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Name:
Scott Jones.
Style: Progressive jazz, orchestral.
Age: 28
Influences: Chick Corea, the Brecker Brothers, Scott
Henderson, Yellowjackets, John Williams, Billy Childs.
Main Instruments: Roland JV-30 and D-550, Korg DRV-2000,
Macintosh Classic II.
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More and more keyboard players have the option
of chucking the band, setting up their own rehearsal regimen, and
saying good-bye to the headaches of moving gear and putting up with
club owners and lounge gigs. But the shadow of independence is solitude,
and at its worst, alienation. Some musicians choose one side of
the fence, some choose the other. Some even work on both sides at
different times
While working as a solo MIDI player has its advantages,
Scott Jones still plays regularly in the St. Louis area as
a guitarist. "The keyboard has a vision that's very different
than the guitar. The guitar is kind of limited, especially harmonically.
But it has its advantages. I'm not confined by my understanding
of keyboards. I think it was Ornette [Coleman] who said to truly
improvise you have to use an instrument you don't play." In
two years, of course, Jones has developed some facility with the
keys, but adds, "I always make sure to think about the keyboard
differently than the guitar."
As a guitarist, Jones had worked some with guitar
synths, but it was a visit with a number of computer-owning friends
that convinced him to get a computer and start composing. "I
composed before but it wasn't as organized. And yeah, it's a lot
easier to transcribe and work out parts now." Jones also has
a special handle on drumming, even though his drums come in a single
box. "I used to be a drummer, and I still teach drums. So I
know what can't be done. Rather than getting unrealistic, I just
focus on what I hear in my head. And I don't use a click. My whole
system has been worked out by accident using the notation software.
It just works more the way I approach things."
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[cont.'d]
A nervy, restless spirit animates Jones's music. And, surprisingly
for a fusion guy, he composes short, extremely precise pieces. Solos
and focused bursts of individual energy; the target is lined up,
hit, and abandoned for the next one. No rambling, no wandering,
just razor-sharp lines put together in a neat, gem-like way.
Andrej Winnicki has worked as chief composer for
the band Breakwater for close to 20 years. Sort of. "Really
we [Winnicki and sax player Krystof Medyna] named the band Breakwater
for nostalgic reasons. This is a different band than the one in
Poland. In Poland, we were professional musicians, touring. Here
I have a day job; Krystof has a day job."
Winnicki notes that the Americans have changed
the flavor of the music. "The American rhythm section changed
everything. American drummers stay in time more. The Europeans do
all the technical stuff, but the sense of time is not as developed
as it is here. A good groove in perfect time, that's the main thing
here." And indeed, Breakwater's rock-solid grooves have the
white heat of good rock drumming and the swing and bounce of good
jazz.
Winnicki's pieces have the same sort of feverish
spirit as Jones's, but the swing is more of a sway, the bounce seems
to float and suspend the rhythmic drive of the keyboards. And even
though the playing is tight and clean, the pieces are much looser,
allowing for plenty of stretching out. Especially extended are the
solo lines in restatements of the head--which have some surprising
and attractive turns and twists--and Medyna's solos, which have
a free-blowing tinge.
When I asked Jones if he would do anything different
if he worked with live musicians, he notes that "I would write
differently, not so dramatically. It'd be a little looser."
Perhaps working alone does substantially strengthen the hand of
precision. Playing with others requires that space be left for their
voices. But on either side of the fence, there is plenty of room
for good jazz.
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