Michael Formanek

You started to play very early with Norman Williams.  Can you speak to us about this period, your beginnings as professional bass player ?
I met the Bishop Norman Williams when I was 15. He came to my high school as a guest artist for a concert, and for Some reason he liked me. He started calling me for gigs a few months later, and before I knew it, I was playing and recording with people like him, Woody Shaw, Michael Howell, and Eddie Henderson. It was kind of a fluke, but somehow I could play just enough to keep getting called. After that  went to college for a year, but I dropped out because I was already doing what I wanted to do, and couldn't quite figure out what college was going to do for me. In the next year or so, I worked with Joe Henderson, Eddie Henderson, Baikida Carroll, Art Lande, Mark Isham, Dave Liebman and Tony Williams. The bay area was great back then. There were no barriers between the music scenes. If you could play, you could do everything. At that time also played fusion music, heavy metal, latin music, some reggae. It was a great experience.

After a few years you decide to moving to New York.  Can you say to us why ? Can you speak to us about your first years in this city ?
I eventually got the feeling that if I didn't get my ass kicked a bit (musically that is) I never would. I always thought about moving to New York but had no real plans to do it. Then a opprtunity came up to join a band that played Brazilian music, and had a gig for the Summer in upstate (Niagara Falls) New York. I jumped at the chance to go to the east coast to check it out, AND learn something about Brazilian music at the same time. At the end of the Summer I called Dave Liebman ( who had just moved back from San Francisco) to say hello. He had just gotten a call that bassist Jeff Berlin was cancelling on an upcoming week at Sweet Basil, and would I want to do the gig.  Of course I said "YES" and left a few days later to come to the city  for rehearsals. The band at Sweet Basil was Dave, Terumasa Hino, John Scofield, Adam Nussbaum, and myself. I continued to play in that band for a while until Dave realized that he needed a bit more solid and mature player, so he got Ron McClure for the band. Of course I was hurt, but I understood, and Ron was one of my favorite bass players. That helped. Besides, it got me to New York. I never really planned to move there, it just happened. During that next period I did alot of different things musically, but mostly played with Brazilian musicians that I'd met when I first arrived, also with Herbie Mann, some be-bop gigs around town, and even a bit of studio work.

Can you say something to us on your participation in the Media Band at the beginning of the 80's ?
The media band was a recording band at the WDR in Cologne, Germany. I was basically a guest bassist who came over and recorded with them from time to time in 1980 and 1981. I met Jon Eardley, the late American trumpet player on tour in Germany in 1979. He pushed to have the  WDR to hire me with the idea that they would offer me the full time position. I didn't really want that, but it was a pretty good gig when it happened. I think I went over to do it 3 or 4 times over a period of a year and a half.

Your first CD Wide Open Spaces was published in 1990. Why did you wait a long moment before recording ?
I really didn't have much to say before that! During the 80's I was focusing more on being a good Jazz sideman. I played with a lot of big name leaders, many of whon are no longer with us. I'm glad to have had that opportunity. In some ways I feel like I lost time that should have been devoted to doing my own music, but I had some experience that can NEVER be had again, by ANYBODY. That's a pretty amazing thing, too.  Towards the latter part of the 80's I was really feeling like I had to do something really personal in music. I was still working with Freddie Hubbard's band, Fred Hersch's trio, and I was coming to Europe with Attila Zoller. I was also studying composition, and I was starting to compose for independant film projects. Wide Open Spaces came out of a period where I was really looking to change from being a sideman to a more collborative, improvising,  player and composer.

You have worked with Tim Berne for several years now.  How did you meet him ? Can you speak to us about this long collaboration ?
I met Tim briefly in the late 80's. Joey Baron introduced us at the Village Vanguard one night, but we didn't actually play together untill 1990. I had a gig in New York with the "Wide Open Spaces" band, na dGreg Osby couldn't make it, so (violinist) Mark Feldman suggested that I call Tim. I knew Tim's music at that point, and I was very interested in playing with him, but I didn't think that he'd do it. As it turned out he couldn't make that gig, but we started playing sessions at his house in Brooklyn with Jeff Hirshfield. Eventually he joined that band, then we started playing alot together and one thing led to another.

I like very much the Ornery People recording.  We can feel a real complicity  between you.  How did you consider this work ?
We've played so much together that by the time we recorded "Ornerey" it felt really natural. We began playing duo early on in our relationship. That, along with playing hundreds of other gigs, we had some real history to utilize. Musically the trust level is high, and we have pretty similar sensibilities in many ways. I think that the duo brings out some of the best in both of us, and I feel that "ornery people" reflects that.

You play the next week with the Marty Ehrlich Quartet at the Sweet Basil.  Is this a new project?
Yes, it's a fairly new project. I've done a few different versions of Marty's group with piano in the past few years. This is the first quartet, though. Uri Caine is doing this one, along with Billy Drummond on drums.

Is Relativity a new challenge for you ?  You say in the liner notes that Composing for this trio is very different than many situations in that virtually anything can work, and the orchestrational possibilities seem endless.  Do you think Relativity opens new prospects for your music in general, a new way of seeing the music?  Can you speak to us about this trio and its prospects ?
Everything is a challenge for me, because I like to be challenged. Peter and Marty are both musicians who really think about orchestration when they improvise. I think Relativity opens up some new avenues, and maybe reaffirms a few old ones. At the time that we toured, and then recorded our first CD I was really thinking about how to approach it compositionally, and as a player. At the moment I'm thinking about other things. I'm back into more written music, larger forms, and larger groups right now. At least untill I try to record or tour with it.

The composition seems an important element in your play. Is it true to say that ?
Composition is what my playing, and my music is all about. When I'm playing improvised music, or someone else's music I'm always trying to think compositionally. Obviously when I play my own music I've tried to think about the improvisation when I was composing it, then the improvisation becomes an extension of the composition.

What are your inspirations ? New York City ? Art ? Literature ? People ?
My inspiration can be anything. Sometimes a word or a phrase that I hear someone say is my inspiration. Pure emotion can be inspiring. Noise can be inspiring. I love to see great art, or read great books, and often they will make me think of the artist, or writer, and the process that they chose to follow, but I probably get more inspiration from watching movies, or playing with my 4 year old son.

In 1998 you recorded the solo CD Am I Bothering You ? Is it a great challenge for you to play solo ?
Of course it's a challenge! I really enjoy it though. I actually had a lot of fun making Am I Bothering You?. Playing solo live is a bit more challenging, and I'd like to do it more. It makes me realize how important the interaction with other musicians is. When Tim Berne and I play duo and the audience is really loud and obnoxious we look at each other and laugh, then dive right in and play. On a solo concert you can laugh, but it doesn't help you much.

You often play with Marty Ehrlich, Tim Berne, Uri Caine. Is it easy for you (do you have time) to work also your own projects ? And is it easy for you to go from one formation to another ?
I need to take more time to work on my own projects, and I'm doing it more often now. Those are all bands that I like, and they don't take that much time, it just seems that way. I don't have too much trouble moving between these groups. The trouble begins when I try to move from one of these to something much more tradtional as far as the role of the bass is concerned.

Are you interested by the history of your instrument?  Do you listen to the great double bass players of the past or the present and who are the double bass players that influence you in your playing (or the musicians who give you the desire to continue even more in the creative musics)?
I'm interested in the history of my instrument, but I'm not really a student of that. I do listen to great bassists both past, and present at various times. Sometimes I have no interest at all in the bass, even though I really enjoy playing music on it. On the bass, big influences are Mingus, Dave Holland, Bert Turetzky, Charlie Haden, Paul Chambers, (early) Ron Carter, Gary Peacock, Scott La Faro, Jimmy Blanton, and Oscar Pettiford. There are lots of musicaians who give me inspiration to compose, and explore new music: Among them are Ornette Coleman, Steve Coleman, Tim Berne, Gary Thomas, Julius Hemphill, Marty Ehrlich, and Baikida Carroll.

What do you think about the evolution of jazz and creative musics today?
It's difficult to say what I think of it. I'm involved in it, so I don't feel like I have enough perspective. My feeling is that there is really very little new going on, and that most people are too concerned about what the critics think. I think that musicians are the best judge of what they should be doing.

What changes do you see in your music since you began ?
I feel that I am letting the musicians define the music more now. I'm trusting that the people that I play with might, and often will, make better choices than I would sitting at home in my music room. One change that I don't like is that I've sometimes forced myself to write music that can be learned quickly, because of the realities of time schedules and rehearsals. I'd rather compose the way I want, and take the time to learn it right.

Can you tell us something about " Sketch Book " ?
The sketch book began as something to pass the time on long train rides. I started to carry this little handheld computer to get my e-mail. It has a little screen that you could write notes on, so I started to draw pictures of things that happened, and people I met on tour. I always liked to draw, but I 've never had any discpline. I like to draw faster than I can think, and sometimes I think that's good.

What are your projects for 2000 ?
I have a lot of composing projects planned for the first half of 2000, and then more playing in the second half. I'm going to write a piece for an excellent chamber orchestra called the Absolute Ensemble that is not for improvisation. Also I'm starting work on some pieces for a smaller improvising chamber group, and possibly some big band music as well. Tim Berne and I will tour Europe in the Fall of 2000 as a duo

Interview by Sébastien Moig

Discographie

Memories of Pannonia - Enja - 1986
Wide Open Spaces - Enja - 1990
Extended Animation - Enja - 1991
Loose Cannon - Soul Note - 1992
Low Profile - Enja - 1994
Nature of the Beast - Enja - 1996
Am I Bothering You ? - Screwgun - 1998
Ornery People - Screwgun - 1998 (in duo with Tim Berne)