Ten Questions with Mark O’Leary

Mark O’Leary is a guitarist/improvisor/creative-type hailing from Cork, Ireland.  He has played and performed with many of the greats in the field including Paul Bley, Jack DeJohnette, Sunny Murray, Peter Erskine, Gunter Muller, Joey Baron, Han Bennink, Bobo Stenson Kenny Wheeler, Anders Jormin, Bill Bruford, Palle Danielsson and many others.  His unique approach to the instrument can be heard on two new albums.  Check out:

The Synth Show on Leo Records

Television on Ayler Records

Upcoming:

Ellipses on FMR Records

1: What got you into creative/improvised music making, and what keeps you there?

I started playing the guitar as an improviser, I had no teacher, thats how I figured things out, I was interested in sounds initially, not just single note melodies/chords. I sounded a lot like Derek Bailey actually, without even knowing that kind of music existed!  What keeps me there I guess is the ability to move into different stimulating terrain without cartography, reinventing the wheel, new lexicons, I strive to be different, not for the essence of being different but in terms of progression/evolution.  Improvisation is a creative framework for this endeavor.

2: Breakthrough album(s) and Why?

I went through many different phases when I was a kid, the Beatles, TOTP early 80’s, Rory Gallagher(Live In Europe), Bob Dylan, and the people who shaped who I am now Miles, Trane, Ornette, Edward Vesala (who still is one of my favourites check out Nan-Madol), Terje Rypdal (first ECM), Jan Garbarek (early 70’s before Jarrett qt), Tomasz Stanko (Balladyna), Topography of the Lungs by Bailey/Parker/Bennink I had all the Bach Organ Works which really inspired me (watch out for my next Leo release St Finn barres), Arvo Part, Giya Kancheli, Steve Reich, Kurtag, electronic music- Brian Eno, for guitar Tal Farlow, Johnny Smith, Derek Bailey, McLaughlin, Holdsworth, Frisell.

3: How do other art disciplines affect your work?

Visual arts very much, multi media is the future for me.  I like quite a bit of American modern art, Robert Rauschenberg, Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko are the favourites, I also like Piet Mondrian. The artist I like the most is Gerhard Richter, I saw his exhibition in MOMA a few years back and it was an incredible experience. I also like post Laszlo Moholy-Nagy multi media collage imagery.

4: Favorite Film(s)?

Persona

5: Favorite Film Score(s)?

2001 Space Odyssey, recently Paranoid Park.

6: Favorite Fiction Reading?

Jose Luis Borges or Herman Hesse

7: Favorite Non-Fiction Reading?

Thomas Merton/Thomas Hobbes

8: Favorite Guilty Pleasure Music?

Japan/early Simple Minds/Teardrops Explodes/Vangelis/AC/DC/Slayer/Van Halen 1 and 2
….ooops?

9: Favorite Under Rated Musician(s)?

Some of my colleagues, Daniel Alga in Stockholm, Pepa Paivinen in Helsinki, Jeff Herr in Luxembourg, Jacob  Anderskov in Copenhagen, Daniel Soltis in Prague, Toni Kitanovski in Skopje, Vasil Hadzinmanov in Belgrade.

10: Recommended Artist(s)/Shout Outs?

Jon Hassell, Ligeti, Kurtag, Feldman, Stockhausen, Webern, Schoenberg, Penderecki,  Cage, Leo Smith, Han Bennink, Sunny Murray, Rob Mazurek/John Herndon Chicago-axis,  Alex Cline, Scanner, Thomas Koner, Geir Jensson, Ryoji Ikeda, Helge Sten,  Fennesz, early Kraftwerk, AMM, Masayuki Takayanagi, Conrad Schnitzler.

Ten Questions with Mary Halvorson

Mary Halvorson is a guitarist/composer living in New York.  She plays with many many groups, including her great duo with musician Jessica Pavone, another great duo with drummer Kevin Shea called People, various groups with sax legend Anthony Braxton, and various groups with trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum among others.  She has developed an actual individual voice on guitar, and continues using it in a very wide variety of settings.  The latest is the Mary Halvorson Trio with drummer Ches Smith and bassist John Hebert.  They have a new record coming this October on Firehouse 12 Records.  Check out their webpage for some song previews:

Mary Halvorson Trio

1: What got you into creative/improvised music making, and what keeps you there?

I got into creative/improvised music through listening to and studying jazz and branching out from there. I am interested in all types of music and what keeps me here is the exploration of creativity and something new, regardless of genre.

2: Breakthrough album(s) and Why?

The Beach Boys was the first cassette tape I bought (age 5). I consider that pretty important. And every Jimi Hendrix album. And Miles Davis Kind of Blue, John Coltrane Blue Trane and a Thelonious Monk compilation (those were the first jazz albums I ever bought). Also Wayne Shorter The Soothsayer. More recently… Yusef Lateef Live at Pep’s, an Etta James box set, everything by Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers. Oh and Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt changed my life.

3: How do other art disciplines affect your work?

I don’t think they do in a direct way, but definitely on a more subconscious level. I enjoy visual art and deeply regret that I have no talent for it myself.

4: Favorite Film(s)?

I discovered David Lynch late in life so I’m going through that now. Wild at Heart might be my favorite at the moment.

5: Favorite Film Score(s)?

Hmm. I know this is lame but I’m not sure I have one!

6: Favorite Fiction Reading?

Haruki Murakami– I’ve read everything– and George Simenon/ Inspector Maigret murder mysteries (I’m working on reading everything). I like to find one thing and become so obsessed that I completely exhaust it. I do that with music listening too.

7: Favorite Non-Fiction Reading?

I read a lot of astrology textbooks (again, exhausting it).

8: Favorite Guilty Pleasure Music?

Maybe something will pop into my head later, but I just scrolled through my iPod and I don’t think there’s anything in there that I feel guilty about. Honestly. I feel guilty about plenty of other things, but not music! I do hate Steely Dan though. A lot. That seems to be everyone else’s guilty pleasure.

9: Favorite Under Rated Musician(s)?

Lenny Breau. Jason Cady.

10: Recommended Artist(s)/Shout Outs?

Matthew Welch, Judith Berkson, Jason Cady, Jessica Pavone, Jeremiah Cymerman, Anthony Braxton, Charlie Looker/ Extra Life, John Hebert, Kevin Shea, Tomas Fujiwara, Ches Smith, Michael Attias, Trevor Dunn, Reuben Radding, Jeff Parker, Matt Moran, Matana Roberts, Curtis Hasselbring, Taylor Ho Bynum, Okkyung Lee, Brian Chase, John Dieterich, Jim Black, Matt Bauder, Devin Hoff, Nasheet Waits, Tony Malaby, Jason Moran, Oscar Noriega, Chris Speed, Tatsuya Nakatani, Jacob Garchik, Nate Wooley, Mick Barr, Robbie Lee, Tim Berne, Marc Ribot, Nat Baldwin, Peter Evans, Ted Reichman, Weasel Walter… I have a strong feeling that I’m forgetting someone really important…

Ten Questions with Darcy James Argue

Darcy James Argue is a New York based composer that leads the truly sweet Secret Society Big Band which performs in and around NY. He writes all of the material for this 18 piece monster, and with it (said monster), he manages to create an original sound that still leaves plenty of space for monster members to add their own improvised contributions.

Here’s a great video of the monster in action.

In addition, he is a constant blogger of interesting thoughtful content, and was a major influence on me in the creation of this site. Check out his band’s blog here.

1: What got you into creative/improvised music making, and what keeps you there?

What got me into it? I played trumpet in the highschool bigband, but I was a really terrible trumpet player. Piano was a lot less frustrating — you put your finger down on the right key, and the note you want actually comes out. Every time. Not like trumpet. Playing piano also allowed me to listen more to the big picture, to what the whole band was playing. I very quickly got the idea, “Hmm, that doesn’t actually sound all that hard. I bet I could do that.”

What keeps me in it? Believe me, if it was remotely possible for me to do something other with my life than lead an 18-piece bigband, I’d do that. In a heartbeat.

2: Breakthrough album(s) and Why?

One record: Maria Schneider’s Evanescence. Especially the first tune, “Wyrgly.”

Why? Goddamn, just listen to that track, fercrissakes. For better or worse, “Wyrgly” convinced me that bigband wasn’t a dead end. No, more than that — it convinced me that a bigband could express the precise kind of forward-looking jazz I was interested in, and do it better than a smaller ensemble.

The juxtaposition of those climbing half-time shuffle figures grinding against the wispy, scattershot double-time stabs (about a minute into the tune) remains one of the most audacious rhythmic conceits I’ve ever heard. And that noise Ben Monder makes during his solo break is everyone’s favorite Ben Monder moment.

3: How do other art disciplines affect your work?

Storytelling is key. The difference between good musicians and great musicians is that great musicians are genius storytellers. Any other art that happens in real time — theatre, film, television, dance, standup comedy, spoken word, performance art — is (or should be) tremendously instructive for the creative musician. But ultimately, everything always comes back to storytelling.

4: Favorite Film(s)?

How long do you have? Okay… limiting myself to a desert island Top 10 list? Citizen Kane for its punkrock badassery (who the hell does that with their first movie?); The Big Sleep for being the definitive noir; Notorious for the camera + Ingrid Bergman; The Third Man for showing everyone how to really introduce a character; Seven Samurai for being the most awesomest epic movie ever; Rififi for merging French existentialism with the cynicism of a casualty of McCarthy, and also for that breathtaking heist scene; The Sweet Smell of Success for being the definitive New York City film (now and forever), and for actually using Chico Hamilton’s band; McCabe and Mrs. Miller for the ecstatic patience, for being filmed in my backyard, and for making Deadwood possible; The Godfather Part II for Fredo; Blue Velvet for Dean Stockwell; and Goodfellas for the obsessive attention to detail. (Yeah, okay, I realize that’s eleven. No, fuck you.)

5: Favorite Film Score(s)?

Oh come now. Okay, fine — I will limit myself to just two:

Psycho and Vertigo.

(See, that was easy.)

6: Favorite Fiction Reading?

Ever? Crime and Punishment, with David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest a close second.

Lately? Honestly, I need to find a much healthier balance between online reading/writing and dead-tree reading. The last novel I read that really killed me was Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress of Solitude. At the moment I am (slowly) making my way through Against The Day (god, that one chapter with Webb Traverse and the railroad bridge is effing brilliant).

7: Favorite Non-Fiction Reading?

I am currently enjoying Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland, which already, in the first 100 pages, contains everything anyone needs to know about contemporary American politics. On deck is Jeremy Scahill’s Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army.

8: Favorite Guilty Pleasure Music?

No such thing. Seriously. You might (justifiably) feel guilty about, like, cheating on your spouse, or betting your kid’s college fund on an online poker game. But feeling guilty about enjoying music? Life’s too short, dude.

9: Favorite Under Rated Musician(s)?

Oy. Um… Mary Lou Williams. George Russell. Booker Little. Jimmy Giuffre (still). Late Duke Ellington. Sun Ra and his inner circle. Thad Jones as a cornet player. Bob Brookmeyer as a valve trombone player. Mel Lewis. Lewis Taylor. Post-1970 Gil Evans. Henry Threadgill. Scott Robinson. Andrew D’Angelo.

10: Recommended Artist(s)/Shout Outs?

Sherisse Rogers. Joe Phillips. Matana Roberts. Todd Sickafoose. Corey Dargel. Everyone who has ever played a Secret Society gig or rehearsal.