Interview with Simone Basile: If the audience does not feel the soul, it is difficult to make a good impression: Video

Jazz interview with jazz guitarist Simone Basile. An interview by email in writing. 

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

Simone Basile: – My passion for music starts from my family. My dad always played piano and guitar, I’ve been surrounded by instruments since I was little!

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

SB: – My sound has changed a lot over time. I have always had an obsessive attitude in the search for my idea of ​​sound, when it seemed that I finally got it, it was at that moment that I started all over again. I dedicate a part of my studio to playing without amplification, this helped me a lot to control the sound.

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

SB: – My routine is very schematic. I follow a program that changes every few months, setting a series of exercises and goals to be achieved in the long term. Music takes time to internalize. Reached the goal you need to change to keep your mind fresh always. The metronome is my rhythm exercise.

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

SB: – Why avoid it? What sets the music apart are the influences behind the artists. If there were no influences to enrich us we would all be the same.

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

SB: – I play a lot. The week before a concert I often play my songs with only the metronome. Timing is key.

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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?

SB: – Sure! Playing the record live before recording it helped me a lot to understand what sound I wanted for the guitar and for the band. I have known Manrico and Giovanni for many years and we have been playing together for a long time, I wanted to do this project with them and we have been carrying it out together for some time.

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

SB: – Mmm … I think that in music you need intellect when you study, at home, in your room, but live you need soul. If the audience does not feel the soul, it is difficult to make a good impression. On stage, the soul must prevail over the intellect, the music must flow freely.

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

SB: – No, I’m for giving people what I think, if they don’t like it … patience. I want to be myself in music.

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

SB: – I don’t have any particular moments to remember, but one thing I miss most of all … the adrenaline of waiting to get on stage. We hope this covid emergency will pass as soon as possible and we can be back playing soon!

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

SB: – Standards are a part of the endless world of jazz. They are certainly the basis of language, but it is not obvious that a young musician today is passionate about jazz thanks to the standards. There are so many young musicians who play “modern / contemporary” jazz today and sound great. They can thrill the new generations! Standards will come with the studio hopefully!

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

SB: – I can say that making music certainly makes me feel good and is good for my spirit. I hope to be able to do this for my whole life and to be able to convey the joy of making music to all the people I meet.

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

SB: – I would abolish streaming, favoring the physical circulation of music, CDs and vinyls. Utopia!

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

SB: – Immanuel Wilkins, great musician!

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

SB: – My music in general does not have a specific message. It is the mirror of what I am living in a particular moment of my life, positive / negative external influences, love, books I read, and so on …. My new record I’m working on will have a message addressed to the new generations.

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

SB: – I would like to go back to the 70s to experience Woodstock and the best years of the musical revolution! See live Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, the Beatles …

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

SB: – If I told you that you only have one interview left to do, who would you interview and why?

JBN: – I would interview a Sonny Rollins, my great jazz musician!!!

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

SB: – In the next months I will be in the studio to record a new album of only original songs … let’s see what happens!

Interview by Simon Sargsyan