John Lindberg

John Lindberg : My career in creative jazz began in 1977 with my joining the Human Art Ensemble, my first recording with Frank Lowe (Lowe & Behold - Musicworks Records), and the formation of the String Trio of New York. I had been playing professionally since 1975, but in a wide variety of more commercial type of engagements (with singers in lounges, etc.) and with groups with other young and as yet unknown musicians. I came to New York City in 1976 to study bass with David Izenzon and Dave Holland, and subsequently the aforementioned associations developed.

String Trio of New York
In 1977, guitarist James Emery and I were getting together and jamming at a storefront on the Lower East Side for hours upon hours each day. Word of this maniacal duo playing out, and one day Billy Bang stopped by and asked to play with us. Of course, we agreed, and after a few minutes of improvising together, we all stopped and remarked about what an incredible sound it was, violon, bass and guitar. So we decided to pursue it, formed a group and began to look for concerts and recordings. So it was not a preconceived idea to form a string trio, but an organic and magical happening that we decided to run with, collectively. As you know, we are now entering our twenty first season and on our fourth violonist, and still going strong.

Anthony Braxton
I met Anthony Braxton through Bobo Shaw, drummer of the Human Arts Ensemble. I first performed with Braxton as part of his Creative Music Orchestra project in Europe in 1978. Subsequently, I joined his quartet and spent eight years in this position while the quartet saw a number of personnel changes. The initial group was with Ray Anderson and Thurman Barker, a unit we performed extensively with and one that remains very special to me as to my memory of the high level music making which took place. During these years I also did a number of duo concerts with Anthony, and in 1984 was fortunate enough to have him conduct my Trilogy of Works for Eleven Instrumentalists record. In 1985 our association ended.
Obviously, the period of work with Braxton was extremely important to my development. I learned an enormous amount from him about composition, group improvisational dynamics, presentation of the music and about what a single-minded creative focus can produce. Additionally, he was generous enough to offer me a real showcase opportunity as an improvising bassist, both in performance and on record, and this led to many opportunities that I was able to pursue on my own. Personally, I consider Anthony one of the great geniuses of creative music.

Paris
The period of the early eighties when I lived in Paris was a very fruitful and exciting time. It was a time in which I was able to document my work on a number of recordings, and was able to bring many artists that I had developed serious working relationships with in New York over to Europe to perform and record - Marty Ehrlich, Hugh Ragin, and the String Trio of New York being prime examples. Also I had the opportunity to play with some wonderful European musicians during this time - notably Gunter Sommer, Louis Sclavis and Tony Coe.
Additionally, there were a number of Americans living in Paris at the time that I collaborated with - Barry Altschul, George Lewis, Steve Lacy. And, most importantly, I began the collaboration with Eric Watson that continued for fifteen years and produced a remarkable series of duo, trio and quartet recordings that are a real core element of my discography.

String Trio of New York - The evolution
As we now enter the twenty first season with the String Trio of New York, it is very interesting to look back at its evolution - beginning as a composer's collective with Billy Bang and focusing on free-wheeling creative improvisation for nine years, to phase two with Charles Burnham when we began to include original arrangements by classic jazz composers to our repertoire (i.e. Mingus, Monk, Ellington) and to refine our sound, for six years, to phase three with Regina Carter where the chamber ensemble interplay grew and we added a number of specially commissioned works from contemporary jazz composers (i.e. Muhal Richard Abrams, Leo Smith, Marty Ehrlich) to our repertoire and wrote new works ourselves that were increasingly demanding technically, for five years, to phase four with Diane Monroe who has brought in a wide vision of classical performance standards while adding a new and vital improvisational voice, a period which has also seen the Trio establish a series of collaborative projects with guest artists (i.e. Anthony Davis, Joe Lovano, New York Chamber Ensemble, Bang on  Can All-Stars), for the last couple of years.
It is exactly this evolution, this long term dynamic of growth and change, shifting perspectives and new artistic views, that has kept the group existing and flourishing through all these years.
As to the future of the formation, I believe the group will continue to grow and develop as long as fresh new ideas and approaches are continually introduced. I expect we'll be celebrating the thirtieth anniversary before we know it !

The String Trio of New York & Anthony Davis
The String Trio of New York with Anthony Davis project was an outgrowth of our initiative of commissioning some of our favorite composers to write new works for the Trio. This project was the first one where we had the composer write a work that they would perform with us, and also to create an overall concert program which featured the artist performing with us on other material. Davis wrote us the composition "Happy Valley Blues" which we toured with extensively, performing over twenty five times throughout the U.S. and Europe.
The kindred love that Davis and the Trio shared for the music of Ellington, Monk and Mingus made it a natural addition to the performance repertoire, the final product of which is the album that you have mentioned. Interestingly, it is the first Trio album that has not featured works by the members, but is exclusively devoted to the works of other composers. Another example of expanding approaches.

Two careers...
Managing my career as a leader and as a member of the String Trio has long been a balancing act, yet one that is well worth it and necessary both artistically and professionally. In some ways the two areas do represent two different directions - one based on compromise, collaboration, cooperation and a long term committment to a common goal. The other direction being one where the freedom of creative expression and organizational ingenuity is unrestricted by any formal structures and where I alone make choices that affect the outcome of projects, obviously making this endeavor more intense and personal. Obviously, like in any balance one seeks to find in life, there are concessions to make to keep both areas of endeavor going (i.e. with scheduling conflicts, artistic differences, time management) but I find that in whole, one area feeds the other in a positive nourishing way, rather than pull at each other and erode the efficacy of either project. Things learned as a leader I bring to the Trio, and vice versa.

BOUNCE
BOUNCE represented a new phase in the sense that it had been many years since I had created a recordind project that would focus solely on my compositions, and featured musicians that I had hand picked without the interference of outside influences.
In recent years, I had been paying close attention to offering the musicians I worked with the opportunity to contribute to projects as composers as well as improvising instrumentalists. While these projects had their own strength, and maybe presented musical statements that were very diverse and broad, I felt a strong need to create a focus that I had more complete control of, which in fact was as much a return to procedure I used very early in my career, as much as it was a "new phase". This phase will hopefully continue and grow into the near future.

Composition
I have many different approaches to composing music, depending on the setting I am writing for, and more importantly, who the musicians are that I am writing for. Basically, I want to tell a story or portray a feeling. Sometimes that can be a specific, even historically based story, like my Dresden Moods or Hudson Valley Ruminations for eleven instrumentalists, or a more expansive sweeping and ever changing emotion piece like Eleven Thrice for quartet. Writing for specific musical personalities more than for specific instruments is an important part of how I construct my pieces. For example, with the String Trio, I am writing more for James Emery and Diane Monroe than I am for a guitar and a violin. The personalities become the voice.
I have written several notated works for ensembles of non-improvising musicians as well, most recently Groudings for the New York Chamber Ensemble. Here I portrayed a series of musicial events in a sequence that could take a listener on a journey and engaged the instrumentalists in a variety of dialogues, only in this case they were entirely pre-conceived. Certain movements allowed for improvisational input from the String Trio as soloists, so that I was able in a work of this format to successfully combine my keen interest in juxtaposing clearly structured elements with areas for unrestricted improvisational response, seeking for the two approaches to feed off of each other in a positive way, rather than clash.
My influences as a composer are very wide ranging and actually every thing I hear that has moved me in one way or another has certainly found its way into my approach to composition. Some of the most obvious artists that have had a direct effect on how I try to put musical elements together are Charles Mingus, Igor Stravinsky, Alban Berg, James Taylor, Cecil Taylor, and Duke Ellington.
But ultimately, I'm not looking to compose in certain styles or with certain methods, just get what I'm imagining in my head to be played on my bass and by whoever else is performing, whatever it takes to get it done.

Bassists in New York
There are many great bass players in New York, and I make a point of hearing as many of them as I can, and I am influenced, directly or indirectly, by everyone I've ever heard play the instrument. Mark Dresser and William Parker are two of my favorite players, and both bassists that I have had the opportunity to play with in the past. They are good examples of players that are continually creating new horizons for the evolution of the instrument.
Unfortunately, in these musically conservative times, I have heard fewer young players that I feel bring this type of broad and reaching concept to the instrument. Traditional playing is great, but I want to hear what an individual has to say - Robert Black, Bertram Turetzky, Mark Helias, Dave Holland, Reggie Workman - these players, and many more, are players I've heard recently that keep me really excited about the evolution of the instrument.

Interview by Sébastien Moig

  Discographie

Comin' and Goin' - Leo Records - 1980
Unison - Cecma - 1981
Dimension 5 - Black Saint - 1981
Team Work - Cecma - 1982
Relative Reliability - West Wind - 1982
Give and Take - Black Saint - 1982
The East Side Suite - Sound Aspects - 1983
Trilogy of Works for Eleven Instrumentalists - Black Saint - 1984
As Tears Go By - ITM - 1987
Dodging Bullets - Black Saint - 1992
Quartet Afterstorm - Black Saint - 1994
Resurrection of a Dormant Soul - Black Saint - 1996
Luminosity - Music & Arts - 1997
Bounce - Black Saint - 1998
The Catbird Sings - Soul Note - 2000
A Tree Frog Tonality - Between The Lines - 2000