Sunday the 13th I saw The Kronos Quartet at Hertz Hall with a special appearance by Joan Jeanrenaud, who left the quartet ten years ago. She played with them on the Vladimir Martynow piece Scubert-Quintet (Unfinished). Commissioned by Joan, the piece is essentially Martynow’s “take” on Schubert’s long flowing lines. It was lovely to hear Joan with the Kronos again. After the intermission, the new Kronos, with Jeffrey Zeigler on cello, performed Transylvanian Horn Courtship, by Terry Riley, who was in attendance.
The piece was performed by the Kronos on Stroh instruments which have horns attached as resonators. Stroh violins were invented before microphones to amplify the acoustic violin, and have a midrangey almost sitar-like buzz to them. These instruments were designed to sound a fifth lower than concert at Riley’s request. He has written 25 pieces for Kronos. Whether one likes his music or not (and I do) Riley is a consummate writer for string quartet. I’ve always admired the Kronos for building their own audience and careers from the ground up.
Gregory James
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Number 28 December 7, 2009
Why I’m changing the name Rogue Records to Valence Records
I started my own label, Rogue Records, in 1981, after having been on the Inner City label out of New York. To me Rogue represented rebellion, and also possibly the Rogue River. From time to time, other Rogue Records have surfaced. (One, an LA punk label with an elephant logo, sent me nasty letters 10 or 15 years ago for a few months, until they went out of business). Recently I’ve noticed a few Rogue Records around the world. They must not do very thorough internet searches. Because I’ve been in international commerce with the name for over 25 years, my attorneys are confident I would prevail in any legal proceedings. But the name seems tired to me. The eighties to me were about rebellion; I see the 21st century as about collaboration and co-operation. But the final straw for me is the title of Sarah Palin’s book, “Going Rogue”. I will not have my record label name associated with a woman who shoots wolves from helicopters for sport. Hopefully the former governor and her husband the first stud will take their royalties and retire.
Gregory James
I started my own label, Rogue Records, in 1981, after having been on the Inner City label out of New York. To me Rogue represented rebellion, and also possibly the Rogue River. From time to time, other Rogue Records have surfaced. (One, an LA punk label with an elephant logo, sent me nasty letters 10 or 15 years ago for a few months, until they went out of business). Recently I’ve noticed a few Rogue Records around the world. They must not do very thorough internet searches. Because I’ve been in international commerce with the name for over 25 years, my attorneys are confident I would prevail in any legal proceedings. But the name seems tired to me. The eighties to me were about rebellion; I see the 21st century as about collaboration and co-operation. But the final straw for me is the title of Sarah Palin’s book, “Going Rogue”. I will not have my record label name associated with a woman who shoots wolves from helicopters for sport. Hopefully the former governor and her husband the first stud will take their royalties and retire.
Gregory James
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Number 27 December 1, 2009
“Steal from everyone but yourself” Igor Stravinsky
How ideas travel. A couple of years ago Paco de Lucia released Cositas Buenas. Like Miles, Paco has changed the way players think about the music several times, and I always buy his recordings the minute they come out. It’s a marvelous record, as his records always are. Imagine my delighted shock, when the last track, Casita Bernardo, has a trumpet line that repeats the melody of my tune Jeanetta (from my Ananda recording) note for note throughout the tune as the main hook. I like to think I have a pretty healthy ego, but I don’t have a picture of Paco buying 15 year old Gregory James cds for inspiration. Then I noticed that the trumpet player (with the exception of some orchestral recordings, I don’t believe Paco has used a trumpet in a small group setting) is Jerry Gonzalez. Jerry is a New York avant-garde jazz player. The trumpet player on my recording Jeanetta, is Ron Miles, also a modern player who has recorded with Bill Frisell and has several recordings under his own name. My thinking is Jerry probably heard Jeanetta (which has overtones of the flamenco toque taranta) years ago, and somehow the melody stuck in the back of his mind. Many years later when asked to play over a similar harmonic structure (albeit a rumba), the melody came back to him. Again, I was delighted. I probably picked up the melody from somewhere myself.
Gregory James
How ideas travel. A couple of years ago Paco de Lucia released Cositas Buenas. Like Miles, Paco has changed the way players think about the music several times, and I always buy his recordings the minute they come out. It’s a marvelous record, as his records always are. Imagine my delighted shock, when the last track, Casita Bernardo, has a trumpet line that repeats the melody of my tune Jeanetta (from my Ananda recording) note for note throughout the tune as the main hook. I like to think I have a pretty healthy ego, but I don’t have a picture of Paco buying 15 year old Gregory James cds for inspiration. Then I noticed that the trumpet player (with the exception of some orchestral recordings, I don’t believe Paco has used a trumpet in a small group setting) is Jerry Gonzalez. Jerry is a New York avant-garde jazz player. The trumpet player on my recording Jeanetta, is Ron Miles, also a modern player who has recorded with Bill Frisell and has several recordings under his own name. My thinking is Jerry probably heard Jeanetta (which has overtones of the flamenco toque taranta) years ago, and somehow the melody stuck in the back of his mind. Many years later when asked to play over a similar harmonic structure (albeit a rumba), the melody came back to him. Again, I was delighted. I probably picked up the melody from somewhere myself.
Gregory James
Monday, November 30, 2009
Number 26 November 30, 2009
“Success is doing the right thing, at the right time, with the right people” Duke Ellington
I’ve spoken before of my dear friend, the brilliant composer/conductor Butch Morris. http://www.conduction.us/ Butch comes from the jazz tradition, and played with Steve Lacey in Paris, among many other legendary improvisers. For 25 years he has been performing what he calls conductions. Working with symphonies (largely in Europe) improvising musicians, even spoken word ensembles, Butch directs various members of the group to play, to repeat passages, to lay out, etc. using hand signs, as a conductor. The result is a fresh, spontaneous, performance that builds and follows its own internal logic. (These are my descriptions, Butch has a very developed methodology, and is writing a book on his conduction methods.)
While Butch is the foremost practitioner of this, it is not without precedent. Count Basie (especially in the early days in Kansas City, before the pieces became codified in recordings and countless gigs) would signal a horn section to improvise a riff, and would then signal other sections of the band to comment on, or repeat, variations of the riff. In the Count’s band, he would usually start with piano, then bass and drums, and the tunes would build in volume and density (think One O’clock Jump). My record label (I will be changing the name from Rogue Records to Valence Records, more on that shortly) will be releasing some very important work of Butch’s in the new year.
Gregory James
I’ve spoken before of my dear friend, the brilliant composer/conductor Butch Morris. http://www.conduction.us/ Butch comes from the jazz tradition, and played with Steve Lacey in Paris, among many other legendary improvisers. For 25 years he has been performing what he calls conductions. Working with symphonies (largely in Europe) improvising musicians, even spoken word ensembles, Butch directs various members of the group to play, to repeat passages, to lay out, etc. using hand signs, as a conductor. The result is a fresh, spontaneous, performance that builds and follows its own internal logic. (These are my descriptions, Butch has a very developed methodology, and is writing a book on his conduction methods.)
While Butch is the foremost practitioner of this, it is not without precedent. Count Basie (especially in the early days in Kansas City, before the pieces became codified in recordings and countless gigs) would signal a horn section to improvise a riff, and would then signal other sections of the band to comment on, or repeat, variations of the riff. In the Count’s band, he would usually start with piano, then bass and drums, and the tunes would build in volume and density (think One O’clock Jump). My record label (I will be changing the name from Rogue Records to Valence Records, more on that shortly) will be releasing some very important work of Butch’s in the new year.
Gregory James
Friday, November 27, 2009
Number 25 November 27, 2009
More reflections on the great fall SF Jazz Festival this year. I had the privilege of taking Butch Morris to see Ornette Coleman at Davies Symphony Hall. A legend himself, Butch holds Ornette in such high regard that he told me a standing room ticket would be OK if that was all I could find. Fortunately there were still good tickets available. Ornette of course is one of our living masters, and I’ve had the good fortune to see him many, many times, in many settings. The last few years has been with two acoustic bass payers, and his son Denardo on drums. Like all true masters, Ornette craves change, and this group had an electric bass, acoustic bass, and Denardo. The electric bass player was in the higher register; almost guitar-like, which gave the group a little more open sound.
Perhaps because I’ve entered a new level of understanding, but a few years ago Ornette started to sound “inside” to me. Still fresh, and strange and beautiful (to paraphrase Jimi) but very much like “home”. (In truth, the Prime Time band of the early eighties, with Blood Ulmer, Berne Nix, Jamaldeen Tacuma, another bass player and drummer, plus Denardo, was SERIOUSLY harmolodic).
“The Shape of Jazz to Come” and “Out to Lunch” and “Conference of the Birds” all seem rooted in the blues to me, if not overtly. It’s been said that Charlie Parker played the blues over ballads, and ballads over the blues. This night Ornette would occasionally start a melodic line on alto, and finish it on trumpet or violin. It was a triumphant concert in Ornette’s 80th year.
Gregory James
Perhaps because I’ve entered a new level of understanding, but a few years ago Ornette started to sound “inside” to me. Still fresh, and strange and beautiful (to paraphrase Jimi) but very much like “home”. (In truth, the Prime Time band of the early eighties, with Blood Ulmer, Berne Nix, Jamaldeen Tacuma, another bass player and drummer, plus Denardo, was SERIOUSLY harmolodic).
“The Shape of Jazz to Come” and “Out to Lunch” and “Conference of the Birds” all seem rooted in the blues to me, if not overtly. It’s been said that Charlie Parker played the blues over ballads, and ballads over the blues. This night Ornette would occasionally start a melodic line on alto, and finish it on trumpet or violin. It was a triumphant concert in Ornette’s 80th year.
Gregory James
Monday, November 16, 2009
Number 24 November 16, 2009
I’ve mentioned that there is a tremendous crop of very talented young artists and performers. The SF Jazz Festival had Esperanza Spalding a couple of weeks ago. I knew she was very talented, but as is often the case, didn’t realize how extraordinary she was until I saw her live. Her acoustic bass technique is fantastic, and she simultaneously sings very imaginative and daring vocal lines. I’ve been saying it’s like hearing Betty Carter and Ron Carter at the same time. It’s as if no one ever told these young people what was impossible.
The next night we saw Pat Martino. Rightfully a legend (I’m very proud that I also played with Jimmie McCracklin and Brother Jack McDuff) he’s always fresh and inspirational too me. He has a very unique philosophy on the fret board, which he explains in The Nature of The Guitar. His website is well worth visiting. I like to get instructional dvds of my favorite players, just to see how differently they see the instrument. Pat is very geometric, McLaughlin is of course modal, and Robben Ford is very vertical, with wonderful whole tone and diminished seasonings. Sophisticated blues, as Robben says. Miles was certainly happy with him.
Gregory James
The next night we saw Pat Martino. Rightfully a legend (I’m very proud that I also played with Jimmie McCracklin and Brother Jack McDuff) he’s always fresh and inspirational too me. He has a very unique philosophy on the fret board, which he explains in The Nature of The Guitar. His website is well worth visiting. I like to get instructional dvds of my favorite players, just to see how differently they see the instrument. Pat is very geometric, McLaughlin is of course modal, and Robben Ford is very vertical, with wonderful whole tone and diminished seasonings. Sophisticated blues, as Robben says. Miles was certainly happy with him.
Gregory James
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Number 23 November 11, 2009
This has been an extraordinary SF Jazz Fall Festival. John Handy was presented with the Beacon Lifetime Achievement Award and gave a concert. “John Handy recorded live at The Monterey Jazz Festival” in 1965 was a very important record for me, as was “Forest Flower” the Charles Lloyd Quartet live at Monterey in 1967. In those days the new artists were showcased on Sunday afternoon, and if you made a splash, you had a career. John had the original rhythm section of Don Thompson and Terry Clarke with him for the SF Jazz concert, along with a drummer I’ve been very privileged to play and record with, Deszon Claiborne. It was marvelous to hear Deszon play with Thompson and Clarke on Spanish Lady. Again, the connections through musicians, what Buddhists call direct transmission, always amazes me. There is my dear friend Deszon, a few feet away from me on stage, playing with one of my major heroes.
Gregory James
Gregory James
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Number 22 November 7, 2009
My engineer/producer Cookie Marenco mentioned to Butch Morris the other week that I go to more concerts than anyone she knows. I have been blessed with seeing all kinds of amazing performances since childhood. From musicals to opera to jazz to blues at The Fillmore West. I subscribe to SF Jazz Festival, The SF Opera, and Cal Performances, among others. The Bay Area is an amazingly rich place for performance art; rivaling New York. This year’s SF Jazz Fall season is exceptional. Thursday the 29th was Ravi and Anushka Shankar. I’ve been going to Ravi concerts for over 40 years, and have seen him many times. He is the ultimate musician to me, and Anushka is well on the way. At age 89, his energy and speed have been in a bit of a decline, but this was the best I have seen him in many years. It was one of the top 3 performances I’ve ever seen, and one of the other two was also Ravi. Later that evening I got to see the paintings of Krisztina Lazar. I think she is brilliant, and I realized one of her paintings would make a great cover for The Valence Project. You can check out her art and design projects at www.transcendentbird.com
Gregory James
Gregory James
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Number 21 October 25, 2009
I left off the last blog with the notion of going to see the percussionist Rachael Bouch’s band Locura. I saw them last night and was absolutely blown away. They are influenced by Lila Downs and the trip hop flamenco jam band Ojos de Brujo. Just wonderful high energy music with a great rhythm section, and great tunes and vocals in Spanish. They’ve been together 5 years, and have their own tour bus. Which brings me to the subject of this blog: mentoring is a two-way street. The American Masters series on Joan Baez has a wonderful conversation with Dar Williams. Joan mentions that mentoring has to work both ways; you should learn from the person you are mentoring. This last week I worked with Rachael and the young alto player David Bullers. I don’t know if they learned anything from me (the art of non-rehearsal) but I certainly learned from them. I learn from the young violinist Emily Palen. And now that many, if not most, of the musicians I’ll be playing with are younger, I’ll have a lot of learning to do!
“Ah but I was so much older then, I’m younger then that now”
- Dylan, My Back Pages
Gregory James
“Ah but I was so much older then, I’m younger then that now”
- Dylan, My Back Pages
Gregory James
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Number 20 October 24, 2009
A lifetime in music
Those of us who play, or listen to live music a lot, live for the magic moments. When Anoushka Shankar at the age of fifteen came out on stage with her father, how could I have guessed she would already be his equal as a performer. The critic Leonard Feather was asked what his most memorable night of music was. He said that after a Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie gig on 52nd Street, they hopped in cabs and jammed at some joint in Brooklyn until daylight.
Years ago I walked out of a smooth jazz show at The Great American Music Hall, desperate to hear something real. There was a club called Milestones (before the 89 quake) south of Market. It was John Handy’s gig, and sitting in with him, just out of prison, was Hank Morgan. I have never, before or since, heard bebop so alive. They were playing the music of their youth.
In Paris in July 1994 (the French were celebrating D Day – it was amazing to be treated with reverence just for being an American) I decided to catch the last night of Antonio Hart, who was playing a small, but air-conditioned club just next to my hotel. There were a few Japanese businessmen. And Betty carter sipping cognac at the bar. Around midnight Antonio asked Ravi Coltrane, who was just getting started in the music business, to sit in. Then they asked Betty up, and she in turn asked her young pianist, Jackie Terrason to the stand. They played for hours, for the shear love of the music.
Greg James
Those of us who play, or listen to live music a lot, live for the magic moments. When Anoushka Shankar at the age of fifteen came out on stage with her father, how could I have guessed she would already be his equal as a performer. The critic Leonard Feather was asked what his most memorable night of music was. He said that after a Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie gig on 52nd Street, they hopped in cabs and jammed at some joint in Brooklyn until daylight.
Years ago I walked out of a smooth jazz show at The Great American Music Hall, desperate to hear something real. There was a club called Milestones (before the 89 quake) south of Market. It was John Handy’s gig, and sitting in with him, just out of prison, was Hank Morgan. I have never, before or since, heard bebop so alive. They were playing the music of their youth.
In Paris in July 1994 (the French were celebrating D Day – it was amazing to be treated with reverence just for being an American) I decided to catch the last night of Antonio Hart, who was playing a small, but air-conditioned club just next to my hotel. There were a few Japanese businessmen. And Betty carter sipping cognac at the bar. Around midnight Antonio asked Ravi Coltrane, who was just getting started in the music business, to sit in. Then they asked Betty up, and she in turn asked her young pianist, Jackie Terrason to the stand. They played for hours, for the shear love of the music.
Greg James
Number 19 October 24, 2009
Discovering the New
The greatest joy to me in music is discovering the new, and discovering new artists. Friends took me to see Rob Rhodes the drummer this week, and playing with him was the brilliant young guitarist Terrence Brewer, who I had been meaning to check out for some time. After their sets a reggae funk band set up in the other room, named NIAYH. It stands for “Now is all you have”. They were fabulous, and I bought cds for myself and my friends. Completely different music than the jazz trio, but wonderful. In my last blog I mentioned the violinist Emily Palen. She plays in the band Dolorata, in a duo called The Royals, in a country blues band The Goldenhearts. She also improvises as a solo violinist. As she comes from a classical, and then blues and rock background, it sounds very fresh to me. I believe she may bring something very special to the music world, and I admire and learn from her fearlessness.
Last night I played a gig with my dear friend Alex Popovics on bass, whom I’ve played with for 30 years. The alto player, David Bullers, I discovered jamming in a club near my house, and the percussionist, Rachael B, I heard recently with my friends Caminos Flamencos. Only Alex and I had played together before. No rehearsal (why rehearse when you can gig, I like to say). I knew it would sound good, as the players are all excellent and listen, but I didn’t know how good it would be. By the second set it felt to me as if we had been a band for years. Tonight I’m going to hear Rachael B’s band Locura.
Gregory James
The greatest joy to me in music is discovering the new, and discovering new artists. Friends took me to see Rob Rhodes the drummer this week, and playing with him was the brilliant young guitarist Terrence Brewer, who I had been meaning to check out for some time. After their sets a reggae funk band set up in the other room, named NIAYH. It stands for “Now is all you have”. They were fabulous, and I bought cds for myself and my friends. Completely different music than the jazz trio, but wonderful. In my last blog I mentioned the violinist Emily Palen. She plays in the band Dolorata, in a duo called The Royals, in a country blues band The Goldenhearts. She also improvises as a solo violinist. As she comes from a classical, and then blues and rock background, it sounds very fresh to me. I believe she may bring something very special to the music world, and I admire and learn from her fearlessness.
Last night I played a gig with my dear friend Alex Popovics on bass, whom I’ve played with for 30 years. The alto player, David Bullers, I discovered jamming in a club near my house, and the percussionist, Rachael B, I heard recently with my friends Caminos Flamencos. Only Alex and I had played together before. No rehearsal (why rehearse when you can gig, I like to say). I knew it would sound good, as the players are all excellent and listen, but I didn’t know how good it would be. By the second set it felt to me as if we had been a band for years. Tonight I’m going to hear Rachael B’s band Locura.
Gregory James
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Number 18 October 20, 2009
“I’d prefer not to think so.” Richard S. Fuld, Former CEO of bankrupt Lehman Brothers, in congressional testimony, when asked if he thought Secretary of the Treasury Paulson, a former CEO of Goldman Sachs, had intentionally allowed Lehman to fail because of the rivalry between the two firms.
OK, Cookie, this blog is for you. I should mention that for some years Goldman was my investment banker. I’ve mentioned the Shock Doctrine earlier as a must read. The reason that booms, and busts, and bubbles and scams and cowardice and bravery are enacted cyclically in markets lies in the fact that human nature hasn’t changed. The two great motivators in markets are fear and greed, with fear being an even stronger force. Which is why markets crash faster than they go up. The Crash of ’29, by John Kenneth Galbraith is also indispensible reading. (Goldman played a major role in the crash). The head of the NYSE displayed great bravery the week of the crash, openly buying for his own account on the floor, only to be convicted of embezzlement some years later to support his lavish lifestyle.
Fast forward 75 years, and Stan O’Neil walks from Merrill with a $160 million severance after having ruined the entire company with the aid of little more than a dozen derivative traders. (I can’t remember what Thain walked with, probably only $50 million). Ken Lewis will forfeit this year’s pay, and leave B of A with $60 million (and I imagine he feels victimized). And yes, a year after being saved by TARP dollars, Goldman is in the black and the bonus pool is looking good. It wasn’t until this year that I fully understood why the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. To protect the banks, not the depositors. History will record this as one of the largest wealth transfers of all time. And it’s from the tax payer, and little guy, to people who were already fabulously wealthy. (Andrew Carnegie actually thought the wealthy should have all the money, as they spent it more wisely). Joseph Cassano, head of financial products for AIG in London, was formerly with Drexel Lambert, and walked with millions just before Drexel was shut down. 20 years later, after having made hundreds of millions at AIG selling what would become worthless CDO and CDS’s to greedy regional European bankers, he’s actually paid a few million dollars a month in his final days at AIG to try to help unravel the mess he made. If you’d like one villain for the world-wide credit crisis, he’ll do nicely. He should have gone to jail for the Drexel crimes. (More on those, perhaps later). On a brighter note, The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson, is brilliant, entertaining, and somehow even uplifting, in its portrayal of the rise of civilization.
I’m going to re-read Das Kapital this year; the preamble on the value of commodities is almost mystic, and a favorite of hedge fund managers (those presumably still out of jail).
Gregory James
OK, Cookie, this blog is for you. I should mention that for some years Goldman was my investment banker. I’ve mentioned the Shock Doctrine earlier as a must read. The reason that booms, and busts, and bubbles and scams and cowardice and bravery are enacted cyclically in markets lies in the fact that human nature hasn’t changed. The two great motivators in markets are fear and greed, with fear being an even stronger force. Which is why markets crash faster than they go up. The Crash of ’29, by John Kenneth Galbraith is also indispensible reading. (Goldman played a major role in the crash). The head of the NYSE displayed great bravery the week of the crash, openly buying for his own account on the floor, only to be convicted of embezzlement some years later to support his lavish lifestyle.
Fast forward 75 years, and Stan O’Neil walks from Merrill with a $160 million severance after having ruined the entire company with the aid of little more than a dozen derivative traders. (I can’t remember what Thain walked with, probably only $50 million). Ken Lewis will forfeit this year’s pay, and leave B of A with $60 million (and I imagine he feels victimized). And yes, a year after being saved by TARP dollars, Goldman is in the black and the bonus pool is looking good. It wasn’t until this year that I fully understood why the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. To protect the banks, not the depositors. History will record this as one of the largest wealth transfers of all time. And it’s from the tax payer, and little guy, to people who were already fabulously wealthy. (Andrew Carnegie actually thought the wealthy should have all the money, as they spent it more wisely). Joseph Cassano, head of financial products for AIG in London, was formerly with Drexel Lambert, and walked with millions just before Drexel was shut down. 20 years later, after having made hundreds of millions at AIG selling what would become worthless CDO and CDS’s to greedy regional European bankers, he’s actually paid a few million dollars a month in his final days at AIG to try to help unravel the mess he made. If you’d like one villain for the world-wide credit crisis, he’ll do nicely. He should have gone to jail for the Drexel crimes. (More on those, perhaps later). On a brighter note, The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson, is brilliant, entertaining, and somehow even uplifting, in its portrayal of the rise of civilization.
I’m going to re-read Das Kapital this year; the preamble on the value of commodities is almost mystic, and a favorite of hedge fund managers (those presumably still out of jail).
Gregory James
Monday, October 19, 2009
Number 17 October 19, 2009
“A lot of musicians worry about protecting what I call their musical foundation. They want to be on their Ps and Qs on stage, put their best foot forward, play their best runs, their best and try to impress people. But I’m at a point where I’m just going to say “To hell with the rules” That’s all I’m doing with the music now. I’m 76, I’ve got nothing to lose now. I’m going for the unknown”. Wayne Shorter
It’s no coincidence that Wayne Shorter played with Miles. Miles, who once fired a sax player he heard through a hotel room door practicing hard bop lines he intended to play that night. Miles, who could change what a band was playing by what he was NOT playing; just by listening. “I pay you to practice on stage” as Miles said to Coltrane.
I saw Dylan at The Greek Theater last week, and Wayne Shorter at Zellerbach Saturday night. There are some artists I see whenever I can. I’ve been going to Ravi Shankar concerts since I was 15. McCoy Tyner, Dylan, Eric Clapton, Shorter, Mariza. I saw Miles many, many times. Benny’s first show with Miles, he was shaking on stage. Miles had him take the first solo. It was a little rough, but the groove was fine after that. Bobby Scott (A Taste of Honey, One Is the Loneliest Number) once told me he’d rather listen to 5 minutes of Clapton than an hour of most other music. “Because at my age, I don’t have time for anything but the truth”. I saw Miles’ second to last show. A completely new band, very dark and moody. He was getting ready to do something new, that would doubtless frustrate his recent fans. My newest musical discovery, Emily Palin, busks on the street in front of Niman Marcus. She plays in a lot of different bands and contexts. I realize what I find so inspiring about her playing is that she is fearless. I think Mr. Shorter would appreciate her.
Gregory James
It’s no coincidence that Wayne Shorter played with Miles. Miles, who once fired a sax player he heard through a hotel room door practicing hard bop lines he intended to play that night. Miles, who could change what a band was playing by what he was NOT playing; just by listening. “I pay you to practice on stage” as Miles said to Coltrane.
I saw Dylan at The Greek Theater last week, and Wayne Shorter at Zellerbach Saturday night. There are some artists I see whenever I can. I’ve been going to Ravi Shankar concerts since I was 15. McCoy Tyner, Dylan, Eric Clapton, Shorter, Mariza. I saw Miles many, many times. Benny’s first show with Miles, he was shaking on stage. Miles had him take the first solo. It was a little rough, but the groove was fine after that. Bobby Scott (A Taste of Honey, One Is the Loneliest Number) once told me he’d rather listen to 5 minutes of Clapton than an hour of most other music. “Because at my age, I don’t have time for anything but the truth”. I saw Miles’ second to last show. A completely new band, very dark and moody. He was getting ready to do something new, that would doubtless frustrate his recent fans. My newest musical discovery, Emily Palin, busks on the street in front of Niman Marcus. She plays in a lot of different bands and contexts. I realize what I find so inspiring about her playing is that she is fearless. I think Mr. Shorter would appreciate her.
Gregory James
Number 16 October 19, 2009
“We never change the arrangements. Now we might change the tempo…” Bob Dylan
“You know why I never play ballads anymore? Cause I love to play ballads” Miles Davis to Keith Jarrett, after a disastrous attempt at Stella By Starlight with one of his late 60’s groups.
What separates good artists, even ones we love, from great artists (even those we don’t) is an almost insatiable desire for change. In an interview a couple of years ago, Dylan gave that hint as to perhaps how he is able to disguise some of his best known tunes until he’s halfway into them. And I thought, I should try that! But do I have the nerve to play one of my tunes at half tempo, or double time, so that my audience won’t recognize them?
Keith Jarrett hated electric piano, but he played it for Miles, because that’s what Miles wanted, and Keith loved to play for Miles. The fact that Miles would consciously give up playing something he loved, to make sure he changed, seemed an act of great bravery to Jarrett. When asked why he didn’t play All Blues, and other gems from the 50’s, Miles replied, “That’s why there are records”.
I’ve frustrated some friends in that I often don’t play pieces from the last record. In truth, as there is usually about a year lag between the recording and it’s release, even on my own label, I’ve often moved on to other things.
Gregory James
“You know why I never play ballads anymore? Cause I love to play ballads” Miles Davis to Keith Jarrett, after a disastrous attempt at Stella By Starlight with one of his late 60’s groups.
What separates good artists, even ones we love, from great artists (even those we don’t) is an almost insatiable desire for change. In an interview a couple of years ago, Dylan gave that hint as to perhaps how he is able to disguise some of his best known tunes until he’s halfway into them. And I thought, I should try that! But do I have the nerve to play one of my tunes at half tempo, or double time, so that my audience won’t recognize them?
Keith Jarrett hated electric piano, but he played it for Miles, because that’s what Miles wanted, and Keith loved to play for Miles. The fact that Miles would consciously give up playing something he loved, to make sure he changed, seemed an act of great bravery to Jarrett. When asked why he didn’t play All Blues, and other gems from the 50’s, Miles replied, “That’s why there are records”.
I’ve frustrated some friends in that I often don’t play pieces from the last record. In truth, as there is usually about a year lag between the recording and it’s release, even on my own label, I’ve often moved on to other things.
Gregory James
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Number 15 October 15, 2009
“May you live in interesting times”
Old Chinese Curse
President Obama does not seem like a man easily surprised (except perhaps by his daughters). But the Nobel Peace Prize certainly must have surprised him, as he admitted. What a perfect passive/aggressive way for the Nobel Peace Committee to both praise America’s return to diplomacy, and remind us that much remains to be done. President Obama’s challenges are staggering, and simultaneous. (Roosevelt was in his second term at Pearl Harbor, and had seen the war coming for years. He came to his first term over two years after the crash of ’29, and had watched the Hoover administration’s errors). Obama faces two wars (albeit one we have decided to end) an official unemployment rate of 17% (which doesn’t include all the people I know who haven’t worked since the dot com bubble burst), a banking and credit crisis on a par with the 1907 panic, a worldwide if somewhat less enthusiastic jihad, and the possibility of instability in the nuclear armed Pakistan. Throw in Iran, North Korea, and a desperate and economically brutalized Russia. China and our economic, political, and military challengers there, must seem like a pleasant diversion. I realize I just forgot about Palestine, Israel, and Africa, particularly Sub-Sahara. His refusal to simply ignore problems (which Bush did with virtually everything ) is laudable. Even some of his biggest supporters (of which I am one) feel he should prioritize. I don’t believe he really can. They are all critical to our welfare, and survival. Oh, climate change…
Roosevelt made many mistakes, but we wisely kept re-electing him. As Bush (both of them) made me long for one term limits, I hope we will give this man the eight years he’ll need.
Gregory James
Old Chinese Curse
President Obama does not seem like a man easily surprised (except perhaps by his daughters). But the Nobel Peace Prize certainly must have surprised him, as he admitted. What a perfect passive/aggressive way for the Nobel Peace Committee to both praise America’s return to diplomacy, and remind us that much remains to be done. President Obama’s challenges are staggering, and simultaneous. (Roosevelt was in his second term at Pearl Harbor, and had seen the war coming for years. He came to his first term over two years after the crash of ’29, and had watched the Hoover administration’s errors). Obama faces two wars (albeit one we have decided to end) an official unemployment rate of 17% (which doesn’t include all the people I know who haven’t worked since the dot com bubble burst), a banking and credit crisis on a par with the 1907 panic, a worldwide if somewhat less enthusiastic jihad, and the possibility of instability in the nuclear armed Pakistan. Throw in Iran, North Korea, and a desperate and economically brutalized Russia. China and our economic, political, and military challengers there, must seem like a pleasant diversion. I realize I just forgot about Palestine, Israel, and Africa, particularly Sub-Sahara. His refusal to simply ignore problems (which Bush did with virtually everything ) is laudable. Even some of his biggest supporters (of which I am one) feel he should prioritize. I don’t believe he really can. They are all critical to our welfare, and survival. Oh, climate change…
Roosevelt made many mistakes, but we wisely kept re-electing him. As Bush (both of them) made me long for one term limits, I hope we will give this man the eight years he’ll need.
Gregory James
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Number 14 October 4, 2009
Growing up in San Francisco, I was exposed to different cultures at a very early age. In addition to Anglo, Hispanic, and Black friends, I also had Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Philippine friends, and was very aware of their different cultures. The Persians I’ve known in the US are all uniformly intelligent, sophisticated, well educated, and polite – most of them having fled the revolution. Ahmadinejad is not the kind of guy I’m familiar with. I’m reading “The Ayatollah Begs to Differ” by Hooman Majd. He was born in Tehran, but raised and educated in the US. He has acted as a volunteer translator for Ahmadinejad, and has great insights into Persian culture and current politics. He goes to great lengths to explain ta’arouf: a Persian concept of manners that requires self-deprecation, and can become very competitive. That combined with the concept of haq, or unalienable rights, goes a ways toward explaining Ahmadinejad’s disconcerting lurches from being obsequies to arrogant.
(I used to encounter a form of ta’arouf from gypsy flamencos when I would ask them for lessons: “Oh Gregory, I couldn’t teach you anything. You are a MARVELOUS guitarist. By the way, show me The Shadow of your Smile…”
It is encouraging that in Obama we now have a president who believes in the concept of dialogue and negotiation. I read in the New York Times today that we are even approaching the Burmese regime.
I did finally find a flamenco teacher, the incredible Jason McGuire, who performs with Caminos Flamencos. Along with my friend Chuscales he is one of the best accompanists for dance and cante in the world, and is a great teacher. As Jason says, they never show you all the little rest strokes and ghost notes, that keep the playing in time. Respect the compas, as they say.
Gregory James
(I used to encounter a form of ta’arouf from gypsy flamencos when I would ask them for lessons: “Oh Gregory, I couldn’t teach you anything. You are a MARVELOUS guitarist. By the way, show me The Shadow of your Smile…”
It is encouraging that in Obama we now have a president who believes in the concept of dialogue and negotiation. I read in the New York Times today that we are even approaching the Burmese regime.
I did finally find a flamenco teacher, the incredible Jason McGuire, who performs with Caminos Flamencos. Along with my friend Chuscales he is one of the best accompanists for dance and cante in the world, and is a great teacher. As Jason says, they never show you all the little rest strokes and ghost notes, that keep the playing in time. Respect the compas, as they say.
Gregory James
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Number 13 September 27, 2009
“A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people”. Thomas Mann.
I’m very fortunate in that I’ve very rarely experienced writer’s block in music. (In fact the only time I recall was when my friend the producer David Kahne needed a song immediately – I think it was for Jorma Kaukonen. I came up with something dreadful, I think I called it “ Not Quite Magdalena (But You’ll Do) that we both agreed wasn’t usable. I rarely have entire songs come to me out of the blue, though. Usually I’ll have a phrase, and I’ll play it for a few days or weeks or months until the next phrase comes along. I write things that are easy for good players to improvise over; often a fairly complex head with a simple modal section for solos. Although I’m facile with words and am the product of a Jesuit education complete with Latin and Greek, I’ve always felt that I was not a good writer of song lyrics. Idolizing Jimmy Van Heusen and Cole Porter (as sung by Frank) and then Dylan and The Beatles, the bar was a little too high.
But on a new band I’m involved with called The Valence Project, I’m really enjoying writing lyrics. The players are wonderful. We have Brain on drums, Jon Herrera and Kai Eckhardt on bass, and Melissa Reese and Deborah Charles on vocals. We are recording in a very unique way. Brain will record a drum pattern to 2” analogue tape (I’ll suggest rhythms; a samba, something African, something in 6/8) and Brain will then download the drum tracks to his computer and start making loops. Borrowing an idea from Dylan’s last three recordings, I’ll suggest an old blues lyric married to a modern phrase to Melissa, and we massage the words around until we have something new. Some of the songs may be about two or more completely different things. The end result is something very fresh, and yet vaguely, or eerily familiar. It’s probably the most positive creative environment I’ve been in. Everyone is excited about being involved, and there are no pre-conceived notions.
Gregory James
I’m very fortunate in that I’ve very rarely experienced writer’s block in music. (In fact the only time I recall was when my friend the producer David Kahne needed a song immediately – I think it was for Jorma Kaukonen. I came up with something dreadful, I think I called it “ Not Quite Magdalena (But You’ll Do) that we both agreed wasn’t usable. I rarely have entire songs come to me out of the blue, though. Usually I’ll have a phrase, and I’ll play it for a few days or weeks or months until the next phrase comes along. I write things that are easy for good players to improvise over; often a fairly complex head with a simple modal section for solos. Although I’m facile with words and am the product of a Jesuit education complete with Latin and Greek, I’ve always felt that I was not a good writer of song lyrics. Idolizing Jimmy Van Heusen and Cole Porter (as sung by Frank) and then Dylan and The Beatles, the bar was a little too high.
But on a new band I’m involved with called The Valence Project, I’m really enjoying writing lyrics. The players are wonderful. We have Brain on drums, Jon Herrera and Kai Eckhardt on bass, and Melissa Reese and Deborah Charles on vocals. We are recording in a very unique way. Brain will record a drum pattern to 2” analogue tape (I’ll suggest rhythms; a samba, something African, something in 6/8) and Brain will then download the drum tracks to his computer and start making loops. Borrowing an idea from Dylan’s last three recordings, I’ll suggest an old blues lyric married to a modern phrase to Melissa, and we massage the words around until we have something new. Some of the songs may be about two or more completely different things. The end result is something very fresh, and yet vaguely, or eerily familiar. It’s probably the most positive creative environment I’ve been in. Everyone is excited about being involved, and there are no pre-conceived notions.
Gregory James
Friday, September 25, 2009
Number 12 September 25, 2009
I never listen to music as “background music”. I prefer to be doing nothing but listening. But, life being what it is, 95% of my listening is while driving. I still haven’t made the leap to ipod, and if I tough it out a couple of more years I probably won’t have to. I’m still an album guy, I want to hear 45 minutes or an hour of what an artist wants to say, where the artist wants to take me. I know the world has gone back to singles. My car dealer was amazed I wanted a cd changer installed in the trunk. “Let me see if we still do that”. I miss LPs; there was room for great art and liner notes. I bought my first Kenny Burrell records as an 11 year old because of the art (racy Any Warhol nudes!) and the liner notes. I figured this guy had to be serious.
I love the physicality of ordering cds from Amazon, getting the package, opening it up. They are not LPs, but they are as close as I’m probably going to get. Recent purchases have been Robben Ford Live at The Independent (I was there!) Moby’s Play, from 1999, the latest Vicente Amigo recording, Paseo de Gracia. And today, Herbie Hancock’s debut solo recording, Empyrean Isles, from 1964, and the two Boz Scaggs standards recordings, But Beautiful, and Speak Low. Of all the pop stars who have done the American Songbook (Rod Stewart being the most dismal) no one comes close to Boz. A true bluesman, he understands the music. “I improvise very little on the melody; rather, I try to coax nuance and expression out of timing and tone”. “It is the stillness we tried to preserve, a transcendent feeling of stopping time – doing nothing – and letting these great songs carry us along.” It’s taken me 40 years to learn what not to play.
Gregory James
I love the physicality of ordering cds from Amazon, getting the package, opening it up. They are not LPs, but they are as close as I’m probably going to get. Recent purchases have been Robben Ford Live at The Independent (I was there!) Moby’s Play, from 1999, the latest Vicente Amigo recording, Paseo de Gracia. And today, Herbie Hancock’s debut solo recording, Empyrean Isles, from 1964, and the two Boz Scaggs standards recordings, But Beautiful, and Speak Low. Of all the pop stars who have done the American Songbook (Rod Stewart being the most dismal) no one comes close to Boz. A true bluesman, he understands the music. “I improvise very little on the melody; rather, I try to coax nuance and expression out of timing and tone”. “It is the stillness we tried to preserve, a transcendent feeling of stopping time – doing nothing – and letting these great songs carry us along.” It’s taken me 40 years to learn what not to play.
Gregory James
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Number 11 September 20, 2009
The Byrdland
I’ve written about instruments having their unique stories. I’ve always wanted a Gibson Byrdland (named after and designed for Billy Byrd and Hank Garland, two top Nashville guitarists in the 1950’s).
I think they are the prettiest arch top guitars ever made. They are not everyone’s cup of tea; the neck is short scale to facilitate speed and unusual chord voicing’s. A wide range of guitarists have played them over the years: Eric Clapton (Concert for Bangladesh) Blood Ulmer, Ted Nugent, John McLaughlin.
So, in the summer of 2007 (before the financial meltdown) I finally decided to order one. (They have only been available as a custom shop special order for some years). I prefer to deal with small, independent stores, so I went to Blue Note Music in Berkeley. The owner, James, is a guitarist. Bless him, he tried to talk me out of it, as many people do find the neck challenging. I ordered a blonde (of course) with a Venetian (soft) cutaway. James told me it would be 6 months to a year; they wait until they have several orders to do a run. I was delighted when he called me in December, after just 5 months, to tell me that it had arrived. It was beautiful! When I got home I looked inside the body with my reading glasses. The label stated that it had been assembled, tap tuned and inspected by James W. Hutchins, on October 11, 2007. My Birthday!
There is a good Wikipedia article on The Byrdland.
Gregory James
I’ve written about instruments having their unique stories. I’ve always wanted a Gibson Byrdland (named after and designed for Billy Byrd and Hank Garland, two top Nashville guitarists in the 1950’s).
I think they are the prettiest arch top guitars ever made. They are not everyone’s cup of tea; the neck is short scale to facilitate speed and unusual chord voicing’s. A wide range of guitarists have played them over the years: Eric Clapton (Concert for Bangladesh) Blood Ulmer, Ted Nugent, John McLaughlin.
So, in the summer of 2007 (before the financial meltdown) I finally decided to order one. (They have only been available as a custom shop special order for some years). I prefer to deal with small, independent stores, so I went to Blue Note Music in Berkeley. The owner, James, is a guitarist. Bless him, he tried to talk me out of it, as many people do find the neck challenging. I ordered a blonde (of course) with a Venetian (soft) cutaway. James told me it would be 6 months to a year; they wait until they have several orders to do a run. I was delighted when he called me in December, after just 5 months, to tell me that it had arrived. It was beautiful! When I got home I looked inside the body with my reading glasses. The label stated that it had been assembled, tap tuned and inspected by James W. Hutchins, on October 11, 2007. My Birthday!
There is a good Wikipedia article on The Byrdland.
Gregory James
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Number 10 September 17, 2009
Mary Travers dies at 72. David Crosby is 68. Dylan is up there. My generation started to lose icons in childhood; JFK when I was 11, MLK and RFK when I was 16, Jimi and Janice when I was 18. We are the elders now, as Surya Das says. Listening to Kind of Blue last night, it’s hard to believe it’s 50 years old, it sounds so fresh. And that just 10 years later, Miles would record In A Silent Way, and Bitches Brew. That’s like going from painting like Vermeer to Picasso in ten years. (Or like going from Picasso’s Blue Period to Abstraction in ten years, which Picasso did!). Art tells the big lie, that tells the truth, as Picasso said.
For someone who aspires to Buddhist thought, I’ve always been intrigued and horrified by the idea of impermanence. How many shared experiences; picnics, hikes, sails, are gone forever, because my friends are gone. Good times that I was sure would be repeated more than once, were in fact a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
There is apparently a section of the brain that exists solely to give us the illusion that we are in complete control (it was discovered by researchers working with head injuries). Samsara is often defined as the pain, or suffering of this earthly plane. A more accurate definition would be unsatisfactoriness. On the most beautiful day, driving down the coast with the most beautiful girl, there is always the dim, nagging thought that this can’t last. And, in fact, the only certainty is that it CAN”T last. We all die. And yet, in the realm of art, Mary Travers still shakes her long blonde hair out of her eyes in rhythm as she sings at The March on Washington, The Beatles are still witty and young as they chain-smoke their way through Hard Day’s Night, Jimi still reinvents The Star Spangled Banner. And with one note from Miles, it’s April 1959, and September 16, 2009, at the same time.
Gregory James
For someone who aspires to Buddhist thought, I’ve always been intrigued and horrified by the idea of impermanence. How many shared experiences; picnics, hikes, sails, are gone forever, because my friends are gone. Good times that I was sure would be repeated more than once, were in fact a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
There is apparently a section of the brain that exists solely to give us the illusion that we are in complete control (it was discovered by researchers working with head injuries). Samsara is often defined as the pain, or suffering of this earthly plane. A more accurate definition would be unsatisfactoriness. On the most beautiful day, driving down the coast with the most beautiful girl, there is always the dim, nagging thought that this can’t last. And, in fact, the only certainty is that it CAN”T last. We all die. And yet, in the realm of art, Mary Travers still shakes her long blonde hair out of her eyes in rhythm as she sings at The March on Washington, The Beatles are still witty and young as they chain-smoke their way through Hard Day’s Night, Jimi still reinvents The Star Spangled Banner. And with one note from Miles, it’s April 1959, and September 16, 2009, at the same time.
Gregory James
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Number 9 September 16, 2009
We are mixing our new band recording, The Valence Project. Duke Ellington defined success as “Doing the right thing, at the right time, with the right people”. All the musicians are world class. They are excited about working together. There were no pre-conceived notions of what it should sound like, and a very refreshing willingness to do new things. And they are lovely people, one and all. In life, in art, in love, the effortless is also often the most magical. (Although there were plenty of technical and musical challenges, it was emotionally always very positive and smooth). I have an almost superstitious idea that the order in which tunes are written (if they are written in the studio, which these were) and recorded is often the best order sequence for the finished recording. We recorded to 2” tape, and are mastering to ½” tape, so the sound is huge, and warm. We feel the tunes will lend themselves to multiple remixes; there are so many good performances on each take that one would be happy with five or more versions of each tune.
Among the players are Brain (Primus/Tom Waites/Guns N’ Roses) Kai Eckhardt (John McLaughlin/Wayne Shorter/Clarence Clemmons/Garage Mahal) Jonathan Herrera (Zigaboo Modeliste/Miguel Megs)
Deborah Charles, Melissa Reese, Enrique Padilla, Baron Shul (Indigo Swing ) and the mysterious Blu Cube.
Gregory James
Among the players are Brain (Primus/Tom Waites/Guns N’ Roses) Kai Eckhardt (John McLaughlin/Wayne Shorter/Clarence Clemmons/Garage Mahal) Jonathan Herrera (Zigaboo Modeliste/Miguel Megs)
Deborah Charles, Melissa Reese, Enrique Padilla, Baron Shul (Indigo Swing ) and the mysterious Blu Cube.
Gregory James
Friday, September 11, 2009
Number 8 September 11, 2009
September 11. The financial news networks are paying more attention to the anniversary of last year’s financial meltdown than to September 11, 2001. And, eight years later, the S&P index is exactly where it was on September 10, 2001. Wall St. (and London) nearly accomplished what Bin Laden set out to do; destroy world trade. Karl Marx himself would have been optimistic about the demise of capitalism last fall. But here we are, still functioning, albeit with probably 9 or 10 years of deleveraging and slow growth ahead. Capitalism’s ability to arise phoenix-like out of the ashes (which cost Nikolai Kondratieff his freedom and life when he came to this conclusion) is miraculous.
After 9/11 my love of Arabic culture and music was a great consolation to me. I have a saz and a beautiful Najarian oud. I play a little saz on Reincarnation. “The Ornament of the World” is a great scholarly book about Cordoba from the 700’s to 1492 (when Ferdinand and Isabella exiled the Jews). It also has the best analysis I’ve ever read of the Sunni/Shia schism. It is good to remember that there have been hundreds of years (also in Jerusalem) when Arabs, Jews, and Christians lived together in relative harmony.
Last year many of my friends were insisting I read “The Shock Doctrine”. I found it a little strident and conspiratorial. After the financial meltdown, I find it accurate and profound. One of the few things I like about myself is my ability to change my mind, and admit that I was wrong.
Gregory James
After 9/11 my love of Arabic culture and music was a great consolation to me. I have a saz and a beautiful Najarian oud. I play a little saz on Reincarnation. “The Ornament of the World” is a great scholarly book about Cordoba from the 700’s to 1492 (when Ferdinand and Isabella exiled the Jews). It also has the best analysis I’ve ever read of the Sunni/Shia schism. It is good to remember that there have been hundreds of years (also in Jerusalem) when Arabs, Jews, and Christians lived together in relative harmony.
Last year many of my friends were insisting I read “The Shock Doctrine”. I found it a little strident and conspiratorial. After the financial meltdown, I find it accurate and profound. One of the few things I like about myself is my ability to change my mind, and admit that I was wrong.
Gregory James
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Number 7 September 9, 2009
Amps are of course as important, if not more, than electric guitars, for tone. My first amp, to go with my brand new 1966 Fender Mustang, was a Fender Princeton. (I probably should have stopped right there!) Then a Kustom 60 watt stack (loud and brittle, BUT black tuck and roll!) A 50 watt Marshall 2x12 combo in England and back in the US. And from the late 70’s, Fender Twins. A Mesa Boogie MKII in the early eighties, and then the Roland 120 Chorus for many years . I now have 62 and 63 Fender Champs. They are amazing! The 62 is in better cosmetic shape, but the 63 sounds better. I also have a Mesa Boogie MKI reissue. A few years ago Benny Rietveld told me Carlos was fond of Two Rock amps. I phoned them up in Cotati; the founder’s voice sounded familiar to me, it turned out he had been an acquaintance of mine, I didn’t know he made amplifiers. I believe they are the best sounding in the world by far and away. I have a 50 watt Custom Reverb (with 60’s Celestions in a 2x12 cabinet) and their 30 watt Jet Signature combo. I use my EC Strat with the Two Rock 50 Watt Custom Reverb exclusively on The Valence Project recording. For small jazz gigs I sometimes use an Acoustic Images amp, or an AER amp. The Acoustic Image amp is 400 watts, and weighs about 5 pounds. I’ve seen Pat Martino power two Boogie 4x12 cabinets at Yoshi’s with one. For a clean, well defined jazz sound, they are good.
Gregory James
Gregory James
Number 6 September 9, 2009
My first guitar was a $29 Japanese steel string Westbrook when I was 11. Virtually unplayable, but it did give me strong fingers and tough calluses. Then about a year later I got a nylon string for about $60 (I had a paper route by then) that was quite playable and pretty. A couple of years after that I got a student model Yairi for about $200, and I played that for years. After that I played Takamine nylon string guitars for about 30 years, until I started commissioning custom guitars. I went through 3 or 4 of the Takamines over the years. My first electric, when I was about 14, was a Fender Mustang. (Later to be made famous by Kurt Cobain). What I really wanted was a jazz guitar, and a couple of years later I got a Howard Roberts Epiphone. (Later to be made famous by Robbie Robertson. It actually was a better rock n’ roll guitar, but I met Howard Roberts once, and he was a very nice man). I think I traded in the Howard Roberts for cash and a Strat when I was 21 to go to London. In London I eventually got a 50 watt Marshall 2x12 combo, which I brought back to the States. In the late 70’s I had a blonde Gibson Super 400, with soundposts installed at the factory. It supposedly had belonged to Larry Coryell. I traded in the Super 4 for cash and a cheap Guild when I left NYC to go back to SF in 1980. Then a Les Paul (I forgot to mention the Rickenbacher 12 I had for a while in high school.) Then it was pretty much Les Pauls until the early 80’s, when I started using a midi-rigged Steinberger transtrem. A few years ago I got a Baker Robben Ford prototype, dubbed the RF. It’s Les Paul- like, with hollow chambers. A very beautiful instrument. I also have and Eric Clapton autograph Strat, and a Martin 00028EC. Clapton endorsed guitars are very well made.
Gregory James
Gregory James
Friday, September 4, 2009
Number 5 September 4, 2009
Studying flamenco under Jason McGuire, who also is a recording engineer and produces everything from flamenco to metal, the gear head in me was further encouraged. I played a Lester de Voe negra of Jason’s, and was blown away. Lester was perhaps the first American builder to be played by Paco. Lester is a lovely, gentle, humorous soul, and one of the most important luthiers of our time. I ordered a negra from him, and it is played on my recordings Come to Me and Reincarnation. By this time I was feeling pretty well stocked with flamenco guitars, when Lester mentioned he had a few pieces of the finest Spanish cypress he’s ever seen. So, I commissioned a blanca (blancas are my extra favorites) and it is featured on Samsara. Jason was fond of vintage Ramirez guitars for a while, and he found me a mint 1969 Ramirez 1A flamenco blanca. It had basically never been played, and it’s been opening up beautifully the last few years. (That is a guitar of my youth. I used to borrow a 60’s Ramirez from one of my high school Jesuit teachers for special gigs; he was always so nervous about it I stopped asking).
By this time I was determined to stop buying more guitars (I’ll mention the electrics and amps next time). Jason introduced me to Glenn Canin, who I started studying Alexander Technique with. (Guitar players have notoriously poor posture. McLaughlin, perhaps because of yoga, being a notable exception). Glenn is also perhaps the most gifted young guitar builder today. I’ve just taken delivery of a Brazilian rosewood negra with a cedar top. It is so loud, and has so much tone, it’s amazing. There is a youtube video of Jason playing Glenn’s guitars that has gone viral, for good reason. Then a few months ago, Glenn stopped a gardener hauling a cypress stump to the wood chipper. He pleaded with the guy, who finally let him haul it away. So, as a fourth generation San Franciscan, I figured I had to have a San Francisco blanca. It should be finished in a few months, and I’m sure it will have many songs to sing.
Gregory James
By this time I was determined to stop buying more guitars (I’ll mention the electrics and amps next time). Jason introduced me to Glenn Canin, who I started studying Alexander Technique with. (Guitar players have notoriously poor posture. McLaughlin, perhaps because of yoga, being a notable exception). Glenn is also perhaps the most gifted young guitar builder today. I’ve just taken delivery of a Brazilian rosewood negra with a cedar top. It is so loud, and has so much tone, it’s amazing. There is a youtube video of Jason playing Glenn’s guitars that has gone viral, for good reason. Then a few months ago, Glenn stopped a gardener hauling a cypress stump to the wood chipper. He pleaded with the guy, who finally let him haul it away. So, as a fourth generation San Franciscan, I figured I had to have a San Francisco blanca. It should be finished in a few months, and I’m sure it will have many songs to sing.
Gregory James
Number 4 September 4, 2009
Each instrument does have a story. I used to pride myself on having very few guitars, usually one electric and a nylon string classical. I’d borrow or rent a guitar if I needed a 12 string or something different. But over the last few years I have acquired quite a few, and they all have their stories. Flamenco players tend to have quite a few guitars, as the technique is quite aggressive, and flamenco guitars are built to be very light, and are usually battle scarred at an early age. So perhaps it was when I fell in love with flamenco guitars that my austerity relaxed and I started buying more guitars. The first guitar that I commissioned was actually an Abe Wechter nylon string cutaway with rosewood body and cypress top. Abe was the head luthier at Gibson, and made many famous guitars for McLaughlin, including the Shakti drone guitar, and the nylons that John played in the 90’s. I gave that guitar to Celia Malheiros a couple of years ago; it’s now been all around the world.
The first flamenco guitars I commissioned were from Keith Vizcarra in Santa Fe. Keith builds for Chuscales and Otmar Liebert, among others. The first was a blanca, delivered in 1994, and then a Brazillian rosewood negra, a couple of years later. (Flamenco guitars were almost always blancas – cypress – until Paco De Lucia introduced the darker sounding rosewood negras in the 1970’s) Paco, like Miles, and Picasso, is one of the very few artists to have changed the way other artists are forced to look at their art several times in his career. Just as Paco says he is a flamenco player who is influenced by jazz, and sometimes plays with jazz musicians, so I am a jazz guitarist, who has studied and loves flamenco. Flamenco guitars are wonderful for jazz, and many of the great modern flamenco guitarists, Tomatito, Paco, Geraldo Nunez, and the great Vicente Amigo, are heavily influenced by jazz and rock, while still retaining their flamenco tradition.
Gregory James
The first flamenco guitars I commissioned were from Keith Vizcarra in Santa Fe. Keith builds for Chuscales and Otmar Liebert, among others. The first was a blanca, delivered in 1994, and then a Brazillian rosewood negra, a couple of years later. (Flamenco guitars were almost always blancas – cypress – until Paco De Lucia introduced the darker sounding rosewood negras in the 1970’s) Paco, like Miles, and Picasso, is one of the very few artists to have changed the way other artists are forced to look at their art several times in his career. Just as Paco says he is a flamenco player who is influenced by jazz, and sometimes plays with jazz musicians, so I am a jazz guitarist, who has studied and loves flamenco. Flamenco guitars are wonderful for jazz, and many of the great modern flamenco guitarists, Tomatito, Paco, Geraldo Nunez, and the great Vicente Amigo, are heavily influenced by jazz and rock, while still retaining their flamenco tradition.
Gregory James
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Number 3 The Teacher of My Teacher’s Guitar
I’ve mentioned the great San Francisco guitarist, Eddie Duran, who I often call my “Root Guru” Eddie used to let me sit in with him in the early 70’s in clubs in North Beach, and at a club called The Red Chimney, where he had a steady gig with his brother Manny on keyboards. I was a young, fiery fusion guitar player, probably considered a little wild, and it was a stamp of approval, or at least a sign that I might turn out to be an OK musician, for Eddie to let me sit in with him. He would usually call All Blues, I assumed because it was modal, and would be hard for me to completely ruin. He was always very kind and gracious. We never spoke about it, but I knew he was consciously extending the tradition of letting younger jazz musicians jam with their elders, and learn. (I would take what I thought was a pretty hot solo, only to have it rendered irrelevant with the first few bars of Eddie’s). Over the years we’ve often played at the same clubs, and I try to see him play as often as possible. At 86 he’s still going strong, gigging with his wife Mad, a sax and flute player. A few years ago I was in a used instrument store south of Market St. There was a 1938 Gibson ES100, completely beaten to death, on the wall, with and Eddie Duran Stan /Getz LP cover stuck through the strings. I asked if it was Eddie’s guitar, it looked like the one he used to play at The Red Chimney. The owner assured me it was, and in fact was asking about double what the instrument was worth if it was in perfect condition. After confirming with Eddie that it was his instrument (and declining his kind offer to sell it to me directly) I went back to the store and bought it. It had an incredibly sweet old tone, although I was afraid it would disintegrate in my hands. I took it to my master luthier friend Al Milburn to restore, and he’s still working on it. I called up Eddie, and in detailing the restoration, asked him how and when he had acquired it. “It was given to me by the widow of Paul Smith”, he said. I was speechless. Paul Smith was a legendary SF guitarist in the 50’s, killed (I think by a cab) at a fairly young age on his way to a gig. My guitar teacher, David L. Smith, (no relation) had studied with Paul Smith. So, not only had I purchased my mentor’s guitar, I had purchased the teacher of my teacher’s guitar!
“These instruments all have stories…”
- George Gruhn
“These instruments all have stories…”
- George Gruhn
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Number 2 September 1, 2009
Tibetan Buddhists have a concept of direct transmission. If your teacher studied with a great recognized master, he is thought to have a direct transmission of the teachings, and hence the line can extend to your teacher, and to you. (These ideas are also in Christian and Muslim thought, with perhaps less emphasis). So in music, I’ve always felt there was a tradition of direct transmission. All the great players who came through Miles’ bands, many of them to become important leaders of the music. When I lived in New York in 1979-80, I was fortunate to play with Jack McDuff, who had nurtured Pat Martino and George Benson. I was also playing with Chico Hamilton, who had had so many great guitar players in his band; Jim Hall, Blood Ulmer. Chico’s band when I was with him had three guitarists, including Rodney Jones. Chico told me I reminded him of another of his guitar players, Gabor Szabo. (I think I was doing some sitar-like droning, as Rodney was playing a lot of linear be-bop lines). Chico meant it as a great compliment, and I took it as such. I got to play with Ray Charles as a sub one night in Croydon, England. “Let me hear some more of that Git Tar player!” is probably the highest compliment I’ll ever hear. My dear friend Eddie Duran, who, played with Cal Tjader for years, backed up Charlie Parker for a week in San Francisco. Eddie used to let me sit in with him when I was in my early twenties. There is a buzz, a direct transmission, if you will, that musicians can give if they have learned it from the source. It astounds me that I’ve played and recorded with Benny Rietveld, who played for years with Miles, and has been with Carlos since then. Or that I’ve played with and recorded 2 projects with Kai Eckhardt, who has played and recorded with John McLaughlin and Wayne Shorter, who of course are Miles alumni. I envy Benny, and Robben Ford (and anyone that ever played with Miles) to have been able to hear his playing, night after night, from the stage.
I guess the big lesson from the masters is that every note, and every space, counts.
Gregory James
Monday, August 31, 2009
Number 1 August 31, 2009
“May you live in interesting times” Old Chinese Curse
“My favorite time of year is fall” Lama Surya Das
Perhaps because I’m a Libra, fall is my favorite time of year. There is always one day, and today was the day for me, when the angle of the sun changes subtly, and I know that summer’s days are numbered. There is a bittersweet nostalgia to autumn; first days of school, and romances of long ago. Watching Roger Federer play his first round US Open match this morning, a consummate artist doing what he loves, I know that the US Open will always carry a reminder of 9/11/ for me, as it was just two days after the 2001 US Open Final. I never thought I would witness an event as shocking as Pearl Harbor, or a bigger financial disaster than the crash of 1987. How foolish of me. The world needs art, and new myths, and fresh beauty. It is not coincidental that along with closing schools for girls, the Taliban bans music. (Al Qaeda recruiting videos seem to use pretty bad music). As Ellington said, there are three kinds of music, good, bad, and indifferent. As a great athlete like Federer can remind us of the nobler aspects of the human race, so a Miles, or Duke or Jimi can take us to the sublime.
Gregory James
“My favorite time of year is fall” Lama Surya Das
Perhaps because I’m a Libra, fall is my favorite time of year. There is always one day, and today was the day for me, when the angle of the sun changes subtly, and I know that summer’s days are numbered. There is a bittersweet nostalgia to autumn; first days of school, and romances of long ago. Watching Roger Federer play his first round US Open match this morning, a consummate artist doing what he loves, I know that the US Open will always carry a reminder of 9/11/ for me, as it was just two days after the 2001 US Open Final. I never thought I would witness an event as shocking as Pearl Harbor, or a bigger financial disaster than the crash of 1987. How foolish of me. The world needs art, and new myths, and fresh beauty. It is not coincidental that along with closing schools for girls, the Taliban bans music. (Al Qaeda recruiting videos seem to use pretty bad music). As Ellington said, there are three kinds of music, good, bad, and indifferent. As a great athlete like Federer can remind us of the nobler aspects of the human race, so a Miles, or Duke or Jimi can take us to the sublime.
Gregory James
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