It's rare that the words Harvard University and guitarist are mentioned in the same sentence. It's even more unusual to have a guitarist who regularly gives lectures at Harvard. But John Abercrombie is hardly your typical fretboard master. Phoning from a hotel in Kalamazoo, Mich., Abercrombie talks at length about his no-nonsense approach to touring, his legacy and his "guitaristic" point of view.
"I seem to have about three or four types of songs I write and everything seems to be an offshoot from that," Abercrombie explains. "I'm always trying to find something new to write, but that's hard. I had a teacher once who said you only have about two or three songs in you and everything's a variation of that. I'm beginning to think he was pretty damn close."
John Abercrombie, a veteran jazz guitarist, is on tour with his quartet of organ, drums and violin.
Cutting teeth, cutting records
Abercrombie was born in 1944 in Port Chester, N.Y. At age 14 he began playing guitar and never looked back. After high school, Abercrombie enrolled in Boston's Berklee College of Music, having already been bitten hard by the jazz bug.
"The first jazz guitarist I heard was Barney Kessel when I was very young, and that's what attracted me to jazz guitar," he explains. "Then later on I heard Kenny Burrell, Grant Green and then I heard Wes Montgomery and that just blew me away. The next big turning point was Jim Hall. These two players kind of define the way I like to think about playing. I don't really play like them, but that's the basis of how a lot of my thinking is formed, from a guitaristic point of view."
Upon graduation, Abercrombie spent several years as a New York session musician, where he guested with the likes of Gil Evans, Gato Barbieri, Barry Miles and Chico Hamilton. He went on to record his first solo project, "Timeless," in 1974 and followed with a string of innovative releases which made unique contributions to jazz, expanding the boundaries of the genre.
"I started to make records back in the late '60s and early '70s," he explains. "Then there was another generation that came along which was like (John) Scofield and (Pat) Metheny. Then there was (Bill) Frisell, who told me once that he stole all my stuff from years ago. Now there's a whole new generation that's coming, younger players that are doing something else. But, I still feel it's an extension of what we did, and we're all coming from Jim Hall. So there's an interesting lineage that goes along."
Jazz Kerouac
Though Abercrombie's recorded output would impress even the most jaded music fans, the guitarist has built a worldwide reputation through touring. Currently, he's on the road with his quartet: drummer Adam Nussbaum, organist Dan Wall and violinist Mark Feldman. Though Abercrombie has worked steadily with Nussbaum and Wall for the last decade, the addition of Feldman has allowed the band to explore new musical territory.
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Lied Center
Ticket information: 864-2787
"We include things that go from very tuneful to very open and abstract, almost contemporary classical sounding," Abercrombie explains. "It's a very wide mix. You want it to sound very natural and cohesive. We don't do a lot of be-bopping with this band, but that's in there too."
One conversation with Abercrombie will have you dispelling any notions of touring as a life of leisure, luxury or privilege. Abercrombie and company keep things bare-boned and simple, which if nothing else means there's not much equipment to be hauled.
"It's a jazz tour," the guitarist explains, laughing. "We don't have road managers, we don't have roadies, we don't have equipment. I travel with two guitars and a small box with a few pedals. The amps are provided by the promoter, the organ is provided by the promoter, the drums are provided by the promoter. Adam carries his cymbals and Mark carries his violin, and that's it."
When Abercrombie and band aren't touring the States, they're probably abroad playing for the relatively large European jazz audiences. Still, Abercrombie insists that European crowds aren't more amenable to jazz, just more open to his esoteric style.
"It's not that they're more receptive, it's just that there's more of them, more people that want to hear the music. In the United States, people are receptive but there's only pockets around the country where there are people who really want to hear the kind of music I play.
"In Europe, you can usually multiply the audience by four or five times. In this country, what people have gotten used to hearing is very traditional and they're told that jazz is supposed to be a specific thing. Whereas in Europe it's a lot more open. They accept a lot of different kinds of improvised music, from very traditional jazz to very avant-garde sounding stuff. I've noticed that in the last couple of years more of my touring is going back to Germany and Switzerland, whereas there was a period where it was more France and Italy, which was much better for the food."
Ken burnt
Raise nearly any topic around Abercrombie and he'll give you a lengthy, well-thought out answer. Ask him about Ken Burns' recent "Jazz" documentary on PBS and you get a veritable tidal wave.
"It definitely gave me more of an understanding of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington because they seemed to be the primary focus. No matter what, they kept coming back to those guys. Towards the end I started to get a little worn down by the constant references thinking that if Louis and Duke were alive they might come on and say, 'Jeez, can't you guys think of anything to talk about besides us.'
"There should have been more musicians who actually played with the heroes and not just Wynton (Marsalis) and Gary Giddens pontificating on what this music was about. But I thought there were too many writers (interviewed) and not enough musicians. When they were talking about John Coltrane, why didn't they have McCoy Tyner on or Elvin Jones? They're still alive and they speak really well. They're bright people and they could have given a lot of insight into what it was like to play with Coltrane. And they had no guitar players. There was one clip of Charlie Christian, which I was thankful for, but I don't think Wes Montgomery was even mentioned. I was very, very angry about that."
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