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Interviews
Adam Rogers Discusses His Imminent Debut Release and More
Phil DiPietro
Phil wishes he was a musician (well, he is one, but he wishes he were a good one) but he's not frustrated by it. He's frustrated with a lot of other aspects of the so-called biz. Therefore, he's excited by independently released jazz.AAJ: That's an interesting perspective' it worked just as well if not better.
AR: Well, let me ask you this. Thirty years ago, generally, there were a few more original voices'so? One of the things people have told me over the years is develop your sound, whatever your sound is 'find out what it is that's unique about yourself as a person and a musician and try to bring that out. Who are you are and what do you have to offer as that's special as a person and as a musician? It may be simple. With a saxophonist it might be the difference between a rubber mouthpiece or a metal one'with a guitarist, it may be the use of a particular distortion box'or whatever. Every person has something unique to their experience as a person on the planet'nobody's had the same exact experience.
AAJ: Were you implying that schooling or academics of music has created an homogenization of style?
AR: I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that. An academic program is not necessarily going to change to accommodate each persons special qualities. Guitar is a specific instrument where there are teachers galore and a specific one teaches this and another does that. I've had a lot of people who've come to me to study, and I like to teach. I don't know if its my calling, but the tendency is for people to want to be shown how to do something. There's a certain amount of that necessary to get someone going, but to me, after learning certain techniques and theories, you've got to go figure it out for yourself. Not to be insensitive, but there is this incredible tradition of music that's been recorded. You learn scales and substitutions and every position and key and how to read, but then you've got to go listen to the music. It's like learning how to paint. If you study orchestration, you go and listen to Wagner and Beethoven and Stravinsky, and see how its done. Someone's got to lay on the concepts, but people aren't going to tell you what to do. Or how to do it.
A great example is people will periodically tell me, 'Oh, you use sweep picking.' And I say, 'Oh, ok, I guess!' I don't even know. I was constantly listening to saxophonists playing intervallic passages that don't naturally lay on the guitar, so I think somewhere along the line I learned to translate that to guitar. If you play fourths on a sax you move your lip and an octave key'on guitar you have to move through space and across the fingerboard, and you've got to do down strokes on the way down and up on the way back. Hey that's sweep picking'right? The point is that the inspiration is the music. I just heard some music I wanted to emulate somehow, so I figured out some way to do it. I mean techniques are fantastic, it's a cool thing to do, but it should come out of,and be at the service of, the music. Just to have that obsession and excitement about some music that you just want to figure it out is so important. Of course, some stuff I don't want to analyze and just leave it as incredible music to be influenced by.
AAJ: Who are your influences?
AR:Both of my parents were singer/dancers/musicians. My mom was a serious opera student and my father played drums and piano and I started playing guitar in the school basement, 'Roundabout' and Zeppelin, and when somebody played me Hendrix..I mean just his name sounds electric. I was so moved by his music I just wanted to play like that'but just the overall vibe of his music freaked me out. What I realized is that I get the same thing form him and 'Trane and Stravinsky' that transcendent extramusicality that certain musicians have. For me, Listening to Miles Davis goes beyond jazz trumpet playing. It sounds like poetry. It transcends the idiom. Certain musicians seem to rise above and beyond their particular styles, or even the medium of music, through emotional intensity, brilliance and talent. That energy and emotional intensity is something that Hendrix, Miles, Coltrane, Stravinsky and Beethoven all have, to me. You can point to a great many innovations as they relate to specific aspects of each of their particular genres but there is a similarity between them on a more broad artistic level. There is an energy and spirit that is similar to me in all of their music and I feel is truly transcendental.
In terms of contemporary influences Frisell was a big one' a phenomenal guitarist and musician. As a conceptualist and a composer, just amazing. Sco is one of my all time favorites- an original and a real improviser. Talk about having your own sound. They both really get a sound out of the instrument. There's a lot of stuff I listen to, ranging from pop to jazz to ethnic to classical and Brazilian. I'm always looking for music that gives me the feeling that music gave me when I was a little kid...I want to be moved by it.
AAJ: You seem incredibly busy. So many dates and tours. Can you update us on what this year's looking like?
AR: Well, of course some things I can't really say at the moment.
AAJ: That good huh?
AR: There are a lot of possibilities that I'm deciding about. After Mike's dates in February I'm doing a tour with Scott Colley's band at the end of April and into May in Europe. That's as much as I can report faithfully. I'm working on the record that I did and will hopefully do at least one more of my own this year. Among other goals, I want to keep recording my own music and certainly, if Criss - Cross would like to I would like to, and they do good stuff.
