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
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