Interview with Fabrizio Bosso: It is necessary that intellect and soul go hand in hand, otherwise the result would be either too mechanical … Video

Jazz interview with jazz trumpeter Fabrizio Bosso. An interview by email in writing. 

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

Fabrizio Bosso: – I grew up, also musically speaking, in Turin, Gianni Basso and Flavio Boltro were my reference point. My family made me interested in music: my father was a trumpeter, my grandfather was a drummer so music has always been in my family since I was a child.

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

FB: – I picked the trumpet by imitation, because my father played the trumpet and I used to go and see him playing with the band. So after have broken several plastic trumpet, I got me a real one when I was 5. I went to Music Conservatory and my teacher made me and my technique improve a lot. I learned jazz on the field instead. I have been luck because I started very soon to play jazz with amateur big bands, and, a bit at a time, jazz became my job.

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

FB: – In this last period of my career I am trying to focus on a “group sound”, to find the perfect interaction between the musicians I play with. I am not into the idea to be the band leader or standing out any cost. I’m lucky because I play with excellent musicians and there is a lot of empathy between the members of the quartet. My idea now is to create a sound of the group which is able to reach the audience by making the musicians responsible for it, so take advantage of their ability and potential.

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

FB: – I don’t have much time to study a lot anymore, so I am doing mostly maintaining exercises. I try to develop and improve my musical ability by playing with other musicians and exchanging experiences, this the best way to grow when you get to a certain age.

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

FB: – I don’t think I have an answer. The patterns are in symbiosis with my mood, they depend on my state of mind of the moment.

JBN.S: – What do you love most about your album 2017 “State of the Art”, how it was formed and what you are working on today.

FB: – As I said before, I really love the collective, combined and shared kind of sound and the empathy between us. “State of the Art” is a live album, so the complicity is what reach the audience the most. We trust each other so we are not worried about taking risks, improvising and playing and “instant” sort of music.

We are on tour right now, we are going to the USA on the 14 June, we’ll play in Chicago, Greensboro, Washington and New York, we’ll not be in the recording studio before October. We have many projects coming out. The new album may be a tribute to the Neapolitan singer and musician Pino Daniele or a jazz release of originals songs, we haven’t decided yet but it will be definitely in quartet.

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

FB: – I would say Nat “King” Cole & Me by Gregory Porter tribute singer.

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

FB: – This is a tough one! In order to create something strong and communicative, it is necessary that intellect and soul go hand in hand, otherwise the result would be either too mechanical or too rambling, not really convincing.

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

FB: – A really important memory to me is the gig of Dizzy Gillespie, that I saw when a I was little child. It impressed me a lot to see this extraordinary musician, not that young anymore, playing for two hours in the rain without complaining or pulling back. It has been an amazing gig.

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

FB: – I take a lot from each collaboration, it’s hard to say just one. The collaboration with Charlie Haden, for example, for Liberation Music Orchestra, gave me a lot.

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

FB: – The musician should play honestly and he should not put himself on a higher level than his audience. We have to be communicative and talk to everybody, also to the people who they are not really use to listen to jazz music. But something has been changing in Italy and in Europe for the last 10 years. I see a lot of young people going to jazz gigs. The songwriters helped a lot by collaborating with jazz musicians, they get “pop” audience get closer to jazz and increasing his audience. It happened to me with the singer Sergio Cammariere, Sting in America did the same.

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

FB: – Music means life to me. My feelings and my spirit are closely connected to music. When I can’t play as I want, I become instantly really upset, for example. Music changes my mood completely, for better or for worse. There’s a visceral relationship with the instrument, love and hate can live together, this is typical of music. The instrument become a part of yourself eventually.

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

FB: – I wouldn’t change anything actually. The important rules that bear music world were written long tome ago, I would not dare modify them.

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

FB: – I listen to lot of different type of music. If I want to relax myself, I like listening to Brazilian music. If I am looking for more demanding song to think about, I often listen to my American colleagues. I like being up to date with American jazz.

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

FB: – I would like to go back to the 40’s, in New Orleans, to listen to a Clifford Brown’s gig. I also dreamt about it, once.

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

FB: – Have you ever interviewed a trumpet player more interesting than this? 🙂

JBN.S: – Thank you for answers. Yes, with Paolo Fresu, Enrico Rava, Terence Blanchard, Linley Hamilton, Bob Arthurs, Duane Eubanks, John Daversa and more etc …

Interview by Simon Sargsyan