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The Guitar Hero Series: Mike Baggetta

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The Guitar Hero Series: Mike Baggetta
Written by Ava

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The Guitar Hero series on Jemsite features interviews with guitarists and musicians who may not have star status YET, but their current situations have shaped them to be who they are--determined, fond of their craft, and heroes in their own right. Perhaps you'll see in these upcoming entries the next Jimi Hendrix, Melissa Etheridge, or Duane Allman. Or perhaps they'll become household names by doing what they do best--ripping a mean riff!

While we here at Jemsite often hamper on the best Ibanez and JEM guitarists and the rock gods of our generation, we've realized that all guitar and music genres should be exemplified to the best of our ability. After all, well all know it's not easy playing guitar, whether it's flamenco or rock, acoustic or rhythmic.

So for that matter, we've gone ahead and featured some of our favorites in other categories--from blues to jazz One such performer is guitarist Mike Baggetta, who's been called this generation's most original jazz improvisers and composers. He's received awards for his talent and is involved in more than one group including Mike Baggetta Quartet and a duo called Tin/Bag. He's performed and recorded with countless great musicians and entertainers and currently lives in the self-proclaimed capital of great music: New York City!

We had the chance to pick Mike's brain about what makes improvisational jazz on the guitar so much fun.

How did you get started playing guitar?

I guess I started playing the guitar because there was always one out and around the house when I was growing up. My father has always played the guitar and taught me how to play my first chords and songs. I really loved the album 'Wired' by Jeff Beck when I was in high school. He played the Charles Mingus song 'Goodbye Porkpie Hat' on that album and I started investigating jazz from there. I had instruction on other instruments throughout Middle school and High school, though. I played violin and trombone before deciding to focus my efforts on the guitar. Looking back now, I do feel that the guitar is a clearer expression of my musical voice than the other instruments I played would have been. I went on to study guitar with Tom Dempsey, Ted Dunbar and Vic Juris and feel that I also got a lot of important ideas from a few masterclasses with Jim Hall.

How do you describe your guitar style?

Well, I'm definitely coming from a jazz perspective, but my mind and ears are open enough to involve any music that I find personally important into my own playing and composing. I like to spotlight the power of subtlety in my style, as well as listening to, and interacting with, the other musicians with whom I'm playing. I think that some of the musicians that have most influenced my style would be Jeff Beck, Alban Berg, Leonard Cohen, Ornette Coleman, Bob Dylan, Glenn Gould, Jim Hall, Keith Jarrett, Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, Thelonious Monk, Paul Motian, Maurice Ravel, Sonny Rollins and Neil Young.

How did you make the foray into songwriting and composing?

I can remember always trying to compose my own little songs soon after I began grasping the basics of playing the guitar. You know, like after you learn your open chords, you start putting them in different orders and hearing a little melody on top of it or something. I was really happy to be recognized for my composing last year when I was a recipient of a Young Jazz Composer award from ASCAP. I think it became a pretty natural process for me to hear a melody and write it down and figure out the harmonies and rhythms that give it the certain mood that I want and then develop the piece in any number of ways. That isn't to say that it's always easy - far from it! Very rarely does a piece pour out of me in one pass. It's a constant process of developing little ideas that I keep track of throughout my practicing or even when I am away from the guitar.

What makes jazz guitar truly compelling for you.

The idea behind jazz is what is compelling to me. This can mean many different things to many different people, but for me, the idea behind jazz is one of developing variations on themes while interacting with other musicians in time. This is such a compelling process because the implications are inherently limitless. Playing variations on a theme that you are creating in real time is a very challenging prospect. There are an infinite number of ways to vary a theme if your imagination can keep up. Add to that the give-and-take, call-and-response interaction with your band mates and the possibilities seem endless to me. The guitar is appealing to me in this context, though, because I feel that the range of the notes, the attack and decay, and the harmonic possibilities are an honest representation of my musical voice.

Explain what jazz improvisation is and how you work to do it better.

Any kind of improvisation involves one creating a melody, or a variation on a melody, in time and on the spot. In jazz we usually work within certain parameters that can include song form, harmony and different rhythmic feels like swing or straight-eighth. Also defining jazz improvisation specifically is a common language of the music. This jazz language is made up of different patterns and common phrases or constructions. I feel that a strong jazz improvisation is one that is based off of the melody or concept of the particular piece you are performing, is creatively and thoughtfully developed and that showcases interaction within the group of musicians that are performing with the soloist. These are the considerations that I try to keep in my subconscious somewhere when I'm playing. I find that if I can keep these ideas in mind to some extent then my improvisations feel a little more honest to myself and the music.

You lead a few groups including the Mike Baggetta Quartet and a music duo Tin/Bag. Do you prefer groups or solo performances and why?

Few things terrify me more than performing solo! One of the things I love most about playing, as I mentioned earlier, is the give-and-take between musicians. That's a big loss for me when I'm playing solo. I mean, I'll happily attempt it, but it's so much like playing without anything to fall back on - and when I'm trying to really improvise without too many preconceived ideas about where the music will go, it can be a little scary to end up at a place where you just don't know what to play next. Playing with someone else makes it a little bit easier at those moments because you can always deal directly with something that the other person is playing if you are listening closely enough.

That being said, the musicians in these two specific projects are a real pleasure to perform with for just that reason. They are all very wide and perceptive listeners. In my quartet is saxophonist Jason Rigby, bassist Eivind Opsvik and drummer George Schuller. We just finished an 8-day tour around the Northeast US and the give and take between all of us throughout the course of these performances was something that I always want to have present in my music. I don't like to give too much direction for these pieces because I'm more interested in the way the music will develop among the four of us in a natural way. In Tin/Bag I have another wonderful musical partner, trumpeter Kris Tiner of California. Kris is another completely original musical voice with an uncanny ability to listen and react in time with a myriad of beautiful musical ideas.

What is the music/guitar scene in Massachusetts as opposed to the big bad city?

I'm not sure that I know now, or really ever knew, what the guitar/music scene was like in Massachusetts. When I was growing up in Agawam (in Western Massachusetts) I was listening to a lot of music and practicing and studying quite a bit. I had a few experimental type rock bands that I formed with some high school friends that were also into music. When I moved back up to Easthampton, MA after I graduated from college with my Bachelor of Music degree (from Rutgers University), I met a few local players but always found it surprisingly difficult to get any performance work happening up in that area. I suspect that there are far fewer opportunities there than in New York City. Since moving to New York City in 2004 (I moved to pursue music more seriously in a number of ways and also to receive my Master of Music degree from Rutgers University) I have definitely found the musical community much more open and accepting here than when I was in New England. I have a feeling though that when the scene is a little smaller, people can be, understandably, a little more guarded about welcoming more people into it as that may mean less work for everybody. But, I'm happy that, while that aspect still definitely exists in New York City, the emphasis is still clearly placed on making music together.

What is the best part of being a guitar player?

The accessories.

But, seriously folks - for me I find the guitar a very rewarding instrument because I feel that it clearly and honestly expresses my musical voice. I also enjoy having this as my instrument because my father taught me so much about it and I feel a strong bond with him in my life because of that. I have also recently become an endorsing artist for D'Addario strings and that has been a wonderful relationship to enter into since I've always used their strings. I can honestly say that they have amazingly consistent quality and, while I do have fun with all the strings and picks and accessories that go along with being a guitarist, that allows me to not have to think about them - I can just focus on making music.

Tell me about some of your albums.

My most recent album, 'Small Spaces', is with my above mentioned quartet. This album was issued on Fresh Sound New Talent and features my first set of compositions for this group. We are planning the recording of the next set of quartet music later this year. My duo with Kris Tiner, Tin/Bag, has two previously issued albums ('And Begin Again' on Evander Music, and 'There, Just As You Look For It' on pfMentum) and we have just recorded our third album this past January with a helpful grant from the American Composers Forum. Hopefully, this will be issued and available later this year. I also have released a solo CD of works for prepared guitar, 'Canto'. This is currently out of print, but will be reissued also towards the end of this year. Sound samples and ordering information for all of these albums is available on the discography page of my official website.

What is the future of jazz guitar and how can we open more minds to the genre?

I don't know that I can answer what the future of jazz guitar will be. I feel pretty secure that it will continue as a vital art form though. There are so many people that I meet that are genuinely interested in the music, as well as the history of the instrument and its role in jazz. Hopefully I help to spread the word myself through my little bit of teaching and masterclasses. As far as opening minds to the genre, I feel like that is really being taken care of more than ever these days. The world of modern jazz music incorporates so many elements from different styles of music that I think more and more people are being exposed to the music because they are hearing some things that genuinely appeal to them and their generation of ears. The tasteful use of effects is no longer a taboo topic for jazz guitarists, nor is the use of beats and rhythms drawn from rock and popular music. Elements are being incorporated from electronica and different 'world' musics as well. There are definitely enough voices out there playing jazz guitar that someone will appeal to everybody... Hopefully I will be among them!
 
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