) was comprised of standards and Great American Songbook material.  Will you be performing songs off of that record?

P: Yes, we’ll do some of those.  We’re in the process of starting another [record], and there’s some tunes that we haven’t done before that we’ve been playing around with for the past few months, so we’ll throw a few of those in.  We keep it open to where the spirit may lead.

I read that “I Remember You” was mixed at your home studio.

T: Yeah, we’ve been mixing there for a while.

Was it recorded at home as well?

T: Yeah, we’ve recorded everything at our home studios, except for one album: “Dream” that we recorded in San Francisco, but other than that we’ve always recorded at home.

I imagine that having a home studio is very freeing in that you can get to the studio right when the muse strikes, and there’s no record company folks looking over your shoulder!

T: It’s true about not having anyone over your shoulder - though that was never really an issue for us - but we tend to schedule and record as if we were going into another studio…we book ourselves and plan our schedule.  But it is great to be able to do it from home.

So is this new album going to have standards on it as well?

P: It’ll be more like a classic Tuck & Patti record: some covers of tunes by people we love and some originals.  When we did the Great American Songbook CD, you can do an endless number of those tunes, so we’ll do more of those in our future, but we’re going to go to our classic “T & P” sound for this one.

Getting back to the Kuumbwa show.  Over those years of Valentine’s Day concerts, are there any moments that stand out in your memory?

P: One of the things that’s recurred and has been really cool is when someone proposes marriage during the show!  I usually talk to them first and make sure the person they’re proposing to isn’t going to turn them down and make it a traumatic event [laughs]!  A few times we’ve had people come up onstage and do it, but most of the time they ask us to do it in a song, it’s always pretty cool when that happens.

I didn’t know that there had been actual marriage proposals during the show…that’s awesome!

P: Yeah!  Also, it’s become a tradition for a lot of people and after all these years I recognize them.  I don’t know them, but I recognize their faces and I know that its something they try to do with each other each year, and that’s really cool.

It’s a great ‘Kuumbwa community’ event, and our patrons really look forward to it each year.

T: Recently we’ve been beginning a new project for us where we’re teaching, producing, recording and mixing other people’s projects now.  We’ve talked about this literally for decades and haven’t had the time to do it, but now we can.

P: We’ve really been enjoying it…it’s a really neat thing to be doing.

Are those joint lessons that you’re offering?

T: We have done that.  We teach guitarists and singers separately, but we coach duos and have even done entire vocal groups together.  One really fun thing to do in the process is to record them and help them make their CDs.

P: We are able to teach via Skype for international students, and it’s been a really wonderful thing to do.  We both love teaching and it’s that time of life where we need to pass it on.

T: Yeah, so many of our great heroes didn’t [teach] much…and we just think it’s so valuable to do that…It’s been really nice to use our experience to help other people.

To inquire more about lessons from Tuck & Patti please visit their website or contact them at info@tuckandpatti.com

Tuck & Patti: www.tuckandpatti.com

Kuumbwa Show Info: http://bit.ly/AbbebD

Interview with Regina Carter

Regina Carter will be performing at Kuumbwa on Monday, February 20

How do you take beautiful, traditional African/world music, infuse it with a modern feel, and stay true to its past, without compromise? Award-winning, classically trained jazz violinist Regina Carter’s latest effort, Reverse Thread (E1 Music, 2010), rises to the challenge. Lauded as one of the finest violinists of her generation, Carter captures both the essence and allure of the original music through a lens of contemporary interpretation. To achieve this end, Carter adds an accordion and a kora—the West African harp traditionally played by village storytellers—to her longstanding rhythm section for an uplifting and stirring result.

Regina thinks back on how the music she heard growing up in Detroit was an impetus for her latest album, as well as playing with a kora for the first time, and early-morning musical epiphanies.

Conducted by Bennett Jackson

———————————————————————————————-

When you decided to embark on the “Reverse Thread” project, was there a particular part of Africa whose music you knew you wanted to highlight?

When I got this opportunity, my first thought was to research and record Arab music, especially the Chaldeans, who are Christian Arabs.  That idea came because I grew up in Detroit, which has the largest population of Chaldeans in the US, and that was my introduction to Arab music.  I thought it was so beautiful, with non-Western scale tones…I found it very appealing.  So that was my starting point, and then when I started listening to music in my research, someone at the World Music Institute [in New York City] handed me a CD of music by Ugandan Jews, and I was completely taken by that.  From there the concept went through many, many changes.  At one point I thought it would be music of African cultures from around the world, or music by African composers.  It took many turns, because in collecting music and listening, I would hear something that would lead me to another CD or another part of the world…but in some way I would always find my way back to the African continent.   Of course there’s such a mixture of religions, cultures and languages on the continent, there’s no way I could fit it all on one CD…so I just let the music guide me.  So many times in playing this music, people have come up to me asking: “have you heard this music?”…It’s opened me up to hear other music and has been a journey that will continue to the next record. 

It sounds like the project has taken on a path of its own aside from the actual album itself.

It definitely has!

I’m guessing that due to modern recording and the like, the original recordings that you researched sound quite different than the versions that ended up on your album, despite the melodies being the same.

For most of the tunes, that was the case.  There were a few like “Kothbiro” and “N’Teri” that were pretty much true-to-form, but there were some field recordings and some of the pieces from the Ugandan Jews where the melodies weren’t difficult, but they’re so simple that you think “what am I going to do with this?”  I had to think about where I could take it, but still keep the beauty that’s there in the naked melody.  It’s interesting because you think: “yeah, I can play this” but what can you do to bring life into it?  That’s the most difficult thing.  There are intricate things that you really have to pay attention to, and you can’t overplay…just let the beauty of the natural melody come through.  You also have to arrange it so there’s not too much stuff piled on top of the melody, so it allows it to go somewhere.  We had to do a lot of listening to figure out how to breathe life into the melodies while staying true to the music.

Did you let a lot of that formulating of arrangements take place prior to going into the studio, or was it done on the spot?

It was done prior.  We started the project 2 years before we went into the studio.  We came up with skeleton ideas for the pieces and then started gigging to see how people would respond to it…and to see how we would respond to the arrangements as well.  A lot of times after a gig, I’d wake up early in the morning and I’d know how to cut or move things around, then we’d try it again…and after two years of playing and arranging and letting things happen organically, we went in and recorded it. 

This album prominently features Yacouba Sissoko on kora (a 21-stringed gourd instrument).  Had you played with him, or any kora players, prior to the recording?

Yacouba is an amazing player and I had not played with a kora before.  In fact, the first instruments I used for this project – because I chose the instruments before I chose the material – were accordion and guitar.  But I decided I wanted another string instrument that was different from guitar.  My mentor [violinist] John Blake’s sister recommended Yacouba.  I had called several kora players before and the vibe wasn’t right, but when I called Yacouba he was very gracious and came to a rehearsal and it just worked…he studied the western scale system so he understands our key signatures and can tune to any key we’re playing in, while most kora players only play in 1 or 2 keys…that makes Yacouba even more of a specialist.

One of the things I really like about the instrumentation on “Reverse Thread” is that it takes the kora, which is typically West African, and blends it with the accordion, which is prominent in Southern Africa, making a really unique melange.

Yeah, I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, but it’s a pretty cool blend of sounds.  I’ve found that when people listen to the record or hear us live, they say they hear zydeco, or other things.  That is basically the whole point of “Reverse Thread” because I think of the human race being a huge garment, and if you pull one string it can unravel the whole garment…basically we’re all connected and you hear that in our music.

Have you had a chance to play this music live in Africa?

Yes, we actually went to South Africa and we’re looking for more festivals and places to play [in Africa].  Playing in South Africa was an amazing experience, it was my second time there and the people loved the project.

Is there material that you wish you had tackled for this project but weren’t able to?  Is there a Volume II on the horizon perhaps?

I’m looking at religious songs from Israel now.  There are a lot of melodies I’ve heard that are beautiful to me, but I know [they’re] not something that’s common to western ears.  But I’ve just found some really beautiful melodies so far…so that’s my plan, but who knows.  I let the music guide me.  I’m better off that way.  

Regina Carter: www.reginacarter.com

Kuumbwa Show Info: http://bit.ly/znz0v1

Interview with Charlie Hunter

Charlie Hunter will be performing at Kuumbwa on Monday, December 12

It’s become a December tradition, and by now, just about everyone knows that all those sounds are coming not from three musicians, but from the one and only Charlie Hunter. Pair the eight-string whiz up with master drummer and long-time accomplice Scott Amendola, and the potential is essentially limitless. Originally two-thirds of the heralded mid-1990’s Charlie Hunter Trio, Hunter and Amendola have since navigated an entire gamut of artistic endeavors, garnering a level of musical maturity that makes this reunion especially compelling. Expect reimagined classic repertoire as well as brand new material from Charlie’s latest release Public Domain (2011).

Charlie chats about his longtime drummer: Scott Amendola, the importance of making each record count, and coming ‘home’ to Kuumbwa for the holidays.

Conducted by Bennett Jackson

————————————————————————————————

This upcoming performance is a duo with drummer Scott Amendola.  Is it more challenging or more freeing for you to make music in a duo format?

It’s both…It’s more challenging because you can’t downshift your mind…you’re always having to be completely on point.  [If] you’re playing in a trio you can let your mind have a little rest every now and again.  In a duo, you really can’t.  But then, on the other side it’s incredibly freeing because any idea you have, you can execute right then and there.

Especially if you’re not playing with another chord-based instrument, you basically have free reign.

Yeah, that’s very true.

Amendola has been with you since the Charlie Hunter Trio of the 1990’s, so would you say that by this time, the two of you know where the other one is going to go musically?

Yeah (laughs), we know how to play together.  We’ve been playing off-and-on together for almost twenty years now, so we know how that machine works.  It’s like an old Volkswagen Bug; you can pretty much take it apart and put it back together in a couple hours!

Is there a manual for that, haha?!

No manual, man…blindfolded!

And I’m sure there are still moments where the two of you still surprise each other musically.

Totally, otherwise forget it…what’s the point?

With a duo, it’s a free atmosphere where you don’t have as many people around you to pick up slack.  Is there a rehearsal schedule for a situation like that?

Rehearsal?! (Laughs)  There’s not rehearsal.

No charts I guess, so you guys just let it happen?

Yeah.  Maybe we’ll run through a new song at soundcheck, but no rehearsals.

Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola @ Kuumbwa in the mid 1990’s (photo: Will Wallace)

Nice.  Will you be playing music from your most recent album: “Public Domain” (2011)?

Yeah, I’ll do some of that and I’m working on some new music…plus whatever standards and other songs we want to play.  Scott’s been writing for the last ten years and has some nice songs…we’ll play some of those.  We move from thing to thing.

You mentioned you have some new material.  Do you have plans to hit the studio anytime soon?

Not yet, I feel like I’ve made so many records in the past twenty years, I want the next one to be really strong.  I don’t want to make a record just because it’s time to make a record.  I’m really taking my time and working on material…I don’t even know what the instrumentation will be.  I also have to pay for the record myself, so I really want to make sure it’s something I feel will be really strong and will be different from the  other records I’ve made.  I think all of my career I’ve tried to do that, to make each record – even if it’s similar instrumentation – somewhat different from the ones that preceded it.

It’s become a  bit of a December tradition to have you at Kuumbwa…

Yeah, man.  I’m into it!

Do you consider it part of your holiday season?

Yeah, I think it is.  It used to be that I’d play Kuumbwa and Yoshi’s, but I’m not doing Yoshi’s anymore, so now it’s just Kuumbwa.  I think [Tim Jackson – Kuumbwa’s artistic director] was telling me that I’m usually the last show of the season, and I always look forward to it!

Charlie Hunter: www.charliehunter.com

Kuumbwa Show Info: http://bit.ly/ubmWKz

Interview with John Scofield

John Scofield will be performing at Kuumbwa on Monday, October 24

John Scofield’s guitar work has influenced jazz since the late 70’s and is going strong today. Possessor of a very distinctive sound and stylistic diversity, Scofield is a masterful jazz improviser whose music generally falls somewhere between post-bop, funk edged jazz, and R&B. He has prominently led his own groups in the international jazz scene, recorded over 30 albums as a leader (many already classics) including collaborations with contemporary favorites like Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden, Eddie Harris, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Bill Frisell, Brad Mehldau, and many others. This straight-ahead inception of Scofield will include Michael Eckroth – piano, Ben Street – bass, and Greg Hutchinson – drums.

Scofield recalls how Kuumbwa has seen every one of his groups over the years, and how returning to the jazz quartet format is like a pleasant home-coming for him.

Conducted by Bennett Jackson

——————————————————————————————————

Kuumbwa has seen you bring countless groups to stage over your many performances here. 

I know!  I think every group I’ve ever had has played at Kuumbwa, which is pretty cool.

It’s a cool thing for us to have on our resume as well!  So this jazz quartet this time around will feature Michael Eckroth (piano), Ben Street (bass) and Greg Hutchinson (drums).

Mmm hmmm.  I’ve been playing with Michael Eckroth a lot lately.  He’s a pianist and was actually a student of mine at NYU and I thought he sounded so good I had to bring him out on the road.  I’ve done a lot of stuff without piano but I’ve been getting into it again lately, working with a piano player that can play the chords behind me so I can kind of be like a singer, you know?

With the addition of the piano giving you that different chordal background, will you guys be performing any of the material off the ‘54’ (2010) album which featured a lot of orchestration?

Well, we won’t be doing so much from that one.  I have a new record that’s coming out at the end of September and we’ll be doing stuff from that…which is a piano quartet also.  It’s a different band than the one that I’m bringing [to Kuumbwa], but it’s called “A Moment’s Peace.”  That’s with Larry Goldings on piano, Brian Blade on drums and Scott Colley on bass.  Different quartet, but we’re going to be playing some of the music from that record, which is a ballads record.

We’ll look forward to that record.

But the band that’s playing at Kuumbwa, I’m planning on doing stuff from all different eras of my career…all my tunes…from different albums, some of the older stuff, but also some jazz standards.

(photo: Scofield performing at Kuumbwa in the 1970s.  Photo by Will Wallace)

When you do projects with strong personalities such as the orchestrated ‘54,’ or the New Orleans flavored Piety street group, does it feel comforting to return to a jazz quartet, or more traditional jazz setting?

Yeah, I think it’s home for me, just to play straight-ahead jazz.  I like to mix it up with some of my originals that have little different things, but it’s very comforting for me to play ‘in the tradition.’

With regards to playing in that tradition, I read on your website that you’ve been playing an old 70’s Howard Roberts model Gibson, an archetypical jazz guitar.

[laughs] I got this guitar, it’s actually in my lap right now, but its not the guitar I’m playing live.  I bought this really cool old guitar that I really love and I want to use in certain situations, but in a way it’s so cool I don’t want to bring it out of the house or fly with it…but I’ve got this Ibanez guitar I’ve played since 1980, when the Ibanez company in Japan gave it to me, and that has really become an appendage.  I keep buying other guitars and getting cool stuff and using them more for recording but on the gig I always play this 1980 Ibanez because I know what it can do.  It’s my friend, you know, it’s my wife.

That Ibanez is a semi-hollowbody right?

Yeah, It’s a semi-acoustic AS200.  It’s like a Gibson ES 335 copy that they made.

I want to go back to something that you mentioned earlier, as far as joining forces with Michael Eckroth because of your position as an adjunct professor at NYU.

Yeah, I teach a little bit there.  I’m on the road so much that I’m not able to teach consistently to college students.  But NYU has really set me up with a great situation where I do 7 Master Classes a semester.  And I also sometimes take a semester off, which I’m going to do this fall because I have so many gigs.  I love doing it and in the Master Class I get to play with some of the really good players at NYU and we hang out…it’s great.

NYU is my alma mater…

No kidding?!

Yep!  So when you went into that situation were you expecting to could get a future bandmember out of the arrangement, or did that catch you by surprise?

Well yeah, I think actually at NYU there are all these guys who are professional but go there so they can get a masters degree, or doctorate.  So yeah, I was looking, because I knew there were some really good players, especially in the grad school.  I mean, that’s just where it’s at today.  You meet really good players that are going to school…in the old days maybe you’d meet at jam sessions because they didn’t have jazz schools, but now they do.

And NYU has got an impressive lineup of other adjunct professors such as Lenny Pickett and Joe Lovano.

Yeah, Lovano’s there…Lenny…it’s pretty heavy.

Any parting words about this upcoming show with the quartet?

I just think that the Kuumbwa audience always brings out the best in us…I love playing there and have been for so many years.  The room itself – I hate to sound mystical – but it has some vibrations that set up the creative process.  The best place to hear jazz is in a club, I’m sure of that….and I can’t wait to get back there.

John Scofield: www.johnscofield.com

Kuumbwa Show Info: http://bit.ly/nnNwWJ