Scott Henderson Discussion

[Kevin Thomas]

Hi Scott,

You've said that when you write a song, you practice it a lot so that you can try new things every night on tour. And then after a while, you record it, and you pick the best of each little thing you did live. The CD version of a song is the best picture of it at the time of the recording.

When you play a song that has been recorded, do you still try to make it grow, or do you stick to the recording, or does it depend on the song? In fact I just wonder if the fact you recorded it affects your playing (in a good or in a bad way)? Are there songs you hate to do cause you'll never approach the perfection of the recording, or songs you want to record again, cause they're so much better now than they were on the CD?

[Scott Henderson]

That's a good question - I always try to make a song that I've recorded grow, but sometimes I can't find anything better to play than what I played on the record, which was the result of combining all the best ideas from the road in the first place.... vicious circle....

Jazz is supposed to be about improvisation, but I'm playing the kind of music which also features compositions, so sometimes I have to decide when to wing it, or go with ideas which are sure to please the audience. There's always improvisation, but the beginnings and endings of some of my solos are composed to transition nicely with ensemble parts. Other solos are totally improvised from beginning to end.

Sometimes the voicings for the melody use open strings, or need to be exactly like the record or the composition suffers, but I'm always looking for cool substitutions so it doesn't sound the same every night, and I'm always messing with the rhythms, so that helps.

I've seen the compositional side of some of my favorite jazz musicians, and they don't see a problem with finding a balance between playing what's on the record, and just going for it.

There are a few songs I don't want to play live, not because the record is perfect, but because a lot of production and layering was done and now the live version would sound too bare. There are plenty of songs that I'm tempted to record again because the recorded versions are horrible, but I'd rather move on. I did re-record Rituals because it's a good tune and I thought it deserved a second chance - the Tribal Tech version is the bible of how not to play a ballad.

[Kevin Thomas]

What you say about those songs that would sound too bare on stage reminds me of Queen. You always say the gig is the theatre and the allbum is the movie, and how true it was for them (as a kid I was a Queen fan -I still like them- but the difference between the albums and the live shows was huge - you only got half the piano and 1/5 of the guitars).
I think I had the same kind of experience watching a LedZep live video. 5 Jimmys playing on the album, only one on stage, it can't be the same.

[Scott Henderson]

It's not the same, and that's why I try not to over-layer in the studio. The meat of the song needs to be played by one guitar, both live and in the studio. Church Of Xotic Dance is a good example of a tune that I felt needed a lot of layering on the recording, but now we can't play it live.

[Kevin Thomas]

unless you get in touch with Kaminoan scientists!