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Interviews
T.S. Monk Speaks Out
Franz A. Matzner
Franz Matzner has contributed interviews and coverage from the Kennedy Center since 2002.Ultimately, it became smooth jazz. That works for everyone What happened in the beginning was that you had this rock wave so what we're gonna have to do is we're gonna have to switch the beat under the music and maybe that'll fool everyone into thinking it's rock and we'll make some money. Well, it didn't work. What it did do was alienated the hell out of the jazz community and but not for Miles[Davis] shownin' everybody that it actually works, there wouldn't even be any smooth jazz.
But I've always said that, why alienate everybody. What makes it magical for me as a drummer is I can play for you Max Roach, and then stop, one, two, three, four, lay down some James Brown funk like the cats in the band, then stop, one, two, three, four, and lay down some other kind of stuff. That is interesting. Now that requires a little talent. One of the problems with a lot of jazz artists who tried to move to the fusion thing is people said they didn't sound for real. Well, he sounds like a jazz player. But there is a whole generation of musicians like myself that came up behind the Waynes and the Herbies that are true chameleons. Branford [Marsalsis] is one. Wynton is not.'Russell Malone is the ultimate chameleon on the guitar. Russell Malone will play you Mississippi gut bucket blues and you'd think he's missing an eye and got five teeth, right? Then, he'll turn around and play you some Jimi Hendrix where you'd swear Jimi is in the house; then turn around and break down some George Benson; and then give you some Grant Green, Django Reinhhardt and you'll say, 'Well, did he study with Django?' There's a whole bunch of us out here that for the most part are lost. I say there's a market for us and I'm going to get it rolling. That's what Crosstalk was about, that's what Higher Ground is all about. That's what T.S. Monk is all about. Jazz is a vast tent. Fuck the jazz police. I grew up with Art Blakey in the house.
No bullshit. Max Roach'in the house. And neither of those guys ever, ever said to me, 'Thelonious if you don't play ding-ding-da-ding for the rest of your life, you won't be a jazz musician' Only the jazz police say that kind of BS and I'm not having it because the public is confused. If you like ZZ Top, I like Mick Jagger, your girlfriend likes Paul McCartney, and her brother likes Sid Vicious, we're all rockers. No doubt about it. Only when you get to jazz all of a sudden you've got the smooth jazz people pointing at the traditionalist cats 'cause they're too old. You've got the traditionalists pointing at the smooth jazz because they can't play, and both of them pointing at the Outcats because it's too far out, and them pointing at the other guys saying they're slaves to the papers. And what that does to the audience is it confuses the shit out of them when we told our audience that jazz is the most inclusive, that jazz is the most comprehensive, jazz is all over the world, jazz is universal, and then we don't act out any of those things anymore. But the masters did.
