Yeah‚ definitely. Another thing I wanted to throw out there to you is about the music today. I've talked to a lot of younger players who are carrying on the tradition‚ and they're adding their voice in the evolution of the music. So you've seen this music evolve a lot over your career. The younger players that I've talked to‚ they tell me they grew up listening to hip-hop music. I thought it was interesting that you played with A Tribe Called Quest.
Yes.
So it was interesting you played with these guys who are hip-hop artists and there is this element in the music‚ in jazz‚ where these worlds come together. So what are some of your thoughts about where the music's at today?
Well‚ I'm not sure hip-hop guys are into the jazz scene yet. But they may sample some jazz samples‚ but I think they're not taking the risk that jazz players take at all. You know‚ theirs is as much visual as aural and jazz is almost the opposite. [Jazz] is more aural than it is visual. I'd like to see those hip-hop guys‚ whatever they're called‚ rap guys‚ just spend an evening watching a jazz band operate‚ so they could see what interplay really is. And what they're doing is maybe in the same apartment building‚ but not the right apartment.
[laughs] Yeah‚ they're not improvising.
Not at all. I mean‚ on some level of course it is. But compared to what we do every night they're not in the same area‚ man. I'd like to have those guys just come by and spend a night at a jazz club to watch a band just do that. Come by two or three nights to see how it changes from night to night. And we could talk about whether they could do this or not. Right now they just don't have a real experience of just being a part of an audience‚ watch the development of an idea from night to night. They need that kind of experience. They need that kind of exposure before they can really get into the jazz thing or however you define that.
Well‚ the interesting side of it is that a lot of jazz artists are being influenced by the hip-hop side of things and bringing that into their music.
Yeah‚ I'm not sure they're successful at it though.
[laughs] No‚ it doesn't really work for you?
Well‚ I haven't heard anybody who really knocked me out doing it yet‚ so maybe they're still working at it.
That's good you're keeping your ears open though.
Yeah. Trying to find a way to make it work‚ you know?
Yeah‚ well what is some of the stuff that you're really enjoying now?
Listening to the Bach Brandenburgs.
Oh yeah?
Fabulous music‚ man. Great‚ great writing‚ great voicing‚ great voice leading‚ great bass lines. Just perfect music. I've been listening to Bach for years‚ man. Always been one of favorite composers.
Anybody else?
I have one of the earlier versions of Porgy and Bess on a 78‚ so I'm trying to get it- my machine doesn't play 78s anymore-from 78 to 33 1/3 or CD so I can really hear how it sounded before Miles [Davis] played it. It's a great piece of music he does and I just wanted to hear what the original sounded like.
Who's playing on it?
It's a studio orchestra and I don't even know the names on it because they're not familiar to me at all. They were made in the '30s or '40s. It's a great sound if I can ever get it to play for me. I've heard it on a 78 machine. That's were I found it. I'm trying to get it to move to another format so I can really understand what took place back then.
That's definitely part of the job‚ researching everything.
You got to do it. It's part of the history‚ man.