Interview with Luca Benedetto: Music and jazz have to be inclusive: Video

Jazz interview with a bad musician, as if trumpeter Luca Benedetto. An interview by email in writing.

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

Luca Benedetto: – I grew up in Ivrea, a small city close to Turin in Italy. As I remember I was always interested in study music; my dream was to be a orchestra conductor.

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

LB: – I was listening a spanish ska band, there was a guitar solo; I confused the guitar sound for a trumpet. I called my father and said “listen to this beautiful trumpet solo, I want to play the trumpet “.

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

LB: – My sound is the set of my difects.

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

LB: – I try to study every day and imitate instrument that it’s not trumpet.

JBN.S: – Which harmonies and harmonic patterns do you prefer now? You’re playing is very sensitive, deft, it’s smooth, and I’d say you drift more toward harmony than dissonance. There is some dissonance there, but you use it judiciously. Is that a conscious decision or again, is it just an output of what goes in?

LB: – The armonies and general my idea of harmonic patterns are, as lot of traditional music in the wordl: two voices moves on a drone

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

LB: – Put the ego out of music. Music is made of music.

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

LB: – As I said before, when I play, I am music servant. So I try to play the best music as I can.

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

LB: – Maybe if jazz musician would be more open minded there would be more people playing. Music and jazz have to be INCLUSIVE.

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

LB: – For me music it is like religion. When there is to much human ego it become useless. We should be music servant and believe that music has the power to help people.

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

LB: – Less ego, less egocentrism more INCLUSIVE way of see music.

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

LB: – I like the London Jazz scene …

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

LB: – For me music has also a politcal meaning. In these days we need to talk a lot about ecology, being suistainable and respectfull, that’s why in “Magic Forest” each track is related to one ecological topic.

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

LB: – I would like to listen and go to “Shubertiades” in Vienna.

Interview by Simon Sargsyan