Guitarist Dan Wilson And His Unstoppable Drive For Excellence

hey everybody I'm Bob Baker with jazz guitar today and we're here with Dan Wilson hey Dan how you doing man oh doing all right good to good to be here with you well you know it's been a while we've been trying to put this together for a while and I'm I'm delighted that we're here today um I got a whole lot of questions for you I love your playing I just start there thank you I love what you're doing um the the thing that really well first of all you remind me so I mean I know that you've got more influences than just George Benson but man you remind me so much of a young George Benson I used to devour those records beyond the Blue Horizon bad Benson all that stuff man I just you know I just devoured those and so when I heard you playing you know on this record specifically gosh Jesus that sounds that's that sounds like George but then you know then you know it's like it's like a fine wine you know how they you know you when you when you drink a fine wine you go yeah but it's got hints of chocolate it's got hints of blueberry it's got so you got you got hints of Grant Green you know you got hints you you got hints of Pat Martino specifically with your right hand um you know you got all this other stuff that's going on over the top of kind of a heavy George thing you know and and I mean George is my alltime he's my guy you know I mean I love I love Wes you know I love everybody else but George is just I don't know man like I I don't know it I think it'll take us maybe I don't know if it'll happen in my lifetime like you know if we'll see another music like another guitar player really kind of reach that that level you know I mean that that level of of Mastery because like like sometimes you know when I when I think I'm like ah yeah I'm gaining some ground on the on guitar you know I go back and I listen to and and spec this specific period uh like the early to mid 70s right is is just where yeah the pre- breezing era yeah and even during breezing like he played so much guitar on breezing you know he was like at I think like the height of his powers you know no doubt and and it it was just like I I don't know it just seems like you know when you hear somebody that that can you know that's playing all this amazing stuff and and it's uh you can almost hear uh the fact that they have that's they're not playing at their ceiling like there's still some more room right you know that's how I feel about that especially that period of George you know yeah it it's um yeah it's it's uh it's pretty astounding yeah I love the I love the playing reason actually I don't know why I said what I said because I love the playing on that and and I love I love uh you know this masquerade I mean the vocal I thought that was Stevie Wonder sitting in man yeah you know I really did I thought wow Stevie wers you know I go what's going on with this and then I saw that that was George singing oh Jesus yeah but it was it was it it was amazing but um yeah it that's that's pretty F well I'll tell you the thing listen to a lot of players and um not that I'm you know I'm just tell you this is kind of what my thoughts are the the the the fine Nuance between this guy that can play the out of the guitar and that guy that can play the out of the guitar and that guy that can play the sh out of the guitar it's it's just it's there's something about the feel in the communication through feel and timing you know why did why does West of the thousands of guys that have tried to imitate Wes they just can't quite get it it's not it's not like we don't know what was going on you know I mean know you can sit there and play a thousand freaking you you just it's just not the same Jeff Beck on the electric guitar end of it you know on the stratic cach I mean guys you just can't get there and and um you know why is that it's just it's just it's that fine Nuance of feel and yeah and even and identity too you know like um you know I some of my favorite uh musicians and especially uh guitar players are you know are players with the a really distinct identity and you know I think everybody has that but there are only certain people who uh have the courage to to really speak with their own voice you know and and so I'm I'm a huge fan of of a lot of players that don't play anything like George you know like Kevin Eubanks is is one of my favorite guitar players because like you hear one note and you you know exactly who that is you know who it is yep I just got off the uh the uh we did a video uh with Ed Cherry that's Ed is a case in Ed's a case in point Ed plays three not two notes whatever it is you know you just wow that's that's Ed there's no doubt about it you know then that's that's your your case in point identity yeah well I I think I mean you're a young guy you know you're a young guy and um man I listen to what you're doing a birdlike from the record oh yeah and your right hand that's best right hand I've heard I maybe the best right hand I've ever heard wow oh man I appreciate that man that's uh very humbling to hear I mean you know like it's it's it's weird like when when I when I tell people this like you know even before I um I ever step foot in a jazz club you know I I was kind of I I come from kind of almost like a tribe of guitar players and they and they all play like that you know um so you know in my church just in in my my district alone so we we were District district 3A and so that that included uh akan Ohio Youngstown Ohio Warren uh Buffalo New York I'm from Buffalo oh you're from Buffalo oh nice uh Beaver Beaver Falls Pennsylvania that so I think yeah that was our that was and Pontiac Michigan that that was our district So within that district there were about let's see maybe 10 to 12 like Master guitar players and they all they were all into West all into to George all into Grant Green all into Charlie Christian you know so they all play like that and and each service um it would be the normal band would be two guitars bass drums uh piano and organ if there was an organ at the church right but so so like you know even before I started playing I was I'd be like on the front Pew just looking over their shoulder so like you know and they all they all played like that they all uh held a pick like that um like I I showed um I I was on the road with uh Joe D Franchesco and I I showed him a recording of this one of the guitar players named Mark Green in Pontiac Michigan and he was like he was like where did this dude come from you know it was just messing around and he he was playing all the George stuff all the uh all the West stuff I mean it it's just like I I don't know what happened but like it really um you know there's like generations of really really good guitar players so like I'm kind of you know a product of of that he a heavy Proctor that influence you know well you're you're yeah you're playing from I I you know not to put labels on it but you're definitely heavy heavily steep in in the tradition you know I mean I Charlie Christian is still somebody I go what the you know what I mean 20 whatever he was years old and I mean he he you know I mean we all know the deal I mean I don't think enough people I mean everybody gives him credit but I don't think anybody's ever listened to him you know what I'm saying it's like you go you go know he wasn't some guy like you know I mean he he could play today brother absolutely AB he could play today he he would kill today so and who who whoever recorded that um That Swing to bop thing that that at mittens like that's that's an important piece of of not only jazz guitar history but just Jazz history and just because I you can hear because like for me this I used to talk to Joey about this all the time you know Charlie Parker kind of solidified how we feel the swung note right to this day uh but before him you know there was kind of that you know it was a little more in that uh in that vein but when you hear uh That Swing to bop recording you can hear kind of the the shift like Charlie Christian was still uh coming out of the Swing ERA with that you know with that kind of feel but it his uh his eighth notes were starting to be a little more Legato kind of a little more birdlike yeah that's that's always been that's a fascinating uh recording to me I'd like you to delve into that a little bit more um are there is there specific is there a specific area or track or piece of the music where you can really um uh ident you know you can people can go to it and and really hear what you're talking about is there something that sticks out yeah so there there's uh there's one Louis Armstrong recording uh called Potato Head Blues uhuh where he he plays that solo you know and and you can hear that eighth note you know that it's you know it's it's very it's it's on a certain part of the triplet and you can really hear it during the uh the clarinet solo you know it's it's really pronounced there and then you start listening to um people like Sweets Edison or Lester Young and the it's start the eighth note is starting to smooth out a little bit you know because it was a little more back on the beat and then when you when you get the bird you know it's pretty much solidified you know there's uh that uh recording Billy's bounce you know or Now's the Time you know you know it's just like all the way smoothed out and and it really hasn't been changed uh since then to my ears yeah so when I think of like the the swing era you know I think of the S are [Music] like all I'm sorry let's start that again cuz I'm I'm starting to go into bbop land so uh yeah so I'll take that [Music] toe you [Music] know [Music] it's a different kind of bounce so so when I when I think about when I think about the bbop era I think about [Music] uh [Music] a lot more different kind of [Music] slurs you know what I mean yeah yeah yeah yeah that's that that's great man I gotta tell you that was that was a good a a good demonstration of what what what we're talking about a lot of guys hear those terms but they don't really know what they mean and I thought you just did a great job of putting that together the other thing that people would notice is that in the swing area you were sticking a lot more to um you know the ionian you you sticking a lot more to the chords with what you were playing and um when you went into the bbop thing is you were slurring you were all over the you know you you went in and out of different fields and stuff like that you did some Legato polar off kind of stuff you know some hammer on a little hammer on you know so it was a whole a whole lot Freer I'm going to call it um and it was it was beautifully beautifully done thank you and and and I I think that uh you know it's a really that's been a real heavy study for me you know just just because all all my my my favorite players are I think what you would consider musically uh multi lingual you know so like when they're uh when they find themselves in in uh a new stylistic situation they they know how to speak it fluently you know what I mean like when I when I play when I'm in a bbop situation I want it to sound like bbop you know so I had to really like do my homework you know same way if I'm on a funk gig I I want my funk to be funky you know so like and and it it really kind of clicked for me when uh I played the joy of jazz festival in joh Johannesburg South Africa I was talking to some of the the people that were from there and every person I talked to spoke like seven languages I'm like what I'm like how do you how do you keep track of that he was like I I don't know you just uh if you want to communicate with with different people you know you just kind of view it as a uh as kind of kind of one language it's it's just is situational you know so that's that's kind of how I view um different styles of music it it's it's one language you know you just have to have like an appreciation for where it comes from and uh so you can speak it you can speak it fluently man I gotta tell you that was articulated beautifully I've never I've never really thought of it that way before but you know you're right and um and you know people that grow up with where they have to learn a lot lot of different languages I mean if you learn languages when you're young you got a big Advantage oh you got a big advant or if you're if you're in an environment where you have to speak it yeah that that's a very very good um way of expressing it so getting let's let's shift gears just a a few minutes um your your newest record that came out in the spring which is called uh it's called things eternal things Eternal and um I've listened to the record um love the record thank it's great and um it was uh co-produced with Christian McBride yeah yeah and uh you know I mean that speaks that speaks volumes like right there that's my man I love that guy you know I I tell you what I was there's a there's a club in in Atlanta called The Velvet note yeah and early in the going before they had a full-time professional sound guide there which they do now and so I would go in when they had premium premium gigs and and mix the sound now there's not a whole lot of mixing in a in a jazz Trio but you got to get the tone you know you gotta get it right so Christian McBride played there and he came in I don't know about three o'clock in the afternoon do a sound Che and he he's the nicest guy in the world I mean very very nice very unassuming very humble and all that and gets on the stage got his drummer piano player plays about four notes they they play I I don't think they played more than eight bars and he looks over the piano you good yeah I'm good look the at the the drama you good I'm good that was it and And he as he was walking out he said to me yeah how about those lengthy sound checks huh man and and it was killing I mean the show was killing uh the tones were all killing it was just amazing but I'll never forget he looked at me and winked he said how about those lengthy sound checks huh yeah that that sounds like him man you know oh it was great so how did you how did you guys get to know each other what's what's the you know what's the Genesis of that where where how did all that come about well they're they're like they're kind of like conflicting stories CU oh uh uh so the the earliest I remember meeting him was on the Jazz Cruz in h 2015 I was there with with Joey and he the first words he said to me because I I was like I saw him coming over to to me at the bar and I I was just like is Chris MC you ready to come over here and talk to me I was like and so like he dabs me up G gives me a hug and he says in my ear you are such a bad mfer I was like I was like but you you know who you are like Christi MC you know and then he was just like man I got a gig uh that I want you to do in uh in Tokyo uh can you make it I'm like I don't know uh I hope so you know not being able to do it um and so two two years later Terry Pon triy um the she's over the tri jazz festival in Cleveland right she had him coming in to do the Artis and residence to be the artist that year and uh she was like oh oh by the way I've set up this duo with you for with this guitar player named Dan Wilson he was like what you got me doing all this stuff and who is Dan Wilson you know so so we we ended up playing The Duo and there was like instant chemistry I we played like I think like we played uh Sunny moon for two Bolivia and uh something oh Honeys suckle roll three T and man I mean we were just like really like feeding off of each other everything I played he was playing it you know like better and you know just it back to me it it was incredible uh and then he was just like at the end he's like uh man I think I think we just made a record man I was like shoot man just let's let's do it you know and so after that he he called me to to join his band this this is because Pat maeni told me that he he bugged Christian for like three years to to hire me but I don't but McBride doesn't remember that so I don't know so I don't know how but I all I know is when we did that duo that was like it was instant chemistry and and he just like whatever I play he wiped it off the stage there yeah there there are guys that are like that for sure um and he's obviously you know he there's just a couple of them but they just have a way they got big ears tremendous facility yeah great feel great touch and obviously he he's one of them you know the other name that gets we're batting about here is Joey de Francesco who yeah um who everybody um rip Joey uh you know he's everybody's hands down organist you know I mean and trumpet player I mean he's a hell of a trumpet player as well as you know this is just reputation because I don't I I've never I didn't meet him other than one time like you know we didn't never have a conversation it's like oh you know but um but he had a reputation of being hard on musicians that didn't quite meet his standards yeah yeah so that's a nice way of saying and uh not only did you meet the standards of Christian McBride who's you know what do you say what can you say about Christian McBride you know and but Joey who was hands down you know LLY was a live was the world's greatest organist yep and um and there you are in his band and there you are with does that ever affect you at all um you know what what while you're while you're in it you know it's just like you know sometimes you don't appreciate it you know just like okay I gotta just get to the next gig but some some some nights I I I would be like oh right it would be like a reminder and sometimes it would take uh you know some of the older musicians to to really pull my coattail and be like look you realize I hope you realize it that uh there are not that many gigs like that left right there that that's one thing that uh Russell Malone really uh he kind of snapped me back to reality with that I I was like man uh you know I was kind of young and immature I was like so uh how how much you think we should be getting paid you know as a as a side you know cuz I didn't I didn't know and he was just like well you know it sounds like you know what you what you getting is fair and and you know everything is uh on the up and up you know he doesn't have any crazy reputations but he was like honestly I I wouldn't haggle too much about that you know because there's not a whole lot of gigs like that left you know the 80s where um you know Jimmy Cobb is still around or uh you know some of the the really heavy uh pillars of the music are are still around you know some of them are are starting starting to drop off you know get that experience while you can so that kind of woke me up yeah well uh Russell Russell was recently on our on our cover oh nice yeah and so I had a great conversation with Russell he's phenomenal phenomenal Talent yeah and human being and all of those things so I can see him saying that yeah man he's he's been a a mentor for me for the past like let me see maybe likeif 15 years or something like that yeah um he was he was so like really open and uh you know invited me to to to his house you know when I first met him and we played for like to the we hours of the morning you know all started with jazz and we went into like some of that old uh old time church music and and just it was it was great so you know we we really um I really look up to him to to this day well I mean he he's a good guy to look up to I mean he I have a uh good friend of mine a fine fine guitar player Taylor Roberts um you know who's working his way up and a seven string player yeah yeah he's and uh you know Taylor uh just just through social media we oh okay yeah Taylor's a great Taylor's a great guy anyway but he called me one day he says man I just got a phone call from Russell alone I want just like out of nowhere he just wanted to tell me he thought I was going he said you know I mean you know so I'm thinking to myself I mean here's a guy he don't have to do that you know call the young guys and encourage him and you know and all that kind of stuff and I asked him about it you know and he said well you know I learned it from people that did that for me and uh and you know it's it's it's you know when you guys got it going on and they you know but it just it's it's a it's a great tradition you know the to to Mentor people like that I mean I just I got all the respect in the world for Russell not only is is playing but his his humanity is just yeah it come yeah you're right it and you know that comes um a lot of that is is uh cultural you know like especially with because we have similar backgrounds mean Russell um is coming out of the the the black church right that the concept of apprenticeship you both came out of that now he obviously he came out of it through you know middle and South Georgia and you're in um do you still live in acan you still live up there yep yep still still here good for you man yeah man I I uh I uh could I could never do the the big city man you know all the stuff I like to do with the the hunting and stuff like that I I I can't I can't do it they take they take a demm VI of bow hunting in Central Park that could yeah that could get weird quick yeah yeah that that that yeah not a not something you want to do you know let's talk about about your your record um we started talking about that a little bit with with uh with Christian is obviously your um your your co-producer but I um I was really um I don't know I don't have a better word than impressed I was so impressed with your band and the guys that you chose um they're all great I mean they're just all really really great I mean you know I say well you know I love the roads thing man you know um and and I I actually um I I didn't know I'll admit it uh I didn't know the names of these guys and and and girl so I had Michelle your um publicist you know send me the names but and rather than me destroy them so who is the piano player on the gig uh that's Glenn zesi is a piano player he's a um he's from Bolston Massachusetts uh and he he's just like incredible I I I met him at the first uh Rubber City jazz festival here here in akan and and just hearing you know kind of I'm I'm always looking for musicians that that have like some sort of edge in their playing right and and Glenn has all this kind of like impressionistic touch um you know you can hear like traces a Bill Evans uh some you can hear some chick there a lot Amad Jamal yeah there's like an edge that that I can't really put my finger on that that I had to have him in the band he's definitely got his own thing because he's not Bill he's not you know he's not any he's not like doing a carbon copy of that but you there just like we talking about the wine thing you know there are traces of this guy and that guy the other thing but he's definitely his own thing and and it was uh and his his ears are I mean I love people with big ears I just love people with big ears and his ears are great because he just you know he just kind of heard what you were doing and and and and I love all that close harmony and all those little subtle distinctions and stuff like that because if you do that right with your lines that you're playing I mean it just makes you know it makes a good boo AB Bay you know not a of crap you know not a bunch of crap throwing in a pot you know and it's just beautifully done um so I I I pay attention more to to to um to guitar players and I can't everybody else is out there so I'm gonna apologize for for not knowing on it um you got a young base player with you yeah Brandon Rose man that that cat this this kid he was like a uh a child prodigy on on electric base yeah you can go on YouTube and see um videos of him when he was like seven years old this like you know doing all the Marcus Miller stuff and you know but he he went to Michigan State and studied under Rodney Whitaker and that that's what made me uh really take notice of him because I Rodney um is is one of the most is one of the best and most effective Educators for uh for Bas players in my opinion um and all really all of his students like that I come into contact with are killing Ben Williams you know there's another Young cat named Jonathan Mir cotton that that I just I just heard and he's one of Rodney students no coincidence he's killing uh so I I played a gig with uh eten Charles the trumpet player um right smack dab in the middle of the co co lockdown in Houston and Brandon was on the gig and we played one finger snap like you know up here and you know it it have been a while since I've done that like you know I used to play those temples with Joey and McBride all the time but it felt so comfortable you know he was just his cord note was right there not slipping not doing anything and great ideas he he makes good uh and mature musical decisions and I don't see that with uh child prodigies because you normally um when they get to their 20s they're they're like every Everything since then uh since their child hood has come easy to him so they kind of peak you know and they they kind of stay in that lane because like everybody's just like wow you know I can't believe you can do that you're so young so they they never really I shouldn't say never they rarely get uh seasoned and I I think I think he he had a little bit of uh a little bit more maturity than than I've seen you know what you're saying an interesting thing and I don't want to lose track of him because I think he's great but young guys have all that facility and thing that impresses everybody and what they get the payoff that they get is wow you can do all that stuff but at some point in time doing all that stuff the technique Falls away the I call it the dancing bear syndrome yeah you know you see a bear dancing and for the first three or four minutes you go holy there's a bear dancing and then after that it's kind of like oh there's a bear dancing when when's that thing going to go eat you know so it's no longer the novelty so what you really want is and it's hard for those guys to make the transition some do uh Joe bamasa did a pretty good job of making that transition because I remember seeing him when he was like pre puberty at the N shows but um but you know some guys do but some guys don't because all they ever know is is they're is they they're playing all the stuff but they're not feeling it you know they never get that feeling and the thing that I loved about when I was listening to and play I Love bass players in general I just believe it's most I hate to say this guitar but I think in an ensemble it's the most important instrument oh you can you can change you can change the the drums you can change the harmony you can change the melody you can change everything and it won't affect the music as much as if you change the Baseline that's my theory I could be wrong but that's I just feel that anyway but I loved what he was doing man because he was he was he was just really really mature I think I'm going to use your term very mature and just like right there when he needed to be he had all the chops in the world you know and the tone was great and everything he was doing he was really listening to the music and uh particularly on Elan or Rigby I really like what's going on there yeah and uh but you know then bird light comes along and these are some tracks for those of you out these are some tracks from from the new record that are just great in fact Ellena Rigby getting back to that whole thing uh is the the single That You released right first single uh so any let's get back to the band for just a second um and the drummer what's going on with that guy man I love him I love your whole bit I think you've made you made like I mean I just I love the band it's a great band I'd love to go sit and watch that band do its thing it's it's really really good so tell me about your drummer yeah uh we call him thr name's David throck Morton I've been playing with him for uh let's see about 12 13 years now um he's from Pittsburgh originally Washington Pennsylvania but uh you know he played around Pittsburgh so I I I would go play gigs in Pittsburgh a lot you know um and because that's is a a really heavy musical town and it's like two hours up the road for me so I would go try to get in that scene and I would meet all the all the musicians there and the first time we played together we we did a organ gate together and we both kind of I think we kind of surprise each other because like I'm a uh I'm sort of like a frustrated drummer that drums were my first instrument yeah I know that yeah so you know I'm always like trying to do what I can to interact with drums you know because I I uh I try to take a really uh rhythmic approach so he picked up on that he was just right right there we it's like we were talking all night um and so I was just like like man he has a real interesting mix of uh of influences like uh his first influence was Steve Gad and and Dave wle you know he he was like heavy into the fusion then he got also got into um like Elvin and Tony Williams so it's a really odd mix that that uh it's it's really unique so I I you know I had to I had to have him in the B but he's really free it's very very free you know I mean um very very free and expressive and just fun to listen to you know what what did Sting say you know I love music where there's surprise me you know playing has got all these little nice surprises in it you know you go oh you know it's go oh yeah okay all right I I um I I I I did see that drums was your first instrument yeah and when I was studying jazz guitar in college U as an older guy I mean I I went back to school and studed um and I thought what the hell is the what do these guy what do drum what do drummers think about I mean what do they what do they what do they what is what is he doing because I realized because we're playing jazz combo stuff like you do typical College you know and um so I went and took drum lessons I took 12 drum lessons from the guy that was teaching it the university there I didn't want to be a drummer I just wanted to understand what they're thinking about and yeah what's going on and I gotta tell you it helped a lot I mean it helped me a lot um not only in my own playing which I'm going to get it back to you because I the fact that you were a drummer I want to talk about the importance of that um but uh it helped me appreciate what's going on with the drums with the bass with the other instruments and what you know kind how to think about so I think everybody should take drum lessons no matter what instrument you play anyway um so your right hand getting back to that are you are you aware of um how aware of you of of time with your right hand when you're when you're doing it I mean you know talk a little bit about that maybe you just do it I don't know but your right hand is uncanny how how good it is and if you need a proof of that ladies and gentlemen listen to bird like oh man because there there's some serious serious technical stuff going on but feel I mean all of it it's you did a beautiful beautiful beautiful job on that that cut thank you you know that that comes that comes from playing drums I I I like I I was and I talked to a lot of drummers about this um CU like the the drummer that that was in Joy's band with me Jason Brown we used to have conversations about that all the time like when you see videos of him getting around the drum set you can see even even if you don't if you look at it without sound you can see the sticks flying off of the drum set you can see the instant reaction that that he gets and it it looks like like a flash of sticks you know because uh uh the way he he positions his hands or the way he holds the sticks affects the sound and affects um just the reaction that he gets uh from the drum so uh and I I I talk about this in one of my web courses like where with every downstroke the energy that is um uh that you get from the downstroke powers the upstroke you know so it's it's not really like um you know so so with with a drumstick you're controlling a bounce right uh so if if you hold it if you hold the drum stick uh and you grip the drumstick and you don't let it don't let it bounce you're not going to be able to get you get a dead sound out of the out of the drum same same way with the with the guitar like uh the uh the force that you grip the pick with it it it makes a huge difference and so I'll I'll with every downstroke I'll rest it on the next string and then that uh that energy that I get from that stroke powers powers the upstroke so it's almost like one motion right that alleviates a lot of the um you know like all the the technical issues that that that you can get into and another thing with that stroke I'm depending on the next string to to stop the stroke and then from there I can kind of push through and kind of Bounce the upstroke is is is kind of a kind of bouncing off of the downstroke so and you get a fuller sound like that and the faster you go the you know the lighter the the stroke becomes but the the same principle applies so like I'm I'm I start you know I'm still bouncing off of that next string you know you know so um yeah so that that's a rule I try to live by and also um I keep that pinky keep the kind of the back of my pinky anchored on the pit guard right just and I got that concept from uh from playing basketball it it's just like you know when when in basketball when you're uh when you're in the paint you know and you're trying to maneuver around your opponent you keep one foot planted on the ground to uh to increase balance and to to help with balance so it's the same concept uh I can how these guys play with their floating arm I I I watch them and I go I can't I can't do that I've got to have some anchor points so I can't make it work yeah M maeni plays like that Pat Martino played play with a floting arm I mean he he made it work for him um who else plays like that uh SE a bunch of people play like that I just I can't do it yeah I it befuddles me listen man um I just I want to I want to say a couple things um about stuff that's going on so the record has been out since the spring but um you know what it's a great it's a great record I'm sorry we're so late to the to the dance here with it but man it's a record I absolutely love itk beautiful beautiful playing you know um great choices and and so I want to mention one other human being that I I I fell in love uh with it's on your record and that's your female vocalist oh Jessica oh yeah wow yeah Jess Jessica's phenomenal man she she's uh she was a former student of mine um but when I taught at Tri and you know she she's always had Perfect Pitch you know great great ears um but like she in the in the beginning she she kind of struggled because you know everything came easy to her Jessica yafo and she's really put in the work well it's yeah because I mean just some of that phrasing that she's doing forget the production the tone production is phenomenal I mean that that's you know that that's you got to study that to get that all going on but the phrasing uh the Dynamics people don't understand that there's Dynamics involved with vocal you know one to sing a little loud one to sing a little soft and then dealing with the the lyric kind I mean to be a good vocalist and there aren't many of them it's tough It's a tough act I hate to say it but there aren't many of them who are really really good there's a lot of people that are very talented and fun to listen to and all like but the people that have that skill that talent that she has I'm glad to hear you say that she worked hard at it because man I I I hear some going on and some people I guess can open their mouth it just happens for them yeah but um so she's great so keep talking she was your student and yeah man she she you know she always had Perfect Pitch and you know like I had this you know so a lot of times like I would give her something like something to work on and she wouldn't work on it and I'll be like I sat I was like look you know I'm I'm happy you got it going on here with the with the the perfect pitch and everything but you know you got to work past your your natural abilities and that's that's when the um uh the special stuff you you really discover the uh the special things because you still have to be familiar with with the harmony you still have to know where you are in the harmony where you are in the form you know understand how to to communicate uh with uh the musicians that are playing with you you know that's these are all skills that are built they're they're not necessarily uh intrinsic or or um just they don't come naturally to everybody so um and she really she really did that she she really uh um put in the work you know she she's very very studious she studies the voice um and she learns the music and she really she can sing in a couple different languages um never Out Of Tune can people still study with you or have you are you still yeah I'm I'm I'm not uh at the I'm kind of taking a break from uh like one-on-one lessons because I'm I'm in the writing process right now um so I just been playing and uh and and writing just trying to um because I I I I really want to do sort of a sequel to things Eternal so I'm I'm just uh you know I got some originals and and I have some other uh tunes that that I want to do so uh that that might be uh NE next on the menu here but uh but I do have some web classes available um just at Dan Wilson guitar.com can people email you and reach out and say hey um when you start decide you want to teach again you know reach back you know get a hold of me or what whatever mean can people get in your queue absolutely absolutely and that would come through the website probably and the contact Dan Wilson say that say that URL again Dan Wilson uh Dan Wilson guitar.com yeah there is a pop singer Dan Wilson so you gotta yeah you're not confusing because they're and he's very talented too by the way he he is man he he wrote one of the best pop songs of of like my high school days that that song uh closing time yeah I love that song I it was uh the intervals are that I know who I want to take me that's not easy to sing you know so we we're giving him a little a little shout out here yeah I I I guess that's uh that's about it for me I mean uh is there something is there a message that you want to get out there is there something else that you want to get into I don't I well well I I want to tell people that I'm pretty excited about you in a couple weeks here I'll be going to California the SF Jazz I'll be playing uh duo with with Bruce Foreman well let me just tell you this this cover will happen in November oh okay so it already that's that's fine so you all have already done it oh okay so I want to ask you about your guitar uh on the record I believe you recorded with a ga35 uh that was the the past record on this record I had the uh the Pat Martino model the Pat Martino model okay so the G 35 is a semih hollow guitar that benedetto made for for a little while I'm because I saw the video of you playing Elanor Rigby and we were playing on this this guitar so um you get a great tone out of it man I mean a great tone it's a I know that it's a chambered instrument um what Str are you using are you using flat wounds on it yeah the uh Diario um chromes uh 11s Els 11s yeah was yeah I was like I mean as much as I love Pat he was like really he's really nice to me you know and like he was a huge influence but I can't play those telephone wires that that well you know that the telephone wires are really only on the E string and and the B string and all that I mean if you look at his set because I thought the same thing how do you play a 18 on an Easter how you know what happens but the set lightens up as it goes you know to the low end cuz I I I thought to myself what the hell is he doing but you know there's and there's no real need but what Ian I know you've heard Pat play probably many many times when he came to Atlanta to play he requested a marshall 412 cabinet man yeah and he said that that was his norm and and I'm listening to him playing I'm saying man the guy the guy sounds like a kick drum with intonation uhuh I mean bu bum bummm you know and I and I said to his drummer when I got off the stage I said man I said I didn't even know what to say to him I said man that that's a hell of a gig you got there you know he and he knew what I you know what I was getting at because Pat's time was I mean Pat's time was Pat Martino's time it was absolutely incredible but um yeah those those strings are um that was pretty crazy but the sound that you're getting is beautiful I mean it's absolutely beautiful in fact I A friend of mine um was looking for a new a new Jazz box because he's tired of playing you know the big one yeah and uh and I said hey man you need to listen to Dan Wilson's um Ellen or Rigby I said because he's getting that beautiful mix between an es175 and an old George Benson tone and all that he must be playing with flat miles I say it probably is they're probably tws you know or something like that but not 11s that that's really good to know yeah yeah it's a good mix for me because I can still you know if if we if we need to get funky and I need to go to chicken pick and I can just you know go right into that you know very cool and then what um you use any pedals or strictly into the amp or what's going on there no just just into the amp I I think eventually I I'll get some pedals and and get into that but that'll be that's I think down the road you and then are us are you using a Twin Reverb on the road too or just just in the studio uh I I prefer the the offender Deluxe yeah I I just I like the I like the tone a little bit more but I I I'll use a twin I'm I'm cool with a twin you know what I mean I don't know as a vocalist sm58 just seem to work and so do the luxury verbs you know I I I I love I mean that's my favorite guitar amplifier but keep keep in mind you know I'm I'm like you know I'm coming out of the church so I'm I'm like I'm used to playing on like subst standed equipment you know we just I just and even even some of that mentality has not has hasn't left me yet you know I'm still like yeah I'll play through this you know as long as it makes noise you know but I need to know it's it's nice it's nice when you have good equipment you know I'm just not used to it yet so Bob Baker for jazz guitar today with with Dan Wilson hey man thank you so much for sharing everything you shared it was a great conversation I loved it thank you man thanks for having me it was a was a pleasure oh well we'll we'll hopefully we'll do it again many many more times yes sir bye-bye now all right have a good one

Channel: Jazz Guitar Today

Views: 10,805

Keywords: Jazz Guitar Today, Jazz Guitar, Bob Bakert, Dan Wilson

Id: oINLdBRl8SI

Length: 52min 56sec (3176 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 01 2023