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| News - Cadence Magazine Interview, fall 2009, part 1 |
In spring of 2009, journalist Ludwig van Trikt conducted the most extensive interview with me that I've ever had for the magazine, Cadence. We did it in writing over a period of a few months and I'm including it here in several parts. Below is part 1:
Cadence: You mentioned to me that you are in the process of re-evaluating your musical career. So let's start with you describing your musical and non-musical beginning?
I was born in New York City on Oct. 4, 1960 into a “show business” family. My father had been an actor, director and stage manager on and off Broadway as well as all around the country. By the time I came along, he was more into the management end of the profession and was asoociated with almost 200 Broadway shows. He was a great man and a true gentleman, may he rest ever in peace. My mother was an actress and singer.
The arts were important in our house; going to the theatre of course, but I also remember going to the Young People’s Concerts of the New York Philharmonic which were presented by the great Leonard Bernstein. He became something of an acquaintance, even a colleague, of my parents and I remain in awe of him, his musicality, generosity, versatility and humanity, to this day.
While my parents were not strictly speaking jazz fans, they made sure that I and my brother and sisters knew who Duke Ellington was, who Louis Armstrong was and so on. My mom, being a singer, knew all the songs and standards from the era when they were popular music so if I heard something on the radio she could tell me about Ella Fitzgerald or Anita O’Day or Peggy Lee or Sarah Vaughn.
I started playing the piano at the age of about three, just picking out things I heard, making things up and playing on all the black keys (the pentatonic scale which sounds especially pretty to a three year old). I studied instruments all the time growing up; piano, clarinet, flute, guitar before discovering bass at the age of about 14. I didn’t get serious about bass until about 18 - for one thing, you have to be big enough to play it - but right away I felt at home on the instrument. Just one of those mystical things that can’t really be explained.
Two events stick in my mind from this early period: the first was when I went to hear a concert where the great Milt Hinton was playing bass. At the end of the set, he came right over to where I was sitting - a clueless 14 year old kid, mind you, and began talking to me about jazz, music, who I was, what I was hearing, what he was playing. He just knew. It made an indelible impression on me and knowing him was definitely one of the great gifts of my life. (As an aside, years later when I was living in Dublin, Ireland, there was a horrible fire in a disco and about two dozen young people were killed. The story was big enough that it made the news over here. All Milt heard was “Ireland” and “young people” and he picked up the phone, called my parents’ house to make sure that I was alright. Such a beautiful man. There was no such thing as race, age or attitude with him. Something to aspire to in music and in life).
The second was when I heard the Irish traditional group, The Cheiftains, in what might have been their first real concert tour of America in about 1972. The purity and power of the music was irrestible and it too opened a door that was only waiting for me to open it.
Cadence: Let's trace your early beginnings on the bass (both formal and non-formal)?
Because of its size, bass is an instrument that you can't start too young. I played other instruments growing up: piano, clarinet, flute, guitar. In fact, I was quite serious about classical guitar for a few years in my teens. I think I can trace some of my right hand technique on bass back to my studies of classical guitar. For example, I still use three fingers to play pizzicato (two is more the norm). Other players who used three fingers are Cecil McBee and the late, great Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen, both players who I much admired when I was learning to play.
Bass is not an instrument a lot of people are drawn to play - not one of the "glamor" instruments, if you will. I think one really has to have a strong calling to it. One of the things that Milt Hinton told me that I've never forgotten and think about often is that the bassist's job is "to make everybody else sound good". This and other profound comments he laid on me from time to time are the reason I got started off on the right path. Milt really taught me what music, jazz and life are supposed to be about. Just hearing him play and seeing the way he comported himself around other musicians, the respect and love he gave and received, made a deep impression on me and was the most valuable instruction.
At my high school there was a bass in the music room (this was back in the days when there were actually music programs and instruments in schools), that I was mysteriously drawn to and starting fooling around with. This would have been prior to my meeting Milt. One other thing about bass is that since not many are drawn to it, if one does want to play it, people are happy to let you. This led to me playing in shows and performances in and around school. I was playing guitar and bass in different bands, one of which was sort of a Santana cover band and was a lot of fun. Just a thought: I was something of an athlete in those days. In baseball, I played catcher, in football I played center, in soccer (football) I played midfield and fullback, what was called "last man". I've often wondered if I just have what could be called a "bass mentality".
Cadence Magazine
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