A couple of weeks ago, I did an interview with AXS about
competition within the context of being a jazz player. Believe it or not, as gregarious an
individual as I am, I really don’t like doing interviews- I always think I have
to say something really deep and meaningful- I mean, why else would they want
to interview ME? I’m nobody.
But, I’m already starting to
digress……
SQUIRREL!
The interview went well, and it seems like what I had to say
on the matter had an effect on one friend of mine who is a very well thought of
bassist who lives in Nashville- he read the article and then did a gig later
that same day that started going badly because some of the players were rusty. Instead of getting “cranky”, he decided to
try what I had said would be a better alternative, and lo and behold the gig
was saved and everyone had a good time- including my friend. From my POV, that is extremely cool. I made a little bit of a difference in
someone’s life, and others benefitted from it.
Couldn’t ask for anything better
in my book.
Which leads me to writing this blog entry.
When I was much younger, I had this penchant for wanting to always make a “statement” whenever I
played. More often than not, this meant
that I was always pushing the boundaries of whatever I was doing. Weird rhythms, lots of “blue notes” and
tension and my idea of what constituted groove – regardless of what was going
on – were the hallmark of my playing. I
had no shortage of work, and I attributed it to my sheer and unadulterated
brilliance of what I was bringing to the table.
On one occasion shortly after getting to college, I did 4
recording sessions in one day, and one of them (the second one of that day) was
to cover 4-6 old Motown/R&B tunes for a singer, and a girl that I was
seeing at the time was the drummer on that one gig. I did my thing, left, and promptly forgot
about it upon arriving at the next session.
And, I mean I really forgot about it- didn’t remember what the tunes
were or what I played within hours, and after 1 day the whole experience was
wiped from my memory.
About a week later, while at dinner, my girlfriend brought
up that she had received a new cassette that she wanted me to hear. She put it on and asked me what I
thought. The first thing that came out
of my mouth was “that rhythm section is TIGHT!”. She looked at me funny and asked, “You really think so? Listen carefully and
then tell me what you think.” She
rewound the tape and started it over again, and the tune was “Papa Was A
Rolling Stone”- and that’s when – you guessed it – I released it was her and I
on the recording. And, when I listened
critically to everything, I was shocked.
I was terrible. I
mean- truly awful.
My sense of time was non-existent. My note choices, while interesting, were
wholly incorrect, and the “interesting” quality of what I was doing was doing
nothing more than removing direction to what mattered- the vocals and all the
other instruments. All I could
concentrate on was what I was doing, no matter how hard I tried to listen to
anyone else.
Before I could say anything, she stopped the tape and took
it out and produced another tape. She
put that in and hit play, and it was the same song, but it wasn’t me on bass. It was MUCH better- cleaner execution and it
sounded right. That’s when she said it- “Marc. That’s me
on bass.”
I was dumbstruck. I
had never seen her play bass- she had never done it in front of me. I didn’t know she knew how- and she confessed
that she didn’t. She learned that tune
just so she could fix the part, and had gone back to the studio at the artist’s
request to salvage what I had done- or, not done more accurately.
Honestly, this hurt far more than you can imagine- it wasn’t
my pride that was hurt so much (it was,
but…) so much as it was that I hadn’t done my job, promptly forgot about it
and someone with one week of learning had a better result. (maybe
that is pride?) I didn’t say
anything. I just stared at the floor- I
wonder how many times something like this was happening and I never knew?
“I wasn’t sure how to tell you. I seriously considered not telling you, but
that would be a really shitty thing to do.
Are you mad?”, she asked.
“No. I’m not
mad. But I don’t think I can show my
face in there again.” I said. I couldn’t
even tell her how great a job she had done, because I was so self-absorbed.
“I told them you showed me how to play the line. They like you, but, well….. I’m not sure you
really ever listen to what’s going on around you. You really need to learn how to suit the
tune.” She said.
SUIT. THE.
TUNE. That hit me like a ton
of bricks.
Up until that time, I was really taken by players who had a
ton of chops. I listened to things like
Frank Zappa, Weather Report, Yes, Kansas, Genesis, King Crimson and Return To
Forever almost exclusively. Anything
that didn’t have a ton of changes or just stayed in 4/4 just bored the heck out
of me. I was constantly dissecting tunes
and players by how difficult passages were- a lot of musicians do this – but what
I realized in an instant was that I actually wasn’t internalizing
anything. I was in to “shock and awe”
and really not a whole lot more. Even
the things I said I “loved” held no real meaning for me- the intricacy would
register for a minute, the rest deflected off and back into space. I knew the somatic of what constituted “groove”
and I could do it (and did on lots of occasions) but it never really
resonated. And I really wanted it to,
and had absolutely no idea how to do that.
As musicians, all of us at one time or another are taken
with “shock and awe” at some level. It’s
really inevitable, and it’s not a bad thing, necessarily. Sometimes it takes the form of HAVING to be
able to play a million miles an hour, and sometimes it takes the form of HAVING
to have someone’s tone or gear. Or
both. Or that and more. Again- there’s nothing wrong with that kind
of a goal, but it’s completely another thing to inflict that at a musical level
on others- or worse- to laud your speed and/or gear and/or prowess over others. That desire to laud those things over others
is the hallmark of the competitive spirit that I was being interviewed for, but
that’s not what this blog entry is about- I want to get more granular than
that.
What I’m getting at is that – now, get this- chops mean nothing. (if you’re not a musician, “chops” refer to
ability on an instrument) It has
taken me years to understand this (and I
still struggle with it), and if you’re having trouble understanding or
internalizing this, I’d like to help and offer a tangible way to look at this:
It doesn’t matter what instrument you play or hit- or if you
sing. Regardless of style, all music is
a collaborative effort. As such, your
very first job – even before fingerboard memorization or scale studies or
breathing for support when singing – is to be supportive. Let that
sink in for a minute. Being supportive
means to have the actual mindset of “I am not the most important thing here” or
“I am not the star”. That has to be
forefront in your mind, and it needs to be the guiding force in doing what you
do. I am not talking about modesty here-
I am talking about literally trying to make everyone else around you sound
better before you try to sound better yourself. To do this properly really requires a
paradigm shift in your thinking. It
requires you to physically and critically listen to everything around you
before you start adding your own voice to the din. That might even mean that you don’t play at
all.
It also means that you have to play with other people. You HAVE TO.
These days, the internet is rife with people playing along with tracks
while confronted with a GoPro- kids, that ain’t making music. That’s just televised wanking. As a bass player, we are confronted with a
myriad of players who show off ridiculous slap chops (almost always in the key
of E major) – and it’s jarring to watch if you don’t have those. The next time you see that, ask yourself when
playing like that is appropriate? I’ll
give you a hint- it isn’t and never is.
And don’t be fooled into thinking that if you have those kinds of chops
you can elect not to use them- that is a fool’s errand. Don’t think that way, and don’t think less of
yourself because you can’t do it. I’ve
actually gotten to the point where I never watch these wankfests.
Music is, without a doubt, one of God’s most alluring and deep
creations, as it has the ability to speak to others in a way most of us
cannot. It touches the heart and soul as
that “international language” we’ve all heard about because it can make us
hear, feel, see and smell things on all levels.
Notice in that statement that it doesn’t imbue “speaking” those things –
and that’s an interesting point. We do
much better at all things in life if we don’t speak, but rather depend on those
other senses to tell us what’s what, and the same is true in music.
I don’t want to give the impression that bands and musicians
who can exhibit chops are bad- they aren’t.
But, there comes a time in all things artistic that too much is just too
much, and there really needs to be balance and growth. That rarely happens when bands or musicians
just stay on a single path – fast or slow – in that they get recognized by that
part of the public for a single thing and they elect to just keep repeating it
over and over again.
When I heard that recording of myself on that session, I was
19 or 20 years old. I just turned 52
last week, and I am still learning how to listen more and how to speak
less. It’s a journey, and it’s one that
is very well worth the constant effort.
I still have bad habits when I play and record, and I spend a lot of
time trying to rectify that, but I have to say that I am now in a place where I
actually like to hear myself on someone’s record, and that hasn’t always been
the case. I love working with artists on
all levels and just about any style of music, and I treat every occasion that I
get to play for anyone as an immense honor that I have been bestowed- that
artist has asked me to be part of an intensely personal statement that they
want to make, and that’s very, very cool
of them to do.
So- next time you pick up and instrument or a microphone-
ask yourself: What am I going to NOT do this time? The vibe and depth of the music you make will
shock you.