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I'm a polytheist, a patchwork cosmology, because the organized religions of today are pretty much finished. I mean, who goes to church? They go to concerts. So that's how it comes through. All that stuff is in me, and I love improvising and seeing people move to what we're doing. I always think of a concert, no matter how many people are on stage, really it's two people dancing together: the people on stage and the people in the audience.
-John Densmore |
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From someone else, such lofty ideas as "patchwork cosmology," "Buddhism," and music as religion could come across as hokey, forced, or even some type of publicity stunt, but not from Densmore. After spending time with the music of Tribaljazz, it seems clear that - as he said before - John is putting his sticks where his mouth is. Tribaljazz moves with the influence of the band members who come from around the world. The music is mature and likely couldn't come from younger musicians. It leans heavily on Latin jazz inflections while also utilizing African percussive movements and French spoken word. With two members from Africa, one from Egypt, one from Italy, and two from the States, this is truly "world music." To further drive home the idea that Densmore is utilizing his past to push his music into the future, he has tapped both an old actress friend, Alfre Woodward, and one of today's contemporary stars, Michael Franti of Spearhead, to be special guests on his Tribaljazz debut. On "The First Time (I heard Coltrane)," Woodward does a beatnik-inspired spoken word exercise over the music, and on "Violet Love," Franti utilizes his hip-hop influence to create one of the more memorable tracks on the album. About Franti, Densmore says, "We kind of identify with each other politically as bleeding-heart liberals." It's all these parts - Densmore's history with The Doors, his love of jazz, his ability to find the right players from across the globe, his desire to remain connected to the past while searching for the future - not to mention a plethora of God-given talent, which makes Tribaljazz the beautiful collection that it is.
John Densmore |
After spending time discussing life, music, and spirituality with John, the expansive, mind-altering rock of The Doors doesn't seem so far from the jazz-inspired music of his new band. As Densmore explains, "As I said in my autobiography Riders On The Storm, 'The Doors' is permanently etched on my forehead. I just follow my intuition." As he elaborates on his intuition, the connection between his old band and his new one becomes even clearer. "What I found myself really enjoying [in The Doors] was that there wasn't a bass player live, so there was a lot of room so I could percussively comment on Jim's improvised poetry or whatever. In 'When The Music's Over,' when he was saying, 'What have they done to the Earth? What have they done to our fair sister? Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her, stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn, and tied her with fences and dragged her down.' Well, I stopped the beat and just sort of added percussive grunts of what he was saying. It's really out there, but I don't know, and then I crashed back in on the groove later. So it was pretty free." Free indeed. And in fact, more rooted in jazz than rock. Just as John was doing when he created some of the most memorable rock & roll songs to ever grace the world, he was following his intuition - the same intuition and inspiration that he chases today.
As our conversation drew to a close, John's excitement for the future and for his band Tribaljazz was more than apparent. He spoke of the next album, of touring with his wildly talented ensemble, and he even dipped back, relating what he currently does to what he's always been doing: "I thought I was playing rock concerts until I read Joseph Campbell's work, and I realized I was participating in Dionysian festival rights." And while the audience may have changed and the context of his sound has evolved, Densmore is still participating in this age-old Dionysian exploration of God, wine, dancing, and celebration.
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