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Download the PDF of Eddie Gomez Interviewed in JAZZIZ Magazine!

Download the PDF of Eddie Gomez Interviewed in JAZZIZ Magazine!

Sweet and Low Eddie Gomez remains among the most revered of bassists.

By Ted Panken Photo By Richard Condé jazziz july 2012 35 “Eddie has the most surprising flexibility. Thirty-five years after leaving the Trio to pursue Sometimes I wake up in the morning to The Today new opportunities and musical adventures, Eddie Gomez, once Show and see an Israeli folk group playing their averse to public discussion of the 11-year run that made him the most visible — and perhaps most emulated — bassist of that folk music, and there’s a bass player in the back era, is happy to dwell on the subject. playing like he was born in Israel. It’s Eddie. Or he’ll “It’s been a third of a century, there’s a body of work, and I’m get on that very free, expressionistic bag. Eddie is more self-assured and confident in my career and art,” Gomez said marvelous in that he has a very wide scope. As in June at a café a few blocks from his Greenwich Village home. At much as he fits me like a glove, you would almost 68, he looks a decade younger, his barrel chest and muscled fore- think that this is the only way he can play because arms obscured by a loose black sport jacket and black button-down he does it so perfectly, but it’s not true.” shirt. The skin on his fingers, which he spreads in fan-like waves —Bill Evans, Helsinki, 1970. when emphasizing a point, is smooth and barely calloused. “I feel there are lots of other things to talk about, but being with Bill is huge in my heart,” Gomez continued. “It’s like getting away “Certain musicians arrived on the scene who from a parent or father figure, recognizing what a certain time in were just complete. would be one your life really was, that it’s part of you and you are part of it. So I’m of them. Tony Williams would be one. They had able to feel it and express it and verbalize it.” everything already in place, and they were inno- The Evans-Gomez connection is once again a hot topic, thanks vative. Maybe I was too busy being fragmented to two recent drops of first-commercial-release archival material. to develop that. There’s a positive side to playing Few extant Bill Evans trio dates can match the creative energy generated on the two April 1968 sets with drummer in many genres, which I like to do. But to play my that comprise Live at Art D’Lugoff’s Top of the Gate [Resonance]. Nor own devil’s advocate, maybe it took away my does anything in the canon more effectively represent the breathe- ability to focus on one particular way or style. In as-one simpatico the pianist and bassist could achieve as the five any case, that’s who I was, and still am.” duets they play on Disc 1 of The Sesjun Radio Shows, recorded in the —Eddie Gomez, City, 2012 Netherlands in 1973.

36 july 2012 jazziz Photo by Steve Sussman Performed with the real-time bustle of late-’60s Bleecker Street partner in the ’00s — and late-period Evans drummer Joe unfolding outside the club’s glass doors, the Top of the Gate tracks LaBarbera, and a summer 2011 concert with LaBarbera and Sicilian are unremittingly intense, the protagonists exchanging opinions pianist Salvatore Bonafede devoted to the legacy of the virtuoso with a freewheeling, serious-as-your-life attitude akin to the South bassist Scott LaFaro, who, during his 20 months with Evans and Village coffee shop and saloon culture that prevailed when Evans from 1959 to 1961, established the template of bass himself was coming of age a decade earlier. The radio broadcasts — expression upon which Gomez would place his own unique stamp. which include a five-tune 1975 performance by Evans, Gomez and Gomez’s gift for melodic expression and the commanding aura drummer Eliot Zigmund — retain only a hint of that unruly flavor; of his tone, whether produced by his fingers or the bow, suffuses the musicians, intimate with each other’s moves after years of recent duo recordings with pianists Cesarius Alvim (Forever) and bandstand proximity in clubs and concert halls, finish each other’s Carlos Franzetti (the 2008 Latin Grammy-winner Duets). His voice thoughts with burnished, cosmopolitan phrases. even more palpably dominates CDs of trio concerts in Mexico City In both contexts, Gomez displays the gifts that placed him atop and Italy with his longstanding pianist, Stefan Karlsson. That his instrument’s food chain by his early 20s. When accompanying, he’s fully capable of subsuming his Olympian gifts to one-for-all he gooses the flow with clear, limber lines that both anticipate and purposes is evident on two recent releases: Sofia’s Heart, which complement Evans’ train of thought. When soloing, a horn player Gomez produced for saxophonist Marco Pignataro, and Per Sempre, or singer might envy the speed and dynamics of his phrasing, as a Gomez-led studio date with Pignataro, flutist Matt Marvuglio, he moves in the course of an idea from fortissimo bellows to mezzo pianist Teo Ciavarella and drummer Massimo Manzi. piano whispers, seamlessly incorporating extended techniques But the only item in Gomez’s recent corpus that stands up to the more commonly associated with “outside” playing into Evans’ rarefied environment of clarity and unfettered interplay that Evans harmonic world, never with “because I can” intention, but always facilitated is Further Explorations. A two-disc masterpiece of collec- toward unfailingly musical imperatives. tive improvisation on the Concord Jazz imprint, it cherry-picks from a fortnight-long engagement at the Blue Note during which , Gomez and Motian (it was the late drummer’s first recording In recent years, Gomez has applied his skills to several projects with either partner) refracted Evans-associated repertoire in their that denote his willingness to no longer “shy away from trio things own manner. Among the many highlights are Gomez’s arco solos and homages to Bill.” These include an Italian tour in 2010 with a on the second disc. (It’s hard to think of a location recording on highly stylized trio comprising pianist Mark Kramer — a frequent which a bassist has bowed improvised melodies with the spot-on intonation that Gomez brings to his variation on Motian’s “Mode listened to a lot of saxophone and trumpet, but singers — Sinatra, VI,” which transpires in the cello register.) Nat Cole, Peggy Lee, Cheo Feliciano, Bobby Capó — were crucial. To Gomez and Corea have brought out each other’s best since 1961, me, it’s all singing or dancing, and if there’s no pulse, as is often when the pianist, then a 20-year-old Juilliard student, and the the case, then it’s cerebral. But I’ll make the dance and singing bassist, a 17-year-old senior at the High School of Music and Art, work through the brain somehow. I think there’s song and dance in jammed together in Corea’s loft in the Manhattan neighborhood 12-tone music, too. Genre didn’t get in my way.” now known as Tribeca. At the time, Gomez, a bass player for all of At Zimmerman’s suggestion, Gomez enrolled at Juilliard in 1962. six years, was already a member of New York’s Local 802, and had For the next four years, in addition to his studies, he supported conceptualized the bass-as-an-extension-of-the-voice approach his young family by playing gigs of every stripe. He worked an that he follows to this day. extended engagement at a midtown steakhouse with Marion “We moved to New York when I was about a year old, and my McParland, who welcomed sit-ins by such elder icons as Buck deepest recollection of music is my mother singing to me at home,” Clayton, Edmond Hall and Bobby Hackett. He played on a Latin jazz he recalls. “My grandfather had an evangelist church in Puerto Rico, album led by conguero Montego Joe, titled Arriba!, with Corea on and when we visited, I’d sing in the church in English. Singing was piano and Milford Graves on timbales. Via Graves, Gomez began my musical connection, not an instrument.” taking downtown outcat gigs, including concerts with Giuseppe A junior high school music teacher placed Gomez on the Logan and — on whose ESP recordings he performs — as contrabass path. Once in high school he dual-tracked in classi- well as with John Tchicai, Roswell Rudd, and the Jazz Composers cal music and jazz, becoming ever more embroiled in the latter Orchestra. His future direction became more focused in 1965, when endeavor via such classmates as , Jimmy Owens, Billy he went on the road with vibraphonist-composer Gary McFarland, Cobham and Richard Tee, and such fellow members of Marshall then played a stint with Gerry Mulligan’s sextet. Brown’s Newport Youth Band as Eddie Daniels and Ronnie Cuber. “I could play the bass pretty well, but I wasn’t mature as a By 15, he was studying privately with “a wonderful mentor-teacher” musician or as an artist,” Gomez says. “Gary and Gerry were very named Fred Zimmerman, “a crusader for broadening the scope and nurturing. Perhaps my role was defined, but traditional contexts repertoire of the .” made me dig deeper inside to find the creative part of myself.” “I wanted to play music and sing, and although the bass seemed In the summer of 1966, Gomez was at the start of a run at the an unusual instrument to be a singer on, Zimmerman played Copacabana with Bobby Darin when Evans — who, when his trio expressive, gorgeous melodies that inspired me,” Gomez says. “I played opposite Mulligan a month earlier at the ,

ALFREDOALFREDO RodriguezRodriguez the debut from Cuban pianist and SoundsSounds ofof SpaceSpace composer Alfredo Rodríguez

“He is very special and I do not say that easily because I have been surrounded by the best musicians my entire life...and he is the best!” – Quincy Jones

“elegant yet explosive technique and command of an array of musical idioms” – Reed Johnson, Los Angeles Times

“classic melodies within a uniquely spacious approach” – NPR Music

“Rodríguez proved himself one of the most original keyboard talents to come out of Cuba since Chucho Valdes and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. So striking was the nearly two-hour performance that the audience briefly sat in stunned silence at its end before erupting into a roaring ovation.” – Herald

“Young Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodríguez sounds the way Monk might have sounded if he had been born in Chick Corea’s body and raised on a diet of Bach, Chopin and Stravinsky in a Havana conservatory.” – Richard Scheinin, San Jose Mercury News

available wherever you like to buy music mackavenue.com

38 july 2012 jazziz made a point of complimenting the young bassist — invited him Gomez immediately plunged into several overlapping streams on tour. About a month later, toward the end of a week at Shelly’s of activity. In , he became a first-call duo player, Manne Hole in Los Angeles, Evans told him, “This is working out very dialoguing with more pianists than he can remember at Bradley’s nicely. It would be great if you joined the trio on a permanent basis.” in Greenwich Village and with guitarists like , Tal Farlow During the ensuing 11 years, Gomez worked in other satisfying and Chuck Wayne at The Guitar in midtown. Charles Mingus, a contexts. Notably, he subbed for on a few dozen gigs Bradley’s regular, befriended Gomez, and, when ALS rendered him with the Quintet and performed in open-ended duos too weak to play, tapped him to fill the bass chair on his final two with flutist Steig that stimulated him “to find different ways to recordings. At Bradley’s, Gomez also developed rapport with pianist think about the instrument.” But Bill Evans remained his prime Hank Jones, who recruited him to triangulate the collectively-billed commitment. Great — among the drummers were and Jimmy “After a couple of years with Bill, I knew I was in the right Cobb — on a series of Japan-centric projects throughout the ’80s. direction as far as the song and dance,” Gomez says. “I liked being Although the prospect of staying home was part of Gomez’s a soloist, which is what I was with Bill. So I made that choice. He rationale for leaving Evans, he found himself traveling even more. talked to me almost as a son in this avuncular way. He’d tell me He flew frequently to Japan for one-off guest-artist concerts and not to follow in his footsteps, to take his advice and not pick up his recordings, among them several well-regarded dates with pianist habits. When we played at the Gate or the Vanguard, he’d often Masahiko Satoh. He spent several years touring with DeJohnette, drive me home to Queens, where I lived then, and we’d talk about both in the drummer-pianist’s open-ended New Directions quartet how lucky we were to be making art and getting paid for it. I think with guitarist John Abercrombie and trumpeter Lester Bowie, the first trio formulated his idea of what the bass should do, and and on more impressionistic configurations — and ECM record- he saw me as extending or expanding it. I may have done some ings — with guitarists Ralph Towner and Mick Goodrick. Corea, an different things in using the bow, but I don’t know that I created employer since the mid-’70s, brought him on board for his iconic anything really new. band with and , both of “I recorded a lot with Bill, and I didn’t always like the recordings whom Gomez would soon partner with in the post-hardbop-meets- MAC1063_KGarrett_JazzTmsAd_fnl.pdffor myself. I like some moments on 2/14/12 At Montreux 10:19:05 from PM 1968 with Jack fusion quintet Steps Ahead, with vibraphonist and DeJohnette, and there are some nice things on Intuition (1974), but I pianist . felt I’d reached a pinnacle on You Must Believe in Spring (1977), a flow, While in Tokyo in 1984, and again in 1985, Gomez made two a poetic feeling that I’m proud of. I felt I should leave on that note.” sculpted, groove-heavy recordings, produced by Gadd, in which

SEEDS FROM THE UNDERGROUND

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“Seeds From The Underground is music about people, past and present, who planted seeds in my life—directly and indirectly.” mackavenue.com –Kenny Garrett kennygarrett.com available wherever you buy music the leader addressed the various genres and flavors at his command. “Everyone Charles Mingus had been urging me to do a solo album, and I forced myself to start writing compositions,” Gomez recalls of these and a subsequent New York session for Epic. “I wanted to do something against the grain of my past. They were criticized for being eclectic, but I think the continuity is that it’s all coming from me. There’s a lot of variation; I quite like them for what they are. I wanted a sound on the double bass that in opera they call a ‘lyric tenor’ — a high, clear, very melodic sound that bass guitarists get. Listening back, it’s too twangy and trebly for me now, but in the context of the records, it’s very clear and makes the bass sound like a solo instru- ment, which it is. Bass Impressions “My sound has changed. My likes and dislikes have changed. I’m wanting to Asked to name and briefly discuss five personall influential bassists, Eddie hear that older sound, the sound of Paul Gomez thoughtfully offered the following: Chambers and Ray Brown. Sometimes “The very first bassist who came into my life was Milt Hinton. I bought a glori - on these straightahead tracks, the bass ous recording where he did that slapping thing. When I was a kid, I took a lesson should sound like it’s going straight from him at his house. He was a sweetheart. So generous. He showed me a great through the microphone, and not have way to finger the chromatic scale. Later on, I realized just how good Milt was — so that direct pickup sound. It should sound supportive and also a great soloist, but in a different way than Paul Chambers, Ray embedded in the rhythm section, and not Brown and Scott LaFaro. stand out, a little bit like drums.” “Paul Chambers was the second bass player who came into my life. I bought a It’s been a remarkable career, and Trio date, A Garland of Red (1956), with Paul and , and the way Gomez — whose obligations increased Paul played turned me around — his sound, how he supported the band, his swing seven years ago when he accepted the posi- feel, his soloing, how he played with the bow. I got into him even more deeply when tion of Artistic Director at the Conservatory I started buying Miles’ quintet records and Porgy and Bess. There wasn’t a bad note; of Puerto Rico, where he spends six weeks everything was perfect. each year — has no intention of resting “I discovered Ray Brown a little later via the trio with Oscar Peterson, and al- on his laurels. Among other things, he though I heard him with other pianists and he always sounded great, that’s how I anticipates performing a concerto with a always think of him. Aside from being a great soloist, Ray’s propulsion, his particular small string orchestra, and hopes one day swing feel and sound, was beautiful. to play with , a huge influ- “Scott LaFaro would be next. I didn’t get to see the Bill Evans Trio play, and the ence during his formative years. one time I saw Scott, when I was 16 or 17, I didn’t really hear him. I was rehearsing “Every day you wake up, it’s a chal- with a big band at a place called Lynn Oliver’s, on the Upper West Side, and through lenge to play the double bass in tune, the window to the other studio , , and Scott were because there’s so much bass to miss,” he rehearsing. I saw Scott play a very unorthodox way of fingering. He innovated a way says. “So you have to keep your energy, of playing in space that became one of the junctions in modern jazz. love and passion for whatever it is, the “Charles Mingus is at the top of the list because he was such a great bassist good things in life — good food, a good and a huge composer. But I liked Sam Jones and Jymie Merritt very much. I liked cup of coffee, going to a museum, great when he was playing the double bass, and you’ve got to include Red literature, an old movie. All of that Mitchell. Johnny Hawksworth was a great English bassist who played with Johnny connects to me. I tell students they need Dankworth. Today I can enjoy listening to Ron Carter and . I like to know something about Caravaggio Peter Washington, and Christian McBride is a fine bass player, too. I’m still waiting or Velázquez or Turner or Picasso or for some of these younger guys to develop a voice that says, ‘Oh, that’s him — Vermeer. They need to know something there’s no doubt about that.’ All these guys I mentioned had a voice. Each one was a about George Bernard Shaw. Know stuff breeding ground.” —TP about things other than music, so you can broaden your artistic sensibility.” s

40 july 2012 jazziz

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