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Russ Johnson: Working on the Tightrope
Paul Olson
Paul Olson lives in Chicago, idolizes Clint Eastwood, Toshiro Mifune and Fred Astaire, and doesn't like the president much.AAJ: Let's talk some about the Other Quartet, the group you co-lead with Ohad Talmor. Is this still a working band?
RJ: We've been on a little bit of a hiatus due to raising a couple of kids; Ohad has two and I had one two years ago. But we're actually trying to book something for next spring. It's a collection of great players. Obviously, [drummer Mark] Ferber. And Ohad—along with John O'Gallagher, they're my two closest horn-playing associates. And great friends as well. We will be getting back at it; we're trying to figure out exactly the approach we want to take with the band. That's a co-led band; the majority of the music is Ohad's. Some of the tunes are mine. But that band's basically been in existence for ten years. The last gig we did was about a year ago. And, you know, not that I'm on the map, but if I am at all, that band kind of put me there.
AAJ: That was your debut as a co-leader.
RJ: Yeah. And I have a hard time listening to myself, but I listen to Sound Stains [the Other Quartet's 2001 sophomore CD] and I think that's a really good record. I'm into bands; I'm not into thrown-together dates. Like with the Save Big record—that's a band, and we played twenty-five gigs before we recorded. The Other Quartet is a band. There's no change of personnel. If one of the guys can't do it, we don't do it.
AAJ: The personnels do differ between the first CD [13 Pieces, 1999] and Sound Stains. But the group on Sound Stains [Talmor, Johnson, Ferber and guitarist Pete McCann] is the definitive, still-existing version?
RJ: Yeah. And I love it. I think it's a unique band. I think we're going to try to hook up Europe for April of next year.
AAJ: I always hear a cinematic quality to the Other Quartet's stuff. Every song's a movie. The ultimate example is my favorite song from Sound Stains, Ohad's "Walking Leo. It's beautiful, very Ennio Morricone, and not just because of the guitar.
RJ: Definitely. I mean, that's a waltz, a simple waltz. Leo was Ohad's dog. That melody came into his head one day when he was walking his dog. It's a beautiful tune; Ohad is a brilliant composer. I'm doing the Jazz Standard next week with Lee Konitz's nonet and Ohad's doing all the arrangements for that. He's a brilliant musician.
AAJ: I love the arrangements on Sound Stains in particular. I don't understand how the arrangements make four instruments sound like more.
RJ: A lot of that goes to Pete, too. It's great writing, first and foremost; Ohad is one of the most brilliant composer/arrangers out there on the scene today. But plus, Pete McCann has the ability to create so many sounds and textures on his instrument.. So a lot of that's the writing and the right choice of players.
AAJ:McCann's so versatile. I'm not saying he only sounds like other players, but I hear Bill Frisell, Andy Summers, Thurston Moore—
RJ: Yeah, and he's into McLaughlin, the Mahavishnu shit—he can just shred! But he still has that sensitive side, too. On one of the tunes that I wrote, the intro—it's Pete, but I definitely hear Frisell.
AAJ: Are you talking about "Refraction ?
RJ: Yeah.
AAJ: That's a spooky tune. It's sort of a dirge, but with a Spanish feel during the trumpet section. That's a very enigmatic song.
RJ: I wrote that song completely on the piano. I don't play much piano, but I can bang out some chords. I played that on piano, and actually, my wife has a guitar laying around the house. I play zero guitar, but I tried to figure out what was playable on it. It's a very spooky tune; it's very contrapuntal. It's a mood piece. I'm really into writing mood pieces. I want to establish a certain vibe. And yes, it's a dirge. I really like that piece, actually.
AAJ: And we must talk about Mick Rossi, who's another great collaborator of yours. You play on his great new One Block From Planet Earth CD and you two do a duo thing as New Math—and made a CD of the same name.
RJ: We were talking about versatile musicians. Mick is the keyboardist and percussionist with Philip Glass and his ensemble. He's an absolutely brilliant musician; he played with Carly Simon, Hall & Oates, Philip Glass, and all the downtown guys. He can excel in all those worlds. When we got together to do that CD—I'd played in his quintet a few times, and we had no intention of making a record. I was just going over to his house to play. And he slapped up a couple of microphones, and an hour later we had the record. It's completely improvised. Mick is a brilliant composer as well. His quintet music is very highly composed. But he also does completely improvised music and for that, we just did it in an hour. I don't think there was any editing. I think it's pretty much verbatim what we played. He's really a brilliant pianist as well. And the instrument makes a huge difference to him, so we don't get to work quite as much as I would like because it's really hard to find great pianos!
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