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January 16,
2000
Murf: This is the first interview of the millennium? Duarte: That's right, I believe it is….no someone else owns that distinction…but this is the first face to face interview of the millennium. Murf: What's new on the recording contract front. I've heard that you are in final negotiations for releasing a new CD? Duarte: Yeah, its just really with Rounder Records and we've already exchanged deal memos and all the important parts and now I think that the important parts are out of the way, now comes the obligatory 75 page form of the contract. But that's always a good sign when you get to that point. It means that you're about 75% of the way there and about 90% of the way back. So I'm looking forward to it. Murf: So you'll be going into the studio for some new songs? Duarte: Definitely…yeah….we have it in the contract to go into the studio within 60 days after signing. And even if we were to go in tomorrow…maybe we can get one out before the end of the year. It just takes a while for big record companies to crank one out that fast. Murf: Was that helped along by your 4x3 EP release. Duarte: Yeah…that helped along plus my live performances and my persistence in touring. I know they read pollstar and any industry magazine that has my schedule in there….they can see I'm still out there working…. I'm still out there drawing crowds and things are going still real well. I think that's helped a lot. Murf: I know that anytime you've played the Sapphire Supper Club (Orlando Florida) you pack the house. Duarte: I feel real fortunate for the fans that come out to see me in Orlando. They've taken a shine to me and I just feel real humbled by it. Murf: I assume the new CD will be a studio CD? Duarte: Yeah it will be a studio CD…but there probably be a clause in there for a live one. Murf: A real live CD? Duarte: Yeah…every record company always puts that clause in there but I hope so cause I know the fans will be wanting that….a real live CD. Murf: You played three new songs last night, at least to me anyway…is this something that will be on the new CD? Duarte: Yeah…most likely and there's still a couple more that I didn't play last night. I'll play them tonight….I just ran out of time. Murf: I know you didn't do Azuel Ezell. Duarte: I'm gonna do that tonight. It's a very demanding song on my drummer….. but he's learning, he's doing really good, he's real solid…I'm really proud of Jason Paterson. Murf: He's been with you….about six months? Duarte: Yeah…about that long…about six months…yeah that's right. He's just doing really good, I like him, he's a really sweet guy and just a real professional. Murf: One of the guys I was with last night is a drummer and he was making some really positive comments regarding Jason. Duarte: Well Jason's been around the block, he used to play with "Cry of Love" and they were a fairly successful band…..and…that's why his professionalism comes through and he's been in the business for twenty some years…well it just shows. Murf: When you write songs…do you have to work at them, or do they just kinda come to you Duarte: It depends…very rarely will they just come to me and it's done in ten to twenty minutes. Most of them it's a melody that comes to me first…then I have to put the chords down under it……and sometimes I have to keep working with that cause I don't think it's right. I'm not a Beethoven but even Beethoven labored over his compositions…you know changing them and making revisions. I'm not a Mozart where it just flows out of me….but I do labor over most of my compositions. Murf: I guess you and John (John Jordan - bass guitar) work together a lot on the songs. Duarte: Uh huh…We…the way we work now…the way we have moved into it, first we were writing together. I'll come up with the body of work and then I hand it over to John and John adds his influence and his "thing" into it. That's why it's always….even tho one of us will write 90% of the song, we credit each other for the song cause we feel that without their input, it wouldn't be that kind of a song so basically it's John and I being the Chris Duarte Group. Murf: You have a really strong jazz background. Can you tell me how you got into that….I know you were playing in an electric jazz group for a while. Duarte: Yeah….uh…it's just because of my idols. Coltrane, and Parker and Sonny Rollins and the list just goes on and on….people I just idolize….Monk..and ….it's just the way of expressing yourself through those chords and I'm always looking for different ways to express myself. That's what I think jazz allows you to be…..to be more expressive in certain things. I love the way it sounds. Murf: Did you take jazz lessons or did it come around accidentally? Duarte: I took jazz lessons but very few….three or four lessons. Mainly it's getting some books and …..the way I mainly learned was asking players…you know "what are you doing on that chord" and getting some solo transcriptions and working at them and seeing what they were doing over this chord and just doing a lot of listening. Murf: Speaking of transcriptions have you ever considered making a guitar tutor video or maybe releasing a book of guitar music or tab? Duarte: No….there was…."My Way Down"….some guy transcribed my stuff ….the whole "Texas Sugar" album I believe…no he transcribed a couple of them. I met him in New York and he had the rough drafts and he gave them to me to see if they were right and he had them in real and in tabliture….and what necessitates that is if you sell a lot of units and then they put out the music. It's just another facet of the music industry…making money off you. But I know some Japanese people have done it cause they had some inside the Japanese CD…little sections of it and people have transcribed parts of "Shiloh"…some of the chord parts. I've been approached to do videos but it's never come to realization. Yeah….I'd love to do it. I don't consider myself a good teacher, I tried it for awhile giving lessons in Houston….just because I was in a state of transition in my life and I needed some income so I started doing that….and after awhile there were very few students who were really there to learn. They were there just to sit in a small room with Chris Duarte and have him tell stories…..of days before…me and Ted Nugent or something…that was Ok…that was easy money but I was really into really teaching somebody. I soon found out I'm just not a good teacher cause I expect everybody to learn the stuff as quick as I do ….to grasp onto the concepts…..it's truly another talent that somebody can teach and relay those ideas and present them so somebody can understand. Murf: You've been playing with John Jordan for a real long time. How did you guys get together? Duarte: John Jordan was actually one of the first bass players I ever played with when I came into Austin Texas. I was walking back and I had known his brothers that I had gone to high school with in San Antonio and I was living with one of them. And I had just bought this classical guitar and I was in the neighborhood and I thought well I'll just stop by and jam with Shaun….Shaun Ellison a piano player…a very established piano player in the Austin scene right now. So…and John…..they were just playing through charts and stuff….they were just starting to read charts and do all that stuff in jazz……and John was there playing…so we played a long time ago. But then……I didn't see John until probably seven or eight years later when he was playing with the Vanguards. And I had sat in…..and I came to realize that John and I just had a lot of ideas…we shared a lot of the same concepts and ideas about what to do with music…so later on when I was in the "Bad Boys" I had played with John on several gigs and I said "lets get John Jordan to be the bass player" and that's pretty much what started it all is when John and I started playing in the "Bad Boys" and then we started doing the trio thing and we did a jazz band with two of the finer sax players in Austin, Alex Coke and John Mills……and it was a great thing….we just kept that relationship going. Murf: How long ago was it when you actually started the trio…your current band? Duarte: This trio?…..This trio started in 91. We'd done it in several other weird ways …..back in the late 80's but this one was started in 91. Murf: I understand you moved back to Austin? Duarte: Yeah….I've been in Austin since mid June. Murf: I was talking with Hadden Sayers and he was saying that the two towns, Austin and Houston where you used to live are quite different musically. Duarte: Very different musically….uh….Austin seems to be…it seems on the surface….Austin has more musicians working on their craft or trying to make original music. A huge blues scene and stuff. …..but Houston I feel has more of a working music industry. Not like just like jingles and studio stuff….I mean they have a lot of bands that just go out and just play clubs and there just to provide live entertainment where in Austin these artists are just struggling to make it. In Houston you just don't….. see that….a lot of Houston musicians are just fine just to make a living in Houston and have fun and be satisfied playing around Houston and making an income. In Austin they might have loftier goals where they want to be but……Houston…..Houston is quite a big town. I used to be very cynical and down on Houston before I lived there but now I think Houston is a fine town. Hadden (Sayers) is one of the few examples of people who want to get out and conquer the world. Now Hadden truly does work and I really like his playing and his composing…..a really good player…and I've known Hadden for a long long time. Murf: I guess he used to take lesson from you? Duarte: Oh God…not really, I just showed him stuff….he never took lessons! Murf: Well he said it was back stage type lessons. Duarte: Yeah…like that…I just showed him stuff…but no Hadden really never needed lessons….he's really good…I should probably take a few lessons from him on writing songs…he's a real good composer. Murf: Yeah…his three CD's are really nice. Duarte: He's really good. Murf: You played over in Europe…anything interesting happen when you were over there…or any comments on the differences between Europe and the US? Duarte: Well supposedly Dave Stewart was out at my gig in London, the guy from the Eurythmics. He was there but I never saw him. Yeah…..Italy was probably my favorite…..Europe…you know I wish I could go back to Europe and play again cause I really didn't have an idea…..of what it takes to be an opening band. How to go out and really deliver that uppercut. I just vainly thought that ….I was this great guitarist…..not great….but I was just this special guitarist that was just coming out and people would…..all I had to do was just get up and play and people were gonna like me. But you know I'm not that refined, I'm not some prodigy so…..I didn't have any idea that you've gotta arrange a show to knock them out….you know pick the material….and uh….I probably would have made more progress if I had done that instead of just going out and just playing. I think people thought I was an Ok blues player. I…..I really enjoyed the experience and I can't wait to go back there…..and I know better what to do and it took me several years to find out…to grasp that concept that if you're an opening band, you only have 30 minutes to say what your gonna say. You don't have two sets, you don't have three hours to do it where by the last hour your gonna be burning on all cylinders. You know you have to come out and do it…..right away…and that's what I've learned in retrospect. Murf: You said your favorite part of Europe was Italy….what's your favorite part of the United States to play if there is any? Duarte: Well there's so may great places to play in the United States, the northwest, Seattle, up there in Oregon, I love the northeast, practically my second home up there in Vermont, Maine, up there in Boston. I like Florida….they've been really nice to me in Florida, great people here in Florida. The midwest is probably my breadbasket. That's where I'm well solidified in the midwest….more established. And I like Colorado a lot and Utah, I like Arizona…I like it all…your right…there's no really favorite spot. Murf: How about Eureka Springs in the wintertime? Duarte: (laughing) Oh! that was totally wild….to have that much snow in March and totally unexpected….such a different kind of snow. Eureka Springs is wonderful. That beautiful little town in nestled in those hills Murf: I got a copy of the Eureka Springs show where you had the power outage, I guess you would call it the candle show? [Editors note: A freak snowstorm hit the night of the show knocking out power all through the area. Chris and the band played an acoustic show under candlelight until the power returned part way into the evening] Duarte: That's right…..that was certainly an experience. Roger (the promoter) thought we weren't gone do the show and its like…"hey…I'm here you know, we're here to play! I don't care if you got put candles up…I'll just play real loud". That was….if not a good musical performance, it was a…..it had a real spirituality because of what had happened. The combination of events coming together made it made it that spiritual experience. It was really something. Murf: What song of yours would you like to see convered by somebody else. I know "Big Legged Woman" has been covered by several bands. Duarte: Well you know that's that Leon Russell tune but it sort of metamorphasized over the years. I used to play that in "Bobby Mack and Night Train" a long time ago and it sort of changed and evolved and that's what I was left with at the time of recording it. I kind of still left with it and it's still kind of evolving. If you listen to it on the album and listen to it today, it's still a little different…..but I just want people…I mean I'm humbled when they do any of the songs you know….however anybody interprets it. I don't necessarily want them to play it just like the album….it's humbling if you do it just like the album but I mean if you can put your stamp on the song….cause that's why I'm here…I'm here to leave something for people to either carry on or play it like they hear it. Well this is how I hear the song. That's about classical composers, it makes a difference, you can get the 7th Beethoven symphony….it's not gonna sound the same every single copy you get….one conductor is gonna interpret it differently than another. That's what I think should transcend even the rock world or this popular music world. It should really vary from artist to artist…how it should sound. Murf: Sort of like Peter Greens "Black Magic Woman" versus Carlos Santana's? Duarte: Yeah, that's a perfect example and you know some of the versions of some of the metal bands that have done some songs, I can't think of any right off the bat…but that's a good example. Murf: In an interview a few years ago you stated that, if stranded on a deserted island, you would choose Jimi Hendrix's "Axis: Bold As Love" as an album you'd want to have. Do you have any other "stranded island" musical suggestions? Duarte: John Coltrane's "Crescent" album…I'd have to have that one. I'd also have to have his…I'd have to have his "Lush Live" album. Miles Davis "All Blues" album….the list really just goes on and on….I would just have the island burdened with albums. Course I would have to have a record player too…and batteries if you had a CD player or something. (laughing) Some sort of energy…I don't know…a solar powered thing. Murf: Maybe one of those wind up record players….gotta get a couple of guitar geek questions in. I saw a new guitar last night, one with a "mother of toilet seat" top. Can you tell me about it? [mother of toilet seat refers to the plastic pick guard on the guitar similar in material to some toilet seats, which simulate mother of pearl] Duarte: (laughing) Right…..uh….it's a Shellacious…yeah it's made by Tony Nobles out of Austin Texas. I've actually had that guitar for quite a while. I've had that four…almost five years and uh…..I just started playing it….I have about twenty guitars at home, ten of them being electric. I just decided to drag that one out. It's the only maple neck guitar I have in my whole collection. And I'm just basically learning how to use it. It takes a while. I mean the Hamiltone, I've had that thing since 95 and it truly took about two or three years for it to come into it's own……and for me to be comfortable with it…..cause it's a different feeling guitar…all those guitars feel different. So….uh…..I mean….it will come into it. It's actually a backup to the backup. When I broke a string on the strat and then I broke one on the Hamiltone, you know I had to pick it up. So that's why I picked it up and took it out on the road with me. Murf: Have you retired your beat up 63 strat? Duarte: Oh No….it's just ah….I just…..there's tonal variations that I'll find different and that's what I'm looking for. But the 63 is still the best feeling guitar that I have. It feels best, I feel more comfortable and it's the only one that I really choose to play with the whammy bar. Murf: I notice you don't use a wah-wah pedal and that's kind of unusual for a blues/rock style of player. Duarte: Yeah I just feel that so many people just overplay with the wah. There's little certain tricks with the strat that you can…you know…get around it. But I just feel…I feel I'm so tired of all these people that have wah-wahs. I just don't think that anybody is doing anything creative or cutting edge with one. Maybe I should put my money where my mouth is and come up with some technique….but right now I have nothing to offer and that deal…..so I'm not going to waste the time and just….just blare out this crap that's already been done thousands….hundreds of thousands of times. So I'll let everybody else play wah-wah and I'll work on the things I have to work on. Murf: Do you have any comments with recording with John (Jordan, bass player for CDG group) on the CD "Only One"? Duarte: It was really funny…cause we had kind of a bad split up with Barry ("frosty" Smith) when he left the band…..and….there was not animosity but uh….remorse that it had gone so bad…..sort of like anger with remorse…..just…..Barry is a wonderful musician but there were some things….there was just sand in the gear works with the band and it just generated a lot of friction and it was just not a pleasant split up. I think things could have been handled a lot better when he left. Suffice to say…I was glad when John did this. I was hesitant but I felt…I'm doing this for John and I'm gonna go in there and make the CD. And uh….it actually turned out to be great. Everybody that we always worked with has been compassionate and even tho bad things were said between all of us. Barry is still a wonderful person and it turned out to be a great session. And then with John….his ideas….the album…."Only One" representing that we have always felt….I mean I was with McLaughlin, we were at this Hendrix festival, and McLaughlin and I were back in this one room and some guy was talking to McLaughlin. I was sitting there tuning my guitar and McLaughlin was in front of me and and this guy was talking to McLaughlin and said "Man…you even played with Hendrix". And he goes "Yeah, Hendrix is great you know but remember there was only one Jimi Hendrix". Only one….I think that's where John got that from. Cause really there was only one Hendrix, only one Stevie, there's only one of everybody. And one Coltrane and what John wanted to do is ….this is like a tribute to our heroes…..he made it like the Trane album….he just had sketches of the songs and he had the melody line and he had the chords. But he just sort of directed us…how he wanted to feel to go….and that's pretty much how it went. We didn't rehearse the songs, we just went in and pretty much did them. And we just pretty much took stabs at them and takes of them and…..it….it really worked out. John did a really great job and he had a really great concept. Murf: How long did it take to record that album? Duarte: I think we did it over three days……three days about five hours…six hours a night….maybe even less. I mean we were just taking chances at it. The one we took the most chances I believe was……was "Mother Blues". The most stabs at that…I think we took about seven or eight stabs at that. It was getting more and more comfortable as the takes went on. We were getting more adventurous. All other ones I think there was only two or three times and then "Only One"…I think we played that song only once. It was really a wonderful thing and at the time of recording…..you know I hadn't played like that, I was actually a little worried about a month before the session cause I just hadn't played like that in so long….I delved into my chords and really worked on playing like that…..and I was just worried…..but I went in and we were recording it and I'm thinking, "well, I'm making a lot of mistakes", but that's what John wants. He wants us to go out on a limb and try it out. Then listening back to the tapes…I mean…I never…..record something and then rush right into the listen back…."ok, lets hear it back". I'm just not like that…..you know….we heard the tapes, we digested it and then we let it sit in us for a while and then we listened to it about a month later. This is when John brought them out. I was mildly amused and surprised that they sounded that good. I didn't remember them sounding that good. But I remember being….you know….you sort of go into yourself while your playing and you try….you try to tell a story and you try to be melodic. And that type of music, your not just playing riffs and phrases. Your reciting a story and your trying to make it interesting with peaks and valleys….I don't know…your just trying to play. Murf: Will any of the songs from "Only One" wind up in your show? Duarte: No…because that's a whole different thing, and it's a different drummer. Jason could do it…but to get that communication thing going, I just don't think it could be done. The chemistry was just there with those three musicians and that's it. Murf: When your playing….do you ever run out of ideas. It seems like when your up there the music just flows. Duarte: That's what I'm trying to do, but sure there are plenty of nights when when you are just stagnet and those are the nights I hate. Your just relying on patterns and that's a terrible feeling. Especially for the kind of musician that I aspire to be. I want it to flow….I mean…I want it to be like…you know…some of my great idols. They just get up there and riff….and that's what I like about some of the real early Stevie bootlegs. You know back in the early 80's. He's just riffing and that's the stuff I love. Sure he got more refined and his tone concepts got better but I still love the old raw Stevie before he got signed and he was just riffing away. He's so raw and intense…I don't care if he's drunk or on coke….it came together for whatever reason to be like that at that time and it's…it's phenomenal. I've got several tapes where you just listen to it and you can't help to just shake your head and go "Damn Stevie!!!". It's just truly fantastic what he did with the instrument. I mean……people will be talking about Stevie for years to come, and through this millennium and in the next millennium. After the interview had concluded, I joked that at least I hadn’t asked the dreaded "What’s in your CD player question" and Chris took off on the subject: Duarte: Beethoven actually. I’m listening to a lot of Beethoven and a lot of classical music. Im just such a novice actually….I just like something that’s really good. I tend to look back on the 19th century, and you know 18th century composers a lot…but there’s still quite a bit of composers from the 20th century that are still good. You can hear the transformation. You know Gershwin, or Stravinski. Puchini….Puchini wrote great operas man…..I love opera, I’m starting to like opera more. I don’t like opera sung in English though. It’s just terrible. It sounds like some bad musical when it’s sung in English. I’d much rather see an opera sung in Italian. Murf: Sort of like one of those bad Saturday Night Live skits? Duarte: (laughing) Yeah….right…..Bad Opera!!!! I saw Madam Butterfly sung in English and it was …Ok. I much rather have preferred it in Italian. Germans Ok too, I mean the 9th symphony is in German. It’s still really wonderful. I love musicals too; of course I really admire the way they write the lyrics in musicals. On the Simpsons, some of those musical numbers are a scream……the lyrics…how they come up with the lines like that and then the old days of Tin Pan Alley, the lyrics, the melody line of the lyrics on those songs, and its truly amazing and awe inspiring. It’s great and there’s so much character to them. Murf: And they were writing at ten cents a song or something like that. Duarte: Oh Yeah….they were just cranking it out. Those guys were going "you want five songs today….no problem…we’ll just write it out!" you know…and five decent songs. Some of them were silly but a lot of great great songs came out of Tin Pan Alley. Gershwin came out of Tin Pan Alley. Rogers and Hart, Hammerstein, on and on the people that came out of Tin Pan Alley. Truly a profuse time….not profuse but a profundity of music. Murf: Your not your average blues player who just listens to one style of music. Duarte: No I’m not……I mean….it’s all music to me. It’s a huge musical world and you can’t just narrow it down to one little bit….You have to listen to the whole culture, you can’t just limit it down to one and be a hard line traditionalist. You have to listen to the whole scope of things. Maybe that’s an indication of your character…..you know looking at the whole picture…I’m not sure. When it comes to music, It’s so important…and such a necessary part of my life, I feel I should listen to the whole picture….and seek out the stuff I should pay attention to. And that calls for third world countries, it calls for classical English music, Japanese music, Chinese music, African rhythm music, Cuban music, Central American music, Folk music, bluegrass music, county western music, Cajun music, Indian music, native American music, it goes on and on and on….it’s all music. |
Chris Duarte is a
man of contrasts. Often put on the short list of people
who have the potential to pick up where Stevie Ray
Vaughan left off, Chris Duarte is anything but a SRV
clone. Capable of discussing music in way more depth than
the average blues artist out of Texas, Chris can discuss
the blues, or intelligently discuss jazz, rock and roll,
classical music, opera, and classic literature including
Shakespeare, which he often recites (with excellent
elocution) when changing strings on stage or just as
passionately he will discuss the latest baseball or
football game. Extremely well read, he will discuss
classic literature or the musical aspects of the Simpsons
with equal passion. Passion is another word that
describes Chris Duarte. He is passionate about his craft,
and along with John Jordan (Bass) writes and performs
some of the most intense blues to come out of Texas. I
recommend that anybody who has a chance to see a live
Chris Duarte show, do so…you will not be
disappointed.