Interview with Ricardo Pinheiro: Let your soul guide the musical process: Video

Jazz interview with jazz guitarist Ricardo Pinheiro. An interview by email in writing. 

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

Ricardo Pinheiro: – I grew up in Lisbon, and even though there were no musicians amongst the members of my family, I was interested in music from a very early age. I started to play keyboards at the age of eight and started playing the guitar when I was 12.

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

RP: – I listen to a lot of different music and experiment a lot with the guitar, amplification and effects. I guess my aesthetics of sound changed throughout do years, and I think this is a perpetual journey. Sometimes I am more into acoustic stuff, and other times I really delve into the electric possibilities of the instrument.

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

RP: – I study rhythm, Melody, Harmony, and my ear. I compose and improvise a lot. I think this is a very organic way of developing not only technically but also my voice as a musician. I also listen to a lot of music, of course.

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

RP: – Why do you need to prevent them? I think we should embrace all the influences because they will help us to develop our own sound as musicians.

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

RP: – I study as much as I can and try to be focused while playing.

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JBN: – Ism is culled from a variety of lives dates with various performers over the course of a few years. Did your sound evolve during that time? And how did you select the musicians who play on the album?

RP: – Of course. Our sound is always evolving, or at least transforming. Actually, we selected ourselves. So, this was a collective decision to keep playing together and keep recording.

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

RP: – Usually, you learn thinking theoretically about the parameters you’re using in music, but I think the most important thing is to forget that in a letter stage of development and let your soul guide the musical process.

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

RP: – Sure. I just hope people want what I have to give them.

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

RP: – Fortunately, I had a lot of incredible experiences throughout my career. Playing with Dave Liebman is always a memorable experience. Recording and playing with Chris Cheek or playing with Peter Erskine or Tim Hagans was also memorable. Playing with the musicians I am more regularly accustomed to play with is always a source of contentment in my life.

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

RP: – There are always new ways of reinventing standard tunes. I think you can hear that in our album Triplicity (2018). I think you can also hear that in this new album. Also, composing is a good way of getting young people interested in Jazz. There’s always a good amount of freshness in recently composed music and I think Jazz is a genre where new music is supposed to emerge constantly.

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

RP: – That’s a very complex question and topic. I think it is impossible to dissociate the spirit from other aspects of life. So, when we are making music, we are connecting all these aspects, all of our past experiences, all our beliefs, and all of our spiritual forces. So when a musician is playing he or she is just “being”, actually.

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

RP: – End Covid.

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

RP: – A lot of different and new music. Also, some older stuff. Ambrose Akinmusire, Antonio Loureiro, Blake Mills, Harish Raghavan, Joel Ross, Shai Maestro, and of course, Chico Buarque, Tom Jobim, Milton Nascimento, and many others. I also like to listen to classical music and to rock.

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

RP: – My way of seeing things, hearing things, and feeling thanks.

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

RP: – Here and now. Live the moment.

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

RP: – Yes. Why are humans killing the planet? How can we, as musicians, fight that?

JBN: – Because man has left nature and the musician can do nothing ․․․

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

RP: – Just be.

Interview by Simon Sargsyan