Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on May 26, 2006 12:47:37 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]Outspoken: John Densmore Opening New Musical Doors [/glow]
John Densmore is probably best known as the drummer for The Doors, but he’s certainly making efforts to branch out into different musical environments. On Ray Of The Wine (Hen House Studios) he plays alongside Iranian master percussionist Reza Derakshani, an Egyptian bassist, and a Brazilian percussionist – the end result is a veritable melting pot of styles, all spearheaded by Derakshani’s rhythmic gymnastics.
DRUM!: How did you meet Reza Derakshani, and get the project together?
Densmore: I met him at Robert Bly’s Great Mother Conference, and he was performing solo. Then I went to his apartment in New York, and we jammed, [me] just on a hand drum and him on all his exotic instruments. It was magic. And then he asked me if I could sort of westernize his music.
DRUM!: Do you have much background playing percussion?
Densmore: I play traps on the album, and I have a Brazilian percussionist, Christina Berio, playing all that stuff … which I can fool around on. But then when you get with a master percussionist like Airto, you go, “Okay, I play traps.”
DRUM!: Reza is Iranian, correct?
Densmore: Yes, he’s there now, in Tehran. So, we’d better not bomb it, Dick Cheney. I don’t want my friend as collateral damage, thank you.
DRUM!: Sounds like a meeting of minds.
Densmore: It was really just a musical synchronicity and a love of Rumi, who is a very famous Persian poet. We did this a year and a half ago, and it’s just luck that it came out when these two countries are threatening each other. And I say, good luck, because we’re trying to build bridges, not bombs. I think it works.
DRUM!: Have you gotten any flak for working with an Iranian artist?
Densmore: There is not one review that is not astounding, they’re so flattering.
DRUM!: It’s great when you can use music to cut through all the political BS.
Densmore: I was doing an interview with a radio station in Montana, and they were just eating the record up. I hung up the phone and thought, “Man, cowboys are listening to Farsi. This is good. America is open.” I mean, we did take in the Buena Vista Social Club.That was in another language. We’re into world music. We’re growing. I just want to get a message to Cheney, you need to learn about a culture before you bomb it.
DRUM!: Let’s talk about a few drum performances of Ray Of The Wine. The first track “Wild Hair” …
Densmore: “Wild Hair” is a funk groove, and I told the bass player Osama Afiffi to play a Larry Graham kind of thing. He’s the original Sly Stone bass player who invented that finger-popping thing. And I played this funky groove, and we got right into it. That was easy.
DRUM!: What about the title cut?
Densmore: I like that one from a drumming standpoint, because it’s sort of this loping jazz groove that’s kind of similar to old Miles Davis records. Jimmy Cobb. That kind of loping 4/4 groove with a knock on 4. We pretty much improvised the whole thing, which was a lot of fun.
DRUM!: Where did the bare bones of the song come from?
Densmore: The bare bones came from Reza. In Persia they’re into different time signatures - seven, five - and they’re more relaxed in those than 4/4. And Reza wasn’t as relaxed in 4/4. So I sort of structured the whole groove, then we just went. He sang and played the tar, which is a gourd-like guitar, kind of like a sitar but not as elaborate. It was hard to mike it. I mean, they look like they belong in the Smithsonian, all the instruments. So he’d sing, and when he’d stop, he’d solo, and then he’d go back to the singing. At that time, Reza didn’t speak English that well. But you know, music, man, it crosses all these boundaries. And I’ve got to say, the rhythm section, Osama Afiffi, [percussionist] Christina Berio, and Quinn Johnson on piano, this is the basis of my new jazz group that is going to be out in the late summer-early fall. It’s called Tribaljazz. That’s a real drum fest.
DRUM!: When you grow up worshipping trap drummers, it must be an incredible experience taking in the percussion and culture of other countries.
Densmore: And it’s fun to play trap drums with a good percussionist, because then someone else is working the groove. In The Doors, live, there was no bass player. It was [keyboardist] Ray [Manzarek’s] left hand playing organ bass. So I had to work real hard at keeping the tempo steady, because when Ray would take a solo he’d get excited and his left hand would speed up. So now, I’m playing with a regular bass player, a percussionist, and in Tribaljazz I have two African hand drummers and Christina … oh, I could stop. Or I could play with one hand. Or fill like crazy. It really frees me up. It’s really fun.
DRUM Magazine March 03, 2006
John Densmore is probably best known as the drummer for The Doors, but he’s certainly making efforts to branch out into different musical environments. On Ray Of The Wine (Hen House Studios) he plays alongside Iranian master percussionist Reza Derakshani, an Egyptian bassist, and a Brazilian percussionist – the end result is a veritable melting pot of styles, all spearheaded by Derakshani’s rhythmic gymnastics.
DRUM!: How did you meet Reza Derakshani, and get the project together?
Densmore: I met him at Robert Bly’s Great Mother Conference, and he was performing solo. Then I went to his apartment in New York, and we jammed, [me] just on a hand drum and him on all his exotic instruments. It was magic. And then he asked me if I could sort of westernize his music.
DRUM!: Do you have much background playing percussion?
Densmore: I play traps on the album, and I have a Brazilian percussionist, Christina Berio, playing all that stuff … which I can fool around on. But then when you get with a master percussionist like Airto, you go, “Okay, I play traps.”
DRUM!: Reza is Iranian, correct?
Densmore: Yes, he’s there now, in Tehran. So, we’d better not bomb it, Dick Cheney. I don’t want my friend as collateral damage, thank you.
DRUM!: Sounds like a meeting of minds.
Densmore: It was really just a musical synchronicity and a love of Rumi, who is a very famous Persian poet. We did this a year and a half ago, and it’s just luck that it came out when these two countries are threatening each other. And I say, good luck, because we’re trying to build bridges, not bombs. I think it works.
DRUM!: Have you gotten any flak for working with an Iranian artist?
Densmore: There is not one review that is not astounding, they’re so flattering.
DRUM!: It’s great when you can use music to cut through all the political BS.
Densmore: I was doing an interview with a radio station in Montana, and they were just eating the record up. I hung up the phone and thought, “Man, cowboys are listening to Farsi. This is good. America is open.” I mean, we did take in the Buena Vista Social Club.That was in another language. We’re into world music. We’re growing. I just want to get a message to Cheney, you need to learn about a culture before you bomb it.
DRUM!: Let’s talk about a few drum performances of Ray Of The Wine. The first track “Wild Hair” …
Densmore: “Wild Hair” is a funk groove, and I told the bass player Osama Afiffi to play a Larry Graham kind of thing. He’s the original Sly Stone bass player who invented that finger-popping thing. And I played this funky groove, and we got right into it. That was easy.
DRUM!: What about the title cut?
Densmore: I like that one from a drumming standpoint, because it’s sort of this loping jazz groove that’s kind of similar to old Miles Davis records. Jimmy Cobb. That kind of loping 4/4 groove with a knock on 4. We pretty much improvised the whole thing, which was a lot of fun.
DRUM!: Where did the bare bones of the song come from?
Densmore: The bare bones came from Reza. In Persia they’re into different time signatures - seven, five - and they’re more relaxed in those than 4/4. And Reza wasn’t as relaxed in 4/4. So I sort of structured the whole groove, then we just went. He sang and played the tar, which is a gourd-like guitar, kind of like a sitar but not as elaborate. It was hard to mike it. I mean, they look like they belong in the Smithsonian, all the instruments. So he’d sing, and when he’d stop, he’d solo, and then he’d go back to the singing. At that time, Reza didn’t speak English that well. But you know, music, man, it crosses all these boundaries. And I’ve got to say, the rhythm section, Osama Afiffi, [percussionist] Christina Berio, and Quinn Johnson on piano, this is the basis of my new jazz group that is going to be out in the late summer-early fall. It’s called Tribaljazz. That’s a real drum fest.
DRUM!: When you grow up worshipping trap drummers, it must be an incredible experience taking in the percussion and culture of other countries.
Densmore: And it’s fun to play trap drums with a good percussionist, because then someone else is working the groove. In The Doors, live, there was no bass player. It was [keyboardist] Ray [Manzarek’s] left hand playing organ bass. So I had to work real hard at keeping the tempo steady, because when Ray would take a solo he’d get excited and his left hand would speed up. So now, I’m playing with a regular bass player, a percussionist, and in Tribaljazz I have two African hand drummers and Christina … oh, I could stop. Or I could play with one hand. Or fill like crazy. It really frees me up. It’s really fun.
DRUM Magazine March 03, 2006