By Vittorio Lo Conte
The English saxophonist/bass clarinetist Harrison Smith is perhaps better
known in his home country than in the U.S.A., or to some extent in Europe. He is
a diverse player who has performed in both the avant-garde, freer end of the
music, as well as in the jazz mainstream. His recent quartet C.D.
Outside Inside has been received with much acclaim internationally.
Here he talks about his approach to playing and composition, his personal
experiences and the London music scene.
AAJ: You have played in both the freer, or improvised and mainstream styles,
what do you feel are differences between these two disciplines in terms of
expressing yourself ?
HS: I have never felt that there is such a big gap between these two musical
approaches. In the jazz mainstream one works with some sort of predetermined
form, i.e. a set of chord changes or a scale etc, in purely improvised music
the structure of the piece is established spontaneously in performance, the
form or structure of the piece comes out of the musician's skills,
experience, knowledge and ability to interact within the group. Playing, in
that context, the material is to some extent predetermined by the way the
musicians you are working with play.
Although the instrumental techniques used are sometimes different, these two
disciplines have a lot in common. Both rely on the creativity, sensitivity,
experience spontaneity etc. of the musicians. For me, it is more to do with
who you are playing with, than what type of music you are playing. The former
allows freedom of expression, both one's own musical personality and the
group's personality. Coleman Hawkins's Body and Soul, Miles
Davis's Kind of Blue or Coltrane's Crescent are free in
spirit.
These musicians play the music and not the music playing the musicians . The
same can be said of the best of the newer things that are happening now. The
labels that people give, jazz, improvised, or free are not really all that
important- it's the spirit in which the music it is played that counts.
AAJ: In England there are quite a lot of good players working in the jazz
mainstream who are not so well known abroad, could you introduce us to some of
these musicians. Are you content with the music you hear around?
HS: Yes, it's true there are a lot of fine musicians here in England who
deserve more exposure abroad. Most of the major music colleges here have taken
on jazz as part of their curriculum, since then a steady flow of young
musicians arrived on the scene. The three musicians who are a part of my
quartet Liam Noble (piano) Jeremy Brown (bass) and Winston
Clifford (drums) have come through one or other of these colleges. In my
opinion these three musicians are definitely worth checking out and are as good
as you will find anywhere.
Liam is a brilliant player, very creative, he's not frightened to take
chances, he has a wonderful harmonic sense, sensitive to what is going on
around him, and has developed his own very special musical voice. I am
delighted that he is beginning to get recognition here for his talents.
Winston is a powerful, yet sensitive drummer he can drive any group along, he
swings like mad. Jeremy is a very good, sensitive and skillful bass player.
Other musicians that I think deserve wider recognition are, the pianist Hugh
Warren, saxophonists Chris Biscoe and Mark Lockheart, the
young bassist Dave Whitford the bass guitarist Dill Katz, and the
drummer Brian Abrahams. These are just a few who spring to mind, but
there are a lot more out there.
As for being content with what's going on, well yes and no. I started getting
involved in jazz and improvised music at a time when there were a lot of
people making waves in the music. Not all of the music was good of course,
but it was a very interesting time to be around. In London there were a lot
of things happening like the influx of South African musicians, the
avant-garde thing of Evan Parker, Tony Oxley and Derek
Bailey, as well more conventional, but in it's own way experimental approach
of John Taylor, or Kenny Wheeler. I think that the pace of change
has greatly slowed down since then, not just here but internationally. I get the
feeling that the technique side of playing has developed , sometimes at the
expense of taking a more risky and heart felt approach.
Having said that , there is still a lot of good music happening out there.
AAJ: What can you tell us about your music nowadays, which way are you going to
develop it? Are you working on new compositions for your quartet?
HS: I have always tried to approach music with an open mind. I find that leaving
myself open to ideas, helps to keep the music sounding alive. I guess that
this has been my basic approach to playing and I will carry on along this
path until I find a better way. Anyway, most of the time I feel that I am
still learning about the instruments I play and music in general.
My quartet is obviously foremost in my mind and I have been writing new
material for it. When we have had time to rehearse and develop the new pieces
I would like to go into a studio and record a second C.D. So I have been
working on getting gigs for the group, in order that we can play things in.
In rehearsal I would rather keep instructions to a minimum, maybe I'll come
along with some written material and suggest a mood or color which we can
work on, but leave the guy's plenty of space to freely express there own
musical personalities. In that way, we can build together a group
personality, and it also leaves room to surprise and be surprised. It's very
much a organic process, it is not about me taking along a predetermined set
of instructions that everyone has to stick to. They are brilliant creative
musicians and I don't want in anyway to obstruct there creativity.
As a individual, I find working in a fairly broad spectrum of jazz and
improvised music, keeps me on my toes. It's good to have to adapt what I do,
to what's going on around me and gives me ideas of how to expand my own
thing. I would like to work with some musicians from mainland Europe, and
hopefully there is going to be something happening on that front fairly soon.
I feel very lucky at the moment as I am playing in some very interesting
bands like the Dill Katz Quartet, Frances Knight Quartet and the
London Improvisers Orchestra.
I would also like to do a solo album, I had it in my mind to do one a few
years ago but for various reason (one being financial) never got round to
it. It would certainly be a challenge.
AAJ: Which composers do you listen to? Does Ornette Coleman inspire you
with his way of writing?
HS: I enjoy listening to all kinds of music, including Bach, Bartok,
Stravinsky Schoenberg, as well as composers on the jazz side of things like
Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Paul Motian, Dave Holland, Coltrane,
Ellington, Monk and recently Chris Potter who wrote some interesting
things for his first
album.
I am also influenced by compositions that have been written here in
England, by British based musicians, which I have had the good fortune to
have played. In fact I would say that my approach to writing is as much to do
with these personal experiences as it has to listening to the better known
American composers on albums etc. Jim Dvorak who I have worked with in
several bands, Kenny Wheeler, the late Chris McGregor, and
recently Frances Knight, to name just a few, have written some wonderful
material.
These personal experiences have taught me a lot, not just from the theory side,
but also in terms of what mood or vibe you are trying to set up, and what
abstract story are you trying to tell.
Ornette has been a inspiration to many a musician, including myself, but I
wouldn't say that he is a obvious influence on how I write.
AAJ: And about your way of playing? Who has influenced you?
HS: There have been many musicians that have had a major influence on my
playing.
I bought a copy of the album Crescent by the Coltrane Quartet at a
time when I was first starting to listen to jazz seriously, it was like nothing
I had heard before and it blew my mind. It opened up a whole new way of
thinking and an approach to playing for me. Coltrane and Sonny
Rollins have been and still are a source of inspiration for me. There are
others like Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Eric Dolphy, Ben Webster, Miles,
Monk, and here in London Evan Parker, Kenny Wheeler to name a few.
I was given a piece of advice a long time ago by someone I have great respect
for. They said "listen and learn from the originals and not from there
imitators", I think in general, that is a good piece of advice.
AAJ: You have been involved in both the jazz mainstream and the improvised music
scenes and have worked with South African as well as English musicians. Could
you tell me a little about your experiences?
HS:
I was born and lived in the North East of England until the mid seventies,
but the playing and learning opportunities there were a little limited, so as
part of my learning experience I enrolled as a student at a summer school
in Wales. Sometimes later one of the tutors Barry Guy wrote to me asking
if I would like to do a tour with his band London Jazz Composers`
Orchestra.
So my first playing experience here in London was on the avant-garde side
of the music, with musicians like Tony Oxley, Paul Rutherford, Howard
Riley, Harry Becket etc. I benefited a lot from working with musicians of
this high standard. It was at this point I decided to take a gamble and
move to London. There was a lot of good music happening here at that time.
One of the biggest influences was the influx of musicians from South Africa
and in particular the Blue Notes with Chris McGregor, Mongezi Feza,
Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo. They brought a vibrancy
to the London scene, their music was open, in the face and full of heart. The
Blue Notes were also the back-bone of the Brotherhood of Breath
which was made up of South African and British based musicians, it was a joy to
listen to, and one of the exciting large groups that I have ever heard.
I became friends with Chris who was an inspiration to many of the young players
around at that time and eventually I had the pleasure of working with him
in several bands. I learned a lot from Chris not just from the technical
side but also from helping me to think about a more holistic approach to what I
was doing. Then there was Dudu....- when you played with him you never really
knew what was going to happen next, he was so full of musical surprises. He also
had the ability to make some remark which would turn the way you saw things
upside down. Of the original Blue Notes Louis is the only survivor, he
is a wonderful drummer whom I have had the pleasure of working with every now
and then. I guess in many ways, these guys had a lot to do with the way I try
to approach and make music.
Later I was asked to join three second generation South Africans, Brian
Abrahams, drums, Mervyn Africa, piano, and Russell Herman,
guitar, along with Dill Katz, electric bass, from London and the American
trumpeter Jim Dvorak. This became the personnel of the group District
Six. The name came from an area of Cape Town which was bulldozed by the
authorities at the beginning of apartheid, so it had a political relevance as
well as a musical one. District Six became a very popular group here,
toured the U.K. extensively, as well as playing at festivals and touring all
over Europe. It was a great band which I really enjoyed working with, I guess I
must have stayed with them for some eight years or so.
Although District Six took up a lot of my time I still managed to find
space to gig with musicians on the more experimental side of the music.
Around that time I did the occasional gig with the drummer Eddie Prevost.
Eddie has been for many years a pillar of strength on the improvised music scene
in the U.K.. As well as being a fine musician, he has been at the fore of
keeping improvised music alive and well, helping to find funding, organizing
events, encouraging young musicians, and often being a spokesperson for the
improvised music community. He runs his own label Matchless which has
some great music on it and is definitely worth checking out.
So when Eddie and the cellist Tony Moore suggested that we do something
together, I was delighted. We decided that a quartet formula would be a good
idea and asked Paul Rutherford to join us. Paul, in my opinion, is one of the
great trombonist, his sound is so round and beautiful, endless melodies stream
out of his trombone bell, he's just an incredible player, and very underrated.
The ensemble became the Free Jazz Quartet. It was one of those projects
that worked from the first few notes, we didn't have to rehearse or talk about
things very much, we just played. Of the bands that I have been involved in,
within this area of music, the Free Jazz Quartet was probable one I
enjoyed the most.
Since then I have freelanced around, in and out of different bands and
projects, but I think there is a lot to be said for keeping a group
together over a period of time to enable it to develop it's own musical
personality. This is one thing I learned from my days with District Six
and by listening to the great bands like the Coltrane Quartet and the
best of the Miles Davis groups. This is one of the main reasons why I
decided to put my own group together. I would like to be able to have the time,
and enough work opportunities to play with and write more for my own quartet, so
we can develop our music.
London is very rich in terms of quality and diversity when it comes to music.
There are so many brilliant musicians here, some which are well known, like
Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor or Evan Parker, and many, many more
who deserve to be heard and get wider recognition on a international scale.
It's a good place to learn, develop and make music.
