"It's (Jazz) thrilling to see people make things up on the fly. Improvisation is such a natural part of being alive and being human and it's an amazing thing to see people improvising on their instruments."

Jason Stein: Jazz This Time

Jason Stein was born in 1976 and is originally from Long Island, New York. Stein is one of the few musicians working today to focus entirely on the bass clarinet as a jazz and improvisational instrument. He studied at Bennington College with Charles Gayle and Milford Graves, and at the University of Michigan with Donald Walden and Ed Sarath. In 2005, Stein relocated to Chicago and has since recorded for such labels as Leo, Delmark, Atavistic, 482 Music and Clean Feed.

Stein has performed throughout the US and Europe, including performances in festivals in Lisbon, Cracow, Utrecht, Barcelona, Debreccen and Ljubljana. He has had the opportunity to perform with a number of exciting local and international musicians including: Michael Moore, Jeff Parker, Oscar Noriega, Rudi Mahall, Ken Vandermark, Rob Mazurek, Jeb Bishop, Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten, Urs Leimgruber, Pandelis Karayorgis, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Tony Buck, Eric Boren, Kent Kessler, Tobias Delius, Michael Zerang, Michael Vatcher, Peter Brotzman, and Wilbert DeJoode.

Jason's debut album "The Story This Time" by Delmark Records, features the exceptional talents of Keefe Jackson, Josh Abrams, and Frank Rosaly playing both new compostions by him and older jazz tunes by such luminaries as Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, Lennie Tristano, and Thelonious Monk. Recorded at Riverside Studio by Todd Carter.

Interview by Michael Limnios

What does "JAZZ" mean to you and what has MUSIC offered you?

Well I guess in general the word jazz for me means a musical approach that is coming from a specific tradition and lineage of former musicians. Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, and so on forward. I think the word jazz implies a relationship with a musical lineage that can be expressed in a ton of different ways. The potential for such variety of interpretation of that tradition is what makes jazz so interesting to me and I think many other people. That said, I know many musicians are very resistant to use the word jazz to describe what they do. I think this is because of the implication of the music being copied or archaic. The jazz listeners penchant for comparison to previous musicians or for placing modern musicians on historical spectrum can for a contemporary musician be frustrating and feel limiting and reductive. Ideally the listener would have the capacity and desire to hear any music has music itself with a limited amount of the need to understand by comparing what they're hearing other things. Of course almost all art is enriched with a sense of understanding and contrast to previous work, but I do think that this tendency can be overdone with regard to jazz music.

What has music offered me? I've always been a pretty one track minded person. I like to focus on something and get his deep into it as possible. I'm not a person who has many interests and I never have been. There's a few things in the world that really draw my attention and it's my natural tendency to want to get as deeply into the most possible. Music has given me a lifelong Objects of study and focus and perceived. For whatever reason I've always had a strong internal desire to express something in the form of music.

"The jazz listeners penchant for comparison to previous musicians or for placing modern musicians on historical spectrum can for a contemporary musician be frustrating and feel limiting and reductive."

What experiences in your life have triggered your ideas most frequently?

I definitely feel very inspired frequently when I listen to other musicians both contemporaries and musicians from the past. Most of my strongest influences are saxophone players. For me the bass clarinet in jazz has a natural capacity as functioning kind of like a reappropriation of the saxophone. This is an interesting topic to me. I could imagine someone saying will if you want to sound like a saxophone player why not just play the saxophone. But it's not that I want to sound like a saxophone player. Rather it feels as though I have all these different influences of saxophone players welled up in the sound of a different instrument.

How do you describe Jason Stein sound and progress, what characterize your music philosophy?

One of the big challenges of playing the bass clarinet as a jazz instrument, which frequently me and playing with drums and other horns, is figuring it out for the instrument to be loud enough to make sense in all the contexts that one has to deal with. This set up parentheses reeds mouthpiece etc.) that I use on my instrument is very open and free blowing and allows me a range of possibilities with regard to volume and timbre. In general I'm preoccupied with getting a wide range of sounds out of my instrument.

My musical philosophy is quite simple. I want to play music that sounds good to me. My own sense of taste is my guide for what I do. I guess you could say that I am more aesthetically driven than conceptually driven.

Which is the most interesting period in your life? Which was the best and worst moment of your career?

The most interesting period in my life is right now.

"I think the word jazz implies a relationship with a musical lineage that can be expressed in a ton of different ways."

Why did you think that the Jazz music continues to generate such a devoted following?

It's thrilling to see people make things up on the fly. Improvisation is such a natural part of being alive and being human and it's an amazing thing to see people improvising on their instruments.

What’s the best jam you ever played in? What are some of the most memorable gigs you've had?

I'm really not much of a sentimentalist when it comes to past performances or experiences. I'm always looking to learn and develop on my instrument and that is how I tend to think of past experiences-more as tools than statues, if you know what I mean. That said, a specific time comes to mind when I had the lovely fortune to informally play with Tony Malaby in Michael Moore's living room in Amsterdam. Tony and I were both on tour and staying at Michael's. I was warming up before my gig and Tony came in and we hung and improvised together.

Which meetings have been the most important experiences for you? What is the best advice ever given you?

Regarding advice, I recall one time when a famous jazz pianist came to my college to do a masterclass. I'm gonna leave out his name, but it was a very famous, extremely accomplished modern jazz piano player. He sat down at the piano and let the room remain silent for a few seconds and then he looked out at the students and said nonchalantly "you know if you stopped playing your instruments and gave up music no one would care. No one."

He wasn't being a jerk, and he obviously wasn't trying to entice us to quit. He was saying something complex and heavy about the nature of what we do.

Do you know why the FREE JAZZ is connected to underground and avant-garde culture?

To put it simply, no I do not know. It's difficult for me to discuss underground and avant-garde culture because either I'm such a part of that culture that I don't notice it's separation for the mainstream aside from the super obvious differences of musical aesthetic ie my music sounds very very different from Taylor Swift, or that the model of separation of "underground" vs "mainstream" doesn't apply as simply in today's musical and cultural landscapes. Here's an example of what I mean. I've played shows where the music, as far as I hear it projected into the ears of listeners, is very abstract, avant-guard, dissonant, difficult, and so on and after playing someone from the audience (who I don't know) says to how nice it is to go out and hear some jazz. As though the music they just heard was comfortably on the spectrum of familiar or stereotypical or "normal" jazz music. I think that says a lot.

"I miss a time when microphones weren't prevalent and when a saxophone player had to learn to fill up a room with sound but not be blasting on his instrument. The art of a sound that is tender and light but can cut through a band like hell." (Photo by Peter Gannushkin)

What are your hopes and fears on the future of Jazz?

Oh man, I wish I could say I had the time and predilection to contemplate the future of jazz. I am so focused on my own personal development and world of music I must admit I rarely consider the shape of jazz to come. But I can tell you this, I intend and work to be a part of it.

What do you miss most nowadays from the jazz of past?

I would love very much to hear certain saxophone players' sound in a room. I miss a time when microphones weren't prevalent and when a saxophone player had to learn to fill up a room with sound but not be blasting on his instrument. The art of a sound that is tender and light but can cut through a band like hell.

What are the secrets of bass clarinet?

The bass clarinet has been the quirky cousin or uncle of the family for years. Let's say the Mom and Dad are the saxophone and trumpet and the children are the bass, drums, and piano. Maybe there are a few more children-trombone, guitar. But you get the picture; the immediate family of jazz music. The bass clarinet is the Dad's eccentric uncle or cousin who has been eating meals over most nights, and has trouble holding down a good job. The Mom is always saying how he can't do much on his own-finish college, make decent money, or start a family. But that uncle proves his brother and sister-in-law wrong. He starts his own family and works his way into a good, steady job. That's the bass clarinet. Players these days are pulling more and more out of the horn and changing it's status and reputation and most importantly, it's sound and vocabulary. It's very exciting.

Are there any memories from recording and show time which you’d like to share with us?

I'm too young to be diving into these sorts of memories! Ask me this again in 30 years.

"For me the bass clarinet in jazz has a natural capacity as functioning kind of like a reappropriation of the saxophone."

Let’s take a trip with a time machine, so where and why would you really wanna go for a whole day..?

I want to go to the beginning and then to the end and then back to the beginning. I hope this time machine is powered up.

Jason Stein - official website