JEFF KAISER

You live in California that seems a very attractive scene for music (and more generally arts). Could you speak to us about this country?
I love living in California, but I have never lived anywhere else, only visited, so I really don¹t have any comparison. Right now in the middle of winter I am in 70 plus degree weather with clear blue skies I keep on saying to myself, "I could be in Chicago". The creative music scene has its ups and downs here in California. Right now, San Francisco is really happening with great musicians and promoters. Los Angeles is less exciting right now, but has some great clubs like Rocco¹s and Alex Cline¹s series in Eagle Rock. Los Angeles (which is near where I live in Ventura) was really happening in the early and mid 90s with New Music Monday¹s at the Alligator Lounge hosted by Nels Cline. That was the club where I first started playing out more (my group then was called Mahacuisinarte) and it was exciting. You would go to play and the audience was primarily musicians. It was quite intimidating at first to look off the stage right before you played and see the likes of Vinny Golia, Nels Cline, Alex Cline, Bonnie Barnett, Billy Mintz and the visiting musicians such as Eugene Chadbourne sitting out there listening to you. But they were great, very polite folks. If you sucked they didn¹t say anything! Many of these people have become friends that I consider very dear, and have had the privilege of touring and recording with. I don¹t think of myself as old (forty years) but sometimes I catch myself reminiscing about those "good old days" like some old timer. In Ventura, which is about an hour north of Los Angeles, and five hours south of San Francisco, we have been able to build ourselves a little new music scene that is quite nice. It all started in the late 80s with a couple of concerts I did after grad school. I started doing a few a year and turned it into the "Ventura New Music Concert Series." Well, I started meeting more and more musicians of similar mindset to me and the series grew. It became overwhelming, even though I only hosted four gigs a year (since 1994 or 95 at our beautiful City Hall, which the City of Ventura graciously lets us use). It was too much; I was going to call it quits, when in steps my friend Keith McMullen and offers to help co-direct it all. He has been most helpful and encouraging. (He gets a lot of the dirty work.) What fun and great music we have had here. Here is a VERY partial list of artists: Frances-Marie Uitti, John Butcher, Alex Cline, Eric Barber, Wayne Peet, GE Stinson, Michael Vlatkovich, Bruce Fowler, Vinny Golia Large Ensemble, Eugene Chadbourne, Han Bennink, Mark Trayle, Dan Plonsey, Rob Blakeslee, Gerry Hemingway, Mark Dresser, Ellery Eskelin, Ray Anderson, Brad Dutz, Vinny Golia, Nels Cline, Headless Household, Bonnie Barnett, as well as myself in various guises. And many, many more!

When and why did you decide to found pfMENTUM? Could you speak to us about the evolution of the label?
When Keith stepped in to help in 1997, he and I decided to start a newsletter that would feature interviews and essays about the aesthetics of this music that we love so much. We were in a local coffee joint getting amped on espresso trying to figure out a name for this newsletter. Without going into too much detail, through the aid of a Latin Dictionary and an advertisement for plumbing fixtures we came up with the name pfMENTUM and our grammatically incorrect motto, "non servium mentum." I loved the name so much; that a few years later (1999) I usurped it for the record label and the newsletter went online and became NewCreativeMusic.com. You can still read and search our backlog of interviews on that website. pfMENTUM is a blast, but a lot of work. Vinny Golia and others warned me and said, "don¹t do it! It takes a lot of time and effortS" but I didn¹t listen, and here I am: spending a lot of time and effort on a record labelS There are several reasons I had for starting pfMENTUM. The first thing was: I thought we (creative musicians) were all crazy for doing the jewel box type packaging. Here we were creating discs and packages that would utilise the expensive design and packaging of these zillion dollar music corporations. Many creative musicians I knew (myself included) were going radically into debt trying to emulate the art and packaging intended for pop markets. The cost would not only put you into debt, but would prohibit the amount of CDs you could put out. So, I came up with a design that looks nice and is reasonable to produce. Since it is also lighter, it saves postage, allowing for wider distribution to radios and magazines at less cost. So, I guess I started the label for pretty pragmatic reasons, but it has given me a lot of pleasure (and some headaches.) This is going to be an exciting year for the label as we have more CDs coming out than ever.

Ganz Andere is the first recording of you I listened. Could you speak about your career before this period?
I trained to be a church musician. Along the way I somehow became a full minister and church musician. Creative music was more of an aside, although I wanted it to be my full time focus. I worked in Protestant churches until 1992, at which point I got fed up with it all and just quit. I moved in with my girlfriend that same day to save money and began to focus only on music. I have been lucky to make a living off of private lessons, gigs, and the occasional grant since then. It was a good decision. I am much, much, happier. At the time I left the church, I considered myself more of a composer than a trumpet player. I was writing operas (!), a requiem mass, kind of dramatic/theatrical electro-acoustic stuff. I moved more and more into incorporating my trumpet, finally creating my first album in 1995, Excerpts from the Prince (Burned Tongue Records). At this time I was fully enmeshed in the improv scene and starting to play in Los Angeles more and more. The combining of my academic roots and improvisational leanings led to my double quartet, Nothing Is Not Breath (NineWinds, 1997). This was my first recorded work with my friends Vinny, Brad Dutz, Richie West, Mike Vlatkovich, Hannes Giger, Gene Doi and the wonderful bassist and longtime friend, Jim Connolly. This album seemed to open up a lot of gigs for meSMotor Totemist Guild, Eugene Chadbourne, Vinny Golia Large Ensemble, Brad Dutz Quartet, different gigs with Vlat and others.

What did you learn from your collaborations with the great Vinny Golia ? Did he influence a part of your play ?
Working with Vinny is like a dream! Not only is he a helluva musician, he is a great guy to hang out with. I used to go to his concerts when I was in college and I set myself some goals: The first was, I wanted to play with Vinny. The second was I wanted to be on Ninewinds Records (my double quartet cd is). He is incredibly influential to me and so many other musicians. I think that this part of him is not so well known, I mean, the fact that he inspires so many musicians to work harder, be more creative, and to move towards that goal so well-stated by Anthony Braxton of "trying to think your highest thought." I have learned much about music in general from him as well, about improvising, about pacing, shaping and phrasing a solo...I still have quite a ways to go, but he has been extremely helpful in this phase of my development. He also has taught me a lot about not only taking it all very seriously, but about having fun with it as well.

The titles of your pieces on each CDs are very special. How did you choose them ?
Titles have become very important to me. My double quartet had titles like Section I, Section II, Section III...not only was that boring (the titles, not the music!) but I was ignoring an aspect of the creative act. I was creating, but not naming. To me, the naming is incredibly important because it is the way the listener will first interface and then dialogue about the composition/performance. It is frequently the last act of a composition (the naming) so why stop being creative at the music? I think it is kind of half-assed and lazy not to name a piece, and shows that maybe you don't really care... Titles come from three main sources for me: literature, conversations, and dreams. Ganz Andere combined both, some titles were taken from Mircea Eliade's book "The Sacred and Profane" (Mysterium Fascinans, Majestas, etc.) and some were from recurring dreams I had after the end of my marriage and suicide of my ex-wife (Coffin-Like Hymns to God, Son of God in Garage with Rat, etc.). That was a very dark period in my life and I think the music and titles reflect it. Pith Balls and Inclined Planes and The Order of Her Bones have titles taken from books. Pith Balls titles are from Genius by James Gleick, and The Order of Her Bones are from The Recognitions by William Gaddis. I have read quite a bit of Jung's Collected Works and James Hillman's earlier works as well, and those have been quite influential in many ways, including providing titles.

You often play in duo (Ganz Andere, Pith Balls and inclined Planes, Asphalt Buddhas). Is it the structure you prefer ?
Two musicians provide the purest form of group improvisation. The interaction is at it's most stripped down, basic level. There can be no hiding, no slacking off. Both players must be on their toes at all times, alert and ready. Any more than two and the improvisation begins to get cluttered if there is not a form of direction, either by chart or conduction. With two players it is much easier to create form in the improvisation. The music is more fluid and mobile. That is the one thing that is most lacking in most improv albums...a sense of form. We tend to overlook the lack of form in improvisation at a concert because we are caught up in the experience of the moment. But in an album, this lack becomes more quickly noticable. The new pfMENTUM album, The Order of Her Bones (me and Brad Dutz), was really a lot of fun because the improvs are very structured, but structured at the moment, not in advance. Trombonist Michael Vlatkovich was over the other day listening to it, he thought they were compositions. That was a nice compliment.

In your music you explore the fusion between acoustic and electronic. Do you think in music all the fusion are possible ?
I don't think of it as a fusion. I think of the electronics as another instrument. It is funny, because a lot of musicians really have problems with the electronics. Some Southern California musicians (who shall remain nameless) won't play with me if I use them. Some international big-time guys coming through our series speak very dogmatically about electronics and how they should or shouldn't be used. There is no dogma in my book. Electronics are no  different than my trumpet. They are an instrument I use to carry my musical vision to the audience, just as I do with my horns. It is a matter of being  appropriate for the given musical moment. I think the problem lies in the unfamiliarity of the timbres. Musicians, who are supposed to be more open-minded about these things, still have aural expectations, i.e. they know the timbral vocabulary of the trumpet, but electronics can always surprise. I also think that it is still new to the performers of the electronics, and that they frequently don't have the subtlety and musicianship of somebody who  has been playing  sax for 30 years. But this will change in the future, electronics will be as common as bass and drums.

For you is it easy to offer the same emotions in concerts and in your recordings ?
No, it is not at all easy to offer the same. I approach a recording as a unique creation, meant to be listened to over speakers. I think of the album as being its own work, created to be performed by a stereo. My concerts are frequently very different than my recordings, which confuses the audience sometimes, I think. Of course, the recordings that I've released of concerts are accurate musically, but I believe they also miss the drama and theater of a live performance. There is something about witnessing the live interaction of musicians that does not carry over into the recorded medium. A long improvised set that held you spellbound at a gig, might not touch you the same way when you buy a recording of the same gig. I don't buy too much improvised music for that reason. I love it live, but am less interested in it while kicking back in my living room. I'd rather listen to composed music with improvisation.

Some californian musicians I known are influenced by the contemporary classical music, are you interested too by this music ? and what are more generally your influences (art ? literature ? or peoples ?)
My training is in contemporary classical music, so that has had a big influence on me. The writings of John Cage blew my mind open to possibilities. (Oddly enough, I had a chance to meet Cage shortly before he passed away. I wanted to thank him for what he meant to me. I think all I did was stutter and shake.) Luciano Berio and Penderecki were huge to me. Schoenberg's concept of klangfarbenmelodie (tone-color-melody) where timbre becomes the melody was a mind opener. Gyorgy Kepes book "Module, Proportion, Symmetry, Rhythm" with the wonderful analysis of Bartok's use of the Fibonacci series made me think very seriously about form. Serialism left me cold. In the same listening session while in college, I was alone in a room with two recordings: Le Marteau sans maitre by Boulez and "Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta" by Bartok. The Boulez piece left me cold, and yet I wept (literally) during the Bartok. Bartok was able to incorporate rigorous structural ides into a very organic sounding work. It blew me away. Then I got led to the Art Ensemble of Chicago. That was it for me. I saw them in Los Angeles in 84 or 85 at the Wiltern. It was a life changing concert. Time disappeared while they performed. Lester Bowie's charisma and virtuosity commanded every bit of my attention. I felt like most of my body had shut down and there was only Bowie, my ears, eyes and brain. I stopped playing the trumpet for a few years after that. It was just too powerful of an experience. These were elements that I wanted in my music, but did not have the chops to do, it was quite depressing. All of these elements I want to have in my music: improvisation, form, drama. All of the above influenced what I try to do. Literature has been more influential to me over the past 10 years than music. The writings of James Hillman, C.G. Jung, and Philip K. Dick are very important to me. (All three are Keith McMullen's favorite science fiction writers. Keith is the other half of the Ventura New Music Concert Series.) Hindu literature and ancient Greek literature are also dear to me. I even took a year of ancient Greek in seminary so I could attempt to read the New Testament of the Bible in it's "original." I guess the reason I love all of the above is the vast richness of metaphor and symbol present in them. The Jungian concept of symbol remains in the forefront, that is, symbol as the best possible representation of something that cannot be fully known, and I believe that music is the best representative of those unknown aspects. I am also a big fan of poetry. My current favorite is Dottie (Dorothea) Grossman. Her poems constantly touch and move me. I had studied visual art in college (general survey courses) and we had also studied parallels of art and music (all music students surely remember Grout...) in music classes. I was married (briefly) to a successful visual artist. She taught me more about art than any class. We went to shows all over from Los Angeles, to Philadelphia (Duchamp!), The MOMA in New York, we were all over for art. I would have to say I found many of these artists very inspiring, but particularly grew fond of the assemblagist Joseph Cornell. The minute detail of his works I found quite inspiring. Miro and Chagall...my god, the Miro Retrospective at MOMA in the early 90s was truly amazing.

You received in 1999 a consecration for your music in France (26e Concours International de Musique Electroacoustique in Bourges). Could you speak to us about that and the repercussion on your career and your music ?
That was a total surprise! I really liked the electronic work on my CD called Ganz Andere title Templum-Tempus. I entered it on a whim (having never entered before) and received a "runner-up" mention. It was very cool. I don't know what direct effect it had on my career, but it is nice to put accolades from other countries on my grant applications....

Your work for Nowhereland Soundtrack seems very interesting. Could you speak to us about this project ?
Nowhereland was a blast. Director Ted Mills is delightful to work with and has become a very good friend since that project. He had gone through a couple of composers that failed to complete the soundtrack, so they contacted me, and two weeks later it was done. (I love working on deadlines that are quick like that, sometimes the only way I can focus is by forced deadline.) And now Nowhereland, with my music, has been featured at film festivals in Iceland, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, England, Canada and festivals throughout the United States and has won some awards to boot. One of the fun side-benefits of the gig was that I got to act in a short that Ted was making. My big (or medium) screen debut was quite fun. Back to the soundtrack: Jim Connolly is one of my favorite musicians to work with. we just went into the studio and I would give him very rough sketches of what I wanted him to do, and he came through most excellently. We did everything from Stravinsky-esque playing to improvised noisy things. It can be heard in its entirety at mp3.com/jeffkaiser

Could you speak to us about your work as writer ? Is it a way to have more reflection on your music ?
Writing is a way for me to more fully express my ideas on music (and art in general) than the usual coffee house/art gallery debates I get into. I have frequently found myself in debates with fluffy-good-feeling-new-age artists that had no connection or knowledge of the history or lineage of the art world and aesthetics. Not that the knowledge is necessary for creating art, it just seems that there are so many people that flaunt their lack of knowledge and are satisfied with the limited scope of what they know. It is as if they are afraid they might find out that their work is shit if they study about art. My goal as a writer is to make audiences and artists alike think about art (particularly progressive, contemporary art) and its value to society and individuals. It seems the most common view of art is that it is something extra in our life, sort of like an occasional treat. Of course, I think art is essential, and that challenging art causes us to grow as individuals and helps society to evolve. I'm not talking about political art or message-driven art specifically, but about art that transcends the momentary/specific, and makes us think of bigger ideas. I could go on about this, but if people are interested, they can read my stuff at NewCreativeMusic.com

Yesterday, the Vinny Golia's Large Ensemble has celebrated its 20 year anniversary. Could you tell us something about this concert ?
That gig was wonderful. Playing in that band is such a treat, to be sitting there surrounded by some of the finest creative musicians alive today. I think there were actually around 35 people in the band that night, the audience was quite substantial, filling much of the CalArts Modular Theater. It was funny, I am very punctual, but I showed up an hour late for the sound check and run through! I did not receive the email with the change in time. And apparently I was the only one to not get it. So I sit down in the middle of a tune the band is rehearsing, and the band is grooving away and then it drops into a section that is quite obviously meant for a soloist. The conductor stops, and says, "Jeff, you're supposed to be soloing!" Well, that note telling me I had a new solo was in the email as well... There are such phenomenal players in that band: Mike Vlatkovich and Bruce Fowler on trombone come quickly to mind; Rob Blakeslee and John Fumo on trumpet, what a thrill to sit next to them! Alex Cline and Brad Dutz on drums and percussion; Kim Richmond, Bill Plake, Eric Barber, and Vinny among the reeds; Jeff Gautier on violin...the list goes on. Truly great players. The music itself is quite challenging. Difficult rhythms, extremely high and low notes (frequently next to each other), but it always comes together for the gigs. I love playing that stuff, but equally important (for all members, I think) is the social factor. We get to hang out together, swap stories and CDs, play some, just have a great time in general. But of course, this gig, was special, paying homage to Vinny Golia and the history of the group was an honor. If anyone wants to see us, our next gigs are in October...

Are you optimist for the evolution of the creative musics ?
I love this John Cage quote: "Until I die there will be sounds. And they will continue following after my death. One need not fear about the future of music." I don't really think about the evolution of the music. I guess, I have a balanced view that there will always be great new music being created, you just have to dig through a lot of crap to find it. The internet has made it a lot easier to distribute creative music, but it has also made it a lot easier to distribute the crap as well. I guess then you could say that I am cautiously optimistic. I do think about where some of the younger players I meet are coming from, and I get bothered by their attitudes. I believe that too many of these young players are focusing too much on trying to be original. I don't believe that the focus be only on novelty and originality. Musicians have two responsibilities: To honor their lineage and to extend/expand the vocabulary of that lineage. I feel that a lot of the younger players I meet are ignoring their responsibility of honor, and focusing only on the extended vocabulary. It's like a big chunk is missing in the middle of their personal evolution, like they went straight from crawling to trying to run with the bulls. They jump right from three chord rock into free improvisation. My favorite players are the ones who have studied and come to creative music in a more organic way, growing into it through classical and jazz studies. I am a big believer that we should not throw out the old techniques as we get new ones. I believe that that classical/jazz/world music studies give us the technical ability to be creative. Sure, I like to blow air threw my horn to create white noise, create mulitphonics, extended tonguing techniques et al, but I also like to play the instrument traditionally as well. It's a balancing act, although my performances involve a lot of extended technique, the vast majority of my practice time is spent on classical studies...James Stamp, H.L. Clarke, Vacchiano's routines....all that stuff makes my chops feel great.
 
What are your projects for the future ?
I have sitting in my computer (waiting to be mixed) ninety minutes of music of my 16 piece band and another 90 minutes of music of the Jeff Kaiser/Ernesto Diaz-Infante Sextet (also including Brad Dutz, Richie West, Jim Connolly, and Scot Ray). I want to get these done and out of here so I can start working on a new solo album of trumpet and electronics. All this acoustic music is good...but I really love working with the electronics. 

 Propos recueillis par Sébastien Moig