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It is all about honesty for me and playing what I want to play. When you are performing for a lot of people and everybody is together with you at a concert it is a very exciting feeling. I like to use that energy and use the crowd as my muse. I want to reach out and say, 'Yes, let's all do this together.' All I really intended to do was to have fun, all while making it interesting and touching for my audience. -Marco Benevento |
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Photo by: Kevin Calabro
"It is all about honesty for me," he says, "and playing what I want to play. When you are performing for a lot of people and everybody is together with you at a concert it is a very exciting feeling. I like to use that energy and use the crowd as my muse. I want to reach out and say, 'Yes, let's all do this together.' All I really intended to do was to have fun, all while making it interesting and touching for my audience."
 Marco Benevento |
"The purpose is to not be myself," he continues. "I want to forget that I am even there. I want to let music just flow. Let it all happen and make something that people can connect with. We can then come back to reality and everybody can bid farewell."
Harlem yielded many temptations. "My dad calls it over indulging yourself," he laughs. "I think about all of these jam sessions in Harlem where people would take their share of choruses, play another solo."
The success, at least in Marco Benevento's solo material, is his ability to approach the listener with threads of accessible melody, steady on the limb that shall bend under the weight.
"Maybe some people might think that my music is self-indulgent but every now and then I get, 'That was a very nice solo,'" he says in a gentleman's voice. "You notice that aspect so much more with jazz because the rock world isn't based on improvisation. That very battle existed at Berklee, as well. The dropout rate for freshmen is close to 70-percent. They are kids who are big fishes in a small pond and/or the shredders who have no interest in learning how to improvise. I just thought somebody like John Coltrane was an amazing musician."
The Inspiration
Benevento laps the apartment space several times before finally settling in front of a keyboard stacked along the sidewall. A small, red digital knob-laden tone converter is sprawled out over the right side of the ivory. Benevento places his hands on the open keys while still standing.
 Marco Benevento by Chad Smith |
"The beauty about an instrumental song is that everybody has their own relationship with it," he says. "Everybody has their own story."
With the audio pickup off, the sound of rhythmic tapping bounces off the face of the keys and permeates the conversation. Benevento is having his way at a few unconscious licks while his eyes and speech are focused on the inner workings of his compositions.
"I think it depends on my mood," he says reflectively. "Take the song 'Bus Ride' for example. The reason why I called it that was because it was written on a tour bus with Trey [Anastasio], Mike [Gordon] and Joe [Russo]. Trey came over with his guitar, sat down and improvised a part on his guitar. The loop of the Mellotron and banjo reminds me of the wheels of the bus spinning. When you connect the mood and place, it evokes a feeling."
He picks up a small, infant-like electronic kazoo. With his hands tucked around its back and his thumbs producing the tones, Benevento crudely spits the melody barrage of "Bus Ride" off Invisible Baby.
"I have my own personal thing with it," he says while staring down at his hands. "What is cool and intriguing to me is how other people have their own little thing with it. A cut like 'Real Morning Party' I can only imagine thinking about the one thing!"
Benevento turns around and immediately sits at the stool cradled against his full, organically resonating piano.
 Marco Benevento by Aaron Williams |
"The story without words, or the instrumental song, is left to the interpretation of the listener. I want you to connect to how I am feeling right now," he says as his hands touch the keys. "If I am feeling mellow I could play something minor," accentuated by a phrase of right-handed emotions that resonate in a sustained B-minor.
"This is such an amazing instrument to play. People don't seem to utilize its brilliance the way they used to. I am always an activist for piano rights," Benevento says. "It is amazing to think how much the music industry has changed from the times of the people we worshipped. I remember when Led Zeppelin was nothing more than a myth to kids growing up."
"The more we are connected, the more musicians holding this untouchable reach will dissipate because of how quickly we get information," he continues. "There is no waiting in line for records, and no liner notes to grasp onto. There is no suspense. I often wonder how in this day and age an artist such as Neil Young remains part of mythology."
The myth associated with Marco Benevento's own musical lineage has to do directly with his fans musing in the dark about where he is going to pop up next.
"Everybody wants to know where my concentration is amongst the projects," he says. "I was hanging out with [drummer] Matt Chamberlain [Critters Buggin] and he inadvertently said some words of wisdom. He said, for him, everything was a side project. By saying that everything is a side project I took it as you are the most important person in your life. It doesn't make any sense to try and understand the dynamics of how a musician spreads his time over projects. What am I going to do, get into a van with Reed [Mathis] and say, 'This is my side project?' The thing you have to understand is that music is unchained. It is like being on the road. You can do whatever you want. While driving you could jerk the wheel hard and flip the van into a ditch or you could pull off into that weird little roadside outhouse where they are selling alien pins. Musically, it is the same feeling as being on the road. There is so much you learn while traveling. Driving across the country is an inspiring experience, even without the music. On the road, just like Jack Kerouac."
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