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O N E L P
It is special for a couple of reasons. When I was asked to pick my favourite record I sat at dinner – Mike Chadwick told me about it – and I sat at dinner for about an hour trying to think of it and I couldn’t come up with anything - like my singularly favourite record.
So I decided to pick like a record that was one of my favourite somethings.
So this is my favourite bass record, actually, as a bass player. I think every track, the bass playing and the key bass playing to me is like absolutely perfect, like everything that I ever have wanted to be as a bass player, you know is on this record, both key bass and electric bass.
The other reason why it is special to me because this dude is the mentor of my mentor, Bernard Wright.
So Bernard is the guy who kind of totally shaped the way that I think about music and play and Don Blackman was Bernard’s mentor, growing up together in Jamaica, Queens.
So I feel that there is kind of like, you know, maybe a little bit of that kind of lineage sentimentality, I guess, you know, about it but yeah absolutely, just an incredible record from back to front - you got it!
Don Blackman: 'Don Blackman' released 1982
Michael League: Snarky Puppy
O N E L P
Muddy Waters: 'The Best of Muddy Waters'
"This album is called ‘The Best of Muddy Waters’ and it’s the seminal Chicago blues album with contributions by most of the people of note and are actually from Mississippi who had made the journey to Chicago. So you have the pure Mississippi blues in electric form for the first time. Muddy Water on slide guitar and vocals, Otis Span on piano, Little Walter on harmonica and of course Willie Dixon on bass amongst many other fine musicians - but they are literally the best in their category in my opinion and it’s a splendid example of working together – in a way that is so relaxed and so natural absolutely disciplined in a way that no revival band has ever been able to approach in my opinion - sheer quality, and this has all the classic tracks.
I played with Willie Dixon in Hollywood, I went there to represent Europe in the Little Walter Memorial Concert.
All the surviving members of the great Muddy Waters and Little Walter bands were there – The Aces and The Dukes and quite a lot of other people like Lowell Fulson and Lee Oskar who was the harmonica player with War who invented a completely different form of harmonica playing and everybody connected with blues – the last remaining time and they’re all dead now apart from Lee Oscar, that was back in 1990.
I went for two weeks and stayed for nearly a year.”
O N E L P
It is special for a couple of reasons. When I was asked to pick my favourite record I sat at dinner – Mike Chadwick told me about it – and I sat at dinner for about an hour trying to think of it and I couldn’t come up with anything - like my singularly favourite record.
So I decided to pick like a record that was one of my favourite somethings.
So this is my favourite bass record, actually, as a bass player. I think every track, the bass playing and the key bass playing to me is like absolutely perfect, like everything that I ever have wanted to be as a bass player, you know is on this record, both key bass and electric bass.
The other reason why it is special to me because this dude is the mentor of my mentor, Bernard Wright.
So Bernard is the guy who kind of totally shaped the way that I think about music and play and Don Blackman was Bernard’s mentor, growing up together in Jamaica, Queens.
So I feel that there is kind of like, you know, maybe a little bit of that kind of lineage sentimentality, I guess, you know, about it but yeah absolutely, just an incredible record from back to front - you got it!
Don Blackman: 'Don Blackman' released 1982
Michael League: Snarky Puppy
O N E L P
"It’s Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf – actually also on the album is Benjamin Britten’s 'The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra' as well.
When I was about 9 years old my father took me to see a performance of Peter and the Wolf. I just thought it was so magical because here’s somebody telling a story to music and I just was in raptures. It was the actual inspiration for me all my life to want do stories to music which is what I went on and did – Journey to the Centre of the Earth and King Arthur * and those kind of albums. It was purely thanks to that trip to see Peter and The Wolf.
I always thought Prokofiev was a total and utter genius and fell in love with all his music from that day on. The interesting thing is this particular album has David Bowie narrating it – I mean I’ve got so many versions of different people narrating it, but because of my close relationship with David working with him, being a friend and he does it extraordinary well – he really does do it well. He has almost the perfect voice for doing it. To me he even beats Peter Ustinov’s version which was pretty sensational which I’ve got and some appalling versions like Barry Humphries!
What’s interesting about this particular version with David Bowie is – as I said also on the record is Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to The Orchestra – which I’ve narrated, I’ve done it with a couple of orchestras.
But what’s really nice for me as well is I live in Norfolk only about 35 minutes from The Red House where Benjamin Britten was, so I visit there a lot. I know them all there incredibly well, in fact I’ve modelled my music room – outside in an old rebuilt carriage (store) – almost identical to Ben’s room – Benjamin Britten’s room. I’ve been lucky enough to meet some of his students and people who worked in choirs and things and that with him – that’s really nice.
And so to have this particular album that has both the piece of music that probably inspired me to compose in later years, to have David Bowie doing the narration – such a great friend and having worked with him on so much stuff, and then as a bonus track having 'The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,' living so close (to Britten’s Red House) – and some of Britten’s choral work – great influence – to me it’s the perfect album."
Prokofiev: 'Peter and The Wolf' - narrated by David Bowie, released 1978
O N E L P
I mean it’s easy to fall in love with Wayne in all of his different incarnations, but the sound that he gets when he’s playing a song written for his daughter when she was very young or recently born… you can hear that in that melody. That album really captured an incredible moment in Wayne’s career, it’s just amazing.”
Wayne Shorter: "Speak No Evil" released 1966
Terri Lyne Carrington
O N E L P
I don't know how many other albums I'd bought before then but I think the first one that I ever bought and I saved up for when I was at school was “Ella and Louis with the Oscar Peterson Trio.”
And I was also very affected by Dave Brubeck’s quartet with Paul Desmond and I found that I was listening to the solos, I was learning the solos, I didn't realise they were improvised because Paul Desmond was so clear in the way he played and you could actually copy it.
But, I think I joined a club and we saved up so much a week and then this guy would come round and he'd say 'Well this albums new ... and this ones new .. and I can order it for you' , and he said 'there's a new one by Miles Davis, John Coltrane “Kind of Blue” and I thought Oh have to have that!
And it was so special because it was the first time, I mean I've collected records of course by singers .. of course Sinatra I had “Only the Lonely” you know ... I was very effected by that too but of course that was normal he was a singer and was the best .. I think the best singer of my generation singing the kind of songs he sang.
But this was a jazz record and it made me feel that ... I was singing at the time .. and it just made me feel that there was another path that I'd quite like to take with the voice because everything they played was modal.
So although I'd listened to Charlie Parker and I'd loved it - I love bebop, but to sing I thought this style of music offered more space for the voice. And I had no idea how I would be able to use the voice with any... I didn't know any musicians that played this kind of stuff but I knew there must be some.
I thought well maybe you could write words to some of these kinds of songs because I couldn't think how the singer could be involved in a more equal way you know rather than just singing the song and then everybody else doing what I thought at the time was the interesting stuff and then the singer would sing the tune again.
Of course I've come to realise that actually the melody and the tune is the really interesting stuff (laughs). But it was just that it was different to anything I'd heard in the way it affected me.. it made me start thinking about the voice, I wouldn't say the voice as an instrument but how the voice could be used as a sound, I mean Miles was very vocal and he liked singers anyway apparently - well certain singers. And his playing, his trumpet sound, was like a voice and also his solos were fairly singable.
I listened and I played this album so much. I've still got it but it must be nearly worn out because I just played it over and over and I started to learn his solos. And in fact I think my mum learned his solos as well because she couldn't escape ( laughs) we were in a little council house you know .. two up two down ...and so if you played anything in the house everybody heard it and my mum had very good ears and I would hear sometimes washing up and she'd be whistling a bit of Miles Davis. (Laughs). It was a very serious thing when I got this album and it just had .. it just made me think about what kind of music I really wanted to do. Of course I didn't completely follow that path but I found that I finished up doing something that... I mean I hadn't imagined what it could be I could do but I finished up singing wordless solos and not trying to sound like a horn I think people often think .. They say 'which instrument are you thinking of' , well I'm not really thinking of any instrument I'm thinking of the voice. But of course I've worked a lot with standing next to Kenny Wheeler so I think his sound as well had a terrific effect on me. The trumpet again - you know people don't always think of trumpet and voice as a blending thing but I found that I wanted to blend with Kenny's sound. I like that sound of trumpet or flugel..
But yeah it all started with 'Kind of Blue'."
Norma - "Good - is that enough?" (smiling)
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O N E L P
“This is the first jazz recording I ever heard, it’s not even bebop! It’s a rebopper! ‘Charlie Parker’s Reboppers.' There’s a whole story behind this record.
Charlie Parker alto, Miles Davis, trumpet, Curley Russell bass and - who’s on piano?
Hen Gates that was Dizzy – he couldn’t give his real name – and Max Roach on drums.
So it was Curly (Russell), oh my God – can you believe that? So on the other side is "Bille’s Bounce", same personnel.
I always sang as a little kid, I never knew what kind of music I wanted to sing and then after I moved back to Detroit to be with my mother and go to high school, there was a jukebox downstairs from my school.
I was always playing music there, you know, putting nickels in.
So I knew most of the artists and their songs that made them famous – not that I was tired of hearing – but I was looking for something else and I saw this. I saw this and I said ‘Oh – Charlie Parker and His ReBoppers, I wonder what that is?’
So I put my nickel in – four or five notes and I thought – and oh my God, this is the music I’ll dedicate my life to.
Whether I sing it, teach it, support it – whatever, it doesn’t matter, I’ll just dedicate my life to that music.
I’d finally found the music that I wanted to do where I felt I could get into and really mean it.
And I’ll tell you, I got goose bumps when I first heard the first four notes, I was like whoa – it was almost like being elevated you know.
That was ‘Now’s The Time’. And the funny thing about this record that’s so beautifully framed now is I was doing a concert maybe two summers ago and there was a wonderful poet on before us, his name is Billy Collins.
He recited his poetry and afterwards it was going to be me and Cameron Brown the bass player, that’s a duo I have.
I’ve been doing bass and voice since the fifties.
I’m the originator of bass and voice – not to brag – but to say hey to singers and bass players ‘you know can do music this way too. And there are people doing it now – which is great.
This was an outdoor concert and so we were in this big house where we got dressed, got ready and relaxed until we went on.
It was just Billy Collins reciting his poetry and me and Cam.
So my friend, (Peter) - this drummer and a wonderful artist, he knows I’m a Bird freak - and he draws birds – all kinds of birds he’s done - they’re beautiful he sends them to me or gives them to me.
It was Peter, I said ‘Peter it’s good to see you man’
He said ‘ Yeah I have a present for you – I said really?
I said ‘what is it?’ He said ‘yeah open it up’
And so I opened it up – it was this, all framed beautifully.
I got so emotional and I thought oh my God - I don’t think I can go up there and sing right now!
But I waited a few minutes, I hugged him and kissed him and thanked him.
I said ‘Oh my God this is the most wonderful gift I’ve ever been given - except of course the music and my daughter (laughs).
So that’s the story of that record!"
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Back On Stage:
how musicians are responding to the return to live playing.
The project
This portrait photography project will document the reflections, evaluations and experiences of musicians and performers during the time when they were unable to play live during the COVID-19 pandemic restriction and and reflect on how it feels to be back on stage in front of a live audience.
The project is a collaboration between photographer William Ellis, Visiting Research Fellow in Photographing Popular Music Culture and Professor of Popular Music Studies, Tim Wall.
San Fransisco Jazz Collective, Birdland, New York City
D a v e L i e b m a n
Musician
At home, New York City, 22 March 2023
W. "Well it's lovely to see you again and thank you so much for welcoming me to your home to participate in this project I wonder if you could give me an insight please into what you felt during the restrictions of Covid when you couldn't play live and just what went through your mind and what did you do perhaps. Any aspect you'd like to talk about."
D "Well I'll be honest with you I took advantage of the time to rest. I've been extremely busy you know I'm always busy. Well I'm not going to say I was burned out but I felt the need to cool out. So a lot of that time was spent watching some television and to a certain degree reading but it's funny because in the last few weeks I’ve had students who were involved in projects during that time and it was heartening actually you know they were the young folks and and they continued to put persevere as young ones do and so watching then and seeing retrospectively now because it's been long enough to have a past history this Covid 19 again it was really interesting to hear the projects. There was so money available for clubs to stay open, there was some compensation going on to help, so it wasn't just like we're on our own you know. But for me, we just moved here two years ago, so there was a lot on the plate that really I needed to listen to and everything and gather together my feelings about it but outside of the fear of your health going crazy it was like a sabbatical and of course the thing about money (? How. Can you survive when you don’t have an income ?) there was a lot of aspects that were involved and just well we couldn't do anything but hands up a lot of it was very positive .. except for the dying ..outside of that there was very positive atmosphere not during but during it everybody was like hangdog …. how are we ..you know
But in retrospect now it comes up to be a little more positive than it really was maybe I don't know we could conjecture about that all day you know. So R and R rest and recreation was my mantra."
W "Just to carry on with that theme did you feel as if taking that time for R and R.. Did you consider or compose new pieces or did you just enjoy the relief, release of ..
D **Little of both, a little of both I did a certain amount of writing at the beginning,…… living in Manhattan ..we came from Pennsylvania f??fiveteen ..thirtyfive years ?? To living in Manhattan finding some paperwork it's going to be challenging but outside of that initial response at the beginning I was pretty much not on the same page.. what can I say.. I felt that I needed to rest and be nicer to myself because normally I wouldn't take a rest, I've never taken a rest you know but this( ??????) And of course in my own situation I've been doing this for 60 years young guys look at you and say what are you doing, you know, so there's some responsibility for how you handle the prison aspects you know that your caught and you can't go anywhere I mean you couldn't wipe the counter with a sponge I remember when you bought groceries it would take hours to put it on the table because you had to brush everything up etc etc. They had a plague in 1919 somehow the world went on."
W. "So as you emerged from the restrictions and were able to perform live again is that something that you began to do or were you pursuing other things."
D "Yeah .. I mean have a lot of people who I am in contact with, you know, musicians and gigs were like ..you made up for the lost time (????? ) now we could do it. So there was a feeling of sort of jubilation of how we could really get into this not that it's over but it's abated and I'm ready to burn I'm ready to make my contacts, new contacts and old contacts and that slowly happened over the past two years for everybody. Is New York back.. not quite.. but in some ways yes really it is the centre of jazz it has been since the 40s you know I mean. So from when you go down from below 14th Street to Canal Street and count the clubs you have dozens. I also had to make a living .. I mean that was the other thing you know you couldn't just go float around for six months you know. First month or two okay injury time count your blessings and your hopes and your disappointments but you know by the fourth or six month you know you’ve got to get on the case because you can't live on air and everybody's got responsibility I mean (?there is some series small past Masters but they’re recorded) and I did that and it was good and it paid very well. So actually I’ve been recording more than I ever did with overdubs and things like that ..that’s all since the pandemic."
W "Have they been studio located recording sessions or remote Dave.?"
D "I have a young lady five minutes from here who can do the overdubs stuff where I come in I have to play 28 bars or something like that. I can do that you know (laughs) and she's down the street .she’s on 89th Street we're on 77th Street so you know."
W. "So does she come to you Dave?"
D "No .. no she has her equipment. Its just a little room and she's even cutting back on it again because you know live you have to contend with different things but if you go into the studio it’s kind of we do no harm."
W. And when you got back on stage literally, and I can understand a massive contrast between, I'm not sure to what extent you did any social media involvement or streaming did you get involved in that side at all Dave?
D "Well my daughter is big on PR she is very.. Getting to be quiet well-known in PR jazz PR so I count on her of course and my wife (????)changes every day it seems. It's not that I find anything wrong with the social media is just that I don't have time for it. If I was 25 years old I’d be right on it like I was when I was 25 etc so everything in its time you know,"
W "And when you would got back performing live with other musicians what kind of reaction did you have to that any thoughts that you may have had before whether you were concerned are we going to get this together or what we feelings on actually being back there Dave."
D "Well it was positive you know we were coming from ashes and everybody was equal ..a small community like Jazz community ..maybe 100 young people involved you know then established guys like me we were glad to have something to be positive about because the pandemic we were just talking about was quite cruel ..shall we say ..in its way it struck and when you started to see some clubs opening up guys playing more you say yeah man let's go let's go support the music and support these young musicians. So it's been a cycle you know kind of down vibe .. into the middle where people are starting to interact until where we are now which is(? quite a bit happening .. you’ll pick it up I your few days here I’m sure?) You take that hot house magazine and you look in there and it looks like there's nothing but jazz clubs in New York. Manhattan not just Manhattan Brooklyn also and there’s an enthusiasm that’s natural to young people that we try to encourage. I teach here they come in here and I go to the positive side what I can do for them and what they should be doing. Look the glass is half empty .. half full let's do it half full tonight."
W "The kind of composition elements that you were doing during that time is that something you're working on now are you still adding to those pieces Dave or do you feel as if they’re .. Are you going to record them or what’s your.".
ID "I'm not sure I'd love to record them of course.. there's nothing monumental about what I wrote during the pandemic you know just a couple of things I think I could do and stuff like that my work with orchestra, big band everything, that's all things in the past and that would be a body of work that I fix and I start again you know like that but I don't look at composition that way I think composition is a chance to really make choices that have an inevitability about them when they're in the music and your job is to ferret out the useful and the not useful with whoever it is, with younger musicians with your own musicians. I mean I had a band a good band we did three recordings and a pandemic ended that because it was too much to get the guys together and I was a little nervous (??I’m not going to wear a mask I'm a saxophone Player I can't wear a mask ..which was kind of a problem ?) But the positive energy was started to evidence itself already."
W. "Do you sort of get the vibe that more small clubs have opened their doors since to kind of give the young the emerging musicians literally a stage do you feel as if that's the kind?"
D "Yes these places especially in Brooklyn they playing kind of door maybe … pass the hat literally pass the hat but that's what you do. That's what I did with my first Group(???) We did 10,000 miles in the states did a loop (???) Had everything booked we were the young cats that's what you do ..when you get established you bring it back to the bandstand and to the human element is there is any they're not necessarily has to be I mean I know bands were nobody talks to each other but more or less there’s a positive element of communication. Jazz is a great communicative field it's not just the music it's like what we're doing today journalism and art that's why we love covers so much. And I think the community is really, without being formal about it, is really enthusiastic about whoever playing and ‘I’m working Friday night with so and so ..oh yeah tell me a little bit about it .. oh Come on down play a tune you know that camaraderie is something very evident in jazz, can’t talk for rock'n' roll or for classical. I know one thing about Jazz it's about about communication and the music actually is secondary to a human relationship I mean when you talk about another musician you say ‘is he cool’ ..you know what that means.. that means he can play and he's a nice guy .. Then we start to talk about ‘well bar three you know."
W "Thank you Dave."
D "I"'ve never been questioned about the pandemic."
G e o r g e C a b l e s
Musician
Birdland, New York City, 18 March, 2023
W "It's so nice to see you again. George
Thank you so much for participating in the project.
Just to recap, I have set about documenting thoughts and reflections that musicians might have about the time spent when they couldn't perform due to the restrictions and how it feels to be back onstage.
I wonder what thoughts and recollections you might have on those subjects please?
G. "Well I can tell you one thing. Once, we were playing at Smoke, and I think this was during the pandemic and people hadn't heard live music - we hadn't been playing much,
I mean that's what we do and this is our lives, so we haven't been playing much people hadn't heard any music as out there were thinking about how can we do this how can we survive how can we bring this music to people.
So one thing led to another they kind of opened the windows …opened the windows out and had space on the sidewalk where people could eat and sit round tables and hear music.
We were streaming, basically streaming but there was a minimal live audience out there, you know, eating and there were some people walking by ..the owner told me this..that people walking by stopped and started crying, tears started coming down their cheeks because they hadn't heard live music in so long.
So if that affected the audience and people, lay people like that you can imagine for us playing music, it's how we live it's not only our livelyhood but it's what we do it's how we express ourselves our philosophy, we get out there and make ourselves vulnerable we share this music with people.
It’s something that we can play, we can play in a basement, in our homes.. if we are brave enough if we take care of ourselves if we feel safe enough.
Pandemic or no we can play in the basement or play in a studio but it's not the same as when theres an audience there when there are people there.. you have that communication there ..the people are like our musical partners.
So when we play there’s energy going out and we can feel the audiences energy coming back to us so that really makes them our musical partners and so it's a very important thing playing and sharing music, first of all playing with each other with other people being able to do that not just sitting and playing and practising, you know, twiddling our fingers and trying to figure out what we are going to do when we get to play with other people oh what are ideas or maybe be productive that way but it's not the same as playing music for people being out there and having an audience to play for."
W. "George, I wonder when you couldn't get out there when you were unable to you were maybe stuck at home what kind of things did you think about then if you can cast your mind back?"
G. "Well …when are we going to be able to do this again and when are we going to be able to … what’s our income gonna be for one .. in a practical sense and when are we going to be able to share this music and get out there and do what we do because our lives kinda come to a stop, you know, so as I'm thinking about this we were sitting at home I thought maybe we could stream but then we still have to be with each other, we can take precautions.
What was going to my mind was my frustration with those people who didn't want to wear masks or I didn't want to take our ..didnt’ want to participate with shots that you had to take, you know, because in this world we only have each other really, you know, you come to learn that in a real way when you travel on the road when you're with a band, you know, you only have each other out here cause anything could happen and you have to depend upon each other.
But that in the real sense in when we live, you know, people I can see I can understand where people who live in a less dense area than New York or in major cities might feel ‘well I’m not going to see anybody if you stay on the farm’ or but I don't have any sympathy, or I can't relate to, people who say well I don't want to be inoculated but I still want to participate I want to go and do but I don’t want to wear a mask. If you don’t, you know, ‘ I have the right not to be inoculated’.
Ok you can stay home, you know, you don't have to do be so inconsiderate or just selfish as to not care what happens to others just as long as you can do what you want to do.
We live in a world where we want freedom of course but that’s all tempered by our responsibility - every time I hear somebody say 'it's my right to do this ..or..and I have the freedom to do this.'.
I'm saying to myself your rights have to be tempered by your responsibilities.. it’s obvious you don’t yell fire in a crowded ship .a crowded theatre ..it’s really simple to me.
So that's basically what was on my mind.
That and you know like knowing that at some point this would end. That and the things you know first of all how are you going to survive, how are you going to pay your bills deal with You know you have to go into your savings whatever you know.
What's your future going to be like?
I mean, we didn't anticipate all the problems that we run int0 - .that we had run into after the pandemic.
So basically - I'm just thinking about (it): I was just thinking about being home - are we going to be able to travel? … we’re not going to be able to travel if.we can be safe..if get on and do this together maybe we can get this done faster.
But being able to be out there playing music was my goal and our goal I’m sure all of us. That was our goal. But it's still pretty simple."
W Did you feel at that time were you able to focus on other thoughts and projects that you might have in mind or did you feel just a bit at sea as it were?
G "Oh no you are able to focus on that and say ‘ Ok well I got a recording coming you know like what can I do for my next record for my next CD?
I can organise music for that and you do that but after a while you know when it gets longer than you thought and you’ve done that and this thing gets ald ..then there’s frustration that sets in and you’re kind of concerned, you know, there are other people out there, .there are other musicians that may not be as fortunate as you.. that really you know, their next gig is paying for the rent .. you know ..and there’s nothing to fall back on.
But there were people that .. I'm not saying that I can go without work for ever as far as financial considerations go but ..there was that consideration with me too I suppose ‘how long is this gonna go?'
And we were looking at bills coming in and but yes I was able to focus on positive things but then after things started to, you know, kind of linger kept on going ..we still can’t get out what are we going to do now..well maybe we can stream ..we can do that.
But that's not working for every body..that’s not working for everybody. That’s not keeping everybody working but I would say it's just a matter of time , as time went on when it got longer it got a little more nerve wracking it made you a little more nervous and concerned."
W "Well George, thank you."
G. "Thank you!"
M a r i s a R a w l i n s - B r a d f i e l d
Musician
Hollywood, CA, February, 2024
R o n C a r t e r
Musician
At home, New York City, 18 March, 2023
W "Ron - thank you so much for participating in this project - it’s so kind of you to welcome me to your home."
R. "Thanks for the invitation."
W. "Absolute pleasure, it's a privilege to have you involved. So Ron what we're looking at is researching how musicians have felt what they've kind of how they dealt with how they cope with time in which they couldn't perform due to the restrictions and then contrast thing that hopefully with the return to stage, the excitement the whole process of performing live even. I'm wondering what kind of thoughts you've had on those matters and if could you share those please?"
R. "Well if you had followed my social media so to speak I did interviews of musicians asking them the same basic questions and if your associate would take a listen to them you'll find that my answers are not quite different because we felt the same missness. We missed the group interaction and we missed the camaraderie we missed being away from home certain hours of the day and we missed coming home late at night. I make every night. I personally missed making decisions I’d make every night about what's the right set or are the tempos ..are they ok.. are they the right keys for the moment..are the solos too long should everybody not (? ). I mean those decisions you make in a heartbeat but for almost 2 years a year and a half they were not a concern of mine and while I liked not having that responsibility that's part of my make-up so I missed a part of that.
W. And during that time Ron I know you became much more involved in social media towards the music itself did you have any changes in their feelings towards what you had done what are you were doing I'm thinking about the future as well .. What was your…
R. "Not really ..I don't always sit down and listen to a records I've made or turn the radio on (because now ????) So I kind of accepted that for the moment that I’d be apart from that environment of course I missed playing gigs but I could always practice in my house it's not the same but I’d be on my instrument during the course of the day anyway. One of the things that I really missed was being home more hours of the day, music is what it is and we all have that in our life”s you know, and when I was working I had time at home too but this time I wasn't worried about cutting it short to get to work or getting in work and not in a very good mood because the gig don't go very well or there were issues at the club ( ?????? that Prob still meant home for me ) New York being home and I didn't miss that but that was part of my life that I didn’t have to deal with for at year and a half and or so."
W. And during that time again Ron I say this because I experienced it and it's something that perhaps you were conscious of not being able to do what you mainly do, I know you've recorded a great deal absolutely, it's a big part of your career but was there any other change any kind of introspective view that you took of your career what you’d done because you had the time to think about things that we don't often get just as an insight into that side of things whether you have any feelings in that regard.
Well I didn’t spend any time looking at what I had done ..I mean I’m just ..I’m not of that mindset I mean some of my students will say that ‘you know this record you’re on’ or check out what key this is in or what are these changes, that kind of review of my career as brought on by the students curiosity rather than my need to hear my progress. The future ..I’ve always been curious as to where it's going to be and will I be a part of it but for the past year and a half I wasn't competing with that because there was nothing to compete with other than the sounds I was still hearing in my ears I was more concerned can I maintain my focus (for what I hear?) even though I can’t perform right now, then when it's time to perform will I still have echoes of those memories going round in my head you know. One of the things I”m always asked Will is about the new generation (??) for a year and a half I didn’t hear anybody basically cos they were like me they weren’t working, or they weren’t publically working, they had gigs I’m sure and rehearsals and stuff like that but they weren’t in a publicly open space that I’m aware of. I don’t know what they’re doing for the past year and a half, probably less than me because they’re just trying to get established in New York and trying to find the right equipment to manage their career, the right agent, the right band, the right arrangements. They had their focus on other things that (I’d have on my own ??????) if I was in the same place, so I don’t know where it’s going now that people come to the clubs again and able to congregate more than parties of two and three we’ll see who shakes out and who’s left over.
W. "And in terms of music that you thought about moving forward through that time, of course you couldn’t perform it but did you feel ,, with that space, with that time, with that head space, did it enable you to have the time to think about future projects.. I know that, of course, you were in touch with people by social media and your friends no doubt but did you find that absolute space something of a benefit ..though it was tragic……
R "A relief.."
W "Yeah."
R. "When the scene is available someone always wants to make a record, that’s their mark on society you know. When you have a tree, the rings in a tree , a record is a ring in their tree of life. And then, at the time before the pandemic, I called it (????? The big inner mission?? ). they were always trying to get another ring in their tree, another CV ,another list on their CV ..well ..and I’m one of the guys who of the many who they could call for that process, that progress for their growth. That itself is a burden in terms of responsibility and being available for those kinds of things. Well for not to have those calls coming in it wasn’t so much a relief as it was a Release??)that no one knocking on my door to help them plan their future physically and musically there were no articles to be read and consumed about where their futures going, you know. I was mostly caught up in .(? my little project I was getting of the ground by me writing some manuals and publishing occasional books about … I have friends of mine who are really good writers ?????????????( & COULDN’T GET PUBLISHED ANYWHERE ??????/ I took a couple of publications in my fledgling company they’re getting some exposure because they’re good writers ( good music) good documentation but I wasn't so concerned with the future I knew it was going to come when it gonna show up and I just hoped that I’d maintain my skill level at whatever it was leftover .. when the time came to perform."
W "And when that point was reached Ron do you recall your first gig was things had opened your feelings about that and being with an audience again is that something that."
R "I told the audience that I’d asked the band..I asked of my band members how we would ( treat?) our first gig, you know, they told me what they thought they would do and they say well Meastro what you gonna do. I said well we’re all gonna embrace and the last one that cries gets (????)
W. "And then you were launched you were away."
R. "Back to the days of old yeah ."
W. And since things have been opened up for travel have you found that you’re touring internationally again to a similar extent.
Has that opened for you as well Ron What’s the feelings on that?"
R "Well I’m not sure about travel the process has changed and the airlines having their own issues, people scrambling around for the new passports and the new TSA stuff. It’s a scramble right now for everybody. I’m not having any great views of looking to standing in line getting tickets, The normal process is now much more complicated in other words and I’m not sure how I’m gonna fare in that new environment so have to audition me first see how I like it."
W. "One thing I’ve always wanted to ask you was.. when you travel internationally do you take your own instrument with you Ron or do you pick one up when you’re there?"
R "We call it Bass Du Jour, The bass of the day.
And sometimes we get very lucky and play on some really good ones and sometimes we get unlucky and find some ones that really shouldn’t be on the stage. Our job William is to give the audience what the promotes paid for and what they’ve come to hear. That presents it’s own set of problems but again if you’re really a scientist and not just a bass player you can file away these things that make a bass work, this bass work, and things that did not make this bass work and relate that to the next bass that you’re gonna run into will also has some kind of problem . While it was a drag really it’s also a learning experience for me."
W. "I wonder, are you working currently on a new recording is there a project coming to fruition the you have in mind?"
R "Well I’ve been asked that question before and I have some ideas rolling around but right now I’m just trying to get my sea legs back and then I’ll have time to consider what project have I not done that i missed not being able to do during the intermission and right now I’m more concerned about will I be in shape to hold up my end of the bargain when the band goes to work.
Not necessarily a project in the next six months or so, haven’t got that far yet.
I have time now man. I had a year and a half rest.
W. " I completely can get that because yeah you’re right things are just moving and for you personally to have that speed, that attack, that expression that you have for your instrument you want to feel its ( with you)
I remember the last time we met at Birdland with your big band- we met after the gig there wasn’t a moment of ..absolute 100% ..and that was a privilege to witness I must say Ron."
R "Thank you I appreciate…
They’re a very good band, all wonderful players - I call them my sixteen piece quartet and they understand what that means, we have a good time and I’m looking forward to getting things set up, and if things go to plan from 2 years ago for October. (2023)
W "That’s the Great Big Band."
R. "And it is!"
W "Absolutely!"
I always check the recording levels before an interview - and do a quick playback back after the interview to make sure all is well.
As I was doing this Ron said -
“Make sure you got something on there man!”
Ron Carter