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Setting
Levels
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Edited
by Paul "Pro" Pearson,
Ph.D.
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Jam Psychology with John Jordan Through our mutual friend and kindred spirit, Leslie, I was introduced to the Chris Duarte Group in Denver in the mid-90's and became a lifelong fan and eventual friend. I've lost count of the shows I've seen, but every time, I give bassist John Jordan a kind handshake and, no matter how fleeting, we get to share a true experience. Whether it's an hour-long exploratory jam at the Zoo Bar in Lincoln NE, or a rockout at People's Bar and Grill in Ames IA the night I defended my dissertation, I've always been knocked out by what Chris Duarte, John Jordan-and their drummer du jour-are able to do on stage. Suffice it to say that CDG are a jamband masquerading as a road-tested blues band. Before I understood what 'jam' meant, or could even appreciate what they are able to do, I was hooked. Now, through 20/20 hindsight, I see that these guys are not only phenomenal musicians, they are a true jamband. Although you can get a feel for the blues/rock power of the Chris Duarte Group on their studio releases, Texas Sugar Strat Magik and Tailspin Headwhack, you won't necessarily find the improvisational magic that they exude live on stage. Both Chris and John are heavily jazz, blues and even classically influenced, and truly exist on another plane when they are locked together in a Hendrix/Miles-esque jam. The best way I know to get a glimpse of that magic, short of seeing them on a Sunday night in Lincoln NE, is to buy John Jordan's solo release from last year, entitled "Only One." My hand-colored copy bearing the number "PR 001" is a treasure in my collection. With veteran skin-man Frosty Smith as the third side of this formidable triangle, this is a disc that you will find few equals for, and a disc that I feel reflects the true magic of the Chris Duarte group.
Name: John Jordan SL-Pro JJ-John Jordan SL-As the Chris Duarte Group, you guys are billed as a Texas blues band, and like all Texas blues guitarists, Chris has always been compared (unfairly to both, I contend) to Stevie Ray Vaughan. However, to me you guys are the epitome of a jamband. Extremely high energy, lots of jazz influence, extended improvisation at times and ever-morphing original songs. JJ- Yeah, jamband is okay with me...I'm an old guy, I thought we were supposed to jam. If I can deal with the word "jazz" at all (and I'm not sure I can), I would propose that anytime you take the rhythms of the day and improvise, you're doing the jazz thing. So jamband works fine for me. I write classical music, too, and even in that world of more defined parameters, I try to be cognizant of that strangely spacious element of jamming. Someone called it the 'sound of surprise.' SL-Spill out a few of your major influences, particularly how they may relate to the jamband scene. JJ-First off, I'd have to say that "Kind of Blue"by Miles Davis did more to influence jamming in general than any other record I can think of. If you've never heard it, buy it. Listen to it. If you don't like it, keep listening 'till you do like it. In it, Miles proposes an organic style of improvisation every musician must grasp... Major influences for me include (no particular order,i'll try to stop): Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Monk, the Who, the Beatles, Miles, Santana, Mr. Jimi Hendrix, Weather Report, Bartok, James Brown, Sly Stone...and I do mean… My first perception of jamming going on was probably Band of Gypsies at the Fillmore. Other milestones would be the Allman Brothers at the Fillmore, "love, devotion, and surrender", with Santana and Mclaughlin, "In a Silent Way" and "Bitches' Brew" by Miles... SL- What happens to you when you are locked in a serious jam with Chris, et al? Where do you go, what's going through your head, what are you feeling? JJ-it's hard to say, exactly, because it is so right-brained. I think there's a lot of relativity going on. Time (not tempo, we hope) becomes elastic: nanoseconds feel like hours, past and present are mere illusions, and I have this sense of time and space as fluid entities I can guide. There's no words in there. If words enter my brain the sensation I described evaporates. I guess I'd have to say that it is all emotions, or better, that place from which all nameable emotions spring. It seems to me to be identical to the pre/post-conscious state I'm in when I'm drawing, or sculpting, or after I've driven for 12 hours, or (pardon me) making love. SL-How did you learn to 'jam', to improvise, to just create on stage? Were you always able to, or did it take you awhile to learn? JJ-Yes...but seriously, folks, I think I was born with an improvisational bent—I was bent in several ways now that I think about it. Music is language...it always seemed crucial to me to develop conversational skills... one mainly learns in music by doing, so I improvised as part of learning my instrument, and found others who loved to jam as I did. Love is very important. SL-How did you approach your disc "Only One"-what were you going for, was it all tightly rehearsed, or did you just 'go off' on some of it? JJ-I deliberately gave Chris and Frosty as little information as possible. I got them in the studio all fresh and confused and said,"Okay, here's a little melody. This is the tonality, here's a couple of scales to think about, the groove is something like this, let's go!" I wanted the rawest, most spontaneous, free-est shit...I thought about calling it "Boys Go Crazy". SL-Tell me about the two bad-ass guys on the disc with you-A little of your history with Chris and Frosty. When did you first meet/jam with them and when did you realize that there were definitely special things happening? JJ-Big question...I could write a book...I first heard frosty when i was maybe 13 years old in Quito, Ecuador . A friend of mine stole his dad's VW van so he could rush over to my house and play me this Lee Michaels record. We completely freaked on the drummer-none other than Frosty himself. That's about 1973,'74... About 1984-85, I go to Antone's to hear Michael Kindred and Sarah Brown doing a happy hour gig, and there's this drummer that is so killin' that the whole room recedes for me like a Hitchcock movie... it's Frosty again. At the insistence of a drummer I knew, I went to the Black Cat Lounge to hear this band called Jr. Medlow and the Bad Boys. I showed up just as they were kicking off the second set, doing a couple before the boss came out in classic r&b style... Well, they played "Moment's Notice" by Coltrane, of all things, and the guitarist was playing Trane's solo through this honkin' Marshall-not just making the notes, but really nailing the emotional urgency Trane played with. I was hip-mo-tized. That was Mr. Duarte. I knew we had to play, so encountering both of these players live within a year or two of each other has always felt like divine intervention to me! SL-Give me your thoughts on the Hendrix/improvisational jazz bent that you and Chris have going on at times. JJ-Like every great composer, Hendrix created a complete universe in his writing and playing (and I'm leaving aside his lyrics for now). He developed his own harmonic structures, rhythms, forms, etc, right down to the smallest nuance, where you can hear one note with a certain vibrato and say,"that's Jimi". Chris and I have both breathed him since childhood, so we have absorbed many of his individualities...exactly as one might assimilate Bach. In a postmodern era one is free to, say, embark on a Hendrixian voyage, and freely add elements of, oh, Stockhausen, Coltrane, and Howlin Wolf, for example. SL-You guys are road hogs. At one time I remember you telling me that you had just done a thousand shows in the past three years. How does touring wear on you and comment on the multitude of drummers (13 or so from my info) you have burned through. JJ-Ouch. Like my daddy before me, I was born a ramblin man--you must learn to accept what the road gives you, and what it takes away, grasshopper. If you live your life on the road with the idea of serving music, you can survive it. That means it is more important that I practice than it is I party. Many people I know find that hopelessly boring, but music is a demanding mistress. We didn't burn through drummers, we dismembered them and scattered their remains in far flung dumpsters. SL-What's the formula for finding a skin man you can groove with? JJ-Some of my best friends are vegetarians, but drummers need fresh raw meat. Look-the modern day trapset is one of the most demanding instruments ever devised. Many are called, few are chosen. Drummers are gestalt bearers. They are shamanistic beings. They must embody truths that precede civilization or even language. To play with any drummer, good or bad, you must listen with all your being. SL-In last month's interview, you mentioned that you rarely want to hear the live tapes of your sets, because you remember the 'bonehead' things you did, but that you are usually pleasantly surprised when you do…Do you ever flat out surprise yourself, individually and/or as a band? JJ-We find that true-we're definitely hypercritical, but there are some nights that we think it all sucked and the tapes ain't bad. Oh yeah, sometimes the toughest nights turn out to be amazing on rehearing. I'll spare you the whole theory I have, but once again it gets back to sort of Einsteinian notions of time, matter, and energy. Art is struggle. That's why John Belushi trashes the acoustic guitar in "Animal House". SL-Let's talk sound-what are your requirements for monitors, general house sound, etc.? You guys always seem to deal with house sound men, do you ever have problems with that, is it sometimes a battle, or is it usually pretty easy? JJ-Although we certainly have ideal requirements, they are seldom met-or even approached- in the real world. As a trio, it's possible to make it work under conditions a larger band would find excruciating. It's crucial never to let it devolve into a battle...one of our warm Texas wisdoms is "you cain't polish a turd". If the PA or the monitor system or both) suck horribly, or if the soundman is a hopeless nincompoop, you must at some point say o.k, let's play. BE NICE. You invariably get the best out of people with simple human kindness, and an angry sound person has the suck knob activated and on 10.
more aphorisms: Trust the psychocoustic nature of human hearing. Get it where you can stand it then leave it alone. Your ears will adjust. Remember you have entered into a sacred covenant with your listener(s), whether 1 or 10,000, and try to give that covenant all your energy instead of worrying about the sound guy or the monitor that sounds like its full of runny goat curds... Thanks for the thought-provoking questions, Pro my bro. Peace. Comments? Have a topic for 'Setting Levels'? Want to put in your $.02 on taping, trading or mixing live music? Send me an email…
Pro Look for the CDG at a venue near you… I am off to Australia and New Zealand for a couple of weeks for business, so Newbie Nuggets will take a break for the month of June. Anyone who wishes a copy of one of the offers from previous months to get their collection rolling is encouraged to visit the Jambands.com archives and make your request. Check out some live video performances of .moe, String Cheese Incident, and other great bands from a venue in Austin, TX. Pro is currently hanging out on the Gold Coast and systematically analyzing the DNA of Australians for the elusive JAM mutation….check him out at www.strangepleasures.com.
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