Hi! How are you? Where are you?
I’m very well, thanks. I’m writing to you from my small studio at my home in New York City.
What’s on your schedule right now?
I
just finished a recording session this afternoon with
songwriter/guitarist Philip F. Lynch. We’ve been working on an album of
his songs and guitar pieces for a few months now. It should be released
in 2007. I’m also spending time regularly recording my own work, and
have started the (long) process of reviewing and compiling recordings
that will eventually make up my second album. Aside from that stuff,
I’m booking gigs, doing my daily guitar practice, working a day job,
and getting married next month! It’s been busy!
What
or who was your biggest influence as an artist? Do you see yourself as
part of a certain tradition or as part of a movement?
That’s a
tough question, because I’ve been influenced by so many people. When I
was a teenager I took lessons from a Long Island guitarist named Larry
Meyer. Larry had been a student of Lennie Tristano and had lots of
great stories about him, and what his teaching was like. Larry was –
still is, I’m sure – a fantastic bebop guitarist. He would improvise
these perfect choruses over standard changes, and I’d take them home
and learn them. Each one was like a new composition – and some of them
did in fact become tunes that he would play live. I think I got some of
my sense of syncopation from him. Andrew Hill, Bill Dixon, Derek
Bailey, Captain Beefheart, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Joe Morris,
Lou Harrison, John Fahey, Harry Partch: all of these people have helped
me. I haven’t been influenced by them in terms of style, per se, but by
their confidence and strength, and the beauty of their work. Listening
to them confirmed that I needed to explore my own sense of music
without regard to what other people say should or should not be done.
I
don’t see myself as part of any particular tradition or movement. I
sometimes think it would be nice to feel like a part of a tradition,
but I don’t, and you can’t force that sort of thing. Well, you can, but
it’s probably not a good idea.
What’s your view on the music scene at present? Is there a crisis?
I
don’t feel like I’m part of any music scene, so it’s hard to say. In
local terms, I know musicians who do good work: rock bands,
songwriters, improvisors. Beyond that, there’s also a lot of good new
stuff at the record stores, too. There’s certainly no crisis in terms
of a lack of exciting creative work being made available.
What does the term „new“ mean to you in connection with music?
I
don’t think in terms of “new” very much. I’m just excited there’s so
much great music to explore. My daily listening tends to span decades
as a matter of course. But I don’t want to avoid your question. It
seems to me that groups like No-Neck Blues Band and Jackie O
Motherfucker, among others, are doing something new in combining a
group improv mindset with rock band instrumentation and energy. Other
groups have done it before – Can comes to mind, and No-Neck made the
connection with the German rock movement of the 70s clear through their
collaboration with Embryo this year. But it seems to me that it’s not
been done before in just this way, with the urban, hard electric
element brought by the new groups. Of course, it shouldn’t be
surprising that music made in 2006 should be different from music that
came before, or from music that is contemporaneous, but from different
locations. Unique people, in new environments, produce necessarily new
music. Unless the goal is to copy, in which case it’s still different
from the original, no matter how precise. These groups are just one
example, there’s a lot of exciting music being made today.
How do you see the relationship between sound and composition?
Composition
is the act of manipulating sound; from the extremes of mid-20th century
serial procedure in which every element is carefully controlled, to
John Cage’s 4’33” in which the only thing provided is the frame. I
don’t mean to suggest that those are immovable brackets, though. One
could define one’s moment-to-moment experience of sound as listening to
a composition, maybe. But that seems like a lonely option, since there
would be no way to share that “composition” in the way that we think of
sharing the experience of music. I like frames, anyway.
How strictly do you separate improvising and composing?
I
consider all of my improvisations to be compositions. Some good, some
bad. Beyond that, I’ve also taken some improvised material and taken it
apart and put it back together using compositional techniques. There
are four pieces on my album Java Street Bagatelles that I composed that
way, but I haven’t been using methods like that since. Straight
improvising is a more enjoyable way to work. Editing is another method
of composition that I sometimes apply to a recorded improvisation. In
fact, when it’s called for, it’s possibly my favourite part of the
process of making a piece of music. My brother is a film editor, so it
must run in the family!
What constitutes a good live performance in your opinion? What’s your approach to performing on stage?
A
good live performance for me is one in which I’m relaxed and focused.
My approach is very simple. Arrange the amplifier and chair, find a
comfortable balance, and play. I do use some musical techniques to try
to get into a mindset where I can experience the situation in a relaxed
but alert way and play well, but I’ll keep them to myself!
A
lot of people feel that some of the radical experiments of modern
compositions can no longer be qualified as “music”. Would you draw a
border – and if so, where?
I wouldn’t draw a border. I think what music is depends on the intent of the music-maker, and how the music is presented.
Are “serious” and “popular” really two different types of music or just empty words without a meaning?
“Serious”
is a word that some people have used to describe their musical
tradition as superior to others’: the opposite of “serious” is not
“popular,” after all, but “trivial”. So there is a meaning to the term,
but I don’t subscribe to it.
Do you feel an artist has
a certain duty towards anyone but himself? Or to put it differently:
Should art have a political/social or any other aspect apart from a
personal sensation?
The duty of an artist is to be honest with
him/herself, to work, and to persevere. The result of that can be
beneficial to other people too.
True or false: People need to be educated about music, before they can really appreciate it.
False.
Exposure to the music, obviously, is necessary for a listener to
appreciate it, and some willingness to listen. That’s all.
Imagine
a situation in which there’d be no such thing as copyright and
everybody were free to use musical material as a basis for their own
compositions – would that be an improvement to the current situation?
If
everything ever recorded or composed were suddenly public domain it
wouldn’t affect my work at all, so it’s difficult for me to answer.
Obviously it would be an entirely different story for sampling sound
artists. Of course, people are mashing up copy written material into
new compositions anyway.
You are given the position of artistic director of a festival. What would be on your program?
(You’ll
see that I put some thought into this, creating bands, resurrecting
others, etc.) Day One: Jeff Parker, Richard Youngs’ Ilk, Circulatory
System, Bill Dixon Quartet (w/ Tony Oxley), Jackie O Motherfucker. Day
two: Martin Wellham’s Forest, Tom Rapp’s Pearls Before Swine; Vashti
Bunyan with Devendra Banhart; Alec K Redfearn & the Eyesores,
Robert Wyatt. Day three: The Geographers (Clive Bell and Sylvia
Hallett), Gush, Andrew Hill, No-Neck Blues Band, K-Space, Alice
Coltrane Group featuring Sonny Greenwich. Day four: Slapp Happy (w/
Fred Frith, John Greaves, & Chris Cutler), Volcano the Bear, Gang
Gang Dance, Comets on Fire, and Magma. Day five: solo guitar sets from
Roger Smith; Jim McAuley, Bert Jansch; then The Bill Fay Group; and
finally -- big finish -- Bob Dylan.
Many artists dream of a “magnum opus”. Do you have a vision of what yours would sound like?
Magnum opus, no. But I hope I can make a few small good things.
Discography:
Solo:
Java Street Bagatelles, 2006 (Workbench)
With The Billy Nayer Show:
Goodbye Straplight Sarentino, 2003 (BSG)
The American Astronaut, 2001 (BSG)
Return To Brigadoon, 1999 (BSG)
The Villain that Love Built, 1998 (BSG)
With Grand Mal:
Love Is the Best Con In Town, 2006 (New York Night Train)
Bad Timing, 2003 (Arena Rock)
Homepage:
James Beaudreau
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