Interview with Scott Reeves: Lead with your soul, use your intellect to deal with the mechanics: Video

Jazz interview with jazz trombonist, bandleader Scott Reeves. An interview by email in writing.  

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

Scott Reeves: – I was particularly grabbed by Billy Child’s “Rebirth” – innovative writing with great playing by everyone in the band, particularly my colleague Steve Wilson. Earl MacDonald’s “Open Borders” contains exceptional writing for a 12 piece band, and my former student, Emilio Teubal, created a rhapsodic portrayal of Argentina in his CD “Memorias do Otro Tiempo”.

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

SR: – My former teacher, Kenny Werner, once told me “the intellect is like the armed forces; you need an army to protect the country but you don’t want them taking over the government.” Lead with your soul, use your intellect to deal with the mechanics.

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

SR: – I recently did two tours with the Dave Liebman big band, with a final gig at Dizzys. Playing next to Liebman, whom I consider the first important successor to the Coltrane style, is inspirational. In his 70’s, he still plays with passion and vigor.

JBN.S: – Which collaboration have been the most important experiences for you?

SR: – My big band, the Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra, has been a 10-year project and I consider many of the players to be close personal friends. I am also involved in a project playing the music of Memphis composers, such as Mulgrew Miller, Donald Brown, James Williams, George Coleman, Booker Little and others. This grew out of a 3-year gig I had with the Bill Mobley (also from Memphis) at Smoke, in which we did many of Bill’s arrangements of works by these great artists. It was one of the most memorable gigs I ever had, so I’ve tried to recreate this body of music with only three horns. The group includes Bill Mobley on trumpet, Steve Wilson or Jon Gordon on alto, myself on trombone, Billy Test on piano, Phil Palombi on bass and my son, Eric Reeves, on drums.

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

SR: – People would listen to CDs and records again. There is very little support for new releases by artists, everybody waits to get it for free on Spotify or Pandora, for which the artist gets paid next to nothing. And it is disappointing to see musicians not supporting their fellow artists. I always try to go out to hear my colleagues projects and buy their CDs, but I don’t see many other musicians doing that.

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

SR: – I’d like to go 30 years into the future to see if life was discovered on Mars or Europa.

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

SR: – How would you describe your audience of readers?

JBN.S: – Thank you for answers. The intellectual, growing and faithful for today, every day more than 58, 000 …

Interview by Simon Sargsyan