Interview with Claus Waidtløw: I like when there are some challenge in the music of some kind: Video

Jazz interview with jazz saxophonist Claus Waidtløw. An interview by email in writing. 

JazzBluesNews.Space: – First let’s start with where you grew up, and what got you interested in music?

Claus Waidtløw: – I grew up in a small town in Denmark, just outside Copenhagen. I started playing Clarinet and Saxophone in a music school. My first jazz record was Night Train with the Oscar Peterson trio. That record really hit me and I guess that´s where it all started.

JBN.S: – What got you interested in picking up the saxophon? What teacher or teachers helped you progress to the level of playing you have today? What made you choose the saxophon?

CW: – My first instrument was Clarinet, but after trying a Saxophone in the Music school one day, I was completely sold to that instrument. I first really started to reach a higher level when I started at the Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. My Saxophone teachers here really helped me in that progress.

JBN.S: – How did your sound evolve over time? What did you do to find and develop your sound?

CW: – Sound is maybe the most important thing on an instrument. I still spend a lot of time working on my sound. One thing that’s really helped me in the progress of finding my own sound was spending a lot of time listening to saxophone players that I liked.

JBN.S: – What practice routine or exercise have you developed to maintain and improve your current musical ability especially pertaining to rhythm?

CW: – Rhythm is extremely important. To develop my rhythmic ability I have been working a lot with a metronome. And again I have been listening to how my favorite players swing. I would try to play along with their 1/8 note lines and try to copy their frasing and feeling.

JBN.S: – Which harmonies and harmonic patterns do you prefer now?

CW: – I am constant working on searching for new harmonic ideas, but I don´t have one particular that I prefer over others.

JBN.S: – What do you love most about your new album 2018: <New Beginning>, how it was formed and what you are working on today.

CW: – I think there are a nice and relaxed feeling on the album. I really like that. And I like the way Jacob Christoffersen, Jesper Bodilsen and Morten Lund approached my music. In my opinion they are among the finest musicians in Denmark.

JBN.S: – What’s the balance in music between intellect and soul?

CW: – I like when there are some challenge in the music of some kind. For instance the track Florence is constantly shifting between two bars of 3/4 and two bars of 4/4. But it must never be so complicated that you loose the feeling and the soul – these factors are the most important in music.

JBN.S: – How can we get young people interested in jazz when most of the standard tunes are half a century old?

CW: – Jazz of today is as present as jazz 50 years ago – many great jazz musicians are mixing jazz with all kinds of music now. They have references to rock and pop in their music and I think that’s a way to get younger people interested in jazz.

JBN.S: – Who do you find yourself listening to these days?

CW: – I am listening to a lot of different music, but the last couple of days I have been listening to the Duke Ellington/John Coltrane album (again)! And different songs by Kenny Wheeler, which I have never really listened to before. He is a great melodymaker, both in his writing of songs and in his playing.

Interview by Simon Sargsyan