by Peter Oxley

Peter: Can you tell me about this project; when did you all start playing together?

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Geoff Simkins: We’ve all known each other for many years, we’ve all played together in various combinations. Nikki and I were going to do some duo playing we had together then we decided it would be great to do a trio instead of a duo, so we thought Dave would be the ideal choice, then we started recording and then we realized how not only informed but also inspired it would be with the three of us playing together.

We seemed to think along the same lines, and allow each other space, and yet have a sense of a collective so I think that’s probably why it works

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Peter: What would you say the influences for your playing in this situation are?

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Nikki Iles: Well we were just talking over dinner weren’t we about people like Lee Konitz, Bill Evans. I think there’s lots of things we love together…particularly about the openness and about improvisation, really

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Geoff: I think it’s, openness, improvisation and collective playing.

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Dave Green: Collective interaction

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Peter: If you had to each take 3 records, they don't have to be Jazz necessarily, to colonize Mars with, what would you take?

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Dave: Desert Island Discs?

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Geoff: Distant Planet Discs!

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Dave: Probably go for Kind of Blue & Duke Ellington. Are you talking about one album?

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Peter: Specific records

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Dave: There’s a Duke Ellington LP “at his very best” which is one of my favorite records….Kind of Blue…

Bill Evans trio, with Scott LeFaro something like that Vanguard or something

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Nikki: That would be one of mine

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Geoff: I’d certainly take a Lester Young of some sort

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Dave: It’s so difficult to choose 3!

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Geoff: Bach Cello Suites. Are we trying to influence people or just take things we can listen to on Mars?

 

Peter: I suppose a bit of both….things that you’d like people to know more about, as well as things that are your favourite

 

Nikki: Azimuth ’85. Gnu High, even My Song Keith Jarrett

 

Peter: What do you think of the state of Jazz? Is it alive but smells a bit funny, as Frank Zappa would say?

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Nikki: It’s evolving, I suppose isn’t it…

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Geoff: Continuing change…it’s not dead I don’t think it smells a bit funny, but it’s quite a small art in terms of interest and in terms of audience and the number of people who play it, I think isn't it? Always has been, I think?

 

Nikki: It’s healthy the amount of young people who are interested in it….reflecting people’s lives now

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Geoff: I mean I think the answer in this country in particular suffers from the barrier the critic puts between the music and the audience….and I think that Art isn’t something separate, different, it’s part of our everyday lives! Most artists, most musicians are musicians are ordinary folk who come from very ordinary backgrounds who love playing music. It’s not elitist in any sense! And yet its’ portrayed as being somehow different and intellectual...

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Peter: What do you think the cause of that is?

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Geoff: I think partly the cause is how the arts are viewed in Britain! They’re seen as different. “I don’t understand it” people say; “I don’t understand modern painting, I don’t understand modern poetry it’s hard work”. Why should that be the case? It’s part of everyday life

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Dave: Jazz is presented in this country as a bit of a ghetto music. It’s not part of the mainstream. If you turn the radio on in Germany or France you’ll hear Jazz next to all kinds of other music

 

Geoff: Why shouldn’t there be John Coltrane next to Bach next to Frank Sinatra next to Dolly Parton?

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Peter: Do you think there should be a unique station devoted to it?

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Geoff: No! Exactly not, why shouldn’t they (radio stations) play all music? 

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Dave: Should be a broad church!

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Peter: Do you think there’s a problem with people going on the Internet and thinking they know how to play Jazz after watching a tutorial on Giant Steps?

 

Nikki: Yeah I do. Again we were talking about this earlier on. I’m in my 50’s, I’m going to be the last (generation that's) kind of imitating. I mean I suppose if you’re on youtube you’re imitating a bit, but that thing of learning and experiencing things on the stand, and learning things without anyone saying anything...

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Peter: Or on the gig?

 

Nikki: Yeah on the gig, or just literally imitating the nuance feel…you just can’t teach.

So I think people sometimes think they can just get stuff, there’s a surface level thing language and stuff.

So I think it’s OK, my daughter's doing it she’s obsessed with Joni Mitchell at the moment, she’s only 15 but she sat for a whole day yesterday and tuned her guitar and tried to learn this quite complex time and everything and learnt it just off YouTube just by kind of looking…so it was good.

 

Peter: Some different tunings!

 

Nikki: Then she’d have to play the whole thing!

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Peter: Do you think a lot of things are context dependent, you can’t learn a batch of licks and expect them to work?

 

Nikki: Sort of boil in a bag Jazz...no, it’s a fantastic resource but you need to go out and do it yourselves

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Interview length= 8 minutes

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This interview was performed live in person before the trio's 11th May 2018 gig at Crookes Social Club for Sheffield Jazz

 

Tags: Bill Evans, Lee Konitz, Kind of Blue, Duke Ellington, Village Vanguard, Azimuth, Kenny Wheeler, My Song, Frank Zappa, Arts in Britain, Coltrane, Sinatra, Dolly Parton, YouTube, Joni Mitchell

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