INTERVIEW WITH OTEIL BURBRIDGE

As of September 2001, Oteil Burbridge was extremely busy. Since then, he has been busier. The following interview, completed via email in the days following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, alludes to the many things Oteil had planned, and has accomplished, in the last third of 2001. Having just gotten off the road with the Allmans, Oteil was headed to New Orleans to do as record with Page McConnell in mid-September and immediately subsequent, to start the Government Mule tour at month’s end. That tour, supporting the release of The Deep End, an homage to Allen Woody featuring 25 of the world’s greatest bassists, ended on November 1st. His Peacemakers began recording their second CD on November 9th, finishing by December, when he started shooting a show for public television called Southern Beat, focusing on southern music, episodes of which have already aired. He's decided to wrap the year up with a flurry of activity, including the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam on December 21st, and on the next day, the annual Zambiland extravaganza in Atlanta, which found him sharing the stage with the vintage Aquarium Rescue Unit (including Col. Bruce Hampton, Jeff Sipe, Jimmy Herring, Count M’Butu and Chuck Leavell) This week, he ends the year with 2 shows with a new project called Vida Blue, featuring McConnell and Russell Batiste (drummer of the Funky Meters), including a New Year's Eve concert at New York City's Roseland Ballroom. The trio will also perform at the Higher Ground in Vermont on December 30 (more info), a show that is completely sold out as of this writing. Studio recordings from Vida Blue and the Peacemakers are likely to hit this coming Spring.

So, tell us about your thing, the Peacemakers. How did you pick the different lineups you've used?

I’ve been blessed to have the guys that I have. I don't really have as much control over it as you probably think. I'm extremely glad that they want to do it. They are some of my favorite players on the planet. We do basically jazz-funk. Sometimes I call it "jazzy Jesus funk"!

How do the Peacemakers like to record nowadays? Hard disc? Tape? Are you just going straight to the board like so many bassists do now?

I hate going direct in the studio. I like to record in the same room with the drummer so we have the same room ambience. I never get to do it. One of the few times that I did was when we did Surrender to the Air. My next album I'm doing will be with John Snyder, who’s a jazz producer and it will be old school. All analog, pretty much live, with everyone in the same room, etc. Gov't Mule records like this. I bet Medeski, Martin & Wood do also. [Note: During 1975-77 producer John Snyder ran a jazz subsidiary of A and M records, called Horizon, that resulted in around 25 releases by such top musicians as Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Jim Hall, Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden.]

Care to reveal any of the drama around the making of your first CD?

No, it ended up being a very hurtful experience that resulted in the loss of a dear friendship.

Will the next Peacemakers cd be an independently marketed thing as well? Might you involve Butch’s label?

John Snyder wants to get it signed to a major label. I'm all for it as long as I can get creative control. That's why we're going to cut it first and then they can take or leave the finished product. If they don't take it, I’ll put it out myself.

Tell us about the local Alabama scene and what things you might do closer to home in terms of musical extracurriculars. Do you play with the Peacemakers cats at home?

I really don't do much playing when I'm home because I'm so burnt from the road. But there are many, many wonderful musicians in Birmingham like Mark Kimbrell (guitar), Chris Fryar (drums), who are in my band, and others, like Tommy Stewart (trumpet, keyboard, arranger). Tommy actually has his own exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute! There's also Cleve Eaton (bass), who used to play with Ramsey Lewis and Count Basie, Sonny Harris, and Dr. Henry Panion (trombone, arranger). Henry was Stevie Wonder's musical director! I could go on and on. I made a CD with a guitarist named Tom Wolfe, called A Simple Peace. I believe he is the head of the jazz department at one of the universities here in Alabama. My favorite thing about him (as with most of my favorite musicians) is his writing. He really is a wonderful musician and a really good human being. [Check out A Simple Peace.]

What’s the studio experience like with the brothers? Are there new studio tunes in the can? Are there weeks of rehearsals beforehand? Or do you sort of pre-produce stuff at home studios before a major recording effort?

I've never been in the studio with the brothers actually. For the live recording, Peakin’ at the Beacon, I didn't do anything different. It was just another live gig to me. We record every night we play like that.

So there are Grateful Dead-like archives of music in the vaults?

Yes, there are... somewhere.

So, what kind of stuff do you like, personally?

Of new music, I love Medeski, Martin & Wood, Dave Fiuczynski and all of his projects (Screaming Headless Torsos, Hasidic New Wave, Kif, etc.), Soulive, Victor Wooten, Derek Trucks Band, Me'shell N’degeocello, D'Angelo. I just saw this great bluegrass band from Asheville, North Carolina called "The Greasy Beans"!

But I really listen to mostly older music. I'm going through a huge gospel craze right now. My favorites are Aretha Franklin, The Rev. James Cleveland and The Fairfield Four. I also love The Dixie Hummingbirds, Mahalia Jackson, The Rev. Cleophus Robinson, The Blind Boys, The Mighty Clouds Of Joy, The Staple Singers, etc.

For jazz I love Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, George Benson, Miles, Dizzy, Bird, Monk, Wayne Shorter, Cannonball, Trane, Mingus, Herbie, Brecker, Dejohnette, Elvin, Tony, Eric Dolphy, Johnny Griffin, Milt Hinton, Ray Brown, Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, Dave Holland, Gary Peacock, Charlie Haden, etc....

What side projects do you have on tap?

I'm working on a solo album with Page McConnell from Phish. It's the first solo record he's done. Also I'm about to do a month long tour with Gov't Mule.

So, who else are you playing with nowadays? For one, tell us some more about that fantastic Jason Crosby CD. Tell us about some of the strangely similar parallels between the Crosby brothers and the Burbridge brothers!

Well, Jason was a real godsend because once Kofi started playing with the Derek Trucks Band he wasn't available for Peacemakers gigs anymore. I have never used anyone but Kofi for my solo stuff. When I hooked up with Jason, I learned that he had perfect pitch just like Kofi and that keyboards was not his first instrument, also like Kofi. Kofi's was flute and Jason's was violin. What incredible luck for me, huh?

CeDell Davis?

CeDell would take a whole interview in itself!!! All I can say is go and buy Feel Like Doin' Something Wrong on Fat Possum records. Period!!!

So update us on your incredibly busy schedule in 2001 with the Peacemakers/Allmans/Gov’t Mule.

As of September I finished the Allmans tour for this year. I'm headed to New Orleans to do this record with Page on September 16th and then I start the Mule tour on the 27th. The Mule tour goes through November 1st. Then I start cutting the next Peacemakers record on November 9th. In December, I am going to start shooting a show for public television called Southern Beat, focusing on southern music. There will be about 6 or 7 episodes but they will probably only be shown in the southern states.

So how did you come to decide to join the Mule team?

They asked! It was a no brainer! They haven't really asked me to join as a permanent member, just to do this next half of their tour.

Frogwings released a killer CD in 2000. What’s in the Frogwings pipeline after the Mule tour? Anything?

I really don't think that I'll have the time to tour with Frogwings between the Allmans, Mule and Peacemakers.

Any highlights of the Allman’s summer 2001 tour?

For me, staying up talking with Warren on the bus ‘til sunrise every night! And when this drunk lady accidentally spit her false teeth out over the barricade!!

Is playing with Jimmy and Derek in the Allmans different than when they’re together in ‘wings,' or is it just the approach of the bands that’s different?

It's really just the approach of the bands. By far the most fun I ever had playing with Jimmy and Derek together, was in the ARU.

In terms of lowlights, some sobering events have happened in the Allmans camp.

Yes, we've had deaths of two generations of our family. The first was Joe Dan Petty who was the guitar tech since the beginning. He's on the cover of the Fillmore album. And then the recent death of Allen Woody. Both tragedies have resulted in enormous personal changes for me personally. I think when someone dies unexpectedly, the shock of it brings a clarity about life that you don't normally have.

Tell us about your newfound obsession with bowling! This absolutely has NOT been covered at JamBase. I hear you’re going to write a book called, “The Zen of Bowling."

It's really simple. After Joe Dan died, I found God (even though he wasn't the one who was lost), my wife and I got back together, I quit doing drugs and started bowling. Something’s got to replace drugs right?

Tell us about how you feel about attendance numbers at your solo gigs as opposed to the huge numbers for the Allmans and Mule.

I guess I'm supposed to be bummed that I don't draw thousands of people but how many people go to see Ralph Towner?

Any unsung up-and–coming musicians that you’d like to tell us about?

Charles Haynes who plays drums with The Squad, a funk band from Boston, and Deantoni Parks who plays drums with Kudu. He's not new, but I think Fima Ephron is one of the most talented bassists and composers I've ever heard. He plays with Screaming Headless Torsos, Hasidic New Wave and Lost Tribe. And also Cailen Campbell who plays the fiddle with a great bluegrass band called The Greasy Beans.

Who are your favorite drummers to hit with and why?

Well obviously Chris Fryar, from the Peacemakers. We're starting to get a really strong chemistry going. There have been so many though. Jeff Sipe, Woody Williams, Marcus Williams, Lil' John Roberts, Bob Moses, and Dennis Chambers. I'd like to play with Elvin Jones, Peter Erskine, Clyde Stubblefield, Joey Baron, and Billy Martin.

The ARU community awaits any shred of hope you can give them. Will you continue to throw down together upon occasion, like you did at last year’s (2000) reunion with the Colonel, Sipe and Jimmy at the Warren Haynes Xmas jam?

Yes! I'm sure that there will be more ARU shows in the future. [NOTE: In fact, the ARU most recently reunited on December 22, 2001, as part of the annual Zambiland charity concert, organized by Jeff Sipe (Zambi name Apt Q258) and Ricky Keller (Zambi name Lincoln Metcalfe) at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta. BTW, in Zambi, Oteil is simply known as “Oteil from Egypt.”] Everything about the ARU experience stays with me. More than anything though, the laughter has stayed with me.

Being as proficient as you are in so many styles, it must be very difficult to figure out what's next.

I never try to control what I'm going to do next. I think that's the best way to become proficient in different styles. For instance, I never would have chosen arbitrarily to learn Bluegrass. It was dropped in my lap and I just didn't run away from it.

I don't know the exact timeframe, but I know your move to New York in 1999-2000 seemed to bring a flurry of jazz related activity with it, including the Soulive collaboration, spin-off units with Eric Krasno, and the Funkin' Truth tour with Leo Neocentelli. Care to elaborate on how all this gigging and collaboration came about?

I had left my wife and moved to New York because I felt so absolutely dead spiritually that I figured that if I didn't move to New York and at least play some music that my life wasn't really worth anything at all. So I moved up there and called a bunch of people that I always wanted to play with like Soulive and Dave Fiuczynski, and Vernon Reid, who was super cool.

Can we expand a bit on some of the changes that came about at that time in your personal life?

That would probably take longer than we have. Suffice it to say that after a lifetime of God calling me to invite me to the "wedding reception," I finally took the call and accepted the invitation. It's amazing how God will go out of his way to get our attention but we are so stubborn.

How does becoming a Christian affect your compositional process, if at all?

It doesn't except for the fact that now I have something, lyrics wise, to write about. Musically the process is still the same. I just sit and wait to hear something. If I don't hear anything then I just wait some more. I don't try to force it.

I think some of the lyrics you have written to the melodies of the Peacemakers cd are very profound. Have you written more that you haven’t performed at the gigs?

Yes and they will be on the next album. I was very hesitant to talk about Christ in my songs. I preferred to only mention god and leave it at that. I didn't want to put off people of other beliefs. But I don't think that anyone should feel embarrassed about what they believe. In fact I feel that I have more in common with people of other religions than with those that believe only in themselves (or nothing at all.)

This horrible tragedy of terrorism at the World Trade Center took place about 45 minutes after I started this interview. The next day, my church, another Baptist church, a synagogue, and a mosque all came together at a Baptist church in an area of Birmingham called Southside and had a joint prayer service for the victims, for our leaders, for our nation and for our fallen world in general. I think that is proof that a belief in God still has the power to unite. People say that if God is good, then why would he let such bad things happen? I think that is the question that God will ask us. He made this beautiful world for us to be stewards of, made sure that we knew the good that he meant for us, (and the consequences for stepping outside his will) and then blessed us with complete freedom. We prove time and time again that we will screw it all up by going against his will. This includes many of his so called followers. Hell, klansmen consider themselves to be Christians! They need to read Matthew 25:32-46!

Please enlighten us as to what that deep religious commitment now means to your music. How has this spiritual period accentuated the music?

I think that music just reflects life. My belief most of all means to me that I am not trying to fight my battles against myself alone. I'm still a broken, scarred, and flawed human being but I have help now. Mostly that affects my music because I'm still around to make it. I'm still around because I’ve turned to something besides drugs, for help. I haven't committed suicide because I know now that I never was, and never will be alone.

How do you, or any musician, hope to evoke religious (or any) imagery or feeling into the music? Or does this even enter your mind when composing.

I think that was there before I acknowledged God. Most improvisational musicians are in touch with the holy spirit when they get in "the zone." They know this because they experience that feeling of the instrument playing itself at a certain point, of not being able to play anything wrong or inappropriate, of taking flight. It's a supernatural feeling.

Thank you Oteil. Let’s wrap up by telling the fans of all your projects what to expect in the coming year or two.

Your guess is as good as mine. I'm just sitting back a watching to a certain extent. I know that there will always be more Peacemakers. Outside of that, I'm just playing it by ear (if you'll pardon the pun). If you want to keep track, follow the web. My personal site is down right now. Actually by the time this interview is released my new one should be up. Lana Michelizzi, the lady who does the Allman's website, is doing it for me. I'm really excited about it. I think it's going to be called "Hittin' the web with Oteil".

Check out more interviews and articles by Phil DiPietro at AllAboutJazz.com