Then, there are a few “jazz” folks coming at it from the instrumental side over. From NYC are those brave drummers I mentioned before. Zach Danziger, with bassist Tim Lefebvre, does live drum’n’bass to death with Boomish and has released one disc with that project. Drummer JoJo Mayer’s collective of musicians, called Prohibited Beatz, was the progenitor of this style in Manhattan and regularly packs clubs there, but has yet to release a cd, remaining a relatively local drum’n’basssecret. Guitarist Dave “FUZE” Fiuczynski goes deep into the style on the Jazzpunk cd, and even further with the live gigs he’s done with the separate drum’n’bass sections of Danziger ‘n’ Lefebvre and Elie Katz ‘n’ Matt Garrison. Up the coast, Club D’Elf, led by intensely versatile bassist Mike Rivard and Slamhound, led by former NEC professor and exceptionally accomplished guitarist Randy Roos (best known for his Narada discs Liquid Smoke and Primalvision) proffer this groove live in Boston, with unflagging youngster Eric Kerr behind the live kit in both units.

Look west, young man and find San Fran bassman Bob Green heading up the Grassy Knoll and some serious ass-kicking going on in Seattle courtesy of Bobby Previte’s drums in Ponga and Matt Chamberlain’s in Critter’s Buggin’, both of which feature saxochist Skerik, as well as somehow more rockin’ly noisy beats than anything we’ve mentioned thus far.

This piece isn’t intended to be a primer on the style. Although the above is informational, it is mostly intended here as a backdrop for the next statement and intro to this interview. In Y2K, the release in this genre that careened most heavily from the groove on out, that rightfully belongs precisely at the maximum value-point for the function measuring jazz instrumental brilliance on the X axis and etcetronica conception on the Y, is the most aptly titled “Right Now”, by 29 year-old Austrian wunderkid Martin Koller. The recording seemingly arrived fully-formed under discplayers’ laser beams- absolutely out of nowhere for the bulk of the fortunate few who have heard it (especially in the states-Koller’s record company, Traumton (www.traumton.de) has no US distribution deal – to change this, or to get the cd, email them at traumton@aol.com). Even more astounding is this: anyone heretofore familiar with Koller’s previous work (he has two other releases available- both imports) could not have known that he even had an inkling of dabbling in this style, let alone creating such a masterwork. Not only were his previous efforts devoid of drum’n’bass, they were devoid of actual drums and bass, focusing instead on challenging duo formats.

Koller even completely overhauled his guitar tone and playing style, shifting from that clean, airy sound we all know- let’s call it a Luke Skywalker Pat Metheny- to the distorted, legato-laden, capable of warp-speed, fusionistic vision of a Jedi Knight Holdsworth. But what’s most important here is that he’s not merely improvising or doing the thing he usually does over some slick or clever drum’n’bass or techno groove ( a substyle unfortunately perfected already by a few less inventive folks who’ve created products more in search of sales than musical gratification -I’ll call it “shredtronica” and leave it at that). Even the most technical musical passages on “Right Now” serve these compositions.

So it came to be that I became juiced to find out just how this was achieved, given Martin’s neophyte status as a practitioner and producer of this sort of thing. What will be revealed herein is that, in large part, Martin’s plight as a novice turned out to be the most important contributing factor to his success.

Martin, I feel strongly that your interview should begin, fittingly enough, with your latest offering, the cd entitled “Right Now”. This title implies and embodies so many things that are going on with the both the music and yourself, the artist. It’s as if the music and yourself are jumping right off the cd and into the present, as though you’re making what is almost the instrumental fusion of the future, but more appropriately, of the moment, devoid of all influences yet incorporating them all, if you will.

It's right on that the title kind of implies the idea of "here" and "now" - which means that it could be something like a snapshot of my musical self and my environment at that time. In general I like to explore all possible facets in music that I have at my disposal - or, come to think of it, those that I perhaps don't. Sometimes just "exploring" into nowhere gets you somewhere. Also, I tend to dislike what I’ve done on recordings pretty soon after they’re finished - or even while I'm doing it, which can be a drag because I always go back and forth while producing- like crazy- until I reach the point where I conclude that, “This is the very best I can do ‘right now’ ". I think every musician fuses everything that surrounds him in his music. It’s a very natural process - if it’s not like that, something’s wrong.

Let’s go backwards to the making of the cd and start from when the idea of incorporating the electronica/jungle/techno/sonic influence into instrumental “jazz-fusion”, or whatever labels you want to apply to the music, came together.

Like I said, this was just a natural process which wasn't really planned out. I was always interested in electronic stuff - even though my music, previous to "Right Now" wasn't influenced by that at all. At one point, the music I had made up to 1996 started to really kind of bore me emotionally. Up to that point, the music was harmonically very complex. Most of all, it was without drums and bass. See, I was totally into playing in duo settings, which was a great challenge musically and instrumentally, but I started to miss certain things. When I look back on it, it becomes obvious that the very reason that there were no drums in my music was the fact that I myself played drums for 9 years or so before picking up the guitar for the first time at 17. I practiced drums constantly and played in different bands, and for me, even at that young age, the drums really came naturally. So, along with this deep understanding of the instrument came a certain pickiness about drummers. When I started to study jazz guitar at the conservatory in Austria, I was still ten times the drummer than I was a guitarist. Obviously, I had a hard time finding drummers up to my internalized high standards. Anyway, I felt that it was time to go back and start again the very thing I stopped when I started to play guitar. So, maybe it sounds kind of odd, but for me this music is not so much a step into the future but a step back to my roots.

Another reason for the switch to guitar was my desire to write and produce music (which is sometimes more difficult for a drummer) and to use electronic “stuff”. Keep in mind that when I started playing guitar, I was what you’d definitely classify as a total "jazz-snob" - which I hope worked to my advantage at the time, because it was a factor driving me to learn the most about the instrument in the shortest period of time. An important concept for me with this recording was the concept of not making a "guitar album" - meaning that the instrument was not going to be the center of the music. With all this in mind, all that I had to do was cut loose and mix all these concepts into one vision.

Tell us about the other musician on the cd, and how his concept may be likened to or differ from yours.

The horn player on the cd is Gerald Preinfalk, who is also from Austria. We’ve actually got two prior cds available with "Third Movement" together – mainly consisting of duos, but some tunes using different bass players, such as Peter Herbert - a fantastic upright player from Austria who lives in New York. Gerald is a fantastic musician and our duo experience was a very important step for me and our collaboration on “Right Now”.

In terms of that latest contribution - he came up to Berlin (where I’ve lived since 1996) and did some overdubs on the tracks that I’d produced. His parts on "Trippin' " were the most difficult because he had to play so many instruments and the music was rather complex. But he wound up cutting all his tracks for the cd in two relaxed days. Gerald, until recently, hasn’t written much music. But as of the moment he’s writing for his own trio, which sounds great! I have to add that Willsingh Wilson, who mastered the cd, also did some really cool vocal-percussion stuff on the tune "Hope".

How did you gain such proficiency, apart from that of your chosen instrument, on the other tools of the music, the electronics, drum programming and computer stuff? Did you produce the project as well?

The motivation for getting into programming, electronics, mixing and producing by myself was a very bad experience with the engineer of the second "Third Movement" cd. For lack of a better term, he wound up being basically clueless. From that bad experience, I vowed that, from that point on, nobody exept me would touch one knob on my productions. So, I bought a computer and started right in, basically producing "Right Now" with all the manuals in front of me ,which honestly, I never really read because I hate them!. What’s funny is that even by the time Gerald came up to Berlin to put down his parts, I was still looking up basic stuff while he was in the booth playing - it was crazy. Everything was "learning by doing", since it was the first computer I’d owned and I was using it to record, program, mix and produce everything myself. The whole electronics realm has its own universe- one that needs to be taken just as seriously as a guitar or a horn- because it's just a different instrument that you have to be able to "play".

What artists have influenced your direction?

The artists that have had an impact on me are many - ranging from Prince to Massive Attack and beyond. A couple of "jazz" musicians who make fantastic music are Nils Petter Molvaer and David Torn. I did a three week tour with Nils in 1996, with a band called "Subharmonics" with Terri Lyne Carrington and dj Soul Slinger from New York. I encourage your readers to seek out his music- it’s always a trip playing with Nils!

Give us the story from more of the guitar side…How did you develop your prodigious technique at such a young age? How did you choose, edit or come to terms with your own influences? To very basically synopsize your primary influences, your first recorded output had a very strong Metheny influence, whereas your current playing certainly evokes that of a certain tall Yorkshireman. Perhaps you’d like to start a little further back here, like when you first started playing.

When I first picked up the guitar at 17, I went straight into jazz…so I don’t come from the usual "guitar background" of folk, blues and fingerpicking- playing pop songs, etc. I actually still have a harder time than I should playing things like an open G-major chord because I simply never did it!

I’ll confess- my big guitar hero was Pat Metheny. All I did from age 17 to 19 was transcribe and listen to Pat - it was crazy! I certainly hadn’t used distortion until right before I recorded "Right Now". When I let go of that , I discovered Holdsworth, who is just a little bit different than Pat (and everybody else). I skipped the step of transcribing Holdsworth, but I listened a lot. I believe that when it comes to linear improvising there's absolutely nobody on earth who can keep up with him - and there probably never will be. And I mean "linear" – because, of course, there are many other ways to make great musical statements over even harmonically difficult stuff. But when the music demands intense lines – you can begin and end with him. So obviously, the aspiring guitarist could just spend some time with Allan and Pat and have a great basis.

These days, I'm going for some other stuff in my playing- not so much lines and virtuosity – more about sonic nuances. There are so many sonic possibilities on the electric guitar that are just totally left out by most guitarists in general. If you can combine your very personal articulation of these sonic possibilities with your melodic instincts…that's when you’re going to be on the right path. These two things always go hand in hand. Lately, I try to forget about playing a "guitar" - sometimes when I’m playing I think of it more like a drum, sometimes more like a violin, sometimes more like a voice. Which is the great thing about guitars - they are chameleons in a way.

Are you influenced at all by heavy or technical metal?

I totally dig real heavy stuff although there are no specific players that come to my mind. I’ll just say that exploring the real hardcore can take you places as well!

Tell us about your doubleneck fretless guitar and how that is employed. I’m assuming its very versatile for performance. What cuts feature fretless guitar prominently? Who influenced you on fretless guitar? I only know of two players using it in a context where , say, fast single-note runs are played. Randy Roos, from Boston, who no longer uses it, and Dave Fiuczynski, who seems to especially use it for exotic, Middle-eastern/Indian flavors.

The doubleneck I use is actually a fretless bass and a regular guitar, both without headstocks and with carbon necks. I haven't really checked out fretless guitars yet although that's something I'm starting to get really interested in. I only use this double-neck when the gig demands it- like the duo gig I did in Switzerland at Jazzfestival Willisau with Terri Lyne. I used this doubleneck for all the bass tracks on the cd, but they were certainly played separately. In general, it's too much stuff to concentrate on at once if you have to play bass and guitar at the same time. The axe works really well, but to bring that to perfection I would have to put some very serious time into it.

Your resume indicates you stayed a Berklee for the long haul, graduating summa cum laude , with an incredible array of teachers including Gary Burton, Mick Goodrich, George Garzone, Bret Willmott, and Steve Khan. Tell us how you feel that that full stay benefited you.

Actually, I was only there for a short time. I graduated with a degree, but I was only there for two years. I tested out of the rest of the requirements. Berklee was a great experience. George Garzone was especially a trip - he was the actual reason why I went there. We met at a workshop in Austria and he helped get me a scholarship at Berklee. What a monster-musician - my favorite sax player - and he actually played on the first "third movement" cd called "City Moves" which was recorded in Boston. We had a band project ready to go for Europe but it never really materialized. Playing with George in the studio and at live gigs was unbelievable. The other great thing about Berklee was just the contacts with musicians from all over the world. In fact, the rhythm section of my current band, "koller" is from a band I had in Boston. So, the people I played with most at Berklee are still some of the people I work with right now.

For guitarists, let’s say it was very "special" because there were about a thousand guitar students there at the time. In my second year I was fortunate to get the most prestigious guitar scholarship there, which was especially surprising, because I was never really into standards (which most of the older teachers were) but was playing my own music. My teacher, Bret Willmott, and the Department chair, Rick Peckham, really featured me and were mentors, which contributed to me staying the extra 2 years it took to graduate. I really learned a tremendous amount about harmonic concepts, theoretical stuff and so much more - I really wouldn’t have wanted to miss the experience.

If one visits your website they’ll see this tidbit. “I'm working on different remixes - among them a remix for Mathias RÃŒegg’s Vienna Art Orchestra , from the cd "The Minimalism of Erik Satie" Also I'm in the process of making a new cd which is probably going into a completely different direction, compared to all other stuff of mine!” Can you expand on that for our readership?

I started doing remixes of other people’s stuff recently. I really dig the whole concept of taking someone else’s music and looking at it from a totally different perspective, compared to the original producer. The cool thing is to twist everything around but keep the core musical message alive. When remixing, I’ll hardly touch the guitar – I don’t want to turn anyone else’s music into a guitar tune at all. If I use the guitar it will be just for certain textures - the rest is all done by programming, sampling and editing. The most interesting remix I’ve done recently was the "Vienna Art Orchestra" you referred to. I did a three week tour through Europe last October with them. This is a track from an old record of theirs which, I think is from1981, called "The Minimalism of Erik Satie". There’s no rhythm section on the recording- just all horns plus Lauren Newton on vocals-just a really hip cd focusing on the work of Satie. What I did was pick a track and put a whole ambient/trip-hop arrangement around certain fragments of the melody, which I re-edited, followed by a real hardcore section, with full on heavy-guitars. Oddly enough – I think the result really captures the essence of the piece. The plan is that Mathias RÃŒegg will put out a whole vinyl-record with remixes also from other people - mostly djs. There's also another remix in the works Art Orchestra from the live cd we did during the last tour.

The quote at the site regarding my new cd just means that the concept of the upcoming record will be quite different than "Right Now". I’m planning to have singers on it - probably 40% of the music will be with voices. It's a great musical challenge to work with voices, not necessarily lyrics - it makes it all more intimate. Production-wise , also, I am planning a big step forward. "Right Now" was just kind of my first step into the world of electronics.

One also sees two entries for “Bands” at your site. Can you shed further light on these lineups and your plans for each?

The first line up is a quartet with Johan Svensson (Sweden) - drums, Per Mathisen (Norway) - bass, and Frank Bredo (Germany) – electronics and laptop - but it will be a quintet this fall - adding a female singer. This is my current touring band. I am really happy with these musicians – we’ve all been best friends for many years (Johan and Per are old Boston buddies). In the Future, the drums will have electronic functions so that the whole sonic appearance of the band will be a big mix of acoustic and electronic soundscapes. These musicians are all working in all styles when they’re in Scandinavia - so it's never a problem having them dig back into my music.

The second lineup also has Johan on drums, but features Matt Garrison - electric bass, Peter Herbert – upright acoustic bass, Willsingh Wilson - electronics and Dhafer Youseff (Tunesia) on oud and vox. This is the line up we used for the "Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2000" which is one of the biggest in Europe. The challenge there was to rearrange my music to fit this format - and it really worked out perfectly. That was the first time I played a major gig with Matt and it was just fantastic. He is an unbelievable musician - the ultimate killer on electric bass - and we got along great together from the very first moment. There’s plans in the works for me to do some stuff on his next solo cd. I can't wait to get my hands on that one. It's just so rare to meet musicians where you instantly feel some kind of common vision - like Matt or Nils Petter Molvaer for example! This second line up could eventually evolve to a project of it's own since the success at the festival was so immense that people like Wolf Kampmann, who is a very fine music critic and producer, are putting a big effort in getting some attention from record companies on this project- to keep it alive and going. The other special thing with the second group is that most people in the band- Matt, Peter and Dhafer-are bandleaders themselves with their own music. By the way, Dhafer Youssef has a large European audience and is an incredible singer and oud-player.

Have you had some trials and tribulations being an ultramodern jazz artist in Austria? What’s the audience there like, and what do they like?

Well, it wasn't easy when I came back from the states and first started out. Very soon after coming back to Austria, I moved to Berlin because I wanted a change in environment. I had already played some nice gigs in Austria while I was still at Berklee. But after I came back, moved to Berlin, and had evolved in a musical sense- I am telling you- the Austrian audience started to really appreciate it. Austria has a very progressive jazz scene compared to other countries. In the last two years, I’ve gotten some incredible recognition in Austria. I won the Austrian Jazz Award in two categories in 1999, which contributed to some big festival appearances. The fact that I’m in Berlin seems to keep me out of the public eye enough that when I come back to Austria it's always with my band or a special project. Actually, I can't complain at all – the Austrian audiences have been fantastic to me. That all being said, it’s still a tough thing to do because the overall scene has some initial refusal to relatively more challenging music. In other words, the more demanding the musical spirit, the more skeptical the audience. This would probably be true in the states, as well. It would probably be more difficult to make a living in the states with my music than in Europe.

From the perspective, again of the phrase “right now”, this type of thing, the fusion of jazz and electronica type sounds appears to have its only “live” outlet in the clubs of New York City. The other places its coming from are the studios and home laboratories of England,- folks like Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher), Roni Size, and Amon Tobin. The other jazz/turntables/dj/samples interface is a bit more old school.

Oh, yeah. This is probably the first time in the history of jazz where there is a studio scene and a live scene which are sometimes a little bit separated from each other. But if you look at the programming of the more innovative Jazz Festivals in Europe, the number of acts booked that fuse jazz and electronica is increasing. Here in Berlin it gets more and more into the clubs. The thing about the live end is that musicians have to prepare so much more for a gig than just, say, bringing their axe and the Real Book to a club for a straight-ahead gig. And the extra equipment is a cost burden. A whole new generation of musicians is evolving - and that takes time.

To combine these styles well, you have to be proficient on the instrument plus you have to have your thing together when it comes to electronics and music-production in general. So sometimes projects experimenting in that area will suffer from one or the other perspective- either the musicians can't "play" but know the equipment or they "can" play but still are coming at it as jazzers with no background whatsoever in ambient/drum & bass/rock or other contemporary styles. There’s just "blowing" over some copied drumloops, which is not something revolutionary.

By the way, the real revolution is that musical labels are becoming useless after all and that musicians are learning from programmers and programmers are learning from musicians. As soon as that's balanced out ,the quality of musicians performing this music live will be equal to programmers doing it in their studios. That will also be the time when this music will be totally accepted. I’m still running up against promoters who just can't imagine a band performing live what's on "Right Now" - after we’ve proven it many times now.

You mentioned these two scenes - New York and European. To my taste the European scene gets more to core of this new movement compared to the American. That might have something to do with the fact that real "mainstream jazz" has never been as established and as rock solid here as in the states. In America it's part of the history. This used to be a drag for Europe, but now, for this new music or movement, it becomes a plus.

Still on the European theme, but on a very practical note, do you think Americans are turned off to ordering cds from the foreign record companies via the internet?

I can’t say if they are really turned off ordering cds from Europe . I just think they’re not getting enough information regarding what's going on over here. It's probably more a lack of promotion and information that keeps Americans from getting the music directly from overseas distributors.

Tell us about some of the more well-known artists you’ve recorded with, and their projects.

Nils, Terri lyne, Will Calhoun, Robyn Schulkovsky (who is a world famous contemporary classical percussionist), and George Garzone. In all these lineups I was always a co-leader and we did either totally improvised stuff or tunes everybody brought in. This spring there'll be a couple of gigs in Europe with Terri Lyne’s new band with Geri Allen on piano, Gary Thomas on sax and flute and Palle Danielson on bass. The only “real” sideman gig I'm doing is the "Vienna Art Orchestra" gig.

I’m pretty sure Nils Petter Molvaer is the best selling jazz musician in Europe. His last two cds have sold something like 200,000 copies -which once again proves that this music has a strong following here. The guitarist in his working band, Eivind Aarset, is one of my favorite guitarists! I'll also probably do a remix for his new album this year. Lately, I am not playing sideman so much because I don't have that emphasis on guitar - I care more about the overall music. Plus I have strong opinions about it, which can be a drag on a group sometimes, when I’m trying to get certain things done differently.

So what’s the master plan for Martin Koller? How do you want to see things go? Do you want to keep the focus on your own music with your own band(s)?

I’ll just keep doing what I’ve done - working mainly on my own music with the line-ups I referred to - and now, remixing for other people. I’d like to set up my own label this summer and bring out my new cd in the fall. People like Nils have offered help getting a good distribution deal. I’m really hoping this approach works out. I grilled Matt Garrison on the phone recently about independent releases and he’s just totally happy he did it himself- that's how it should be!

Fill in the blank. If X called me right now to do a tour, I would drop everything and do it? Would you do it or does your own thing take priority?

Of course there are people it would go on tour with immediately - and since tours nowadays aren't that long- my own stuff wouldn't suffer in the least –in fact I’d look forward to the exciting impulses which I could reflect in my music! If somebody like Björk or Prince would call I'd be there before they knew it!

Ok, a fun one. What’re the top things that make it into your cd player?

It would probably be (the order has nothing to do with the rating): “Homogenic” by Björk, “Live in New York” by Zappa, “A Love Supreme” by Coltrane, any older Prince stuff, all Beatles , “IOU” by Holdsworth, “What Means Solid Traveler” by David Torn, Post-Orgasmic Chill by Skunk Anansie, “Khmer” by Nils Petter Molvaer, and “Dummy” by Portishead.

Where are your favorite places to play?

I don't really have favorite places but festivals in general are great. It's just that soundwise you can really go for it and make it massive because there’s a physical aspect to that kind of music - it sometimes has to really hit you physically. It seems that the music is for some reason more appreciated at festivals. At any regular jazz club there will be some part of the audience expecting more mainstream music to be played. I enjoy both the same…I’ll take the gig!

What other things influence your music?

Everything I hear, see and sense in any way finds it's way into the music -sooner or later. I am a big movie fan also - so that's sometimes an inspiration. Although I’m not really into the other arts, I totally respect all other forms. I just think music is the ultimate artform because it works in any language, for any age, in every place on earth, without explanation, and it's totally natural…there are no prerequisites or special education necessary to be able to totally feel and dig it.

Parting remarks?

Just to tell people that I have a new site up, as of the first of the year, at www.kollermusic.de, where you can keep track of my activities, my music, and my live dates. There are some mp3’s up, including some live stuff, that I want folks to hear and enjoy. I also want to thank the fans in the US and other geographically removed countries for being so persistent and enthusiastic, and for taking the extra steps necessary to actually purchase my recordings.

Martin's website: www.kollermusic.de

Traumton Recordings website www.traumton.de