I NTERVIEW

KENNY
These kids are funny, because they say they want to be
jazz musicians, but a lot of them are not serious. They’ll
get these degrees and everything but they still can’t
play. It’s amazing what they don’t know. And I’m not
even just talking about jazz history. I’m just talking
about playing their instrument. And a lot of that has to
do with what they had in elementary school, junior
high and high school and it’s not necessarily the

WASHINGTON
teacher ’s fault, it’s budget cuts. When I was coming up
in New York City in the ‘60s, we had all these programs,
because mayors like John Lindsay and people like that,
their whole thing was: keep kids off the streets. So,
when school ended at 3 o’clock, you had an option to
johan broberg

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 42)

by anders griffen
K enny Washington is a representative of the legacy of TNYCJR: You continue to be a student, right?
bebop and hardbop. Appearing on over 250 albums, he is one
of the greatest straightahead drummers of the last 40 years. KW: Absolutely. I am a student of this music, there’s
Washington has accompanied many of the masters, no doubt, and there’s always something more to learn.
including Lee Konitz, Johnny Griffin, Dizzy Gillespie, And the older you get and the more you mature, the
Clark Terry, Benny Carter and too many other greats to more you start to understand and hear things you
name. He is especially well known for supporting trios led didn’t hear on records you might have been listening
by pianists such as Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Mike to for 30 or 40 years. This music is amazing.
LeDonne, George Cables, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Charlap and
many more. A native New Yorker, Washington studied with TNYCJR: You mention being surprised when making
Rudy Collins and attended the LaGuardia High School for this or that discovery, but what do you intend to
Music and Art. He is also an avid listener and historian, accomplish with your study otherwise?
bringing his knowledge to a new generation as a private
instructor and educator at Juilliard and SUNY-Purchase KW: Just to be a better musician. I just want to know.
College. There’s always more music and I just want to know as
much about it as possible. The more you know about
The New York City Jazz Record: Are you still a regular the music, the better you will play it. That’s one of the
at The Institute of Jazz Studies (IJS) at Rutgers-Newark? things I try to tell my students up at Juilliard and at
Purchase: the more you listen, the better you will be as
Kenny Washington: Yes. I haven’t been there in a a musician. It’s important and it’s one of the things the
minute, but funny you should mention that because younger musicians lack. They don’t listen as much as
I was thinking about taking a trip up there. There were they should.
a few old records that I found out about and I wanted
to see if the Institute had them. TNYCJR: How long have you been at Purchase?

TNYCJR: Are you a record collector? KW: Maybe five or six years. I love Purchase. That’s
like jazz boot camp. All the people—Todd Coolman,
KW: You could say that, but I don’t care if the record Jon Faddis, Ralph Lalama—they take this music very
has the original Blue Note label, the original Prestige seriously. It’s a very good school. Sadly, it’s a well-kept
label and all that kind of stuff. And that’s why these secret. There are more kids that should be going to that
things are going for so much. [Collectors] don’t want school. You can get as much bang for your buck, or
the reissue; they want the original. And in some cases, more, than some of these other schools. Nobody in that
the reissue might sound better. I’m in it for the music. school is messing around. The problem is, the kids
I don’t collect records like stamps. want to be in the city. Juilliard is a good school, but it’s
a small jazz department and, let’s face it, not everybody
TNYCJR: I met you in the stacks at IJS and you had is going to get in. There are some other alternatives,
been checking out a lot of different stuff and some which I won’t mention. I say, “Don’t go there”, because
things I never heard of. you’re not going to learn what you’re supposed to
learn. I try to recruit people to come to Purchase all the
KW: The Institute is fascinating to me anyway, because time. And the first thing I hear out of a student’s mouth
I can be trying to find one thing and find something is, “That’s out in the boonies”, because they want to
else that I knew nothing about by accident. It almost hang out at Dizzy’s and play at Smalls and other clubs.
always happens. Or, you’re up there and one of those They think being seen is how you’re going to get hired,
guys up there that know a whole lot—Vincent Pelote, and that is true, but you have to know how to play
Dan Morgenstern or Ed Berger—you ask them one first. But they want everything now. Instead of going
thing or they might pop into my listening room and for the right kind of training, they just want to go out
say, “Hey, Wash, what are you listening to?” and I tell here and they still don’t have their shit together. So, I
them and then they start, “Well, you know, man, do tell them about Purchase, where they can really get
you know about such and such record? Da da da da da their shit together.
played with such and such and you can get better
sound from this issue.” TNYCJR: One of the big changes that has come since
These guys know so much. From there, I go and you were coming up is that the number of college-level
find what they’re talking about and I run into jazz programs has grown exponentially, but some of
something else I didn’t know about. So, I go in there the elders lament that there are just not enough
looking to get one or two records and I come out with qualified teachers.
ten. The people they have working there are really,
really knowledgeable. I get there in the morning and KW: Sure. Because some of these schools these kids are
I’m there for the day, man. That’s the greatest archive flocking to, and I’m not going to mention them, they’re
in the world. not getting what they’re supposed to. Let’s face it.

6 FEBRUARY 2016 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD

(INTERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6) his age, you’ll still be able to play well. He gave away I think it comes out in March or April on Verve. It’s
his secret right there when he said, “It’s a must”. The going to be called Notes From New York. This is the first
go to after school programs. They would have reason that he always sounded good is because he’s record we’ve made in a few years. The record business
gymnastics, dramatics or acting, art and music. And practicing every day. That left a big impact on me has gone to pieces, so I’m not, I guess none of us are
those music teachers I had were very good. They because I always wake up early anyway. So, since that recording as much as we did.
taught you the basics and they taught you what you time, I try to do the same thing. Every morning I’m up,
needed to know. Some of them were very stern and crack of dawn, practicing slow, practicing my TNYCJR: So many artists are reliant on the Internet
strict and it’s good that they were. After a while, when rudiments. Because sometimes older musicians don’t and social media to promote their work, but you don’t
the budget cuts started taking over, there were fewer practice as much and sometimes they can get rusty. even have a website?
programs and less exposure to music and art in general. Not everybody is like that; guys like Dick Hyman,
they’re practicing all the time, that’s why he always KW: No. I’m old school. Really old school. If they like
TNYCJR: Teaching a history course as well as private sounds good. That’s what I want to try to do. what I do, they can always find out about it. v
students, how do you try to impart the significance of
these different individual artists? TNYCJR: So that’s the goal, always to sound good. Washington is at Smoke Feb. 19th as part of The New Drum
Battle. See Calendar.
KW: Teaching privately, what these guys don’t know. KW: Always sound good. Hank was always sharp.
They know some names; they know a few records. I played with him the last year or two of his life. Man, Recommended Listening:
Them guys come to my lessons and they want to get this cat was still playing his ass off. From seeing Hank • Lee Konitz—Nonet (Chiaroscuro, 1977)
their cymbal beat, their “spangalang” together, and do that, that’s what made me start getting in the shed • Betty Carter—The Audience with Betty Carter
I say, “Well, do you have Miles Davis’ record Walkin’?” every morning like that. So that’s what I try to do, (Bet-Car—Verve, 1979)
And they say, “Yeah, the one with Tony Williams” and every morning, two or three hours. And then sometimes • Charlie Rouse—Social Call (Uptown, 1984)
I say, “Hell no! The one with Kenny Clarke and Percy during the day I come back to it. If I’m not playing and • Tommy Flanagan—Jazz Poet (Alfa-Timeless, 1989)
Heath, man.” And they’re looking at me like a deer I don’t have anything to do, I try to at least put two • Johnny Griffin +3—Dance of Passion (Antilles, 1992)
caught in headlights. They don’t even know about that hours in. Two hours on the practice pad and then later • Bill Charlap Trio—Live at the Village Vanguard
record. I’m not saying that the later versions are not on I’ll go upstairs and fool around with the drums. I’m (Blue Note, 2003)
good; please don’t misunderstand me. The Miles Davis up between 5 and 6, usually, every morning. That’s the
‘60s group and what they did with “Walkin’” is best time for me. Daybreak.
fantastic, but if you ask Sir Ron Carter about the
original “Walkin’” with Percy Heath, he’ll talk your TNYCJR: I always have so much room to improve and (LABEL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11)
ear off about that record. Every one of those guys— practice is putting in that work, but the idea of always
Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock—they were well aware sounding good is beautifully simple. records with four different groups. The latest is Kasper
of the original version with Lucky Thompson; that’s Tom 5’s second release I do admire things that are only
where they come from. These kids don’t know any of KW: Yeah, well, that and practicing slow. That’s what they are.” Members are also free to record for other
that stuff, man. important too. labels. Tom, for example, has done CDs for WhyPlayJazz
My whole thing about jazz history is, and ForTune Records. “In Barefoot you have to do
I could get any goofball off the street to read a couple TNYCJR: Practicing slow may come with age a little everything yourself, from planning the recording to
books and memorize facts. The thing is the sound. Can bit. I know for me I have more patience and finding the funds to release it,” he reports. “For the
you hear the difference between soloists and bands? I understand better that I’m teaching my brain to teach other labels I just have to maybe find a place to record
So, on my midterm and final I have what I call “drop my body how to do this. and they take care of the rest.”
the needle”. We analyze these artists so they get the But besides the extra work, Barefoot provides
chance to see what makes who who. Their assignment KW: That’s true. I never really thought about it like other advantages, he asserts. “Being part of a well-
week in and week out is to listen. If it’s Jimmie that. That’s the only way to really grasp, as a drummer, organized and, might I add, very cool label, helps me
Lunceford or a Duke Ellington or Count Basie record, what one hand is doing and what the other one is get exposure through distribution, through Barefoot’s
the arrangements sound a little bit different from one doing is to practice it slow so you can get the feeling of other members and through the events we organize.”
another. Then you have to know the soloists. You might things. If you can’t play it slow, you will not play it Adds Zeeberg: “I haven’t recorded my own music for
say, “I know that lead alto saxophone sound, that’s fast. I have students, they’re just hacking away at other labels. I was and, still am, quite young when
Willie Smith.” When [he] gets up and takes a solo pieces. I’ll actually have to stop and say, “Okay, put the I joined. But being a member has made a lot of things
I know that’s Jimmie Lunceford’s band. So, we analyze sticks down. Now, take a deep breath. Inhale and easy for me, especially regarding releasing music. It
and talk about all of these different things. For tests, exhale. Relax. Now, pick up the drumsticks. Let’s play has made me perhaps also more visible to the public.
the most important part to me is the “drop the needle”. this again. Slow.” They’ll play it perfect. I say, “There As an experimental composer/musician you need all
And you can’t cram to learn the differences in these you go.” Otherwise they’ll just run through the stuff, the exposure you can get.”
soloists and bands. but you’re not learning anything like that. As part of its democratic process, each Barefoot
member decides on which medium his or her release
TNYCJR: Do you continue to practice regularly? TNYCJR: So what’s coming up? What are you working will appear, with sessions so far on CD, LP, digital
on? What are you gonna sound good on next? download, cassette tape and even postcards. Zeeberg
KW: I was practicing on the pad when you called. and Rune Lohse’s Music Made in One Day featured
I practice every day, at least I try to, which is something KW: I just got through producing a record with Lee download codes printed on ordinary postcards. “Some
I learned from the great pianist Hank Jones. A few Konitz for Impulse Records. It’s me, [pianist] Kenny future releases are planned on 3D-printed sculptures,”
years back, Hank hired bassist George Mraz and myself Barron, [bassist] Peter Washington and, of course, Lee. reveals Berre. Most physical sales are at concerts or for
to do this gig with him. He said, “Seeing as the gig is I would think it will be out some time in the summer or domestic distribution, whereas international sales are
the next afternoon, why don’t you and George come up fall, I don’t really know. So, I’m doing that and still largely digital. “These two go nicely hand in hand,” he
to my house the night before? I got plenty of room for playing with Bill Charlap. There’s a two-drum thing affirms.
you all, you can stay at my house.” So, George and coming up with me and Joe Farnsworth at Smoke in Besides the 10th anniversary party, new discs are
I agreed. Hank had a big house way, way upstate. February. We did it once before and had a great time so planned for 2016. They include Flamingo and Jitter,
Hank’s wife cooked dinner for us and we were sitting we’ll do it again. Peter Washington is playing bass, two trios featuring Pultz Melbye; a Dąbrowski solo set;
around watching TV and talking and then went off to Harold Mabern is going to play piano, but I’m not sure a duo with Tom and bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall; a
bed. The next morning I woke up early and the first who the frontline is going to be [trumpeter Brian Lynch Pedersen quintet date; and Berre collaborating with
thing I hear is the piano. Hank is practicing scales, and alto saxophonist Vincent Herring]. I’m sure it’s non-members trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, pianist
slow, real slow. I’m listening to this master practice. It’s going to be good though. Christine Wodrascka and bassist Christian Meaas
about 7 in the morning. So I come down to where Hank Svendsen.
is practicing and say, “Good morning, Mr. Jones.” TNYCJR: I found a discography of you online listing Barefoot may not be a major imprint, but the
“Ahh, Mr. Washington, how are you?” “I’m doing fine, 251 albums from 1977 to 2010. That’s going to be six cooperative ethos and group identity is working
how are you feeling?” “I’m doing fine.” So I asked him, years ago already, so I know there’s a bunch more and perfectly for its members. As Berre notes: “With the
“Do you practice like this everyday?” And he stopped maybe more yet to be released. attention paid to Barefoot everyone benefits and
and just looked me dead in the eyes and he said, benefits much more than having seven artists releasing
“Wash, it’s a must.” KW: I’ve made other records since then, I suppose. discs by themselves.” v
Right then and there it hit me and I thought, if you Tony Bennett’s record just came out, the one I did with
start practicing like this, then maybe, if you make it to Charlap. Charlap has another record coming out too. For more information, visit barefoot-records.com

42 FEBRUARY 2016 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD