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Interviews
Adam Rogers Discusses His Imminent Debut Release and More
Phil DiPietro
Phil wishes he was a musician (well, he is one, but he wishes he were a good one) but he's not frustrated by it. He's frustrated with a lot of other aspects of the so-called biz. Therefore, he's excited by independently released jazz.AAJ: Does Scott tour with Mike when he brings Larry Goldings out?
AR: No, that was just me, Larry, Michael and Idris, or Clarence.
AAJ: That band is killing! You really get to stretch.
AR: Just such a great situation in so many ways. Michael is, needless to say, one of the great saxophonists in the world.
AAJ: One of greatest improvisers' ever.
AR: Just amazing. It's a very open situation and he's such a great person to play with and work with, on all levels. Something that's challenging, fun and creative. I've worked with Clarence Penn in Michael's band and with a Danish bassist named Chris Minh Doky. I played on Clarence's last record for Japanese Verve which we did last fall which is kind of like a world music/Brazilian record. I don't think he's finished mixing it so it's not out yet. That's with James Genus, Steve Wilson, Ed Simon and Claudia Acuna. From what I've heard of it, it's really beautiful. Clarence is also so great to play with. He swings so hard and plays in a way that really complements what you're doing.
AAJ: You've got a lot of stuff that could all hit simultaneously there.
AR: I guess there'll be a lot of records coming out. I did a lot of recording this past fall.
AAJ: Can you tell us about the compositions on your record?
AR: We did an arrangement of 'Long Ago and Far Away' and eight originals. Two of the songs are from a recording I did a couple of years ago that is not on a label that I hope to have released at some point in some way. The rest are new to acetate, as it were. So that's six 'new' songs.
AAJ: Do these fall clearly on the bop side of things?
AR: It's acoustic, modern jazz. It's swinging, like 4:4, a lot of it. There's one song that's somewhere between a ballad and a medium tempo song, one straight eighths tune. Another has a melody in 5, 4 and then 7 but the solos are in 4:4. There's a swinging medium tempo blues and a fast, minor blues. There's ballad, on acoustic, of one of my originals. One of the songs is almost like through -composed classical music, classical guitar and piano doubling a lengthy eighth note figure.
AAJ: You studied classical formally, right?
AR: I studied classical guitar really seriously, yes. I went to Mannes Conservatory in the early to mid-80s and was a classical guitar major. It's in Manhattan and is now affiliated with the New School but at that point... well, it's one of the three-Manhattan, Mannes and Julliard. Mannes is a little more known for its 'Techniques of Music' department than the performance side. I went there and got a very straight, classical, conservatory music education'probably the same way somebody in the 19th century would have studied music. I really loved it. Before I went to college, when I started out playing, I was a total Hendrixophile. That was my total inspiration for playing guitar and then I got into jazz. When I went to college I decided, because I was interested in it and because I felt I could use a really solid musical education, that I would study classical music. I was always very happy that I did because I got a really solid grounding in music theory'western music theory...everything from species counterpoint to four part harmony, dictation ear training, score reading, musical analysis'a really in depth study of Bach, Beethoven and modern composers. It was invaluable to me. I was considering pursuing a career as a classical guitarist. It was really satisfying to play that music. I did some recitals and was into the repertoire, but I felt like I needed to do one or the other at the time. I love playing with people and improvising so much that I went in that direction.
I would like to make a classical music record, solo classical guitar, at some point. I play it a lot and in the last few years it's become a part of everything that I do. I play electric and acoustic equally, pretty much, on all the records that I do. I play all of them-electric, steel sting acoustic and nylon string acoustic.
AAJ: Now, do you bring the right hand classical technique to the electric?
AR: When I comp I play with my nails and when I play lines, generally, I play with a pick, but I also play with my skin for certain things when I want to coax a certain sound out of the guitar.
AAJ: You're known for the precision, cleanliness and the smooth legato-ness of your picked lines.
AR: People have responded to that, yeah. I mean, my greatest inspirations in the jazz idiom were 'Trane and Bird and pianists like McCoy and Herbie. Wes was a seminal influence. The live record with Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb, I think it's called 'Full House', was pretty much how I learned how to ply jazz guitar. Pat Martino was also a big influence. I think the first jazz guitar I heard was Benson's 'Breezin'. That record still completely flips me out. John Coltrane's music was a huge inspiration. The focus and emotional intensity of his playing and music was and is probably the greatest inspiration for me. I think I've always aspired in some way to achieve that kind of intensity in my own playing.
