An Interview With Sheryl Bailey

When one talks about state of jazz guitar these days, it’s hard not to work in the name of Sheryl Bailey. Whether working solo, playing with her trio, the Sheryl Bailey 3 or popping up to assist such diverse artists as David Krakauer and KL Denhert, she is simply an incredible musician and songwriter.

Sheryl just got back from Europe this past week and was kind enough to answer a few questions for us at Guitar Noise. I think that you’ll find her insights into jazz and songwriting to be both helpful and enlightening. Be sure to check out our reviews of The Power of Three as well as Bull’s Eye, her latest release and keep up with all her shows at her own website, www.SherylBailey.com.

GN: I hope you don’t mind my starting with two questions you’ve probably heard way too many times! First, why did you take up guitar in the first place and then why jazz guitar? Who were your influences and role models starting out? How about now?

SB: Like most 13 year olds, I wanted to be a rock star – I was into “classic rock” and heavy metal: Black Sabbath, Cream, Hendrix, Robin Trower, Van Halen, AC-DC – I had a basement band, and I would teach everyone the parts to the songs and sing ….Today I still love all of those bands and my friend and mentor, Jack Wilkins, Johnny Smith, Grant Green, Wes, and of course Pat Martino.

GN: Following in that vein, what sort of education, if any, did you have in this field?

SB: I was self-taught until about the age of 16, when I started studying with a jazz guitarist, John Maione – he taught at Pitt University – we worked on Joe Pass solos, Charlie Christian, Jimmy Raney, Carl Kress – really the foundation of jazz guitar – later I studied with Mark Koch, then one year with Joe Negri – after that I went to Berklee College of Music in Boston, and studied with a whole bunch of great cats up there; Brett Wilmott, Jon Damian, Bruce Arnold, and Ed Tomassi

GN: People are, of course, going to ask about your equipment. What guitar are you favoring these days? Amp? How do get that wonderfully clean tone you use on your CDs?

SB: I play a Yamaha SA 1500 – a pygmy 335 -Yamaha gave it to me when I was on tour in Japan with Richard Bona – it’s a proto-type, it’s quirky and I love it. I just started using the Clarus 2R by Acoustic Image, w/ a 12″ Raezor’s Edge Extended Range cabinet, which I’m also digging because it’s soooo clean, loud and it doesn’t color your guitar’s natural tone….on my discs I used my old workhorse Tech 21 Trademark 60….my tone comes from my right hand technique, not so much the gear – I’ve developed a feather-light touch that let’s the strings ring out and get the most sound and dynamic.

GN: The Sheryl Bailey 3 seems to be an incredibly empathic group. You, Gary and Ian work so well together. How did the group form and what did it take to get to the level of playing together you all share today?

SB: I had been hearing an organ trio setting in my head that I wanted to write for, but I didn’t have the right players – I wanted to extend the Grant Green/Larry Young/Elvin Jones path – not go on the groove organ trio path, but the modern jazz organ trio path. I met Ian by playing some far-out trio gigs with tenor sax genius, George Garzone (no bass!), and I knew Ian was my drummer (he even studied with Elvin as a kid). Gary had just moved to town, and I had heard of him from everyone – I put together a session, shortly after the tragedy in NYC – as a form of healing, I guess – the chemistry was instant, so I got on the phone and started booking rooms in the city. I try to book the band once a month, so we keep in rapport, and keep the momentum going – we rehearse maybe twice a year, mostly we just let it happen on the gig. I believe that we all feel time in the same way, so we have a natural way that we phrase together – also, we have listened to and admired a lot of the same music coming up, so we have a common ground to improvise with each other on. I really want to produce a live-in-a-club record next, because the stuff we do on the bandstand is so heavy!

GN: How important is that empathy, the ability to listen to each other, to take a musical idea, add your own little twist to it and then pass it on? How does one go about learning to develop this skill?

SB: Listening is everything to improvising. Ultimately, you want to hear the band as if you’re floating above it, listening to how each part blends – there’s no ego involved – you do what the music asks of you – nothing more, nothing less. There are lots of conceptual ideas to work on listening deeper, but a simple place to start is meditation away from your axe, just learning how to clear your head of your ego and thoughts, and just hear how much sound there is in silence.

GN: Could you take a moment to talk about songwriting? What goes into the writing of one of your pieces? How much of it is a set idea and how much of it springs from group improvisation? How do you decide what makes a good song, that is, one worth working on and getting played and recorded?

SB: All of the tunes on my records were written in one sitting – anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours – that’s my rule, open your ears, your heart and start writing, no judgment – those are always the keepers. I write constantly, and not everyone of them is a keeper – for me the ones that stay in the book are ones the are easy to play – the melodies and harmonies have a natural flow, even though the forms might be odd – the listener and the players should be enjoying themselves, not concentrating on how difficult the music is. I’m not attached to the outcome of the tune, so if it’s not a strong tune, I toss it and keep moving – that what seems to work for me.

GN: How did you get hooked up with some of the folks you’ve been working with lately like David Krakauer, Richard Bona, Gary Thomas and KJ Denhert? What types of influence have they had in your recent work? And what sort of influence do you think you give them in turn?

SB: All of the cool gigs I’ve ever gotten came to me, in a funny way, just by being out there and trying to play my best. I love all types of music, and I love the challenge of trying to play in the Klezmer style, or African 6/8, or scream on a fusion/funk vamp – music is really a language, so it’s just trying to get with the different accents and nuances of style, just like you would learn to speak different languages. I’m often surprised at the variety of artists that call on me, but I know they are seeking my jazz ears to lend to their music, so I am always humbled and honored to lend my style to their unique musics.

GN: Some of our readers may have met you as a teacher at the National Guitar Workshop, among the other places where you turn up as an instructor. What things do you feel are essential for someone aspiring to play jazz to learn? Besides your own book (and please do mention it!), what other sources do you recommend?

SB: The most essential quality in a jazz musician is one’s sense of groove – time. Listening to a lot of jazz is also important to get the “sound of jazz” in your ear, and also, your heart. If you treat jazz as a science experiment, it will always sound like that – falling in love with the music is the key to open the door. That being lesson one – jazz challenges one to understand harmony and how harmony relates to melody. I’m a bit fanatical about harmonic clarity – meaning, really making the changes clear in your melodic line. A great line is one that can stand on it’s own, and the harmony accompanying it is clearly understood. Bach and Bebop are based on the same principles. The Bach Inventions are simply melodic lines that generate harmony – that’s what the jazz line is all about.

My book has come from subjects I’ve worked on with students, mapping out II-V-I arpeggios, simple re-harm studies, drop two voicings, some ideas for altered dom7 voicings and lines – it’s certainly not the ultimate guide – I’m always developing it too. I think the essential books are The Charlie Parker Omnibook, Joe Viola’s Technique of The

Saxophone, Brett Wilmotts’ Chord Voicing Book, The Barry Galbraith Comping Series, and Mick Goodrick’s Advancing Guitarist.

GN: Speaking of books, I’ve read that a transcription of your solo in Old Blues New Blues will be part of a new book from Hal Leonard. How did that come about and how do you feel about the honor of being included in the book?

SB: It will be a part of Mel Bay’s Anthology of Jazz Masters vol. IV – it features nine other contemporary guitarists – a cd and transcription. This was another situation I basically walked into. It will be interesting to see what I played transcribed – I probably can’t sight read it! It feels good to start to get included with my colleagues – hopefully the beginning of more fun stuff!!

GN: What other projects can we expect from you in the upcoming year?

SB: I just returned from France with David Krakauer to record his upcoming disc for Lable Bleu, and we will be touring though out the year – CD release at Joe’s Pub in April, and at Citte de la Musique in Paris in May. I’m working on booking a tour in Europe for myself, and the West Coast with “The Three”, and I’m putting together a book on reharmonizing II-V’s for Mel Bay – mostly, I’d love to start working on producing a live DVD of the band for the next outing – I already have the music written – I have a prayer out that someone with vision will be interested in taking the production out of my hands on this one, for a change – either way, it’s a project I know will be killer and successful!

GN: And finally, any last words of advice for the fledgling jazz guitar player?

SB: Keep the faith and belief in what you are attempting to do. Being an artist in these times is more important than ever – we are the peace makers and innovators, and therefore not a part of the force of destruction and ignorance that is seeking to destroy human culture and life on this planet. Thanks for this wonderful opportunity to share my thoughts with you and your audience!

Peace

-sb