Jason Moran: "The music is the pressure, not the critics"

Aproveitando o seu concerto de amanhã no Centro Cultural de Belém, JNPDI! acaba de entrevistar Jason Moran, que aqui partilha a sua estética e antecipa o que poderemos ouvir e esperar do seu trio. Moran fala ainda dos seus projectos a longo prazo e para este ano em concreto, durante o qual deverá recriar através da tecnologia multimedia o concerto de Thelonious Monk no Town Hall (Nova Iorque), usando para tal gravações inéditas de Monk nos ensaios para este evento. Pedimos desculpa por apresentar a entrevista em Inglês, mas a pressão do tempo assim o dita.

JNPDI!: Portugal and Lisbon have become quite familiar for you. What do you feel about this country and its jazz scene and jazz musicians?

Jason Moran: I love coming to Portugal. Every visit, I have been treated the better than any other country. The promoters care about the music, the musicians, and the audience. Also, I can remember Paulo Gil taking us to an amazing dinner on the water, and then up to Hot Club to sit in with some musicians in Lisbon. I always enjoy not only the music I hear, but performing for a hungry Portuguese audience.

JNPDI!: With whom did you play there?

JM: I have sat in with my band at Hot Club. the last visit to the club, I sat in with Billy Hart, and I cannot remember the alto player's name. It is a great club with a great history.

JNPDI!: For those who are not updated with your music what can they expect from your concert in Lisbon in terms of songs, emotions and musical approach?

JM: They can expect to hear music from our latest Blue Note release, Artist in Residence. The music consists of commissions I received from museums in America. Also, we will play music from Same Mother, our Blues recording, and other music as well. We always are changing the music around, but the audience will always see/hear/feel a lot of energy and extreme amounts of interaction.





JNPDI!: Some people may wonder why you called your band "The bandwagon". What is the story behind this band and its designation?

JM: The bandwagon is a way for me not to be called the Jason Moran trio. The Bandwagon is defined as a particular cause or idea that has become popular or fashionable. Also, I like to think that when we travel the world , people will hopefully enjoy what they experience and jump on the bandwagon.

JNPDI!: It has been said and published that your playing and writing style is inspired by the impressionistic approach of visual and musical artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Maurice Ravel. Do you fully agree?

JM: Basquiat and Ravel are only two artists in a very long list of artists that inspire me. Other artists are Adrian Piper, fred Wilson, Bill T. Jones,, and on and on and on. But what I think the writer meant is that I love to blend the blunt lines of Basquiat with the flowery impressionism of Ravel. They both create wonderful subjects.

JNPDI!: What are you looking for in music and in Jazz in particular?

JM: I look for the freedom to challenge the genres barriers. No matter the form, art, dance, theater, design, etc.

JNPDI!: In your biography you say that listening to Thelonious Monk was a milestone in your decision to keep playing the piano when you were young. How did you experience his music and playing?

I heard him play Round Midnight when I was 13. I heard his music as a pre-cursor to hip-hop, especially with how his left hand played the bass line. As I studied more, one could clearly hear that earl Hines, before monk, was playing what are now hip-hop rhythms in 1926. So, with hearing monk in the 1980s, I was jusing his sound with the sound of Run DMC, De La Soul, and Public Enemy. It made sense to me. It also made sense to Wu-Tang clan that has sampled monk playing Ellington's Black and Tan Fantasy. It's black music history.

JNPDI!: Besides Monk what other piano players do you admire most and aknowledge as having influenced your playing?

JM: Andrew Hill, Jaki Byard, Herbie Nichols, Muhal Richard Abrams, Errol Garner, Willie The Lion Smith, James P. Johnson, Art Tatum, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Paul Bley, Craig taborn, Vijay Iyer, Bud Powell, Phineas Newborn Jr., Horace Silver, Bobby Timmons, James Williams, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, Geri Allen (80s), Glenn Gould, Arthur Rubinstein, Pierre Laurent Aimard, Pierre Cortot, etc.

JNPDI!: What CDs would I find in your CD player if I could take a look at it right now?

JM: Jay D- Doughnuts.

JNPDI!: Talking about CDs, Black Stars (which you recorded in 2001 with Sam Rivers) has been included by New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff among the top 100 best jazz recordings. How do you cope with the pressure derived from the high expectations that jazz critics and magazines have put on your shoulders both as a piano player and composer?

JM: There is no pressure. The pressure comes from the musicians. The pressure is when Wayne Shorter asks you to play two concerts with him. The pressure is when dave Holland asks you to tour with his band for 3 weeks, and his band has never had a pianist in it. The pressure is writing music for Sam Rivers. The musicians apply the pressure to see if you can CREATE together. I have been in great situations with great musicians, and that has brought me the growth that I need. The next pressure after this tour, is a tour with Charles Lloyd. The music is the pressure, not the critics.



JNPDI!: What projects are you working on at this moment and what can we expect from you in, say, the next 10 years?

JM: I have a huge project surrounding Thelonious Monk. This year he would have been 90. So, I have been commissioned to recreate Monk's Town Hall concert of 1959. The piece, IN MY MIND, is a multi-media exploration that gives Monk's music a social perspective within 1959 (pre-civil rights) and 2007 (post). It is less a concert as it is my genuine reflection on Monk, and what his music means not only to musicians, but to african-americans. I will also use never before heard footage of Monk rehearsing the music for the Town Hall concert. The rehearsals were documented (recordings and photographs) by W. Eugene Smith in his NY loft. It should be an amazing project that blends monk with contemporary art, dance, and video.

The next 10 years, I think I will have not only created more music, but will have created more theater projects like the one I created two years ago MILESTONE. IN MY MIND will be the second. As I get older, I think it's important that jazz not only be in the clubs, but add the drama of life to the performance. So, hopefully in 10 years, I'll have 5 theater pieces created. More collaborations across art borders. Working with more visual, video, dancers, etc.