Welcome to my project, Dialogues in Music; a collection of interviews and accompanying recordings with a few musicians that I find interesting and that have influenced my musical practice a bit in recent years.
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Here I have compiled transcripts from phone and social media conversations that have taken place throughout the past half year or so, and highlighted the most thought provoking excerpts.
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Here's an overview of who we have in the project:
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Tom Ollendorff is a fab player who can be compared in some ways to Gilad Hekselman and other contemporary guitarists. I wanted to know his influences in more detail. I also wanted to find out about his experiences of music education and his perspective on developing a unique voice within a jazz idiom; something which I aspire to do as well.
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If there's one person who I've been told I'm most similar to, it's Alex Corlett, who has always impressed me with the depth of classical knowledge, depth of thought and the jazz infectiousness that makes up his compositions. I've had many great conversations with Alex before. I wanted to know his processes of composition, early experiences of Jazz and his perspective on Third Stream music which he loves.
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Connor Fogel has introduced me to lot's of new composers and types of practices (such as a recent generation of composers who use complexity as an expressive device) so I wanted to explore the outer limits of composition with him, Connor has talked to me before in depth about his relationship with harmony and I was therefore interested in exploring that more, as well as wider questions on contemporary art and music.
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Ford Collier is a great friend (as are the others) and has a comedic imagination and a scary technique on Tabla and Whistle, and a strong Indian musical heritage. I was interested in his early experiences, his opinion on incorporation of Indian practices in Britain and broader thoughts on Folk and its' offspring.
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Noah Stone is someone who you must see play to believe. I've enjoyed fantastic extended jams with Noah and we share a similar background. I wanted to know who he'd take to the desert island.
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Geoff Simkins really impressed me with his playing. Nikki Iles and Dave Green are equally fantastic musicians and I thought their recent gig in Sheffield would be an ideal opportunity to interview a collective and a collective of great Jazz musicians at that. I wanted to know their thoughts on Jazz in the UK and hear some of their thoughts on Jazz education of which they all play a part in.
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To explore these questions, I chose to ask each interviewee what their earliest musical experiences were, and also which 3 composers or artists they would take to a desert island. My plan was to use these answers​ as a springboard towards conversations on the topics mentioned above. Two running themes have emerged from the ensuing conversations: composition and improvisation.
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I'm interested in both these fields as a jazz musician who also composes a little, and they are not universally considered to be totally disparate fields (read Alex Corlett on Gunther Schuller and Third Stream music). However, rather than looking at the relationship between the two disciplines, I have taken snapshots of each featured artist and their relationship with either, and they have all provided unique thoughts on what making music, and the tools by which they do it, means for them.
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Hope you enjoy it!
Peter 20/05/18
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Update 2020: Looking for more musicians to interview, preferably currently involved or recently involved in higher education.
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