Interview with Bruno Spoerri: But music is not all my life – there is my family: Videos, New CD cover

Jazz interview with jazz saxophonist Bruno Spoerri. An interview by email in writing. 

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

Bruno Spoerri: – My first hearing experiences were with Swiss Swing orchestras, but a bit later I found the first Charlie Parker records. When I heard Lee Konitz with Stan Kenton,  then the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, I followed them for some years. On Alto and Baritone I think I found a way to express myself with an almost classic sound , with the Tenor I try to find my personal sound again and again, with more or less success.

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

BS: – Rhythm was never my problem, perhaps because I probably inherited an “inner metronome” from my mother. But now I really have to work on my breathing technique, the coordination of my fingers, all the things that are deteriorating ‘cause of my age.

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

BS: – This is a question, that I don’t understand. I welcome all influences, and sooner or later they help me to master new situations, to develop new ideas. I have played with musicians in Ghana, in Marocco, in India and even Aethiopia… I admired their superior musical abilities and tried to learn something from them. And also: I admire the facility of young musicians with computer programs and their courage to find new ways to create music. On the other hand I am too old to change my ways to make music radically.

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

BS: – I am 85 years old, and of course stamina are more and more a problem (e.g. the weight of the Tenor and, worse, of the Baritone). I need much time to recover after a gig, and I must take care, what I do before concerts. Perhaps it helps a lot now, that I never had problems with alcohol and drugs – I had a family quite early, and there was no room for carelessness.

JBN: – What do you love most about your new album 2021: Le Trio, how it was formed and what you are working on today. And how did you select the musicians who play on the album?

BS: – Le Trio grew out of a jam session at a small place, the “Lebewohlfabrik” in Zürich, where I felt extremely relaxed with these great musicians. There was an immediate contact and an immediate understanding. Dani Solimine is the stabilizing force with his unique 7-string guitar and his ability to play the chords and a bass line at the same time. Rainer Hagmann brings a lot of inspiration and some craziness. We only had two rehearsals, all in all, where we discussed mostly intros and endings, and we had a concert, where three tunes of this CD were recorded live before a small audience. And the ten tunes, that we recorded in the studio, were done with no more than two or three takes each. I love this spontaneous way of recording, with a very able and almost invisible sound engineer. And of course I am happy, that I could bring in two tunes of mine. Both come from scores for films: “On the way” from an experimental film made in 1978 and “For Varlin”, a documentary from 2016.

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

BS: – I think, that intellect is very important while choosing and preparing the material, writing arrangements – and as soon, as I begin to play, I try to forget everything else, live in the moment, let my feelings guide me. This principle is the same for concerts with acoustic jazz and for improvised electronic music – as soon as I have to think about technical problems, the flow stops.

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

BS: – People come (and pay) to hear the band and me, and in most cases they know, what they should expect. So normally I don’t have to worry about possibly wrong expectations. That was not so in the early years of performing with electronic instruments: Then I had often to cope with people, who hated everything “unnatural”, as they called it. Then I tried to build bridges for them, explaining, what I did and even inviting people to try out something themselves. We were playing in schools, and asked pupils to come and sing or speak into a sampler, and then we did an improvisation with their sounds. So we got their interest and could go on without lowering our standards.

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

BS: – Well  – in a long life there are many memories! I remember three nights with Dexter Gordon – I was so scared, I could barely play. Great and very touching encounters with Lee Konitz, a completely crazy concert with electronics guru Don Buchla, many jams with Dollar Brand (before he was Abdullah Ibrahim) and one with Joe Zawinul, when he was still playing piano in Fatty George’s band…

And if you want a funny anecdote: Reto Weber (drums) and I (sax and electronics) were booked in 1989 for a concert on Freedom Plaza, Washington DC. It rained, so we had to dislocate into the Pennsylvania Av. Warehouse, and there was a sound technician, who had to limit our volume to 78 dB. So we almost didn’t hear ourselves in the noisy place. But we continued playing, until an old black woman stopped in front of me and said: “I hate jazz!” This was the end.

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

BS: – I know: When I play the listeners are mostly older people. I think, it is the task of our generation to preserve the past. The younger musicians have to find their own way, choose their repertoire and generate their own public.

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

BS: – I give all I can during a concert. But music is not all my life – there is my family, friends, and some work trying to preserve the memory of Swiss musicians.

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

BS: – Corona times have shown it again clearly: Music (and all art) seems to be a “nice to have” thing for politicians, “easy to forget” when it comes to a crisis. As an admirer once said to a friend of mine: “If I could play piano like you, I wouldn’t work anymore.” This attitude should change.

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

BS: – I love the late records of Lee Konitz – few notes, but each note counts.

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

BS: – I am very suspicious of “messages brought through music” – I think, music should speak through itself. If it doesn’t, why do it?

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

BS: – I would go to the New York of the Forties – go to Minton’s and the other places, where Bebop was cooked, meet Parker, Monk and Tristano, feel, how their music was formed. And I think, I would soon go back to my time, happy not to be involved in the difficult life of the musicians of that generation.

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

BS: – Well – I know, that I am near the end of my career, so I have more memories than plans for the future. But I am still planning a new CD with my “other side”, live electronic jazz with no barriers between tradition and future.

Interview by Simon Sargsyan