Bass Musician Magazine - SPECIAL August 2014 Female Bassist Issue | Page 105

ur words kind of leads me to
ment you made that I felt was
most important artist and the
w. It’s about the people who are
things right now. Idol worship
way”. Could you further your

statement is the fact that all
suing music are going to study.
et a deep knowledge of music.
rtant for young musicians that
r a band, to have the freedom,
dence, and the support to do

their own interpretation of what that means, what that music
is, and how they experience it. What I mean by Idol worship is
people recreating over and over and over and over again the
same compositions, the same works and the same repertoire
of masters that have already done it, and done it perfectly. How
many Ella Fitzgerald tribute records do we need? I don’t know…
maybe we need some. Sometimes I hear someone that has the
capability to emulate Ella Fitzgerald, but I’d much rather hear
them take that ability and that knowledge and hear what “they”
have to say, what “their” voice is. I don’t care about How High
the Moon; I cared about Ella Fitzgerald “singing” How High the
Moon. If I’m going to hear How High the Moon, I want to hear
you sing How High the Moon so I can hear what “you” have to
say. Just like in literature, or in screenplays, people can take the
same kind of ideas and the same themes like love, or loss, or
war, and the reason we find it interesting is not because of the
content, it’s because we get a new perspective on that subject
that is familiar to all of us. And “that” I feel is really important,
that all musicians should be striving for. That’s what I mean by
that statement, that’s what I mean by Idol worship, not being
obsessed about how one person did it at that period in time.
I think that’s dangerous, and allows people to be supported
to stay stagnant in their development. You want to be brave
enough to do what the art is asking you to do.
You don’t want to be artistically afraid to go after this. Survival
in this country is relatively simple. You need just a minimum
income, and you can save some of that and have a very good
life. That’s important to remember as an artist. If you can figure
out a way to live so that you’re surviving, and saving a little for
when you’re old, then you can take advantage of that freedom
to do justice to your art.
Maybe there will be a lot of people that will not connect with
Chamber Music Society. As an artist, I’m trying to balance what
I think people would like, and what I need to do creativ ely, what’s
speaking through me, what I feel is important that I need to
share. Sometimes you’ll go back and forth and be closer to one
of those extremes, or closer to the other, and then sometimes
they’re actually not opposite forces. I want to take advantage of
this time where I can survive, and I’m young, and I have a little

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to bring it to life. And it just
es that I had already ended up
what some of these new pieces
ensemble was in my head, the
ke shape. Actually, a lot of the
last few years. The ensemble
ill tour with consists of three
p vocalist. As far as the strings
write just background strings,
ntegrate the strings beyond the
to have the strings join us on
music as well. That’s something
o show. We wanted the strings
ent in every capacity to create a
interplay with the trio. There’s
nity kind of developing where
stand more about the classical
classical musicians are getting
mprovisation. Just in the last
ew major artists I can think of
Wayne shorter used the Kronos
something with a string trio.
a real thing that’s developing,
part of the musical scene right
mping for joy or not about this
…I think it needed to be done.