{"id":17647,"date":"2019-11-22T05:30:36","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T10:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=17647"},"modified":"2019-10-03T11:11:21","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T15:11:21","slug":"righteous-jazz-a-conversation-with-jeff-lorber-and-mike-stern-part-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2019\/11\/22\/righteous-jazz-a-conversation-with-jeff-lorber-and-mike-stern-part-2-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Righteous Jazz: A Conversation with Jeff Lorber and Mike Stern (Part 2 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a> …<\/em>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

[To Jeff Lorber] What is the most significant difference between your approach to your instrument today as compared to the way you played at or near the beginning of your career?<\/b><\/p>\n

Jeff: It\u2019s funny you should mention that because I\u2019ve just been listening a bunch lately to this recording I made in 1980 when I was doing some gigs with Joe Ferrell at a club in Seattle called Parnell\u2019s. And I think back then I was playing a lot more straight ahead jazz, more swing kind of jazz. And I was probably better at it. I kinda miss that a little bit.<\/p>\n

But I think I\u2019ve just accumulated so much knowledge about what I think a good solo is, what I think a good melody is, what kind of music I like and what I don\u2019t like. And it just gives me more confidence that whenever I come into any musical situation, I know what I\u2019m doing and have better judgment skills and a lot more ways to approach things. Early on, I was just sort of powering through it. I was young and I didn\u2019t know as much as I know now. So, I just kind of did the best I could without as much experience. But luckily, some of that stuff turned out okay.<\/p>\n

And then, you get older. I think the experience that I have gives me more tools to work with and more wisdom about what\u2019s good and what\u2019s bad. The main thing that we\u2019re looking for is music that lasts, that really has lasting value and people want to keep listening to. That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

[To Mike Stern] In the press kit from the album, there\u2019s a quote for you saying that for live dates you might sing on some Hendrix tunes. And since it\u2019s in print, I couldn\u2019t tell if you were kidding or not.<\/b><\/p>\n

Mike: No, I\u2019m serious. I\u2019m singing \u201cRed House\u201d all the time with my gigs, and I\u2019ve got to learn a couple more tunes, but I\u2019d love to do that. I did it on an Eric Johnson record, actually, first. We did \u201cRed House\u201d on a record called Eclectic. <\/i>And we did a tour together. I do it all the time now since then.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

[To Jeff Lorber] What character do you think producer Jimmy Haslip brought to the Eleven<\/i> project that it might not have otherwise had?<\/b><\/p>\n

Jimmy and I have known each other for a long time. We\u2019ve been working together on and off, and we were even working together when he was in The Yellowjackets. He\u2019s actually been suggesting for a while that I should do something with Mike, and we finally got around to proposing it to him and he was up for it. And to me, it\u2019s really a challenge to work with a guy at that level who is playing a style that\u2019s a little different than mine, but one that I definitely enjoy listening to and I appreciate. And so, I\u2019m just glad to have that chance to kind of be tested in that way and see what I can do to hang in there and contribute and make great music with one of my colleagues who I really respect. I enjoy his musicality so much.<\/p>\n

[Recording] is just a long process of development; it\u2019s kind of like building a house. You put the foundation down, and then you add different things, and then eventually you get to the very end of it and you\u2019re just dealing with details, which would be kind of like putting door knobs on or painting it or something like that. And those details are important too.<\/p>\n

We had to negotiate a few things between Mike and us, where we were trying to come up with the best way to deal with different aspects of the record. The song \u201cTell Me,\u201d for example, turned out to be one of the more difficult songs on the record, because we changed it up. We started out with more of a bossa nova feel and we tried to give it more of a pop, kind of straight ahead drum beat. And eventually, what ended up happening was it became very simple. We did a lot of additional production to it, and then we got rid of all that and brought it back to something that was very simple and pure and honest, which I think we both felt good about.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s sort of the way it works. You go on a little journey together and just figure these things out together until it gets to the end that everybody\u2019s happy with.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

[To Mike Stern] When you present this material to a live audience, are you just going to use the recordings as a reference point to kind of take off?<\/b><\/p>\n

Mike: That\u2019s what I always do. I mean, usually when you do recordings, it\u2019s a different thing from live. Generally, the live stuff is just more energetic and it\u2019s got more twists and turns and longer stretching out solos and stuff like that. We\u2019ll see. I\u2019m certainly going to push it in that direction, and I think Jeff will too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One … [To Jeff Lorber] What is the most significant difference between your approach to your instrument today as compared to the way you played at or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,41,42,49],"tags":[4021,3129],"class_list":["post-17647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fusion","category-interview","category-jazz","category-new-release","tag-jeff-lorber","tag-mike-stern","cat-32-id","cat-41-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17647"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17654,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17647\/revisions\/17654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}