Q. Your CD is a group effort, please explain how your debut CD, "Introducing The New 5" came about.
A. Thomas Heflin: We had been playing gigs together for several months in Austin, Texas. We all really liked and respected each other as people and as musicians, so it was natural to want to collaborate together on a project. My best friend, Mischa Goldman is a brilliant recording engineer, so I thought it would be great to put together a recording project that would feature our original compositions and allow us to stretch out as soloists.
Q. What can we expect from your debut CD release, "Introducing The New 5"?
A. Thomas Heflin: Overall, the CD has an introspective vibe, but we definitely tried to include tunes of different styles. I'm really fond of Michael Arthur's tune, Countenance, which has an uplifting message and even includes a spoken word section. I also really like Mysterious Ways, Peter Stoltzman's tune which includes some beautiful and unconventional harmonies. We all definitely have our own influences. My tune, Chrysoprase has a Wayne Shorter feel to it while Chris Budhan's tune Treasure Hunt is reminiscent of Kenny Wheeler. I also really like David Colvin's composition, Good Flight which features a free-floating melody.
Q. Tell us about the musicians that appear on your CD.
A. Chris Budhan: This group met while working on their degrees at the University of Texas at Austin. We soon formed a musical rapport and decided to put together a recording project to feature our original compositions. I feel this group is especially unique in that every member is a dedicated jazz educator. By 2010, four of the five members will have doctorates in music. These include doctorates in Music and Human Learning, Jazz Performance and Jazz Composition. In addition, I lead a music festival every year in my home town of Charlottetown, PEI Canada. The festival gives young jazz musicians live performance opportunities as well as offering them lessons and master classes from seasoned jazz artists.
Q. Lets talk about your creative process. How do you approach writing an original song as a group or individually?
A. Peter Stoltzman: Writing individually is totally different from writing as a group. I played in some bands (a world-fusion group, and a jazz-rock group) that wrote together. Mostly, one person would bring a substantive idea, like a verse or chorus or solid groove or chord progression, and then the horns would put together parts and the rhythm section would solidify grooves, create hits, etc. etc. That was fun because everyone could chime in, and we could come up with things that maybe nobody would have thought of on their own. In more free jazz settings, tunes might be sketches with the intention of having very different outcomes every performance, and the real composing happens through improvising. This is a very important part of almost all jazz - the composition is an expression in itself but also is a vehicle for the improviser's expression. In the case of the New Five, we all brought fully composed charts to the table. A few harmonies were worked out in rehearsal, and each of us took the charts home and practiced, sometimes working out specific devices, voicings, rhythms, etc., to bring them to life. But in this setting, the composer has done all the initial conceiving of the tune. Sometimes these kinds of tunes come out in one sitting, sometimes you get an idea that becomes a section but you have to work out the rest of it deliberately (which can take days or weeks), and other times you come back to a composition after a while (maybe years later) and make significant changes. One of my favorite things about the New Five record is how simultaneously each member contributes a unique composition/expression, each member helps bring that expression to life, and each member contributes their own unique expression improvising on the tune. An individual creates something that the group brings to life, and then individuals in the group interpret and create through their improvisation. I love that! You get to bake your cake and eat it too.
Q. What other types of music or artists do you derive inspiration from as a group?
A. Michael Arthurs: Each of us draws inspiration from a wide variety of sources and we all possess a unique inner architecture that serves to preserve our own individuality. However we do have one thing in common. We are all highly educated and studied musicians who have a deep appreciation and understanding of many of our predecessors and/or masters of jazz and classical music. As musicians striving for excellence in today's world, it behooves us to maintain flexibility with regards to genres and styles. Although traditional jazz presents musical challenges and rewards that appeal to the desire to set our souls soaring upwards, we are not jazz purists and hold many of the composers of others styles, for example Stevie Wonder, Elton John, John Williams, and Igor Stravinsky to mention a few (the list is long), in the highest regards.
Q. What's the most important bit of advice you were given by another musician?
A. David Colvin: "If you truly focus on taking care of the music, the rest will take care of itself." This is a quote from mentor, bassist, and great friend of mine, Jeff Halsey in response to my concerns of sustaining a living through music. I wasn't sure if this advice was true at the time, but as I've gotten older, I have noticed that as long as I truly focus on making music to the very best of my abilities, opportunities to perform and make a living have always seemed to come my way. This focused faith in the music has always kept me focused through some of the tougher periods of my life.
Q. What's been your proudest playing moment?
A. Peter Stoltzman: I've had a lot of genuinely exciting and ego-boosting as well as humbling experiences - from performing at Carnegie Hall with my Grammy-winning Dad to feeling the roar of 10 thousand people while jamming on the main stage at the Montreal Jazz Fest to playing Chick Corea's Spain with Steve Gadd and Eddie Gomez in Japan and having the audiences go nuts. But I can honestly say that the only time that I feel truly proud, in a non-ego kind of way, is when my playing locks in with the group, the musical ideas flow, and my intentions - my expressive impulses - match what is coming out on my instrument. It is in those moments when I feel so joyful, so grateful, so in awe of the mystery of things. It is in those moments that audiences get quiet because they want to experience every note too, or they get so enthralled that they shout out or begin to clap before solos are actually over. Those are the moments that are truly exalting - they make me smile uncontrollably, and feel deeply fulfilled.
Q. What's the biggest disaster you've ever had on stage, and how did you cope with it?
A. Chris Budhan: A few months ago, we were giving a concert in Austin, and just a few moments before we were supposed to go on stage I noticed that my bass' endpin was missing (I had removed it to attach a wheel to my bass, and it was nowhere to be found). I got a spare stick from the drummer, and ran out into the hall to ask bystanders for a Swiss Army Knife. I quickly found someone who had one, and used it to frantically cut the stick into the shape of an endpin. Someone with an iPhone secretly recorded my sculpting of the stick, and posted a video of the incident on Facebook later that night. With just a minute to spare, I put my new wooden endpin into my bass and went on stage. It worked beautifully! I now keep it in my bag as a backup.
A. Peter Stoltzman: The first time I got to play with Steve Gadd and Eddie Gomez together, we decided at the last minute to play Blue Monk in a shuffle groove. Wouldn't you know...I totally blanked and messed up the MELODY! So, I know from that moment on, Steve Gadd thinks my playing is bullshit. But you know what, the audience was so happy to see Steve and Eddie that they forgave me, and I had to keep going of course. I think I screwed up the form on another tune that night too. Pretty bad stuff. Luckily we had several more concerts, and I got a chance to practice, and the music just got better and better. By the end, Steve and I were on really good terms. Sure enough, I got called for the next tour, and that one was better! I still made some mistakes, but I had good conversations with Steve about them, and he took me under his wing and helped me know what he was looking for musically. I grew a lot musically from those experiences.
Q. Do you warm up before a concert and if so how?
A. Michael Arthurs: It was either, Joe Henderson or James Moody that suggested that the fastest way to warm up on the saxophone was simply to play trills on an ascending major scale. This method of warming up was revealed to me in the late 80s and has remained my preferred method when faced with little or no time as this approach quickly sends blood to the fingers while simultaneously warming the horn. Otherwise, I like to play a chromatic scale (up and down full range) just to make sure that all my notes are working (keys aren't sticking etc.). I also like to improvise a free cadenza to get my creative juices flowing and if I can find a space alone, I might play over the changes to the evening's featured solo or solos, and/or just pick a tempo and swing over random changes (helps to solidify one's time feel). Finally, it helps to play long tones while concentrating on taking deep breaths. I find that deep breathing has a calming effect and is my surest remedy for pre-concert nervousness or jitters.
Q. Thanks for your time and consideration for this article and interview. Any last thoughts for our readers?
A. Thomas Heflin: Just enjoy the music!
