Saturday, July 30, 2022

Russell Malone (b. November 8, 1963): Outstanding, versatile, and innovative musician, composer, arranger, producer, and teacher

SOUND PROJECTIONS



AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE

 


EDITOR:  KOFI NATAMBU

 


SUMMER,  2022




VOLUME ELEVEN  NUMBER THREE

 

MARC CARY

 

Featuring the Musics and Aesthetic Visions of:  

 

REVOLUTIONARY ENSEMBLE

(June 11-17)


OLU DARA

(June 18-24)


WALTER SMITH III

(June 25-July 1)


BOBBY WATSON

(July 2-8)


JAMES MOODY

(July 9-15)


RONALD SHANNON JACKSON

(July 16-22)


LEYLA McCALLA

(July 23-29)


RUSSELL MALONE

(July 30-August 5)


GREG LEWIS

(August 6-12)


JOHN HANDY

(August 13-19)


STANLEY CLARKE

(August 20-26)


JASON HAINSWORTH

(August 27-September 2)

 

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/russell-malone-mn0000808613/biography

 

Russell Malone 

(b. November 8, 1963)

Biography by Matt Collar

 

An adept jazz guitarist with a clean attack and fluid, lyrical style, Russell Malone often plays in a swinging, straight-ahead style, weaving in elements of blues, gospel, and R&B. Born in Albany, Georgia in 1963, Malone first began playing guitar around age four on a toy instrument, quickly graduating to the real thing. Largely self-taught, he initially drew inspiration listening to the recordings of gospel and blues artists including the Dixie Hummingbirds and B.B. King. However, after seeing George Benson perform with Benny Goodman on a television show, Malone was hooked on jazz and began intently studying albums by legendary guitarists like Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery.

By his twenties, Malone was an accomplished performer, and in 1988 he joined organist Jimmy Smith's band. Soon after, he also became a member of Harry Connick, Jr.'s big band, appearing on Connick's 1991 effort Blue Light, Red Light. With his growing reputation as a sideman, Malone next caught the attention of pianist/vocalist Diana Krall, with whom he would work throughout much of the '90s and 2000s. Also during this period, Malone appeared with a bevy of name artists including Branford Marsalis, Benny Green, Terell Stafford, Ray Brown, and others.

Russell Malone  

As a solo artist, Malone made his debut with 1992's Russell Malone, followed a year later by Black Butterfly. In 1999, he released Sweet Georgia Peach, which featured a guest appearance from pianist Kenny Barron. Malone kicked off the 2000s with several albums on Verve, including 2000's Look Who's Here and 2001's orchestral jazz-themed Heartstrings. He then moved to Maxjazz for 2004's Playground, featuring a guest appearance from saxophonist Gary Bartz, followed by 2010's Triple Play.

Love Looks Good on You  

Over the next several years, Malone appeared on albums by Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, and Ron Carter, as well as Krall bandmate bassist Ben Wolfe. He returned to solo work in 2015 with the eclectic small-group album Love Looks Good on You, followed a year later by All About Melody, both on HighNote. In 2017, he delivered his third HighNote album, Time for the Dancers, featuring his quartet with pianist Rick Germanson, bassist Luke Sellick, and drummer Willie Jones III. 

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/russell-malone

Russell Malone

Russell Malone's first guitar was a plastic green toy his mother bought him. Only four years old, Malone strummed the little guitar all day long for days on end trying to emulate the sounds he had heard from guitarists at church in Albany, Georgia. As a child, Malone developed an interest in blues and country music after seeing musicians on television like Chet Atkins, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Roy Clark, Son Seals, and B.B. King. Then, at age 12, he saw George Benson perform with Benny Goodman on Soundstage. Malone has said, "I knew right then and there that I wanted to play this music."

A self-taught player, Malone progressed well enough to land a gig with master organist Jimmy Smith when he was 25. "It made me realize that I wasn't as good as I thought I was," Malone recalls of his first on-stage jam with Smith. After two years with Smith, he went on to join Harry Connick Jr.'s orchestra, a position he held from 1990-94, appearing on three of Connick''s recordings. Malone also worked in a variety of contexts, performing with artists as diverse as Clarence Carter, Little Anthony, Peabo Bryson, Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Barron, Roy Hargrove, Branford and Wynton Marsalis, The Winans, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Bucky Pizzarelli, and Jack McDuff.

Malone is one of the most commanding and versatile guitarists performing. He can move from blues to gospel to pop to R&B and jazz without hesitation, a rare facility that has prompted some of the highest profile artists in the world to call upon him: Diana Krall, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Natalie Cole, David Sanborn, Shirley Horn, Christina Aguilera, Harry Connick, Jr, Ron Carter, and Sonny Rollins.

Along the way, Malone has made a name for himself combining the bluesy sound of Grant Green and Kenny Burrell with the relentless attack of Django Reinhardt and Pat Martino. After hearing Malone play in Connick's band, former Sony head, Tommy Mottola, brought Malone over to Columbia. Malone's self-titled debut, Russell Malone, in 1992 quickly went to #1 on the radio charts. This album has Malone playing Electric, Acoustic, and Classical guitars. It also features Harry Connick Jr. on piano, his current employer at the time, joking around on "I Don't Know Enough About You," a vocal piece by Malone, not Connick.

Russell Malone was quickly followed by his second album, Black Butterfly in 1993, with Paul Keller on Bass, who later became his trio mate with Diana Krall. Diana Krall's label, Verve Records, came calling next and released three albums by Malone: Sweet Georgia Peach (1998), Look Who's Here (2000), and Heartstrings (2001). Hearstrings features a full orchestra with arrangements by Johnny Mandel, Don Caymmi, and Alan Broadbent, accompanied by the all-star rhythm section team of Kenny Barron (piano), Christian McBride (bass), and Jeff "Tain" Watts (drums).

Malone joined Diana Krall in 1995, contributing to Krall's first four Grammy-nominated albums: All For You (1996), Love Scenes (1997), When I Look In Your Eyes (1999), and The Look Of Love (2001). In addition to winning for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, When I Look In Your Eyes (1999) was the first jazz album since 1976 (George Bensons's Breezin') nominated for Album of The Year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Malone 

Russell Malone

Russell Malone (born November 8, 1963) is an American jazz guitarist. He began working with Jimmy Smith in 1988 and went on to work with Harry Connick, Jr. and Diana Krall throughout the 1990s.

 

Biography

 

Malone was born in Albany, Georgia, United States. He began playing at the age of four with a toy guitar his mother bought him. He was influenced by B.B. King and The Dixie Hummingbirds.[2] A significant experience was when he was twelve and saw George Benson perform on television with Benny Goodman. He is mostly self-taught.[3][4]

Starting in 1988, he spent two years with Jimmy Smith, then three with Harry Connick Jr. In 1995, he became the guitarist for the Diana Krall Trio,[3] participating in three Grammy-nominated albums, including When I Look in Your Eyes, which won the award for Best Vocal Jazz Performance. Malone was part of pianist Benny Green's recordings in the late 1990s and 2000: Kaleidoscope (1997), These Are Soulful Days (1999), and Naturally (2000). The two formed a duo and released the live album Jazz at The Bistro in 2003 and the studio album Bluebird in 2004. They toured until 2007.

Malone has toured with Ron Carter, Roy Hargrove, and Dianne Reeves and has done session work with Kenny Barron, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Jack McDuff, Mulgrew Miller, and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson. He recorded his first solo album in 1992 and has led his own trio and quartet.[3] Other guest appearances have included Malone with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, and pianist Hank Jones in celebration of his 90th birthday. In October 2008 he performed in a duo with guitarist Bill Frisell at Yoshi's in Oakland, California. During the next year, Malone became a member of the band for saxophonist Sonny Rollins, celebrating his 80th birthday in New York City.

Malone recorded live on September 9–11, 2005, at Jazz Standard, New York City, and Maxjazz documented the performances on the albums Live at Jazz Standard, Volume One (2006) and Live at Jazz Standard, Volume Two (2007). Appearing on these two volumes, and touring as The Russell Malone Quartet, were Martin Bejerano on piano, Tassili Bond on bass, and Johnathan Blake on drums. Malone's 2010 recording Triple Play (also on Maxjazz) featured David Wong on bass and Montez Coleman on drums. His album, All About Melody featured pianist Rick Germanson, bassist Luke Sellick, and drummer Willie Jones III.[5][6]

Discography

As leader

  • Russell Malone (Columbia, 1992)
  • Black Butterfly (Columbia, 1993)
  • Sweet Georgia Peach (Impulse!, 1998)
  • Look Who's Here (Verve, 2000)
  • Heartstrings (Verve, 2001)
  • Ray Brown Monty Alexander Russell Malone (Telarc, 2002)
  • Jazz at the Bistro with Benny Green (Telarc, 2003)
  • Playground (Maxjazz, 2004)
  • Bluebird with Benny Green (Telarc, 2004)
  • Live at Jazz Standard Vol. One (Maxjazz, 2006)
  • Live at Jazz Standard Vol. Two (Maxjazz, 2007)
  • Triple Play (Maxjazz, 2010)
  • Love Looks Good on You (HighNote, 2015)
  • All About Melody (HighNote, 2016)
  • Time for the Dancers (HighNote, 2017)

 

As guest

 

With Ray Brown

  • Some of My Best Friends Are...Singers (Telarc, 1998)
  • Christmas Songs with the Ray Brown Trio (Telarc, 1999)
  • Some of My Best Friends Are...Guitarists (Telarc, 2002)

With Harry Connick Jr.

  • We Are in Love (Columbia, 1990)
  • Blue Light Red Light (Sony, 1991)
  • When My Heart Finds Christmas (Columbia, 1993)

With Benny Green

  • Kaleidoscope (Blue Note, 1997)
  • These Are Soulful Days (Blue Note, 1999)
  • Naturally (Telarc, 2000)

With Diana Krall

With Houston Person

With David Sanborn

  • Timeagain (Verve, 2003)
  • Closer (Verve, 2005)
  • Here & Gone (Decca, 2008)

With others

https://www.thejazzguitarlife.com/2022/05/01/russell-malone-strikes-while-its-hot-an-exclusive-interview-with-jazz-guitar-life/ 

Interview with Jazz Guitar Life – Part I

Russell Malone Strikes While It’s Hot! An Exclusive Interview with Jazz Guitar Life – Part I

May 1, 2022 

by Dr. Wayne Goins 

Jazz Guitar Life

Interviews 8

Photo:  At home. Courtesy of Russell Malone

First of all, it was his music. I mean, I started listening to jazz when I was 12. My first records were records. My first guitar records were records by George Benson, Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell. And Ron Carter was on a whole lot of those records. And I bought the records because of the guitar players, but there was something about the bass player, something about his personality that just made me listen to him and to what he was doing, because it seems as if—and this is not just on those records, but a whole lot of other records that he’s on—everything seems to revolve around what he’s doing…

Russell Malone

Russell Malone is, without a doubt, one of the most legendary jazz guitarists of our time. His studio recordings and live performances as both solo artist and sideman have earned him the reputation the consummate musician—one of the highest honors that bestowed upon those of his caliber. When JGL’s own Dr. Wayne Goins called him from Manhattan (Kansas!) during the early days of March, Russell was preparing to leave Manhattan (New York!) the next day—headed  to Chicago to participate in a tribute to Les Paul the following day. Ever the gentleman, Malone still took time out of his busy schedule to share his experience with us—and what a unique story he has to tell!

So sit back, relax, and enjoy our exclusive interview with the one and only Russell Malone – Dr. Wayne Goins

As a one-man operation, if you would like to support all the work I do on Jazz Guitar Life, please consider buying me a coffee or two. Your support helps me to focus on Jazz Guitar Life so that I can continue to bring you great interviews, reviews, podcasts and other related Jazz Guitar content. Thank you and your patronage is greatly appreciated regardless if you buy me a coffee or not  – Lyle Robinson

…………….

JGL: I know you don’t do a lot of interviews, and you’re very selective about who you share your time and energy with, so I really appreciate you taking the time to do this for me and Jazz Guitar Life.

RM: No problem, Wayne.

JGL: While preparing for this exclusive interview I’ve been trying to decide on what end of your long and storied career I wanna start with! But I think I should start with more current events and then we can work our way backwards. Let’s start with what’s happening right now. So, what have you been up to lately? I know you’ve been doing some things recently with the Golden Striker Trio featuring the legendary bassist Ron Carter, yes?

RM: Yes. Yes. it’s actually Ron’s group. He put it together back in 2002, and the band started out with myself on guitar, Ron Carter, and Mulgrew Miller on piano. He started the band with Mulgrew, and Mulgrew stayed there for a while. And then he [Miller] left about a year or two before he passed, because he wanted to focus more on his own career. But I’ve been playing with that band for over ten years now.

JGL: Wow, I didn’t know that.

RM: Yeah…then Mulgrew died and then Donald Vega—who’s in the band now—he came in, and took Mulgrew’s place.

JGL: I had never heard of that guy’s name until I started doing research on this Ron Carter trio. He’s playing his ass off!

RM: Oh, Donald’s an excellent piano player, man. He’s fantastic. He came in and he just, you know, he just took to it like a fish to water. When Mulgrew passed, not only did it leave a void in that trio, but it left a void, because he was such a strong presence on the jazz scene…and we all miss him.

JGL: I reached out to Ron Carter’s people and asked them to let him know I was going to write an article on the Golden Striker Trio history for one of the music magazines I write for. Sure enough, Ron Carter called me, and we talked for about two hours—I was thrilled beyond measure.

RM: Oh, that’s fantastic. Well, you know Ron’s not the most talkative guy, but if you ask him the right questions and, if he feels comfortable with you, you will get more information than you bargained for, man ’cause he’s got a lot of information to share.

JGL: How did you get with Ron? How long have you known him?

RM: The first time I saw Ron Carter play was in Atlanta, Georgia. It was back in the mid-80’s and Ron Carter came through town. I can’t remember the venue, but it was over on Peachtree in Buckhead. Ron Carter was doing a duo concert with Jim Hall—and Joe Pass opened up for them that night!

JGL: Woah!

RM: Yeah. And the music was amazing, man. After the show was over, I got to meet everybody just very briefly. I shook Joe Pass’s hand. I shook Ron Carter’s hand and I shook Jim Hall’s hand, then I split. But I met him [Ron] again in New York—when I moved there. He was playing at a place up here called the Knickerbocker. It was him, pianist James Williams and drummer Tony Reedus. They were playing, and, you know, I got a chance to meet him there and reintroduce myself. And I would see him around New York playing in other places. And I didn’t expect him to remember me after that. I was just some guy shaking his hand and telling him how much I appreciated the music. Then in 1995, I got called to participate in this movie by Robert Altman called Kansas City—you remember that movie?

JGL: Absolutely—that scene you were in was awesome!

RM: So we were at the airport collecting our bags at baggage claim. It was me and Nicholas Payton and a whole bunch of other musicians–Olu Dara, a whole bunch of us. So we collected our luggage and we went outside to stand on the curb, waiting on the vehicle to pick us up and take us to the hotel. So we’re just standing there talking and shooting the breeze. And all of a sudden I hear somebody called my name and they were like, “Russell Malone, come on, let’s go. We gotta go! We gotta get to the hotel. You guys are messing around, over there!” And I turned around and it was Ron Carter, he was sitting in the van! [laughs.]

JGL: Wow! [more laughter.]

RM: And I was like, ‘man, Ron Carter knows who I am?’ He called my full name. I said to myself, ‘Ron Carter knows me?? Cool!!’ So we got in the van, and I sat next to him and we talked and we went on over to the hotel, and checked in. I had had dinner with him later on that night and we just sat and talked some more. The next morning we got up “before the chickens,” so to speak, to start shooting for the film. Once the film shoot was done he started calling me for gigs, man!

JGL: How cool!! Where did y’all play?

RM: The first gig he called me for was at the Museum of Modern Art; and on the gig was me, him, pianist Stephen Scott, saxophonist Houston Person and drummer Lewis Nash. I was like, ‘wow, this is incredible, man.’ I’d always wanted to play with Houston. I’d always loved his playing. And Lewis Nash can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned. And that was my first time playing with Stephen Scott and we just had a ball! So Ron Carter started called me for another gig at MOMA. This time. It was with… I think Lewis was still playing drums, Stephen Scott was still on piano, but this time Jesse Davis was the horn player. So, you know, I did about two or three more of those types of gigs with him at MOMA. And then he started calling me for other stuff. And then I called him for my recording, Sweet Georgia Peach.

JGL: Oh, that’s awesome. Nice to have an opportunity to return the favor!

RM: Yeah, and so I’ve been playing with Ron Carter off and on since 1995, more than 25 years, man.

JGL: What do you think he saw in you that made him so comfortable to gravitate towards you that way?

RM: Well, I think it might have been the fact that I gave him the respect that he is entitled to—first of all—as an older gentleman, because he’s a man. He’s a man first before he is a musician.

JGL: Yeah, that’s right.

RM: And I gave him that respect, you know, because I grew up in the South, man. You know, we were always taught to give respect and honor to our elders.

JGL: Yep!

RM: And I gave it to him, you know. First of all, I didn’t just walk up to him. I didn’t call him Ron. I didn’t. I called him Mister…Mr. Carter.  Or I called him, “Mr. C.” I’ve never addressed him as Ron. I would never do that to any older adult. So I addressed him, you know, respectfully. So to answer your question, he must have sensed that I was serious about the music. I mean, maybe that’s what drew him to me. I don’t know. But that’s what I’m thinking.

JGL: I think I’m pretty sure it was that, but I think there may be another level added to it, that I don’t think can be separated. I think from a musical standpoint, he may have assessed something in you in terms of your respect for the history of the legacy of jazz guitar—that he might have seen or heard something in you that might have made him think, ‘this dude has done his homework in that regard; he might be worth investing in.’ Because, you know, as you get older, you [Carter] kind of are already thinking about how to pass it on to the next generation, which would, in fact, be YOU, Russell. What do you think about that part of it?

RM: Well, you know, you would probably have to ask him about what drew him to me. I’m just thinking that it was because I was so respectful to him. Maybe that’s what it was, but you would probably get a better answer if you asked him…[pause]…but I can tell you what made me gravitate towards him. I can definitely tell you what made me gravitate towards Ron.

JGL: By all means, do tell!

RM: First of all, it was his music. I mean, I started listening to jazz when I was 12. My first records were records. My first guitar records were records by George Benson, Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell. And Ron Carter was on a whole lot of those records. And I bought the records because of the guitar players, but there was something about the bass player, something about his personality that just made me listen to him and to what he was doing, because it seems as if—and this is not just on those records, but a whole lot of other records that he’s on—everything seems to revolve around what he’s doing. And one of the things that I’ve picked up on having played with him for so long is, it taught me how to listen to the bass, not just hear the bass, but to listen to the bass. And we’ve had several conversations about listening, and he always talked about the importance of trusting the band that you’re in, and listening to the band that you’re in, particularly the bass player. Because he told me that one of the things that was a pet peeve of his was this: A lot of people who were on the front line, a lot of horn players, they hear the bass, but they don’t really listen to the bass. And he said that they treat the rhythm section as if it’s some Jamey Aebersold practice thing, you know—to practice to instead of just interacting right with what’s going on.

JGL: Right!

RM: Hearing him say that really resonated with me. So when I started playing with him I started to really hone in on what he was doing.

JGL: I can dig it.

RM: Oh, and something else that was eye opening too: When I bought those Miles records? My first Miles Davis record was Live at the Plugged Nickel—you know that record?

JGL: Oh yeah, yeah!

RM: Boy, they’re just throwing caution to the wind on that recording, man! But I was listening to that record and some of the other recordings like ESP, all the Miles Records that Ron Carter played on. And me at the time—being as naive as I was—I’m listening to Herbie Hancock and listening to all of this crazy harmony, those crazy harmonies that he was playing. I’m like, ‘man, this piano player, he’s really something else!’ But once I started to play with Ron Carter, I had to rethink that notion. Because I strongly feel that a lot of the harmonic direction in that band…I feel that Ron Carter—after having played with him—he was the instigator.

JGL: Wow.

RM: Yes! For where that music went harmonically…because he does that. He does that in his band. He just—you just never know what’s gonna happen. He never knows what’s gonna happen, but he always knows why it’s gonna happen. See, the thing that’s so cool about playing with him is that everything has a place and a purpose, and he never…he may not always know what he’s gonna do, but when he does it, he always knows why he does it.

JGL: Right.

RM: There’s never any randomness going on there.

JGL: Right.

RM: So playing with him has been really wonderful for me. And every now and then I have to—when I’m on the bandstand with him—I have to pinch myself to make sure that it’s not a dream, because I mean, here’s a guy that’s played with Wes Montgomery! All my guitar idols…he’s played with most of them.

JGL: Yeah.

RM: And you know, I get the same feeling about playing with Ray Brown!

JGL: I’m sure!

RM: Yeah, I’ve been spoiled man. I’ve gotten the chance to spend time with some really wonderful bass players. And Ron Carter and Ray Brown are two very important bass players in this music.

Part 2 with Russell Malone coming soon.

 

About the interviewer:

Dr. Wayne Everett Goins, University Distinguished Professor of Music (2015), is the Director of Jazz Studies in the School of Music, Theater, & Dance at Kansas State University, where he conducts big bands and teaches combos, private guitar lessons, jazz theory and jazz improvisation courses. He is also a prolific writer and published author many times over. For more detailed information please click here.

https://tedpanken.wordpress.com/category/russell-malone/

Category Archives: Russell Malone

November 8, 2018

For Russell Malone’s 55th Birthday, A Jazziz Article From 2016 and a Downbeat Blindfold Test From 2005

For master guitarist Russell Malone’s 55th birthday, here’s a feature profile that I wrote about him in the fall 2016 issue of Jazziz, and the proceedings of a Blindfold Test that we did for Downbeat in 2004.

Russell Malone, Jazziz, 2016:

Before settling into the formalities of an interview in the kitchen of his Jersey City row house, Russell Malone, Southerner that he is, decided to feed his guest. First he prepared ginger lemonade, a 20-minute procedure that included eight squeezed lemons, a lot of ginger, and agave for sweetener. Then Malone shaved daikon, cooked sushi rice infused with butter, fixed a ponzu sauce, seared some pea-shoot greens with garlic and, finally, broiled two slabs of salmon.

Malone worked methodically, washing and drying the dishes and utensils after each stage of the process. He was dressed well — cream-colored linen slacks; a forest green shirt from Thailand with gold brocading, untucked — but didn’t wear an apron. We spoke as he cooked, and continued to speak as we ate lunch, trading opinions and scurrilous gossip, discussing family and mutual acquaintances. Ninety minutes later, it almost seemed a shame to turn on the digital voice recorder.

The subject at hand was Malone’s spring release, All About Melody (High Note), on which the 53-year-old guitarist and his quartet — pianist Rick Germanson, bassist Luke Sellick and drummer Willie Jones III — address an American Songbook ballad; two American Soulbook torch songs; a spiritual; and originals by jazz icons Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Heath, Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Lee and Sonny Rollins. Malone also presents his own ballad, “Message to Jim Hall,” directly followed by a brief voicemail from the late iconic guitarist.

Neither notions of high concept nor narrative arc inform the program, Malone says, not even his decision to follow his dedication to Hall, who famously played on several early-’60s recordings by Rollins, with Rollins’ “Nice Lady,” which Malone learned while touring with the saxophonist in 2010. “Those songs are fun to play,” he says. “When I make a record, I want the songs to flow naturally, to hold your attention, just like playing a set in a club.” He affirmed his close friendship with Hall. “Jim would call to tell you how he felt about you,” Malone says. “He was big on taking the time, effort and thought to write a letter, get the stamp, put it on the envelope, and mail it. I have a stack of his handwritten letters. I didn’t get around to writing Jim a letter, but I did get around to writing that tune for him.”

For a unifying thread, Malone suggested the title, edited from HighNote proprietor Joe Fields’ suggestion, “It’s All About the Melody,” which, he says, seemed too preachy and dogmatic.“This could have titled any of my other records, because that’s always been my attitude,” Malone says, before fleshing out the core aesthetic principle that infuses his previous 11 leader recordings since 1992 and numerous sideman or collaborative appearances with — to name a roughly chronological short list — Jimmy Smith, Harry Connick, Diana Krall, Benny Green and Christian McBride, Ray Brown, Dianne Reeves, Ron Carter and Rollins.

“I’m as influenced by singers as by instrumentalists, and whenever I learn a song, particularly a standard or a ballad, I listen to a vocalist’s rendition,” he says. “I want to learn not just the harmonic structure, but the story, the lyrics — everything. Those things go through my head when I play them. I try to sing through my instrument.”

In that regard, Malone mentions his unaccompanied reading of Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman,” which he heard growing up in Albany, Georgia. “If you noticed, I only played the melody,” he says. “Sometimes a strong melody, good changes and a good story is enough. That’s my thing these days.”

Malone adhered unstintingly to this stated criteria for song selection and play-your-feelings interpretation on both All About Melody and its 2014 HighNote predecessor, Love Looks Good On You. The latter date transpired four years after Triple Play, a trio recital that was Malone’s only studio recording during a six-year, four-CD run with MaxJazz, a fine boutique label that ceased operations after the death of its owner, Richard McDonnell.

“I was working so much, it wasn’t a priority to do a record if nobody would get behind it,” Malone explains. Several labels suggested he join their roster, but none followed up. “My attitude was: Your loss; if you ignore me, I’ll keep forging ahead. Then Joe Fields contacted me. People who’ve worked with him told me he’d support the records. Joe seemed to be the only guy interested in someone who plays like I do.”

He referenced the phrase “interview music,” coined by pianist Mulgrew Miller, Malone’s dear friend and colleague from before the guitarist moved to New York from Atlanta in the late ’80s until Miller died in 2013. “Certain musicians talk a good game, and sound deep and interesting, and it gets over,” Malone says. “But writers don’t consider people who play like me as cutting edge. Players who adopt a Eurocentric perspective — devoid of melody, swinging, blues and, heaven forbid, any black elements — are described as pushing the music forward. That’s complete bullshit to me.”

He recalled a brunch gig with organist Trudy Pitts in Philadelphia around 1990, playing tunes for “older people who wanted to hear some melodies.” One of Malone’s core influences, Kenny Burrell, working in town, was in the house. So were a group of college students. “Whenever I played something a little outside or rebellious to what was going on, these kids went, ‘Yeah, man — whoo-oo!’ Instead of thinking about the music, I started to think about impressing them with my crazy, dissonant shit.”

After the set, the admirers offered compliments: “Yeah, you were really pushing the envelope; you’re taking it out.” Malone thanked them, proceeded to Burrell’s table, and sat down. Malone recounts: “I had the nerve to say, ‘Hey, Mr. Burrell, you hear what I’m working on?’ He put his arm around me, and started chastising me like I was his son. He told me that what I’d played may have worked well in another situation, but it didn’t work here. You have to play what the situation calls for, which means allowing yourself to be vulnerable. Any time you’re playing to prove something, it’s not honest. I never forgot that. And I never did that again.”

[BREAK]

“I am flexible,” Malone says. “I take pride on being open enough to play with anybody.” He’s played “Moon River” and “The Christmas Song” with Andy Williams on The Mike Huckabee Show. He’s shared stages with B.B. King, Aretha Franklin and Natalie Cole; channeled the pioneering electric guitarist Eddie Durham in Robert Altman’s Kansas City; played the blues with Clarence Carter and raised a joyful noise with the Gospel Keynotes. He’s played high-level chamber jazz with Ron Carter and supported Dianne Reeves in a two-guitar format with Romero Lubambo. He’s rehearsed outcat projects with Bill Frisell and James “Blood” Ulmer. He visited Ornette Coleman’s loft once for a marathon of shedding.Malone grew up in a Pentecostal church, where he discovered the guitar. He traces his openness to the experience of playing it there from age 6 to 18. “It fascinated me how these church mothers singing spirituals would move people to tears, or to get the Holy Ghost and shout in response,” he says. “That’s when I started to really listen — the singers might start singing in any key, and not always at the same time, so I learned to be flexible throughout the guitar neck.”

As he entered his teens, Malone memorized his first guitar solo from Howard Carroll of the Dixie Hummingbirds, had “epiphanies” from B.B. King and from “country” guitarists like Chet Atkins and Merle Travis on Glen Campbell’s TV show. In 1975, “on a school night when I should have been in bed,” he saw George Benson play “incredible things” on “Seven Comes Eleven” on a PBS homage to John Hammond “that let me know there was a whole other level to aspire to.” Malone soon purchased The George Benson Cookbook and the double-LP Benson Burner. “A gentleman in my church who played guitar noticed that I was trying to play this stuff,” he continues. “He liked Wes Montgomery, and he laid Smokin’ At the Half Note and Boss Guitar on me. Those four records set me on a course that I have not deviated from.”

That course followed autodidactic pathways. “I had enough sense to know that something triggered George Benson’s interest in playing guitar like that,” Malone says. “I read that George was influenced by Charlie Christian, then that Charlie Christian was influenced by Eddie Durham and Lester Young, and had influenced Johnny Smith, Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow and so on. I didn’t have skills to write anything down, and I never transcribed a solo. I like the way I learned because I trust my ears. I’d pick things up and remember them.” He sought advice from lesser players who understood theory, as, for example, when he saw “Misty” in the Real Book, spotted an E-flat-major-VII chord, and asked a roommate to play it. “I said, ‘Oh, that’s what I’ve been playing all along.’ From there, I learned how to identify what I saw on paper. I still ask questions.”

After garnering experience on chitlin’ circuit revues that included Bobby Rush and Johnnie Taylor, Malone spent much of 1983 in Houston with Hammond B3 practitioner Al Rylander. In 1985, just before he turned 22, he moved to Atlanta, where he quickly established bona fides on transitory engagements with Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Little Anthony, Peabo Bryson and O.C. Smith. In 1986, he joined Freddy Cole, who offered a master class in the nuances of blending with a singer before firing Malone after several months because, the guitarist recalls, “I wasn’t there yet.”

Malone first visited New York in 1985. He promptly received a lecture on the virtues of sonic individualism from bassist Lonnie Plaxico after they played “Stablemates” at Barry Harris’ Jazz Cultural Theater. “I respected Lonnie, because he’d played with Art Blakey and Dexter Gordon,” Malone says. “He asked where I was from. He said, ‘Yeah, you’ve got good tone, good feeling, and you really hear those changes.’ Then he said, ‘I hear that you like Wes and George and all those guys. You might be able to get away with playing like them in Atlanta, but not here. Those guys were able to break through because they didn’t come here trying to sound like somebody else. They had their own thing, and people eventually caught on.’”

Two years later, Jimmy Smith took an Atlanta engagement, and invited the local hero to sit in for a blues, “The Sermon.” “After the head, I played all my pet licks and generated some superficial excitement,” Malone says. “Then Jimmy went into a ballad, ‘Laura,’ which I didn’t know. You can’t just hear your way through it, because it moves harmonically, with a lot of twists and turns. That’s when I found out I wasn’t nearly as good as I thought. After he’d finished embarrassing me, Jimmy got on the microphone and said, ‘Whenever youngsters sit in with us, we like to make sure they learn something.’ He looked at me. ‘Now, did you learn something, young man?’”

After that set, Malone approached Smith at the bar to thank him for the opportunity. Smith, a black belt, turned and stuck his index finger in Malone’s solar plexus. “Let me tell you something,” Smith said, finger still in place. “I knew all those guys you’re trying to play like, and I also taught them. Don’t ever get on my bandstand with that bullshit again.” Then he invited Malone to his hotel room to play for him, telling the youngster about his life and experiences until 6:30 in morning. A year later, Smith hired Malone for his Southern and Midwestern tours.

“I’ve been around a lot of the older guys,” Malone says, reflecting on a cohort of associations that includes Smith, Rollins, Hall and Ron Carter. Another mentor was guitarist John Collins, who replaced Oscar Moore with the Nat King Cole Trio after quality time with, among others, Fletcher Henderson and Art Tatum. “John saw Andrés Segovia when he was a serviceman in World War Two, and remembered that he played the whole guitar, compared to young guitar players who focus on single lines like a horn player,” Malone says. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but you’re selling the instrument short. In the right hands, it can function as an orchestra. I never forgot that.”

He cited an encomium from Benny Carter, who was 94 when he heard Malone play his “All About You” on Marion McPartland’s Piano Jazz. “Benny told me he liked the way I treated ballads and my own songs because I respect the melody and don’t treat them like blowing vehicles,” Malone says. Dr. Billy Taylor — who himself sat at the feet of Willie “The Lion” Smith, Duke Ellington and Art Tatum during formative years — learned Malone had been spending quality time with Carter. He said: “You’ve been around the real guys, doing it the right way, the way we did it coming up. You know what’s up. Nobody can come along and bullshit you.”

Perhaps the accumulated weight of these validations helps Malone sustain philosophical equanimity in processing the inequities he discerns as he approaches his own elder statesman years. “I meant what I said about critics who have racist agendas and jump on things that are devoid of ethnic elements,” he says. “But my attitude now is that what anyone decides to play ain’t my damn business. I’m just trying to play good music, what feels right, and at the end of the day, I have to take responsibility for what I do. When I hung out with Ornette and Blood, I wasn’t concerned about trying to push the envelope. I was looking for a different musical experience. I’m not going to change who I am. I don’t classify my favorite musicians, like Hank Jones, as ‘modern.’ I steer away from that word. I see them as timeless. That’s how I want to be.”

SIDEBAR

“It’s all in the hands,” is all Russell Malone will say about his plush, full-bodied, instantly recognizable tone. “Everybody hears their sound in their head, no matter how old they are. I just heard a recording of me with a gospel group when I was 16. It sounds like me — the feel and everything else. You refine the nuances and subtleties over time, but it’s going to still sound like you.”

He points to a Gibson Super-400 standing by an armchair in his living room. “Kenny is the reason I play that guitar,” he says. “Just before I joined Jimmy Smith, he did a concert in Atlanta. He needed a Twin amplifier, and I had an old one, so I brought it for him to play his Super 400 through. I decided that if I ever made some money, I’d get one.

“I modeled my sound after him, Jim Hall and Mundell Lowe. They get this big, beautiful, round sound, where you can still hear the wood. Kenny picks great notes, plays great tunes. He also sings. Great composer. Master musician.”

Malone continues: “What attracted me to George Benson was the drive in his playing. He showed us that you can be a great musician and still be successful. That whole thing about being a starving artist never worked for him. It never worked for me either. I think we all sound better when our bills are paid and when our bellies are full. A lot of people have disparaged George for ‘selling out.’ That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. The way I look at it, he cashed in on his talent.”

On a previous occasion, Malone had offered a list of guitar heroes that also included Chet Atkins, George Van Eps, Johnny Smith, Pat Martino and Wes Montgomery. “I love everyone on that list, but Wes really sets my soul on fire,” he says. “I’ve loved every record I’ve heard by Wes Montgomery. He never played a bad note. Always got a good sound, good taste, and swung all the time.” —TP

Russell Malone Blindfold Test, Downbeat, 2004:

1. Ted Dunbar & Kevin Eubanks, “Fried Pies” (from Project G-7: A Tribute To Wes Montgomery, Vol. 1, Evidence, 1993) (Dunbar, Eubanks, guitars; Rufus Reid, bass; Akira Tana, drums; Wes Montgomery, composer)

This is a Wes Montgomery tune, Fried Pies. It’s two guitar players. This guitar player, whoever he is, is playing with his thumb, and he doesn’t seem to have good control. It would lay in the pocket better if he played it with a pick, I think. I have no idea who this is. I mean, this is just okay. It’s funny when you play a tune like this, that’s already been done right once. I almost never play songs by my heroes, because unless you can bring something to the table that’s equally as good or better than, what’s the point of playing it. Now the second guitarist is playing it. He sounds good. He seems to be more in the pocket than the other player. He’s got some fire, too. I like the bass player and the drummer; they’re locking up very nicely. Is that Kevin Eubanks? Ah!!! Ha-ha! Yeah! Now, that makes sense. This record was done about ten years ago, right? Was that other guitar player William Ash? I have no idea who the other player was, but I recognized Kevin immediately. There’s a certain way he attacks the notes. He’s not playing with the pick, he’s playing with his fingers, but he has a certain attack. That’s the reason why I was able to distinguish him. He plays very nicely. 4 stars for the bass player and drummer, because they really locked in well. Hell, 5 stars for Kevin. The other guitar player played nicely enough, but I would have liked it more if he’d been in the pocket. 3 stars for him. I’ll give the piece 3 stars. [AFTER] That was Ted Dunbar? Wow! I loved Ted. I never got to meet him. I talked to him on the phone a couple of times. I heard Ted play before, and he could definitely play better than this.

2. Jonathan Kreisberg, “Gone With the Wind” (from New For Now, Criss-Cross, 2004) (Kreisberg, guitar; Gary Versace, organ; Mark Ferber, drums)

This is nice. Is that John Abercrombie? I have no idea who it is, but he plays very nicely. He has a nice touch. The sound of the organ threw me in the beginning, because it sounded like one of those cute Farfisas or Wurlitzer, but now it sounds rich. Boy, this guitar player is killing! Oh, that’s Jonathan Kreisberg! So that must be Gary Versace on organ. I can’t remember the drummer’s name, but I think he plays with Jonathan every week. Jonathan’s a good friend of mine. Wonderful player. I’ve gone to see him a few times and listened to him, and once you become familiar with a person, you become accustomed to what they sound like. Everybody has a sound. Jonathan is younger than I am; I think he’s in his early thirties. I hear a lot of people talk about young guys don’t have a sound, which I think is total bullshit. Everybody has a sound, everybody has a voice; it just depends on how familiar you are with that person. If you listen to a person enough, then you will be able to distinguish it. That’s how I was able to distinguish Kevin on the previous thing you played me, and this is how I was able to distinguish Jonathan. There are certain things you key in on. Here it’s Jonathan’s sound and the ideas that he plays, and his touch. I love this tune, Gone With the Wind. I like that they took an old standard, and did something different with it. It sounds like they’re playing it in 6/4. Jonathan has chops in abundance, and one thing I like about his solo is that he really took his time and said something beautiful on the tune. Guys with that kind of ability to play whatever they want on the instrument sometimes have a tendency to overstate. But he didn’t do that, and I appreciate that approach. 4 stars for Jonathan.


3. Joel Harrison, “Folsom Prison Blues” (from Free Country. ACT. 2003) (Harrison, guitar; David Binney, alto sax; Rob Thomas, violin; Sean Conly, bass; Allison Miller, drums)

Man, this sounds like some of the sanctified music that I grew up hearing in my church. Oh, this is grooving. Is it Derek Trucks? Wow! I LIKE this cat, whoever he is. See, this is one of the things that guitar can do. It can bend notes, it can wail, it can cry. Whoo, man! Now, this was fine until the horn player started to play. He’s probably a bad cat, but he’s not really adding anything to this performance. Is it Bill Frisell? Oh, this is Folsom Prison Blues? The Johnny Cash tune. I didn’t recognize it without the lyrics. The guitar player, whoever he is, he just got right to the heart of the matter. But the horn player, though he’s probably a great musician, listening to him play is kind of like eating crabs. You’ve got to go through so much to get so little. He’s not really doing it for me. But the guitar player got right to the heart of the matter. Mark Ribot! It’s not Mark Ribot? Dammit. I give up. Joel Harrison? I’ve never heard of him. I’m going to go out and get some Joel Harrison records, man. That’s one of the ways I like to hear guitar played. Because the guitar is such an expressive instrument. It can do so many things, man. That’s going into the CD collection. Joel Harrison. 5 stars. I loved him. I’ve seen Dave Binney’s name, but I don’t know him. I like the bass player and the drummer. I like the whole band. Oh, I know Allison Miller. She’s great!

4. Rodney Jones, “Summertime” (from Soul Manifesto Live!, Savant, 2003) (Jones, guitar; Will Boulware, Hammond B3; Lonnie Plaxico, bass; Kenwood Dennard, drums)

Whoever this is, I hear a very strong George Benson influence. The tune is Summertime. Rodney Jones. Which record is this from? Soul Manifesto Live? Okay. This is just okay. I’d like to have heard him pay closer attention to the melody. This is a personal thing with me. What he’s playing is great. That tune has such a beautiful melody. I’d like to hear a little less embellishment of the melody. It’s a little bit too much guitar for me. Now, Rodney’s bad. I’ve heard him play a lot more musically than this. It doesn’t do it for me. I love Rodney; he’s one of my best friends and one of my favorite guitarists, but I don’t feel this. I’ve heard him play a lot better. 2½ stars.

5. Jim Hall-Geoff Keezer, “End The Beguine” (from Free Association, Artists Share, 2005) (Hall, guitar, composer; Keezer, piano)

Mike Stern? No? Okay. Oh, I like the dissonance. The guitarist sounds like he’s picking close to the bridge. It sounds like he’s playing one of those solid body guitars. That’s cool. That doesn’t offend me at all. Mick Goodrick. It’s not Mick Goodrick? Ah, that’s Jim Hall. [LAUGHS] Yeah, go ahead, Jim! That’s Geoff Keezer. I heard them play this tune at the Vanguard when they played there a couple of years ago. These are two of my favorite musicians. Geoff Keezer is one of the greatest piano players walking the planet today. He can do anything; he’s so versatile. What can you say about Jim? He’s a magician. He’s like a magician that makes the rabbit pull him out of the hat! Wouldn’t that be something to go see a magician, and then the rabbit pulls him out of the hat. That’s the way I see Jim. He’s such a quirky, unorthodox kind of guy, but he’s always musical. Never anything for the sake of being different. Everything that he plays and does has a purpose. One of my favorite things about him is that there’s so much beauty in his playing. Most guitar players go for the jugular vein, and that’s okay to do, too. But Jim Hall showed us that it’s okay to go for the G-spot, too. 5 stars. Give Jim Hall the Milky Way. In the beginning I said Mike Stern and Mick Goodrick, but even though I was wrong I wasn’t too far off-base, because I know Jim Hall has influenced both of those players. What threw me in the beginning was that Jim was picking towards the bridge, and when you do that, it makes the tone of the guitar thinner, more brittle, and that’s not how I’m used to hearing Jim. But what gave it away was just the touch and the ideas.

6. Nguyen Lê, “Walking On The Tiger’s Tail” (from Walking On The Tiger’s Tail, Nonesuch, 2005) (Lê , guitars; Paul McCandless, oboe; Art Lande, piano; Jamey Haddad, percussion)

I like this. Really thick harmony. Thick chords. Is that a bass clarinet? Is it Adam Holdsworth? Nels Cline? Oh, wait a minute. Dave Fiuczynski. No? Okay. Damn. Whoever he is, he’s a heck of a player. I like it. Whoo! Ben Monder. Not Ben? It sounds spacious. It’s out there, but there’s a groove. I mean, you can pat your foot. It sounds good and it feels good. Is he European? [Yes.] This is good. I think I would appreciate this better if I was listening to these guys play live. After a while, it all starts to sound the same. There was some stuff that moved in certain spots, but now it’s going on and on and on. It doesn’t really do anything for me. But I liked what led up to this. I have no idea who the guitarist is. 3 stars. There’s no denying the ability. Everybody can play. That cannot be denied. Nguyen Le? I’ve heard him. He’s good! I’ve been meaning to check out more of him. I have nothing but respect for him, but as far as this performance, I’d appreciate it more if I was sitting there listening to them. I have some homework to do. There’s so much stuff out there. I’ve seen this guy’s name, and I have heard him play and I liked what I heard. What I heard by him was acoustic, and it was beautiful.

7. Bill Frisell, “My Man’s Gone Now” (from East-West, Nonesuch, 2005) (Frisell, guitar; Tony Scherr, bass; Kenny Wolleson, drums)

I like this. He’s getting some very beautiful colors out of the instrument. Nice voicings. Is that Ben Monder? No. I like Ben. “My Man’s Gone Now,” a Gershwin tune. This is really pretty. Is that Paul Motian on drums? Is this Frisell? Aha. He does a lot of different things. He does a lot of things with swells and he uses effects. You never know what kind of bag he’s going to come out of. Oh, yeah! He’s a very wonderful musician, and he’s a very nice guy, too. I have to be honest with you. For a while, I had a problem with listening to guys like Bill Frisell and Metheny and Scofield, a lot of the white players. Not because they were bad musicians. It’s just that whenever white writers would write about these guys, I always got the feeling that they were making them out to be superior to a lot of the black players. So for a long time, I didn’t listen to these kinds of players, but after having met them, I found out that they don’t think like that at all. These are very nice men and they’re great musicians. 3 stars. This was very good. I like listening to things like this, but after a while I like to hear some time. I like to hear guys deal with time. But Frisell is great. He’s a wonderful musician. But for a while I didn’t want to hear guys like that, because of the way certain writers would write about them. But having met them, I know that they don’t think like that at all. These are very soulful guys. They’re just about the music.

8. Calvin Newborn, “Newborn Blues” (from New Born, Yellow Dog, 2005) (Newborn, guitar; Charlie Wood, organ; Renardo Ward, drums)

I like this. This is home here. This is where I live. Whoever this guy is, he likes B.B. King. That’s not B.B., is it? But he likes B.B., whoever he is. I know some critics might look upon this kind of thing as being dated and predictable and not pushing the music forward and whatever, but I NEVER get tired of this, man. The blues, man. To me, jazz needs that. I have no idea who this guy is, but give him the Milky Way, too, whoever the hell he is. I love this. I love the band. I love the way they’re locking in together. This is great. He’s not playing anything slick or fancy, but it makes sense, it works, and it sounds great. Oh, yes, yes, YES! Oh, yeah. Cornell Dupree? Calvin Newborn! Know how I knew? The touch! That’s what I’m talking about. All the stars in the universe. I’m very suspicious… You’ve played some great stuff today. But I read about a lot of players who the critics write about as players who are pushing the envelope or players who are breaking away from the tradition. I’m very suspicious about players who are described that way, because to me, all it means is that they deleted all of the ethnic elements out of the music—or the black elements out of the music. Players who adopt a Eurocentric perspective seem to be the ones who are described as pushing the music forward. I mean, I know the music has to move forward and everything, but come on, man. If you don’t have this, you got nothing. You might have something else, but you need those ethnic elements to have jazz, man. Some people may disagree with me, but that’s just the way I feel. Right on, Calvin Newborn. Bend those notes. Play that blues. [LAUGHS] Yeah! That’s how I feel about that one. Listening to him… I got the same feeling as I got when Joel Harrison played. I don’t care what color he is. I’m sure he’s white. But he is not afraid to acknowledge the blues, those black elements. He’s a brave white man who is not afraid to acknowledge that in his playing. My hat’s off to him.

9. Baden Powell, “Samba Triste” (from Live A Bruxelles, Sunnyside, 1999/2005 (Powell, guitar, composer)

This is just okay. Whenever I hear people play solo guitar, especially on the nylon string, I like to hear a lot less sloppiness. I don’t mean to sound like I’m nitpicking. I know it sounds like I am. But I have to tell you how I feel. This is a little sloppy for my taste. This doesn’t really go anywhere. If there is a melody, it’s damn near nonexistent. The tune is weak and I think it’s poorly played. I have no idea who this is. Whoever he is, it’s probably a legend. But this is a pretty poor performance. Is it Barney Kessel? Well, I don’t know if he did anything on the nylon string anyway. Bad guess. Bill Harris? He’s a guitarist who lived in D.C. who did some things on the nylon string guitar. No, this is not good. 1star. That’s Baden Powell? That’s surprising, because I’ve heard him play. I feel really bad that I don’t like this, because I love Baden Powell. He’s a monster player. I love the way he plays. But this is not a good performance. I’ve heard him play on other things, and the touch is a little more delicate than this.

10. Paul Bollenback, “Too High”(from Soul Grooves, Challenge, 1999) (Bollenback, guitar, arranger; Joey DeFrancesco, organ; Jeff Watts, drums; Broto Roy, tabla; Stevie Wonder, composer)

This is a catchy tune. The band is swinging. Is this Too High? Yeah. That’s a Stevie Wonder tune. This is nice. They put a lot of thought into this. I have no idea who the guitar player is. Now, the guitar player has got some chops. Once again, a very strong Benson influence. George is all over the place. Is it Paul Bollenback? Okay. [LAUGHS] I know his ideas and his touch. Very nice arrangement. He put some thought into this. It’s very well played. Is that Joey on organ? Byron Landham on drums? Billy Hart? Whoever he is, he’s really locking in, man. He’s swinging, laying that pocket down. That’s Tain? Whoa! That doesn’t surprise me. He played on my all-ballad record, Heartstrings, and Tain, man… He’s got the whole history of the drums. There are a lot of young drummers coming up nowadays who are influenced by him, but I don’t think they’ve really checked out what makes Jeff Watts, Jeff Watts. He’s got Kenny Clarke, he’s got Baby Dodds, he’s got Elvin, he’s got Tony—he’s got everything. And he’s incorporated all of these influences and came up with his own thing. Yeah! 4 stars. With Tain, swinging is not an afterthought. Whatever wild and crazy things he does, it’s all rooted in swing. It’s all about that groove. It’s never an afterthought for him.

11. Kurt Rosenwinkel, “Brooklyn Sometimes”(from Deep Song, Verve, 2005) (Rosenwinkel, guitar, composer; Brad Mehldau, piano; Larry Grenadier, bass; Ali Jackson, drums)

Kurt Rosenwinkel. That’s Kurt! He’ s a great musician. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s always very musical. I have quite a few of his records around here. He’s a wonderful musician. Plays the piano. Knows the instrument and the history of the music. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a phenomenal player. That’s his latest release on Verve, Deep Song. I have it. That’s the beauty of being in New York. You have so many different types of musicians here. So many different types of music to take advantage of. I always tell young players when they come here, don’t just get locked into one thing. You may have your taste and your preferences, but go out and hear all kinds of different things. Go out and hear these different kinds of players, because you may find something you’re able to use. That’s why I love being in the city, because I get to hear all kinds of players on any given night. 4 stars.

https://downbeat.com/news/detail/qa-with-russell-malone 

Q&A with Russell Malone: Truth in Who You Are

Interview, Russell Malone, Benny Green, Lonnie Plaxico

by John Murph    

July 31, 2017

Downbeat 

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Guitarist Russell Malone’s new album is TIme For The Dancers (HighNote).  (Photo:  Courtesy of the artist)

It’s nearly impossible not to move while listening to Russell Malone’s enticing new album, Time For The Dancers (HighNote). The 53-year-old guitarist and composer packs plenty of boogie into his retooling of the Sir Roland Hanna-penned title track, provoking you to bob your head; the gutbucket “Leave It To Lonnie” invites you to get on the good foot; and the sensual reading of Peggy Lee’s “There’ll Be Another Spring” seduces you to sway slowly.

Complemented by the same ensemble featured on his 2016 disc, All About Melody (HighNote)—drummer Willie Jones III, pianist Rick Germanson, and bassist Luke Sellick—Malone delivers a bona fide “feel-good” album that will resonate with a wide audience.

DownBeat caught up with Malone to discuss the chemistry he’s forged with his current bandmates, which, with the substitution of Sellick for bassist Gerald Cannon, has recorded and toured with him for the past several years. Malone also discussed the inspirations behind some of the disc’s tunes.

Let’s talk about the chemistry you’ve forged with this band. Even with Sellick being relatively new to the ensemble, the rapport is quite strong. And a lot of these songs were road-tested before you recorded them.

A lot of it has to do with trust. When you have trust, you don’t have to try to make something happen. Everything will take care of itself. That applies to relationships in general—not just in music.

The title of the album is Time For The Dancers. Talk a bit how the concept of dance—regardless of what kind—helps you shape your melodies and improvisations.

Remember the first time you heard music—probably as a little child? The first time I heard music was in church. I wasn’t concerned about the technical aspects of the music. The first time I heard music, it made me want to dance. That’s what music is supposed to do.

There’s definitely that element of wanting to listen, to take things apart and analyze them. That’s all good, too. But I think if someone wants to dance to the music, it’s natural.

I had conversations with some of the older jazz players, like Lou Donaldson and Benny Golson—and they talked about how years ago people would dance to the music. When the beboppers got a hold of it, the music became more of this intellectual thing, where you just sat down and listened to it. And that’s all well and good, too. But I like people to dance to my music and have a good time.

I know some musicians who don’t like that; they [get] distracted by people clapping and dancing during the performance. I’ve been onstage with some musicians who really get uptight when the audience gets very vocal and physical with enthusiasm. Usually, it was someone who was younger and took themselves a little too seriously. They take offense to people responding that way.

But people dancing and responding vocally never bothered me. I think it has something to do with my musical upbringing. I played all kinds of gigs—country, funk, jazz and gospel.

Could you reflect on your experience with bassist Lonnie Plaxico? When I first heard the tune “Leave It To Lonnie,” I thought it was a reference to Dr. Lonnie Smith because of the groove.

Lonnie [Plaxico] and I met when I first came to New York back in 1985. We worked at Barry Harris’ Jazz Cultural Theater. They had jam sessions at this place. Lonnie’s only a couple of years older than me. But he was already on the scene, playing with Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey and Dexter Gordon. Lonnie and I ended up playing together onstage at the jam session. After we finished playing, Lonnie walks up to me and says, “Hey man, you sound good,” then asked me where I was from. I told him Atlanta. Then he said, “You sounded great. You got a good feeling and you hear changes really well. But while you may get away with playing that way down in Georgia, you can’t get away with that kind of playing up here in New York.”

His comment caught me off guard. He said, “I can hear a lot of your influences. But at some point, you’re going to have to play who you are, because New York has already seen the Grant Greens, the Wes Montgomerys, the Kenny Burrells and the George Bensons. And the reason why they were able to thrive when they came here was because they had something of their own to offer.”

Nobody had ever told it to me like that. I got to thinking about some of my experiences on the local scene in Georgia. Not only did people there expect you to sound a certain way; they expected you to sound like other people down there.

Lonnie gave me some of the best advice ever. We have remained friends ever since.

Many different kinds of artists receive the type of advice that Lonnie gave you. But hearing that advice is far easier than actually applying it. Talk about the point in which first you recognized in your music that you were playing who you are.

Everybody has a voice. You can take the most derivative-sounding musician and if you listen to them [long] enough, you’re going to hear some things that are unique. What that type of musician doesn’t always have—particularly when they’re young —is the confidence to speak in their personal voice.

Early on in everyone’s development, you want to be accepted and liked. When I was a younger musician, there were certain things that I felt I had to play or needed to play just so people would accept me. I understood what Lonnie told me, but sometimes it takes time for certain things to really sink in.

I got to a certain age where I said to myself, “As much as I love all of the people who’ve influenced me, when it comes to being Russell Malone, there’s nobody better. There’s nobody better than me at me being me.” That was a revelation for me. I learned to embrace my so-called imperfections, my quirks, even my ethnicity.

I don’t care if West Montgomery came back down to Earth with wings on his back, playing a golden guitar with golden strings; I still have to play me.

Another revelation that came to me when I got older is that I didn’t have to like everything about my mentors; I don’t have to make the same musical choices. It’s like realizing that your parents aren’t perfect. As much you love, respect and appreciate them, you realize that they are not infallible.

On Time For The Dancers, you revisit some of your older songs, such as “A Ballad For Hank Crawford.” In the liner notes, you mention that it took you almost a decade to complete that tune. Why so long?

I had never recorded that tune before. I actually began working on it when I first started making records. I’d thought about putting it on my Black Butterfly record [in 1993], but the tune wasn’t quite ready yet. And at that time, I wasn’t even thinking about Hank Crawford; I just had this soulful, bluesy idea in my head.

Then I got to hanging out with Hank Crawford. We worked together on this B.B. King record, Let The Good Times Roll [1999]; it was a tribute to Louis Jordan. I heard Hank’s music on the radio a lot; I just loved the way he played.

After that session, I started messing around with that tune again. I came up with some different things that I wanted to incorporate, then I left it alone. A couple of years later, I went back and finished it. I think it really captures Hank.

You also revisit “Flowers For Emmett Till.” That song was on your 1992 debut as well as 2004’s Bluebird with pianist Benny Green. Why did you feel the need to revisit it at this particular time?

A lot of people liked that song. The thing that inspired it was me being in junior high school and having one of my teachers who was always trying to keep us socially conscious and culturally aware about our history. One day, she came to school with a Jet magazine that had an article about the death of Emmett Till [1941–’55]. She told the story about how he was accused of getting fresh with a white woman. She showed us the picture of his mutilated body in the coffin, and then said, “This is what hate and ignorance look like.”

I had nightmares about that picture for a long time. I never told my parents about those nightmares. So I started hearing this melody in my head when I was still that little kid even though I had a lot to learn musically. But I could play that little melody on the guitar—just those single notes. As I started advancing as a [musician], I decided to play it on my first record on nylon-string guitar in a pseudo-classical way. Then on the record with Benny Green, I played it solo again but on electric guitar.

When I was putting the music together for this latest recording, I wanted to play it because I was never completely satisfied with the previous versions. So I decided to try it with an ensemble. And it turned out pretty well.

Plus, the lady [Carolyn Bryant] who accused Emmett of making a pass [in a Mississippi grocery store in 1955] came out this year to confess that she lied. When I heard that, I said, “Well, I’ll be damned! A [teenager’s] life was taken violently because of ignorance, hate and lies.”

So much stuff has happened, and we still have a long way to go. … I have fans from all over the place, of all different nationalities and colors. So things like this need to be talked about. DB

https://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/music/jazz-fest-russell-malone-brings-his-influence-to-bear

  1. Music
  2. Arts

Jazz fest: Russell Malone brings his influence to bear

by Peter Hadekel   
Special to Montreal Gazette
July 15, 2020  
"I always try to be open and flexible, I don't turn up my nose at country music or funk like some jazz players do," says guitarist Russell Malone. "Everybody's got something to say."   
"I always try to be open and flexible, I don't turn up my nose at country music or funk like some jazz players do," says guitarist Russell Malone. "Everybody's got something to say." Photo by Tijana Martin /Montreal Gazette

It was 20 years ago that guitarist Russell Malone joined Diana Krall’s band, starting a four-year run that included three Grammy-nominated albums and that showcased his talents to audiences worldwide.

ut Malone is quick to point out he was already a well-seasoned musician by then, after stints with organist Jimmy Smith, singer Freddie Cole and Harry Connick Jr.’s big band for four years.

“I loved playing with Diana,” he recalled in an interview from his New Jersey home. “But I wouldn’t have been able to play that way if it hadn’t been for everything that came before.”

By then, the Georgia-born guitarist had assimilated a wide range of influences from country legend Chet Atkins to blues masters like B.B. King and Buddy Guy. In the jazz space, George Benson was a beacon.

“What attracted me to George was just the control he had on the instrument,” Malone recalled. “He played so effortlessly and fluidly. There was a sound he got out of that guitar. I saw George when I was 12 and that let me know there was a whole level of excellence to aspire to.”

Malone brings all those influences to Upstairs Thursday and Friday with a quartet comprising Rick Germanson on piano, Luke Sellick on bass and Willie Jones III on drums. He  has a warm and relaxed sound but stresses that straight-ahead jazz is only part of what he loves to play.

“I always try to be open and flexible, I don’t turn up my nose at country music or funk like some jazz players do. Everybody’s got something to say.” He mentions several Brazilian guitarists as inspirations and adds that “Eddie Van Halen is great.”

Malone crafted his personal style as a self-taught musician who learned by ear and later refined that knowledge with help from a few masters.

“I didn’t go to music school but I think people make too much out of being self-taught,” he says. “I don’t care how much you learn on your own, at some point you have to admit your shortcomings if you’re going to get better.

“You have to find people who are better than you that can help you. I was fortunate because I was around great musicians who would tell me what I needed to work on, like sight-reading. I’m still working on that and trying to get better.”

He learned other things, too, like how to play with people, how to accompany, knowing what not to play and how to stay out of the way – all things you can’t really pick up on your own.

“I didn’t take any playing experience for granted. I got something valuable from each experience,” he says. Playing with Jimmy Smith, for example, “I got my hide handed to me every night,” he adds with a laugh.

He also likes to rise to the occasion, such as the time he subbed for the great Jim Hall in a tour with fellow guitarist Bill Frisell. It would be hard to find a more unusual pairing given their different musical styles but “we had no problem sitting in,” he says. “We acknowledged we were different players but once we got past that, then we started to focus on what we had in common.”

 

 

 
 
 
 
https://jazztimes.com/archives/russell-malone/

Russell Malone 

by David R. Adler
 
JazzTimes
 
I love being at home,” says Russell Malone, sitting in the living room of his three-floor row house in Jersey City, N.J. “I got everything I need here at home, man. I got plenty of food, plenty of water, plenty of toilet paper. I don’t have to go nowhere.” This is coming from a guitarist who spent over 300 days on the road last year. But no doubt, Malone keeps a cozy pad with Marlene, his girlfriend of 10 years. He’s lived in Jersey City, just a hop across the river from midtown Manhattan, ever since he relocated from his native Georgia in 1994. (His son and daughter, age 15 and 11 respectively, live with their mother in Nebraska.)

Upon entering Malone’s home on the first floor, I doff my shoes on request and see a number of Malone’s guitars and amps, two Diana Krall gold records, a foldaway treadmill and so on. The eat-in kitchen is straight ahead and to the back. Upstairs on the second floor is a stylish living room as well as a sizable office and a half-bath. On the third floor are two bedrooms and a full bath. Malone is fairly meticulous about keeping the place clean. “I might kick my shoes off and leave them on the floor for a day or so,” he allows. “But two things I cannot tolerate are a funky bathroom and a funky kitchen.”

Malone is more of a guitar freak than a neat freak, however. As soon as he confirmed that I, too, was a guitarist, he was only too eager to let me handle every instrument in the house. Later he put on recordings by George Van Eps, George Barnes, George Benson and even free improviser Joe Morris. “It’s hard for me to find a guitar player I don’t like,” he says. “I love hearing the guitar played well, and it doesn’t matter what style it is.”

But perhaps even more than listening, Malone loves to play. Before I left the house I ran the gauntlet and jammed with him, for close to an hour. The musicality and sheer brawn of Malone’s fretwork can be overpowering. His time feel is as solid as the very best drummers’. If he had one hand and I had four, Malone would bury me. But the mood in the room was exuberant, the vibes entirely positive. There was a utilitarian aspect to our session as well: Malone had been sick and needed to get his chops back. “I’m playing tomorrow with that maniac, Benny Green,” his partner in the new duets disc Bluebird (Telarc).

The past several years have seen a slimmer Russell Malone. “I was in the hotel one night and I looked in the mirror and my gut was so big it looked like someone was walkin’ in front of me.” After getting advice and inspiration from saxophonist and friend Vincent Herring, Malone went on a modified version of the Atkins diet. “Now I’m down to the size I was when I was 20. But if I want to indulge in some sweet potato pie or some vanilla ice cream, certain things I’m not going to deny myself.”

Malone has amassed a formidable discography for a 40-year-old. Recent standouts include two drumless trio recordings, The Golden Striker with Ron Carter and Mulgrew Miller (Blue Note) and Ray Brown, Monty Alexander and Russell Malone (Telarc). After stints on Columbia and Verve, Malone debuted on MaxJazz in March of this year with Playground, featuring pianist Martin Bejerano, bassist Tassili Bond and drummer E.J. Strickland, with special guests Gary Bartz and Joe Locke. “I’m so fortunate that I’m playing music that I like,” Malone says. “I’m playing with some great musicians, and I’m improving all the time. I can look back as recently as a year ago and see where I’ve gotten better.”

Personal File

Car?

A 2000 Toyota Camry, burgundy. “The one before that was a Toyota too. I take the train every now and then but I like driving because it’s very comfortable. I’m more relaxed when I drive because that’s where I do most of my listening.”

Reading?

Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra, by George Jacobs. “He was Sinatra’s valet for 12 years. Sinatra’s a very fascinating character, and it’s interesting to read about him from the perspective of an African-American. There’s lots of juicy stuff in there.” Malone also pulls out Martin Meredith’s biography of Nelson Mandela and a couple of volumes by Ralph Wiley. But he pauses over a book called Bullwhip Days, edited by James Mellon. “I’m going to give this one to my kids when I die. It’s a collection of interviews with actual slaves, people who survived slavery, and they tell what it’s like.”

Computer?

“PC, a Compaq. I pay all my bills on the computer and check my e-mail, and every now and then I like to surf.”

Fitness?

“I got weights over there, a treadmill downstairs. This thing here, it’s some sort of abs machine. I use it to prop up my guitars.”

Movies?

“I love movies. I saw The Passion of the Christ and Starsky and Hutch because I was such a big fan of that show. I liked the movie with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson, Something’s Gotta Give. It was great to see a movie where older people fall in love. I go out to movies; I almost never rent a movie. I’m old fashioned. I like the experience of going out, taking someone and sitting back in a theater.”

Food?

“I eat everything that Noah had on the ark,” Malone chuckles, although he admits to a phobia of raisins. “I had a bad experience. I must have been about four. A guy came to visit my dad, and he was eating raisins. So I put my hand out, and he gave me a handful. I put them in my mouth and threw up on the spot.”
 
https://musicianguide.com/biographies/1608002491/Russell-Malone.html

Born 1963 in Albany, GA. Addresses: Record company--Verve Music Group, 555 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019 Phone: (212) 424-1000 Fax: (212) 424-1007.

Jazz guitarist Russell Malone provided an interesting analogy to describe his approach to music. As he told Billboard magazine's Steve Graybow, "One of the things that made Franklin Roosevelt such a good president was that while he was educated--an aristocrat--he still knew how to talk to the common man. That principle should apply to music. Every song doesn't have to be a lesson in theory and harmony. A lot of guys feel a need to educate the audience; I'd rather reach people."

Born in Albany, Georgia, in 1963, Malone grew up within a deeply spiritual church environment that influenced his early interest in music. He received his first instrument, "a green plastic four-string" according to Malone, at the age of four. However, after watching legendary blues guitarist B.B. King play "How Blue Can You Get" during an episode of the popular 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son, Malone started gravitating to various other musical forms besides gospel. And as the young guitarist discovered the blues, country, and jazz, he began to marvel at the musicianship of both country singers/guitarists such as Chet Atkins and Johnny Cash, as well as jazz guitarists like Wes Montgomery and George Benson.

Listening to the songs of the aforementioned performers and others, Malone taught himself how to play guitar. By the time he reached 25 years of age, he accepted his first gig playing with master organist Jimmy Smith. During his first performance with Smith, Malone recalled, "It made me realize that I wasn't as good as I thought I was," according to the Verve Music Group. Two years later, Malone joined singer/pianist Harry Connick, Jr.'s orchestra, holding this position from 1991 through 1994. In the meantime, Malone also worked with a diverse variety of other musicians, including Clarence Carter, Little Anthony, Peabo Bryson, Mulgrew Miller, The Winans, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Bucky Pizzarelli, and Jack McDuff.

Malone recorded his first solo album from August of 1991 until March of 1992. Released by Columbia Records in 1992, the self-titled debut provided an opportunity for Malone to display his classic, though modernized, technique. Covering most of the jazz spectrum and utilizing both electric and acoustic guitar, the album featured uplifting songs such as "When I Take My Sugar to Tea" and "I Can't Believe That You're in Love With Me" (a duet with friend Connick), in addition to more relaxed compositions like "Moonlight Serenade" and "London By Night." Pianist Donald Brown, bassists Milt Hinton and Robert Hurst, and drummers Yoron Israel and Shannon Powell also joined Malone for recording sessions. The following year, Malone returned with a second solo effort entitled Black Butterfly, recorded March through April of 1993 and again issued by Columbia. His accompanying lineup included Gary Motley on piano, Steve Nelson on vibraphone, Paul Keller on bass, and Peter Siers on drums. Similar to his previous release, Malone's follow-up effort, a collection of both original and cover tunes, was marked by his ability to combine the rich jazz tradition of master guitarists with clever melodies and youthful arrangement. Yet at the same time, Malone played more tightly with his backing musicians.

Up to this point in his career, the young singer/guitarist remained virtually overlooked by the mainstream jazz audience. But with Black Butterfly, critics and jazz enthusiasts began to take notice. Reviewer Michael Wright surmised in Audio: "Malone takes command immediately with an aggressive tribute to Wes Montgomery highlighted by nimble, hellbent lines; next comes a salute to Kenny Burrell, loaded with surprising and delightful intervalic skips that wind up the tension and get you in the mood for more electric improvisations. Whether it's bluesy bends and rapid jumping between fast, angular scales and glissando chords or the gentle, rippling arpeggios of a lullaby, Malone is remarkably precise and expressive."

Despite his accomplishments as a bandleader, Malone opted to place his solo aspirations aside for the time being. Rather than focus his attentions on a third album right away, the musician instead returned to joining other solo artists. In addition to continuing to record with Connick and landing a small role as a guitarist in Robert Altman's 1996 film Kansas City, Malone also appeared on Stephen Scott's 1997 release The Beautiful Thing and on Benny Green's 1997 album Kaleidoscope. Other recordings included sessions with Roy Hargrove and Gary Bartz.

Around 1995, Malone joined Diana Krall's studio and live band. From the onset, according to Malone, he and the singer/pianist developed a near telepathic relationship. "It's good working with a singer who can sing," the guitarist told Willard Jenkins in Down Beat, "and Diana is a musician, so it makes it easy; singing good songs and trusting in each other. My favorite part of the show is when we do duets, just voice and guitar." Considered his most precipitous hook-up, Malone's work with Krall included appearing on the singer's two Grammy-nominated albums, All For You in 1996 and Love Scenes in 1997, in addition to touring and performing with Krall's band throughout the world.

Although Malone's career was anything but inactive in the years following Black Butterfly, many jazz enthusiasts wondered what had become of the guitarist's acclaimed solo work. Finally in October of 1998, Malone eased the minds of fans and critics alike with the release of the highly praised Sweet Georgia Peach, his Impulse!/GRP (an imprint of the Verve Music Group) label debut. For his third solo effort, Malone assimilated a cast of jazz music's most noted players: bassist Ron Carter, pianist Kenny Barron, and drummer Lewis Nash. "I've been listening to Ron Carter since I was 8 or 9 years old," the guitarist told Graybow. "When I put the headphones on and I heard that sound coming through, well, it took maybe two hours for me to get my composure back. People talk about the late-1960s Miles Davis Quintet, and how much the sound revolved around Tony Williams. That may have been true to some extent, but I don't think it would have sounded the way it did without Ron Carter." And Malone gave similar adulations to his other backing musicians. "Lewis Nash has the ability to fit into any situation. But at the same time he manages to stand out and do something unique," remarked Malone. Describing Barron, the guitarist noted, "there are a lot of piano players who may play slicker or faster, but you'd be hard pressed to find a better piano player than Kenny Barron."

GRP President Tommy LiPuma, who produced the album, also inspired Malone's ensemble, sitting beside the musicians rather than behind the console during recording sessions. "He loves melody and honesty and honesty and beauty, and I think that came out here. I will never forget one of my earlier conversations with the powers that be--they told me 'you have a lot of technique and chops and we want to showcase that.' Basically, they wanted me to play fast. But working with Tommy was a musician's dream," said Malone, as quoted by his record label.

Sweet Georgia Peach consisted of both original and cover tunes, including a version of Herb Albert's radio pop song "Rise," Thelonious Monk's "Bright Mississippi," and a rendition of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," a tribute to the African American church tradition of Malone's childhood. Of all the songs on the album, though, Malone was most proud of his own "Song For Darius," written for and dedicated to the musicians then ten-year-old son. Holding to his belief in placing melody above technique, Malone declined the inclusion of "complexity for complexity's sake," the musician told Verve. "I was down in Georgia visiting my mother; she doesn't know anything about the technical aspects of music. And when I played the album for her, she liked it. A lot of people write songs that are understandable only to them and other musicians, but I like to write things that the average person can get into. And when you see your kids running around dancing to what you're playing, that is a good indication that you've got it."

Likewise, critics agreed that Malone succeeded in making a comprehensible record without compromising musical style and craftsmanship. "It isn't just the uncluttered flow of Malone's phrasing or the deft assurance of his touch that makes this disc such a... well, a peach," concluded Gene Seymour of Newsday. "There's also an easygoing ingenuity in both his original compositions (such as the hard-driving 'Mugshot' and the frisky title tune) and his arrangements of such boilerplate pop as 'With You, I'm Born Again' (seamlessly melded with his original ballad, 'Strange Little Smile')." And although the guitarist's collection featured such an adept backing rhythm section, "Malone brings enough control, vitality and intelligence to his material to make him more than worthy of such auspicious company."

During the summer of 1999, Malone took a break from Krall's live group to play dates with a trio that also consisted of bassist Christian McBride and pianist Benny Green. He also toured with his latest working group, which included Richie Goods on bass, Byron Landham on drums, and Anthony Wonsey on piano. These musicians also worked with Malone for the guitarist's forthcoming album, expected to be issued in the year 2000 by the Verve label. Regarding the follow-up release to Sweet Georgia Peach, Malone revealed to Jenkins, "I wrote some new material, and I did some arrangements of some popular tunes that are a bit left of center. I did the theme from The Odd Couple and I did a Stevie Wonder tune called 'You Will Know.'" Also in 1999, Malone received Down Beat magazine's critics poll award for best jazz guitarist of 1998.

by Laura Hightower 

Russell Malone's Career

Started playing guitar at the age of four; joined organist Jimmy Smith's band at age 25; played with Harry Connick, Jr.'s ensemble, 1991-1994; released two solo albums on Columbia Records, Russell Malone, 1992; and Black Butterfly, 1993; member of Diana Krall's live and studio band, c. 1995-; released third solo effort, Sweet Georgia Peach, on the Impulse!/GRP label, 1998.

Russell Malone's Awards

Down Beat magazine critics poll award for best jazz guitarist, 1998.

Famous Works

Further Reading

Sources

Books
  • Cook, Richard and Brian Morton, editors, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on Compact Disc, Penguin Books, 1998.
Periodicals
  • Audio, January 1994, p. 128.
  • Billboard, March 14, 1998, p. 46.
  • Down Beat, August 1999, p. 50.
  • Newsday, August 30, 1998, p. D26.
  • Newsweek, November 9, 1998, p. 76.
  • Record (Bergen County, NJ), February 2, 1993, p. b05; October 2, 1998, p. 013.
  • Additional information provided by the Verve Music Group.

https://jazz.fm/russell-malone-interview-honesty-in-the-art-of-jazz/

Russell Malone looks for honesty in the art of jazz

by Brad Barker

January 30, 2020

JazzFM91

Russell Malone is a guitarist who gives you everything in his playing. You get fire and touch, you get beauty and tone.

He’s one of the most versatile guitarists in the jazz world over the last 40 years, playing with the likes of Jimmy Smith, Harry Connick Jr., Diana Krall, Ron Carter and Ray Brown.

Ahead of a performance in Toronto, Malone joined us for a conversation about what it takes to find your sound, and how he defines his own.

You’re known for the beauty of your tone and sound. You’ve said that it’s all in your hands, that it’s who you are. You’ve said you were listening to yourself as a 16-year-old and you could recognize all the traits of your sound. Is it who you are when you’re born, or is it a process by which you come to that sound after a lot of hard work?

I think everybody has a sound, everybody has a voice. What everybody doesn’t have — particularly in the early stages of development — is the confidence to speak with that voice. Think about it. You could take the most derivative-sounding person, and if you listen to them closely enough, you’re going to hear some things that are unique and personal to that person. But everybody doesn’t always have the confidence to speak with their own voice, because early on, we’re all looking to be accepted, and we want to be liked. There was a period in my career when I felt that I needed to play a certain way in order to be accepted — I wanted to be liked. But after a while, I reached a certain point and I said, you know what? When it comes to being Russell Malone, there’s nobody better than me. I’m the best Russell Malone there is. It’s kind of like coming to the realization that you parents aren’t perfect. I don’t have to make the same choices that they made in life. I don’t have to play the same things that my predecessors played, or play it the way that they played it. That doesn’t mean that I don’t respect them, but once you realize that you don’t have to do that, then that’s a healthy step toward your own personal development.

When you say you were trying to massage your sound to please people, in what ways were you doing that?

I wanted to be accepted. I felt that I had to play like Wes Montgomery or, you know, the people before me, in order to be accepted. But after a while, you just have to accept your so-called imperfections, your quirks, all of that. At the end of the day, that’s what counts. That’s what matters. This music is about personal expression — not just jazz, but any style of music. It’s all about personal expression.

There’s something about the honesty that you put out there about your own development, and the teachable moments in your life. To that point, you’ve talked about a gig you did in Philadelphia with Trudy Pitts, and you were playing a little bit outside to get some hoots and hollers from some of the younger people, and you had a chance to speak with Kenny Burrell afterward. Do you remember that story?

I remember it like it was yesterday. We were playing a Sunday brunch, and I was the youngest guy in the band … We were just playing tunes. The audience was a group of people who liked to hear songs. Kenny Burrell happened to be in the audience that day, but there were also some young people, a little bit younger than me, and whenever I would play something a little dissonant, a little on the outside, they’d be hooting and hollering. The more they did that, the more outside I played. So, after the gig was over, I was on my way to go greet Kenny Burrell but these guys stopped me and complimented me on what I played. They said, “Yeah man, you really push the envelope.” I’m feeling good about myself, and then I walked over to Kenny Burrell. We exchanged pleasantries and I had the gall to say to him, “Hey, do you hear what I’m working on?” He put it all in perspective. He said, “What you did might have worked well in another concert, but look around the room. Look at the people you’re playing with.” He said, “I understand you want to experiment and everything, but you also have to play for the situation. Allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to play for the situation. Don’t ever try to prove anything, because as long as you’re trying to prove something, it’s not honest.” And I never forgot that. I passed the lesson on to people who were coming up behind me, the younger players.

To that point about putting the audience first, this is a quote that you said: “I think we all sound better when our bills are paid and when our bellies are full.” You like to play for people and you like to have success. You’re inclusive and you want this to be a profession that rewards you.

I mean, if you’re not reaching people, what’s the point? You can be a virtuoso and just play for yourself in the practice room. To me, there’s no glory in being a broke virtuoso. I don’t mean to come off as if I’m putting the sole emphasis on money, but I like to eat. I’ve got two kids. They’re grown now, but I like to be able to take care of myself, take care of my family. I like to eat. I like nice things. So, I’m fortunate that I’m able to make a decent living. There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s no virtue in being a core virtuoso. I don’t believe in that. That’s why I bristle up whenever I hear people make comments about Wes Montgomery or George Benson “selling out.” What the heck does that mean? I see it as them cashing in on their talent. Better them to cash in on it than some imitator.

 

It also seems that that approach is also very fitting to your style. You’re one of the most lyrical players. That’s your strength. I’ve heard that you’re happy as long as you’ve got good chord changes and good melody.

That’s very true. I like songs. I like to play songs and I like to play melody. I can play a beautiful ballad, just play that melody, and I don’t even need to solo on it. I just get so much satisfaction out of playing the melody. There are so many beautiful songs out there. That approach has served me well. It’s one of the reasons I get along with singers. I don’t need to be in the spotlight playing all these blazing solos. I like being able to accompany, lay that backdrop down for them and play something pretty behind them to let them shine. I did a workshop not too long ago, and these young students were asking me what I work on. And I told them at this point, I’m always working on time. I’m always working on time, because you’ve got to make it feel good. And sometimes I pick up my guitar and just work on melodies — making those melodies sing. I’m just as influences by vocalists as I am by instrumentalists. In fact, whenever I learn a song, particularly a ballad, I listen to Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole, Ella… I listen to these singers just so I can get the story and because I think learning the lyrics is very important. I want to have that lyrical quality be at the forefront of my playing. That’s who I am.

In essence, you’re trying to sing through your guitar.

That’s exactly right. You nailed it.

Are you sometimes thinking of the lyrics themselves when you play? Are you trying to emote the same way that the lyric would be telling that story?

Yes, indeed. I play a song like For Heaven’s Sake, it’s on that Billie Holiday record Lady in Satin. I think about the lyrics, “For heaven’s sake, let’s fall in love / It’s no mistake to fall in live / Angels holding hands with me / How heavenly heaven can be.” I’m thinking about these things, and when I think about that, it helps me to really get to the heart of the matter.

 

http://dirtydogjazz.com/Blog/index.php/russell-malone-and-the-modern-jazz-guitar/

Jazz Notes With Judy Adams
 
Russell Malone and the Modern Jazz Guitar
September 29, 2017 
DirtyDogJazz 

RussMaloneKUVOorg

Jazz guitarist Russell Malone  /  Photo:Kuvo.org

The role of the guitar in Jazz has been very noteworthy. It parallels the evolution of Jazz in the 20th century – the time when Jazz carved out its new identity as an American musical art form.

Guitars were used in Jazz from the beginning due to their prior use in marching and military brass bands of the 19th century. As music began to evolve more rapidly during this period of modernism, Jazz in particular, and the role of the Jazz guitar paralleled this evolution.

In fact, both the guitar and the piano defined the so much of the music of the 20th century from Blues and Jazz to Rock, Folk, Country and more.   With the advent of amplified instruments, both guitar and piano took on a whole new sound and role in the development of above mentioned genres.

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Jazz Guitar Virtuoso, Charlie Christian / 

Photo: AllaboutJazz

In 1940, Charlie Christian, (July 29, 1916-March 2, 1942).  and his electrically amplified Gibson ES 50 allowed the guitar to be a solo instrument that could be heard alongside the saxophone and trumpet and the piano-bass-drums rhythm section. A virtuoso player, widely considered the “father” of the electric Jazz guitar and a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz.

He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra. His single-string technique, combined with amplification, helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument.

Today Jazz guitar is a established component of the Jazz repertoire. Some of Jazz’s most essential artists are or have been guitarists. These include not only Charlie Christian but Gypsy Jazz/Manouche guitar virtuoso Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Detroit’s own Kenny Burrell, Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin and many others including Russell Malone who returns to the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe on Friday and Saturday, October 13-14. He’ll be with his quartet, which consists of Rick Germanson (piano), Luke Sellick (bass) and Brandon sanders (drums).

RMaloneRCarterRedbacksWebcom

Russell Malone on guitar with Ron Carter on bass at the 2011 New Orleans Jazz Festival. Photo: redbacksweb

Malone is one of the most significant and well-rounded guitarists in Jazz today. He has a broad background in playing many subgenres in the idiom with various key Jazz style makers. This allowed him to develop an understanding of the basic structure of these styles that all come together in his approach to the music in general.These include collaborations he has had with such influential artists as: Bluesman B.B. King, Jazz organ icon, Jimmy Smith, Ron Carter, Roy Hargrove, Dianne Reeves, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Sonny Rollins and many others. He’s also been prolific in the studio as a leader and a sideman with more than 15 albums recorded under his own name.

If you’re Jazz guitar fan, you won’t want to miss Russell Malone and his quartet, October 13-14 at the Dirty Dog. For reservations and information call 313-882-5299.

Detroit Public Radio mainstay, Judy Adams, is a pianist, composer and musicologist who hosts a Jazz and contemporary music show on CJAM 99.1FM and guest hosts on WRCJ 90.9FM.

https://www.npr.org/2012/11/30/166264628/russell-malone-on-piano-jazz 

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Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz

Russell Malone On Piano Jazz

Grant Jackson

 
 
AUDIO:  <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/166264628/166163385" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"></iframe>
 
Russell Malone
Courtesy of the artist

Set List

  • "Something's Gotta Give" (J. Mercer)
  • "Yesterdays" (J. Kern)
  • "Squeeze Me" (E.K. Ellington)
  • "Gone With The Wind" (F. Alhert, J. Young)
  • "All About You" (B. Carter)
  • "Blackberry Winter" (A. Wilder, L. McGlohon)
  • "Talk Of The Town" (J. Livingston)
  • "Blues And Boogie" (J. Gillespie)

On this episode of Piano Jazz, guitarist Russell Malone stops by along with bassist Richie Good for a set of solo, duo and trio performances with host Marian McPartland.

Malone was born in Albany, Ga., where he was raised on the music of the church and also picked up blues and country tunes he'd heard on radio and TV. He discovered jazz guitar upon seeing a TV performance by George Benson with Benny Goodman's band. A largely self-taught player, Malone honed his jazz chops by listening to recordings of the guitar canon: Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Benson and others.

After sitting in with — and getting schooled by — jazz organ giant Jimmy Smith one night in Atlanta, Malone soon joined his group from 1988 to 1990. Following that job, Malone joined the Harry Connick Jr. Big Band and then played on three Grammy-nominated albums with vocalist and pianist Diana Krall.

Malone currently tours and records with his Russell Malone Quartet and Russell Malone Trio. He is a member of the Golden Striker Trio with bassist Ron Carter and pianist Mulgrew Miller, and has also worked with Benny Green, Ray Brown, Bobby Hutcherson, Bill Frisell, Shirley Horn and Natalie Cole, and recently toured with Sonny Rollins. A versatile player outside of jazz, Malone has performed alongside Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, B.B. King and Christina Aguilera.

    Russell Malone was named Guitarist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2011. His latest recording is Triple Play.

    Originally broadcast Feb. 2, 2002.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/russell-malone-guitar-master-russell-malone-by-rj-deluke

Russell Malone: Guitar Master

Russell Malone: Guitar Master
  
by

AllaboutJazz
"There's something about singers. For me, they know how to get the most out of a song and out of a lyric, regardless of genre."
—Russell Malone

"People make too big of a deal about being self taught. Because nobody is completely self taught," ruminates Russell Malone, one of the best loved jazz guitarists by both fans and critics. His sound is full and rich; his fingers fleet,the ideas springing from his head to his hands with speed and dexterity. But the origins of his style and the status he's achieved do not have academic connections.

He's learned from people. And not just about music. He appreciates acquiring knowledge of all kinds. It's evident in the way he speaks—with an air of deep knowledge, understated confidence and deep respect. He relishes observing the character of those around him and incorporating that not only into music but in daily existence. Malone is astute and, as such, open and welcoming of ideas. He can separate the wheat from the chaff in the world of music, business and life.

Malone's travels from Albany, Georgia, to Atlanta, to New York City—and his playing with people like Jimmy Smith, Freddy Cole, Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall, Ron Carter, Sonny Rollins, Ray Brown and others—have contributed to the construction of quite the career. He's an ace guitarist who can swing like mad, scorch the blues or provide just the right, tasty accompaniment. A first-call sideman, he also leads his own exciting groups, something on exhibit on his 2015 release Love Looks Good On You (HighNote).

"I learned a lot musically from working with my heroes like Ray Brown, Ron Carter, Jimmy Smith, Sonny Rollins. But I learned so much just studying the men. Watching how they deal with life. How they deal with certain situations. How they stand. How they eat. All of that stuff has an effect on how they deal with the music," says Malone. "I've been so fortunate sitting and talking with a lot of these players."

When Malone talks about learning to play his instrument, he speaks in terms that can be applied outside holding the piece of wood with six strings stretched from one end to the other.

"You may start out not having access to a lot of academic information. But I think if you are really serious and you want to get to another level, you have to admit there's a lot of things you don't know," he says. "There were things I needed to get together in my playing. I figured early on there was only so much I could learn on my own. I sought out musicians who could show me things, who were better than me. Because you can't get better playing with people who are always telling you you're the best player in this situation or that situation. After awhile, you become complacent. But I've had the good fortune to learn from a lot of great musicians. Some of them aren't famous. I learned a lot just from watching them and hanging out and talking with them. And asking questions. So people make too big of a deal about a person being self taught."

His first exposure to the guitar was in church. He knew quickly that would be the vehicle for his personal expression. He'd always liked music, listening to records his mother played by Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers, the Fantastic Violinaires, the Dixie Hummingbirds. He was attracted to the vocals as well as the guitar.

"There's something about singers. For me, they know how to get the most out of a song and out of a lyric, regardless of genre. I'm as much influenced by vocalists as I am instrumentalists. More so by vocalists," he says. "In fact, people have said to me—one of the greatest compliments I ever receive—certain things I play have a lyrical quality. I appreciate that because it's something that I work on. A lot of it I have to attribute to listening to vocalists."

Those qualities can be heard on his recordings, like last year's offering that is done with a quartet that includes drummer Willie Jones III, bassist Gerald Cannon and—opting to move away from the guitar-bass-drums trio—pianist Rick Germanson.

"I like playing with a really good pianist. I've had the good fortune to play with a few. If they're listening and they don't get in the way, it's a lot of fun. A lot of times when a guitarist and a pianist play together, it can become disastrous if they're not listening and they're not sensitive. Every now and then I run across a pianist that didn't listen. I always make a conscious effort not to ever play with that pianist again. So far, I've had pretty good luck with piano players."

Among the pianists he had the good fortune of playing with was Mulgrew Miller, a giant on the instrument who Malone has linked up with over the years, including his tenure with the Ron Carter Trio. The new recording opens "Soul Leo," with the Miller composition. "He left a huge void when he got out of here," he says of Miller, who died in 2013. "When he was around, the bar was raised. We all miss him. But we have to continue. The best way to continue and to forge ahead is to not let the standard drop."

Malone says the record was easy to make, done in about six hours. The band had been honing the music for some two years on the road. He doesn't believe in using a lot of studio time. He prefers letting the professionalism and spirit of the musicians take over. "It's very important for working bands to document what they've been doing. This music was road tested. We played it in front of several audiences. So we got a chance to see how people responded to it. When you get a favorable response from the crowd, that's a good sign that you got something that should be documented."

Other titles on the outstanding disk include "Ellie's Love Theme" from the Isaac Hayes Shaft film score, Thad Jones' "The Elder," Freddie Hubbard's "Suite Sioux" and another film piece "Your Zowie Face," by Jerry Goldsmith via the 1960s spy spoof In Like Flint.

"I've always picked songs that are off the beaten path. I take pride in knowing a lot of songs. Plus, I like a lot of different types of music," says the guitarist. "All of my favorite musicians have always done that. Miles Davis always took songs from some of the most unlikely places. Sonny Rollins is another who does that. I take pride in knowing a lot of music and appreciating a lot of music. I'm not one of those musicians who will look down their nose at a pop song. A good song is a good song. A good melody is a good melody. If it's good, it's good. Period."

His broad view of music comes from his beginning in Albany, Georgia, where as a kid there wasn't a lot of jazz being played. But he noticed the quality and variety of music he heard on television and radio. "There was more quality entertainment on TV. You could turn it on and see guys playing instruments. You don't see much of that now ... You'd turn on the TV and you would see country shows like 'Hee Haw.' Porter Wagner had a show. With that big platinum hairdo. I remember seeing Merle Travis on his show. That was very enlightening. Seeing Merle Travis, seeing Chet Atkins. Seeing George Benson on "Soundstage." Seeing B.B. King on television. The 'Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.'"


Shows like "The Midnight Special" and "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" were also an influence. "It wasn't jazz, but these musicians were dealing on a high level. I was aware of all of these things that were going on. And listening to the soul music of the day. There was a lot of music going on and I was open to all of it."

Malone knew early on that music was his passion and would be a career pursuit. When he got his hands on a guitar, all the music that went in his ears had an influence on what came out. As he branched out from his home town, his early road gigs were with a gospel group, traveling around the south for no real money. It was in high school that he played his first paying gig at a club. It came from a jam session he attended at the House of Jazz. He went there without his ax, but asked to sit in with an organ trio. They worked out on "Billie's Bounce."

"I must have made an impact because I would come back and they never kicked me out," he quips.

A couple years later, Malone recounts, he was working at a show store and a stranger came in with "a certain swagger ... He asked me to help him find a pair of comfortable shoes, because he wanted to be comfortable while he was playing the organ. When he said 'organ,' that caught my attention."


In conversation, Malone discovered the man was playing at the now-familiar House of Jazz. Malone eventually showed up, sat in and got a paying gig. Another interesting Albany experience came via the proprietor of a music store where Malone was working. Hunter Parker was also an alto saxophonist who told the young guitarist he needed more experience.

"He gave me a gig playing with him at this club which, I found out later on, had a bunch of Klan members as members. They had no love for me. I didn't know this at the time, but he told me later some guys were thinking about beating me up," Malone recalls, now able to chuckle at the notion. "I think the word 'lynching' was used. This old white guy [Parker], he looked out for me. I never forgot that."

Malone eventually moved to Atlanta, after a brief time in Houston. His pockets weren't full, but the guitarist was glad to be experiencing the life of a musician. Atlanta was the beginning of larger steps.

"The thing that was cool about Atlanta was that they had jazz festivals there. I got a chance to meet a lot of the people who came through. Something else that was fascinating about living in Atlanta was they had a bunch of jam sessions. One, at a place called the Living Room Lounge, started at 1 o'clock in the morning and went until 5, which was fascinating to me because everything closed down early in Albany, Georgia. It was like a ghost town, man. The only places that stayed open late were places you didn't want to be. One was the emergency room and the other was the police station."

Malone met Branford Marsalis there in1985. The saxophonist was among the first to put forth the notion of moving to New York. Later that year, Malone made his first Big Apple visit. "That was when my life changed again, man. I said, 'I have to come to this place.' I didn't move there immediately. I was a young man with a family, but I eventually came to New York, which is where I am now."

Before that move, however, Malone—at age 22—made a valuable connection joining the band of Freddy Cole, brother of the legendary Nat King Cole and a fine singer in own right. "Freddy was the one who pulled my coat to paying close attention to lyrics and phrasing."
 

The two were traveling in Cole's old station wagon that was jammed with luggage and Malone's amplifier and guitar. Cole slipped a cassette into the car's player—a Norman Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic recording called The Trumpet Battle 1952. It included a ballad medley with Benny Carter playing "Cocktails for Two," Roy Eldridge playing "It's the Talk of the Town" and Lester Young playing "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You."

"I never forgot that," he fondly recalls. "We sat and listened. When each soloist would come on, Freddy would make comments about what they were doing and he'd make suggestions to me about what I should be doing. He was trying to help me get to a certain level. He also talked to me about learning the lyrics to songs. He said a lot of musicians would make the mistake of listening to instrumentalists to learn songs. He said, 'That's OK, but if you really want to get to the heart of the matter, listen to vocalists.' He talked about Frank Sinatra. He talked about Ella Fitzgerald. He talked about his brother, Nat. About how they got the most out of a song."

"But while we were listening to the horn players play these songs, he was pointing out the vocal qualities that they were demonstrating in their playing. Breathing and leaving space. Not embellishing too much. If you notice, whenever I play ballads, I don't do a whole lot of embellishing with the melody. Maybe a little decoration or two from time to time, but I don't stray to far from the melody when I play ballads. If I hadn't gone through him, I don't think Diana Krall or Harry Connick would have hired me. People say what I did with those two singers, they liked that. I'm flattered. But I think they were getting the benefit of those things I was taught by Freddy. I have to give credit where credit is due."

Once in New York, "I wanted to get as much experience as I could, playing with as many people as I could. A lot of young musicians I've seen, they come to New York and they spend time playing with one band. That's all good if that's what you want to do. That never worked for me. I'm very selective about what I do, but at the same time, I'm always open to new experiences and playing with other people. There's always something you can learn. I take pride in being flexible."

By 1988, Malone had taken a gig with organ icon Jimmy Smith. At a gig with Smith inside the Edison Hotel on 46th Street he met people like Benson, Grady Tate and Rodney Jones. Malone had been playing with Smith for nearly two years when a friend who was working with Connick, bassist Ben Wolfe, introduced Malone to the singer/pianist.

"He wanted to hear me play. I told him where I was going to be. He came over and went to this jam session and he hired me that night. He was just on the heels of 'When Harry Met Sally,' that film. He said he was going into the studio to make another record and would love to have me on board." Malone first had to clear it with Smith. He had a phone conversation with his boss and "I'm thinking everything was cool. I'm trying to give him four months notice. I hung up the phone thinking that was pretty painless. The next day I got an express mail envelope and it was a letter of termination, from his wife. He and his wife were pissed. How dare you leave Jimmy Smith and go play with this guy?"

Malone chuckles at the memory, even though he lost out on weeks of work. He joined Connick's band in 1989. "I played with Harry at the Newport Jazz Festival. George Benson was at the festival that day, playing with the Count Basie Orchestra. When George saw me with Harry, he said, 'Is Jimmy still made at you?" I told George what went down. He said, 'Don't worry. He'll get over it.' Fifteen or 20 years later, I ended up playing with Jimmy again on this recording called Dot Com Blues. So we were cool after that. I guess his ego was bruised. He gave me a chance to work with him and I put my time in. But then you have to progress. You have to keep moving. So that's what I did." 

It was Connick who got Malone his first recording contract, and with a major label, Columbia. The guitarist recorded his self-titled debut album for Columbia in 1992 and Black Butterfly in 1993. He played with Connick for almost five years, through 1994. In 1995 he met Krall while playing a gig with Miller and Peter Washington at the former jazz hangout bar Bradley's in New York. Krall introduced herself and invited Malone to play on a Nat "King" Cole tribute album that turned out to be All For You. Malone enlisted bassist Paul Keller to join the effort. The trio played the Montreal Jazz Festival and Malone stayed with Krall from 1995 until 1999.

"I worked with her for awhile and we had a good time. She's a nice person. It was mutually beneficial for both of us," he says.

Another important relationship is the one forged more recently with Ron Carter, with whom he still performs occasionally.

"That's my man. Ron's one of my heroes. If I can be there for Ron Carter, I'm not going to ever say no to him, if I'm available. He's one of the reasons I play this music," Malone says with pride."When I first got into jazz at the age of 12, I was listening to these great guitar players like George Benson, Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell. I was definitely focusing on the guitar. But there was something about Ron Carter's personality that seemed to come through, no matter what musical situation he's in. At some point, sooner or later, everything seems to revolve around what he's doing. Ray Brown had that same kind of personality. I had the good fortune to play with him too. Those guys, everything they played had a place and a purpose. There's never any randomness going on. They have good sounds. They are harmonically apt and nothing is frivolous. When you play with a bassist on that level, it kind of spoils you when you come across somebody who really doesn't have it together. I love Ron."

Malone has always benefited from his musical relationships and he's open about why: There is always stuff beyond the bandstand.

"I got to become friends with Phil Woods. I didn't see him on a regular basis, but whenever I did it would be great. We were on a jazz cruise back in 2006. I got to hang with him and even got a chance to play with him. One day, I was doing a duet with this singer, Jackie Cain. Jackie was very frail. Her voice was shaky and her pitch wasn't quite there. I accompanied her on this Alec Wilder tune, 'While We're Young.' She was singing this song. I remember looking in the audience. Phil Woods is sitting in the front row with his oxygen tank connected to him. He was crying the whole time. The man was balling. I could barely play the tune for watching him ... After we finished the song, I put my guitar away and I sat down next to him. He said, 'Kid, let me tell you something. People always make a big fuss out of the next young hotshot player being able to play his ass off. Anybody can do it when you're young and healthy. Anybody can do that. That doesn't mean anything. But when you start to get older, you start having these ailments, these health problems. We start losing friends. You start becoming aware of your mortality. You don't want to waste anything.' He started about Benny Carter. That's one of the reasons he loved him so much. He talked about Johnny Hodges. They did it until they couldn't do it anymore. People make too much fuss over young players being able to play well. He said, 'Try doing that shit when you get to be 75 or when you're sick. Things don't work the way they used to work. Those phrases become very precious. You don't want to waste notes, you don't want to waste time. You don't want to waste energy.' I never forgot that, man. He was a heavy guy."

Sonny Rollins is another example. Malone played with the master for about a year.

"The thing I miss the most about that gig, aside from the music, was the conversations. In the airport, when we'd be waiting on a flight, or on a bus traveling from one place to the next. To hear him talk about the people who were inspirational to him. He would talk about Oscar Pettiford, Lester Young, Don Byas, Coleman Hawkins and Clifford Brown. He'd get real emotional. He told me Clifford Brown was the main inspiration for him to get his life back on track. I take pride in knowing songs. But I learned a lot of tunes with Sonny. He knows a lot of songs, man. And Sonny knows the lyrics to these songs. At sound check, we'd be playing a tune. He'd get on the microphone and start singing the lyrics. That's great, man. Not to mention the playing. This guy gives 100 percent all the time."

"That's something I've noticed talking about the old timers," Malone says. "When they talk about some of their contemporaries and their peers, they would get emotional. I remember when I first met Jimmy Smith. He was kind of nuts. He would do a lot of things just to shock you. Just to see what kind of reaction he'd get out of you. But then, you'd get him into a one-on-one situation and he would be a completely different guy. I remember talking to him one night about Wes Montgomery. He would tear up when he would talk about Wes. He'd tear up when he talked about Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis or Bud Powell. Those things you can't get out of a book or out of a school."

Malone carries those lessons and experiences as he advances his prolific career, one that reaches the bar that has been set so high.

"I can't complain. Life is good," he says. "It's such a blessing to play music, man. As long as people are listening, I'll play. I'm always trying to get to that next level. The paint never dries." 

https://www.thejazzguitarlife.com/2022/07/01/russell-malone-strikes-while-its-hot-an-exclusive-interview-with-jazz-guitar-life-part-iv/

Russell Malone Strikes While It’s Hot! An Exclusive Interview with Jazz Guitar Life – Part IV

July 1, 2022  

Dr. Wayne Goins  

Interviews 2

“My perception of the guitar has not changed. It’s still the same as it always has been, which is: it can function as a horn, it can function as part of the ensemble. I think that’s good, but it can also accompany…one of my favorite things to do is to accompany. And when you’re accompanying—and I’m not just talking about four-to-the bar, Freddie Green style, because that’s not the only way to play rhythm guitar—there’s several ways to play rhythm guitar in country bands, in gospel music, in funk, in rock. That hasn’t changed. I mean, the guitar can still serve as part of a foundation. The bass, the drums, the guitar—that’s the foundation in a group…and it’s been that way. And I don’t see it changing, but it can also function as part of the ensemble too, just like horn players, playing individual parts.“

Russell Malone

In our final installment on Russell Malone, we will hear the master share his thoughts about chord soloing, playing ballads, organ trios, teaching music, the role of the guitar, and becoming an elder statesman – (Interviewed on March 10, 2022).

To check out Mr. Malone’s previous segments click here (1), here (2) and here (3)!

As a one-man operation, if you would like to support all the work I do on Jazz Guitar Life, please consider buying me a coffee or two. Your support helps me to focus on Jazz Guitar Life so that I can continue to bring you great interviews, reviews, podcasts and other related Jazz Guitar content. Thank you and your patronage is greatly appreciated regardless if you buy me a coffee or not  – Lyle Robinson

JGL: Let’s talk a little bit about the whole concept and the value of paying your dues in the organ trio. To me, it’s kind of like a rite of passage for any bona fide jazz guitarist… do you agree?

MALONE: Well, I don’t know. I mean, a lot of guitar players have done it. I never thought about it as being a rite of passage. I think it’s valuable to get any kind of sideman experience with an older veteran. And I’ve been very fortunate, because I played with a lot of them—and a lot of them didn’t play organ. Freddy Cole didn’t play the organ, but he was very, very important as far as my development goes. But I did start out in organ groups. There was a guy who gave me my first experience playing in an organ trio. He was living in Albany, Georgia. You may know him because he was in Atlanta for a while—this gentleman named Al Rylander.

Russell Malone with the Al Rylander Trio is at House of Jazz in Albany, Georgia -1982 (Photo courtesy of Mr. Malone)

JGL: I didn’t know about him…

MALONE: There was also another guy—when you were living in Atlanta, did you ever come across Orlando Smith?

JGL: I don’t think so.

MALONE: See, these were two guys who were living in Albany, Georgia at the time. When I was living there as a teenager I got to play with both of them. I got to be a sideman in both of their bands.

JGL: It was a traditional organ trio with guitar and drums?

MALONE: It was organ, guitar and drums…and a horn, maybe a horn player.

JGL: These are gigs you were doing before you came to Atlanta?

MALONE: Yes, before I moved to Atlanta. That’s right. And then, you know, there was also an organ in the church, but it wasn’t jazz. I mean, that’s a whole ‘nother thing.

JGL: That’s a whole other bag.

MALONE: Yeah.

JGL: Maybe I was wrong about this, but I always thought you viewed playing in an organ trio as sort of a rite of passage, because…it’s like, every guitar player that I ever really held in high esteem, they all did it. Kenny Burrell did it. You did it. I mean, George [Benson] did it. Paying dues with Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, Lonnie Liston Smith, Groove Holmes, Jimmy McGriff…you know, I just feel like a good guitar player has got to have that. It’s like doing a stint in the Army or something like, that—it’s required boot camp; you kinda gotta have it to be complete, no?

MALONE: Well, you know, I never thought about that, but you may be onto something! But here’s one thing I’ll say about playing in an organ trio, especially with somebody who played with the intensity of a Jimmy Smith—you had to match his intensity.

Russell Malone with Jimmy Smith at Ella Guru’s in Knoxville, TN – 1989 (Photo courtesy of Mr. Malone)

JGL: Well, exactly. That’s what I’m saying—this is where you learn to do that. There’s nothing quite like it.

MALONE: Yeah. When you play in that kind of situation, one thing that you do build up is a certain level of intensity. And then it also teaches you how to comp a certain way—how to do it well.

JGL: Right.

MALONE: Now comping in an organ trio is a lot different than playing in a trio with, let’s say, piano and bass. It is different. But at the same time, you have to definitely match the intensity of the other guys in the band, especially the organ player. I’m very thankful that I had those experiences. I mean, when I was doing it years ago, when I first started doing it, I never thought of it as a rite of passage. But now that you mentioned that, maybe you’re onto something.

JGL: That kinda leads me to my next question. Based on your lengthy career and wealth of experience and success, do you currently view yourself as an elder statesman?

MALONE: Well, I never thought about myself as an elder statesman. I am becoming older, but you know, Ron Carter’s still around, George Benson’s still around, and Kenny Burrell…for me, those are the elder statesmen, right? I’m just a…you know, I’m still a work in progress. That’s the way I see myself. I mean, I’m a little older than I was when I first came onto the scene thirty-plus years ago, but I’m still a work in progress. I’m still learning, still trying to get better at it, man.

JGL: When I saw you last—I came to see you perform at Smoke in New York City—I asked you back then about your approach to ballads. Nobody else does it quite the way you do. And I think it has to do with the technique that you use in your right hand, especially. But it’s also in your left hand, your voicing of chords and the way you sort of turn your guitar into basically an orchestra.

MALONE: I appreciate the kind words.

JGL: It’s like you have a very special gift with that. I just want to hear what your thoughts about how you develop that particular technique. the last time I heard you, it seemed like you were orchestrating and using even more of the the pinched harmonic things that you do, making a guitar sound almost like a harp. It’s just fantastic.

MALONE: Ok, so you’re mainly talking about solo guitar, right?

JGL: Yeah.

MALONE: I think one of the most important things about playing a ballad is knowing the lyrics to them. And the person who pulled my coat to that was Freddy Cole. He told me that a long time ago when I was playing in his band. This was almost 40 years ago, man. He was talking about how important it is to learn the lyrics to those songs. And when you learn those lyrics, either get the sheet music or listen to certain vocalists’ renditions of them. And he mentioned his brother, Nat. He mentioned Sinatra. And he mentioned Ella Fitzgerald. And he mentioned this other singer, Mabel Mercer, who’s not a jazz singer, but she was a cabaret singer. And the reason why he mentioned those specific vocalists is because they don’t do too much embellishment with the melodies. They sing the melodies correctly, and their diction is good. I mean, you listen to Nat King Cole sing a song. There’s no question about what he’s saying, because it’s so clear –he enunciates so clearly, right?

Russell Malone with Freddy Cole in Detroit – 2016 (Photo by Gary Stager)

So when I learned how to approach a ballad—well, any song, but especially a ballad—that’s what we’re talking about. I listen to the words. I learned the song. I listen to the story. And I’ll never forget one time I was playing with this singer down in Atlanta, Georgia…we were playing a ballad and I guess I must have played just a little too busily on the song. So after the set was over, we went over to the bar. And this was back then when you could smoke in clubs. And I remember she used to smoke these Mores. Remember those More cigarettes?

JGL: Oh yeah. Those long, skinny, brown ones?

MALONE: Exactly—those long, skinny brown cigarettes. She was smoking her More cigarettes and she was drinking. Her drink was Chivas Regal—Scotch and soda. I remember that, like it was yesterday. She was drinking her drink and she took a drag on a cigarette. And she looked at me—and she was very beautiful too, man. She looked at me and she said, ‘you know, baby, when you play those ballads, you gotta treat those ballads like a kiss!’ Which really, you know…when she said that, that intrigued me! I said, ‘well, what do you mean?’ And she said, ‘sweet, deep, and slow.’

JGL: Whoa…

MALONE: Now, only an older, mature woman can put it to you like that. You know what I mean?

JGL: Oh yeah…yeah.

MALONE: Nobody in the world can put like that except an older mature woman. But that’s what she told me: ‘You gotta treat those ballads, like a kiss: sweet, deep, and slow.’ And I never forgot that.

JGL: Now, who was this that said that to you?

MALONE: Her name was Gina Hill…she was a local vocalist. I used to play with her in places like the Living Room Lounge at Scatz—you remember Scatz? It used to be called 200 South…that’s where I met Joe Jennings, and I also met Danny Harper…And Lee John’s Nitery? Or The Crescendo Lounge? Lamar’s Regal Room? Marko’s?

JGL: This is in Atlanta?

MALONE: This is in Atlanta, Georgia.

JGL: Oh, I thought this was in New York.

MALONE: No, no, no, no, no. Atlanta.

JGL: Oh. Those were all places was before my time.

MALONE: Yeah, it really it set me on a path, hanging out with Freddy and just, hearing that from the singer.

JGL: Okay, next question:  As you get older, what has changed in your perception of the role of the guitar and your place in it over the years?

MALONE: Well. My perception of the guitar has not changed. It’s still the same as it always has been, which is: it can function as a horn, it can function as part of the ensemble. I think that’s good, but it can also accompany…one of my favorite things to do is to accompany. And when you’re accompanying—and I’m not just talking about four-to-the bar, Freddie Green style, because that’s not the only way to play rhythm guitar—there’s several ways to play rhythm guitar in country bands, in gospel music, in funk, in rock. That hasn’t changed. I mean, the guitar can still serve as part of a foundation. The bass, the drums, the guitar—that’s the foundation in a group…and it’s been that way. And I don’t see it changing, but it can also function as part of the ensemble too, just like horn players, playing individual parts. So my perception about the guitar has not changed. I’ve always felt that it could function in those areas.

JGL: Speaking of individual parts, how often do you encounter situations where you have to use sheet music for charts?

MALONE: Well, more people now are writing more specific parts for guitar players—which brings me to the importance of knowing how to read music. And I’m not the best reader in the world, but I can read music.

I’ve been in situations, like on recordings or on gigs, where there were specific things that the guitar had to play and that’s what the arranger or the band leader wanted. So I had to learn those parts. And that’s why I always stress the importance of knowing how to do that. And I’m still trying to improve in that area, but I think that those factors are very important for being a guitar player and having it together in that sense. You know, Johnny Smith was a great reader. Barry Galbraith was a great reader. I’m just blessed with good ears, but there’s only so much you can hear, right? But when the band leader puts that music in front of you, sometimes it’s necessary to be able to read it—that’s very important.

JGL: So that kind of leads to another question that’s kinda related, which is: when you practice, what do you practice? How do you approach practicing? When do you practice?

MALONE: Well, I don’t do it as much as I used to, but I still do practice and it depends on where I’m weak. And, like I said before, I’m still trying, still getting the sight reading together. I still work on that from time to time. For me, it’s mainly about developing good time, touch, and sound—those are things that I don’t think you ever stop working on when it comes to making the music feel good.

JGL: So how do you approach developing or sustaining or maintaining a certain kind of touch? Do you experiment with it or do you just hone in on what you have already been developing?

MALONE: Well, yeah, it’s that aspect, but at the same time, you know, we’re always experimenting with picks, speakers, amps, the placement of the amp on the stage…because where you put the amp on the stage has an effect on how you hear it and how you address the instrument physically. So I’m still tweaking, you know. I’ve been playing the guitar for a long time, but I’m still tweaking those little areas, man.

JGL: Yeah…

MALONE: And one more thing before I forget it: Even something as simple as the length of the guitar strap—how the guitar hangs off your body, how it feels draped across your shoulders—can be a factor to be tweaked. Because you wanna be as comfortable as possible. Right now, I’m playing a smaller guitar these days. I played my Gibson L5’s and Super 400’s, and I love the sound of those guitars, but you really have to work physically hard to play those instruments. So right now I’m playing a smaller guitar.

JGL: What are you playing?

MALONE:  I’ve been taking it on the road with me. In fact, I’m taking it out tomorrow. It was a guitar that was made for me by Roger Sadowsky, it’s a semi-hollow body, which is slightly larger than a Les Paul, but it’s hollow. I started out on playing on a [Gibson] 335. My first electric guitar was a 335.

JGL: Really?

MALONE: Yeah. Well, actually my first electric guitar was a Teisco (Del Rey). But then I gravitated to a 335—they’re very comfortable to play. And over time, you know, things have improved as far as getting the sound out of those semi-hollow guitars.

JGL: Is this a custom-made guitar model for you?

MALONE: No, it’s not a custom-made guitar, it’s just one that Roger made. I went by his shop and I played it and I said,’ man, I want one of these, ’cuz it just felt so good. And I can get the same sound out of that guitar that I can get out of my L5. This model is the A552, made in 2008. It’s comfortable and it’s easy to travel with. And I don’t get a whole lot of grief from the airlines.

Sarasota, Florida – March 2022 (Photo courtesy of Carol LoRicco)
Russell Malone’s Sadowsky A552 model – 2008
Soundcheck Sarasota, Florida – March 2022 (Photo courtesy of Carol LoRicco)

JGL: How long have you been with Sadowsky?

MALONE: Only since I’ve had that guitar. I don’t endorse them, but I do like the guitars. We worked out a nice little deal, you know. I’ve been playing this guitar about maybe 13 years now.

JGL: Really?

MALONE: Yeah, I got it about 13 years ago. And I started taking it on the road with me about a year and a half ago. I like the guitar. It gives me what I need.

JGL: What kind of picks are you using these days?

MALONE: I’m experimenting with different types of picks. For a while, I was using a 2.mm. D’Andrea…it was a very thick pick. I used it with really thick strings and high action. But I was having to work too hard with that high action. But I’ve always liked the Fender mediums.

JGL: Really?

MALONE: Yeah. I like those.

JGL: I like Dunlop Jazz II picks.

MALONE: I was using those for a while too. Like I said, you know, I’m constantly experimenting with picks, ‘cause I’m still trying to perfect…well…you never really perfect anything, but I’m still trying to improve the feel and the tone. And the sound.

JGL: So, switching gears again a little bit, let me ask you this question—What is your view about the role of jazz guitar in academia? Can jazz be taught?

MALONE: It’s funny you asked that, because I just started teaching in a school.

JGL: Well, I’m really glad to hear that.

MALONE: I just started teaching at William Paterson College. I go in there one day a week because they’d been after me for a while and I just never…it was just never something that I was ever interested in. But now that I’m doing it, I like it. Because a lot of people—these young kids today—they don’t have the opportunity to get it the way that guys of my generation and before me got it.

JGL: Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m asking about!

MALONE: So, I think it’s good that they have people like myself. Geoffrey Keezer teaches there. Mulgrew Miller was teaching out there for a while. Rufus Reid taught bass there. Kenny Burrell was over at UCLA. Benny Green taught at a school in Michigan. There are so many other fine examples of veteran jazz players teaching today at colleges and universities all across the country. So I think when they get people who’ve had the actual experience and teaching the kids in those schools, I think that’s good for them because we can give them inspiration.

JGL: So what’s your overall teaching style?

MALONE: What I do is, I just sit and talk to them. I wanna find out what they want, what they need. And I ask them questions. I wanna find out about them as people also.

JGL: Ron Carter also is a teacher at Manhattan School of Music, you know…

MALONE: Ron Carter. Yeah, that’s right, I can’t leave the ‘old man’ out!  He did it for a while. So I think it’s good. I think it’s possible to inspire these kids to wanna play this music, because they wanna play it anyway. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be enrolled in the school in the first place.

JGL: Right.

MALONE: Because they’re trying to get it however way they can get it. And I think that’s a good thing. And plus—another thing that I do—I sit down and I play with the kids. They need to have the experiences playing with an experienced musician. I sit down because a lot of them, they only play with their peers. And that can be good, but only up to a point—because a lot of times, it’s a case of the blind leading the blind, they don’t, they don’t really know what to do. They have good intentions, but they don’t really know what they’re doing.

Russell Malone passing it on in Rockville, Maryland – 2016

JGL: How did your William Paterson gig come about?

MALONE: Dr. David Demsey asked me about it a long time ago. He and Bill Charlap were out there running the music department. So I just said, ‘well, you know, what the heck, why not?’

JGL: Were you not in interested in before?

MALONE: I was on the road a lot. I like being on the road, but then, you know we’re not on the road as much as we were. I mean, I still go on the road, but we’re not as busy traveling as we were because of the pandemic. So I said, ‘well, what the hell, may as well try something different.’ And, besides, I’m older now. And I really don’t have the interest to be on the road the way I was before. I still love it. But I’m getting—let’s face it, I’m still strong, but I’m not young and strong anymore.

JGL: Right.

MALONE: So you just have to be realistic about those things, man. So I do it one day a week, which is perfect for me. When I’m working with these students, a lot of them play with their peers, people in their own age group, but they don’t know what they’re doing. So having someone who’s had a considerable amount of experience teaching in the schools, we just steer them in the right direction. because you’ll be surprised that there’s a lot of music that they haven’t heard yet.

JGL: Right.

MALONE: So I take recordings and I play them for them. I mean, I sit down and I play with them, but I play recordings for them. And it’s so gratifying for me as an older person. ‘Cause I got like 20 and 30 years on some of these people, and in some cases, 40 years. And so as an older guy, it’s so gratifying for me to see their faces light up when they hear something that they have not heard before.

JGL: That’s so cool, man. I love it. Welcome to my world!

MALONE: Yeah, I know you’ve been teaching up there in Kansas for quite a while now.

JGL: Yep.

MALONE: So, you know, I like it. And I think the music can be taught. Well, you can inspire the kids. I don’t wanna use that word “taught.” Cause some things can’t be taught, but if the person loves it enough and they’re inspired, they’re gonna seek it out. They’re gonna look for it.

JGL: Now here’s a question I don’t think I’ve ever asked you in all the time I’ve been knowing you: Are you teaching any private guitar lessons to people?

MALONE: Nope.

JGL: Have you ever done it?

MALONE: I’ve had people come up to the house…and we keep it casual. I cook for them. ‘Cause this is the way I learned. I’ve never taken formal lessons. I mean, I’ve been around George Benson several times and I never asked George to show me anything. But what I do, whenever I’m around him, if he feels like playing the guitar, I don’t ask him any questions. I just sit. I watch him. If you got any kind of sense, you’re gonna pick up something from that, watching him play, just being around him.

Russell Malone with George Benson at the Village Vanguard – 1988 (Photo courtesy of Mr. Malone)

JGL: that’s a revered, traditional, old school way of learning that doesn’t seem to happen as much anymore; It’s not as available to these younger cats…

MALONE: But see, that’s the way I learned how to play the guitar. Listen, man. I’ve been to Jimmy Smith’s house. When he was living in Tennessee, I would go to his house and he would have his B3 organ set up in his garage and he would just play, man. And I was…I’d be so flabbergasted. I remember he once played something when I was there. He was in there on his organ playing, man—playing things that you don’t ever hear him do on records. And I almost started crying. ‘cuz it was so it was so deep, man.

JGL: Wow.

MALONE: I mean, just being in situations like that, where you can see a master at work, that’s more precious than anything you can get in a school or out of a book.

JGL: Yeah, that’s right.

MALONE: So whenever kids or young players come to my house—and this has happened before—I don’t teach them in the formal sense. I don’t charge them any money. We just sit around. We talk, we watch music videos. We listen to recordings. I cook for them. And we play and we get something from each other.

JGL: I just…I can’t even imagine the kid that’s lucky enough to have that experience. That’s just wonderful. Russell, that answer that you just gave me is probably one of the most soulful things I’ve ever heard you say in the whole time I’ve known you.

MALONE: Oh, thank you.

JGL: I mean it sincerely, man. You know, we’ve been known each other a long time, but that answer…

MALONE: We go back some decades. That’s for sure.

JGL: What you just said was really beautiful, man. This teaching thing—it’s like a side of you that I’ve never seen or heard from you before.

MALONE: Well, you know, I also approach it from the perspective of a parent. I’m also a parent. And these kids, they’re young enough to be my kids, man. And that’s the way I see them—as my children.

JGL: Yep. Absolutely.

MALONE: Yeah. And one thing about being a parent: You gotta be firm with them, but at the same time, you can’t be so firm to the fact that…you know, people talk about ‘tough love,’…tough love is good, but you can’t let tough love overshadow nurturing. You gotta nurture these people, man.

JGL: We’ve covered a lot, and there’s a lot more to cover, but Is there anything else that we haven’t talked about that you wanna get into?

MALONE: We’ll save that for the autobiography.

JGL: Indeed, we will!

https://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/music/161019/life-is-what-inspires-you.html

Entertainment Music 

Life is what inspires you!

by RUTH PRATHANA
October 16, 2019
DECCAN CHRONICLE
 
Russell Malone
 Russell Malone

Though Jazz as a genre of music has been part of Indian society as long as the 1920s, it has only recently gained prominence in the music scene. Especially in Bengaluru, what adds to this fact is that a lot of people are starting to appreciate this genre. Russell Malone is not an unknown name is the Jazz circuit. Having worked and toured with some of the greats like Ron Carter, Roy Hargrove, and Dianne Reeves, Jack McDuff etc, Russell is all set to perform in Bengaluru on October 18 at Windmill Craftworks. Talking to this jazz artist, we find out more about his journey.

International jazz musician Russell Malone will be performing in Bengaluru on October 18. We catch up with the talented artiste to discover more about the man!

The first time a musician picks up his guitar is always magical and something  to remember for a lifetime. Recalling the first time he picked up a guitar, he says, “I started playing the guitar when I was four at my church." Strumming his first toy guitar which was gifted by his mother Russell discovered his love for music. He connected instantly with anyone who shared his vibe, Russell adds, “I admire the works of legends like B.B. King, George Benson, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell and Pat Martino.” Audiences in Bengaluru will get to listen to the Russell Malone Quartet which has Rick Germanson on piano, Neal Smith on drums, and Vince Dupont on bass who Russell says are wonderful musicians and great people. Life never fails to give you a reality check and thus stands true in this case. This American says, “After some time, the life you live is what inspires you! “

Talking about performing in Bengaluru and what we can expect from the show he says, “The audience should expect to come out and have a good time. Our job as musicians is to entertain people. When comes to the jazz scene in India, I need to spend more time here. I was here a few years ago, and what I remember was that people here were so nice to us. I'm looking forward to making some new friends.”

After this concert Russell will be heading back the USA but, we can definitely expect something new from him next year as he is  planning to record a new album.

Tags: jazz, russell malone

http://jazzonline.com/qa/qa-guitarist-russell-malone.html

Q&A: Russell Malone

by The Jazz Messenger
July 12, 2010  
JazzOnline 

The great guitarist answers a handful of our questions in the Q&A.

How or when did you first “discover” jazz?
I saw George Benson perform on television when I was 12. He was performing with (and I didn’t know who these guys were at the time) Benny Goodman, Red Norvo, Papa Joe Jones, Milt Hinton and Teddy Wilson. That was my first exposure to jazz.

Do you remember the first recording you ever purchased (jazz or otherwise)?
 The George Benson Cookbook

Name one of your greatest creative influences and why?
Chet Atkins because of his versatility. He could fit in any musical situation and play with honesty and conviction and those are my favorite types of musicians, those who are open to different types.

What made you decide to become a musician?
The first music I heard when I was growing up was the music in my church. There was a gentleman who played the guitar in my church and I was fascinated by what he played, but even more so than that, the way people responded to what he played. It has always fascinated me to see how people respond emotionally to music. You can trigger so many different emotions in people when you play, and it is one of the main things that excites me about music. Plus, it makes me feel good.

Name one jazz recording that you cannot live without.
If I had to narrow it down to one, I guess it would be The Piano Starts Here by Art Tatum.

What is the best thing about playing jazz?
I think the best thing about playing music is first of all, I get paid to do something that I love. As I mentioned before, being able to channel into people’s emotions is a good thing and being able to express my feelings – things that I may not be able to verbalize, I can say through my instrument. Also, I get to see the world and meet all different types of people, try different kinds of food and experience new things constantly. Finally, I get the chance to play with a lot of interesting musicians and learn something. There is always something to learn…the paint never dries.

What are listening to right now?
 High Blues Pressure by Freddie Hubbard.

What is your favorite escape?
I love to go to the movies when I am home. I also like to cook.

Recommended:
Russell Malone – Heartstrings
Russell Malone – Live at the Jazz Standard, Vol. 1
Russell Malone w/Ray Brown & Monty Alexander – Malone Brown Alexander

 

 

 
THE MUSIC OF RUSSELL MALONE: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH RUSSELL MALONE:
 

Russell Malone - The Elder



Emmet Cohen w/ Russell Malone | Listen to the Dawn



Russell Malone Plays You Send Me



Russell Malone - Saving All My Love for You



Russell Malone solo performance at New York Guitar Festival



Russell Malone - Time for the Dancers



Russell Malone (Jazz guitar solo)




Russell Malone - And So It Goes



Live From Emmet's Place Vol. 65 - Russell Malone



Russell Malone - Nice Lady




Russell Malone Master Class | Albany State University



Russell Malone - The Ballad of Hank Crawford



Russell Malone - Your Zowie Face


Russell Malone - Ellie's Love Theme



Russell Malone - On the Real Side




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