Interview with guitarist Bruno Müller. An interview by email in writing. 

JazzBluesNews.com: – First, let’s start out with where you grew up, and what got you interested in music. How exactly did your adventure take off? When did you realize that this was a passion you could make a living out of?

Bruno Müller: – I was born 1969 and grew up in the 80s. You could say the golden era of good, handmade Soul jazz and R’n’B-music. Through my cousin, who introduced me to the music of The Crusaders and George Benson, I was totally hooked by this style of music.

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Before that, at the age of 12/13 years, I learned the acoustic guitar from my neighbor’s daughter. She taught me some classical tunes and I played in the church and at the campfire… ;-). 1985 a new music teacher came to our school and founded the school jazz band. With this band we played concerts and some gigs at birthday parties. I loved that so much, that for me this was the initial spark to become a professional musician. Then after graduation I started playing with cover bands in clubs and from then on I couldn’t think of another profession.

JBN: – How has your sound evolved over time? What have you been doing to find and develop your own sound?

BM: – As a musician you always strive for getting better and having the best sound you can get. This is a natural and very personal thing I guess. How this specific sound looks like, depends on what you hear and what you like. As your ears develop and grow, your sound will evolve in this direction.

JBN: – What routine practices or exercises have you developed to maintain and improve your current musical proficiency, in terms of both rhythm and harmony?

BM: – To be honest, my main exercise is to play live. Of course I’m sitting in my home studio very often, working on new repertoire and techniques. But always inspired by new music. I’m not having a specific practice routine. Actually being a family father with 3 young kids there’s not so much free time for those kind of routines….

JBN: – Have you changed through the years? Any charges or overall evolution? And if so why?

BM: – This is not an easy question to answer. You often don’t notice how you’re changing. You better discover this from an outside point of view. But I think change and development is something very natural everybody is going through. Let’s hope that this change is for the better. 😉

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JBN: – In your opinion, what’s the balance in music between intellect and soul?

BM: – In my opinion balance is one of the most important aspects of life. And the same rule applies to music. For my taste the best music is the one that has this perfect balance of intellect and soul. When you listen to the great masters of music of the 70s/80s until now you can find this balance. Steely Dan, Weather Report, The Crusaders, George Duke, Larry Carlton, Herbie Hancock, George Benson… All these musicians combine sophisticated harmony, vocal inspired melody and soulful and groove orientated, very strong rhythm in a perfect balance.

JBN: – There’s a two-way relationship between audience and artist; are you okay with delivering people the emotion they long for?

BM: – Yes, I’m totally ok with that. I think the main expectation of an audience is to have a good time, to be entertained. Our duty as musicians is to make the people who are coming to our concerts feel good. This will happen when we musicians perform with full love and passion for the music no matter what style we play. When you’re having fun on stage with laughter and smiling faces the positive energy will skip to the audience…. That’s the way of performing I love the most.

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

BM: – To get young people interested in Jazz really is not easy in these times with that social media overflow. All we can do is to perform our jazz music with total passion and love so that the fire will keep burning. But it is not easy to stay optimistic on this topic because the power of the modern commercial media is so strong that it will choke the good stuff I’m afraid.

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

BM: – Maybe it sounds a bit cheesy or trivial but I think the meaning of life is “Love”. The love for music and the people. Everything we do, we should do in a good spirit without fear, hate, envy, jealousy (great “Neville Brothers” tune, by the way). With that spirit we can make the world a little better….

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

BM: – If I could, I would send a TV-productions team into the 18th century to record the performances of Johan Sebastian Bach. I really would love to take a listen to this fantastic music in his pure authenticity.

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

BM: – I’m still listening to the old funky stuff… 😉 Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Crusaders, Earth Wind & Fire, George Benson, John Scofield, Grover Washington Jr., Stuff, Sly & the Family Stone… of course there is also a lot of very good funky music in these days like Snarky Puppy, Cory Wong, etc.

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

BM: – Another time period I would love to experience are the 50s. To see Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Count Basie, Cannonball Adderly, to be a fly on the wall of Rudy van Gelder studio… that would be great!

JBN: – Do You like our questions? So far, it’s been me asking you questions, now may I have a question from yourself…

BM: – Yes, it was fun to answer your questions, even if it was a bit of work for me, because my english is not so good. Thank you very much!

Interview by Simon Sarg

Note: https://jazzbluesnews.com/2023/03/19/useu-jazz-blues-association-festivals/ You can express your consent and join our association, which will give you the opportunity to perform at our Jazz and Blues festivals, naturally receiving an appropriate royalty. We cover all expenses. The objectives of the interview are: How to introduce yourself, your activities, thoughts and intellect, and make new discoveries for our US/EU Jazz & Blues Association, which organizes festivals, concerts and meetings in Boston and various European countries, why not for you too!! You can read more about the association here. https://jazzbluesnews.com/2022/11/19/useujba/