Jeremy Pelt: A Man of Honor

AAJ: One of the things I love about your album is that you gave room to the band, as far as the tunes goes. They all pitched in. What makes a tune worth recording to you?

JP: It has to speak to me; it's as simple as that. I remember when Danny Grissett showed me "Without You," and he was like "Yeah, I got a song that you might want to check out." And he sent me a file and he was just about to record it for his record. So he sent me a recording of the rehearsal that he did with his band, and I listened to it, I was just like "Man... " First of all, it has to speak to me, and second of all, I got to envision myself playing it. One of the things that make a good band is putting together a very good set list where the music just flows, and you are able to read your audience, and I think I am fairly good; getting better at it all the time. But I'm always looking for something to create a vibe.

So sometimes I'll be walking around with these grand visions of how the set is going to go; I can see it. And when I heard "Without You" I knew I wanted to record it, and even how I wanted to record it. That arrangement you hear on there is different than the one on his record, which I'm glad, because you have two different ways of playing the same song. You have the version of how he interprets his song, and then you have our version, and right from when he started playing that song for me I already heard my version in my head, immediately. So that's why that one is in there. Certain songs have to fit the personality of the band, it has to be a personality vibe. So we can't be playing something totally uncharacteristic, it has to be something that we all get down with and play and internalize.

With Gerald Cleaver, "From a Life of the Same Name," we were in Portugal this is last March, and he pulled this song out. This was with his band and I was in his gig. So we tried this one and we played it, and I was like "we're recording this song." I didn't even ask him if I could! So we recorded this song in August. That's one of those songs that I didn't do much to it, it's a thoroughly composed song right there. And it spoke to me and a lot of people love that song, and it's their favorite song in the album.

With Dwayne's song, it fits the album perfectly. "Backroad"—you hear that and you get right down to business, that's why I like that. J.D.'s song, "Brooklyn Bound," it's about a vibe, you know?

AAJ: So if somebody was to ask you what this album is all about and you had to explain it with one of the songs, could you do that?

JP: No. I wouldn't even want to do that [laughs]. Really, if you wanted to say what the album is about, it's really about five points of view that aren't so different, but still five individual points of view that are coming in to make a whole. That's what the album is about—every time we play that's what is about.

AAJ: Is that what the name of the album is about, too, Men of Honor?

JP: Sure, yeah!

AAJ: That's a beautiful concept.

JP: Thank you. I thought long and hard about it [laughs]. I'm like, what do I want to call this record? Really, it was going to be something that was going to be... that people were going to be able to latch on to; and "Men of honor" just seemed like a good title, the musicians involved and the amount of experience that they have. I would like for people to perceive the album as music, to sit down and just listen to it. And dig it.

AAJ: What's the most important thing about the album to you?

JP: The sound, that's it. Obviously the performances are outstanding and everything but it's just the sound, the blend. It's a sonic thing; it's very important.

AAJ: Do you compose a lot?

JP: I try to. Maybe not as much as I used to, but every now and then I get the feeling. There are others like Myron Walden that they can just sit and... he's got probably about a thousand songs already, you know what I mean? And it doesn't happen like that with me. Nowadays I got so much to think about, but I do write. I am good working under the gun. If there is something that I have to compose for, I have no problems; I almost prefer working under the gun. A dead line. But even so, I'm the type of person that it has to come to me in the moment. It just pops in my head. It may sound simple or whatever, it doesn't get any deeper than that. I'll be sitting someplace, practicing, and then all of a sudden I hear an idea, and all of a sudden "Oh, let me get this down."

AAJ: You're working on your master's in music education. How do you think music is being treated in schools nowadays, especially jazz?

JP: It would have to be more of a comprehensive program. The question is, and I can get in a lot of trouble for this, but... you go to school, you go to medical school, and you want to be a doctor. So you go to school, you do your residency, you get accepted to a hospital, you got a job.

You want to be a jazz musician. So you got to school, four years of school, doing this and that, and then you come on the scene and you ain't got a job [laughs]. So you get out of school and what are you going to do? It's funny, it's weird, but I feel like that whoever is going to be putting together the program has to do almost like an apprentice type of vibe. You can't go and say "OK, now we're going to teach you how to scat, and this is how you scat syllables," it's just stupid. And then they come out of school thinking they know how to scat because they learned it in school, they got a degree in it. When you are trying to get a gig, it's not like you're trying to get a teaching degree. You can't be showing your master's degree! "Look, I'm qualified; I got a degree in jazz performance, so I feel like I have earned my right to play," you know what I mean?

AAJ: You are seen by many as a musician who studies the music, who elaborates what comes out of that horn. What do feel when you play?

JP: Hopefully, happy. You know what? What you want to do is set up a different story every single time you play, that's the way that I approach playing. And it's so much of a personal kind of thing that sometimes it's just really inexplicable. Maybe I can't sit over here and say exactly what it is that I am feeling when I'm playing because then it will come and go.

AAJ: Have you ever had to play a gig and you didn't feel like playing?

JP: Sure, plenty of times. The biggest misconception you can get is that musicians, while we play for a living and it's the greatest thing you can hope to accomplish, but still there are days when you just don't feel like going to work. There are certain circumstances, where you just go, "Oh boy, I don't feel like making it!" Sometimes you end up doing it just for the money. It has to manifest itself in different ways. First and foremost, you have to be professional. So, if you are on stage with a bunch of screw-ups that can't play or the music is terrible, you play and then you just head for the nearest bar. That's what I've always done [laughs], because you never know. Sometimes the squarest gigs for the people can be the most connected, in terms of getting you good-paying gigs. And sometimes those good-paying gigs can be the saddest gigs. So, you don't want to alienate them by acting disrespectful towards them on stage or talking bad about them. So, what you do is you pray that you're not able to make the gig, that you will be busy doing something else [laughs]. That's an ideal opportunity right there.

AAJ: What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of jazz?

JP: You know the answer to that question changes daily. Somebody asked me that question two or three years ago, and I can't remember what I told that person. If they were to remind me I'd be like, "Oh, yeah... well... it could also be this... " I hate trying to give definitive answers to a question that can move you a lot different in the space of a day. I'm not trying to be elusive about it, just saying that truly, is like I could sit here and tell you that the most definitive answer that I can give is that jazz is keen to life. But that alone can mean so many different things to different people. Jazz means different things to different people and I'm sure you understand that. So, a lot of people have different points of view about what the music is, according to their own experiences, which is why life would seem to be a very good answer to that question; because there are some sub-explanations to fit into that question, from day to day, but the common denominator would always be life. I wouldn't be surprised with the answer anybody can give you to that question because it depends on each person and how they feel that day.

AAJ: What would you like to see happen for you?

JP: I'd like to see my band get wider recognition. Not fame, wider recognition. More exposure, especially in its home country. Especially because, I'll be honest, there's only a few places where I can work in the Unites States: New York and then there's L.A., and there is a lot less in L.A. because Jazz Bakery is closed now and I don't know when they are going to open back up. So, wider recognition in the States would be good. Of course, you understand that we're in a terrible economy right now, and everybody is afraid to take any kind of hit, but there's got to be a general understanding about financing and everything like that. I'm just saying, I get emails all the time, and I have more than 3,000 people on Facebook, including people that I don't even know who they are but that know me. So somebody knows me, somebody is affected, and I get people in the Midwest, too, "Oh, when are you going to come here?," I got nothing to tell them because a lot of these places is an uphill battle all the time. Uphill! I'm going to be playing in Chicago in April; man, it took us seven or eight years to get there! And I'm talking about with no label support because there are cats my age or a little bit younger that are playing over there, but they also got label support.

A lot of these places, if you are not coming with a certain guarantee to them that they will actually break even, then they won't even try to hear you, and they know who you are. So it's not even like they can sit over there and fake and say, "Well, nobody knows you." Oh, come on, don't give me that. Everybody knows who I am at this point. I have been at the cover of Down Beat, numerous articles, including Wall Street Journal. I can go ahead and list a bunch of them but I choose not to, except now, that you asked me a question that I am being frank about; otherwise I try to be as much as a gentleman as possible. But the fact is that at this point, with my band, we are playing in Europe at least three times a year, traveling different territories, and people love the music. And we keep going back.

And it's sad that we can't even get the same kind of love and attention, except for the occasional articles, but it's sad that not even that matters. I could have been nominated for a Grammy this year and won a Grammy—that won't matter. You see the same people in festivals every year, or they are going for something completely different and they don't even want straight-ahead, you know? Something buzz-worthy. It is almost like you have to create a scandal now, the John Mayer of jazz, and that is a poor joke, but still, you know? It's just a ridiculous thing. So what do I want for myself? I want more recognition for the band because we deserve it. I think there is room for everybody in music but I also think that in order to make it fair, there has to be some kind of a rite of passage. A lot of times you see cats that barely came on the scene; you can't find them on other people's recordings, so they haven't recorded. They're starting to buzz about them and now they're getting a lot of work, for what? You know what I mean? And everybody's got a musical point of view.

A lot of music is good and should be heard in due time, but people are so quick to do things immediately that you have to try to slave over a concept for 12 years. And playing with a lot of the masters that are here, and some that are now dead, to see somebody else come up there. And this is going to sound like I'm bitter, but I'm not. In the past 12 years that I've been up here I've been able to have great opportunities. It's not a full complaint, "Nobody is paying attention to me," that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that there is room for everybody, for bands to be heard, and it makes no sense that every festival has the same artists pretty much from here to here.

Like you have somebody that is new and you're going to present them. Sure, go ahead. But not every year! I look at things realistically and there is one thing that you have to have in mind if you want to make it as a band leader, and that is that you have to know what your own standing on the scene is, and I think I have a firm grasp on that. I don't think I am greater than anybody but I'm assertive and I know exactly what I've done thus far, and I know what it is that I am capable of doing, and I definitely work with that as much as possible. And it is not like I have any false kind of perceptions about where I am in the scene. I'm not sitting here saying, "Listen, I should be on the same bill as Wynton Marsalis." I don't understand that, I'm not one of those people. We can go over to Europe, no problem. And a lot of times I have wondered if I shouldn't move to Europe.

But then I had a great conversation with Jesse Davis, because I was really thinking about it, because there comes a point when in the darkest corner on every musicians' minds there is some state of discourage about something. And it probably happens to me once a year, when I'm like, "You know what, this shit fucking sucks!" [laughs]. And then I get a hold of myself and I get myself together and tomorrow is a different day. But I guess my whole point, in regards to moving to Europe, was that. And Jesse said, "You don't really want to do that because then you are easily accessible, and essentially is going to be the same thing." So you want to keep your visibility here because then you won't be a cat that they can see all the time. It's a business decision but if you ask me what I want, that's what I want: recognition for the band.

AAJ: What's the best feeling you've ever had, while playing?

JP: Just being able to be in the same room with a lot of my heroes, that's the best feeling. Being on stage and them not looking at me like, "You need to get your ass off the stage." That's the best feeling I've ever had right there 'cause that's what's important. A lot of cats, because they haven't been exposed to the opportunity to play with the great masters of music, probably can't really relate to it in a way because they don't have that experience, and they don't care that they haven't been on stage with a legend, and they don't know about the importance of that; what that does to their own character and their own playing, and what it says to the people that are watching them. And when it comes to me, I grew up completely old school, respect your elders, and learn as much as you can.

I spent summers sitting next to my grandfather, three months a year, you know what I mean? Listening to the old stories. So it has to do with the way I was raised. It's kinda like when you were told as a kid, "Don't be interrupting the old folks when they're talking, don't be having any kind of opinion." So, it's exciting, it's exhilarating when you're able to finally have an opinion. When somebody that's way, way more experienced, somebody that came to the city 20-some odd years before you were born, and made their mark on the music and now has you in the band, and might ask you, "What do you want to play?" And they want to extend you that respect as a peer, as a fellow musician, it makes all the difference in the world; and that's always going to be the best feeling that I've had, in regards of what I do, because that's what motivates what I do.

It's like I saw this one interview with Miles Davis by Bryant Gumbel for BBC done in 1982, and Miles was just being playful and answering the questions directly. And when it comes down to the real thing, he said, "Dizzy Gillespie would say that I'm one of the best." That's what I'm talking about—it's always going to come down to the same thing, being accepted and respected by those who were here before me, the people that I look up to and respect, listened to on record and continue to listen to for years, encouraging and telling me that I sound good. After all is said and done, it still is going to have to come down to the truth. Like Miles, all perceptions aside of his arrogance, drug use, all of that gets swept under the rug, and all its left is the truth, and the truth is that still, at that point, 1982, was still that boy from St. Louis that came up there and wanted to follow his idol around, which was Dizzy. Important.

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