David Benoit: Contemporary Jazz Artist Sets Sights High And Wide (Part 1-2)

Regarding the Asia America Symphony, Benoit explained, "It's been around about 11 or 12 years. They started off as a local community orchestra, a classical orchestra for the Japanese-American community, and then they branched out. They had a lot of funding from Toyota, and they had a music director for many years named Heiichiro Ohyama. Ohyama was the assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In its heyday, it was an operating symphony orchestra, but then [Ohyama] got busy, and people lost interest in it. Its attendance started getting smaller and smaller, to the point where finally he and the orchestra parted ways. They just about disbanded; they didn't even have a season last year. I had done some work with them and Heiichiro on a few occasions, so they approached me about rescuing the orchestra. I'm just now getting my feet wet with it, and I'm kind of excited, because I'm trying some innovative things. I'm trying to get it back to the point where it can be a functioning orchestra, because there's just so little budget to work with. Our first concert was just a small one; we had a flute player from Japan, and my trio, it was a very small group, but it was sold out! I said to them, 'Let's start small; then we can work our way back up again.' I think the morale is starting to get back with the orchestra. People are excited, [and] people are very excited about the youth orchestra."

Returning to the subject of jazz, we queried Benoit regarding the ever-present friction in the jazz world between those who may consider themselves traditional or mainstream "jazz purists" and those who play "smooth jazz." Some of the purists object to "contemporary jazzers" even being referred to as "jazz musicians." Benoit responded, "Well, you know, I've been around all those genres for many, many years. I know the players involved; I know the Dave Kozs and the Rick Brauns and the Peter Whites versus the Michael Breckers and the Peter Erskines and the Christian McBrides and the Marcus Roberts'. So, it's interesting to me… People ask me that all the time, because I've cruised back and forth, with smooth jazz being sort of where I ended up. I like the broad appeal of smooth jazz, and that's what I do best. But I've also maintained a foothold in traditional jazz, like when I did "Waiting for Spring" and "Letter to Evan" and even the Charlie Brown album. I worked with Christian McBride and Peter Erskine; in fact, Michael Brecker is on that record, as well as Russell Malone, so I'm pretty well into the traditional side of things."

"In fact, I just got a call: I may be doing something with Lalo Schifrin next year: a jazz piano concerto, a tribute to Bix Beiderbecke; I'm also giving two performances of Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano by Claude Bolling. As a musician, I've put out most of my catalogue as smooth jazz. But actually, I've been branching out into traditional jazz, classical music, trying to be as well rounded a musician, at least for me, as possible, someone who loves Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson and then some of the younger pianists like Bill Charlap and a host of others…like Bill Cunliffe, for instance. You know, Bill and I have become friends. Bill is a marvelous player. And there's a new pianist that I've been mentoring and working with that is a phenomenal jazz pianist by the name of Taylor Eigsti…He's 17 now, but he's another one of these brilliant, hot talents… It's funny, because when he first started working with me, he was doing smooth jazz, and then he just made an about-face and decided he only wanted to do traditional jazz. That's it. And he never looked back. And it's been a little weird for me, because I'm very firmly entrenched in the smooth jazz world, as you know, and I play traditional jazz for fun. But there are kids now who just [say], 'That's it!' It's not like they want to do it all; they focus on one thing. And so, it's interesting to me; I have real mixed feelings about it. It really seems like, unfortunately, that you either do one or the other. And that's too bad. Jazz is so broad… I think [Taylor] probably felt, too, that, in getting into the traditional jazz world, some of them look at a lot of the smooth jazz guys and look down their noses [at them]. And I don't blame them, because a lot of the smooth jazz guys get up on the stage and they're not improvising; it's all worked out, it's more like a Rock-and-Roll show! And so, I understand it. But, at the same time, for me, as someone who has had the luxury of doing all of it, I guess I'd like to see people be a little more open-minded. Music, after all, is either good or bad."

"[This] was an issue that [Dave] Brubeck fought all his career. You know, it's interesting. And now, at his age, he's really one of the true jazz icons. One of my good friends used to be Leonard Feather (I knew him very well), and Leonard always had a problem with Brubeck, because he wasn't a bebopper, or he wasn't a swing musician. He was more of a chordal, rhythmic player. And then he had that enormous popularity with 'Take Five.' So, he was going through that, as well as Vince Guaraldi and Ramsey Lewis, a lot of the players I've admired, who even back then were more on the 'Pop' side of things. So, it's probably always going to be that way. But I love it all; I'll listen to Bill Evans, and then Michael Jackson, or Oscar Peterson and then something like 'Smashmouth'; it's all music to me!"

Has Benoit had pressure from his label about the commercial success of his albums? Does he feel pressure to do a particular kind of album because of its projected commercial success? "Yes, absolutely. I'm going to give you an honest answer. Yes. I'd say (and it bugs me a little bit) that unfortunately, my record company, like so many others, is owned by a major corporation now. They didn't think that way in the very beginning; when it was just GRP, when it was Grusin and Rosen, the feeling was, 'Let's be creative.' The feeling now is, 'Let's find producers that have a lot of success in radio, and let's make sure we have radio airplay.' They're not like 'in my face' about it; it's subtle, but it's there. Even in my last album: I used Rick Braun, who gets a lot of play in the smooth jazz format (he happens to be a friend of mine, so I used him anyway, because I love him), but there was a little bit of that implied pressure like, you know, 'Be sure to use Rick Braun, because he gets hits.' My feeling is, as long as I can do my art album once in awhile, like 'Letter to Evan,' or 'Waiting for Spring,' or 'American Landscape,' I'm happy to deliver a record that I think will have some commercial success, which I think Fuzzy Logic will. But at the same time, my next album may be something orchestral, or the music of Leonard Bernstein. But, you're right; to answer the question, yeah, there is pressure, and if I didn't say that, I wouldn't be giving you an honest answer. Although, like I say, it's not a demanding 'You have to do this,' it's more 'We'd kind of like you to think about it,' you know, because airplay and sales are what makes the world go 'round."

What does Benoit think about what has been called "The Third Stream," or music that crosses over between classical music and jazz? "I really see that as the future of music. If you ask me, I think that crossover is going to be more important as we see how music is going to evolve. I think classical and jazz and all the different genres need to be meeting each other a lot more, and we need to cross those borders like Mr. Bernstein did in so many cases, and Aaron Copland, and George Gershwin. And they faced lots of criticism in their day for doing that! Bartok, Stravinsky, all the people that were bold enough, and Chick Corea, who has crossed over; that's what I'm hoping to do, the way I see my career developing in the next several years. I see more and more of that, of bringing classical, and jazz, and smooth jazz, and straight ahead, and even country and western, bringing it all together to create some kind of new thing, new music. That's what I hope to do with the Asia America Symphony, to bridge cultures and music. And that's a tall order. But you've got to start somewhere. If you've got nowhere to go but up, then you just go."