A SMALL TALK
WITH BUGGE WESSELTOFT BEFORE HIS CONCERT AT BABYLON, CAFE KV, TUNEL, ISTANBUL,
24 MAY 2003 ~19:30
BW: I define myself as a jazz musician. So I try
to mix, to create jazz in the way I want. I try to use electronic instruments
and sounds because I feel it is very interesting.
BW: Not much really.
I changed for myself maybe. I changed my way of performing.
I don't believe in changing in jazz. But for myself, I
changed my attitude towards playing improvised music.
BW: When I started to play jazz I played in a sort of
typical way; starting with the melody and then someone played the solo and
more solos, and in the end the melody again and then it was gone. It
was called free jazz but there were still lots of rules I think. What is
considered the main thing in jazz is that one guy plays the solo and the rest
accompany, even in free jazz. But I wanted my whole band to improvise
together. So what we do on stage is basically a jam session. We don't talk
very much. We just try to build a few ideas but not really harmonically or
melodically; we try to build dynamics and try to create music
on stage. Instead of playing long solos I like to just try to create nice
sounds, rhythms you know. This is also an improvisation. Although it is not a solo, it
is still improvisation. So this is the change for me.
BW: We have been working with Sidsel for 10
years. We have done 3 albums together. It is just the same process. When we
play we have some small references for each song but a lot of this is very
free. She wanted to do some avant-garde and some melodies. She wanted to do
some nice cover versions. Like "Birds" (
BW: Yeah. She says she is not, but I think she is. She is very open to
everything but as a singer it is very easy to hear whether or not she is
enjoying the song.
BW: Melancholic, yeah. I think it is typical for Norwegian
jazz. It has something to do with "longing" you know, in the music.
It is typical for a lot of Norwegian music. The folk music always has the
longing for something. As people we are not depressive but especially
Norwegian folk music is melancholic; when you listen you feel that "Oh
very sad," the lover is away... something like that.
BW: I am sad. I consider myself quite a normal person.
A typical sad Norwegian person. I am melancholic
yes. But happy too. It is a part of Norwegians; they have
that melancholic thing.
BW: I do not know if "the new conception of
jazz" is coming from
BW: Now it is a bit down but in the 90s it was extremely
good, lots of good DJs, good clubs, live music, jam sessions. Now people would
rather sit in cafes and listen to music there.
BW: First of all, I am a big fan of ECM. I admire it so
much. I love the music. It is a fantastic label. As I formed my label, I wanted
something different than ECM but not in the respect that I have another way of
thinking, at least just with sound and with the groove than ECM so I thought
when I released for the first time the best way was to make a label, and it
should have one direction. The great thing of ECM is that you immediately
recognize that it is ECM when you hear the music because it has a special
sound, a special feeling. I wanted to try to think the same for my label.
When you hear you should think this must be Jazzland, because it has some
electronics, and some groove. But of course we started with an acoustic label,
which is pure acoustic jazz. This is very different from my electronic label.
So I contemplated whether we should do this or not. I think in
BW: Yeah but she is not on Jazzland. We made a remix album. I produced
her last album "Eight Seasons." I do not know whether we
will do more. I would like to.
BW: Today I went to Lale record store. I bought 30 CDS,
not only Turkish music, but also Romanian,
BW: It is mainly music of course. Especially when I was younger I
listened to music incredibly. And mostly jazz. My background is jazz. Especially 60s and 70s with all kinds of American music.
Then I started to listen to European jazz, and ECM of
course. Then in 90s I really started to discover electronic music. But for the
last 3-4 years I have been listening more and more to
classical music and folk music. By classical music I mean more modern classical
music. Also pure folk music because it has such a strong
base. Outside music, I think it's hard to say. Normally it is people you
meet. Books and movies. I think it is important to be
open. To receive influences from people that you meet.
That is the biggest advantage you can have as a human being. To receive
reactions, observe other ways of thinking and living. Even
bad things. But it is really fascinating if you manage not to get
upset.
BW: I never listen to my own music. I don't really like it. It is some small
force of music. If I make as CD it is maybe 5 minutes that I am happy with it.
Every time I hear it I say ,"Why did I do this? I
should have done it differently." It is so difficult. The interesting
thing in music is the process itself. You create the philosophy and then you
see whether you can do exactly what you thought. And sometimes it happens, but
most of the time it is not exactly what you thought which could also be good. It
is about learning and meeting people and learning from the meetings. Every time
you make music, you make mistakes and good things. And you can learn from it to
do better the next time. If we rehearse every second and we know everything
that is going to happen, it would be a lie to the audience. It is
important for me to create good music and to feel that the audience feels it.
When we succeed I think the audience can feel it. That is the challenge.
BW: No. My best experience was the following: we played
outdoors in
© Özge Baykan