Archive for category Jazz Gtr Interviews
Brad Williams Interview
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews, Youtube Jazz Videos on July 14, 2015
I was contacted via Twitter by Brad and had a listen to his Youtube channel and loved what I heard; tasteful, in the tradition but not in anyway painting by numbers if that makes sense- check it out. I was glad he agreed to an interview. Thanks Brad!
What/who were your initial influences?
My very earliest influences were stacks of 45 RPM records my parents owned. Scotty Moore with Elvis Presley was a big one, Steve Cropper with Otis Redding was another. At 12 I was exposed to Hendrix, and at 15 to Wes Montgomery and Grant Green. Then I started going out as a teenager in my hometown of Memphis to hear Calvin Newborn at least one night per week— this was in the late 1990s. But my single biggest guitarist-influence, to this day, is Charlie Christian— such an incredible sound and conception, and true, deep feeling in every note. His influence exploded out in every direction— through Wes and Benson obviously, but also through T-Bone Walker into the blues, then Junior Barnard on the country side of things, and Chuck Berry and beyond into rock. Charlie Christian is truly the electric guitar’s ‘big bang.’ More than guitarists, though, I’m most influenced by any musician who delivers real depth of feeling and real, honest individuality. There are too many to list, and fortunately there’s no reason to narrow it down.
Are you gigging much at the moment and any projects in the pipeline?
I’m doing a lot of writing and producing these days, in all sorts of idioms, and a fair amount of performing. Not all of it is improvisation-centered. Last year I worked and toured quite extensively with vocalist José James, and currently I’m playing and writing a bit with artists like Kris Bowers, Cory Henry, Samora Pinderhughes, and Sly5thAve, as well as some more song-oriented projects with lots of great artists like Adesuwa, Kimberly Nichole, and more. Really just staying busy and keeping my vision very broad. My organ trio record, which features Pat Bianchi on B3 and Tyshawn Sorey on drums, comes out 4 September. I’m very excited to see the public’s reaction to Tyshawn’s organ trio drumming, which is fantastic. So many music lovers know his work in contexts very different from this, so I think a lot of people are going to really get a thrill from hearing him like this.
It was an interesting project in that we decided to do an entirely analogue capture the whole way through— we tracked and mixed to tape, and Scott Hull cut a great-sounding lacquer master from razor-blade sequenced quarter-inch reels. The LP edition will have never touched a computer at all, and I chose this way of working with a very clear musical result in mind. Rather than having the temptation to fix and edit, I wanted to enforce being true to the feeling of the moment. What was most interesting to me were all of the little things that bothered me initially. Most of those came to be some of my favorite parts of the record once it aged a bit— there’s real humanity there, and with modern recording workflows, a lot of this humanity gets eroded through little fixes, edits, and punches. I think this is because humanity and vulnerability, while engaging to audiences, can be uncomfortable when it’s your humanity and vulnerability!
What’s your ‘desert island’ guitar or have you got it!?
I have always liked guitars— I have 20 currently. I’ve always, from the very beginning, liked to have a lot of guitars around. Amps, too! So it would be hard to pick one. At any rate, things like makes, models, and vintages are purely academic to me— I have to play a particular guitar before I know if it speaks to me or not. Another of the exact same make, model, year might not strike me the same way. There are some I own that were particularly obvious to me the first time I picked them up. I have this 1953 Epiphone Triumph Regent that someone added a pickup to in 1954. It’s a carved-top guitar—it was an acoustic originally—and the pickup was bought out of a catalog, made by Carvin in the mid-1950s. I also have a blue 1962 Fender Jazzmaster that I’d never sell, and a 1944 Gibson Southern Jumbo flat top.
Most of my guitars are old; I tend to like the ones that have been played a lot. Sometimes I feel that as with any other tool that’s worked with in the hand a lot, like they can somehow accumulate personality. That probably sounds weird. But in the end, there’s music in any guitar— it’s up to the player to find out what the guitar does and how it can be worked-with, creatively. I’m a big fan of old inexpensive guitars, for instance— there’s almost always something they do that is unique and characterful. I’d be happy with almost any guitar on a desert island, I think!
Best guitar gig you’ve ever seen?
There’s one that comes to mind for me that I’ve talked about a few times since. I was about 18 years old and went to see B.B. King in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; the hall held about 8,000 people. I was young, deep into jazz guitar studies, trying to get my hands around all the technique and my ears around all the harmony. Mr. King had a second guitarist with him— a young kid playing a big archtop— and he gave this kid the first solo of the show. The kid played great; lots of notes, some bebop-inspired language, and I remember thinking “wow, I’ve heard the B.B. King records; I know he’s not going to play more stuff than this guy!” After the younger player’s solo, which finished to polite applause, B.B. King played a single note— one of those stinging upper register notes he’s so famous for. The energy in the hall immediately elevated to this transcendent place— you could feel the electricity of the whole crowd’s emotions being stirred simultaneously. It was a transformative moment for me, because it caused me in one instant to completely re-evaluate what was important to me in music. From that point on, the question was always “is this idea in service of some kind of feeling?” Because it’s not enough, to me, to just be a clever idea or an impressive thing to demonstrate. If it’s not working toward making me feel what B.B. King made that whole hall feel that day, then it’s not what I’m after.
Which guitarist(s) would you recommend for other people to check out?
Well, there are all the usual ones— the legends. Charlie Christian gets a shout-out, again. Freddie Green was always another big hero of mine, due to his deep concept as a rhythm section player. For me, there’s a whole school of Memphis session guitarists that are just my favorite lately. The late Mabon “Teenie” Hodges, Skip Pitts, Michael Toles, Bobby Manuel, Steve Cropper, and— above them all, to me— the great Reggie Young. Most of your readers have heard these players somewhere or other; as session players they were all incredibly prolific, and on some important records. There are some others that are so worth checking out that don’t get as much talk these days— Oscar Moore, George Van Eps, Gene Bertoncini… As for current players, my friend Charlie Hunter has a fabulous new record out with Curtis Fowlkes and Bobby Previte. Isaiah Sharkey is another player I’m really impressed by, as is Tony Scherr… his slide work is so full of real feeling. There are really too many great ones to name.
Jules Faife Interview
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews on November 7, 2013
Matt Chandler Interview
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews on July 15, 2013
Matt is an up and coming guitarist originally from the Midlands and now based in London with his exciting trio, he’s released 2 albums so far “After Midnight” and “It Goes Like This” to critical acclaim and has worked with Tony Kofi amongst other top artists. He was picked this year as the winner of Eastman Guitars International ‘Future Guitar Legend’ which included a trip to LA to play with the legendary John Pisano so the future is looking great for Matt. Make sure you drop by his website or see him at a gig www.mattchandlerguitar.com
He kindly agreed to answer a few questions for us; cheers Matt!
What/who were your initial influences?
I have to say, Joe Satriani. Listening to him made me want to play guitar, then later, Pat Metheny got me into Jazz.
Are you gigging much at the moment and any projects in the pipeline?
At the moment i have a new trio. This has Sophie Alloway on drums and Jason Simpson on Bass. We hope to be getting out playing soon. There are some videos of us up on my website :www.mattchandlerguitar.com.
I also have a few shows coming up in Autumn in the midlands with the BoHoP Trio and Wendy kirkland.
What’s your ‘desert island’ guitar or have you got it!?
I already have it . My Gibson es 175.
Best (jazz guitar) gig you’ve ever seen?
Best jazz guitar gig i have ever seen must be Jonathan Kreisberg at the pizza Express this April. Kreisberg, for me, is one of the best. He has it all, very rich harmonic and melodic content and, of course, a great tone!
Which guitarist(s) would you recommend for other people to check out?
If you can try and check out, Filipe Monteiro, Richard Rozze. both really good players, they can be found online. Also, i think people should check out John Pisano more. My reason is to do with actual comping and rhythm work in the sense that i think this area of jazz guitar can tend be overlooked by most of us. John Pisano is an excellent example of superior comping.I am a firm believer in you are only as good as the guy that is comping for you or your rhythm section. What the other guy/girl plays can have an enormous effect on how good, or bad, you are going to be on a gig. , whilst i was in LA i had the pleasure of playing a couple of tunes with John. Right from the word go my performance was really comfortable, its almost like John sizes you up and knows what your going to do before you do and adjusts his comping style to suit. We should check John out more for the benefit of who we are going to comp for!
Joe Diorio Interview
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews on March 15, 2013
Phew I’m tired, went to see Jonathon Kreisberg last night in Oxford at The Spin jazz club, great gig!
Not mine but just found this recent interview from one of my favourite players, the great underrated Joe Diorio!
Dutchbopper
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews on January 7, 2013
Dutch bop guitarist Dick Onstenk has a great blog here worth checking out, this month he interviews great NL guitarist Jesse Van Ruller
Jens Larsen Interview
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews on June 27, 2012
I was contacted by Jens Larsen who is a guitarist with the band Traeben who are from Denmark and really play and sound great. I found it particularly interesting as I am in a band with the same instrumental format. I urge you to check out their website (follow the highlighted links on the band name) as there’s some great tunes. One of the reasons I started doing the interviews was to get an insight into players from different countries and how they ended up on the path that lead them towards jazz guitar.
Enjoy!
01. What/who were your initial influences?
When I was 12 my best friend could not play with me when on Thursdays because he was having guitar lessons so I thought I’d get lessons too.I started having lessons every Monday. I had classical lessons until I was 19. Where I lived in Denmark you could only learn classical guitar. When I was in High school I started playing in the school band on the electric guitar of the school, and later I got one myself. When I moved to a bigger city to study mathematics at the University I started to take lessons in electric guitar. From there I drifted from classical via blues and rock into jazz because I discovered that I really liked playing with other people and also improvising. I was amazed that so many rock bands were not improvising, I thought all solos were improvised at that time. When I discovered Charlie Parker, I was searching the library for some fusion that I liked and that was that! I did not find any good fusion untill many years later.
02. Are you gigging much at the moment and any projects in the pipeline?
I am at the moment in the middle of the release tour for the 2nd Træben album: “Push”. We released it in the Netherlands in March and it will be released in the rest of the world on October 1st. Træben is my main project right now. We have been playing quite a lot and the band functions really well, and in more ways than just playing, so that is very nice and I am really enjoying that. Push is the first album where I really got to write a lot of music and that’s also a reason for me to be proud of it. Push has been very well-received in the press and also with bookers so we have not had too hard a time getting to play concerts, and we have had featured videos on All About Jazz, and there are two reviews coming up there too. This first part of the release tour has taken us through Benelux and we are now planning to go to Germany and Scandinavia in 2013. We are also in the process of writing the next album and testing the tunes live. I guess I feel very blessed at the moment.
03. What’s your ‘desert island’ guitar or have you got it!?
I am not sure if I have my desert island guitar. I have been playing an Epiphone Sheraton for the last few years and I really like it and it sounds great, but I just bought an old Ibanez 2630 which feels better, but I still did not get it setup with the strings I use, etc so I can’t tell if that is it. It might be though, at least for now, until I want something else it never ends…
04. Best (jazz guitar) gig you’ve ever seen?
The best concert I ever saw did not have guitar in it. I saw the Dave Holland Quintet on North Sea Jazz nine years ago (I think..), and that was really great! It completely blew away everything else I saw that day. For guitar I don’t know of one thing. I’ve seen Kurt Rosenwinkel quite often and that was always great. Charlie Hunter, Nguyen Le, Scofield they are also all fantastic. I’ve seen quite a few Scofield concerts too, I am never going to get tired of that. I saw Allan Holdsworth Trio live last year which was great too. I have realized that I need to go see more concerts. When I see live music I take so much more with me, and it keeps me going for weeks after. The last concert I saw was the new Chris Potter quartet that was fantastic too. I hope I get time to see something again soon. I never saw Gilad Hekselman live and it’s been a long time since I saw Ari Hoenig.
05. Which guitarist(s) would you recommend for other people to check out?
There are many. Nguyen Le is great and he is in jazz circles not that well known. I’ve had the fortune to hear him in more mainstream jazzlike settings and he is good at that too though not always very true to tradition maybe. All his world music influences are also interestingand a lot of his arrangements are great.I saw a concert from an Icelandic band called ADHD which was great! Maybe it is more the songs and the way the band works than the guitarist, but the concert was fantastic! Underplayed very dynamic and very intense! In the same way I really like the Danish guitarist Jakob Bro’s stuff, even though it is completely different. He has made some records with Bill Frisell and Lee Konitz that are very nice. Somebody showed me a video with Prasanna and Vijay Iyer which was very interesting too, completely different approach in some ways, the whole sitar phrasing on a guitar is very interesting. Another guy whose name I don’t hear so often is Lorne Lofsky. I have one of his CD’s, “It Could Happen To You” and that is great!
Mike Outram Interview
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews on June 4, 2012
Mike is one of the top UK players and teachers, make sure you catch him when he’s gigging near you or flag him down for a lesson. Website I really want to hear his organ trio!
Thanks Mike!
01. What/who were your initial influences?
My dad played guitar, and I taught myself by figuring out what he played by ear. That was: John Pearce fingerpicking things, Dylan, Folk songs, Elvis, Shadows, 50s rock and roll, and so on. After that it was Clapton, Brian May, Gary Moore, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ritchie Blackmore, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Dire Straits, Van Halen. I basically just jammed along to all that stuff every day whilst trying to give my family tinnitus.
02. Are you gigging much at the moment and any projects in the pipeline?
Yes, you can see where I’m playing on this here page: www.mikeoutram.com/gigs Last year was the year of saying ‘yes’ to bizarre things. It started off with an improvised corporate function gig in Thailand, then I had to play the part of ‘Tiny Clanger’ on swanee whistle for a live screening of an episode of The Clangers, then I did a televised Prom concert with the cast of the kids’ show Horrible Histories and a 200 piece orchestra, and then I had a week of teaching Vanessa Redgrave how to sing Motorhead’s ‘The Ace of Spades’. Recording-wise, I have this completely improvised thing I made with Steve Lawson where we’d never played together, so we just set our stuff up, didn’t discuss anything about what to do, just went for it. I really like how it turned out, and we’re releasing that soon. I made a record with Gareth Lockrane; an incredible flautist who has a Hammond quintet. I played on Steven Wilson’s last record; the track I’m on sounds a bit like MUSE. He just sent the mixes over for that and I love it, it’s epic. Kevin Figes made a record that’s out soon – baritone and guitar frontline, pretty rocky and weighty sounding, and we’ll be touring this spring. I’ve been playing a lot with saxophonist Martin Speake and an American drummer: Jeff Williams. No bass player in that one, so I find it really challenging. We’re looking to tour early 2013. I’m writing some music, too. It usually takes me ages to finish my stuff, but when I do I put it on my website. Ah, that’s another thing, sorry this is sounding like a massive list, I periodically do stuff on my website, like I made a guitar lesson thing called ‘The Jewel Box’, that’s a 29 part series of lessons that you can download. I usually write every day for the site. I put tons of stuff on there, recording of gigs, and what not. So I’m just following whatever thread of randomness there is at the moment.
03. What’s your ‘desert island’ guitar or have you got it!?
I play a 335 most of the time. I like SGs or 335s. So long as it sounds like a mangy dog with an eye-patch, I’m good. There are a few things I’d like to change on it, like maybe a set-up might help, the frets look like this: vvvvvv
04. Best (jazz guitar) gig you’ve ever seen?
Well, the ones that stay with me are when I used to go and see Mike Walker when I was 17 and having lessons with him. It was great to hear him and then ask him incredibly nerdy questions about the music the day after. When you’re around a player for a time, you get a different insight into how they play, how they think, what they’re going for; and then getting to hear them live many times doing the thing you’re trying to understand. That’s a good thing. I guess I don’t have that any more with guitarists, because I’m not hanging around guitar players, but I do get to play regularly with the bands I’m in, so I get my fix from them.
05. Which guitarist(s) would you recommend for other people to check out?
Check out Steve Buckley. Gets a Great sound, plays beautiful, great feeling, writes brilliant tunes too. He’s got the Twang! Makes me want to play my guitar.
David Preston Interview
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews on May 9, 2012
If you’re down London way then make sure you check out the David Preston’s monthly residency at The Cornershop
Great writing and flawless execution, these guys have really got their stuff together, have got a very hip sound and are great players. You can keep up with them via Youtube Soundcloud & Twitter
Make sure you do; ones to watch!
Q: What/who were your initial influences?
I started off listening to John Williams and the Beatles very early on, that led me to Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Zepplin and Cream.
My first big jazz influences however were Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass. Metheny’s Question and Answer and Miles Davis’s In a Silent Way are the records that gave me the jazz bug. I still remember exactly how I felt when I first heard Roy Haynes’ intro to the first tune ‘Solar’.
I also have a special place for Oasis, Noel Gallagher is an incredible songwriter and guitarist, an uncommon influence I know but I guess it had to happen sometime!
Q: Are you gigging much at the moment and any projects in the pipeline?
I’m really excited to be starting a monthly residency in April with Kevin Glasgow and Laurie Lowe. We’ll record an album this summer. I’m hoping to do some more gigs with Peter Ind this year as its always a blast playing with him and to tour my own group later in the year. Fingers crossed i’ll also be working again with Melody Gardot at some point too.
Q: What’s your ‘desert island’ guitar or have you got it!?
I play a Gibson cs356 and I’m pretty happy with it at the moment, she’s temperamental with the weather so a desert island might put her out of shape. If i had a choice between anything built by Gary Mortoro or Linda Manzer i’d be one happy guy.
Q: Best (jazz guitar) gig you’ve ever seen?
Its a tie between Metheny at the Royal Albert Hall, Speaking of Now Tour or Metheny at Hammersmith Apollo for the Way Up Tour.
He played really raw at the Albert Hall, really going for it, but I remember literally not being able to speak after seeing him at the Way Up show however, so maybe that one!
Q: Which guitarist(s) would you recommend for other people to check out?
Obviously all the greats, but some guys lesser heard and/or known playing on the scene now:
James Muller, Julian Lage, Joe Cohn, Greg Duncan, Nir Felder, Chris Thile (mandolin player but he’s awesome) and Jakob Bro to name a few. Alex Machacek & Bryan Baker are doing some really interesting things in the fusion area.
For classical guitar, Su Meng and Roberto Aussel, they both sound absolutely incredible.
As far as older guitarists, I recently came across a guitarist who (I think) is still alive called Bill Jennings who plays on alot of Jack McDuff albums whos great. Also George Van Eps, Ed Bickert, Tiny Grimes, Tony Rice and Billy Bauer are all awesome.
Ant Law is worth checking out here in London, he’s writing some really interesting music.
I really wish Stuart Hall, Steve Topping and Paul Stacey would play more in London too because they are ridiculously good players and I’d go to every show!