Los Angeles Jazz Collective MeMoWee Festival Day 1 with Daniel Rosenboom

Over the course of Memorial Day Weekend — which, if you’re keeping track, was the next three days of my five-day jazz extravaganza — I spent my nights at my favorite little jazz venue in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles for the LA Jazz Collective’s Memorial Day Weekend Festival. The first night opened with an exciting set of three very different bands — (1) the Brian Carmody quartet, featuring Nick Mancini on the vibes plus guitarist Ben Cassorla and bassist Ryan McGillicuddy, (2) the Daniel Rosenboom Septet, including pianist Rory Cowal, bassist Hamilton Price, drummer Matt Mayhall, alto player Gavin Templeton, tenor/flute/etc. player Jon Armstrong, and bass clarinet/bari/etc. player Brian Walsh, and (3) Brian Swartz and the Swartzestra big band. Thursday’s set list was perhaps the most diverse of the three nights, combining the out-of-the-box Daniel Rosenboom Septet — heavily populated by CalArts alum —  with the more traditional-west-coast Swartzestra in the same night.

In the next few days you’ll be learning more about the LA Jazz Collective and the great efforts they’ve made for Los Angeles jazz musicians and Los Angeles jazz enthusiasts alike — and you’ll be hearing some words from co-founders Gary Fukushima and Matt Otto as well.

But first, I’d like to introduce you to the leader of that out-of-the-box group that I just mentioned earlier — Daniel Rosenboom, a trumpeter whose unique voice on the trumpet and in his music is just as clear as his ability to effortlessly and intelligently communicate his passion for all the forms of music that he’s combined in his own.

Tell us about your beginnings with jazz.

I come from a pretty musically involved family – my dad has been a major figure on the avant garde circuit for a long time. When I was a little kid, we used to go over to Anthony Braxton’s house and I would play with his kids while my dad and him jammed – so one of my first musical memories was watching the two of them play. I’ve always been exposed to that kind of stuff.

My first trumpet teacher was Wadada Leo Smith, and that was pretty amazing and different. I eventually got into more classical studies – I went to school at Eastman for classical trumpet. By the time I was a senior, however, I was kind of bored – but I didn’t know what I wanted to do. So I began working on being a soloist of contemporary music. In the process of doing that, I started to write music. I was interested in writing music that was more like what I wanted to listen to – and I realized that most of what I listened to included rock, metal, jazz, and hip hop – but not very much classical music.

I started writing stuff that combined my classical influences with what I liked to listen to – and I ended up writing a piece for a trumpet, electric guitar, electric bass, and drums – a sort of Bartok meets Meshuggah. When I got to CalArts, I started looking for a band to play in. I got introduced to this guitar player named Jake Vossler, but we had a hard time finding a bassist and a drummer because it was difficult stuff to play.

He eventually invited me to play in a trio that he had that does Eastern-European gypsy music mixed with metal and jazz. We’re now a band called Plotz and we’ve been around for six years. It’s super high-energy high-intensity stuff, but that’s how I started improvising – I found myself in this band playing super burning music in strange modes and in odd meters all the time. So that’s how I started to improvise, which is a total trip in itself.

Through my own writing, playing with guys like Vinny Golia, playing with this band Plotz, and finding myself being asked to play in other projects – I started getting called to play in salsa gigs, big bands. It happened very naturally – it wasn’t even something that I really specifically sought out. It just developed. My interest has always been in the fringe – in pushing the boundaries of what a “style” is. The whole thing for me is that I didn’t grow up allied to one style – I was into everything, which is a pretty common thing now. To be rigid about what a “style” should be is an antiquated view. To me, the spirit of jazz has always been about exploration and finding an individual voice. I don’t think that needs to be limited stylistically anymore – that’s what my interest is in, to explore different territories. There are and there always will be guys who can play bebop, guys that can play Latin better than me – there are guys that can do that. But my thing is finding my own voice, finding what I have to say that’s independent of any sort of stylistic allegiance.

Tell us about your experiences as a musician with the Los Angeles jazz scene.

The interesting thing to me is that for a very long time I didn’t get called by more established guys in the jazz scene because I didn’t play like a jazz trumpet player. And now I get called because I don’t play like a jazz trumpet player.

I’ve been around long enough doing my own thing aggressively enough and consistently enough that people know me as having a different take on things – a different voice. If they want me in their projects, it’s because they want that – not because they want a stock trumpet situation.

As far as the jazz scene in LA goes, there’s a really interesting dichotomy between what people think of the jazz scene from other places in the country and the world versus what is actually going on here. You’ll talk to guys from places like New York and they’ll use this term: “LA Happy Jazz.” That’s the sort of view that they’ll have, as if all the jazz that’s going on here is this functional, commercial kind of jazz — restaurant jazz. There is a lot of that. But there’s just as viable of a creative and artistic scene. Especially with my generation, there’s a whole circuit of people that want to bring this kind of edge and grittiness and exploratory mindset to jazz in LA.

The thing that a lot of people outside of LA don’t really understand – and even a lot of people in LA don’t understand – is that there’s this really gritty, cool underground jazz scene of these guys who are doing it themselves, doing it in a really different way with a lot of edge and a lot of commitment to being unique and different.

What kind of advice do you have for the young and aspiring jazz musician?

Don’t limit yourself to one thing. Obviously if you’re an instrumentalist you have to spend a lot of time honing your skills on your instrument, and there is a specific way to do that. But musically and artistically you need to maintain as open a mindset as possible so that when you listen to music, you don’t listen to it with a set of preconceptions. Even if you’re going to go see a Beethoven symphony – go see it with this mindset of freshness and try to experience it as if you’re experiencing it for the first time. That’s true for every kind of music – because then what you find is that you get in a situation that challenges you. It may freak you out at first. It may be scary or threatening in some way. But if you can maintain an open mindset about it, you might be moved to the core by it – and it might change your entire life.

The reality is, our culture is changing rapidly in terms of how we relate to art and music – especially regarding to things like commercial liability, or even working as a musician in the scene. I still make the majority of my money playing classical gigs. But I still play some form of improvised music five or six nights a week.

You have to be ready, willing, and excited to play every kind of style you can imagine – and you have to keep an openness about all of it. That’s what makes for a real adventure.

Thank you to Daniel Rosenboom for the music and the words. You can learn more about Daniel at his website, www.danielrosenboom.com.

Also, a great big thank you to  Gary Fukushima and the LA Jazz Collective for supporting The Jazz Post at this event. Be sure to check out some footage of the festival at the LA Jazz Collective’s USTREAM channel HERE.

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: Espionage/The Daniel Rosenboom Septet/Fallen Angeles