Interview
Brooklyn Jazz Underground
By Eric Nemeyer
The Brooklyn Jazz Underground is an association
of independent bandleaders with a shared commitment
to improvised music. Through cooperative effort,
members of the BJU strive to create greater awareness
of their work.
JI: Could you talk about how you met and how the
Brooklyn Jazz Underground grew out of that association?
Alexis Cuadrado: We all knew each other from
networking, playing together, playing in each others'
bands, or having seen each other's bands. We had often
spoken about being frustrated about being bandleaders,
and being alone in the field and trying to get
our projects moved ahead. That was about three years
ago. Alan Ferber and myself sat and made a list of
people who we thought would be interested in forming
the collective. We ended up with ten people and
we formed the initial collective. The idea was to pool
our resources, to get more attention, and to outreach
to the community where we are, and also to start
different creative projects, and to inspire each other
with this project. We started a website. We have done
a couple of festivals. We have a number of podcasts,
interviewing each other, and they are available on
i-Tunes. Eventually, this developed into the formation
of the record label. The collective is looking into
becoming a non-profit organization. So, we have created
two different entities that are totally linked together,
that are legally and physically separate.
JI: Was there a written plan that you put together when
you organized the Brooklyn Jazz Underground?
AC: We had a number of goals. We all wanted to
share our contact information because we are from
different parts of the world. I'm from Spain so I know
a lot of people from Spain and Portugal. Anne Mette
is from Denmark. Jerome Sabbagh is from France.
Sunny Jain is from Southeast Asia, India originally.
We wanted to bring things to the table that would
be beneficial for all of us. We developed a system of
functioning as we went along. We didn't have an established
business plan. We set baby-step goals and
tried to achieve them, and learn how to achieve them
as we were going — kind of improvising.
Anne Mette Iversen: We worked for almost a year
before we launched the Brooklyn Jazz Underground.
Throughout that year we had meetings where we
were trying to figure out how we were going to do
this, what we wanted to achieve. For about a year and
a half we have been looking at how it has worked, and
if it works, and where are we now. We've found that
it does work and that we've gotten a lot of really good
things out of it. Because it has worked so well, we've
decided to expand it by creating this record label.
JI: Are there members of the collective who bring
business experience to the group, or is there a business
consultant with whom you are working, who
provides advice.
AMI: None of us really has business experience.
Alexis and I run the label. It is not a record label in
the traditional sense. It is artist run. It is very independent.
We are not putting money into artists. The
label is really a tool for artists who would like to release
their albums, using this vehicle. The artists receive
all the profits from any sales.
AC: We created a legal platform with the label, so
that we could publish, as a publisher. We also had
quite a bit of help from friends who are lawyers, accountants.
So it has been a long period of research to
figure out what kind of company we wanted to form.
How do we want it to work? We had to create an operating
agreement. What's an operating agreement? We
didn't know anything. We have learned as we've gone
along. The basic philosophy is that we are a non-profit
company, and the organization provides a tool for us.
Perhaps, eventually, it may be for other musicians, although
we are not sure about that. But, basically we
wanted this as a tool to publish our own music.
JI: What are the musical goals that you have in working
together?
AC: We haven't really set a structure like "this is the
way the music has to be." We were looking more for
a group of like-minded people — one that has a very
strong creative personality. We also wanted people
who were trying to put their work out there, and were
working actively on putting out CDs, and setting up
tours; and not someone with a nine to five job, and
writes some music on the side. Everyone is seriously
committed. That is basically the only requirement
that we wanted from the members of the initial collective,
and the record label has the same philosophy.
We all have pretty high standards in how we want the
music to be, so there's a lot of trust between the members.
When we organized these festivals, there were all
these meetings, and we were hanging out, and talking
about tax returns and things like that. Suddenly, you
see people play, and you go "Wow, this band is great."
It has been very reassuring for all of us to know that
everyone is very dedicated to the music.
JI: What kinds of challenges do you experience as
independent artists and how is the collective helping
you overcome those?
AMI: The challenge is that it is extremely difficult
to be a single musician, a bandleader, having to do
all the work. This is including writing the music,
running the band, getting rehearsal times together,
booking the studios when you record, pay for the recordings,
publish it afterwards, book the tours, do all
the logistics. It's like two, three, four full-time jobs
when you're doing that as a single person, a single
bandleader. It is minimizing the workload of the individual
that we are experiencing that the Brooklyn
Jazz Underground does for us, and the record label
does for us. In terms of reaching out to the public and
the audience and the media, that's probably where I
get the biggest benefit from these two organizations.
JI: Could you talk about your musical background?
AC: I think I always had a creative personality. After
a number of chances I ended up liking to play the
bass, and loving to play jazz. When I was nineteen
or twenty I was writing my own music, and having
my own bands. It's kind of just become what I do. I
love playing as a sideman and freelancer. But there is
always the itch of having my own creative project. I
stopped worrying about why I do it. I just try to do it
as best I can and have as much fun as possible.
AMI: I knew I wanted to play music when I was
thirteen or fourteen. But I had to go through a lot
of different ways. I was a classical pianist for awhile.
Eventually, I ended up playing the acoustic bass and
playing jazz. I had no doubts anymore. I knew it was
the right thing. My instincts were guiding me.
JI: Talk about your influences.
AMI: What has driven me more than single musicians
has been when I have heard good music, or
good writing. When I was playing electric bass, I
was into Steve Swallow a lot, both his writing and
his melodic playing was very inspiring. Because I had
this long history of playing classical music, one of my
main driving forces has been classical composition:
Brahms, Beethoven, Dvorak. I also went through
a period where Brazilian music was inspiring me.
When I was younger, I listened to everything. It
wasn't just jazz music.
AC: When I was a teenager I was into the pop music
of the 1980s — luckily the good music. I feel like my
music research moved backward. I started with music
that was current at the time and then worked back
and started discovering music from the 70s and 80s
— like jazz fusion. Then I traced back to Miles Davis'
second quintet, then back to bebop… Now when
I listen to Louis Armstrong I am hearing things I
couldn't hear before. I am gradually getting more interested
in classical music from the last century, and
Baroque music. I go backwards in time as my life goes
forward — kind of a little weird paradox. For me, it's
important that the music hits me at some emotional
level. It doesn't really matter to me if its punk rock,
or Steve Reich, or Charlie Parker. I really don't want
to have my mind boxed in by labels. I really listen to
a lot of varied stuff. Miles Davis' album Decoy, in the
1980s, was a breakthrough for me. I thought, "This is
really cool. I want to do this." Also, Jaco Pastorius.
AMI: I've had two periods in my life - one where I
switched from classical piano to playing bass. That
was definitely because I attended this summer jazz
camp, and met some of the greatest jazz musicians.
I was playing bass for a year, and one of the teachers
said, "Forget about the piano. Play the bass." I went
home and quit the conservatory. When I came to New
York, I met and took lessons with some of the great
jazz musicians. They were very encouraging also.
AC: I was very fortunate to find this great bass
teacher, Francois Rabas, who was very kind to me,
showed me a lot. He is a super virtuoso, contemporary
classical guy. I used to commute to Paris to study
with him. He set me free to do what I wanted to do.
I didn't know whether I wanted to do jazz or study
classical on the bass. He told me to do whatever felt
right and do it the best you can, and it will be cool.
JI: In the past, jazz musicians had the opportunity to
apprentice in different bands that were touring and
playing every night. The economy is different now
and those opportunities don't exist. How has the
absence of these opportunities, and the nature of being
an independent artist, helped or hindered in your
pursuit of your own voice and creative efforts?
AC: It still happens in a different way. I came from
Europe and I'm now playing with a lot of players
whose records I used to buy. Suddenly, I'm playing
with somebody that I really admire. I've learned a lot
by playing with musicians that I know, and from just
being exposed to the New York scene. It is constantly
inspiring for me. I go out to see music and get blown
away a few times a month. Having conversations and
traveling with people…I have aa sense of community.
It is very enriching.
AMI: My move to New York gave me some of that.
I got to play a lot when I first got here. I've been here
nine and a half years. If I had been playing five times
a week, for ten years, my voice on my instrument
would be more developed than it is at the moment.
It's just a slower process if you don't get to play that
much. I feel like my composing skills are developed
much more. I know my own voice in my composition
language. I do also playing-wise. But it may not
come out as clearly on the instrument. I think that
may have to do with the situation you were describing
— by playing every night with the greatest of the
greatest, and learning first hand.
JI: Tell us about your new albums on the Brooklyn
Jazz Underground label
AMI: I have a double CD, with my jazz quartet, and
the jazz quartet with string quartet. It is called Best
of the West + Many Places. The quartet music came
out of our playing together, new writing when
we've been touring. The music with the string
quartet evolved from my classical background. I
wrote to fuse the two genres, but to try to keep the
identity of each genre. I didn't want the strings to
be background for the jazz group. I really wanted
all the musicians that they were playing serious
music, and doing what they do best.
AC: In my case, it's a band that I've been playing with
the last couple of years. I have long relationships with
all the members. It was a very homemade CD, that
culminated with the formation of the record label. I
have a music room here at home, and we rehearse all
the material here. I decided that I was going to record
the CD at home. So I hired an engineer and we recorded
the CD in my living room. So, it's very linked
to the house where I live — my wife and I. We bought
the house and we've been fixing it for the last four
years. While we were working on the house, I was
writing all this music. Both project grew together.
Doing it here at home, it was a lot of fun and very
relaxed. It has a strong identity. It was almost like the
way the Blue Note records used to be made in Rudy
Van Gelder's living room. There were a few panels
between us. We weren't using any headphones. The
musicians sound phenomenal. They understand the
personality of each piece. It's pretty straight-ahead
with influences of things I like, such as pop music,
world music, Spanish music. It definitely has a jazz
essence with a modern kind of take.