An Interview with Jazz Guitarist Jay Umble

Jazz Guitarist Jay Umble

Guitarist, composer and educator Jay Umble is the author of several jazz guitar books on Mel Bay Publications and is a featured instructor on online jazz education site Mike's Masterclasses. Jay is also an adjunct faculty member of Bucknell University and Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania.

An active performer and recording artist, his latest CD is entitled Spirit Crossing.

Jay was kind enough to grant The Guitar Column this email interview recently.

The Guitar Column:  Who were your guitar heroes when you were growing up?

Jay Umble:  I grew up in the rock genre so I was really into Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, etc.  I was always more interested in the instrumental, improvisational side of music.  I recently went to a Jeff Beck concert and was totally blown away.  Jeff is as relevant today as he was many years ago.

TGC:  What sparked your interest in jazz?

JU:  A friend of mine asked me if I had ever heard of George Benson and I said that I knew his name but that was about it.  So he put on this album called Body Talk and it totally changed my way of thinking about what the guitar could do.  I remember upon my first listening of this album thinking, 'I can’t believe somebody can play so hip without distortion!'  It just knocked me out!  So from that point, I started gravitating towards the jazz side of things.

TGC:  Who were some of your early teachers and mentors?

JU:  I studied with some great teachers/players in my area, early on in my development.  Kenny Gehret was one of those teachers -- he is now playing a ten-string guitar -- who was really coming from the artistic side of things.  I also studied with Marty Bonk who was so wonderful at explaining the process of jazz thinking.  Both were great teachers, but having totally different perspectives.

Of course, I was constantly transcribing licks off of records -- all the great jazz players of the day – Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis, etc.  You learn so much from the transcribing process.  Someone once told me that all of the answers are on the records.

TGC:  You went on the road with the Ron Smith Trio, an organ-based group, when you were still in your 20’s.  Did you enjoy playing in a Hammond B3 based trio?

JU:  Yeah, there’s nothing like the Hammond B3 sound and it was an awesome experience overall.  Ron’s feel was so 'in the pocket' and he was such a master player.  He knew all of the tunes -- one of those guys ya know! -- so it was a real workout for me, a lot of on the job ear training.  I’ve always been appreciative to Ron for that opportunity because I was just a young, inexperienced player - but I really wanted it man!

TGC:  You eventually went on to study with Pat Martino – one of our great masters.  How did you get the opportunity to study with him?

JU:  Actually it came about from my involvement with the organ trio.  Through Ron Smith I met Chris Jones (son of Philly Joe Jones) who introduced me to Pat Martino.  It was really weird and funny because me and a friend of mine went to meet Chris in south Philadelphia.  We met at this old abandoned warehouse.   It was a total trip – it was like out of a movie!   And then Chris calls Pat and tells Pat that this guy wants to study with him.  So Chris gets off the phone with Pat and gives me Pat’s phone number. And that was it.  It’s really funny how this came about! 

The funny thing is, is that after studying with Pat for a while I asked him one day about getting in touch with him and Pat said, "You could have just looked me up in the phone book"!  Now you gotta love that!

TGC:  What was a typical lesson with Pat Martino like?

JU:  Studying with Pat was a phenomenal experience.  Lessons were a combination of music and philosophy – totally integrated.  Pat liked to discuss concepts in addition to writing out specific musical ideas.  He also shared a lot of his music with me.  Much of this music hasn’t been released to the public.  But anyway, Pat presented so much information for me to study.  Every lesson was intense and I would leave each lesson being totally exhausted! 

Of course we worked with his Nature of Guitar concept, learning the entire neck from a minor perspective, chord substitution, phrasing, compositional techniques and so on.  Studying with Pat was one of the best things I’ve ever done.

TGC:  Do you have any great Pat Martino stories for our readers?

JU:  I have so many great Martino stories and I often share these stories with my students.

    
Here’s a great example:  Pat showed me an orchestral work that he had written called Opus 126 -- it was something like this -- I don’t remember the exact number.  The obvious implication is that there must be 125 other opuses that precede Opus 126!  I made a comment to this effect and Pat looked at me with this smile on his face and said, “It’s just a title!"  Then we both started laughing.  It was great!

    
In this same orchestral work, Pat pointed out the tempo of the first movement which was quarter note equals 96.  Then Pat said, check this out – he turned ahead to the second movement and pointed to the tempo which was quarter note equals 97!  That’s funny stuff!

TGC:  You’ve written a number of jazz guitar books.  Your Mel Bay book Jazz Guitar Licks In Tablature was interesting for me as it was devoted entirely to the use of the whole-tone scale.  Not your usual compendium of ii-V-I licks as the title would suggest.  Which was cool as the whole-tone scale doesn’t even get it’s own chapter in most jazz method books out there.

JU:  Well that’s interesting about the title of the book.  I had wanted to call the book something specific to the whole-tone scale but it came down to a corporate decision and that’s ok too.  So anyway, I was working a lot with the whole-tone scale at the time and decided to put the ideas in a book format. 

The whole-tone scale is, to me, nothing more than a sound texture.  Sometimes as musicians, we can get too locked into theoretical considerations and lose sight of the fact that we are dealing with art.  So for me,  the whole-tone scale can be used in other harmonic contexts to create an effect, in addition to being used in the dominant 7th b5 or dominant 7th #5 harmonic areas.

TGC:  You must have a pretty good relationship with Mel Bay Publications judging by the number of books you have in their catalog – Jazz Guitar Licks In Tablature, Improvisational Techniques For Jazz Guitar, Melodic Junction, The Jazz Guitarist’s Thesaurus and Payin’ Your Dues With The Blues.

JU:  Yes, I have a good relationship with Mel Bay which I’m very appreciative to have.  They are an excellent publishing company and treat their writers with respect.  As far as publishing goes, I think that as long as you have something to say and can present your book concept to a publisher in a coherent fashion, they will give you serious consideration for publication.

Only two of my books remain in print --  'Improvisational Techniques For Jazz Guitar' and 'Payin' Your Dues With The Blues'. 

Improvisational Techniques For Jazz Guitar presents many concepts such as Double Stops, Arpeggios, Chromaticism, Random Open Strings, Side-Slipping and more. 

Payin’ Your Dues With The Blues takes an in-depth look at the jazz blues idiom and covers such things as comping, soloing, various harmonic blues forms, walking bass lines, chord soloing and more.

TGC:  I haven't gotten a hold of Improvisational Techniques For Jazz Guitar yet, but I did get a lot of mileage out of Payin’ Your Dues With The Blues – lots of great substitution ideas that I found myself using immediately on the bandstand.  I think it was Hal Galper who said that if you get one usable idea out of a book, it was a good book; and if you get two or more usable ideas out of a book, it was a great book!

JU:  Thanks so much!  I put a lot of effort into this book.  I really wanted the material to be real music, things that you would actually want to play as opposed to generic type of information.  I’ve gotten many positive responses to the book in this regard.

    
I totally agree with Hal Galper.  Now that you mentioned Hal, I encourage everybody to check out his YouTube master class videos.  These videos are ESSENTIAL to any serious minded musician.

TGC:  Do you have any new books coming out?

JU:  A lot of people ask me this question.  No new book concepts at the present.  I do have other book ideas but haven’t moved in that direction for the time being. 

TGC:  To date, you have six videos on Mike’s Masterclasses.  How did your association with Mike Gellar come about?

JU:  I met Mike many years ago at a jazz festival.  He was staying at the hotel where the festival was held during the festival weekend so we did some playing in his hotel room.  Years later, after Mike started this Master Class concept, he called me and asked me if I would like to be involved, so I said 'Sure'!  Mike has developed a wonderful jazz video lesson company and I am honored to be a part of his venture.

    
I will be doing two Master Classes soon that deal with the psychological aspects of performance, philosophy and methodology.  These two classes will be quite interesting.  I’ll be covering many things that you almost never hear about and some things you never hear about!  I’m very excited to be presenting these concepts.  The classes will be called 'Let’s Talk:  Music, Psychology, Methodology and More, Vol. 1 & 2'.

TGC:  You teach at both Bucknell University and Susquehanna University.  Could you describe the courses you teach there? 

JU:  I’m an adjunct faculty member and I’m teaching studio guitar, which really means teaching students one on one.  I see my role, while at the universities, to impart as much knowledge as I can about the entire musical experience.  So my students get a lot from me!

TGC:  What is your approach to teaching jazz guitar and what are some of the personal musical philosophies you hope to pass on to your students?

JU:  I place a heavy emphasis on harmony which is an area that most students need a lot of help with.  I provide a healthy dose of traditional and modern harmonic systems with practical applications.

I also work on soloing over changes.  Most students feel pretty comfortable soloing over a static vamp -- and some students are incredible at this -- but are totally lost when given an actual jazz chord progression.  One of the techniques I find helpful is the concept of 'soloing off of the chord' – in addition to the obvious things such as scales, arpeggios and the like.

    
The most important thing I can convey to a student is this:  The guitar is not music, it is just a piece of wood with six metal wires.  It’s just a tool, an “instrument” if you will.  That’s all!  You are the music: the tool simply gives you a means to process what is in your heart and soul.  The guitar is a canvas on which we paint with sound – sound that comes from within our being.  We ARE the music!

    
This shift in our perception, in relation to the guitar, makes all the difference in the world.  If you make this shift in perception, you will be a far more creative musician.  Instantly.

TGC:  Tell us a bit about your current groups, String Theory and The Jay Umble Jazz Trio.

JU:  String Theory is one of my groups where it’s all about original music.  I love playing jazz standards and I also love having the outlet to play my own tunes.  So it’s very rewarding.

    
The Jay Umble Jazz Trio is a standards trio with my own modern flair thrown into the mix.  Playing standards really keeps me 'in tune' with music.  To me, jazz standards are so very important.

TGC:  You also have a duo with guitarist Bill Druck.

JU:  Yes, I work in a jazz guitar duo project with guitarist Bill Druck.  We get into a lot of textural type of music and avant-garde material, some of which is totally improvised.  So these three groups offer quite a spectrum of concepts.

TGC:  You also have a new CD out, Spirit Crossing?

JU:  Yes, it’s a project of original compositions that I wanted to do for a long time.

TGC:  What was your compositional process like for writing Spirit Crossing?

JU:  I had worked with some Ralph Towner harmonic concepts over the years and kind of developed those concepts into my own thing.  I built tunes around various chordal ideas from a finger style perspective.

    
The original plan was to do the album based upon a two guitar concept.  But you know how these things go – it morphed into something much larger than originally conceived.  But I like the way it turned out.  It has a very unique world vibe throughout.  Jamey Haddad played percussion on the album which really helped to give it that common thread.

TGC:  What did you use on that recording by way of guitars, pedals and amps?

JU:  I used a lot of stuff man!  Guitar wise, I used my Gibson ES175-T, Carvin SCS-90, Larrivee acoustic, Fender Strat, banjo and a few other guitars that I borrowed from friends.

    
All of the acoustic guitar material was done by miking the guitars naturally with multiple mics for sound options – options are good!  A couple things were recorded direct, but not much.

    
Other than one electric guitar solo, all of the effects were added after the fact.  But the pedals I did use on that solo were a Whammy pedal, Ibanez chorus, Boss DD6 delay and a Rat distortion pedal. Regarding amps I used my Polytone Mini Brutes, Roland JC-120 and an assortment of other amps for re-amping.

TGC:  Describe your most memorable gig experience, good or bad.

JU:  I was playing this organ trio gig one time and this guy walked into the club and was just staring at the band.  Then all of a sudden he walked over to the organ player and literally pushed him out of his seat and took over!  It turned out to be Cedric Lawson, who worked with Miles Davis, and he tore the house apart, so to speak!  The energy was totally over the top.  Everybody was freaked out - in a good way!

TGC:  Thanks so much for doing this interview Jay!  Any parting words for our readers out there?

JU:  Thank you Clinton!  It was my pleasure.  Sure, I would like to simply say this:  Accept however it is that you play and go with it.  Don’t worry about what everybody else is doing.  Just believe in your concept of music.  I know this sounds trite, but it is so true!!

http://www.jayumble.com/

Jay's online jazz education videos are at http://www.mikesmasterclasses.com/

The Spiritual Sayings Of Carlos Santana -- Part II

My first article on The Spiritual Sayings Of Carlos Santana proved somewhat popular. I guess Carlos' nuggets of wisdom struck a chord in quite a few people.

In light of that, here are some more.

This time I've divided them into two sections. The first are from a 1974 interview he did around the time of the release of Love, Devotion, Surrender with John McLaughlin. The rest are from a 1999 interview he did after recording his multi-award winning record, Supernatural. It's interesting to see how Santana's perspectives have evolved over 25 years.

1974

"A lot of times, what I hear and what the Supreme hears are two different things."

"Sometimes I find myself living in the illusion that I've got to do it the way I hear it. But when I do that, it doesn't come out right, it sounds too thought out."

"The most natural thing on earth is your heart, your soul, because it rarely goes out of tune with God. What goes out of tune is your mind and your body."

"I am the string and the Supreme is the musician. And that's all I am, because I go out of tune just like a string goes out of tune."

"I've got a long way to go before I can be in any kind of environment and still keep that oneness with the Supreme, so I don't start swearing and trying to be stupidly proud."

"Sometimes I'm not aware I can do some of these things on my guitar, because in reality I'm not doing them, they are being done through me, which is one of the highest places anyone can reach."

"For Leonardo daVinci to reflect all his artwork, he had to get his chops out before he could try to reflect all that perfection the Supreme gave him."

"There's only one king, man, and that's the Supreme. And when he plays through you, according to your capacity, it's like music from beyond, and that's what I'm hungry for."

"If I'm not practicing my guitar and my technique, I'm reading certain types of books which make me constantly aware of how much conviction, surrender, devotion I have to have so that I don't go out of tune. So when I play, all those doubts and wrong notes don't come into the picture."

"Some music just goes right over you, and you start yawning. John Coltrane's music used to do that to me. It's so heavy it's like eating a big meal. But after a while I got hungry for it."


1999

"I had only one concern when making my new record (Supernatural). Would Jimi Hendrix like it if he were here?"

"It's important for me to appease Jimi and Wes Montgomery because I play for them too."

"We are multi-dimensional spirits dwelling in the flesh, solely for the purpose of evolution."

"I don't see myself playing black music or white music. I play rainbow music -- all the colors are there."

"Like Miles -- you know when you hit that note, you don't want to breathe until you finish with it. Miles, Peter Green -- there are very few people who can make you hold your breath until that note is ended. You get goosebumps."

I love musicians who make you want to laugh and cry at the same time. When they go for it, you go with them, and you don't come back until they come back. There are not many players who can consistently do that. Potentially, we should all be doing it."

"From Miles you get the alchemy of making 50,000 notes into five. But with those five, you shake the world."

"You don't have to be Jimi Hendrix or Charlie Parker -- you can get it done your own way. God made the world round so we can all have centerstage."

"The secret of life is that I have validated my existence. I know that I'm worth more than my house, my bank account, or any physical thing."

"Once you validate your existence, you have the wind in your sails -- where do you want to go?"

"When I hit that note -- if I hit it correctly -- I'm just as important as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, or anybody. Because when I hit that note, I hit the umbilical cord of anybody who's listening."

"When you hit a note like that people say, "What kind of guitar is that? What kind of speaker are you using? What kind of strings?" No, man. It's not all that -- it's the note."

"These are the ingredients for being a complete communicator: Soul, heart, mind, body, cojones. One note."

"Late at night, if I want to check in with my internal Internet, I load the tape recorder, get some nice tones, and play."

"The only thing that I have is my tone. That's like my face. Your tone is your fingerprint and your personality. I learned by listening to T-Bone Walker and Peter Green, so I have a tone."

"Attitude is as important as notes. You learn not to be intimidated. You learn to respect and find your place -- to complement."

"There's cursing and praying, and all that language is part of music. A lot of my best solos remind me of when my mom used to scold me, 'Dit-doo-dup-dat-doo-doo-bah!"

"When you get older you either get senile or become gracious. There's no in-between. You become senile when you think the world short-changed you, or everybody wakes up to screw you. You become gracious when you realize that you have something the world needs, and people are happy to see you when you come into the room."

"Whether you've got a green mohawk or a suit and tie, it's still the same. Are you saying something valid. Are you contributing, bringing new flowers that we haven't seen in the garden?"

"When you think, 'I should hang up my guitar and be a dishwasher,' listen to your other side: 'No, you too have something they need'."

Buy Carlos Santana CDs and DVDs Here!

Bill Connors | Defining Jazz-Rock Guitar In Return To Forever

Like every teenaged guitar player of his generation, Bill Connors grew up listening to Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. By his own admission he was a ‘Rolling Stones glutton', and was soon learning every Keith Richards solo note for note.

His musical tastes soon evolved and he began listening to jazz -- Miles Davis, Bill Evans and John Coltrane became a preoccupation. A momentous epiphany came when he happened to hear one of Django Reinhardt’s recordings. At that point he decided he didn’t want to be a rock guitarist anymore.

Starting out his music career in the San Francisco jazz scene in his early 20’s, Connors was soon playing in groups with bassist Steve Swallow and saxophonist John Handy.

And when Chick Corea decided to steer his group Return To Forever towards a decidedly electric jazz-rock direction, he chose 24-year old Bill Connors for the incendiary role of lead guitarist. Connors recorded one album with the group, the groundbreaking Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy.

Citing creative differences with his bandleader, Connors remained with Return To Forever for only about a year. With Chick starting to direct Connors more and more, the young guitarist felt that he no longer had any control in the music -- even over the form and direction of his solos. A committed Scientologist, Corea was also in the habit of requiring the members of his band to fill out forms and chart out graphs to rate their own performances every night.

In many ways, Bill Connors has not received his due. His forays into classical guitar on the ECM label following his departure from Return To Forever and his subsequent return to electric fusion with his own Bill Connors Trio in the late 80’s somehow did not bring him the recognition he deserved.

Stanley Clarke once stated, “When you talk to guitar players that followed the jazz-rock movement, a lot of guys mention John McLaughlin first and Bill Connors second”.

I couldn’t agree more. In my opinion, Connors paved the way for his successor, Al DiMeola, in Return To Forever. Connors created a sound in the band where none existed before. In the process, he helped further define the role of the electric guitar in the world of jazz-rock and fusion.

Perhaps when Connors reunites with his former bandmates Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White on 2nd September 2009 for one show at the Hollywood Bowl things might start looking up.




Buy Bill Connors CDs Here!

The Incomparable Foley On... Lead Bass?

Miles Davis loved guitar players.

And the ones that have passed through his ranks during his 'Electric' period reads like a Who's Who -- Sonny Sharrock, John McLaughlin, Reggie Lucas, Pete Cosey, Barry Finnerty, Robben Ford, Mike Stern and John Scofield.

Miles also loved Hendrix and he would often admonish his 6-stringed axemen to "Turn it up and play like Jimi, or don't play at all!"

But in the last incarnation of his electric lineup he actually didn't have a guitar player in his band. At least not in the traditional sense.

Enter piccolo bassist Joseph McCreary aka 'Foley'.

With bassist Benny Rietveld holding down the bottom-end, Miles effectively deployed Foley in the capacity of 'lead bassist', a role he was more than comfortable with.

But at the height of his visibility with the Miles Davis group, he often wrangled with the media who sometimes referred to him as a '4-string guitarist'.

And no wonder. With a 34" scale, 4-string instrument tuned an octave higher than a regular bass and armed with a pick and a Floyd Rose tremelo, Foley attacked the instrument like a guitarist, spinning jazz and rock inflected lines with a creamy distorted tone. Not limited to being mere 'lead bass' hero, equally captivating were Foley's creative chordal textures and funk guitar-type rhythms.

These days, Foley has reverted to more conventional bass-playing but, like the man, his current music is anything but traditional.