Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hi, Greg, welcome to the show. I have to ask you to start things off. Where were you born?
[00:00:06] Speaker B: I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, in America.
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Now, when you were growing up, were you surrounded by a lot of music?
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Yes, in a way. My mother often played classical music while doing things around the house.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: Now, when you were young, I would imagine you had a lot of.
A lot of memories growing up relating to music. Do you remember your earliest musical memory?
[00:00:33] Speaker B: Well, my parents say I used to beat out rhythms as a baby while music played on the stereo, but I don't have clear memories of that. The memories I do have are listening to music while lying down on the floor with the speakers sitting right next to my ears, pretending to play drums on my high school textbooks to rock music when I should have been studying and loving the mysterious sounds of the Oscar Peterson Trio with Ray Brown and Herb Ellis long before I knew who they were.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Now let's stick to your childhood for a minute.
When you were growing up and listening to all this music, I have to wonder, was your family musical at all? Did they have any musical inclinations?
[00:01:18] Speaker B: No, not really.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Speaking of firsts, do you remember the very first jazz concert that you ever attended?
[00:01:26] Speaker B: I'm not sure I remember, but perhaps it was a pianist in Cincinnati named Ed Moss. He was performing with a trio in his club and I remember the bassist played barefoot, which was kind of unusual, I thought.
And many years later I had the opportunity to play with Edmoss as an adult.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: You lived in Singapore for a while now, how was that move for you from a musical perspective?
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Well, I never knew it at the time, but in retrospect, being there was a pinnacle in my life musically.
I had a steady six night a week gig, a trio gig, had a fan base, and eventually I recorded four CDs there, played at major festivals and made my entertainment company a major player in the music business scene.
I knew top management, hoteliers and chefs on a first name basis and launched my composing band leading and recording career there.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: One of the greatest guitarists of all time was Jimi Hendrix. Now, I know that one of your early influences was this great axe wizard, and I was wondering what it was about his playing that captivated you so much.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: What inspired me about his playing was his feeling, his ability to convey emotions through his playing. And visually, he was fun to watch too.
He's what I call an honest player.
[00:03:00] Speaker A: Let's go way back in time to somebody who was very helpful for you in your early development. I'm speaking of Helen Hoffman. Now, what was the one lesson that you learned from her that you still tend to adhere to today.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: Wow, that's a real blast from the past.
Perhaps one of the most important things I learned from her was that I was good.
She kind of reassured me about that.
And her discipline was helpful as well. Discipline to practice.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: Over the years, you must have had many jazz guitarists that influenced your style of playing.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: Well, to be honest, other instrumentalists influenced me perhaps more than guitar players.
Musicians of the John Coltrane Band, Art Blakey's band, Miles Band, and for composing and groove, Horace Silver.
After Hendrix, Wes Montgomery was the biggest influence for guitar, though he and Hendrix played a different style. Wes has what I described of Hendrix. You know, he's fun to watch, you know, enjoying himself, and he has the ability to convey emotion in his playing.
And they're both unique stylists.
You can recognize their playing right away.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: Now that you're living in Japan. Greg, what is the music scene like there?
[00:04:40] Speaker B: Let me say that Japan is very hard. The cultural and language gap is one of the biggest problems.
And when most people think of Japan, they're thinking of the economic boom of the bubble economy about 10 years or so ago.
They call it the bubble economy here. It was when people were spending freely and credit was easy to get and salaries were high.
And what some people don't realize is those days are gone.
But on the other hand, because of its size and population and economic strength and influence, it does offer many opportunities. It's the opposite of being a big fish in a small pond like I was in Singapore.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: Now, what is the advantage of that?
[00:05:34] Speaker B: And the advantage of that is that it's not as limiting. There are more possibilities.
But in Japan, to capitalize on those opportunities, one needs more time than one might in the West.
In Japan, relationships are built slowly and change comes slowly. And in that way, it's a very conservative place. And it's taking me much longer than I'd like to build a successful playing career here. But it is happening.
Another thing I should mention about Japan that affects all the musicians here alike is it's the most expensive place to live on earth. So one needs even more gigs to survive here than usual. And many musicians, including me, can't support themselves on music alone.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: Well, Greg, you know, I'd like to know, and I'm sure many of the listeners would like to know, how many guitars do you own?
[00:06:31] Speaker B: I sold my first guitar at Gibson Les Paul in Singapore. I own four now, though I don't play them all regularly. My main guitar is an epiphone Triumph from sometime in the late 30s and mid-40s before the end of World War II.
I bought that in Cincinnati from another guitar player after looking for a long time for one that felt good and sounded good. Since then it's been operated on many times, but I feel the good sound and the feel that I liked originally with it warrants all the money I've spent repairing it over the years. I own a steel string Loudon, a George Loudon acoustic, which I used once or twice on my integration recordings, once on the title track of Where We Find Ourselves and once on my latest release, Two's Company, Three's a Crowd on the pop song if I own a Baby Taylor that my late wife bought me for my birthday and that's been a great asset because it fits in the overhead rack of an airplane and I've taken that on all my diving trips, my diving honeymoon, and many of my compositions have been composed on that guitar.
I also own a nylon string classical guitar that I haven't played since I was doing the Steady High Tea gig on the executive floor of the Ritz Carlton in Singapore. That guitar served me well in Hong Kong and Singapore, but not here so far.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: Now, what projects are you currently involved with? For 2006, I had planned to record.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: My eighth CD titled Paint a Picture, Tell a Story, but that's been postponed. One problem is that one of my World Beat band members is moving back to the States. His absence in the band has to be dealt with, and there are other reasons. Right now I have my hands full getting ready for challenging gigs in other people's bands. And like Most working musicians, 80% of our time is spent sadly trying to get gigs rather than practicing or writing.
My immediate goal is to do as well as I can on the gigs I have coming up and get some new gigs for later this year. And longer term goals are to finish writing the material for my next two CDs and get a recording schedule in place.
Somewhere in between all that, I'd like to get home to see my mom in the States. It's been almost seven years since my last trip home.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: One thing I've always admired about your recordings, Greg, is that your recordings consist of mostly original material. Now I have to wonder, does composing take up a large part of your musical life?
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Unfortunately, getting proper exposure takes more of my time than writing. And yet it seems like paddling upstream a battle we may never win.
That is to get a worldwide audience, major distribution contract, or even to be able to get my music heard on the radio or sold in stores is very tough.
Yet writing and producing CDs that feature my writing is one of the most important things in my life. It's my kind of legacy to produce quality jazz recordings. It's my contribution, giving something back, and it's something that lasts. It's a bona fide statement. It's proof, and nobody can take it away.
Those things appeal to me now more than ever.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: With your hectic schedule, do you ever find time to practice at all in.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: The past few years? Generally, no. But recently, as I said earlier, I have been practicing to learn music I have to play at upcoming gigs, music that's not my own and not standard material.
Actually, this interview is taking up my practice time today.
These days, the only time I can practice is early in the morning into the afternoon, Monday through Friday, in between emails, errands, eating, cooking and cleaning.
And my practice method is to use a metronome and slowly build up speed on the music that I have to read.
If I don't have anything specific to practice like that, then I would prefer to compose.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Now, when it comes to composing music, who has influenced your style of composing?
[00:11:10] Speaker B: Perhaps Horace Silver in the beginning.
Now maybe nobody, or maybe everybody.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: Let's talk a little about your time at Berkeley College in Boston. Now, what was the most important lesson that you learned when you were attending that prestigious school?
[00:11:28] Speaker B: Most important thing I learned while studying at Berkeley might be how important it is to play as much as possible.
For the most part, I lost interest in the classes, but I had a lot of interest in what I heard coming from the practice rooms.
I liked counterpoint class and I liked harmonic analysis.
Maybe my favorite knowledge gleaned from my time at Berkeley was the concept of upper structure triads, upper and lower approach notes, chord scales, how to determine what scale goes with each chord, bar by bar in a song, and also a sight reading tutor taught me that to read music you have to be able to count the rhythm first.
That was an important lesson.
But basically my time there was being poor. I had no money, asked a lot of questions, I practiced a lot, and I hung around the practice rooms looking for people to play with.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: What are some of your favorite jazz recordings of all time?
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Here we go. The Stylings of Silver by Horace Silver, live at Birdland, 1963. Art Blakey, RIP Rig and Panic by Rahsaan Roland Kirk, out of this World with Pepper Adams, Donald Byrd and featuring Herbie Hancock.
The incredible guitar of Wes Montgomery, In N Out and the real McCoy with Joe Henderson and McCoy Tyner. Same period personnel and Style First Baseman by Paul Chambers, the Bassist featuring tunes by Yusef Lateef, Luminescence by Barry Harris with Pepper Adams and Slide Hampton arrangements, Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley. Hub Tones with Freddie Hubbard and Herbie Hancock.
Dinah Washington Live in 1963 and maybe an out of print trio with Don Thompson on the bass by Jim Hall, Just called Jim Hall Live on the Horizon label.
It's a great record.
And that label, by the way, has always has some solo printed out, which was kind of neat.
Herbie Hancock's Thrust, Kenny Wheeler's New High featuring Keith Jarrett, Paul Desmond featuring the great Canadian guitarist Ed Bickert. Mountain in the Clouds, Miroslav Vatus, the bassist checked bassist. Also released as Infinite Search all the Way with Little Jimmy Scott, Blowing the Blues Away and Finger Popping with Horace Silver, Quintet, Miles Records 4 and more, live at the Blackhawk. Live at the Blackhawk. Sorry.
Coltrane's Transition, Live at the Village Vanguard, Afro Blue and the One with Johnny Hartman, Roll Call, Hank Mobley with Blakey and Hubbard, the Big Beat, Art Blakey, Unity, Larry Young.
What else? Jean Luc Ponty, Sunday Walk. Not a very known record. Not a very well known record.
Sam Jones, the Soul Society and the Chant Ten Piece Bands.
Philly Joe Jones, Big Band Records.
Oh gosh, so many.
My favorite jazz groups are Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver's group, John Coltrane's group and Miles Davis's group. Favorite composers are Duke Ellington, Alec Wilder, Billy Strayhorn, Wes Montgomery, Coltrane, Tad Dameron, Cedar Walton, Monk Mingus, Golson, Shorter.
And some of my favorite soloists are Pepper Adams, Coltrane, Lester Young, Bird, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Mobley Kirk, Pharaoh Sanders, Booker Irving, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, Slide, Hampton Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Fats Navarro, Booker.
Excuse me, Booker, Little Miles, Herbie Hancock, Barry Harris, McCoy Tyner, Bill Evans, Phineas Newborn, Jimmy Smith, Bud Powell, Horace Silver, Wynton Kelly, Jackie Byard, Cedar Walton, Joanne Brackeen, Paul Chambers, Sam Jones, Ron Carter, Roy Haynes, Melvin, Art Blakey, Dejeunette, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Nancy Wilson, Dinah Washington, Jimmy Scott, Johnny Hartman, Sarah Vaughn, Betty Carter, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles.
And for the younger players, I like Mulgrew Miller and Terence Blanchard, Steve turay and Christian McBride. This list also appears on my website.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: For a time, you were studying to become a chef. Now, did you see this as a turning point in your life?
[00:16:48] Speaker B: Moving to Massachusetts and moving in with a lady who would become my wife for 14 years was a turning point. But as far as my music career goes, it was quitting that cooking job and trying to make it only on plane, that was also a turning point. And at the same time getting the regular gig at that inn, the Lord Jeffrey Inn, and booking the music there for the time I lived there.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: When you were living in New York, did you have much opportunity to perform and gig around the city?
[00:17:20] Speaker B: The first time I was there in the late 70s while and after I attended college, I played at a small club across from my father's place in Rosslyn, New York called the Little Club. We played jazz, rock, fusion in a power trio with Randy Coven on bass.
After that, not really.
I had one gig with a singer at some club in the Village, but at that time I don't even think I was actually living there yet.
Most of my time in New York City was spent doing a other things, although I did have a chance to listen to a lot of great groups and buy a lot of records.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: With your busy schedule, do you have any time to do any teaching or mentoring students?
[00:18:08] Speaker B: I like the answer. The late great guitarist from Cincinnati, Kenny Poole, said about this when asked the same question. He said, I teach every night. I play but the students don't show up.
I like that. But seriously, I did teach while in Singapore for the Arts University there and I've taught at other points in my life as well. I do enjoy it, but in Japan I'm teaching only English so far, not music.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: Is there any musical setting that you'd like to perform in that you haven't performed in so far?
[00:18:47] Speaker B: Of course, many.
But mostly I just like more chances to perform on tour so more people could hear what I have to offer.
And the steady playing gig would be nice like I've had in the past.
And in short, just being able to make a living in music would be wonderful.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: Your stint at Doc's Place must have been a real thrill for you, Greg, because I think you had a chance to be in your element and meet and perform with various musicians. It must have felt like heaven for you. Now what was that experience like?
[00:19:25] Speaker B: Heaven was for sure my time in Singapore, playing with my trio at Raffles every night and occasionally playing at festivals or doing short tours with my large World Beat ensemble, all the while keeping my steady gig intact.
Nothing can compare to the joy I experienced there. While where literally every single night was fun, I was really doing what I wanted to do and getting paid well for it as well.
And as for Doc's Place in Cincinnati, it was of course an important part of my life and I did play with many different players there. That's true, but when you mention being in heaven, my thoughts are immediately drawn to Singapore and the playing experiences I had there. Perhaps one reason was simply my own development as a person and a musician. I was much more mature by the time I got to experience a steady six night a week gig playing the music I like for decent pay.
So I'm sure that has some influence on my thinking there.
[00:20:41] Speaker A: Are there any guitarists on the scene today that make you sit up and take notice?
[00:20:46] Speaker B: Well, someone sent me a link on the Internet of a guy who transcribed and played an Oscar Peterson solo note for note that wouldn't make anyone sit up and take notice.
But generally no, I think I'm not so well informed and I don't get a lot of chances to listen to new music and I don't think Japan is really the place to be to hear what's happening now. People here are really kind of behind the times in a way and there's not enough chance to hear new things.
However, excuse me having said that, the last thing that made me sit up and take notice was watching a program here featuring a Brazilian singer named Maria Jorge. I'm not sure if I pronounced her name right, but there was a guitarist in her band who was good, but hearing what she was doing with her voice and her band, that was a real sit up and notice experience.
I think the guitarist was from Central Europe, but it was guitar, drums and piano and the piano player was doing all the arrangements. But she was really something exceptional and I've been looking for her CD so far with no luck.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: There was a time in your life, Greg, that you were bothered with when what's known as carpal tunnel syndrome. Now, to a guitarist or any musician, that could be devastating. Now I was just wondering whether you're still afflicted with this condition or, you know, if it's still bothering you at all.
[00:22:29] Speaker B: Probably, but it seems to be under control now.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: One of my favorite recordings of yours is Integration, and what I like about it is the way that the arrangements are balanced. Now one of my favorite compositions from this recording is Saito's Serenade. What is this song about?
[00:22:48] Speaker B: It's titled after my late wife, Takako Saito, and it was a favorite among the musicians on that date as well.
It was played at her funeral too. It's pretty because of the unique harmony, the melody and chord relationship, the trombone counter line and the sensitive accompaniment by pianist Mei Shum and the others on the date. It's also very challenging to solo on that song.
Balancing arrangements and deciding tune order is something that I feel I'm pretty good at. If you listen to all my CDs, especially the last four, I feel the order and placement of each tune is perfect and each CD has an appeal all its own and is completely While it's complete within itself, they each make a good full and complete statement.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: I understand that you went through a period of self discovery while you were in Singapore.
Now how did this period in your life affect you both personally and musically?
[00:24:00] Speaker B: Well, an artist's art is only as good as an artist's development as a person. I think as we mature as people and as we accumulate experiences, our artistic expression grows with meaning and depth. We become better able to express only what's most important and I think our plane becomes more to the point and more powerful as a result.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: Where we find ourselves is an ambitious project with many memorable moments. Greg, I have to ask you, did this particular recording of yours take a long time to make?
[00:24:41] Speaker B: It didn't take long to record it.
We would like to have had more time. We had a deadline because the players lived in Japan with busy lives and they couldn't stay in cities Singapore indefinitely so we were under the gun time wise, so to speak and also we had very little time to get comfortable soloing on the material. We even had to rehearse quickly in the studio a couple of the songs.
However, the events leading up to that recording were of course very long for me that CD broke a four year plane and recorded hiatus caused by the personal events I experienced from 2001 to 2005.
Moving from Singapore to China to Japan and going through my wife's deadly battle.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: With cancer 911 in New York City was a devastating moment in world history.
Now how did this particular event affect your life, Greg? And do you think that there was anything positive that came out of this?
[00:25:47] Speaker B: No, nothing positive came from that or at least if something did, it's not easy to see.
It resulted in further and sudden downturns in the music business in Singapore. Jobs were immediately cancelled, contracts were broken or not extended, Tourism came to a virtual standstill and when those things happen, musicians are among the first to feel the acts.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: How have your various life experiences enriched you musically?
[00:26:24] Speaker B: Well, I would say that you know, your personal life and your music, your art is connected.
So I wouldn't be a good musician if there weren't some connection to my personal life.
So our personal life gives us the fuel and substance for creating and expressing what we do with our instruments.
[00:26:54] Speaker A: Love Goes Forth is an interesting take on the classic Love for sale Interesting changes throughout and I had to wonder that while you were recording this, Greg, you seemed to have a lot of fun in the studio. I think the band really caught on and made the moment very special.
[00:27:12] Speaker B: I've always wanted to record this, but to be honest, I. I thought I could solo much better on that than I did on the record. But I really love Pat's trombone solo anyway. It's a tune that I've enjoyed soloing on for years. I use the changes that are very similar to the ones Miles and Bill Evans used when they recorded it, and my original melody is very tricky and it was a big challenge for the sax player.
We only had one shot at this song in the studio, so it is what it is. I like the Congo, the conga drum a lot and credit goes to my excellent drummer and percussionist Marc DeRose, who handled both parties parts remarkably throughout the recording.
[00:28:08] Speaker A: Thank you so much for dropping by today, Greg. It's been a real pleasure chatting with you and all the best in your future endeavors.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Thank you, Randy.
