In keeping with the recent exodus of musicians, my good friend and founding BHIC resident, Derek Worthington, will be leaving KC in a couple of weeks for graduate school. He will be greatly missed. I highly recommend you check out his newest work that we will be premiering at the Recordbar show. I personally think it’s his best work to date.
I know you're leaving for graduate school. What has prompted your desire to go back to school?
Basically, I want to be better than I am now, and the best way I know how to do that is by going to school. I feel like my time in college was when I made the most significant progress as a musician. It's very intensive; you're constantly surrounded by musicians who are working toward similar goals, there's continual feedback from teachers and other students. I think I could get a lot out of being in that environment again.
So I spoke with Stan last week and he was saying that younger players don't have as many tunes memorized. I must admit that I don't have too many jazz standards memorized myself. I had to learn them when I was in school but they certainly didn't stick but I don't feel too bad about it since I don't really like most of those tunes that much anyways. How do you feel about your level of "jazz repertoire."
I've played tons of standards, mostly in college, and at some point had most of them memorized. I still use standards as a practice tool. But the list of tunes I have memorized right now, that I would feel comfortable calling at a jam session tonight, is embarrassingly small. If I put some effort into memorizing tunes, I could make that list respectable, but honestly it's just not a priority for me. The classic recordings of standards are still great, but most were made more than half a century ago. I don't think we should obsess over recreating that music instead of making our own. There's so much fantastic music being made right now, and none of it is standards.
You mentioned "calling at a jam session." How do you feel about the jam session as a cultural phenomenon? I'm always conflicted about them because people are getting together to play, so how could that be a bad thing? On the other hand, I don't really think they're much fun to listen to as an audience member.
I can see all the positives of the jam session as it once was, and how all of that should theoretically still apply. And I think some of it still does. But to me, at this point, they feel more like a relic of tradition than a vital expression of a living art form. As an audience member, a jam session is the last thing I would want to listen to.
I know that you and I share a love for the music of Andrew Hill. What makes it so good?
I'm not sure if I can express it, but I'll try. His compositions are unusual and go places that are unexpected, but at the same time feel inevitable, as if they couldn't have gone any other way. There's this clarity and strength of conception that make every aspect of his music so intentional; he means every note, there's no "filler material". He doesn't resort to your standard "head-solos-head" form, but instead incorporates improvisation as a natural outgrowth of the composed material. And there's so much depth to his music; it only gets better with repeated listening. I'll cut myself off here before I start drooling. It's just so fucking good.
How would you describe your writing process?
Usually what comes first for me is a general conception of the big picture - the feel of the song, the shape of the melody, the way the piece develops from beginning to end, what kind of color the harmonies will have. After that I work back and forth between clarifying the big picture and nailing down all the details. That process involves alternately playing it over and over in my head (usually while pacing, and preferably wielding a samurai sword), and working at the piano. I tend to agonize over every detail, and accordingly take a long time to finish a piece - I'm trying to be faster about it, but so far failing miserably. I strive for that "intentional-ness" that I so admire in the compositions of Andrew Hill and others I love.
What contemporary players do you most admire?
Number one would have to be Tim Berne. He starts with these simple ideas and patiently, masterfully, develops them. He works with and manipulates his core ideas, and ever so gradually builds the intensity, always in complete control . . . . Every solo of his is a complete, coherent, structured statement. They're like compositions in themselves. I want to play like that. A couple others I should mention are Drew Gress and Steve Lehman.
You didn't mention any trumpet players, why not?
Well, no deep reason. None of my biggest current influences are trumpet players. There are certainly contemporary trumpet players I admire - particularly Ron Horton and Ralph Alessi - but I'm not really obsessing over them like I am with Hill and Berne.
You've done every BHIC session so far. What are you getting out of the experience?
My favorite music right now is larger groups playing contemporary jazz, and it's fantastic to be part of a group doing just that, both as a player and a composer.
I'm gonna miss you Derek
Posted by: Russell | 08/15/2010 at 11:10 AM