It was my first time at the Sound Board, and I have to say that the production quality of the venue is truly outstanding. While I’ve great affinity for a lot of the older bars and clubs around Detroit such as St. Andrew’s Hall, the State Theater, the Magic Stick, and such – having a shiny new venue replete with built in video screens at the bars, fairly comfortable seats in the balcony, a tremendous sound system and great acoustics, great lights and video, and a pretty big stage is something that’s been long overdue in the city of Detroit. My one complaint with the physical aspects of the venue is that there aren’t enough restrooms. By the time that MMW took the stage, the crowd had filled in a bit, but it was still a pretty poor showing for a band that’s been so influential on so many musicians and that’s been a headlining act at the Detroit International Jazz festival twice in the past few years. I spoke with the guys working band’s merchandise table who informed me that pre-show sales had been only about 160 tickets – about 10% of the Sound Board’s 1600 seat capacity. The $40 ticket price largely explains this – MMW tickets normally run $18-$30 and $40 is rather steep for the jazz and jamband crowd that the band would normally draw. Of course, it’s not a huge loss for the casino because they’re pretty much printing money. I think they could have filled the place had they charged $25 per ticket and I’m sure some of those folks would have stayed and gambled.
After the show I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with keyboard player John Medeski and percussionist/drummer Billy Martin. We talked about their educational enterprise, Camp MMW where musicians came to learn from these jam masters as well as topics ranging from improvisation and collaboration to their newest recordings, the Radiolarians albums, and about the city of Detroit. Throughout much of the interview, Medeski would often answer and when pausing, Martin would often jump in and complete the thought. Such is their relationship it would seem, both on and off stage. Read below for the whole interview:
AB: I wanted to talk to you about Camp MMW and music education. I know that’s something you did last year and are doing again this year. I understand there’s a pretty rigorous application process? What was the age range you had last year at Camp MMW, and what are you hoping that people will get out of the experience?
BM: Hopefully we’ll do it every year.
JM: We had people 16 to 54 [years old] last year. We require that people have a certain level of playing, and we have them fill out a questionnaire and write a little something about what they do and why they do it. And they send us a couple of recordings of them playing and then we look at them all and hand pick select people who . . .
BM: Who need help. We’re sharing how we make music, first of all which is our way, and hopefully we get them to sort of discover . . .
JM: Their way
BM: Their way to be creative. Each of us has our own way of getting workshops going, so there’s no one unifying lesson – we have many lessons and workshops and things
JM: But through all of it – what we’re all doing in our own way is definitely trying to get people to the core of personal expression, and music at that basic level is what it’s really about. People get so caught up in . . .
BM: Emulating others and working out of insecurities . . .
JM: Emulating and working out technical things – they forget the real performance. In retrospect that’s what that camp was really about – getting back to the basics and reestablishing the reasons for things in the first place, and taking it from there. We discussed a whole lot more complex things as well but that’s what it really was about. I went to music school, college, you know, conservatory and that one thing I had to relearn after I left about music – why I play it. I know a lot of people who gave up, quit, you know, threw their horns away the day they quit school. Waiting for the day that school was over because after they graduated, it was just like, it could ruin you – too much thinking can ruin you and the joy of it.
AB: You’ve been playing together for some time and individually with other folks, John Scofield of course has played, toured, and recorded with you and Maceo Parker played with you in Florida recently. As a tight unit that’s played together for quite a while and can anticipate one another so well, what factors come into play with new collaborations in the new dynamic, especially with regard to improvisation in that dynamic?
JM: It’s all about personalities – its like hanging out with a person at first. You know, music is a language and they come in with what they have to say and because we’re so connected we can make it easier in a lot of ways. It’s just anther element and we’re interested in making a whole at any given time and when you add someone else, it changes the . . .
BM: Chemistry
JM: Changes the chemistry, changes what our particular parts are of the whol and we adjust accordingly and it’s definitely something we do where we can’t - it’s not something we think about, it’s something we feel. I mean, there’s thought but it’s in between thought how we come and go about it. We start playing and we react to what they play, their rhythm, and we adjust – we do our thing, but we adjust to what they’re doing.
AB: Do you find with some people more than others the first time you get together that comes more naturally – maybe a shared music vocabulary?
JM: It’s like meeting people at a bar, sometimes you hit it off and sometimes you think the guy’s a dick – it’s like that with music. We’ve been fortunate that with most people there’s something mutual we can bring together.
BM: We’re pretty sensitive to trying to make it work but at the same time they’re thrown into our fire – if all else fails we’re just going to do what we do and they’ll either drown in it or rise above it. But we’re the kind of band that really gets behind other players no matter what the level they’re at – we really want to make good music.
JM: And the guys you mentioned are two masters – so it’s pretty easy.
AB: I just saw that the rope-a-dope records gig in NY is going on and you’re slated to play that.
JM: That’s got to be among the hardest
AB: For a lot of music fans it’s one thing to hear and album and see live shows, but festivals and award shows and such environments where it’s far more unexpected than any other occasion, and raises more possibilities. Does it put additional pressure on you when you’re in an unknown situation, playing with people you don’t normally play with like the Ropadope [records] shows?
JM: Sometimes it’s great and just like life, sometimes it’s really not – there’s so many factors that come into play. There’s not really more pressure because. . .
BM: It’s a benefit situation so you’re there for that – it’s not really about you.
JM: We spend our lives improvising and gearing towards that so we play with different people all the time – its what we’ve always done. When we got together we came from all playing with different people, and all kinds of music. It’s kind of we do, so to be honest, it’s actually really fun - we’re in our element in that situation. Sometimes it sucks and sometimes it’s incredible.
BM: Sometimes it sucks because we’re all different and we all have different ideas and perspectives.
JM: But with festivals and benefits where things are thrown together, people don’t realize that the fact is that the sound – sometimes you can’t really hear . Something as simple as you can really hear the guy – I had no idea what the musicans across the stage were even playing, and so then it’s a question of how much you’re really making music. You know, it’s kind of fun and the idea is cool but are you making music? And other times it’s magic, you know? It’s unbelievable. But it’s like life – that’s the way it can be with anything. And you learn that some people you play with every once in a while you can always do it [guitarist] Mark Ribot - instant band, or [DJ] Logic – instant band.
AB: I’ve lived in Detroit for 4 years, and first saw you here playing at the Detroit Jazz Festival just after Labor Day weekend right after I moved here in 2005. You’ve been playing Detroit for a while consistently with another Jazz festival a couple of years ago as well – what’s your connection to Detroit?
BM: Some crazy person keeps asking us to come back.
JM: I like coming to Detroit - Detroit is a wild place.
BM: We came here uninvited to a little coffee shop and played for a bunch of freaks and to me that was my favorite gig – well the first few gigs. We were just a band playing for these people who were almost squatting in buildings watching, and it was great. And the spirit, there’s a certain vibe here. I grew up in New York City so I can relate to the urban setting where there’s a lot more going on than you think, and how hard it is. There’s people there who love music and doing a lot of creative stuff and doing something different and being different – and Iggy Pop’s from here and we got to play with him too.
JM: James Carter who plays with us is from here. Detroit has that thing – let’s be honest - the Detroit population is less than half what it once was. Places where there’s something really amazing going on that we felt when we first came here– it’s hard to feel that playing a casino that we’re playing IN Detroit. But there is something about this town . . .
BM: It’s different
JM: I’m always glad to come here, but I never get to spend enough time, but there’s definitely a vibe here - and there’s energy here that’s kind of wild. It’s funky!
AB: I’ve learned to appreciate the grass roots, under the radar arts movement in Detroit that’s mostly in the city and not the suburbs – and it’s interesting for me having lived in different cities seeing the urban landscape . . .
JM: A diminishing urban landscape
AB: Well, there’s always talk of revival
JM: Well, the funny thing is, I think we saw this in Argentina, that when the economy of a place starts to drop, the arts get better. It’s a weird thing because you don’t always have the most appealing place – that kind of expression is more valuable when there’s less money.
AB: So let’s talk about [the newest MMW albums] Radiolarians
JM: Less money, more music
AB: So the idea is instead of recording an album and touring, it’s the opposite?
JM: Write music, develop it on the road, and then record it really quickly.
AB: Is it more organic that way, or does it engender something different?
JM: Usually it’s a combination of both. One reason we do this is to always have new music when we go out on the road – just to feed our creativity. We though, ‘we can do that, so why don’t we do that?’
BM: In the past we’ve had problems with labels because they just want 1 big album a year and then they balk at the idea that with two records you’re going to compete with yourself. For us, we don’t sell hundreds of thousands of copies of a record – we’re lucky if we sell thirty thousand - that’d be a lot for us. So why not make more records and get them out to the people who love the music? That’s another side of it, the business side of it. So it’s more music for us, and more for our fans and audience, and that’s better.
JM: And it keeps us creative, any music that’s exciting for us is what we’re about.
BM: Just another way of creating, developing, somewhat of a concept, but really a creative process and another way to stay fresh and in a year or two we’ll do something else.
WERD!!!
-drew
"MCB IS DETROIT"
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