Guitar Hang
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| DOM MINASI |
Welcome to my new-named Blog. The whole purpose of this Blog is to introduce the public to wonderful guitarists who might need a little more exposure.
This month features five incredible guitarists, who are
among the very best. I am proud to introduce you to: Dave Kain, Bruce Arnold,
Ken Wessel, Dave Ross and Greg Chako.
Each guitarist will get the same set of questions
Dave Kain
Dave Kain studied at SUNY Purchase, Berklee College Of Music, and eventually earned a bachelor's degree in jazz performance from Five Towns College Of Music. Dave has been fortunate enough to study with Joe Carbone, Joe Monk, Bill Farrish, Jack Wilkins, and Vic Juris. He has released five albums independently with his own group all focused on original composition. He maintains a busy performance and teaching schedule including clinics/performances at Clemson University, Denison University, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
DM: How long are you playing?-
DK: I have been playing guitar for a little over 30 years.
DM” Why Jazz?
DK: Jazz gives me the most room to improvise. It's really that simple for me. That's what I love to do and that's why I was drawn to it. I also love to compose. My main goal is to write good music. I'm not trying to write something that I can just improvise over. I strive to make my improvisations compositional and very interactive with my band-mates. I want to improvise over good music and don't see why I can't do both.
DM: Who are your major influences?
DK: As far as jazz influences, there are many. Speaking in terms of guitar, Jimmy Raney is a huge influence and definitely my favorite more traditional player along with the obvious Joe Pass, Tal Farlow, Jim Hall, and Wes Montgomery. Pat Metheny, Allan Holdsworth, Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Abercrombie, and John McLaughlin and more contemporary influences that had a big impact on me not only with the guitar but compositionally speaking. Non-guitar players are also a big influence. Notably, Wayne Shorter, Bill Evans, Joe Henderson, and John Coltrane. Jazz was not my first interest in music. A lot of heavy metal and classic rock were what originally bought me to music and ultimately the guitar. I think this is very common among peers my age.
DM: How do you feel about electronics in jazz?-
DK: If the question is specific towards guitar, even if your setup is just a guitar and an amplifier. I don't know anyone playing gigs that isn't at a minimum plugging into an amplifier. We all play electric guitar to some degree. If the question is in regards to effects like pedals and similar devices, whatever you have to do to get the sound out that's in your head is fine with me. If somebody takes issue with those who use electronic devices in their performance, that's their issue. They can go listen to plenty of other players that don't use effects.
DM: Where do you think jazz is headed?
DK: I don't think like that at all. When I scroll through my social media feed, I see this question and similar questions debated quite often. I don't find it productive. I think your focus should be on where you see yourself headed in your artistic path. I just don't really see the point in discussing it when you could be doing it.
Bruce Arnold
Bruce Arnold is a guitarist, composer, author and educator. Originally from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, he now resides in New York City. Mr. Arnold has a truly diverse musical background performing with a wide variety of musicians in multiple styles. He has toured worldwide and has over 50 CD releases. Bruce's main focus has been the application of 20th century compositional techniques to various styles of composition and improvisation. He has an extensive history of music education, teaching at most major universities on the East coast, and he has written over 300 books on music education. He has received grants from The Doris Duke Foundation, SouthArts, MusicCares and the Stephen King Foundation and is a member of the Jazz Advisory Committee at Musicians Union 802 in New York City.
To learn more about Bruce, visit his website:https://brucearnold.com/
DM: How long have you been playing?
BA:I started playing guitar in the 3rd grade. I believe I was 8 years old at the time. I had been playing accordion, but once I heard The Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan TV show I was hooked. My mother wasn’t convinced that I was serious about the guitar until I destroyed 2 brooms and a tennis racket that I used as a fake guitar. At that point we traded the accordion in for a Gibson SG Junior. I was very lucky that I had a slightly older cousin named Dave Wood, and he had a friend named Mike Miller (yes, THE Mike Miller) and both of them had been playing the guitar for a few years and were deep into the early blues players. They let me hang out with them, and after listening to Robert Johnson, Son House, Lightning Hopkins, etc. I spent a lot of time learning blues progressions and licks
BA:I started playing guitar in the 3rd grade. I believe I was 8 years old at the time. I had been playing accordion, but once I heard The Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan TV show I was hooked. My mother wasn’t convinced that I was serious about the guitar until I destroyed 2 brooms and a tennis racket that I used as a fake guitar. At that point we traded the accordion in for a Gibson SG Junior. I was very lucky that I had a slightly older cousin named Dave Wood, and he had a friend named Mike Miller (yes, THE Mike Miller) and both of them had been playing the guitar for a few years and were deep into the early blues players. They let me hang out with them, and after listening to Robert Johnson, Son House, Lightning Hopkins, etc. I spent a lot of time learning blues progressions and licks
DM; Why Jazz?
BA: I said, I was pretty deep into the blues but started hearing jazz recordings when I was in High School. A friend of mine, Dan Phen had an amazing record collection and we would listen to all types of music. That’s where I first heard John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and other great jazz players. In my high school, I was given the chance to study with a jazz musician through the Talented Students program. The jazz musician was Gene White, who was a trombone player. He introduced me to more complicated chords and how they could be placed into a blues chord progression. This really sparked my interest because the chords sounded so new and full of possibilities and it made me solo differently. All of this built up to the decision that I made in high school, that I wanted to be a musician as my occupation. I have to give credit to my parents; they were totally supportive. At that point, I also had an interest in the rock/blues playing of Johnny Winter, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix; which got thrown into the mix. Ultimately I ended up at Berklee College of Music right at the pinnacle of the Jazz Fusion era so I fit in perfectly with that
BA: I said, I was pretty deep into the blues but started hearing jazz recordings when I was in High School. A friend of mine, Dan Phen had an amazing record collection and we would listen to all types of music. That’s where I first heard John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and other great jazz players. In my high school, I was given the chance to study with a jazz musician through the Talented Students program. The jazz musician was Gene White, who was a trombone player. He introduced me to more complicated chords and how they could be placed into a blues chord progression. This really sparked my interest because the chords sounded so new and full of possibilities and it made me solo differently. All of this built up to the decision that I made in high school, that I wanted to be a musician as my occupation. I have to give credit to my parents; they were totally supportive. At that point, I also had an interest in the rock/blues playing of Johnny Winter, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix; which got thrown into the mix. Ultimately I ended up at Berklee College of Music right at the pinnacle of the Jazz Fusion era so I fit in perfectly with that
popular idiom and excelled in my studies there, and became a very busy player in that scene.
.DM:Who are your major influences?
BA:I started with great interest in early blues players which morphed into more electric players like Johnny Winter. Then I got into more jazz players like Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass. From there, I branched out into other instrumentalists like John Coltrane. I was also greatly influenced by the Boston scene when I attended Berklee. John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell and Mike Stern played a lot at local venues so I got to see them often. These players made me realize that you could develop your own take on music and develop your own sound. I also spent a lot of time playing duets with other guitarists. Bruce Bartlett was one of these musicians who influenced me by his great musicianship and interesting compositional ideas. Then of course, I spent about a decade playing duets with Wayne Krantz who really was hell bent on developing a unique style. This influenced me to really look inside and try to find an original direction with my music. Through my studies with Charlie Banacos, Jerry Bergonzi and Mick Goodrick I was given the tools to develop my musicianship and explore many untapped musical resources. This lead me to Pitch Class Set Improvisation which I developed from about 1990 until now. I have been very intrigued by the unique sounds that are created by this way of thinking and composing. If you listen to my playing and wonder why it doesn’t quite sound like anyone else…well, that’s why.
DM:How do you feel about the use of electronics?
BA:Electronics is a big part of my playing, and I adapted early to using it. I had been blown away hearing Bill Frisell in D Sharps band at the 1369 club, so I bought a lot of Lexicon gear back in the early 1980’s and had it all custom modified so I could access patches through a pedal board. Fast forward to late 1990’s and I’m in New York teaching at Princeton University where I started studying computer programming with a graduate student by the name of Newton Armstrong. He helped me build an interface through a mac laptop to the program Super Collider. This allowed me to get all effects sounds and more through a laptop and access those sounds through midi pedal-board. This has been my main rig since then and I’ve recorded over 50 CDs using the sounds I create with it in various ways. So electronics has been a big part of my sound for a very long time. (But I also really enjoy playing the acoustic guitar!)
BA:Electronics is a big part of my playing, and I adapted early to using it. I had been blown away hearing Bill Frisell in D Sharps band at the 1369 club, so I bought a lot of Lexicon gear back in the early 1980’s and had it all custom modified so I could access patches through a pedal board. Fast forward to late 1990’s and I’m in New York teaching at Princeton University where I started studying computer programming with a graduate student by the name of Newton Armstrong. He helped me build an interface through a mac laptop to the program Super Collider. This allowed me to get all effects sounds and more through a laptop and access those sounds through midi pedal-board. This has been my main rig since then and I’ve recorded over 50 CDs using the sounds I create with it in various ways. So electronics has been a big part of my sound for a very long time. (But I also really enjoy playing the acoustic guitar!)
DM:Where do you think Jazz is headed
BA: OK— so what is Jazz? For some people, it’s Satchmo’s swing. For others its Duke Ellington, for others it's Coltrane and Miles, or Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. As we get further and further away from the roots of Jazz, it becomes harder and harder to define. That's why sometimes I think that using the term is almost confusing, and I tell people I play “American improvised music” and another term I hear quite a bit lately is “music in the moment.” For me, it has been a springboard to apply the various sounds that fascinate me, and hopefully they connect with people.. But from the beginnings of “Jazz" musicians have searched for different ways of organizing melody, harmony and rhythm to express themselves. There are so many artists that helped the development and I have faith that this search for new sounds will continue, because most dedicated artists are searching for new ways to express themselves. What will the music they create sound like? I can't tell you. But keep your ears open and when something sounds like you've never heard jazz quite like that before — even if you aren’t sure you like it, you’ll know.
BA: OK— so what is Jazz? For some people, it’s Satchmo’s swing. For others its Duke Ellington, for others it's Coltrane and Miles, or Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. As we get further and further away from the roots of Jazz, it becomes harder and harder to define. That's why sometimes I think that using the term is almost confusing, and I tell people I play “American improvised music” and another term I hear quite a bit lately is “music in the moment.” For me, it has been a springboard to apply the various sounds that fascinate me, and hopefully they connect with people.. But from the beginnings of “Jazz" musicians have searched for different ways of organizing melody, harmony and rhythm to express themselves. There are so many artists that helped the development and I have faith that this search for new sounds will continue, because most dedicated artists are searching for new ways to express themselves. What will the music they create sound like? I can't tell you. But keep your ears open and when something sounds like you've never heard jazz quite like that before — even if you aren’t sure you like it, you’ll know.
Ken Wessel
Kenny Wessel, a versatile, sensitive and soulful guitarist and composer, has performed in 28 countries. He toured with revolutionary jazz artist Ornette Coleman for over 12 years as a member of Prime Time, Ornette's groundbreaking ensemble. Ken can be heard on Coleman’s CD, Tone Dialing. Performing Ornette’s “Skies of America,” Wessel has appeared with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. A vital and personal voice on the jazz guitar, he has also worked with Donald Fagen (featured guitar soloist on Fagen’s Morph the Cat), David Liebman, John Abercrombie, Karl Berger, Joe Lovano, Debbie Harry, Laurie Anderson, Gloria Lynne, Adam Rudolph and others from the jazz, pop and world music spectrum.
Ken has a strong interest in world music, particularly with North Indian music, and he has performed with Debashish Bhattacharya, Karaikudi Mani, V.M. Bhatt, Samir Chatterjee, Steve Gorn and others. Wessel co-leads a trio with jazz tabla master Badal Roy, Their CD, Daybreak was included in JAZZIZ magazine’s Top 10 Critic’s Picks. Ken and Badal toured India and the U.S. with their composition, “Testimony,” which was commissioned by the Battery Dance Company. Wessel’s most recent CD, Unstrung, will be released September 4, 2020 on Nonotes Records. His CD, Weights & Measures received 4 stars in Downbeat magazine. As a U.S. Jazz Ambassador, Ken has toured South Asia and South America, visiting India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bengladesh and Venezuela.
A dedicated jazz educator, Wessel currently teaches at Western Connecticut State University, City College of New York, in addition to leading ensembles at the New York Jazz Workshop. He also gives clinics and workshops around the world and has taught at universities and festivals, including: Oslo Music Academy, ICSMS Festival (Istanbul, Turkey), Mahaidol University (Bangkok), Yale University, World Economic Forum (Davos, Switzerland), Manhattan School of Music, and many others.
To learn more about Ken, visit his website :http://kenwessel.com/
DM: How long are you playing? (can include who you studied with etc.)KW:I’ve been playing since I was 8 years old, but I’ve gotten more serious about the guitar and practicing as I’ve aged (however ungracefully). One of my important guitar teachers was Linc Chamberland, who sort of opened up the musical world for me, demystifying the guitar and exposing the beauty and complexity of jazz. I also was lucky to study with the great Barry Galbraith, when I moved to NYC. There have been so many other teachers and mentors over the years, Ornette Coleman, Rob Waring, Adam Rudolph, Bill Barron, Badal Roy, Michael Dolan, Karl Berger, John Stowell, Jay Ghandi, and many others …
DM:Why Jazz?
KW:I think I’ve been attracted to jazz and improvised music for a number of different reasons – first of all, I think the element of self-expression has been central to my connection with jazz. Trying to connect with people, both to an audience and to band mates (Jazz musicians can relate to the experience of having a deep, open and spontaneous musical conversation with a band, it’s the closest I come to a spiritual experience). Of course the music itself, the joy, sadness, complexity, beauty, swing, and life that’s expressed throughout the history of the music.
DM: Who are your major influences?
KW: Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall. I grew up playing blues and rock guitar and Jimi Hendrix was the guy who exposed the magic, fire and beauty of the instrument to me (got to see him at the Randall’s Island Festival back in ’70, with possibly his best trio: Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox). Wes Montgomery, for his sound, feel, lines, swing, blues, affected me and drew me in to Jazz guitar in my teens. The first jazz guitarist I ever saw live was Jim Hall (in duo w/ Ron Carter at a club in Hell’s Kitchen called the Guitar), and he blew my mind. His lyricism, compositional solo style, horn-like, vocal phrasing, depth, harmonic interest, ability to take chances – never ceased to amaze me. I’m still influenced by these guys and many others, too numerous to name.
DM"How do you feel about the use of electronics in jazz?
KW:I play the electric guitar, so a good part of my sound/expression is connected with electronics. The electric guitar is basically a “canoe paddle with strings,” to quote a friend (going to get some cards and letters after that comment), and without amps, and a decent signal chain, we’re sort of up a creek (or at least inaudible). But seriously, I play light strings and low action on the guitar and it’s important to me to develop a good, round, clean, warm sound through an amplifier. I usually use some effects to enhance the sound (reverb, delay, eq.), and often use other effects to venture into different sonic and expressive zones (distortion, envelope filter, volume pedal, modulation, and some pedals that I really don’t understand what and how they work – “hail mary” pedals, like the Particle, or ring modulators).
5. Where do you think Jazz is headed?
KW:I’m always surprised and excited about new directions that I hear in the music and don’t worry about its future too much. Jazz has always been a forward-leaning art and it continues to incorporate different elements from different styles, cultures, idioms, and processes. Ornette used to say: Style is the death of music.”
Dave Ross
David Brandon Ross holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music Boston, MA as well as a degree in mechanical design from SUNY Corning, NY. He studied theater with Charles Combs at Berklee and also trained at Dell'arte school of physical theater in Blue Lake California. Dave has been composing, performing and recording in the NYC avant garde music scene since 2002 releasing numerous albums as a leader and side man. He is the recipient of a Boston Music award and has played throughout Europe as well as Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center for the arts in Washington, DC and Vision Festival, NYC with artist Henry Grimes, William Hooker, JD Parran, Jason Hwang and many others. Dave is the author of a US patent and has designed and built many unique instruments including the patent pending Outar. He instantly fell in love with the sociologically impactive effect of combining improvised live music with improvisational theater. Dave is also owner and CEO of Zen Chi Enterprises LLC which brings uplifting services to the elder community through art and wellness. Dave has been a member of Big Apple Playback Theater NYC since 2019. He is also musical director of QPT NYC and PANGEA Playback Theater.
To learn more about Dave, visit his website:https://www.gleefulwellness.com/zenchi
DM: How long are you playing?
DR:
I started playing when I was about nine years old and I’m mainly Self taught. I was very lucky to have a lot of really incredible local musicians around me as mentors. Local jazz guitar legend Dale Toliver and Jeff Wiser Who played strings for David Bromberg for over 15 years who both helped mold me in the right direction. I started playing professionally at about 15 years old playing blues with my uncle Jack Moss in his band. I didn’t really have formal lessons until I studied with Steve Brown at Ithaca college at about 18 years old and then going to Berklee College of Music where I studied with The avant Gard genius Jon Damian as well as a couple classes with Pat Metheny.
DM:Why Jazz:
DR:
My third day on campus at Berklee, I saw George Garzone and Bob Gulati playing free and that was it. I was completely hooked and have been immersed in improvisational music since.
DM: Who are your major influences?
DR:
My Guitar influences include BB King, Albert King, Albert Collins, Sonny Sharrock, Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Derek Bailey, Alan Holdsworth, Vernon Reid, Nile Rodgers, Bill Frisell, Pat Matheny, Roy Buchanan, Lenny Bureau, Robert Cray, Jeff Beck, Jimmy page, and of course Hendrix.
Other non-guitar influences include Sun ra, Duke Ellington, Monk, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Muhal Richard Abrams, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, Peter Brotzman, Steve Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Max roach, art Blakey, Charles Mingus, Alice Coltrane, Pharaoh Sanders, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, just to name a few.
DM: How do you feel about the use of electronics in Jazz?
DR:
I love using an acoustic or an f hole guitar and amp and having the most classic Wes Montgomery kind of tone. To me, that’s where I get the most expressive presentation from my own hands. I also love using affects if the situation calls for it.
DM: Where do you think Jazz is headed?
DR:
I only wish I could speculate where Jazz is headed. I do believe that jazz is an art form that will continue to evolve. Jazz is a true African American art form Which has become a musical language for the entire world to embrace.
Greg Chako
In a pro career spanning 35 years and five countries, Cincinnati-born jazz guitarist Greg Chako has released ten albums and been the subject of a documentary called, “An American Cat in the Lion City.” His most prolific period to date as a recording and performance artist occurred while he lived in the Far East for 17 years, where he evolved into a masterful, expressive composer with rich storytelling abilities. His varied arrangements and 50 recorded original compositions merge Mainstream, Hard Bop, Latin & World instrumental music. His music has spent time on the Jazzweek, CMJ, and RMR Jazz Charts, including multiple Top Ten spots, and has consistently received critical acclaim from the Jazz community:
In 2022, he signed with Mint 400 Records and Raining Music, their jazz-oriented sub-label. He hopes to exceed his past successes in Asia by releasing new albums through the label at a rate of three or four albums per year, starting with his 11th album titled, Friends, Old & New, coming out on Oct.14th, 2022.
DM:How long are you playing? ( can include who you studied with etc )
GC:I began playing guitar around 1967. I took lessons from Helen Hoffman of Hoffman Music Studios in Hamilton, Ohio, who took me through the Mel Bay Method books. During that time I won 1st prize in a local contest, and 2nd place among over 1,000 contestants in the American Guild of Music competition in 1968. At some point during that time, Helen told me that I had learned everything she knew, so she referred me to the great guitarist Cal Collins, who was the highest regarded player at the time in the Greater Cincinnati area. I wasn’t into Jazz then, so I have no recollection of my lessons with Cal, except handing him a pile of records by rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, and asking him to teach me the guitar solos - ha ha! Needless to say, that never happened! However, much later after I heard and fell in love with Jazz, I subbed for Cal on his gigs and also had the opportunity to hire him occasionally for the jazz series I booked at Doc’s Place in Cincinnati during the mid-1980’s. By then, I was on his radar and a full-time member of the jazz “club” writ-large!
My stepfather belonged to a record club that gave members 12 albums for free once they signed up for a paid years membership. He was into country music, but somehow an Oscar Peterson record showed up as one of those 12 “freebies,” and listening to that was my first experience with Jazz! The only name anywhere on the record cover was Oscar’s, but I heard a guitarist and a bassist which I now know was Herb Ellis and Ray Brown. (Herb and I played together for almost a week when I booked him at Doc’s Place in 1985, and Ray and I met very briefly when I was in NYC.)
I had no idea where to find records like that one in my local record store, but after attending a summer-long educational program at The Guitar Workshop in Roslyn, NY in 1975, I finally discovered what jazz was and where I could find it. By the way, that is also where and when I took my first lessons in Classical guitar, from the schools’ classical guitar teacher at the time, Edgar Dana, from Israel.
I had already heard classic rock like Hendrix and Deep Purple and “classical-oriented” rock like YES, King Crimson & Genesis. But after visiting NYC, I began to continue going backwards in time with my listening: from the Jazz-Rock Fusion of bands like Mahavishnu Orchestra and Chick Corea, and the so-called “free-jazz” of Sam Rivers and others, to finally discovering the Swing, BeBop, and HardBop players on whose shoulders I attempt to stand to this day.
One of the biggest and oldest influences on the music I play today happened in 1979 when I moved to live with my Father in Roslyn, Long Island NY. I began taking lessons from pianist Dave Frank (a student of Lennie Tristano), who lived nearby in Port Washington Long Island at the time. That’s when I really began getting into Jazz, by listening and singing the solos of Lester Young, Fats Navarro, Charlie Christian, and Wes Montgomery.
I became a professional jazz player about 40 years ago in Cincinnati, Ohio, when I organized the very first “edition” of my company, Chako Productions, and was playing around Cincy as a solo artist, subbing for Cal Collins, and leading my own band weekly at Doc’s Place. My playing career has not been necessarily smooth and consistent, because I stopped playing altogether in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s when I sold industrial real estate for Kaplon-Belo Associates in NY. And, when I attended college between 2009 & 2014 in order to acquire a higher education in music that I thought would help me become qualified as a college teacher, I pretty much fell off the professional playing circuit altogether.
The most prolific period of my playing and recording career was between 1994 and 2009, when I lived and performed in the Far East. During that time I played up to 500+ gigs per year, and produced 9 albums. Honestly, THAT is where I really learned to play, by playing literally every night year after year. I’m a big believer in experiential knowledge, and obviously, there’s a huge difference between practicing and playing in public with others.
I have not had the opportunity to play that often since I left Asia to go to Grad school back in America. For that reason, despite how likable the learning environment was for me in college, I now regret going back to school. The idea had merit at the time however, in the years that I was living abroad, things had changed significantly here in the USA as far as the job market for someone in my age and interest group. All my impressive professional experience didn’t really mean anything in academia . . . and I never did get my desired job teaching in higher education.
Today, all my efforts are focused on gaining exposure, writing and recording new music, getting the best playing gigs I can, and teaching the best students I can find.
DM:. Why Jazz?
GC:I addressed this question somewhat in my answer above. I am not exactly sure why I was so fascinated with that first Oscar Peterson record I’d heard as a young person, but I imagine that it had something to do with two factors which I associate the most with the Jazz genre: the Swing feel & the inherent Freedom of an idiom that places such a high emphasis on improvisation and personal emotional expression.
The Swing feel is somewhat hard to pinpoint, and to be sure, I write some songs which do not have swing-eight notes, and the word “Jazz” encompasses far more than Swing. Nonetheless, there is something in “swinging” music that appeals to me like an addiction. To my ears, the swing feel is best exemplified by an acoustic bassist and trap-set drummer playing together at the highest level. A “groove” in the music is just as important, but groove or the “pocket,” as it is sometimes called, is a broader umbrella that includes styles such as rock, funk and R&B . . . arguably all forms of popular music . . . but the swing feel seems to me to be particular to Jazz.
3. Who are your major influences?
I suppose that my major influences are the musicians which I listened to and studied the most. After my stint in NY real estate sales, I took up the guitar again and I decided not to use a pick. This was in the 1990’s. Wes Montgomery is one of the influences I think of, because he didn’t use a pick and also, his phrasing was exceptional. Superb phrasing is what I believe separates the decent players from the exceptional ones, and those players whose solos that pianist-teacher Dave Frank had me singing, like Lester Young, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, and Charlie Parker, all had great phrasing. My original blues titled “Fried Curry Pies,” was inspired by Wes’ song “Fried Pies.” I added the word curry because that’s the type of pies we eat in Asia!
I also listened a LOT to the John Coltrane Quartet, Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, and some of Miles Davis’s groups. I think of Horace Silver like my alter-ego, or something like that . . . In college I researched him deeply, and I’m somewhat of a Horace Silver expert. I admire his talents across the board: band leading, writing/arranging, and playing. When he first heard his earliest record date with Lou Donaldson, he thought he heard the seeds of an original style. He said in his autobiography that he locked all of his records in the closet and didn’t go out to hear anybody else for like a year or so, in order that he would remain focused on developing his own personal voice without getting distracted by anyone else’s. He said, “Someday some kid’s gonna hear the very first few notes on a record and say to himself, “That’s Horace Silver!” And that’s exactly what happened . . .
DM:. How do you feel about the use of electronics in jazz?
If Jazz is freedom like I said earlier, then using them is a natural, if not expected development. I love Jimi Hendrix’s playing, and I own a Cry Baby and another effects pedal. Herb Ellis told me he admired Jimi’s use of electronics for the variety of sounds and emotions that they help us express. But, I only use them for certain gigs which more or less require their use.
I guess the bottom line is that each of us need to search for the sound we like, and we need to be able to diversify our sound if and when the situation calls for it. And I will say one more thing: the use of electronic effects requires, just like anything else(!), practice to make perfect. If I accepted a jazz-rock-fusion-blues gig in which I need to “rock-out,” then I’d be practicing with those effects regularly in order to get good at it and to make it part of my identity as an artist. Whatever we do, we must have FUN as much as possible, and effects can be fun!
DM:. Where do you think Jazz is headed?
GC: There are many well known musicians that do not like the term “Jazz” used at all. I am not sure, but perhaps this expression is attributed to Miles when he was asked what kind of music he played, and I love his answer: “Peoples Music!” Another terms is “Feel Good” music. Or, an equally good word is: “Dom Minasi” or “Greg Chako” . . . on some internet forum Herbie Hancock was asked to fill in the blank for this: Sounds like: ? and of course, he answered “Sounds like Herbie Hancock.” That’s what it is all about.
Nobody knows the future, but one thing I do know is that the answer to this question is being silently and tacitly asked all the time of each and every one of us: what the future holds is in our hands, to be realized by the dreams and visions we have, and the work we make towards them on a daily basis . . . In my case personally, it’s a better place . . . I just don’t have the exact address yet.
I want to thank all of these wonderful guitarist for partaking in my blog and giving honest and truthful answers
Dom Minasi
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