When
I heard about the 3rd Annual Airwaves Jazz Festival, it seemed
like a perfect opportunity for an interview of sorts. The
bill was a veritable encyclopedia on the state of progressive
jazz today, and I don't mean Kenny G. The show was put together
by seminal Sacramento jazzman, Tony Passarell. Besides founding
Sacto's longest running avant-bop funk jazz group Bub, almost
5 years ago, Tony was also a founding member in the bands
Hunting Game and The Borman 6. Both groups were way before
their time (think Morphine with a female vocalist and you're
close to where Hunting Game was a decade ago. No immediate
comparison comes to mind with the Borman 6 who were experimenting
with a rap/hip-hop/rock/funk fusion almost 8 years ago.) and
enjoyed a devoted following, particularly in the Bay Area.
Also on the bill was TJ Kirk who claims guitarist Charlie
Hunter as one of their members. You can hardly pick-up an
article on Jazz music today without reading about Charlie
Hunter. One of the original members of the Disposable Heroes
Of Hiphoprisy, the Charlie Hunter Trio released an album on
Les Claypool's (Primus) Prawn Song label and his since signed
to Blue Note Records. TJ Kirk (the T is for Thelonius Monk,
the J for James Brown and Kirk, Rashaan Roland) also features
guitarist Will Bernard who is a member of the SF based Hieroglyphics
Ensemble. Every member of TJ Kirk is a stellar musician which
explains why they have been signed to Warner Bros. SST recording
artists Bazooka were also on the bill but couldn't make it
up from LA because of weather. Despite attempts to procure
a tape from their label, I still haven't heard the band, so
I can't say much about them except that they supposedly fuck
shit up on the saxophone like TJ Kirk does on guitars. Rounding
out the bill was veteran saxman and composer John Tchicai.
Emigrated to the USA from Holland, Tchicai brought an air
of respectability to the show. The elder statesman who can
more than hold his own with the young turks. I recently had
the great pleasure of recording an album with John and his
group the Archetypes, so I can safely say that, besides being
a talented musician who has played with artists as diverse
as John Lennon and John Coltrane, John is a good and soulful
human being. John Tchicai and The Archetypes are releasing
a record on B & W Records titled Love Is Touching. While
eating dinner before the show, my wife Maria along with Heckler
Publisher Sonny and his friend Lynn and myself came up with
the following six questions that I asked Tony, John, Charlie
and TJ Kirk drummer Scott Amendola. Scott's reputation might
not proceed him as much as the others, but it does in Jazz
circles, and based on seeing him play, it's only a matter
of time.
1. Who
is in your band? Tony Passarell, Bub: Chuck Ellis on Bass,
Dan Panasenko and Steve Passarell on Guitar, Vince Difiore
on Trumpet. (Vince also plays in Sacto favorites, Cake who
recently released a record on Capricorn Records), Christian
Heilman on Drums and me, Tony, on saxophone.
Scott
Amendola-TJ Kirk: Myself on Drums, Charlie Hunter on the 8
string wonder guitar, and Will Bernard and John Schott on
guitar.
John
Tchicai: Tonight is my trio with Mark Oi and Michael Grandi
on guitar and myself on saxophone.
2. Tony
calls his music Punk Jazz, do you agree with this term? Tony:
I'll still agree with that because punk has always meant a
kind of trashing of the status quo because it gets pretty
stuffy and formal sometimes and a lot of times it's pretty
reactionary, but out of the reactionaryness comes some great
ideas. It's still amazing to me how many great bands came
out of the original punk scene. A lot of it is putting the
energy back into jazz that got lost in the late 70's and early
80's.
Scott:
I agree with everything Tony says, but we're doing more funk,
a lot more grooves. You could mosh to our music. Charlie played
Lollapalooza.
John:
That fit's Tony's earlier groups, but I don't know what category
he's in now. I'd say we are afro-jazz-fusion-blues-rock.
Charlie:
I don't know about terms, but whatever. That's fine.
3. Describe
your music without using the terms jazz, avant-garde or eclectic.
Tony: Noisy, rhythmic, a lot of improvising and very few song
titles.
Scott:
Funky, improvisational, you can dance to it and it grooves.
Charlie:
House shakin bootie music.
John:
Spiritual, inventive and energetic.
4. If
you were a hip-hop artist, who would you sample? Tony: Schoenberg,
Miles Davis. Be discrete about it. But I don't own a sampler,
I would never use a sampler.
Scott:
Stravinski maybe. Farting sounds, Harry Partch, Alex Harvey.
Charlie:
Tribe Called Quest.
John:
Stravinsky, Irakere, Thelonius Monk.
5. What
role will jazz play in the future of pop music (if any)? John:
Some jazz will become much more popular. Not mainstream jazz,
but the kind of fusion jazz that we're doing. World influenced
jazz.
Charlie:
Hopefully revitalize it a little bit. Get some more songwriting
with integrity in it. Those are good questions.
Tony:
It's already changing the face of pop music. The hip hop people
got bored and got stagnant so they looked to jazz because
jazz encompasses more music than any other style.
Scott:
It depends on what your definition of what jazz is. By industry
standards we'll be filed under jazz because we have to be.
Tony:
It's about swing. The reason that jazz works so well with
hip hop is because hip hop swings in a lot of the same ways
that jazz swings. A lot of the accents are in the same place.
Scott:
But country swings, I listen to Nirvana and I think that swings.
John LaPorta once told me everything swings. You can label
it if you want, but if you like the music, that's what counts.
When
I heard about the 3rd Annual Airwaves Jazz Festival, it seemed
like a perfect opportunity for an interview of sorts. The
bill was a veritable encyclopedia on the state of progressive
jazz today, and I don't mean Kenny G. The show was put together
by seminal Sacramento jazzman, Tony Passarell. Besides founding
Sacto's longest running avant-bop funk jazz group Bub, almost
5 years ago, Tony was also a founding member in the bands
Hunting Game and The Borman 6. Both groups were way before
their time (think Morphine with a female vocalist and you're
close to where Hunting Game was a decade ago. No immediate
comparison comes to mind with the Borman 6 who were experimenting
with a rap/hip-hop/rock/funk fusion almost 8 years ago.) and
enjoyed a devoted following, particularly in the Bay Area.
Also on the bill was TJ Kirk who claims guitarist Charlie
Hunter as one of their members. You can hardly pick-up an
article on Jazz music today without reading about Charlie
Hunter. One of the original members of the Disposable Heroes
Of Hiphoprisy, the Charlie Hunter Trio released an album on
Les Claypool's (Primus) Prawn Song label and his since signed
to Blue Note Records. TJ Kirk (the T is for Thelonius Monk,
the J for James Brown and Kirk, Rashaan Roland) also features
guitarist Will Bernard who is a member of the SF based Hieroglyphics
Ensemble. Every member of TJ Kirk is a stellar musician which
explains why they have been signed to Warner Bros. SST recording
artists Bazooka were also on the bill but couldn't make it
up from LA because of weather. Despite attempts to procure
a tape from their label, I still haven't heard the band, so
I can't say much about them except that they supposedly fuck
shit up on the saxophone like TJ Kirk does on guitars. Rounding
out the bill was veteran saxman and composer John Tchicai.
Emigrated to the USA from Holland, Tchicai brought an air
of respectability to the show. The elder statesman who can
more than hold his own with the young turks. I recently had
the great pleasure of recording an album with John and his
group the Archetypes, so I can safely say that, besides being
a talented musician who has played with artists as diverse
as John Lennon and John Coltrane, John is a good and soulful
human being. John Tchicai and The Archetypes are releasing
a record on B & W Records titled Love Is Touching. While
eating dinner before the show, my wife Maria along with Heckler
Publisher Sonny and his friend Lynn and myself came up with
the following six questions that I asked Tony, John, Charlie
and TJ Kirk drummer Scott Amendola. Scott's reputation might
not proceed him as much as the others, but it does in Jazz
circles, and based on seeing him play, it's only a matter
of time.