January 16,
2000
Murf: How did you get started playing bass….how did you get to this point working in the Chris Duarte Group? Jordan: That’s kind of my whole life right there but let’s see. You know my parents….they were musicians and they had some really good records that they liked to listen to and my mother was a great fan of a lot of American singers like Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitsgerald and some of the swings bands….not swing but jazz, like Duke Ellington and Count Basie, and a lot of other stuff as well. I used to just listen to their records and I would always hear the bass and there usually was just some amazing bass players in those bands so I was hearing some really good bass players. And for some reason it just massaged some part of my brain…..and I just always wanted to play bass. It never occurred to me to play guitar so I was born to the bass I guess. I went to music school in north Texas….it’s called something else now….the University of North Texas or something. But I went there as a composition major when I got out of high school. And after a year as a composition major I decided to move to Austin and just play. And I was playing around Austin and Chris moved up after I did and kind of revolved in different circles for a long time. Finally he was in a group called Jimmy and the Bad Boys, it was a soul band and their drummer had heard me play and they were always going through bass players so he was recruiting me real hard to join the band and come and play. And finally I went out and heard them one night at the Fat Cat Lounge in Austin Texas. Chris was just amazing you know and we were sort of fated to play together. He was playing "Moments Notice" by John Coltrane, the solo and everything, Coltranes solo and everything through a Marshall…..I don’t know…it just seemed like a kindred spirit. And then we formed the group together after he came back from New Hampshire….and that’s ten years now. Murf: Well I’ve been seeing you perform for about ten years and you always seem to be evolving and improving. Tell me about your CD "Only One". How did that come about and what was some of the driving force behind it. Jordan: I think the major driving force behind it was…..Frosty (Barry "Frosty" Smith – Drums) had played with us for about eighteen months I guess on the road, right after Texas Sugar came out. He kind of toured that record with us essentially. And I’d been playing with Frosty even before I had been playing with Chris. And I’d been listening to Frosty since I was a teenager cause he was in Lee Michaels…..played with Lee Michaels you know in the late 60’s and early 70’s. And it just blew me away….long before I started playing I was just amazed by this great musician. Frosty had moved to Austin and just kind of been a player around town and for me to get to play with him was sort of a dream come true. And then when he was in the band…..we just had these certain nights where we could just ….just kinda do anything. And the record company would never let us record with frosty you know….and said basically….the basic thing about the record was knowing what these two men are capable of…..sort of beyond…but including the blues…and just showing the world the other sides to them. I would say that it was a vanity project, except it was'nt myself I was vain about, I was vain about the incredible abilities of these two guys you know. It was kind of a way to get closure to record a record with those two guys and just let them go completely nuts. Actually I thought about calling it "Boys Go Crazy" you know. Murf: Any comments on the title "Only One"? Jordan: "Only One" is a…..um…..you know, people always holler at us to play "Voodoo Chile", which Chris and I both just adore the song. But to me and I think to Chris too, this particular song is just too personal. The lyric is sorta discussing Jimi Hendrix’s…..sort of discussing his fate and his star crossed presence. So the song "Only One" and the record "Only One" is to say that there’s only one of any of us you know. And specifically that means there’s only one "Voodoo Chile". There’s a lyric to the song on the record, It’s not sung but it’s in our minds…..it just kinda goes on in that vein you know. Voodoo Chile….you know. Murf: Your working on a new CD with a horn section? Jordan: Yeah….I’m writing the music for it now, I actually got quite a bit written. Basically it’s an eleven piece band, funk band, kind of in the old school sense. It’s equal parts Miles Davis and Sly Stone. Miles (Davis) from the Bitches Brew kind of period. That’s why it’s such a big band cause I was hitting this big swampy soup you know. It’s actually three horns augmented by a cello. And two singers, this is the way I’m writing it. It could change when it comes out, two singers, three percussionists, one of whom is playing drums, and the other two who are playing percussion. Three drummers essentially, myself and Chris. It’s really…..really a huge band. It’s just been a long interest of mine to uh….combine forms and innovations……sort of bring things together, and "Only One" was part of that idea too. Sort of blues rock musicians and jazz, 60’s and sort of free jazz ideas together, in odd mixture you know, so this is another sort of exploration. It’s actually…..I would say in terms of regional influence, it would be more like Oakland meets the blues. You know everything from Tower of Power to Sly Stone…….you know that sort of Oakland thing. But opened up with a lot of improvisation and stuff. Murf: When you guys are on stage, you basically follow what Chris is doing. Is there a lot of intuition there cause you’ve played with him for so long? Jordan: You know…in a way I think that might be what intuition is. It’s just…..we’ve always had a real sympathetic……we’ve always had a real good…..I think it’s cause we have similar loves in music. We’re both huge John Coltrane fans, and a lot of jazz, and a lot of the blues and stuff. I would say we have similar tastes in music and then just thousands, literally thousands of gigs together. But there’s a certain element of intuition. I used to be in a group called the Vanguards in Austin and he (Chris) would come in and sit in with us. Between songs we would be playing some other song together while we were waiting for the next song to kick off. It’s just the way some musicians are, we were meant to play together. And I think all of those things combined plus literally millions of hours together and being inside of a little metal tube together. Murf: When you guys are traveling do you play together while you are traveling or work on songs. Jordan: No….it’s more like a…..it just depends. It varies a whole lot. We don’t talk that much about music you know. I mean we don’t listen to very much music when we’re driving around. A lot of times it will just be really quiet, and people will be reading and stuff. Murf: Reading the Shakespeare? Jordan: We’re both big readers, you know, I mean a lot of times the stuff we’re talking about is the stuff we’re reading you know. Neither one of us has time to read everything in the world….but between us we’re getting pretty close. So we’ll share what we are reading and kinda talk about it. Chris has been steadily working his way through the classics and it’s just been really neat to see him take on these classics like Moby Dick and Dickens and stuff. So I’ve been learning from him and he learns from me you know. But a lot of times it’s just really quiet. That comes from so may hours together you know. After awhile even conversations become sort of……not as expressive….it’s just sitting there sometimes you know. Murf: Surviving the road so to speak? Jordan: You know….we’re really good at it, we’re just covered with road calluses. (laughing) Murf: At least you van didn’t break down this time. Jordan: (laughing) Amen to that!!! |
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John Jordan is as
passionate about his music as Chris Duarte who he shares
song writing duties in the Chris Duarte Group.