You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - How Do You Feel About Your Playing From Years Ago? - #61

Episode Date: November 19, 2018

Today on You'll Hear It, Peter and Adam reflect on their past playing skills from years ago. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Peter. Yeah. Have you heard the recordings I made in my high school jazz band? Oh, yeah, I have them in my bedside iPod. Sorry about that, man. I'm Adam Maness. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to The You'll Hear at Podcast.

Daily Jazz Advice coming at you. Coming at you today from beautiful St. Louis, Missouri, Open Studio Studios. We're always coming from the same place in the same city. But that's nice that you always highlight. We never leave this room, man. We never leave this room. We don't. We bring everything in. Coffee.

We have Andrew bring food and occasionally bring our spouses and children in to visit us. Come on, Andrew. That's how we do it. Man, I am so looking forward to this week. This is one of my favorite weeks of the whole year. Why? Because in America, this is the week of Thanksgiving. America.

You know what I'm saying? So by Thursday, I'm ready to eat some turkey. That's right. We're ready to eat some stuffing, some gravy, some mashed. Are you cooking? I don't do the cooking. Thank goodness. No.

Oh, can I come over then? You may come over. We'll save you a plate. No, we do, we host Thanksgiving everywhere. Every year it's a big affair. We have a small house and a large family. And my wife is an amazing cook. So we, this is like her.

So I've heard. Seriously, man, we'll have some plates. Can Kelly come on over bring Daniel? We don't have anything vegan or anything. Well, they're vegan, so. It's not going to work. I think even the vegetables have bacon in it. Nice, nice.

Cool. Yeah. All right. Well, what are we talking about today? Today we're taking a user question. user, a listener question. This is from Christian. Christian hit us up on Facebook.

Christian says thank you very much for this. Is this Christian McBride, do you think? I'm pretty sure. Because it says Christian. I'm pretty sure it is Christian McBride. Because I told Christian, I'm like, dude, if you have questions, feel free to text me directly. It seems like he would have the time to leave us a message on our Facebook page. Right.

Now, this is from Christian on Facebook. He says, thank you very much for this great podcast series. You're welcome. I listen to every episode with excitement and look forward to the next one. Well, you didn't have to say that. Yeah. Thank you. you are asking for suggestions for new podcasts always

I would be very interested to hear what you think about your own old albums from today's perspective what has remained for you what are you glad that has changed how can you explain your artistic development in the last decades if you want to share I recently heard Spirit of the Moment that's Peter Martin on Joshua Redmond's Spirit of the Moment live at the Village Vanguard and had a lot of fun what do you think about it today, Peter, I would be happy if you took my suggestion. Well, we are taking your suggestion. That's right. We're going to take it and run with it, sir. Yeah, and you know what? I actually think this is a, this is part of the process is when you hear some old stuff. I try not to like

dwell too much on the past, but sometimes it's, it's nice to reflect. Yeah. You know, on where you used to be. Yeah. And I mean, you know, at this point, I think I, most of the reflection I've been doing at least recently, well, not really for a while now, has been more like YouTube videos of live concerts. So I don't know if that, we'll definitely talk about the albums, the early ones that we're on, because obviously that was probably pre- YouTube for both of us. But not pre-video, at least in black and white, in my case. But I think it's kind of along the same lines. Do you remember what was the first album you ever made or appeared on? The first, like, legit album I appeared on was Aaron Bodie's Don't Take Your Time. And all I remember when I hear about that is the actual session itself,

because I think I was 21. 21 and this is in New York City at Avatar Studios, which I'm not sure is even in business anymore. Is it still there? Beautiful studios. Berkeley is actually operating it now, which is cool. Oh, cool. But it was one of these situations, it was a really,

it's kind of a funny story, actually. It's not even about the music, but more about the session. So we're there for like in Avatar for two days. Bruce Barth is producing and playing piano on most of the album, but I had written one song, and I was just kind of hanging around. Right. And so they'd tell us to be there on the second day to record my song. It ended up being the title track, Don't Take Your Time.

And we're kind of waiting around. I thought it was going to be like in the morning. They said, yeah, we start it, whatever. They're playing all day. They're recording all day. It's Bruce and Adam Rogers and Montez Coleman and Larry Grenadier and Steve Nelson. Like, it's a really good group. It's like the NYC heavy hitters.

It was dope. And then they record for 10 hours. And I get in there at least. like 5.30. Oh, six. I've been there waiting all day. I've been waiting all day. Eager Beaver.

They are done with the session. They're like, okay, let's go home. And they're like, wait, wait, no, no. We have this one song from this kid that we're going to record. Everyone's like, oh, great. Yeah, that was pretty much Adam Rogers' direct reaction. I just saw Adam. I was so funny.

Man, he's so amazing. It was so great. I was like, I'm going to get yelled at by one of my heroes. This is incredible. Well, side note, I just saw him a couple weeks ago at Monterey Jazz Festival, and I vibed him. because I had to wait for him at the airport. We were getting a ride together,

and he was like slow coming out. So that was good. I knew there was the reason I was vibing. Thank you, buddy. No, so we start the session. First take through the tune, and there's a mistake in the chart and the base chart. It's a big lesson for me.

Always triple check your charts. I stopped in the middle of the first take because the mistake was so egregious, and like, I thought they were going to revolt. Right, right, right. And so it was a big lesson to me, actually, of like, in a studio lesson of when the red light goes on, got to be ready,

just keep going, you know, time is money, keep going. But there's no way to know that when you're 21 on your first session. I mean, even if you know that, you have to experience that. But, you know, it was still cool. Like, this was for Max Jazz, so it was Richard and Clayton, and they were totally cool. And, like, Bruce was, I mean, we ended up getting some really good stuff out of it. I love the track now when I listen back to it. But anyway, that's...

Well, no, that actually the last sentence is, now you're finally answering his question. I know. But this is the thing. What do you think of your playing, though? Don't even talk about the track, because that's an interesting thing, like, when you reflect back now. Yeah, yeah. Well, so for me, you know, there wasn't much playing on it. I didn't solo or anything on.

I just kind of played the accompanying a part. But so it was really more about the songwriting, the composition itself, which I really like. You know, I can, it's funny when you, when we think about our old music, like I told this long story about the session. That's mostly what I think about is like what I, what I, what I do that night, you know, what was the session like who was on it? How much fun did we have? How angry did everybody get? That kind of thing. Like, that's what I think.

You know, when we did, you know, the Christmas album between my band The 442s and you a couple years ago, like, I have such fun memories of that session because there were all these, like, great musicians and good friends, in and out. Yeah. Playing Christmas music in June or whenever the hell we recorded that thing. But that's what comes to mind. So the tune, you know, I hear back, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's what I was into during that time in my life is writing songs like that. And, but for me, what will always stick out is that funny. mistake that the kid made and kind of pissed everybody off who was tired and cranky. But you know what, man, that's, we're always talking about ABL. Hashtag ABL, always be learning.

But, you know, you don't learn those things unless you make those kind of mistakes and that kind of experience from being in the studio. So valuable. And that's why it sticks with you. It was a terrific lesson. And I've not made that mistake again because of how, you know, how much that stuck, for sure. So I was just thinking that the first,

album that I made or appeared on, we actually put an album together when I was in high school because I was, you know, I was very lucky to grow up around some, some great friends that were aspiring jazz musicians as well, wonderful players, Todd Williams saxophonist. So we had a group called the Todd Williams Quintet because Todd was the oldest and the baths out of all of us. And he got the largest bill. Right, right, exactly. But we actually made an album called Just in Time. Now I'd like rename it too late, but we did, yeah, we made it out, we went to Smithley recording studios up on... Still there. Still there. I don't know why. It shouldn't have been there in 85 when we

recorded this, but we made this album and sold it at Streetside Records and finished vinyl. Streetside Records, what the? We did our little thing. But I, and I can't really answer it, because I haven't listened to it in a while, but it's at my parents, every time I go to my parents, my mom kind of has it sitting, like she doesn't have a whole bunch of other good albums that I did later. You'll hear it listeners. We've got to get our hands on this record. I'm calling Rosie tonight. Todd Williams on saxophone, Jeremy Davenport, trumpet.

Mark Peterson on bass. I don't know if you know Mark Peterson. I don't know Mark. He wasn't actually in high school. We brought him in as kind of a ringer on that. I'm surprised no CT on this record. No Chris Thomas. Chris was unavailable for this session.

I can't remember why. He was already on the road with Lord Jones. Exactly, exactly. David Berger. No, actually, this was before we were really playing with Chris. We played with him some. but um and uh dave burger on drums but the the village the village vanguard spirit of the moment which was obviously a little bit later but not that much later um yeah no quite a bit later 95 96 something

that um because we did i think an episode on about this recently we did yeah we did a whole analysis so that was the first time i'd listened to it in a long time and i was struck by in terms of my own playing how much of the same kinds of things that i still play totally same concepts that I use. Totally. And same people that I'm playing with. You know, well, partly because when we listened to it, I had just on those trio gigs with Brian Blake and Chris Thomas kind of reunion thing.

Yeah, yeah. But we played so much together during that period and then went so long where we didn't play all of us together, but we still played, you know, in different kind of things. And same thing like with Josh and then always being friends with them over the years. It's amazing, like, the more you think things are going to change the less they do. So I was really try to tell young players, I'm like, look, if you're with a group of other good young players or peers that you enjoy being around musically and personally cherish that because that's probably going to be for life, you know.

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I remember when we did that solo analysis of Spear of the Moment and you had said some technical things that you're like, you know, maybe I overcomped for myself a little bit with my left hand. But, I mean, that's exactly how I feel when I listen to, especially jazz that I've recorded in the past or whatever. It's, I'm still the same player. Like, you still have that same personality, that same.

musical personality. Yeah. So playing a lot of similar things and concepts. And your phrasing is usually just how you speak, you know, the same. What I find is that like, you know, if I'm doing it right, you're hopefully refining things that you want to subtract, you know, that you want to clean up. Like now your comping is way cleaner and more precise and supportive. And that kind of thing is like, I mean, that, like, I could list to myself from recording a

year ago and find things hopefully, if I'm doing it right, that I've kind of cleaned up or changed or at least just refined a little bit. It's always a process of that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, sometimes I think I'm like, man, I should have refined more because it hasn't changed that much, but I think it's, you know, what you're mentioning in terms of the personality, the style, just like our voice. It doesn't really change over there. I mean, it does change somewhat. Yeah. But we kind of have our voice, our look. It changes, but we can still recognize ourselves. So I think what I hear, when I hear back to those recordings, what I realized, like, you know, remembering the time, like, it was a lot harder. I don't sound that different, but it's easier for me now to do that subtraction thing.

Totally. Like, in the moment, like, that comes more naturally. I remember then being like, I got to fit certain things into everything that I play, especially when I was in high school and a little younger. But, I mean, it's just like, I've got to do this. And then there was always that question, like, was I going to be able to execute on that? Whereas now, I never even worry about that. Right. Not that I don't mess things up, but I just don't worry about Xcon, because I know I'm going to do it on a lot of this stuff.

And the stuff that I don't, is actually the interesting stuff to me. So that's when I'm like, well, I can go for something. I don't care about messing up. That's where you're going to be in the next couple of years, like, of being able to reach that stuff. And then I know, like, the stuff like how you kind of sculpt a solo to be edifying to the audience is so much easier now. Whereas back then, I'd be like, put this, I got everything right. I finished. Why is nobody clapping very much?

Now I'm like, that's easy to get people to clap. It's like, what do I want to play? Like, how do I want to? pull the audience along. And so I think the recordings, like that recording is live. So it's a little different too because it was, you know, the whole concept of the spirit of the moment. And we were all really into this concept of like, let's capture something live.

And we're going to capture it every night and then put the best thing together. But it was almost all from the first night because that's just sort of the way. That's how that happens. That's kind of the way it went. But I think other records I listened to, like when it's in the studio and it was more calculating or even like, I mean, that's what I was saying. It's fun to look at the videos. Like I was actually looking at some stuff in preparation for today's podcast last.

night just of like gigs I've done over the last few years because that's how I kind of evaluate my playing more than albums. Right. Um, kind of how things are going, like whether or not basically just do things sound the same in real time in the moment as when you listen or watch back? And then the closer those become together, I think the better, I feel like we can execute on stuff. I agree. Yeah. Do you find too that when you listen back to things from, you know, uh, you know, at least five, six, seven years ago, whatever, that you can hear in your playing, the people that you were hanging around, the people that you were listening to,

you know what I mean, the people that you were playing a lot. I was just thinking like, like sometimes I'll listen back and be like, oh man, like I was listening to a ton of Amad Jamal during this time. Like I could just tell or I was hanging out

with this guy or whatever. And like that, that playing seeped into my playing, you know. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know, I've been watching a lot of these the Roy Hardgrove videos

since his passing a couple weeks ago. And, you know, I remember the band when I was in his band, And, you know, Rodney Whitaker and Greg Hutchinson, that was the rhythm section. And Ron Blake on saxophone, like, seeing those videos and hearing the way we played, like, we were so idealistic and, like, man, we got to swing. Like, come on, we got, like, and we were pushing each other. Like, in a way that now, like, I'm so much more laid back with the people that I play with now.

I'm just like, let's have fun and let's, you know. I mean, I want stuff to be a certain way, but I expect a certain amount of professional. I mean, we were, like vibing each other right before we gone. Come on, man, let's bring it. Come on. Let's do this. Like we were really like up in each other's face and stuff. But I think in a good way in a lot of ways,

there was a lot of like love and brotherhood among us. But like you really hear the way that we played, the way that we swung and played those groove, like played a swing groove. There was a lot of like tension in it. I think in a positive way, but it was just like ding, ding, ding. And like Rodney and Greg, the way, like I've never been,

I played with some great rhythm sections, but just in terms of like, I mean, look, you know, Ray Brown. I mean, we could talk about it. I don't want to overstate it. But like the way they played during. that period. I still remember the way it felt because I was around. No man. That's definitely, that's one of the all-time great combos right there.

Man, it was serious, you know. And so like that was kind of pervasive and then just the way Roy led it. Like that basically sort of set the stage for my whole playing career. And not playing career, just playing style. Like I was already kind of thinking along those lines, but like that codified it in a way

that like made sense to me where I was like, yes, that. So whenever it comes to a tune like that, that's kind of my default. And so I draw in those memories. And it's as much about like the people, plus I'm playing with a lot of them still, but I mean, it's as much about the memories of that time, and I always want to kind of have that youthful exuberance, you know, even as I

enter my golden years. That youthful fire. That youthful fire, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think the goal is we age here, as musicians, is to keep some of that fire but have a little bit more sprinkle of sense. A little experience. Yeah, a little experience, a little refinement, you know,

a little class to some things. But thanks, Christian, for this question, man. It's great to think about. Speaking of class, that's a big week here. This is a big week. It's not just... It's not just a big week for Thanksgiving. You know, we do run this website, Open Studio.

Open Studio, right there. Right there for our YouTube folks. And yeah, so we have some deals for Black Friday because we have Black Friday coming up. Hold up. You're understating it already. Because you're such a nice guy, Adam. You're like some deal. No, we have the biggest deal of the year.

Actually, it's the biggest deal we've ever on. It'll be the biggest deal we've ever offered. And if you haven't... This might literally shut this company down. This is such a good deal. But we want to give it to the people. That's why I was trying to come in subtle, bro. Okay, come on, come on.

No, no, no. But, you know, if you've been on the fence about maybe checking out some open studio courses or doing some things to improve your playing, you know, we have some pretty incredible deals right now. And if you go to openstudio network. com slash BF. BF, like best friend, like me and Adam. That's right. You can sign up now to get...

Black Friday is actually what stands for. That's right. Again, openstudionetwork.com slash BF, you can sign up now to get some alerts on some really, really dangerous deals for us. Right. And I think they're going to be coming. It's going to officially hit midnight Thanksgiving because we want folks, enjoy your Thanksgiving and all that. At midnight, this will be available, but you can go there now, correct me if I'm wrong. You can.

Right. And you can sign up so like you can be notified because we might splash out a little something early. Who knows? You'll hear it, folks. Especially for you'll hear it. For you. Because we want to do something special. But I mean, the idea here is, look, we have.

You have amazing courses from Christian McBride, Sean Jones, Diane Reeves. We have the All Access Pass, which is going to be a very special deal on that, which gives you a whole year of every, not only everything we have now, but everything we have coming in the pipeline. We've got some great stuff because we have Jeff Keeser's second course coming. We're just days, if not weeks away from that. You know, this will be really the first time we've discounted the All Access Pass. We did it a little bit for you'll hear it.

Members way back in the day, but that was a minuscule 10% discount. This is going to be significantly more than that. And look, and this is not about, this is really just about we're trying to take this opportunity this week to spread the love and to get this content in the hands of as many people as possible. We are not discounting this because this is not quality content. This is, you can go on and actually there's a page. I don't know if you've been to. I've been sending people open studio network.com slash applause. Are you familiar with that page?

I am not familiar with it. It's a nice little page. We just have like some testimonials, reviews from some of our. loving members, some love that they've showed us. So if you want to kind of go and see what it's like, if you aren't part of the Open Studio Network family, if you're only part of the you'll hear at family at this point, you can go and see what our Open Studio. We have amazing memories.

We have an amazing community. So hopefully this week you'll join us. That'll start Friday and go all the way through Sunday night. That's right. So check out Open Studio Network.com slash BF to sign up for your Black Friday newsletters that we're going to be sending out here this week. And priority announcements. And priority announcements.

That's right. And as always, you'll hear it.