Listening

Just wanted to make a short blog post to mention two different groups that I have been listening to lately.

The first is a duo between Italian pianist Stefano Bollani and trumpeter Enrico Rava. These two guys play together as a duo so incredibly well. The way Stefano approaches the piano is remarkable, I think that he really just plays tons of music. He has quickly risen to the top of my list of favorite pianists, along with Brad Mehldau and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. If you go on youtube and checkout Stefano you will see that he plays so much differently than both of those guys, he really uses the entire piano. More than anything, he sounds like an entire band, which really makes his duo playing with Enrico Rava seem more like a quartet or even a larger ensemble when I am listening. The way that he improvises and plays harmony is very different than a lot of the American pianists approach it, but you can tell he has absolute control, and has some different influences as an Italian pianist. Enrico Rava is a great trumpet player, I really think he has a great tone - not too bright. Occasionally a note will "burn out", but I actually think that adds to the charm of his playing. It seems real. Their arrangements are outstanding, and I can hear how much they have played together when listening, you can tell they have a real connection.

The other group is the Florian Ross Trio. Florian Ross is a German pianist, and seems a little more streamlined jazz than Stefano Bollani (which reminds me, Stefano has a superb tango feel!). I have been listening to his album "Big Fish, Small Pond" trying to expand my library of piano trio albums, and I am really getting into this album. He has a few short interlude pieces, all titled Swim, followed by some body of water (ie. swim -- pond). These are interesting, and they leave me wondering how much was composed, if any. Florian experiments with a delay on the piano for a few of these, which is really a nice change from the modern piano trio style of some of the other tracks. My favorite song on the album is "Lucky for a Quarter". This is more of a simple song harmonically, but it is the ultimate in tasty. There is a section several forms in on the piano solo where the bass and drums drop into a pedal - This is the highlight of the tune for me, great ensemble playing.
Check it out here.

It has been a while since I have really gotten into any musicians, so I am pretty excited about these guys! They are definitely great musicians, and inspiring/motivating also... although Stefano Bollani seems to play at an unattainable level!

Sincerely,

Mack

The hours and the analyzing. (This ones a rambler!!)

The hours that I keep are driving me insane! I have been staying up so late, and there is really no reason! Normally, in the summer when I am working (playing gigs) practically every night I am keeping really late hours for a reason, but right now? Really? I need to kick myself in the butt and make myself get up early. Living in an apartment I cannot practice the piano past ten o'clock pm, so staying up till three is not very worthwhile for me.

Because it is a slow season for musicians to be working corporate gigs (not many people have weddings and parties in March)  I have been spending a lot of time at home, practicing, and thinking of promotional ideas, especially for the cover band.  People keep telling me that as musicians, we are the first expendable thing to go when people are throwing events, but I disagree.  I really think that this March was not any slower than every other of my twenty three Marches I have lived through.  Booking out does seem to be a little more spacious than before though, normally at this time of year summer is filling up pretty quick!  I will cross my fingers, perhaps people will be booking more short notice this year.  This is all specifically talking about corporate gigs though, club shows are going great for the "Dudley Manlove Quartet" and for some of the jazz projects I have been working on.  

When I hang around my friends, who are mainly musicians... (my closest and oldest friends are not though) I feel like such a businessman.  It obviously comes from the family background, which can be a post of its own on another day!  A lot of the time this business side of me has really felt like a blessing, but lately as I am home alone practicing music and scheming marketing techniques for groups that I play in, my business side has felt sort of like a curse.  

I have loved playing music on the piano my whole life, and one thing that is very difficult for me is to choose a certain type of music that I want to really pursue.  I love to play classical music, and could do that for the rest of my life... I feel the same about jazz and blues, and funk, and sometimes I think it would be fun to be a singer-songwriter.  When this kind of uncertainty mixes with my business side, I think to myself "Well, which one of these musics is more financially worthwhile?"  I guess I am not being a very good artist, I analyze how and what people will think of my playing too much.  

I think over the years, people have told me so many times that there is no money, or future in jazz that it has built a neurological block inside of me.  My whole life I have loved playing jazz, and the past few years I think I taught myself to want to play other things, that would be more popular, or cool, or worthwhile.  See, this is all because my business side is sticking his fat nose in my artist side's business.  Really, for anything to be really great I have to be fully committed to it -- I need to put the artist side first, and then fit the business side into whatever is going on in the creative realm!  Harder to do than you might think!  Especially when there are so many things that I like to play!

Well, I have been thinking lately that I think I love to play jazz a little bit more than those other types of music.  Especially because I like to play with a lot of different musicians.  I think that I need to be a jazz pianist.  You might think "Mack, you have been a jazz pianist for ten years already"  and although this is true, I have also been playing all sorts of stuff that whole time.  Not that I am going to necessarily stop playing everything else, but I feel like for some reason right now I can accept that I want to play jazz the most.  I do not know how or what happened to me to make me realize that I had been faking myself out the last year or so into thinking that I did not want to play jazz, but I know some things that have helped me realize that I think jazz is cool, does have a future, and can be just as financially rewarding as anything else.  (I have always been a supporter of the idea that anybody can make money doing anything, have you seen some of the movies and albums that are released? People are making money from those!)

Studying with Dave Peck has definitely lit a fire under my ass!  When he plays at my lesson, it makes me want to be better.  I want to have control of harmony in the way that Dave does.  

I have also been checking out some european pianists lately,  Stefano Bollani, Florian Ross (German), Enrico Pieranunzi, and they are all blowing my mind.  They sound great, and it has been a while since I could sit down and really enjoy some piano trio cd's.  Jacky Terrasson is great too, Greg really digs him.  

I also read an article by the great Enrico Rava - Italian trumpet player, who once had a discussion with Stefano Bollani.  At the time Stefano was studying pop music, although he was a really talented and great jazz pianist (I felt a connection immediately).  In the article Enrico told Stefano that his life is too short for him to be trying to be great at something he was not passionate about, and that he should quit everything and move to the city and play jazz.  Long story short, he moved to the city, and today is one of the best players in the world.  This story was inspiring to me.  Check out Stefano Bollani on youtube. 

I guess that lately I have just lost vision of a goal that I want to achieve.  Well, maybe it is not that I lost sight of a goal, but that I had many possible goals that I could chase after instead of putting all my energy towards one, and going out and achieving it.  I feel like I am getting back on track now.  So, because it is a slow season right now I am going to start setting up jam sessions a couple times a week, just to start playing a lot.  I want to play jazz right now, so I am gonna try to be an artist first, and make what I think is great music, and then fit my business into my music, my product.  

A fun jazz trio/quintet that really takes influences from all kinds of music -- rock, r&b, funk, pop, but also does not cheat my own, or my bands musical integrity and artistry.  This is not going to be a wallpaper band -- its time to get serious!