Interview with Marco Esu: This is like to make love, to have melodies inside us: Video

Jazz interview with jazz guitarist Marco Esu. An interview by email in writing.

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

Marco Esu: – Talking about my interested in music, this is one part of my life, this is part of myself, many musicians have music inside like on soul, a true musician does not decide to look for a interested in music, because if the music is inside on soul of the musician, this is part of his soul, like me too. This is like to wake up on morning an sing the song of the goodmorning everyday.

JBN.S: – What got you interested in picking up the guitar?

ME: – I come from Sardinia, in our country this is one of the must used and played instruments, like in Spain, in my country we born with the guitar on our hands, this is part of the traditional life, this is part of the traditional music, like the contemporary music. My passion for guitar music is not only because I was born with guitar in my hands, between musicians or friends, or family, here this is one of the most played instruments and we live with guitars in our life.

JBN.S: – What teacher or teachers helped you progress to the level of playing you have today? What made you choose the guitar?

ME: – Yeah, I had some great teachers too, the most important of my life has been from private teachers, to learn music in much more open style, I had some like Classical teaching for guitar, like Flamenco and some differents, like contemporary classicals.

I don’t know if you can use so easy a name on your mangazine, if I can talk about someone as the most important between me and the teacher of my last younger age, I can say J. Cardoso is and he was an important part of my learning, mean Jorge Cardoso one of the very great composers of music for classical guitar from Argentina, he was the teacher of my teacher and I had times to learn from both too in my life.

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

ME: – Yes, I work so much to have a sound or some sounds, sometimes I don’t use only a traditional sound of classical guitar or like acoustic guitars, always I’d like to search new sound on myself, first all, the sound must be on my mind, some sounds born from my hands, like in acoustic playing, some others are a mixing, like electronics and this is not only the guitar to make my music, I find my sound from anything around me, on my easy life too, from nature too around me, like learning the sound of sea, of the wind or from an older guitar on my hands.

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

ME: – This is the work to do everyday, I can say week by week, the first exercise for me its to learn much more music day by day, to try any kind of genre, like songs, like guitar and voice, like music for piano too, to learn new playings from different styles, to see what my hands are ready to do on an music instrument. Also, I play Flamenco too, this is not a game, exercise of Flamenco are not kind for hands, always this is a right why to let work my hands to make many music on my guitar.

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

ME: – I can say the Free-Jazz was part of my evolution on music, when I was younger my music was much more easy about harmonies or melodies, always I had something like Blues melodies or like Italian too, or from Flamenco, Classical harmonies, all was part of my first musician life.  The evolution of my music come from my years learning Free-Jazz and Fusion music too. To explaing much more, I work in different styles to make compositions or improvisations, sometimes I’d like to create a composition part by part and I don’t change one note on, sometimes I work on improvisations, to let very free my melodies on music. If I can repeat what is an inspiration on my feeling too.

JBN.S: – What do you love most about your new album: <Over The Classical Land>, how it was formed and what you are working on today. Next year your fans like we can wait for a new album?

ME: – You know my new album “Over the Classical Land”, so thanks to you to had time hearing my new album.  On this album I’d love the easy feeling, an natural sound, so classical playing between italian and flamenco or blues melodies too, full of jazz too. Yes, the album is made of some tracks, but when I do an album I see one album as only one song or composition in many parts, like seven or ten tracks or like the album is made. Sure, the first track of album on “Over the Classical Land” its like the prelude of full album, maybe if I have to choise one of the compositions inside the album, the the first one is the right prelude to feel the sound and the playing of all my melodies on.  About this album I can say thanks to my Australian partners as Record Label, because they working for my music on.

JBN.S: – Which are the best ten jazz albums for you this 2017 year?

ME: – Still I have to see what is the best albums or some about this years like the 2017.  About Jazz music for guitar I had many time of my life to hear music from many musicians, like Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Joe Pass, like some others so far and near to guitar, like piano music in jazz, like violin player of ancestors of Jazz, example Stephan Grappelli. I can talk of last jazz musicians too like Petrucciani, he was very great playing the jazz piano. From Italy, we have many Jazz musicians, some are live players and they haven’t albums of anything, sometimes lives are the first great album of the top as I think.

JBN.S: – Many aspiring musicians are always looking for advice when navigating thru the music business. Is there any piece of advice you can offer to aspiring students or even your peers that you believe will help them succeed and stay positive in this business?

ME: – This is not easy to give an easy answer, if I had to talk of business on music and about the looking on the music world, as work or as business. Maybe this is very important to make music with passion, to learn music from great musicians and to see music as Art, yes, this is easy to fall in business and forget to learn or to make music to make Art.

About an help to be part of publishing and to work with a Label, as you know, this is not easy to have a publisher or label today, needs to be lucky too sometimes, the world is full of very great musicians. Always I don’t see my music like a business, when I can give an album to my partners, like a Label or Publisher, when they accept my album as my album born, I feel so lucky and I see it like my new canvas in music colors.

JBN.S: – Аnd furthermore, can jazz be a business today or someday?

ME: – I can say yes, if someone wants to make as business too, this is not kind Jazz to see the Jazz as something to make business, because Jazz is culture, this is like a great book to read, this is like a background of life. This is not like a music to make only business. Jazz is great to make live music, collaboration between musicians, to teach music as passion, as work, we see many new schools of Jazz music and sometimes you can see great musicians as teachers, this is the right to do, to let understand jazz not as a product, always music to learn, to have an education on music, to understand how much is important the evolution of music thanks to the Jazz music too.

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

ME: – Maybe to give an answer to your question this is not easy, about young people if we try to use modern sounds, maybe this is the first step start an interested on Jazz. To take an old composition of jazz, to play with new sounds, like near of the new generations, it will be an help, yes, to use new sounds like electronics sound too, or like a good singer on.

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

ME: – Coltrane is one Dad of Jazz, nobody will be a true jazz musician if he didn’t hear music of Coltrane.  The best was Coltrane and Miles Davis together and on bands too. Yes, the spirit on music must be like feeling teach, this is like to make love, to have melodies inside us, like to talk our mother language, like poems on music melodies.

JBN.S: – What are your expectations of the future? What brings you fear or anxiety?

ME: – For my future or my looking about the future, first all I wuold like to believe on something of nice. I hope to be ready to make music always, if my hands will be ready to make music always, if my mind will be always ready to create something of new. About anxiety or fear… always I take easy, I try to take all with realx in my mind. I kick all wrong on my mind to let be happy my life and music life.

JBN.S: – What’s the next musical frontier for you?

ME: – I was interested to learn much more Asian music and the generations, for my musical frontier will be always between acoustic and electronic music.

JBN.S: – Are there any similarities between jazz and world music, including folk music?

ME: – World music is always part of my interested, to see what is any kind of sound from the world, like folk music too, traditional music and from people who lives the music as part of traditional life too. Jazz and world music are like a good marriage on music, many jazz improvisaitons and melodies are perfect to change world music too, to make much more modern, to give a sound much more open, sometimes near to the traditional music, sometimes to refresh the traditional music, to let travel the music in new melodies las Jazz is ready to do.

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

ME: – I had time to hear Italian music, from radio, tv, net… to see what kind of new songs they sing, what kind of sound they have too. Maybe one day I will have much more time to talk about my time to hear italian music too, so near to jazz, so near to contemporary music.

JBN.S: – What’s your current setup?

ME: – As you know I speak Italian, sometimes this is not easy to give any kind of answer in english, about my current setup, I haven’t a true answer about that, I’ve not a plan, I live my life in music and art. My setup is always to believe on colors of art and music.

JBN.S: – And if you want, you can congratulate jazz and blues listeners on Christmas and Happy New Year.

ME: – Very thanks for your interview and your time with me, I wish Merry Christmas to anyone, hope to see an New Year full off happiness for anyone, I wish all the best to anyone.

Interview by Simon Sargsyan

P.S. – ME: – Very thanks to you dear Simon for your time with me.