Jimmy Bruno: From Surgery and Carjackings to His Guitar Institute

AAJ: How has your work as a teacher helped you as a musician?

JB: Everything that I teach, I have to test. Sometimes talking to a student online or through the school, they will ask a question that I do not know the answer to. I will try things at a gig, and say, Wow, this is cool." It helps me to be more in tune with what I play. It is like the guitar disappearing, it is the music and me. I am taking my advice, trying to get these students to that point. I want to make sure that every time I play, I try to be in the same space. It is easy to do in concert, easy to do at the Iridium in New York, not so easy in a noisy venue.

AAJ: I have seen you perform often and noticed that you will introduce tunes and engage in banter with the audience. What are your feelings regarding the relationship between musicians and the audience?

JB: I think you have talk; I have a tendency to do it too much. In the beginning, I did not talk to the audience and I had a so-so response. Then one day I started to talk and noticed people started to pay attention. I realized there is something to this.

AAJ: Numerous concerts have the band introduced; they walk on stage and play a seventy-five minute set; do not say a word and the show is over.

JB: I think for some performers it works. If I go see Jim Hall play, and I love listening to him play, it is neat if he says something. He does not have to say much, "Just I learned this tune in 19-whatever and I played it with." People like Jim have so many stories. I think it makes a nice break in the music if you have an interesting story about something that happened to you or some concert that you played before.

I was sitting in a concert hall the Kimmel Center, I saw Oscar Peterson there, and he stopped and told a story, I thought that was great. It breaks up the music; the music that we play can get intense. To listen to it, I think ninety minutes is the limit. Whether you break it into two forty-five minute sets, or whatever, but in one sitting without a break, I do not think most people can listen for over ninety minutes. I know that personally I would have hard time.

AAJ: Maybe that is why the maximum length of a CD is eighty minutes.

JB: Maybe so, I never thought about that, but seventy to seventy-five minutes feels good to the performer and the audience. If you break that seventy-five minutes up with some stories, or just some talk about the tune, or just anything really. To listen to music properly, you need to give your ears a rest. You can lose your ability to distinguish one piece of music from another. You can get a din in your ear, try to sit down and listen to an entire CD in your home, it is not easy.

AAJ: What is next for Jimmy Bruno?

JB: I want to see how far we can take the JBGI. It is providing enough income where we have the ability to grow as needed. As long as people keep signing up, we will meet whatever they need. If we have to hire fifty new people, we can do that. The technology will get better, we will see how can use that.

Another thing I am working on is more travel as opposed to less. No more local playing for me. I am in the process of putting together a permanent Jimmy Bruno Band. We will rehearse and put together some new tunes.

AAJ: Who would be in the Jimmy Bruno Band?

JB: I have some ideas, a few ideas. I want to keep a band together as long as I can. Play more of my original music, write more original music. I want to travel with the band, no playing some place and picking up the house band; that is over. If I play only one gig next year, it will be with my band. I should have done this a long time ago.

AAJ: Do you feel not having a permanent band has hurt your career?

JB: I think so; it has hurt me as a musician. I like to write tunes and I like to try to play different styles of music. It prevents from having a chance to explore. The only time I have a chance to do that is at my house. With my own set band, I could do it all the time, every time I play, every time I rehearse. It has hurt my career in the sense that it took me so long to do it.

When I play with pickup bands and I always play with marvelous musicians. The thing is you can only do the typical straight-ahead stuff. I mean, I will not take chances with a drummer and bassist I have never played with before, even if they are great.

It is time to get a set band; I never get to play my original tunes. What I should have done ten years ago, was put together a book of my music. I should be playing my tunes and I am not. A lot of has to do with my staying local and playing with local people. I love the people. I have never thought, "Ugh not that guy," that has never happened. I am always excited to play with the Philly musicians. When I get the chance to play with trumpeter John Swana, it is always a big event for me. It is just time to take it to the next level, and the way to do that is with a set band.

Selected Discography Jimmy Bruno, Maplewood Avenue (Affiliated Artists, LLC, 2007)
Jimmy Bruno Solo (Mel Bay Record,s 2004)
Jimmy Bruno, Midnight Blue (Concord Records 2002)
Jimmy Bruno, Polarity (Concord Records 2000)
Jimmy Bruno, Live At Birdland (Concord Records 1998)

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