Bruce Williams

Bruce Williams performs with his quartet, Thursday February 23 at Makeda

NBJP:  What living musician do you admire most? Why?

BW: Gary Bartz. He is sort of a painter and a poet when he plays. He’s always stood for something and has presented his ideas in an intelligent  and soulful manner.

NBJP:What would you want to be if you weren’t a jazz musician?

BW: Probably a lawyer or a pro MMA fighter.

NBJP:If you could only own one CD (Download–whatever), what would it be?

BW: Jackie McLeans’  “Jackie’s Bag”

NBJP: Complete this sentence: If I can, I try to avoid_____________________

BW: negativity. It drains me.

NBJP: What’s the worst job you ever had?

BW: Cleaning the offices at the World Bank in D.C.

NBJP: What’s the last book you read?

BW: University of Jiu Jitsu by Saolo Ribero

NBJP:  If you could live anywhere, where would that be?

BW: Back in the D.C. area or the Bay area.

photo: Mary Brown/Mary B. Photography & Design

NBJP:  What musical instrument (that you don’t play)would you  like to be able to play?

AW: Cello — I love the beautiful range

NBJP: What’s your favorite non-jazz tune?

AW: Tough call between Scriabin’s 5th Piano Sonata and Prokofiev’s 4th Sonata.   I love dark and beautiful Russian piano music 

NBJP: If you could live anywhere on the planet where would that be?

AW:  Anyplace with great food and a music scene, right now I’m thinking Barcelona

NBJP: What’s a food you shouldn’t eat, but can’t resist?

AW: Pork belly with so much fat that it melts in your mouth

NBJP: What’s the worst job (non musical) you ever had?

AW: Honestly, I love what I do and I try to keep it that way.  

NBJP:  What musician influenced you the most?

AW:  I have had several really important teachers and mentors in this music, but I must recognize Stanley Cowell. He has been my teacher and guide since I went up to him after one of his concerts and told him I played jazz piano too.  I was 11.  The arrogance of youth. 

NBJP:  If you could only own one CD/album, what would it be?

AW:  For the last several years, Toots Theilmans’s Brazil Project has been in heavy rotation.  He’s such a melodic genius.  

FEBRUARY 16 AT MAKEDA

 NBJP:   Other than the   instrument you play, what’s your favorite instrument to listen to?

BG: Piano

NBJP:  Who’s your favorite non-jazz composer?

BG: Frank Zappa

NBJP:        What inspires you creatively?

BG: Pretty much anything can spark it!

NBJP:        What’s one thing other than milk or water we’d ALWAYS find in your refrigerator?

BG: Eggs

NBJP:      What’s your favorite jazz club to perform in?

BG: Smalls

NBJP:      When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

BG: An author 

NBJP:       If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?

BG: If I could answer that, then I probably would have done it already!

NBJP :If you were about to have your last meal, what would it be?

MF:  Depends on who’s cooking! Ha:). Seriously though, I love lamb kebab

NBJP: What’s your favorite jazz club to go to if you’re going to hang?

MF:  It’s always a blast at Makeda’s, we end up hanging for hours after the gig!

NBJP: What musician influenced you the most?

MF:  Jimi Hendrix

NBJP: What instrument, other than the one you play,  would you  like to be able to play?

MF:  Trumpet!!  I always wanted to play trumpet.  And I did for a while (shhh..:))

NBJP: What’s your favorite non-musical pastime?

MF: Eating, lol

NBJP: What’s your favorite jazz tune?

MF:  This is a tough one, I love the tune, “The Man I Love”

NBJP: What quality do you like least about yourself?

NBJP:  Other than being a musician what’s the best job you ever had?

AO: Camp counselor for 2nd graders! 

NBJP:  What one word would your friends use to describe you?

AO: Eccentric

NBJP:   What’s the one thing about you few people know?

AO: I used to work for Carnival Cruise Lines as a guitarist.

NBJP:    How old were you when you first played in front of an audience (other than family) and what song was it?

AO: 9 years old and it was The Star Spangled Banner 

NBJP: What’s your favorite city to visit?

AO: Los Angeles 

NBJP:  What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?

AO: Popped Corn, pretzels, crackers with some apple juice right before going to sleep!

NBJP:  What musician influenced you the most?

AO: John Coltrane and his Classic Quartet

photo: Chris Drukkar

NBJP:  What musical instrument (that you don’t play)would you  like to be able to play?

TD: Piano

NBJP: What’s your favorite jazz tune?

TD: ”West EndBlues“

NBJP: What is your  favorite non-musical pastime?

TD:  Being Outdoors

NBJP: What’s a food you shouldn’t eat, but can’t resist?

TD:  Cheesecake!!

NBJP: What would you like to be if you were not a bassist?

TD: I love playing the bass.

NBJP:  What musician influenced you the most?

TD:  One of them is Red Mitchell. There are many though…

 NBJP:  If you could only own one CD/album, what would it be?

TD: ”Love Deluxe” by Sade

NBJP:

AC: Quincy Jones because he is an artist who has found a way to make beautiful music that is both true to himself and accessible to the public audience.

NBJP:What would you want to be if you weren’t a jazz musician?

AC: An anthropologist

NBJP:If you could only own one CD (Download–whatever), what would it be?

AC: The Best of Chick Corea

NBJP: Complete this sentence: If I can, I try to avoid_____________________

AC: Driving too fast on the highway

NBJP: What’s the worst job you ever had?

AC: I played on a gig where someone fell on my keyboard and almost broke it.

NBJP: What’s the last book you read?

AC: Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

NBJP: If you could live anywhere, where would that be?

AC: I would live somewhere near water where the temperature was always above 70 degrees.

CH: B-3 Organ.  Larry Young, Jimmy Smith, Lonnie Smith, Jack McDuff, Shirley Scott, and many more.

NBJP: What’s the worst job you ever had?

CH: Playing the rodeos inTexas.  So much dirt and dust was like cement on a trombone slide.

NBJP:   If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be?

CH:New York,NY.  Village Vanguard, Blue Note, Birdland, Jazz Standard, for a jazz musician it’s the Capital of the World.

NBJP:  Who’s your favorite non-jazz composer?

CH:  Alban Berg.   He was the “Romantic” of the serial( 12-tone) composers.

NBJP: What’s the last book you read?

CH: “Einstein’s Dreams” by Alan Lightman.  It imagines the dreams about parallel worlds that Einstein was having in 1906, as he wrote the Theory of Relativity.

NBJP: What’s your favorite (“G” rated!) guilty pleasure?

CH: Has to be Golf.

NBJP:  What musician do you believe has influenced you the most?

CH: John Coltrane.  He was a transcendent human being and musician.  His music and life inspire me every day.

TC:   No question it is Miles Davis “Round About Midnight”.  This was my first jazz record and I continue to learn from it and enjoy it more and more. 

NBJP:    What inspires you creatively?

TC:  Generally, I am inspired by people.  I actually try to write tunes for particular people, or about lessons I have learned from them or experiences I have had with them. 

NBJP:    What is your greatest fear?

TC: Failure…… but snakes are a close second.

NBJP:    What’s one liquid we’d ALWAYS find in your refrigerator?

TC: Seltzer water, but there is undoubtedly a beer or two in the fridge at all times too.

NBJP:    What’s your favorite city to play in?

TC:  That is a tough one.  I have been lucky enough to tour quite extensively and although I love playing in the major cities, I have had incredible experiences playing for people in cities that you would not necessarily connect with jazz.  These gigs many times feel even more special because the line between the band and the audience gets blurred a little easier and it becomes more about everyone having a great time together.  

NBJP:    What living musician do you admire most? Why?

TC: Unfortunately, several years ago we lost the musician I most admired the great “Prof.” Bill Fielder.  Now the musicians I most admire are the ones that have been able to sustain thriving creative careers for decades playing their own music while also developing a family, owning their own home, and staying connected to their communities.  Many of these musicians are not famous or critically heralded, but are artists of the highest order.  By their own perseverance and ingenuity they create opportunities for their music and live the life they want to live.  I have the pleasure of playing and co-leading the band New Tricks with one of these people.

NBJP:    What quality do you like least about yourself?

TC: I unfortunately allow myself to delve into negative thoughts too often.  I am working hard to eradicate this.

NBJP : 

JD: Nona’s homemade Italian pasta

NBJP: What musician influenced you the most?

JD: I think to honestly answer this one I would have to include two… Tony Williams and Bill Evans

NBJP: What quality do you like most about yourself?

JD: I have been told on more than one occasion that I have a great ability to adapt to any situation… I like the sound of that.

NBJP: What’s your favorite jazz club to go to if you’re going to hang?

JD: Smalls

NBJP: What instrument, other than the one you play,  would you  like to be able to play?

JD: The piano

NBJP: What’s your favorite non-musical pastime?

JD: At this point of my life it’s reading… especially poetry

NBJP: What’s your favorite jazz tune?

JD: This is a really hard one… Hmmm… Blue in Green