Interview with Pablo Socolsky: Jazz should not be a rigid material: Video

Jazz interview with jazz pianist and composer Pablo Socolsky. An interview by email in writing. 

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

Pablo Socolsky: – I grew up in a small town (Leones, Cordoba / Argentina) always keeping an eye on the piano that was at home as a child … I loved to improvise or vary melodies without understanding too much theory … but I began to study and acquire composition and harmony tools from the 18 years in the city of Rosario where I have lived since then…

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

PS: – I had the possibility of having great Argentine teachers who have accompanied me in the different stages, in addition to listening and studying the great references for me (Keith Jarrett, Paul Bley, John Taylor, Bobo Stenson, Marc Copland and Bill Evans).

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

PS: – I strive to work on the composition materials of teachers and own or standards and take as reference accomplished versions of my references, comprehensively contemplating rhythm, harmony, melody, dialogue between right and left hand and nuances regarding dynamics and expression. I also analyze improvisation materials.

JBN: – How to prevent disparate influences from coloring what you’re doing?

PS: – Regarding music, I try to listen to materials related to what I am experiencing or composing, it is always a positive influence. Also other expressions of art such as literature or cinema, the plastic arts, being selective enrich and provide greater sensitivity to the work itself.

JBN: – How do you prepare before your performances to help you maintain both spiritual and musical stamina?

PS: – Preparation for a concert is usually a celebration ceremony, everything that adds up to a good rest, a good light meal, a good glass of wine, sharing with the people involved in the situation and the affections, help to generate sensitivity and energy for a unique moment.

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

PS: – I think that conceptual tools and having some control over music are very important in order to give rise to sensitivity, inspiration and to generate a fluid interaction, finding a language of their own …

JBN: – There’s a two-way relationship between audience and artist; you’re okay with giving the people what they want?

PS: – The most honest thing is to offer the material that one considers that identifies it and is genuine. From there the public will take it or not, I decide to work with original compositions, improvisations and versions of composers that I admire.

JBN: – Please any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions which you’d like to share with us?

PS: – The studio sessions are always special and the concert presentations in concert also generate high sensitivity …

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

PS: – Jazz should not be a rigid material, based on the repetition and copying of tradition, rereading is essential to generate something new … from Parker, Monk, Davis, Coltrane, Coleman, Andrew Hill, Jarrett’s proposal with his trio … revolutionizing the focus  on standards… composers such as Orrin Evans, trumpeter Dave Douglas, Marylin Crispell, Craig Taborn, the entire generation of contemporary European music (Tomasz Stanko, Enrico Rava, Bobo Stenson among others) have revitalized a language but starting from tradition.

JBN: – John Coltrane said that music was his spirit. How do you understand the spirit and the meaning of life?

PS: – He has been a very studious musician but with a great spirituality and sensitivity, I think that the human being, knowing himself to be mortal, finite, somehow seeks to disregard this and takes the spiritual as a way of passing through life and being able to transcend and leave some legacy.

JBN: – If you could change one thing in the musical world and it would become a reality, what would that be?

PS: – That the musicians (and especially of jazz) can live in a dignified way and receive so much effort, study and dedication financially

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

PS: – I am listening to several albums … I am going to name some … Django Bates “Beloved the study of touch” (ECM), Gary Peacock trio “Tangents” (ECM), Carlos Casazza “La sombra del sauce transparente “  (Blueart Records) and Keith Jarrett ” Munich 2016 ” (ECM)

JBN: – What is the message you choose to bring through your music?

PS: – Music as art in these moments where traumatic prevails can help and help us to travel and elaborate in this situation of health emergency, so much pain and uncertainty.

JBN: – Let’s take a trip with a time machine, so where and why would you really wanna go?

PS: – I would like to go to any time when we could hug and gather with family and friends … enjoy a bar or a cafe …  get together to play or go to listen to music.

JBN: – I have been asking you so far, now may I have a question from yourself…

JBN: – So putting that all together, how are you able to harness that now?

PS: – It is a very difficult and traumatic time for everyone … in Argentina we are very committed to taking care of ourselves knowing that we still do not have the tools to combat the covid virus 19 other than isolation, social distance and hand washing. Hopefully the vaccine and some drug can be found that can treat this disease soon.

Interview by Simon Sargsyan