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It's intense. It was a hard decision for sure, definitely bittersweet. I love those guys, and I love that music. The decision to move on has a lot of variables but it kind of comes down to change and just rolling the dice. That's one of things I've always loved about Jacob Fred, the constant change and the gamble of it all. And this move feels very much in that tradition. -Reed Mathis on leaving JFJO |
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Photo by Ariel Mathis
Four Strings And The Truth
 Vintage Mathis |
There's a physicality to Mathis' playing that makes the listener acutely aware of the tangible aspect of sound waves. More bluntly, the animated way Mathis manhandles his instrument gets the music into the fiber of you. While there's mountains of talent and technique behind his style – comparisons, and not a few, have been made to Jimi Hendrix and Jaco Pastorius – Mathis maintains something intrinsically messy and mirthful, call it giggling grit, which keeps even his most highbrow inclinations a little roughed up.
"The more it effects my body, the less I'm in my body. My goal is to not be controlling myself, and the most obvious manifestation of that is happening physically. But I sometimes lapse and try to control myself," he snickers. "There's two ways I approach stuff. One thing is to listen to what's already going on and try and support it, to not even really 'be' there - invisible bass! Then, the other approach is to listen and see what might be missing and try to do that. Like many geniuses, Jaco elevated the instrument to the highest height and simultaneously kind of ruined it. A lot of virtuosos and innovators did that. It's kind of part of it. It's like virginity - once that thing is broke it's broke, and then the randomness of organic life takes over."
"As Skerik is fond of reminding me, bass is a role not an instrument. It's a position on a team," continues Mathis. "I spent a good many years figuring out how the actual instrument works, and then I sort of reached some sort of plateau with that. Then, the question became, 'What am I going to do?' I know how to do stuff but then what do I do?" says Mathis. "One of the things that was such an inestimable blessing to me in Jacob Fred is that in that group I had the platform to explore everything the bass can do that isn't bass. There's a lot of music I hear internally that suggests I picked the wrong instrument [laughs]. Trying to get that music out on the bass is hard because it's not bass music. But, it's also part of the beauty, part of a timeless Icarus thing."
Winterwood
One topic I've gone over many times with the Jacob Fred boys in the past seven years since I first got to know them is what is the "IT" of JFJO? What lies at the core? What are the operating principles behind their music? For sure, it's a kōan but there's value in simply asking the question, if only to talk to the wind and see what it has caught. So, one of the first observations I made to JFJO after hearing their latest album, the utterly stunning and free for download Winterwood was how much it felt like the answer to the question. If one wanted a wholly listenable encapsulation of their love for tradition AND absolute disrespect for orthodoxy and knack for rejuvenating rebellion then here it is.
 Reed Mathis by Greg Aiello |
"I wanted to make a record that summed the thing up. I felt like looking at our catalog of 15 years that the only way to find out who the band was meant putting on all the records simultaneously and push play [laughs]. None of the albums really got all of it in there, not even close. So, up front, Brian and Josh kind of gave me the reins, god bless 'em, and said, 'You can produce this one. Let us help you make the record you want to make.' That was a real blessing right out of the gate," says Mathis. "One of my favorite things about Brian's playing is his solo piano stuff. He has a whole set of chops that just relate to solo piano playing, where you really hear the classical music upbringing, and he just plays way different without drums and bass raging. There's just a whole side to Haas that's reserved for when he's alone, and I wanted that on the record. There's thirteen songs, and with ten of the songs the first thing we tracked was solo piano."
"We set up a click track and Brian asked me to stand at the foot of the piano and conduct him. Then, he'd play the piano alone like we were making a solo record. Once we got a performance of the song as solo piano that we dug he would move to the Rhodes, I'd get on the bass and Josh would get on drums and we would accompany the solo piano track and try to match it as close as possible. The solo piano performance became the conductor. So, the band would then be articulating the pace and rhythms of Brian's solo piano. The original solo piano didn't always stay in the foreground but everything in the mix is an extension of it."
"The other approach to tracking we took is exemplified by 'Song of the Vipers,' where we did a dozen different versions and then I made the different versions converse with one another," continues Mathis. "On songs like 'Vipers' or 'Oklahoma Stomp,' the lead voice is shifting between piano, Rhodes, guitar and stuff. We actually cut whole versions featuring the grand piano, whole versions featuring the Rhodes, whole versions with guitar, and then I took all the best bits and made them play together. So, when you hear eight bars of slamming Rhodes and then the piano comes in you're actually hearing different versions of the song."
"Listening to the [earlier] records it just doesn't say enough with just the one side of the band. The band is just too multifaceted. I wanted to get all the sides of us into these songs," says Mathis. "Three of the songs are like this – 'Vipers,' 'Oklahoma Stomp' and 'Old Love New Love' – where we tracked live and then cut them up to represent all the different versions. The rest of record we did conductor takes and then layered."
Besides offering some of JFJO's strongest compositions ever, Winterwood also tackles some iconic covers – Jerry Garcia's "Crazy Fingers," Louis Armstrong's "Song of the Vipers" and Duke Ellington's "Oklahoma Stomp." As much as their own highly individual writing, their choice of other's material speaks positive volumes about both their taste and fearlessness. This assortment on Winterwood is in keeping with their insistence on standing shoulder to shoulder with the best, often most challenging music that's ever been made in any field. And as the years progress, they look more and more comfortable in the big shoes they've tried to fill since their inception.
 JFJO '07 (Haas, Raymer, Mathis) by Greg Aiello |
"I don't know hardly anybody that loves jazz that's even heard 'Oklahoma Stomp' or 'Song of the Vipers," giggles Mathis. "'Crazy Fingers' we pretty much just played, but the other two I pretty much recomposed for Jacob Fred."
One thing for certain comes out of listening to Winterwood and that's how Mathis is really coming into his own as a producer. His fine ear, instinct, overall vision, knack for pulling the right performances from the musicians and pure studio technical savvy are apparent on this album. While he's dabbled for ages, this set reveals a cut-and-splice maestro in the making.
"The big leap for me with Winterwood over other records is I got a computer. In the past I was dependent on somebody else who owned a computer, so the amount of time I could work on things was dependent on what their schedule allowed. So, sometimes that was two days, sometimes it was a month. With Lil Tae Rides Again I got to go a little deeper, but for Winterwood I had my own laptop, and that was cool!" says Mathis, who's been self-educating with Beatles' studio diaries and the like for years.
So, Reed, what flips your switch production-wise?
"As far as currently active shit, the big things for me are both Oklahoma bands. Dorian Small is one of the best producers I've ever heard, though I might be one of the only people who actually has heard him! He's literally a genius and a prodigy. I've learned a lot from his records. And the other is The Flaming Lips, who've been on a pretty sharp trajectory for the past few years, especially after The Soft Bulletin, where they crossed over into heaven land in terms of production. I just love their stuff so much! So, other than The Beatles, my big production goals for Winterwood were make it sound like Dorian Small and The Flaming Lips. And Sgt. Pepper's!" enthuses Mathis. "I can honestly say that the week we spent at Winterwood Studios making this record was probably the happiest, most fun week in the history of Jacob Fred. It was just three guys really in love with each other and thirteen songs."
Continue reading for Mathis' track-by-track commentary on JFJO's latest release...
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