By Nils Jacobson
VI. Audience, Culture, and Perspective
AAJ: So you play in Europe quite a bit. What's it like over there, with the audience? Things are quite different with music in Europe, right?
GEB: The arts are funded by the government. And then as an extension of that history, corporations fund the arts (in a different way). And then it's a continuation of the European cultural/economic exchange. De facto, because of that history, the audience is there, and they're there to listen, and they're open in a different way. Because performing arts are just treated in a different way there. It's a cultural issue in how the performing arts are received and transmitted and marketed to an audience. But I've felt similarly at the huge Knitting Factory festival thing we did opening for Max [Roach] and Cecil [Taylor] as I have in Europe. The people who are going to come out for this music? They're going to come out. They're going to be there. They're hard core. Because we don't tour that much in the States, when we do tour, heads are there. Heads are ready. When we went to the west coast, the Santa Cruz show was pretty well attended. Everything else was good.
But they [the Europeans] have what we have here, as well...
AAJ: Because we export it.
GEB: Exactly. But they have their own versions of that. The Swedish pop machine. That what Britney's first record was all about--Swedish pop. And they can really funk it up, man! Jesus Christ! I definitely like the Neptunes' "Slave for You" much better. (I just like that, as an aside.)
But I like to be on the page with the audience. If we're in Austria or Germany or whatever and there's this little old lady in the front going berserk... Or we're in Spain and we're in this black box theater where the whole audience was surrounding us... and it was the last show of one of the tours. You know, when you're doing the last show, everyone wants to get home; everyone wants to play well. And then, this combination of circumstances flowing together was great! You're just at the top of your game and everything is just coming out easily. You know, the Blue Note wasn't like that.
AAJ: Good thinking for them to hire you, huh.
GEB: Yeah.
AAJ: When I talked with David [Ware] he described that he wants to reach the audience with a higher spiritual message and help them achieve an emotional climax...
GEB: Well, I'm in a different place, just because I'm younger and I have some other statements to make. But I did grow up in the church and I do know a little bit about that...
AAJ: Yes, yes, yes. A couple other things I'm curious about. You mentioned Cecil Taylor. He has an interesting rhythmic sense.
GEB: Right, right. I saw some Cecil Taylor on PBS when I was a kid, and it changed the way I thought about stuff. I was like, "what is this?"
AAJ: It didn't frighten you?
GEB: No. I was just trying to figure out what was going on. You know, and I understood it, but then I was like, "why is this guy sweating so much?" But now it's clear. Now it's clear. But those are the kinds of things that just kind of shape your development.
On to Part 7-7...
