Ellis Marsalis Visits "The Hill"

we are very honored today and I won't be anything rushing to help one of America outstanding and nice and in a situation like this usually I would even meet students who performers and had instruments and then we would have an interchange however when there's no instruments involved I would make a patent assumption that people came to get some form of verbal information and you know in a lot of cases where we have a mixed audience mixed in the sense of there being people who are musicians and people who are not musician and I try and make sure that what I'm been doing has a wider span then it's sort of like not preaching to the choir so if there are people in here who are not musicians then they have the right to also ask like questions or comments or criticisms or whatever so that it doesn't becomes our one sided in terms of just dealing with people who have musical aspirations so in that case I would like to start out by asking is there anyone in here who has any questions that they want to ask me what is the hardest part of playing jazz is that what that what you think the hardest part I'm not sure it depends on who was doing it ah the most talented that what you mean in my case well I'm not sure that I could answer that based on the way that you asked me because for some reason a very early period in my life that music spoke to me and I didn't know why because it could have been that I was too small for football too short for basketball and too slow for tracks so I don't know maybe the only thing that was left you know I mean Herbie Hancock told me what's stirring like that you know he had all the brothers in like and all the film they hit the ball then literally walk up to him and just throw it real easy because he couldn't do any of that he said then at some point the piano came along and the rest of that is history so I don't think that there is an easy way to do any of these and in fact when it comes to doing something well most of the times when I was during the time I was teaching students I had many metaphors which was primarily from sports because it seemed that some of the students especially some who were just beginning to learn about it had a much better understanding of metaphorically of sports than they did of music so I would try and communicate from that standpoint for example each case of people who are professional mostly professional laughs because the news media they don't really deal too much with college kids and interviews and stuff most of the times the conversation would center around the aisle - that is how did you get to this point what did you do and the athletes who understood most of it who was fairly on taking it like when they would talk to Michael Jordan he would always say especially in the waning years of his career when he couldn't do a lot of things that he did when he was 23 24 one of the thing that he would say all the time he said well I'll just take whatever the defense gives me and one from that point now if we're gonna talk about music then the very first thing that you have to do you have to learn how to play the instrument whatever the instrument is you have to learn how to play it so that means that you have to study in ways in which will maximize your opportunity to master that particular instrument now a lot of you are at a disadvantage what the exception of those who may have an environmental circumstance like a parent that plays music or some relative that plays and is able to furnish a model for you to be excellent as a family that I knew Betsy's family Alvin batiste well who was unfortunately passed on Alvin batiste was known to practice anywhere from 12 to 15 hours a day when he was with Ray Charles's band after the job was over he's sitting on the bad boy and practices clarinet and the guys in the band will complain because they weren't interested in that they want to sleep now he influenced people in his family like that he had a nephew named Kent Jardin who also practiced 1012 hours a day and Kent and Winton used to get together when they were in high school and they would practice and infinitum you see that was an environmental situation and there were people because he knew all of this a musical town but not in a sense that it guaranteed you anything because there are a lot of people that do longer you get instruments and they don't really do much with him I think eventually they find out what man this is I gotta practice and that doesn't necessarily bold to well with them but at any rate how many young aspiring musicians do we have in this audience okay oh this is great what is your instruments our hmm trumpet and saxophone now how do you approach practicing trumpet and saxophone what do I mean all right let me see if I can put it another way we got about 24 hours in a day and a certain part of that is due to sleeping and if you are enrolled in an academic institution another part of that time is about studying whatever it is that you have to do to be remain in the institution so I wouldn't know your schedule so therefore I wouldn't know how much time you had to do those other things you know like sleeping and eating and studying and all of that so if you plan trumpet and saxophone how do you devise ways in which to practice both instruments I can't hear you practice 10 hours a day and you in school well you always bling huh anybody else in here like that could I've seen the hands of those who also practice 10 hours a day well I can congratulate you because I have never practiced 10 hours a day I had no aspirations to practice 10 hours a day and for after a while when I figured out that if I were gonna learn how to play certain things at a high enough level I had to figure out how to practice not 10 hours a day but anyway now how many of you may have plans to become professional musicians no yeah what is your instrument piano are you good at it well if you are no problem saying that you're good at it because written one of the things that I found out about this instrument it ain't gonna live for you so I mean you can tell me anything you know when you sit on if this instrument believe me it will tell all so what are you doing what are you planning on doing it you want you say you want to be a jazz in Y well see if you don't really know why then at various times in the various points in your life it becomes more and more difficult to reach that because when it's time to practice when it's time to make those certain kinds of commitments you know when it's time to tell your girlfriend we'll look I can't go right now I gotta practice and you know all things related to things in your life see you have to really know why you want to do that okay so you think about that in fact this instrument here I want to hear you play now I think that's pretty good man for somebody to get into flaws and he played a note you know what would you like to play [Applause] well no we can't do that it's the audience II see you have to you have to be able to demonstrate some things and show the audience your proficiency I mean they applauded for you so everything that they know you I don't so evidently they have confidence that you can do something that I don't know anything about no see now young man see right there okay now as the coaches would say this is a p.m. let me get this all right I didn't prepare any standards I'm sorry about this sir well it's alright one of the thing that I find out and in any given circumstance you can only play what you know alright so maybe if the C major scale I don't know or whatever [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm curious do you plan a church yeah it's obvious no I don't mean that as a negative nut you know that still it's just that it was obvious to me when I heard you that you planted a church I didn't have the good fortune to do that the church I was in was the AME Church and it was very strange back at him there very strange like all of the guys that I knew who was playing in the Baptist Church was him Seto but at any rate what was that and it seemed to be trying to get my nerves down but it's it's just like random stuff I hear I guess yeah well I drew that on my gigs except I tell the audience I was meandering you know yeah it's okay because obviously you know Don is like what you did in a case like this I have a great temptation to turn it into a piano lesson but it's not fair to everybody on steps in here but uh do you have any questions right now that you want to ask me since I'm here the first thing is how much do you charge for listening well first of all you live here in Huntsville while living Floyd if I go to school here you live where in Florida but I underscore here what part of Florida close to Orlando it's called a town called evil are you aware of the program in Tallahassee since you from Florida it might be good if you would check that out they have a good adjust that is program that and I think they have a graduate program there but anyway there are a few institutions and which Cantrell will be right here in which you can learn a lot do you play with people here I mean aside from what you do in the church not yet that's something I would like to learn how to do I saw somebody come in here with a saxophone well who was that person okay you want to bring you in saxophone of it okay you know lady what would you like to play I don't know that well well that helps when you you know it's obvious you had studied the instrument but have you learned anything in them in the non classical arena okay so what can you remember to play from that I don't have any pieces I don't have any pieces committed to memory well don't play a piece play a solo [Music] what did you hear what she was playing with me playing as an accompaniment to what she played first of all Wilkie what she may be so okay are you doing up with this okay play that again that's where I was indeed [Music] [Music] so you got that trouble right all right play that again no I'm I'm going to attempt to accompany this young lady I have no idea how this will come out [Music] now what you just heard was a bit of improvisation in which oh do you know any songs what do you play on the piano ragtime like what oh okay would you aggress us with the maple leaf [Music] [Applause] we are going to have a ban here what do you want to play all right you know that all right [Music] [Music] where's your brush [Music] okay let's see okay this is b-flat now what I want you to do is to play these notes [Music] all right no I'm gonna play something on the piano so what I want you to do is to improvise the word is getting out now blank what I want you to do and take those those four note play them again all right I want you to take those four no and just those four no all right and whenever I play on the piano I want you to see if you can take those four notes and make some music that you can play them fast slow sustain them whatever you want to do don't change it okay all right okay what is this a record session you got to pay for that [Music] alright whoever's gonna be first [Music] don't change the notes [Music] all right [Music] the last time I played you were the last time out there none do you remember what each of them was asked to do huh yeah did you do that I mean it's very important for you to understand that you didn't do that because maybe you thought that I couldn't hear that I don't know I mean I've had you know students like that too but at any rate Oh what did you learn from that if you just play a little small exercise what did you learn from that everybody learner's home taught me a little restraint because I like to use a lot what did you learn that's a good point that's a very good point what about you huh the second four simple notes can make a big song you didn't play it yeah oh okay what did you party that's true where did you learn they said everything you were thinking up now that might be a case where you really didn't won't think about it yeah well that's true all right why are you find out about you okay thank you give him a big hand Oh question why did I choose those four notes those are the first four notes of what is commonly referred to as the blue scale and usually limiting there's two things that happen one is when you limit the students to a certain amount of notes sometimes I just use straight scale-like cdefg but and this particular case it was mainly just to pick four notes that I wanted him to adhere to and the ones who were here had already played some things which indicated that it would be relatively easy for them to hear those four notes is that anybody else when Jim when I was playing will not play solo alright did everybody here woody air I first of all when you are playing of solo as a piano player you are making musical statements and with primarily with your right hand with the left hand you use as an accompaniment so that means that the first thing that you have to do is you have to work out specifically the harmonies that you're going to use in playing whatever you plan if it's the accompaniment to a vocalist or the company meant to instrumentally you have to work that out and when you get ready to play a solo what you have to do is to make sure you understand how you're going to voice whatever there are cards that you're gonna use you see now one of the things that's important and it'd be very difficult to get into it there's tennis students that went to that school then high school but at any rate the philosophy of that high school was very simple the students that we auditioned and by the way we had no selective process we auditioned everybody who came it was a public school the students who came we felt incumbent upon us to make sure that we prepared those students to make decisions about their life pertaining to whichever discipline that they were involved in which is to say that if a student finished from this high school and was ill-prepared to go into any major conservatory we have failed not that if they go the point is are they prepared to go when it's time for the audition you know when when went and auditioned second son to attend the Juilliard they will it was a three-day audition and like a lot of young kids in the school they was asking well just do coming from and somebody was cinema that's he's from no ko no ko what the devlins dad because most of the kids who were auditioning to get into junior was in junior prep so you know they thought was he gonna be here too long he's a joke New Orleans own ain't got nothing that ridiculous well at the end of the third day when all of the audition parts would were done some of the teachers some of the professor's at the junior started asking him where did you come from and because they had never seen any of the students to come to audition there that wasn't a part of juyeon prep or some comparable institution but we made it a point as a faculty there were three music people on the faculty instrumental vocal teacher who unfortunately has passed away one of our former students is singing in the metropolitan right now and myself I was brought to the school to bring what was called a jazz presence now that's not everything that I did I ended up having to teach like some theory ear training sight singing which is of course that I had developed from graduate school and goals all of those courses plus the experiences that they got was based which helped them to become the musician that they are Branford our oldest son he was a rocker from way back you know he had all kinds of posters on on his wall of the latest rock band and didn't you know he didn't really care that much about jazz at all but there were things that he had to do within the constitute within the confines of the institution that helped him to develop so when he finally began to look at his options and his potential he had some some basics from which to operate now last son who is 32 33 something like that he's pledged vibraphone and gender drums and he is beginning to make a presence on Vitaphone because he has a group and in CD is due out in February I think he went to that same school that high school however I was not teaching there at the time but it didn't matter he was environmentally influenced by what was going on so basically you know that was what it was then you know wrestling wasn't played in the local rock band called the Creator you know and no all Bradford was yeah well he left Leno The Tonight Show cuz you think all of the stuff music was going in a direction that he didn't want to go in I don't think he he recorded with moms I don't know how many dates that he made with mom a man but I know he did make recording with moms David Bradford did and as a result of that maybe he did do some some dates who Miles Davis although miles influenced me yeah yeah yeah no I only met moms a couple of times one of the times it stands out in number and I was in a band with an Al Hirt band and we were playing in New York and a lot of the trumpet players had a lot of respect for Al Hirt so Clark Terry Miles Davis came to him they haven't heard back and during the intermission we were all sitting at the table together and I asked al al heard I'd say look since we ended sit in New York I would like to get a trumpet for my son and I think that I could probably get a better deal while I'm ending up then the way till I got back and miles said don't get that by no trumpet that's too hard I didn't play something else at the time what was six years old well thank you very much [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Richard Crimes

Views: 217

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: Qws7ArDeovM

Length: 50min 5sec (3005 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 02 2020