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earconnector is delighted to announce the second in a series "from our own correspondent" in paris, saxophonist amy gamlen. (to read the first, hit next at the bottom of the page)
“HILL”
Jobic Le Masson (piano, compositions) with John Betsch (drums) and Peter Giron (upright bass)
One of my all time favorite bands ever has to be Jobic Le Masson's trio (- I am not exaggerating... )
Every time I've heard this band play it has been fantastic. To be completely honest, quite often when I go to a gig, one set is enough for me and my often limited concentration, but THIS band provides hours of effortless listening pleasure. It's so flexible and the tunes are great and the interaction between the musicians is so open and so much and so organic that we don't even notice it unless we look - same for technique - unnoticeable therefore sublime. There is a fantastic unclear clearness - a tantalizing intruiging something - looking for the right word here -the thesaurus tells me "ambiguous is vague by accident or intent; equivocal is vague by intent" so I suppose it's equivocal. This doesnt mean it's airy fairy or squeaky bonky - quite the opposite - it's deep and it really swings - you'll see what I mean when you listen..... And you can now listen in the comfort of your own home or anyone else’s who buys a copy of their new CD “Hill”, which is coming out on the 3rd of March 2008 (label: ENJA, distribution: Harmonia Mundi).
I emailed a list of questions to the group with instructions that they can do what they like with them. I also invited Caroline Volcivici to comment. This band was a regular at her 7 Lézards jazz club. See news from Paris January for more info on the 7 Lézards.
You can find out more about Jobic here: http://jobic.lemasson.free.fr
ENJOY!
Amy
Peter: Hello to all.
Well, here is my contribution. I thought I would yuk it up, then I thought twice about it. I couldn't come up with a reasonable solution. So here goes...
Jobic: Here it is - definitively not as funny as Peter but hey!
maybe my english needs to be corrected too.
here is the link to music:
http://jobic.lemasson.free.fr/music/jobiclemassontrio
Thanks
John: Et voila quoi!
luv, the very Betsch
• How and when did you guys all meet?
Peter: I had been off the circuit for awhile. I started playing out again, mostly at 7 Lezards. John met me there and hooked me into some things. Eventually he introduced me to Jobic and that put trio things into motion.
Jobic: I first met John playing with him in quartet. Eventually, we got to sit down and eat something and I introduced myself mentioning my Berklee School years. He then told me when he actually attended the school. I replied that I wasn't even born then and that started it all on a good laugh. Then we played duo and formed the sextet with you Amy . Daniel Erdman told me that Peter and John were incredible together - we did a first concert without rehearsal.....had a ball.... the rest we know.
John: I got a cd in the mail for a concert with a quartet and met Jobic at the first rehearsal. He has already told you about the Berklee stuff... I met Peter at the Paris Conservatory when we were both on the jury for the entrants. He had seen me in NYC playing with Ted Daniel's big band at Ali's Alley and I'm sure we were in the Tin Palace at the same time at some point but we never officially met before Paris.
• The music sounds very constructed and at the same time very open – how do you rehearse – is it all worked out ?
Peter: Amongst Jobics' strengths is his ability to offer slight of hand direction without giving away the plot. As far as rehearsing goes, we don't and we do. We save it all for the bandstand mostly. However there is a lot of communication off the bandstand about what we're doing. It's really a living breathing thing.
Jobic:It's always worked out on the bandstand while playing. Probably thanks to lack of memory, we always have to do it again differently the next time. The point is that J&P are incredibly sensitive musicians and very responsive to anything close to tempo changes or harmonic modulations. It's become a given that anything could be possible at any moment. For example if we feel like staying on a chord and breaking the form for a while - we do. I also think that over the years the tunes have defined themselves as for their melody or form or whatever and that ends up giving lots of freedom while knowing what to work with and fall back on.
John: Rehearse??? Actually we'll try that some time soon, but it's a pretty intuitive band. Me being the most nearsighted, I try not to think about paper, and AFTER WE TOUR AND HAVE IT ALL MEMORIZED, paper will be obsolete.
• How does each person see their role in making the overall work ?
Peter: Everybody shoots, but is expected to pass also. Please try to not drop the ball too often. If you do, there are usually a couple of guys to pick it up anyway, so don't freak .By all means take risks. Just pay attention and make nice in the sandbox.
Jobic: I truly think that each one of us equally feels that we can freely let go and take a maximum of risk as much as having to accept the role of anchoring the tune if needed. Basically it's become like a little game of 'two out' against 'one in' and rotating !
John: My job is basically the same as in any formation: make it swing and add a little cosmic glue.
• Jobic – do you have a particular harmonic approach to voicings – comping and soloing – without giving away all your secrets…
Peter: oh oh...
Jobic: Not much more to say than Peter's answer ..Oh Oh...and then there is what you said once Amy : those chords are ambiguous.
• You played very often at the 7 Lézards jazz club – how important was this in the development of the trio ?
Peter: This wouldn't have happened without the Lezards and Caroline. Simple as that. We have her to thank.
Jobic: It's very simple - the Trio exists, because of Caroline and her club. She has given us what most good bands use to get in the old days and probably what everybody agrees that they should get today: being able to play anything, on a very regular basis, over years, the whole thing surrounded by respect and friendship.
John: The late Roland Alexander, the saxophonist I worked with the most in NYC, told me he worked with Mal Waldron opposite the John Coltrane for six nights a week for 13 weeks; Steve Lacy worked with Monk opposite the Miles Davis Sextet in the Apollo for the matinee, then got into the Baroness' Rolls and went to the Five Spot for 16 weeks plus a Sunday matinee at the Five Spot... A large problem of the music today is that bands get maximum two or three nights a week. The Village Vangard still gives a week, sometimes two weeks. The music sounds the way it does today because there's no chance for a band to WORK in front of an audience and grow the way there used to be. Caroline gave me personally about 10 different possibilities: I've never encountered anyone like her: she's truly an angel. If it weren't for her, the trio wouldn't exist nor the sextet, but that's another story.....;
• How important is it for a jazz venue to book groups regularly ?
Peter: Pretty damned important, i would think. Without it, what would it be? A Starbucks?
Jobic: building a sound is important
John: See the above....
• Your first trio record, « Hill », is soon to be released on ENJA records. How different is the studio version from the live performance ?
Peter: The tunes may be of shorter length but the direction, interplay and intensity is intact I think. Our silly-meter is probably running higher in live situations. And this can be a very good thing.
Jobic: not much actually since the feel of live performance is the spirit we tried to keep. Though tunes are shorter and maybe a bit cleaner. The tunes have been performed, deconstructed and reshaped many times by live concerts. Making a CD, we just made sure of the overall form of each tune for length purposes.
John: The tune "Dotted" in live performance is usually about 20 times more ridiculous! If there's any criticism of the cd I have, it's that "Dotted" doesn't come anywhere near what we do live! But for a studio recording, we're all really tickled pink, plaid and polka-dotted with the results. Phillipe Tessier Ducross is one of the most amazing engineers I've ever had the pleasure of working with, including, the late David Baker and the legendary Rudy Van Gelder.
• What repertoire is played on the record ?
Peter: Jobics' material, save Bemsha.
Jobic: mine - that comes from tunes written over a long period of time and very often not written for the Trio in the first place. So that somehow, when we first played them, they seemed probably as new to them than to me. Except as Peter said for 'Bemsha' that we used for a long time as a start up tune for concerts - we would set up the mood by stretching it as much as possible. Kind of a barometer for what would come next.
• The record is named "Hill" - is this for a particular hill/Hill?
Peter: This would be Andrew Hill. without
Jobic: Andrew - as one of the tune I wrote while having a strong and worried feeling that I was copying something he had composed, without being able to pin it down. The tune in the end sounds like nothing from him but I feel he definitely deserves the credit.
• What people have been major influences for you ?
Peter: Oooohhhh...the musicians. way too many to mention here.
Jobic: From my parents to my children - including everybody I've listened to and played with.
John: My mother and late older sister who were very weird with music and me. The Florida A and M University Marching band's half time show: the movie "Drumline" gives a hint of what the black southern marching band tradition is about. Max Roach and Connie Kay on the Charlie Parker and MJQ records my sisters brought home; too many others to mention.......
• Will you be playing in the UK any time soon?
Peter: I'm on the train at the drop of a quid.
Jobic: nothing planned yet but I would love to - somehow even though it is so close- it doesn't happen very easily.
John: No: HELP!!!!!!!!!!!! How about some of your colonized tropical islands???????????
• What question would you like to be asked?
Peter: I have a 165 year old Kennedy upright bass that I have no use for. Would you like to take it off my hands?
Jobic: what question would you like to be asked ?
John: Is this wallet with 10000 euros in it yours?
• What question would you like to ask each other?
Peter: Do either one of you have the answer to THIS question?
Jobic: what question would you like to ask me? or what question would you like me to ask you?
John: When is the next gig?
You can see the trio perform in Paris at the Sunside Jazz Club the 11th and 12th of March 2008. (60, rue des Lombards 75001 Paris).
If you'd like tickets you can reserve on the Sunside site or if you are in Paris you can pre-buy them directly from the The Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore (22, rue St Paul 75003 Paris) for a reduced price of 12€.
Bring all your friends!
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