Take Five With Joe Blessett

Meet Joe Blessett:
Started out on alto sax, put it down pick up a six-string, got real and got day job. Now just a civilian making good noise in my spare time. Thanks to advances in technology and changes in the music industry I am afforded the opportunity to develop and produce my own unique sound. I don't do well in crowds, fat chance you will ever see me on a stage.

Instrument(s):
Saxophone, six-string, bass, keys, computer.

Teachers and/or influences?
Too many to list, but I will try: Richard Rodgers, Robert Russell Bennett, Carson Whitsett, Junior Walker, Booker T and the MGs, Miles Davis, Boots Randolph, Buddy Miles, Billy Cox, Art Porter, George Duke, McCoy Tyner, Weather Report, Crusaders, Mandre, MotherFinest, Jeff Beck.

I knew I wanted to be a musician when...
I am not musician, music is my vice.

Your sound and approach to music:
Best way to put it is that I translate what I see into a musical composition. Imagine hovering above a freeway with a night sky as the canvas. Watch the automobiles traveling at different speeds heading two different directions moving along separately but in unison. Getting on and off as needed, creating a fluid motion.

Your teaching approach:
Learn the basics and start on the long journey of developing your sound. Above all else never forget music is a business or be prepared to get a day job.

Your dream band:
Miles Davis, Boots Randolph, Buddy Miles, Billy Cox, McCoy, Carson Whitsett, Junior Walker.

Road story: Your best or worst experience:
The night I realized I would have to get a day job to survive in this business.

Favorite venue:
I don't play live venues.

Your favorite recording in your discography and why?
"Chili Don" is my favorite; it was actual place on Long Beach Blvd, In Long Beach, California—a dark and dirty place full of the life. I would go there when I did not have enough money to go to Breakers. You got a cold bottle of beer and a good time on a budget, where the glasses and mugs were for the brave and stupid. But amongst all the chaos there was a reassuring calm, as you could see the music being played, when there was none to be heard. The composition is calm and chaotic and embodies life as I see it.

The first Jazz album I bought was:
Miles Davis, Doo -Bop.

Did you know...
I don't like being touch by strangers in crowded rooms.

CDs you are listening to now:
Joe Blessett, Last of the Good Times.

Desert Island picks:
Miles Davis, Doo-Bop; Jeff Beck, Blow by Blow; George Duke, Reach for It; Mothers Finest.

How would you describe the state of jazz today?
Needs to get out of its own way.

What are some of the essential requirements to keep jazz alive and growing?
Take it off the pedestal and put it on the ground so we can play with it.

What is in the near future?
Last of the Good Times and Back to Basics are two completed project have not decided if i want release them.

By Day:
Engineer.


Photo Credit
Courtesy of Joe Blessett

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