Artist Features
Guitarist Jakob Bro Releases New Album “Taking Turns”
One of the powerhouse musicians on the scene today is Danish guitarist Jakob Bro.
The ECM recording artist has worked with saxophonists Joe Lovano, Charles Lloyd, Lee Konitz, bassists Thomas Morgan and Larry Grenadier, and drummers Paul Motian, Jorge Rossy, and Joey Baron. Jakob has released twenty albums as a leader.
JB: You haven’t been featured in JAZZ GUITAR TODAY. So, before I ask about the new album, tell me about yourself. When did you first become passionate about the guitar?
JBro: I grew up in a family with a lot of music. Both my parents were schoolteachers. My father especially used music in his classes, and he was conducting an amateur big band at night also with students from the school. So basically, I grew up with Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, that kind of music which was my father’s favorite music. And I played the trumpet in his big band from the age of five or something.
I guess Jimi Hendrix was the main reason for changing instruments. I listened to Jim Hendrix for the first time when I was around 13 years old, and I instantly felt like there was something in that expression that I wanted to pursue. So, I changed my instrument and really went all in with the guitar for a few years.
A few years later though, I felt like going back to the trumpet. Much of the music I was listening to was still acoustic sounding jazz. I was heavily inspired by John Coltrane and Miles and Monk, Nina Simone, Bill Evans and Dexter Gordon and Bud Powell. I also listened to Lester Young also and Billie Holiday. I always felt like the guitar was a bit tricky somehow in that regard.
Even though I many times wanted to go back to the trumpet I always felt like I had already spent so much time with the guitar (which in my mind would be time wasted), so I kept at it somehow and slowly found my own way of thinking about this instrument.
Of course, I’ve listened to Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Ralph Towner, Jim Hall, Pat Martino, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Steve Cardenas, Ben Monder… I mean, there are so many incredible players… Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian, etc. And I also love so many of the blues guitar players.
But somehow, for me, I was always transcribing saxophone solos. I was always transcribing piano and playing bass lines from different bass players. I listened to a lot of guitar players but never really felt the urge to mirror what they were doing. I was more interested in what someone like saxophonist George Garzone was doing harmonically, and at an early point, I realized that what he was doing just in my ears sounded better on the saxophone than it did on the guitar. I think this made me think of the instrument in a different way.
There was definitely some sort of clash with me being a guitar player and on the other hand me wanting to create music where the guitar was not really in center. At least for a while, until I found the beauty of this exact thing; not necessarily being in the center of your own music all the time. Or even go to the extend and say that no one should the center of this music … is a beautiful approach to music for me.
JB: In your own development, what are three of the most influential jazz guitar albums and why?
JBro: I think one of them is definitely The Bridge by Sonny Rollins, I really love the way Jim Hall is playing on that album. And either one of the Broadway albums from Paul Motian where Bill Frisell is an incredible accompanist and colorist. I think the way he’s playing that music is just so beautiful. I guess if I have to choose the last one, well … there are so many incredible albums with Pat Metheny. And when Kurt Rosenwinkel released his trio album, East Coast Love Affair, that really blew my mind also.
I love to listen to Abercrombie, the way he’s accompanying Charles Lloyd on some of those records is incredible. I think it’s hard to just give you three titles. But if I had to pick three it would be The Bridge by Sonny Rollins, Psalm by Paul Motian and Rejoicing by Pat Metheny. And that’s for his acoustic, guitar playing on “Lonely Woman.”
JB: On your new record Taking Turns, in regard to the melodic textures you create, you have a special musical chemistry with saxophonist Lee Konitz and guitarist Bill Frisell, both of whom seem to be musically out in front. Reflect upon your working relationship with them.
JBro: Well, basically I met and became friends with Frisell through Paul Motian, with whom I was playing in the early 2000s (Paul Motian Band and also the Electric Bebop Band).
That was the starting point of my musical career as a side man. It was an incredible experience as a young musician to play with Paul and every time I got a chance, I would go see him play in different constellations and of course, the trio with Lovano and Frisell was one of my favorite ensembles.
I became friends with Bill in that way and I invited Bill to play with me on different sessions of mine. We did a bunch of albums. And one of the things that I find so special about Bill… I mean there many things (he’s a genuinely beautiful, very, very nice person for one). But musically he is a genius, in my opinion, in terms of giving little sketches of compositions life.
Lee Konitz. I had never played with him until I met him on a recording session I did with Paul Motian and Frisell and Ben Street called Balladeering. Lee was not aware of who I was, but he knew, of course, Bill, Paul and Ben and he wanted to play. Instead of reading my scores, he was interpreting what he could hear coming from Bill, Paul, Ben and me. It was a magical feeling to witness my music blossom like that.
JB: The new album Taking Turns was recorded ten years ago. Can you tell us why the delay in getting this material out?
JBro: Lee Konitz and I did a trilogy together (Balladeering, Time & December Song), which was released on my label Loveland Music. I wasn’t going to make more music with that group because I was starting to collaborate with ECM Records, and I kind of wanted to go in different directions. But then at the same time, my trilogy with Konitz was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize, and so I wanted to celebrate that with a last recording. It didn’t matter to me whether it would be released right away or at a much later time. I was in dialogue with Manfred Eicher about recording a trio album with him as a producer, that was my priority, so basically, I just left the Taking Turns tapes in my drawer. Manfred listened to it some years later and wanted to release it. I’m very happy about that.
JB: Reflect upon the musical selection and preparations for the recording. Did you have this group in mind when you composed it?
JBro: I always compose music with specific bands, musicians, and people in mind, this time was no different. We recorded twice as much music as is on the final album, I think.
The pieces Manfred selected represent the core of the session.
When playing and recording music it’s always my hope that the beginning of a piece can be strong enough to somehow set a mood that all my fellow musicians want to investigate. That’s what happened in the studio, basically. I came with the basic frame and then we all finished the painting collaboratively.
JB: For a rhythm section on Taking Turns you have pianist Jason Moran, drummer Andrew Cyrille and Thomas Morgan on bass. Talk about what those three musicians bring to the musical pallet of the sound.
JBro: They all bring their completely unique sound, harmony, rhythm, etc, into the music. They’re such strong personalities, all three of them. It was a real joy for me, of course, to listen to all the ideas that they created and came up with during this session.
Andrew and I had played together on various occasions before, and I absolutely love his music. He was a natural choice, representing the same generation as Paul Motian and Lee Konitz yet at the same time bringing in a very different aesthetic.
Thomas Morgan can play all of my songs blindfolded in all 12 keys at the same time (so it seems at least). He makes the melodies sound good, but he also open up the songs and creates small spaces within the music where new things come alive while never forgetting the starting point. He’s a very dear friend of mine and, of course, extremely important in my music and the sound of my music in general.
Jason Moran and I had never played together before this session. I was and I am still a huge admirer of Jason’s music. So, it was a dream come true to finally meet him and create music together. I didn’t want to give him any guidelines since I was curious to hear his take on the music as we were playing and creating it. It was such a joy to experience. The comping that he and Frisell are doing together on the song “Haiti” is so great.
There’s also some incredibly beautiful, really dark piano stuff on “Black is All Colors at Once” where Jason’s accompaniment really creates contrast. All in all, I’m just so grateful that Andrew, Thomas, and Jason were available for this session.
JB: And for the musical textures you wanted to create, tell us about the guitars and amps that both Bill and you used for this project.
JBro: I believe I was playing a Hansen, a Danish-built Telecaster, at this session.. Or maybe I already had my Nash Tele at that time, which is the only guitar I play nowadays.
I think maybe Bill was playing some sort of Tele. I was definitely using an amplifier from the studio, so most likely a Fender Deluxe or Fender Twin or something, but I really can’t remember. I believe Bill brought his own amps. So that could have been a vintage Deluxe or it could have been maybe a Super Champ. That’s going to be a guess, I can’t remember, actually and I’m not a gear nerd at all (I think GuitarPlayer magazine even called me an anti-guitar-hero one time! I agree with that).
JB: Talk about how you and the others musically weave around each other but stay out of each other’s ways.
JBro: I always listen to the music as a wholesome thing. And then I react, try to come up with ideas, and try to come up with contrasts and see if I can add something to the music that benefits the overall sound. For me, it’s like breathing almost. Everything starts with a sound and then hopefully that can lead to a collective meditation inside the music.
When I was playing in Paul Motian’s band there were always two or three guitar players in the band. I loved the sound of more musicians on the same instrument at the same time. You can get into a state of mind where it’s not really important who’s playing what. It is like a sea of strings. A lot of harmony comes out of this approach, and to me, it feels both organized and coincidental at the same time.
I feel like I’ve been really welcomed in the warmest sense by so many of the great players in the history of this music. For me Taking Turns is a solidification of that. It’s not about me coming in and taking over. It’s about different generations meeting and trying to create something together from our different standpoints in life, and as the youngest one in that group, obviously, I learned so much. It was an incredible experience. One that I will never forget.
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