Sharrock, Ralph Towner, Frank Zappa, and John Scofield. Certainly if you have heard me play at all, you can hear echoes of my heroes come through at times. In a more general sense, though, I love playing with the edges and fringes and in-between spaces of music. I like finding the part that isn’t being played. I am always searching for the correct wrong note.
Musically speaking, what are the differ- ences between Bonobos Convergence and The Yeti Trio? The Yeti Trio is completely instrumental, mostly improvised, and heavily influenced by the fusion greats of the 70s (The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tony Williams Lifetime, and Re- turn to Forever, for example.) Its real person- ality comes from the three of us. Eric Sanders (drums) is, without exception, the most dedi- cated musician I have ever met, and Brooks Smith (keyboards) improvises with structure and form the way most people improvise with single notes. Bonobos Convergence is more influenced by the melodic end of the progres- sive spectrum and draws much of its inspira- tion from artists like Genesis, Yes, and ELP. It was such a pleasure for me to be a part of this band. Pete Orenstein is a monster on the Hammond B-3, and Frank Registrato has such a natural relationship with his drums. I miss playing with those guys, for sure.
Why do you think that the Jam Band scene continues to generate such a de- voted following? The short answer is that there is such a low barrier to entry for both fans and performers. If you have something to say, you’re welcome to express yourself. If you love the community that music engenders, then the jam band scene is a natural fit. Better still, as a band’s music evolves and the musicians experiment with new directions and sounds, the fans wel-
come that enthusiastically. It’s a great breed- ing ground for improvisers. There’s a reason why jazz folks like John Scofield, Herbie Han- cock, and McCoy Tyner have looked to the jam band scene for collaborators – they un- derstand intuitively the communal and im- provisational nature of music which is at the heart of jazz.
What’s the best jam you ever played in? Are there any memories which you’d like to share with us? Many years ago I lived in Tallahassee, Florida and was part of a small but thriving music scene there in the late 80’s and early 90’s. At the time, there were two clubs right on the main drag which had regular jams – The Grand Finale – which had a blues night every Monday and a singer / songwriter/acoustic night every Tuesday – and The Main Event – which had an open house-band jam every Wednesday. I hosted the Wednesday night jam, which gained a reputation among the musicians as the more horn / jazz friendly of the jams. One night we had most of the band “Work For Higher” - an extraordinarily tal- ented local funk / soul band – come and join us for a jam at the Main Event, and we started on a version of Stevie Wonder’s “Supersti- tious” which absolutely flattened the place.
Don’t get me wrong – I’ve had amazing times playing with Derek and Warren and Oteil, with Mike Keneally, Bryan Beller and Rick Musallem, with Butch and Kofi Burbidge, and Jimmy Herring, with Yonrico Scott and Todd Smallie, and with my own bands – I consider myself to be an extremely fortunate person to have had the opportunity to make music with so many amazing musicians – but I guess the moral of the story is that there are amazing musicians everywhere! Check out your local scene and I’ll bet you’d be surprised.
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