Scott Henderson Discussion

[zorbmusic]

Hi Scott

I'm very pleased that you're coming to London with TT in July and I'll be coming to see you on the tuesday at Ronnie Scott's. If you're willing to consider requests, I'd be ecstatic if you were to play Caribbean or Elvis At The Hop or Dense Dance or anything from those earlier albums. I know it's been a long time, but what the hell!

On a completely different subject, can I just mention that I really appreciate your excellent use of English grammar, punctuation and spelling in all the writings that you've posted over the years on the net. It's a rare occurrence nowadays and, if I may make so bold, quite unusual for one from the USA. Perhaps you had an extra special English teacher at school!

Oh, and in the interview you gave to Robert Renman you mentioned that you were putting something down on a track for an English bass player. Could you say who that is?

Thanks so much for spending time to come on here and answer questions. Looking forward to seeing you and the band in July.

Frank

[Scott Henderson]

Sorry, but the tunes you mentioned won't be on the list. We felt that the song list for Asia featured to many "arranged" tunes and we like things to be more open, so we'll probably play newer material.

Thanks for the compliment - actually I write more intelligently than I speak. I'm sure if you heard me talk, you'd think I'm just another dumb American. Don't worry about being bold - despite McDonald's and the awful pop culture crap that we've pushed onto the world, America has produced some fine artists and technology, but in general it's a young, ignorant country overrun with gun nuts, murder, religious fanatics, incompetent politicians, and people who are stupid enough to elect George Bush as president. Thank goodness Obama is president now and I can travel around the world and not be so fucking embarrassed. You can't see a woman's breasts on network TV here, but people's heads being blown off is fine. What does that tell you about this country? But many of us can spell, so we have that.

The bass players name is Antoine Fafard.

I love Ronnie Scott's and can't wait to play there again!!

[fusion58]

[Scott Henderson]

So many American jazz musicians have moved to Europe, including Willis. There are more jazz musicians in America than there are audience members to listen to them. Mostly due to close minded people in the media, there isn't much jazz or blues to be found on the radio, and with no exposure, building a fan base capable of supporting tours is impossible. When people ask me where I work, I say "outside the country".

Now that Gyu-kaku has restaurants in Los Angeles, I've realized how lucky I am to live here, and as long as I can have dinner there once a week, I'm willing to put up with the United States Of Dumbass. Plus I live just five miles from Universal City! Plus I just watched the Bird Is The Word episode of Family Guy for the hundredth time and I'm in such a good mood that if Pat Robertson were here I'd only stab him in the eye with a fork instead of the heart.

[zorbmusic]

Yes Scott, over the decades many jazz musicians have moved to Europe and it used to be mostly to avoid discrimination of course. Not so much nowadays but you're right about lack of exposure in the media; the same applies in the UK. Still, I quite like the fact that the style of music I prefer is not too popular otherwise it could become even more watered-down. Smooth jazz anyone?

And I sympathize with your views on the state of the US in recent years. Too many "christian" gun-toting nut cases for a start, holding too much sway over the political class. Thank god (excuse the pun) for Family Guy etc!

Now, a technical question - did you pre-plan that little chordal phrase 38 secs in on "Big Fun" from Spears, or was that purely improvised on the spot? I've waited years to get the answer and when I've met you (a couple of times) it always slipped my mind to ask!

Frank

[sieuminh]

Well I'm neither British nor American, but this is great musical comedy, by two great British comedians ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqCha93nBTU

[Scott Henderson]

Redneck national anthem - awesome!

To answer the question about Big Fun - It was a semi-composed intro that I stretched out a little at the recording, What's amazing is how badly I rushed when I played it - I'm almost an eighth note ahead at times. I really hope my time doesn't suck that bad now.

[sieuminh]

well I'm glad you liked that one, so here's another British-style insanity if you have 25 minutes ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPJVaV5B2XQ

[zorbmusic]

Scott, I've loved "Champion" since I first heard it. There's great playing and great compositions on there in my opinion. If I was on a desert island and had to choose which music to take, it would be that album!
Have you any stories to tell about the recording or anything else to do with that album, and do you ever listen to it nowadays?
And would you be able to choose one album that you'd take to a desert island?
Thanks for any info you can give.
Frank

[Scott Henderson]

That was the first album I'd ever recorded on, and I was pretty nervous. Jeff hired Ronnie Montrose to produce, which was a big relief to me because Ronnie was very experienced with getting guitar tones and knew his way around the studio, plus he was such a nice guy to work with. Some of the music was really hard to play, so it was a challenge. Ron Malo was the engineer, who also recorded Weather Report's Heavy Weather album, so I was a bit star-struck by that. It was a fun record to work on, and a special bonus to work with Clare Fischer, a legendary harmony genius on keyboards.

My desert island album is Night Passage by Weather Report.

[zorbmusic]

Thanks for the info on "Champion" Scott.

That was recorded in 1985 I think, the same year as "Fables" by Jean Luc Ponty so I guess you recorded the Ponty album after "Champion"?

On that note, I don't know if you've noticed, but on your website in the discography section the listings as sideman has got a bit out of step around the entries for Zawinul and Ponty and carried on to the end. It looks like the album with Ponty was called "Philharmonic" when in fact it should be "Fables" which has been credited to Kinsey! The last album with Zawinul should have been "Live at the Munich Philharmonic" of course!

By the way, I love the nonchalant look you have on the live track with Ponty "The Art Of Happiness" which is on the net. Great solo! One of those which sums up your melodic approach of making sentences into paragraphs etc. All the best.

Frank

[Scott Henderson]

The Discography looks correct in Safari, so if you're in another browser, that could be the problem. If you're in Safari, empty your cache and that'll fix it.

Fables was my second recording. I was a little disappointed that after touring with Jean-Luc for over three years, he only used me for one cut on one record. Show business is so cruel!

[zorbmusic]

Tried emptying the cache Scott but it didn't make a difference. I'm using Safari on a Mac and I don't particularly want to use a different browser.

I also tried using Safari on my PC and, sure enough, when I expanded the width of the window the "Live at the Munich Phil" line became one so the problem was cured. The same for Internet Explorer and Google Chrome so I guess the problem lies with my Safari/Mac combination. I may try reinstalling Safari to see if that cures it. It's no big deal for me though!

I've just had my Strat refretted with Jim Dunlop 6155 wire. My repairer put them on without asking because he knows I just play the thing without taking too much notice of the finer points! Apparently it's a little thicker than the previous wire I had on (6I05). Just wondering if you're aware of the new gauge and what you use/prefer.

Cheers

[Scott Henderson]

I use 6100, but I don't know the difference between that and the ones you mentioned. I'm pretty sure 6100 is the standard frets used on Gibson guitars.