When Rich knows his pictures is going to be taken, he looks away, get blurry and turns everything yellowish
This session has enjoyed the talents of late addition, Rich Wheeler. I’ve wanted to play with Rich for a while now and have really enjoyed sharing stands with him. He provides a nice yin for Stan’s yang. This interview is criminally brief but if you want to know anything more about Rich, I suggest you just ask him since he's probably one of the most approachable musicians in KC. He's also old school and still uses two spaces between his periods and the first word of the next sentence. Here’s a brief interview with Rich:
Where are you from and why do you live in Kansas City?
I am originally from Heber Springs Arkansas. My family moved to the KC area, and I ended up going to high school and college in the area. I left the area for a couple of years after college and then came back
around 2000. Basically I came back for two reasons: I had a lot of contacts here and figured it would be easier to work here than elsewhere, and the cost of living here is fairly low. Those two things made it the obvious choice. Now I stay here mainly due to the projects I am involved in. I think they are incredibly fun and innovative, and I enjoy the people I work with.
What groups do you play with?
Black House, Son Venezuela, Alaturka, Peoples Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City (and its various offshoots including the Battleship Potemkin and Nutcracker groups), Brandon Draper Quintet, Rich Wheeler Quartet, Jeff Harshbarger Trio, Steve Rigazzi group, regularly. I also frequently perform with Mark Southerland and his project Snuff Jazz as a guest. I hope I didn't leave anything out. I also do a decent amount of freelancing.
How many tenor players does Kansas City need?
42
This is your first Black House residency, what do you think of the experience?
I like it. It has given me the opportunity to play with some musicians (yourself included) that I don't normally get the chance to play with. I am also a huge fan of new music, and that is what Black House is all about.
Which tune from this session do you like the best?
My personal favorite is Russell's piece.
How do you organize practice time?
I usually cut the practice session into segments. I start with work on tone and airstream, then move to scalar practice with a metronome to work on pure technique. After that I move into working on whatever music I intend to work on, ie stuff for an upcoming gig, etudes, something I am going to
record...whatever needs doing. Lastly I warm down working on tone again. I probably spend more time working on sound than any other aspect of playing.
Do you do any transcribing?
In the past I did a lot of transcribing. That would have been around the time I was in college. These days I generally only do it if I want to pull a tune, or if someone wants me to play something for a gig exactly as it was on the recording. I still occasionally transcribe some solo bits now and again, but not very often.
What's your favorite venue in KC and what would you like to change about the Kansas City jazz scene?
My personal favorite is the Record Bar. As far as changing the scene, that is a complex question. I think it would be healthy if we had more venues, although that could be said of any city. I think that through a lot of hard work by a lot of people, the music scene here has become more accepting of different kinds of music and musicians. I would really like to see that trend continue.
awww.. thanks RIch!!
Posted by: Russell | 08/18/2010 at 10:29 AM