By Glenn M. Ito

Award-winning bassist and composer CHRIS DAHLGREN has earned wide acclaim for his Koch Jazz debut CD 'Slow Commotion,' (1996), as well as "his bottom-end pyrotechnics" (Pete Gershon, Signal To Noise) with the Jazz Mandolin Project over the past decade. His new 'BEST INTENTIONS,' (Koch Jazz International, Jan. 11, 2000) is one of the most refreshingly different jazz CDs that you'll hear this year - a calm, intricate, smoky, brooding and perfectly-executed offering, showcasing seven of Dahlgren's fascinating compositions in a tour de force of ensemble sympathy. The bassist is supported eloquently by Satoshi Takeishi on percussion, Peter Epstein on alto and soprano sax, and Rob Brown on alto sax.

EJ: Can you recall the first time you were attracted to music?
CD: I was in the 6th grade. I had already been playing cello since age 7, but when a local (Denver, CO) jazz quartet came to our school I was really taken with the whole thing. The bass player reeked of heavy cigar smoke. Maybe that was the first time I really was hit by a performance. The music got way inside me, and from that point forward I was moved by all kinds of music and started going to record shops and checking out every thing I could.

EJ: What convinced you to become a performing artist?
CD: I have always loved to perform. However, my early efforts to improvise music were only met with a very strong negative reaction by my elementary school music teacher. He was an old-school German instructor who viewed improvising with great disdain (he was not a member of the IAJE). Our school string ensemble would be playing some arrangement of a piece by Bach and I just figured that since the other cellist was playing the written music, I would make up my own part to the music! Of course this was committing the most heinous sin imaginable to him. One day he turned livid red and threw his baton to the floor and screamed, "Dahlgren, get out of here and don't ever let me see you again- you will never be a musician!" So, I took my cello and left and I never saw him again. I did not play the cello much after that. But I did begin to study the bass and play in some bands and youth symphony orchestras a little later. Somehow my experience with the old-school teacher strengthened my individuality and musical conviction. I would fall asleep at night listening to Herbie Hancock's 'Crossings' and Eberhard Weber. I would come home from school and practice to records of Weather Report, Parliament Funkadelics, Return To Forever, Mingus, Bill Evans, and Jaco. By the time I was 13 I knew that I wanted to be a musician. I love the life of traveling place to place and playing creative music for an attentive audience. It is difficult to go back to playing for a non-audience (this is my term for any group of people who are not paying attention) after getting used to playing for people who have come because they want to hear you. Getting creative music together with its (limited) audience is everything! NYC is the greatest city in the world and I'm always happy to get back, but it is difficult to survive here as a musician unless I am touring alot.

EJ: Would you mind revealing the elements of your sound?
CD: I like to modify and distort the sound of the bass. No matter what one does to modify the sound of the bass it comes out as the bass. Sometimes this can be accomplished through electronics - or sometimes it is an acoustic preparation. Sometimes the best modifications are household appliances or cheap toys you can find at any truckstop! If one just looks around thoughtfully, often a new possibility will present itself. Of course, the sound I strive for is based upon what the music is calling for. What I strive for as a bass player is first and foremost about supporting the whole of the music and then finding my own voice within a larger picture. One trend in bass playing that I am not fond of is the trend towards more and more strings on the bass- with bass players trying to play and solo like guitar players. I think that this trend completely misses the mark, as well as the incredible opportunity to develop a solo from the 'bottom-up.' It is my belief that bass players would do well to try removing a string from their instrument before adding one. Just imagine how much potential there is to unearth from a single string- that's the real shit!

EJ: What's your favorite food?
CD: It seems to me that good food and good music are very closely related. Just as a great chef could be called a 'Maestro of the Kitchen,' so could a great composer be considered a chef of food for the spirit. I love food so much that I can't pick a single one. I make the some of the world's finest omelets, as well as an awesome vegetarian chili.

EJ: Can you give recommendations for fine eating establishments when on the road?
CD: I would seriously recommend that everyone should eat at least once at Jacque Imo's restaurant on Oak St. in New Orleans, LA.

Upcoming Events:
Mar. 15 Chris Dahlgren's GUITARELLO @ Wetlands Preserve, NYC
Apr 15 w/ TriDruga @ Din of Sin, NYC
May 4-17, Jun 2-11 Touring with the Jazz Mandolin Project
May 19 Vision Festival w. Mark Whitecage and Sabir Mateen, NYC
Jun 15, 22, 29 Knitting Factory w. Trio, NYC
Currently booking European tour, Fall 2000 w/ BEST INTENTIONS

Selected Discography:
XENOBLAST, Jazz Mandolin Project (Blue Note 2000)
BEST INTENTIONS, Chris Dahlgren (KOCH Jazz 2000)
RESEARCH ON THE EDGE, Mark Whitecage (C.I.M.P. 1999)
THE INVISIBLE, Peter Epstein Quartet (MA Records 1999)
BIG BLUE LINE, Lily White Group (Jazz Focus 1999)
TOUR DE FLUX, Jazz Mandolin Project (ACCURATE 1998)
RESONANCE IMPEDERS, Chris Dahlgren (C.I.M.P. 1998)
SLOW COMMOTION, Chris Dahlgren (KOCH Jazz 1996)
STARING AT THE SUN, Peter Epstein (MA Records 1996)
NO PORK, LONG LINE, Lily White Group (Jazz Focus 1996)
EVE, Over the Rhine (I.R.S. Records 1994)
ROAD OF MILES, Ekimi (Krysdahlark 1992)
THE NEXT NOEL, Ekimi (Music West 1991)
EKIMI, Billy Larkin & Chris Dahlgren (Krysdahlark 1987)
RESONANCE IMPEDERS, At All Costs Unknown (w/ Briggan
Krauss & Jay Rosen, CIMP, July 2000)