While I love being a jazz bassist, I came to it through a rather meandering route. Growing up, I had never seen an upright bass, other than the occasional Donald Duck or Tom & Jerry cartoon. After high school, while existing rather aimlessly in Oklahoma, I heard The Heath Brothers playing Confirmation on the local college radio station. I loved the sound of Percy’s bass. The solid sponginess of his tone, the groove… all of it. I decided then and there to enroll as a music major in the local college, which had no idea how to handle a guy that didn’t know a thing about music; a jazzer who’d never heard of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, or John Coltrane. I learned what I could, and spent a couple more years casting about until I happened upon a chance to attend the brand-new program at The New School, and came under the profound influence of Reggie Workman. After that, while my path was still pretty odd- some illness, depression, odd professions, lots of self-doubt- I feel it has made me who I am, and my work what it is.

From Reggie Workman, I learned what it is to be an artist. I learned that while you should never stop mastering the theory and technique of being a musician, what ultimately matters in the moment of creation is where you’ve been, and where you’re going. I strongly believe that no matter how abstract the work is, it should tell a story. What that story is can be completely in the ear of the beholder, but it should be there. A piece should never be more enjoyable to play than it is to hear. Other than that, I love the democracy of jazz and improvised music. I love the challenge of trying to make as full a picture as possible with as few components as possible. I’m a founding member of the band East Axis, which has been called a “free improvisation dream team,” and a “formidable jazz quartet.” Another of my cooperative projects, 10³²K, is a trio of trombone, bass, and drums. Together we have recorded or performed our interpretation of works by John Coltrane, Skip James, and Jim Hendrix, among many others.

Site Photographs by Sujata Subramanian & Anna Yatskevich