Hello New Mexico Jazz Workshop friends! As you know, there's A LOT going on for us-- the summer concert series is coming up, we're about to start our summer music camp for kids, and the teen intensive, AND adult ed classes begin in June-- we're knee-deep in jazz!The start of summer would not be complete without catching up with some of New Mexico's musicians--emphasis on catch- NM Jazz musicians are some of the hardest working folks around. On any given night in the Land of Enchantment you might see some of our favorite performers, playing anywhere-- from grand concert halls to mom-n-pop neighborhood pubs. No matter the venue, you can expect to be entertained, moved and jolted into experiencing LIFE, in the moment-- in all its improvised, arranged, legato and staccatoed glory!
While we relish in all this jazzy goodness, we thought we'd like to get to know more about these artists we so often see on stage, but rarely have a chance to meet . Today, we're talking with Phil Arnold, local performing artist. We came up with a few "random" questions for Phil to answer. Is there a better way to get to know someone?? Just imagine you're sitting at Winning Coffee, having a conversation with the guy. He's pretty cool. . .
Hey Phil, why is Albuquerque one of the best cities to be a jazz musician?
It's a great climate, there are venues everywhere to perform jazz, there are enough musicians maintaining high standards that clubs and restaurants even in these economic times are still paying jazz musicians a respectable minimum wage her in Albuquerque. We're a stone's throw from one of the world's greatest cities for arts and culture, Santa Fe, where there is also great jazz happening all the time!I am definitely working more here than at anytime during my 20 years in NYC! I actually have six jazz gigs this week! And, you can just about always find really top-shelf players to play with you when you book a gig, life is very good for jazz musicians here!
It's a cycle, certainly but, our that jazz elders are getting older-- with popular music beginning largely electronic-based, how do we get young people to not only play jazz in school, but grow to appreciate the form?
You know, jazz exploded in the 70's and 80's, and went so many directions, and not all the directions were necessarily something that could ever achieve the mainstream popularity of jazz in its history up throught the 1960's. In addition to being a full-time performer, I have worked with a lot of inner-city kids and if you say the word "jazz" they make a face like you're talking about the most uncool thing possible. Then of course you can show them what it really is and they can learn to play it, but there's a perception of jazz by so many people in America at least, that puts it in a negative context by being either "noisy" or "elevator music" depending on what they've heard that has been labeled "jazz" and turned them off!
I think what's important for education, along with learning and appreciating the heritage of the art form, is for those of us who present jazz to children and adults alike, is to remember that music evolves in the context of the current culture. Miles appreciated that, and (depending on who you talk to) kept a musical perspective throughout that kept it art -- great music can be great, and it can be jazz without having a swing beat. However, if someone who calls themself a jazz musician doesn't know how to swing when it's time to play some blues, then I think we've stretched the definition of jazz beyond the breaking point!
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it needs to be fun for the kids, not a responsibility to learn because it's an uniquely American art form and a treasure. It's our responsibility to teach it for that reason, but when you make it like medicine you have to take because it's good for you, that sorta takes the fun out of it!
Kids will love Mozart, they will love bebop, they will love the blues...it's all about fun, that's a big part of what music is really all about, at least for me!! And I can tell you first-hand that is universal with kids too. And you know what, we're all kids. If we present this music to them and teach it they will learn, they will enjoy it and they will lose whatever negative preconception they might have had. Who the teacher is makes a huge difference of course, but lots of good curriculum has already been written that teaches jazz and a good teacher who knows nothing about jazz can use those texts and learn themselves while they teach the kids! It's a win-win situation, we just have to keep reminding our administration that Jazz is our nation's greatest Nation Treasure, and must stay in the schools!
How do you reinvent yourself?
Sometimes events all come together in your life, those moments when the universe tells you in no uncertain terms what you need to do. It's really about sticking to your guns and believing in yourself. Cathy McGill, who is becoming a very good friend and is a musician I highly admire, released a CD recently that had taken her a bit of time to finish. During an interview at KUNM, she said her message to everyone is "don't give up on your dreams." Reinventing is getting in touch with who you really are, who you really want to be. and you can be that person right now, this instant! It really is about the voyage more than the destination, kinda makes it easier in a way.
What you do right now defines who you are and what you will become. Each of us has the ability to reinvent ourselves, and it is a constant evolution. Maybe it's more about believing in yourself. It's definitely about sticking to your guns against adversity. Clark 'terry once told me that life, and the cycles we go through as a musician, is like a wheel. You're riding on the wheel, and things are easy as you begin the downward portion of the turn, peaking at the bottom, then becoming difficuolt as you push back up. you can almost coast to the top, but sometimes that wheel is going to need a little push to make it to the top for another turn! what we don't always see is that we're on that wheel. What Clark told me is that when things get toughest, what we don't realize is that we're just a quarter-turn from the top! And
then it gets easy again. Keep pushing Don't give up.
One of my favorite links lately is this one that Bobby Shew sent me, somehow he happened to send it at a moment when I need it the most recently....it's called "Are You Strong?"
You've got a new band, we hear, called the Phunkomatics. Where did you get the name and how would you describe the sound of your band?
I kinda wanted that retro theme to 70's and 80's rock and even punk to get the flavor of the modern sound with new young musicians this band has. We like it kind of raw, not the smooth polished "CD-101" sound that threatened to exile jazz to elevators and shopping malls in the
80's and 90's. The term I have come up to describe the sound is "edge jazz." We explore textures similar to Miles Davis Bitches Brew, Weather Report, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius, even Brecker Brothers, but using extended harmonic textures and sounds combining acoustic and electronic jazz with just a touch of gypsy, with the driving jazz spirit of Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, and maybe Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix on top of that...it's still evolving!
Our new singer Lydia Clark sings both soft and hard, her low earthy tones tell of a thousand night in a thousand blues clubs. We play earthy blues-driven gypsy flavored retro-punk modern jazz that is just a little frightening. One of our composers is Sam Isabel, we will soon
be premiering a new composition of his that is deliberately on the verge of out-of-control, and manages to combine the essence of bebop with the frantic, edgy hungriness of a Saturday night rave, now that's scary!
We are The Phunkomatics. This is our music. Be Careful, It Is Dangerous.
Danger?? We eat danger for breakfast. . .
THANKS, PHIL!!! Happy giggin'!
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