Artist Features
Keeping Busy In The Big Apple
Jazz Guitar Today contributor Joe Barth talks to New York jazz guitarist Ethan Mann.
Ethan Mann considers Harlem home as a place to live, as well as the musical values associated with the neighborhood. Growing up in Connecticut, he moved to New York in 1991, Ethan can be seen every Monday night at the Hotel Carlyle on 76th Street on the Upper East Side of New York City and elsewhere in the city.
JB: Talk about what inspired you to play jazz guitar.
EM: Initially, it was just the guitar in general, folk, blues, and rock. My ear was attracted to the guitar parts I heard on the radio. My parents had a diverse record collection, which included The Beatles, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane. The first jazz guitarist I was exposed to was Wes Montgomery. During the fusion era, I liked Weather Report a lot. Back then, I was going for a more rock-oriented sound. I played in a good band that made instrumental music with lots of groove and improv but not a lot of harmonic complexity or swing. We called it jazz, but when I got to New York, it was a whole different thing!
JB: Talk about the things you appreciated most about your studies at Manhattan School of Music.
EM: I really needed the four years I spent there to focus on getting better to begin to deal with the jazz scene in NYC.
I found MSM to be very focused on music from the swing era through post-bop but not beyond. The electric guitar was seen as a peripheral instrument. I lived the joke of how do you get a guitar player to turn down? Put sheet music in front of him. Some of my classmates were Eric Harland, Stefon Harris, Ryan Kaisor, Eric Lewis, Jason Moran, and many other gifted young musicians. I had great teachers. I was accepted when I auditioned but received no scholarship. I auditioned on a solid body with effects, playing fusion. The judges said I had to work on my swing feel and my tone. By the time my year-end jury came around, I had figured out what they meant. At first, I thought they were a little narrow-minded, but their intense focus on earlier styles ended up having a huge benefit. I bought a cheap f-hole and learned to swing a little and play over more complicated chord progressions. I received a merit scholarship for the rest of my time there. I learned how to keep the form and how to deal with the lower volume of the upright bass compared to the electric. How not to get lost with drummers like Eric Harland, who create thrilling rhythmic tensions within the form. Your inner pulse and awareness of form have to be unshakeable.
JB: To you, what are three of the most influential jazz guitar albums in your development and why?
EM: Smokin’ At The Half Note. Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio. I was about 13 or 14 when I heard this. I may have heard jazz guitar before but THIS! The tone, the feel, the band, the vibe, the tunes! It really grabbed me. I thought that when I grew up, I would like to have a guitar like Wes.
Next Breezin’ by George Benson. This had a couple of pop hits on it that were playing on the radio. It was my first exposure to the mastery of George Benson. It was the soundtrack to an exciting time in my life.
Then Exit by Pat Martino. I bought this record and listened to it a lot. After that, I put on heavier strings and started trying to pick every note.
JB: What did you appreciate about your studies with Jack Wilkins, Chris Rosenberg, and Rodney Jones?
EM: I started with Chris Rosenberg, who is a wonderful player and teacher. He was very supportive and encouraging. He helped me to deal with some of the gaps in my musicianship. He told me that there were two other guys on the faculty that I should make sure to also study with before I left MSM.
I owe a lot to Rodney Jones. He told me that if I ever wanted to have good chops, I needed to change my picking technique. I watched and listened to him every week at my lesson and really loved his articulation and feel. He said that his technique came from George Benson. I could see that he was right about the weakness in my right hand and I ended up changing it.
Rodney would tape every lesson, and we would play tunes. then I would go home and listen. “That sounds great!” (Rodney’s solo) “That doesn’t” (mine). Painful but effective. Jack Wilkins passed away recently. He was an amazing musician. He was generous with his knowledge. He was so enthusiastic about the great guitarists and had transcribed and absorbed all of them! One day we were playing a song together at my lesson and he stopped me and said “You don’t know what to do with minor 7 flat 5 chords.” I said “Sure I do” he said “No you don’t, let me show you” and then he gently explained it to me. His love of music was pure.
JB: You moved to New York City in 1991. Talk briefly about the kind of work you have done there.
EM: Shortly before I moved to NYC, Freddie Bryant stopped by at a jam session I did in Hartford. I was very impressed by him and thought “This is what a New York jazz guitarist sounds like! I went up and talked to him and he said “You should hear my roommate, Peter Bernstein! He told me he thought I sounded good, gave me his number, and told me to call him if I moved to the city, and he would introduce me to some people. I moved there soon after, and he was true to his word.
I did a lot of solo guitar for my first few years, A highlight was a gig I had at a restaurant above Iridium. After my set, I could go down and hear the shows for free. I heard a lot of great music. The restaurant would open the windows out to the street across from Lincoln Center. One day, I saw George Benson approaching from way down the street. He walked right up to the window and said, “Nice guitar. “ Then he came in. It was nerve-racking playing for him but we had a nice chat afterwards.
I started getting called by singers. I knew a lot of tunes and could play them in any key. I played many duo gigs with singers. I met Russell Malone when he stopped in at one of them. I accompanied him while he sang and listened to him play my guitar. He asked me to sub on a rehearsal for a record date he was on. The band was Ron Carter, Mulgrew Miller, and Carl Allen! He died recently and left a huge hole in the jazz guitar world.
My first trio gigs as a leader came a little later. I had managed to get a weekly gig that paid well enough for me to hire great, veteran bass players and drummers who would play with me even though I was green. At first, I was self-conscious while playing and worried about what they thought of me. Surprisingly to me, things started going much better when I stopped caring. The music started to flow, and they liked me more. I currently play in two bands which work regularly and I continue to get called as a sideman. I occasionally lead gigs. I recently started arranging music for a new record.
JB: Tell us about your latest CD Acoustic Project.
EM: That was a collaboration with a friend I met at MSM named Arturo Vera. It was mastered by Gene Paul who is Les Paul’s son and a wizard in the studio. Arturo and I went for a Spanish guitar vibe. There is a Bach piece arranged around a clave and a Villa Lobos piece We also did some Chick Corea. It was a pleasure to work with Arturo on this recording.
JB: Tell me what you need to be mindful of as an accompanist to a singer or a saxophone.
EM: Listening is the most important thing for both, but especially with singers. If it is an unrehearsed situation with someone you don’t know well, ask for a key and tempo if it is not offered. Give clear and concise intros. Know the melody so that you can support it and not play notes a step or half step away in the singer’s range. Listen for, support, and enhance the nuance and beauty in their voice. If something doesn’t sound great to you, don’t assume that it is their fault. Don’t shut down, keep listening and do what you can to make it great.
Have a strong groove, but leave yourself room dynamically so that you can make something happen on your solo. Pay attention and follow through for the ending as much as possible, watch for cues. If they don’t lead it, take over and end in a satisfying way.
For saxophone, listening again but not just to tone, volume, feel, timbre, phrasing and dynamics. Also, phrase length/ call and response opportunities, (It is exciting when a soloist ends a phrase and leaves some space which the band fills in an organic way), and harmonic content. (If you are playing a song with changes and the soloist starts superimposing some things which you can’t follow, it is sometimes better to lay out. If you can follow, that’s even better). Interaction is what makes the music happen. You can respond to what players besides the soloist are doing too.
JB: Tell us about the primary guitars you play.
EM: I play my Gibson L-5 almost all the time.
JB: New York is a town with hundreds of good guitarists, you’ve been there for over thirty years, so what’s the best piece of advice you’d give younger guitarists for building a career in music?
EM: This is some old-school advice, so take it (if it seems relevant) or leave it. Most of it is related to musicianship, which I think should be the top priority. I once saw Dr. Lonnie Smith on the bus. I recognizedhim instantly. He didn’t know me, but he saw that I was carrying a guitar and said “E7#9” to which I responded, “G#,D, G natural”. “Be good to the music and the music will be good to you,” he said. It has been true for me and I hope it is true for you too. It helps to be in a place where there is a music scene that you are interested in. It may be NYC, but there are other places too. The established guitarists here are not your competition. Let them know you can play and are reliable; you may end up being useful to them when they need a sub.
Try not to react too quickly if criticized or given unsolicited advice by another musician or listener, even if you feel offended. People sometimes share things that could end up being very valuable to you.
If you are in a new place, It can be helpful to have a group of friends from school or your hometown, if not, try to tolerate being an outsider on a scene that you are interested in until you are accepted. Music school can be a good place to start building musical relationships. This is all a part of networking, which I am sure is still important. When you feel ready, there are methods of
gaining exposure on social media which I am less familiar with. The question of how musicians will make a living in the future is something that the upcoming artists will need to figure out. Things have changed.
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