Jim Black
Web Site
February 2001

"Maybe it's in the nature of the instrument, with all the limbs moving and things to hit that gives drum pedagogy a license to gaze at it's own technical navel, but nowadays there are more instruction books and teachers who are approaching drums with an "it's music first approach" - I was saved by Bob Moses' "Drum Wisdom" book when I started college, because it dealt with concepts and possibilities that transcended the actual instrument."

Alasnoaxis
Winter & Winter
2000

Alasnoaxis
Reviewed By
Derek Taylor

Photo Credit
Caroline Mardok

By Allen Huotari

Some musicians seem to suddenly rise to prominence, apparently out of nowhere, achieving notoriety with the relative ease of a casual stroll down the street.

But more often, musicians slowly, gradually, find their way into a broader public ear through arduously building a body of work, deliberately honing their craft, and continually striving to establish their voice.

Then again, there are others who simply seem to have been there all the time.

Take Jim Black for instance. If you have been even tangentially interested in modern jazz over the past 5 to 6 years, odds are pretty darned good that more than one recording featuring this exceptionally gifted musician have found their way into your collection or that you have seen and heard him in live performance.

Although appearing on just over a handful of recordings from 1989-1993, since 1994 Jim Black has contributed his distinctive approach towards playing the drums to approximately 40 recordings (in addition to nearly non-stop touring) with folks like Ellery Eskelin and Andrea Parkins, Tim Berne (as a member of bloodcount along with Chris Speed and Michael Formanek), and Dave Douglas (as a member of Tiny Bell Trio with Brad Shepik). Furthermore along this way have been meritorious contributions to projects fronted by guitarist Ben Monder, trumpeter Cuong Vu, keyboardist Jamie Saft, saxophonist Donny McCaslin, and pianists Uri Caine and Satoko Fujii to name but a few. Also eminently worthy of mention is Mr. Black’s aiding and abetting saxophonist/clarenetist (and long time friend, conspirator, collaborator) Chris Speed in Yeah No (for three cds on the Songlines label). Finally, of course, are the bands co-fronted by Messrs. Speed and Black, namely Human Feel (on hiatus of unspecified duration) and Pachora (“East European Rom influenced modernjazz that isn't klezmer.” – Chris Speed, All About Jazz, August 2000)

But this seemingly ubiquitous profile is not to imply that Jim Black hasn’t worked hard (sheesh, do you think that a guy gets to hang out with the above named by being a slouch?) or that he’s achieved “legend in his own time, ultimately destined for the Jazz Hall of Fame” status. No, quite simply, it’s direct recognition that his talents and reputation for imagination, creativity, versatility, and adaptability will elevate the musical proceedings to help realize that elusive synergistic quality sought after by the band leader (perhaps even more simply, Berne, Douglas, Eskelin, etc. have good taste in drummers). Add in “congeniality” and…well…say no more…

Now with the recent release of AlasNoAxis (Winter & Winter), Jim Black offers up his long anticipated debut as recording leader. Accompanying him on his foray to move above and beyond the indirect infiltration and influence on the listener’s musical consciousness are the aforementioned Chris Speed, bassist Skuli Sverisson, and guitarist Hilmar Jensson.

In brief, AlasNoAxis is by turns, delightful, captivating, exhilarating, and haunting. Incorporating a variety of musical styles, this recording of tunes composed by Mr. Black specifically for this ensemble effectively run a gamut of moods - from the sheer emotional thrill of riding a skateboard downhill on an icy street into oncoming traffic - to those thoughtful, quiet, introspective moments that bear subliminal disquiet as tranquility imperceptibly transitions to uncertainty.

Of AlasNoAxis All About Jazz contributor Derek Taylor writes:

“From the Pachinko funk of the frenetically-paced “Nion” to the Indian drones of “Icon” these four players chart a course riddled with impulsive spontaneity…These marriages of rock-rooted emotional immediacy and freely improvised forms create a new and thrilling breed of Fusion. Welding calm and dissonance may be nothing revolutionary in free jazz, but the ways in which Black and company incorporate these seemingly diametric elements points to enticing new directions. Most intriguingly this auspicious release makes the probability of future Black-guided excursions a virtual certainty.”

To conclude, AAJ contributor Nils Jacobsen speculated "Who knows where the music of Jim Black will head in the future?” (“Jim Black: Jazz Drumming Authority” - All About Jazz, May 1999)

Although Jim Black would probably suggest that not even he knows the answer, the release of AlasNoAxis indicates that at least the answer has begun.

Due to the wonderfulness of mobile communications technologies (had to get a hi-tech plug in somewhere), this interview was conducted via e-mail using laptop computer and cell phone during January 2001 in the midst of the Eskelin/Parkins/Black tour of Europe.

Thanks to AAJ’s own Glenn “Baby Tuna” Astarita for facilitating this interview.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Would you please tell the AAJ readers about where you were born, raised, and what your earliest musical memories are? What led you to choose drums and percussion as instrument(s) of choice?

JIM BLACK: I was hatched in Daley City, California and spent my childhood migrating between Seattle and the San Francisco area, depending on where was father was working within the United Airlines system as a ramp serviceman.

Early musical memories- I remember being 4 years old, jamming for days on a guitar that my father made for me out of a cardboard toilet seat cover box - complete with rubber bands attached as strings. Also playing my drumset which consisted of dumped out plastic toy buckets, more cardboard boxes, and the ‘cymbal ‘- a plunger with a blanket covering the handle where I would place my mother's circular electric broiler pan drippings catcher. I would beat on for hours, playing with my collection of cardboard cutout records from the back of Post Sugar Crisp and Alpha Bits boxes, featuring the works of a group called The Sugar Bears and the Jackson Five (?!) I want to see how the contract read between Motown and Post cereal...

When I was eight, we finally settled in Seattle for good and a couple of years later I got my first snare drum to play in my elementary school band, the tenor sax being my second choice had the music store run out of snare drum rentals. Choosing the drums was pretty much a no-brainer for me...it simply was and is to this day really fun to play. The first drumset showed up a year later under the Xmas tree and I was hooked. During these times my father started cranking Gene Krupa with Benny Goodman on the stereo at home to impress me and subtly terrorize my mom. Both my parents totally supported my musical activities and encouraged me to practice and take lessons.

Our family eventually moved to the then small city of Bellevue, WA, where I spent my junior high and high school years submerged in music programs. My junior high drummer-competitor-friend Pat Kylen got me into Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, the Who, the Doors, and Rush as we would have double drumset freejams like the Grateful Dead in his basement. Because of this move to Bellevue, I was able to hook up with a big band of 12-18 year olds called "HB Radke and Friends", which at 14 years gave me my first professional experiences such as getting yelled at on stage for dragging, and being paid tens of dollars playing for weddings, hotel functions and on local TV shows as something "cute". It was also invaluable to have my ass kicked on stage by musicians way more experienced than me, which is an alternative yet effective way to learn how to play in short period of time. This also was the band where I met Chris Speed, Andrew D'Angelo, Brad Shepik, and John Silverman - and almost twenty years later…still talking and playing together.

I was fortunate to have friends with more experience than myself around to expose me to new music. I remember Silverman taking me to see Ornette Coleman's Prime Time, which was so beyond me at that time but it seemed just too cool with Jamaaladeen Tacuma on bass and Ornette in something that looked like an orange dress. Another trumpet playing friend, Damon Bacheller, who played me my first Miles and Weather Report, encouraged me to go to Berklee in Boston and to take music on as a career.

AAJ: Was there any pivotal moment where you decided (or discovered) that you simply had to become a professional musician? Please elaborate.

JB: As far as making a profession out of playing, because of these early gigging experiences, I realized that it was wasn't so hard to make a buck playing music...it just meant that you would probably have to play all the time in many different situations where the music was secondary to money - which still seemed more attractive than breaking my back everyday like my dad working in airline cargo pits. So I decided to let my instincts guide me into this strange and semi-dysfunctional relationship of music and how to make a living with it.

In hindsight, I'm glad the "what ifs" and the "riskiness" didn't deter me from pursuing music - too often the general feeling of fear in this society kills so many dreams and ambitions. I think as older experienced players and humans, we literally owe it to people younger and less experienced than us to give support, inspiration and information where and when we can - to pass it on the way we got it.

AAJ: You've taught at Berklee and your upcoming schedule shows teaching at Banff. When you are teaching, is there any one fundamental message or principle that you try to communicate to your students? i.e., if there is one thing you want your students to learn and walk away with, what would it be?

JB: Have an open mind, keep an open mind...and look deep inside yourself to uncover those inherently unique, creative ideas and impulses that are buried inside each of us, and then cultivate, nurture and give form to these ideas in whatever ways possible.

AAJ: You've studied privately with Joe Hunt, Jeff Hamilton, and Jeff Watts. What have you learned from these gentlemen that has provided you with the most guidance or had the most impact on your career?

JB: The learning process for me has been a cumulative experience from the beginning to the ongoing present. Every one of my instructors, band leaders, sidepersons, etc. have helped me grow musically - adding in those missing pieces of this ever evolving musical puzzle and can continue to inspire and influence years after the actual experience.

I never was a model student - I tended to take what I needed and try to figure the rest on my own - it seemed more creative and natural for me this way. So whole courses of study and complete methods, or even weekly lessons felt a bit like unnecessary homework for me. That is not to say I didn't work for countless hours on my lessons and learning the instrument - just that at some point I had to take issue with the absoluteness of practicing drum lessons by myself and would essentially play hookey with them by spending more time jamming with records and my friends...which to me was more like the real-time application of my study. (What good was the ability to play fast broken triplets between my hi-hat, bass drum, and 5th tom-tom, while standing on my head BUT not be able to keep time on a simple Latin tune with my band...let alone just listen and think about playing musically first.)

Maybe it's in the nature of the instrument, with all the limbs moving and things to hit that gives drum pedagogy a license to gaze at it's own technical navel, but nowadays there are more instruction books and teachers who are approaching drums with an "it's music first approach" - I was saved by Bob Moses' "Drum Wisdom" book when I started college, because it dealt with concepts and possibilities that transcended the actual instrument - great advice for any player.

So a single lesson with Jeff Watts meant the world to me - illuminating all the things I wondered about how he approached his unique way of terrorizing the kit with Wynton Marsalis' quartet in the 80's. A week in a jazz camp with Jeff Hamilton, where he passed on some brush beats Philly Joe Jones had showed him - which I absorbed and naturally mutated into my own way of playing traditional jazz brushes. Joe Hunt simply listening to me play fast time and remarking that "something didn't sound quite right" and if we could figure out what it was...Ian Froman, currently living in NY and playing in the international scene, helping me weekly at Berklee by asking me if I could approach everything that I played "in a different way..." - getting me to open my own creative valves.

Then add in all the gigs, road trips, head trips, crazy travel, hanging and rapping with freaky and beautiful friends and strangers, and getting the opportunity to listen to so many inspired and inspiring concerts - which are equally important to anyone's education. When do you stop learning?…

AAJ: How often do you practice/rehearse and for how long? Do you ever force yourself to practice/rehearse when you really don't feel like it? If so, how do you motivate yourself?

JB: As far as the bands I play in, we will rehearse as long as necessary to get the written material under our grip - which can take anywhere from 20 minutes at a sound check to four 5 hour rehearsals for a complex record date. I would recommend learning to read, hear, and interpret written music for the ability to process a lot of complicated written material in a short amount of time - it allows you to walk onto many different gigs and get to making music faster. After that, it's about interaction, improvisation and the playing together that make the music take shape and become valuable.

These days most of the actual playing of my instrument takes place in front of an audience, but there periods where I go back and practice alone to develop technically and conceptually. There is always a way to practice or work on music and composition anywhere you are - especially if you are stuck on a train for six hours a day on tour. Most of my musical epiphanies happen while nowhere near the drums. As far as motivation - if there is a place you envision yourself arriving at musically, compositionally, or in regards to improvising, then the only way to achieve this to make a conscious effort to move toward it - the desire should be there - if there is no desire, then why do it? Do something else, whether it be cooking or talking walks, until the desire for movement and growth returns. As I get older, I have found it easier to allow my musical activities to blend together with the curiosity, creativity and exploration of my daily life - to not separate the music part from the human part. I love the jump cut nature of daily life with all it's interruptions, distractions, and unexpected turns - all of which I have to allow to be part of the musical process - a telephone call ruins new creative thought, then, crazy taxi ride to gig, boom, now you are stage and have to go deep into the music, then...social time!...yakking away, boom, distracted by interesting music blaring from the stereo speakers at the club...my attention is constantly shifting and having to pick up in the same spot another time...mostly, this feels comfortable and natural.

AAJ: Clearly many factors can contribute to inspiring a musician: the music of others, visual stimuli (literature, cinema, sculpture, painting, nature), working with interesting peers, maybe even food. Is there any one catalytic element that seems to provide you with the most inspiration?

JB: Staying awake and aware of my own conditionings, socially and musically. I'm happy to say that after all these years of conditioning to be a "proper" musician and to think in a type of Orwellian "musicthink", I am relatively free of my past mental trappings which inhibited my abilities as a composer, as a player, and even the simple enjoyment of being able to listen to music without pre or post judging it as "serious/valid" or not. I remember coming to terms with this about six years ago - afterwards, playing started to feel like as if I was a kid again jamming in my bedroom to records - very liberating. Addressing my fears and insecurities about playing the drums, performing, and my feeling of being obligated to compose in a certain way...reckoning with my ego and ambitions in regards to money, success, business, the scene, and these whack ideas which creep into your head about "what you are supposed to be" and "what you are supposed to achieve before you die"...eek.

Real life and music have never been more integrated and seamless to me...it feels casual. I continue to play and work hard because I love being creative. Music alone, for me, is inspiring enough just as is - I still absolutely love to listen to it - any of it - and this drives me on.

AAJ: Aside from musicians you regularly collaborate with (e.g., Berne, Eskelin, Douglas, Speed, etc.) who would you cite as your influences? Please elaborate. As quick follow up, is drummer/composer/improviser Chris Cutler an influence/inspiration?

JB: I like to allow myself to be influenced by anyone or anything that gives me feeds me creative ideas. I don't mean to sound like I'm dodging a question, but this more true now than ever before. This week, a visit to the Kunsthaus Wien to see the painting and city planning works of Hundertwasser - you talk about inspiring...for me he is the definition of what 'integrity' is in regards to one's art and self...the sound of Cartman's voice, singing songs in an episode of South Park, is lodged in my brain, too. Also this week, performing with Ellery Eskelin and Andrea Parkins - listening to them night after night on stage playing solo, gracefully kicking ass - wonderful...also Tricky's new EP where track four contains a special message for the Polygram label...yeah.

I have never seen Chris Cutler live and only know one recording with himself and Fred Frith playing duo in Verona...which was really fun to listen to, even though I couldn't tell who was doing what.

AAJ: What do you feel you've learned from working with Bloodcount, Tiny Bell Trio, Ellery Eskelin/Andrea Parkins, and Uri Caine's Mahler Project that you could NOT have learned anywhere else?

JB: This last part (“that you could NOT have learned anywhere else”) doesn't make sense to me, because eventually something would have taught me those lessons...

Playing with many different bands has become essential to my growth as a musician. The musical knowledge from one situation influences the next, and so on. This seems obvious enough but I love how it can radically influence and change my musical ideas, push my physical abilities as a drummer, and the way in which it continually opens my ears to new perceptions. In a soundbite style: playing with Berne's Bloodcount forced me to express myself quietly, sending me searching for other sounds and textures…Ellery Eskelin's music left me stranded on a number of conceptual islands, which I had to figure how to get off…Ben Monder's music helped me overcome my uneasiness with complex time signatures and forms...the list goes on, and hopefully never stops.

AAJ: Since you composed the pieces on AlasNoAxis specifically for this band, could you please describe what unique or specific qualities each of the musicians in AlasNoAxis brings to the band?

JB: In a nutshell - Chris Speed for his sound. Period. Hilmar Jensson for his shameless abilities as a guitarist and sound sculptor, as well as his sensitivity. Skuli Sverrisson for his low frequency oscillation exploration and his thirst for sounds not yet unearthed.

AAJ: If one of these musicians were to depart, would AlasNoAxis cease to exist or would it simply evolve/mutate?

JB: Evolve, possibly - - - mutate, for sure - - - cease to exist? We have barely done a week of gigs...I'm not going there yet.

AAJ: One of the most refreshing (others might say surprising if not shocking) aspects of AlasNoAxis is the significant "rock" content. Although some may dismiss this as simply the Seattle factor, it would seem (at least to me) to transcend this reference. What rock bands are inspirational to you and why?

JB: That "rock" sound is a sound that I love, one I haven't had the opportunity to explore yet in my regular musical activities. The idea of a "Seattle factor" is reaching a little, but I used to play in guitar rock bands back there in high school and college - so it's presence is an undeniable part of my musical background (always seething at surface.) I also wrote most of the music for this band on the guitar, so there you have it. I also like the aggressive nature of the sound - distortion makes me feel good.

Some of my current favorite bands are Melt Banana, Blonde Redhead, Sonic Youth, Beck, and Radiohead, all for different reasons, but the main one being that I really like to just listen to their music. I loved Nirvana (Kurt's voice still freaks me out...), as well as My Bloody Valentine. Others in the scene that move me would be Björk, Tricky, Busta Rhymes, Stereolab and the Flaming Lips, to name a few.

I also admire the collective and co-operative nature of these bands - and being a member of more than one myself, I can identify with these attitudes. Truly collective bands in the 'jazz' world are rare, but can work. The jazz scene tends to promote individual names and band leaders versus collective group names and identities. Fortunately, I am starting to see a larger audience develop that cares first about actually listening to music regardless of what category or camp it is in or from, thereby helping to blur the lines between the scenes drawn by the promoters, media, record stores, and many musicians. The collectives in jazz that survive, are no different than in the indie/rock world - it takes commitment and personal investment...everyone has to put their own individual ego second and respect and work with all of the member’s ideas and opinions…someone in the band has to run with the business ball and get gigs...disagreements and resolutions are normal and expected - but the invaluable music, that could not have been produced in any other way, is worth the collective effort.

In terms of their influence on my writing - I still hear these bands as a particular type of sound which breeds something different in my ear, after it joins in the mix with all the other hundred bits of sound flying around in there mutating. The simple ideas of balance and variation are key in getting them organized back into tangible form - which is the fun part for me creatively. I know it's finished when I listen to a piece and actually like it.

AAJ: What aspect of making AlasNoAxis was the most fun? What was the most difficult? What have you learned that you will carry forward to the next recording?

JB: Most fun: recording in the snow covered woods in upstate New York, with some deer watching us rock out through a large glass window that looked into the converted barn that we recorded in.

Most difficult: The eternally developing technique of trying to verbally coax my musical desires out of a band as a leader- without squishing the improvisational talents of the members. They totally dealt.

AAJ: As follow up, what areas of your own playing/composing do you feel need improvement?

JB: It's not so much about improving - only moving sideways to something different...The question for me would be how to keep moving deeper into what unique thing I alone can bring out of myself as a writer...and then develop a relationship with it.

AAJ: I see from your homepage that you and Skuli Sverrisson plan to include G3 Powerbook in the "instrumentation" for AlasNoAxis. What is your interest or objective in using the computer? i.e., Are you interested in using the computer as an instrument? As another musician to interact with? Both? Neither?

JB: Hmm, where to start? As of today, I want the laptop to be an extension of what I hear in terms of timbre and texture when I play drums and percussion. It's like having an unlimited palette of colors and sounds that still fall subject to one's own take on improvisation, composition and most importantly for me, taste. I have always loved electronics and the computer provides a limitless 'playland' to explore and experiment. I don't plan on being a laptop and sound sculpting master, like some of my favorites - Jim O'Rourke, Pita, Oval, Pansonic, Ryoji Ikeda, Stilluppsteypa, Microstoria, Anthony Burr, Skuli Sverrisson...but I would like to take my twenty-something years of musical experience and translate my ideas into sound, using this medium. I am currently performing laptop duos with alto saxophone/bass clarinet shredder Andrew D'Angelo in New York, where there is no preparation, only taking our improvisational impulses and having to find the appropriate sound and way to get it out of laptop using various programs and sound processors. It can be musically crass and vulgar...it can be kinda heavy and serious, but the laptop has an immediately accessible, innocent, and creative impulse=reaction quality to it...which allows anyone without technical and instrumental skills, but with lots of ideas, to get up on stage and play music...kinda like the drums?!

AAJ: Could you please provide details on your other quartet, Beat Table?

JB: At this time, that idea is mutating into a pretty different future project, so aside from an improv gig, there is no news. There are so many people to play with! It's more of an issue of time and the thoroughness I want to approach my projects with...

AAJ: How did you come to work with Satoko Fujii and Natsuke Tamura?

JB: I met them at a party...they made delicious vegetarian sushi rolls, I was turned on. The beauty of playing with them was having not heard them play before we started recording cd's together. I really admire their commitment to their musical beliefs in spite of living in such musically conservative 'jazz' scene - although they are helping to change that.

AAJ: What musicians would you most like to work with that you've never worked with before?

JB: Well, there's so many musicians that I would...Björk. Pretty unique huh?

AAJ: What recording(s) as a side man do you wish more people would be exposed to? Why?

JB: Interesting question - without thinking, I would say Chris Speed's Yeah No recordings. We worked hard as a band producing all of those discs and I think there are some really original ideas and music on those discs that could stand to be heard more, the recordings as well as live shows. We still have yet to perform in Europe...fans over there tell me the cd's are very hard to get. I think it's a matter of time, continuing to build our audience, here and overseas, making our presence known to the media and working hard to get it out there on the road...just like every band, everywhere.

AAJ: What's the funniest or most embarrassing thing that's happened to you while performing or recording?

JB: Recording my first cd ever, in Seattle, when I was nineteen. It was a new age album, when 'new age' was the rage, where the leader dug the fact I could badly emulate a drum machine (go figure). The studio was in a hollowed out small hillside, close to a waterfront, constructed of wood on the inside. This wood contained termites and was due for it's regular bug bombing. During a take, while trying to ever so deftly reproduce the stiffness of a 1986 cheesy drum machine pattern, a termite fell down from the black abyss above me in the drum booth. Five minutes later both the drums and myself were covered in small vibrating termites - bouncing off the cymbals, etc. When a very, very large one finally landed on my snare drum with a loud 'pap' - I just lost it...screaming out of the booth. One good bug bombing and a chocolate shake later, I felt better, as I inhaled the freshly poisoned air of the studio, as I brushed and picked (yuck) maybe 60 or so dead insects off and out of the kit.

AAJ: What projects can All About Jazz expect to hear from you in 2001 - 2002?

JB: On the horizon is another AlasNoAxis cd to be recorded in Iceland in May, and released by September or October...Pachora just signed with Winter and Winter also, so plans for another cd are in the works for late spring...check our websites if you want to know the latest info - www.jimblack.com and www.pachora.com.

AAJ: To conclude, a purely hypothetical question: if you were to cook dinner for the staff of AAJ (or could take them to dinner) what would you serve (or where would you take them)?

JB: Because of the French trip/tip I have been on lately, I would serve up a petite but satisfying three-course French meal.

As a starter - a slightly broiled round of goat cheese, sprinkled with fresh herbs and served on a bed of baby lettuce greens with a side of poached figs in red wine, accompanied by sourdough toast points, finished with a drizzle of fruity olive oil and fresh cracked pepper.

As a main course - a vegetable plate consisting of fresh baby carrots and French green beans, drizzled with a white wine and dijon mustard vinaigrette, two fresh steamed artichoke hearts with a sauté of mixed forest mushrooms, garlic and parsley spooned on top, and rounded out with a small portion of traditional potatoes gratin.

For dessert - individual apple tarte tatin, served with crÚme fraîche.

For the wine, a '96 or '97 Haut-Médoc Cru Bourgeois, from Chateau D' Arsac (a surprising sherry color and dark berry taste)

Espresso, a tiny piece of dark chocolate (85% cocoa) and a good calvados brandy...and then…a nap...

For more information about Jim Black, please refer to the following:

• AAJ ARTICLE: "Jim Black: Jazz Drumming Authority"
• Jim Black web site: http://www.jimblack.com
• Jim Black selected discography: http://home.earthlink.net/~jimmyblack/dexrecordings.html
• Jim Black selected discography (from Screwgun Records site, out of date but includes some recordings not listed on above page): http://www.screwgunrecords.com/black.htm
• Pachora web site: http://home.earthlink.net/~jimmyblack/dexpachora.html