Pablo Held Investigates

When I first heard the Dirty Projectors some time in 2012 I was blown away. (I think it was either “Two Doves” from the “Bitte Orca” record or “Maybe That Was It” from “Swing Lo Magellan”… don’t remember it exactly). I fell in love with this music right away.  The creativity and the searching quality of Dave Longstreth’s songwriting and production style simply amazed me. Also the way he leads the band was a big inspiration for me. Actually, it feels strange to single out specific things that I admire about him and this music, it’s the whole package… ! I then made an effort to check out as many Dirty Projectors records (and bootlegs) as I could.  Among my favorite albums are “Mount Wittenberg Orca” “Bitte Orca” & “Swing Lo Magellan”. I remember a tour through South America with my trio where I exclusively listened to Dirty Projectors (and Maria Callas singing Puccini’s “Tosca”!) for the whole tour. I love this band and I keep finding new things in those recordings all the time. My composition “Longstreth Blues” (as heard on my album “GLOW II“) is my tribute to his music. In it I tried to channel a couple of things I learned through listening to Dirty Projectors. I went to Berlin to see them live in August of 2018 and I got the opportunity to interview Dave Longstreth in the afternoon before the concert. I was super excited to talk to him and ask him a few questions. Hope you enjoy our conversation!

The first time I heard Drew Gress was on Fred Hersch’s beautiful trio album “Live at the Village Vanguard”. I was immediately drawn to his big sound. but also I was in awe of how lyrical he could be in one moment and how burning and risk-taking he would be in another moment. Drew was also on a lot of other records that were very inspiring to me, for example all the other records with Fred Hersch, the Claudia Quintet albums, his own records, Ben Monder’s “Flux”, Antonio Farao’s “Thorn”, Tony Malaby’s “Adobe”, the Marc Copland albums, The Bill Carrothers albums, John Surman’s “Brewster’s Rooster”, “Within A Song” by John Abercrombie and many more… I’ve learned a lot from listening to him on these records, from seeing him live on stage and also from this amazing workshop video that I encourage everybody to check out! To me, Drew is one of the most eclectic musicians who always has something meaningful and deep to contribute to any musical situation, he’s a real hero of mine and it was a pleasure to talk to him. Hope you enjoy!

You’ll hear me geeking out here a little in my conversation with master drummer & composer Bill Stewart. I’ve always loved his playing as well as his writing, so it was like a dream come true to get to ask him a few questions and talk about music with him. We cover a lot of ground here, talking about his records, composing, practicing routines,  memorable concerts, his influences and a lot more. I hope you enjoy!

(This episode is in German) Ich kann’s immer noch kaum fassen, dass das hier passiert ist. Helge Schneider, mein Held seit Kindertagen, hat einem Interview mit mir zugesagt und mich und meinen Produzenten Till Kammertöns zu sich nach Hause eingeladen um zu quatschen. Wir sprechen hier über Helges Bühnenpräsenz, seine Gabe, besondere Typen wie Charlie Weiss, Sergej Gleitmann oder Peter Thoms zu finden, die Kunst im Moment zu sein, Thelonious Monk, Teddy Wilson, Jimmy Woode, Proben, seinen Intelligenztest, die DCTP Interviews und vieles mehr. Danach waren wir Eis essen in Helges Lieblingseisdiele – war lecker!

Getting to talk to master bassist & composer Steve Swallow was a big deal for me. I’m so thankful to the great Mike Gibbs for kindly putting us in touch. When Steve got back to me, he told me he had checked out some of my interviews and that he’d be happy to participate. Naturally, I got super excited, went back and listened to all my favorite recordings of him again: his own records, but also his works with John Scofield, Jimmy Guiffre, Paul Bley,  Thelonious Monk, Carla Bley, Paul Motian, Chick Corea, Pete LaRoca, Art Farmer, Stan Getz, or Joao Gilberto. I also found some amazing records along the way that I hadn’t heard before, for example this one. Also, when I told John Scofield that I would interview Steve Stallow, he told me to check out Steve’s incredible bass feature on “I want you” from Gary Burton’s “In Concert” record. Steve was really generous with his time as our conversations took more than two hours. We talked about so many things and I’m still processing the inspiration I got from our talk, but I think it struck me the most to see how much Steve is still working on improving his connection to the instrument, how willing he is to keep learning and make progress. Considering how much he has already done for this music this sets a high bar for all of us, to never become too comfortable with the status quo.

(This episode is in German. The video version features english subtitles.) Die erste Platte von Wolfgang Muthspiel die ich gehört habe war „Real Book Stories“ mit Marc Johnson & Brian Blade. Das hab ich rauf und runter gehört und auch viel dazu gespielt. Besonders faszinierte mich Wolfgang’s Klarheit und seine Gabe besondere Räume für seine Bands zu schaffen . Andere wichtige Alben für mich waren „Air Love & Vitamins“, „Friendly Travelers“ & „Bright Side“. Ich habe seither mit großem Interesse Wolfgangs musikalischen Aktivitäten verfolgt und viel Inspiration daraus gezogen.  In unserer Unterhaltung spreche ich mich Wolfgang über die Klarheit seines Spiels, seine Gabe besondere Bands zusammenzustellen, Übemethoden, seine Zeit mit Paul Motian, Komponieren, das Trio mit Brian Blade & Marc Johnson, wichtige Konzerterlebnisse, Olivier Messiaen, eine Ballade von Johannes Brahms und vieles mehr. Viel Vergnügen!

When I asked my friend Percy Pursglove what he had been listening to lately, he told me about the piece “Partita for 8 voices” by Caroline Shaw. He said he had listened to the piece while driving in his car, but eventually he not only had to stop the car, but also stop the music – because he was so blown away by what he heard!! (I’m always looking for recommendations of this kind: when friends, colleagues or heroes of mine recommend something that they obsessing about) So on my way home I started listening to the piece and I was blown away as well! I couldn’t stop listening, had it running on repeat for a long time like I usually do when discovering a new piece. I immediately started checking other works by Caroline that were equally fresh and inspiring and also found lots of interviews that were really insightful. I’m so happy my friend Percy recommended listening to her work and I’m excited to share my interview with Caroline Shaw with all of you now! We talk about a lot of things, ranging from composition, inspirations, notation, working methods of the incredible vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth and much more! Enjoy!

As I tell Dave Holland in the beginning of our conversation, on so many of my all-time favorite recordings it’s him playing the bass! He’s one of my biggest heroes in music and I can’t really put into words how excited I was to talk to him! In this conversation we cover a lot of things, ranging from Dave’s current activities, putting together repertoires, relaxation, his relationship with Jack DeJohnette, his tenure with Joe Henderson, harmonic experiments with Herbie Hancock, ear training, leading a band, composing,  Miles Davis’ record “Filles De Killimanjaro”, our memories of John Taylor, and much more… Enjoy!

I’m very excited to announce that the interview series will now be available as a podcast as well! Go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify to subscribe in order to get all upcoming episodes!