This was originally posted on blogger.

The tension between the narly and the beautiful in jazz. How do you approach it?

 

In music there is a constant struggle. Struggle to learn your instrument, struggle to transcribe, struggle to keep up, struggle in your ensemble. Struggle as a verb, an abstract action. Struggle for expression, justice, freedom as a political idea. Musicians approach this in a variety of ways – pop songs may smooth over the struggle, except for moments when the singer’s voice cracks and they say how they really feel. Steve Lacy, the Bite is a constant struggle; it shows what is behind the beautiful sounds that we sometimes hear in music.

What draws you to Steve Lacy?

 

In the album with The Bite, Lacy was experimenting with “extended techniques”, ideas; hence his somewhat harsh, overbiting. In 1979 or so, I was in Berkeley at Rasputin music carrying around my soprano saxophone. The man at the till said, “You play soprano sax? Steve Lacy was just here! You have to listen to this.” and I bought the album Evidence (1962). The sound. It’s incredible. It’s so hard to do that on soprano saxophone. For 10 or 15 years I worked to emulate Steve Lacy’s sound on the soprano; I transcribed the entire album. I wasn’t able to do it, but the process of struggle made me the player I am today. I tried for years to play like Steve Lacy and now I play like Ben Goldberg.

How do you find your people?

At your age, it’s easy. I used to ask people if we could study together. That’s how one album of mine came together – it was because I felt embarrassed at jam sessions not knowing all the charts, and I told a guitarist I wanted to study all the songs we did know. It turned into an album of funked up bebop songs that started with a central purpose: to study. To study is to do more than “play” together; it’s to strive for betterment and progress on the instrument. The other tip of finding your people is to be polite.

And, you can study with other artists. What does it mean to create something with a painter? A cartoonist? A poet? An actor? What piece of music would come from looking at a painting? What painting would come from a piece of music? Wisdom and exchange of ideas in art transcends the particular craft.

 

Others chimed in…

What if you played music throughout your day. Someone Finn knew had a 30bpm metronome running for his entire day; and every time it beeped, he would do something rhythmic or musical. The purpose was to internalize the pulse. Music can be like that. Your every waking, and sleeping moment can be musical if you make it. Why is there a dichotomy between making music and living life normally?

 

Recording is important.

It’s essential. Record as much as you possibly can. Every recording carries a memory; a story; an accident of people getting together to create music.