{"id":18123,"date":"2020-02-07T05:30:04","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T10:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=18123"},"modified":"2020-01-18T12:54:33","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T17:54:33","slug":"jerry-jemmott-the-groovemaster-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/07\/jerry-jemmott-the-groovemaster-part-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Jerry Jemmott: The Groovemaster (Part 5)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Four<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

Starting in 1978, Jemmott’s group, Souler Energy, played a mix of styles that showcased the range and versatility of its rotating cast of players. Jemmott also got into arranging, work for theater, and instruction. In addition to recording and releasing a trio of solo albums, Jemmott has produced a number of instructional videos, written several books \u2013 including a memoir in progress titled I’m That Guy<\/i> \u2013 and currently offers clinics and instruction on improvisation.<\/p>\n

Coming from the jazz tradition \u2013 with its emphasis on improvisation \u2013 but working extensively in soul, blues, and pop, Jemmott’s reputation for bringing something different has always come naturally. And as a bassist, he pays special attention to what drummers do. He names Charles \u201cHoneyman\u201d Otis, Idris Muhammad and Reggie Ferguson as some of his favorites. \u201cAnd Herb Lovelle was the one who had it all,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Jemmott laughs heartily as he recalls working with another one of the greats, Bernard Purdie. \u201cHe’s a great drummer, but he’s such a pain the ass!\u201d The drummer’s style wasn’t a natural match for Jemmott. \u201cMy thing is to create a separate line and not necessarily lock in with the drummer,\u201d he explains. \u201cPurdie would lock in with me<\/i>, and I’d think, ‘He’s taking my idea! It don\u2019t feel the same now that he’s playing the same thing I\u2019m playing.’\u201d Jemmott decided the way to get it right was to trick the drummer. First, they’d rehearse a song together. \u201cThen, when the red light would go on, I would switch up and play something different,\u201d he says with even more laughter. \u201cHe\u2019d be stuck playing what I played before!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jerry Jemmott’s life path eventually led him to Buddhism. The catalyst was another car accident, this one in 1972. \u201cI was going through a whole thing after the accident,\u201d he says. Things seemed okay, but something was wrong. \u201cI started getting all this work \u2013 with Herbie Mann and Lionel Hampton and Bette Midler \u2013 but I couldn\u2019t sustain it. I said, ‘This ain\u2019t happening. I\u2019m not back to who I wanted to be,’ and I couldn’t progress any farther.\u201d<\/p>\n

A friend suggested he start chanting. \u201cI was looking for direction,\u201d he says. \u201cBuddhism gave me some support while I was struggling, and it\u2019s continued to this day. As I look back at my life, the ins and outs, it has given me that stability to understand you suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy, and live with wisdom to be able to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jemmott says that Buddhism has affected his approach to music as well. He says that it has helped him to channel what he calls his \u201clifelong paranoia of ‘not copying anyone’\u201d into the creation of tools for his music reeducation system, one that has been proven effective with his students.<\/p>\n

Improvisation is a central theme in Jemmott’s instruction. \u201cComing from total ignorance and then being somewhat enlightened as to how music works, I\u2019ve come up with a lot of things as a teacher to facilitate playing in general,\u201d he says. \u201cIt used to be hit or miss. Now it\u2019s more focused on the purpose, my abilities, the time and place, what\u2019s apropos, and having access to information. I always say that knowledge is useless if you can\u2019t use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Improv draws upon that knowledge, Jemmott says. \u201cYou have skill, you have the groove, you have creativity, you have knowledge, you have technique. You’ve been around. You have physical endurance, you have mental fortitude, you have passion and compassion. What are you going to use? What are you going to focus on? It depends on where you are in the music, how secure you are, and having access to all these things. And being aware of them makes it easier. Otherwise, you\u2019re just grabbing at thin air.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jemmott recently completed work on Justified<\/i>, a collaboration with spoken word poet and Muslim Somali refugee Saida Dahir. And upcoming projects will keep him as busy as ever. 2020 will see the debut of his new group, the Incarnation Blues Band. \u201cIt started as a project I was part of in 1981,\u201d he says, \u201cand it’s focused on the music of Robert Johnson.\u201d Featuring guitarist Arlen Roth, Herb Lovelle and other top players, the album never came out, but three songs from that session appeared on a Best of Jerry Jemmott<\/i> CD in 2002.<\/p>\n

Now Jemmott has reconnected with Roth and the vocalist from the original sessions, actor-musician Tucker Smallwood. And they’ve assembled a new band that also features guitarist David Kalish, keyboardist Mike Finnigan and drummer Steve Ferrone. A remastered version of the ’81 recordings will be released soon, and the band is headed out on tour. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be doing festivals in Europe starting next spring,\u201d Jemmott says, clearly excited at the prospect of reviving this long-shelved project. \u201cAnd surely we’re going to do some dates [in the U.S.] when we come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of our conversations, Jemmott was recuperating from shoulder replacement surgery. That operation kept him out of work starting in July; he’ll be able to return to active playing very soon. He’s diligent about doing his physical therapy, and with good reason. \u201cI’ve got a job lined up in January,\u201d he says with a smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Four… Starting in 1978, Jemmott’s group, Souler Energy, played a mix of styles that showcased the range and versatility of its rotating cast of players. Jemmott also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18133,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,41,69],"tags":[4091],"class_list":["post-18123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-funk","category-interview","category-soul","tag-jerry-jemmott","cat-31-id","cat-41-id","cat-69-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18123","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=18123"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18138,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18123\/revisions\/18138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}