Jim Beard Interview


Jim Beard released his forth leader album "Advocatate" recently.
In the past, he played with many of the greatest jazz fusion artists such as Mike Stern, Michael Brecker, Bob Berg, Bill Evans and John Maclaughlin. He worked with such artists not only as a keyboard player but also as a producer, composer and an arranger and gave his unique influence to their sound.
This time,Jim talked mainly about his new album and gave us his own discography.

Masato Hashi (MH)
Fisrt, we would like to ask several questions about your newest CD "Advocate". In this title, what did you want to advocate in the CD. Any concept or theme?

Jim Beard(JB)
I'm trying to advocate musical adventure by combining the new with tradition, electric with acoustic, and the odd with the familiar. Too many of my musical heroes seem to have fallen into the traditional/retro rut.

MH
In "Adovocate", Bob Malach and Jon Herrington are rather well known here but we don't know so much about other musicians. Will you introduce them?

JB
Arto Tuncboyaciyan: I first met and worked with Arto in 1992 while making Jon Heringtons record ' The Complete Rhyming Dictionary'. We have done several records since (Bob Berg, Bill Evans, Patches Stewart) and he has toured and recorded with Al Di Meola, Joe Zawinal, Marc Cohen amongst others.

Gene Lake (son of Oliver Lake): I met Gene for the first time in Los Angeles when he was touring with Meshell Ndege Ocello in 1997. He has also toured and recorded with Dave Sanborn and Steve Coleman.

Matthew Garrison (son of Jimmy Garrison): Matthew and I toured with John McLaughlins 'The Heart of Things' tour in 1997 and 1998. Before that he was with the Zawinal Syndicate.

I first worked with Zach Danziger in 1990 on a Chuck Loeb record. Zach, Tim Lefebvre, and Pete Davenport made a record entitled 'Bluth' The effect that music had on me resulted in my decision to use these three very creative musicians.

MH
Rythem pattern of the 1st song "Fever" sounds very complicating. How did you compose and program the song.

JB
'Fever' was first composed (without rhythm), then I programmed a couple of loops which Arto then played with. Then I had Zach do his 'thing' on it and finally Gene and Matthew played 'live' on it.

MH
The 3rd song "Hope" has very unique voice part. Where did you get such idea?

JB
Do you mean the melody or the chanting part? I wanted a voice on the melody and had Bob Malach double it with the bassett horn. This seems to have given a vocoder effect without using a vocoder. Arto came up with the screaming chanting part when he heard those sections of the song.

MH
The 7th song "Jazz" does not sound like traditional "Jazz". Why did you namethe song as "Jazz". Is it your style of "Jazz"?

JB
The Webster dictionary definition sums it up; "Any of several types of music originated by black Americans, usually with a strong beat and some free playing by each musician in the band." My version of jazz is not what most other people think of as jazz. Jazz for most people is either the traditional bop oriented acoustic jams on the same old same old, or the mundane ramblings of the smooth jazz format. That's why I gave this cut this title.

MH
Besides your own albums, you have produced many of other musicians' albums. (Especially I liked Michael Stewart's "Penetration".) Will you tell anything such as your secret, pleasure, effort about your producing?

JB
It's the producers job to help realize the vision of the artist (as opposed to the artist helping to realize the vision of the producer). Some artists want me to contribute a lot to their projects with compositions, arrangements, choice of musicians, etc. Other artists have a clear picture of what and who they want so, in this case, I'm mostly needed to make sure the project runs smoothly.

MH
As a keyboard player, recently you've been playing with John Mclaughlin. Howdid you join his band and how do you like him?

JB
Bill Evans took a tape of one of my songs (The Wait) when he went to Italy to record John McLaughlins 'Adventures in Radioland'. When they finished recording all of their music, John still needed a song to fill out the record. Bill played him my tape and John immediately told the band to learn the parts so that they could record it the next day. 'The Wait' ended up being the opening cut on the record. When Mitch Forman left the band, John called me for the Mahavishnu gig. This was in 1986. We have worked on and off throughout the years. John is a very kind, generous, and down to earth person. He's very open musically (he listens to everything), and always makes an effort to feature his band members in as many ways as possible.

MH
Also we noticed you often play with Dennis Chambers. Any comments on him?

JB
Dennis is one of the greatest. What else is there to say?

MH
Will you tell your best 10 favorite albums in any genre?

JB

The NightflyDonald Fagen
The PrisonerHerbie Hancock
Kind of BlueMiles Davis
Bone MachineTom Waits
Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club BandThe Beatles
Four and MoreMiles Davis
Songs in the Key of LifeStevie Wonder
Red ClayFreddie Hubbard
Le Tombeau De CouperinMaurice Ravel
Speak Like a ChildHerbie Hancock


MH
Will you tell your most memorable recording you ever had?

JB
Recording Toots Thielemans playing Diana on 'Song of the Sun'. He played one take and had tears in his eyes when he finished. He was very moved by the piece and he gave the most heart felt performance.

MH
On your discography "Triumphant Sax" was your first recording. What was your very first session as a professional player. Can you tell your biograpy briefly.

JB
"Triumphant Sax" is not the first record I made. The cut on "Triumphant Sax" that I wrote and played on with Michael Brecker is from ' Now You See It.......Now You Don't'. Dave Liebmans 'Homage to John Coltrane' was the first session I did in 1987. I'll include my discography at the end.

MH
Last question. Will you tell your future plan of recording and tour?

JB
I've started composing for my next record and will continue touring in the spring to support 'Advocate'. I'm going to build a studio in Finland and spend some time there to compose. Also, an Arto Tuncboyaciyan recording to be released on Paul Winters label and some touring with Victor Bailey in the future to support his record 'Low Blow'.

MH
Thank you very much. We are looking forward to your tour to Japan.


Jim Beard Discography
Interviewed by Masato Hashi@CyberFusion
copyright 1999 by CyberFusion