British Smooth-Jazz Guitar Master, Chris Standring

Jazz Guitar Today contributor Joe Barth talks to one of Britain’s finest guitarists, Chris Standring.  

Starting off in the trio Solar System, he released his first solo album, Velvet, in his late thirties.  Since then, he has released almost twenty smooth or contemporary jazz albums.

JB:  Growing up in England, talk about what inspired you to play jazz guitar.

CS:  Well to be honest, I grew up in the countryside and with very limited choices to really get access to music other than what was being pushed through radio. But in my generation in England, there was a massive progressive rock scene, and as a classically trained player, I totally gravitated towards it. But there was one particular guy, a Dutch guitarist called Jan Akkerman from a band called Focus, who really made an impact on me. He was also classically trained and kind of a jazz player, but not really. His time and taste stood out and got me to the great Jeff Beck. Then, when I went to London, I joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, and suddenly I was turned on to the real stuff, straight-ahead jazz. So, I got into Wes Montgomery, Chet Baker, Joe Pass, and I paid attention to all my musician friends who were studying jazz at the same time. My Dad was also a big Oscar Peterson fan, so that could have rubbed off on me. I loved his old records. One was called A Portrait of Frank Sinatra, which is the most swinging record, even to this day.

 JB:  Did you study music in college? If so, talk about the musical things you appreciated most about those years of your life.

CS:  Yes, I studied classical guitar at the London College of Music for three years, earning three performing diplomas, including a fellowship. The latter was a concert in the college hall in front of several judges and any student who wanted to come in and listen. Frightening! But somehow, I got through it with confidence and passed. The biggest thing I appreciated at the time going to college was having the time to practice. I did a performing program, which meant I was dedicated to becoming a performer rather than a teacher, so having the UK government fund me (ahh, those were the days) to sit at home and practice was a gift. I would split up the day, practicing Bach preludes and fugues in the morning and working on my jazz playing, practicing improv over standards in the afternoon. And then, because I needed to sight-read for NYJO, and any future session work, I pulled out a ton of single-line music, flute & violin, etc., from the college library and figured out how to do that. It was a fantastic time for those who made good use of it.

JB:  To you personally, what are three of the most influential jazz guitar albums that shaped your personal development as a guitarist, and why?

CS:  The one that comes to mind initially is For Django by Joe Pass. Absolutely incredible. At this stage, he was still playing with a pick and ripping through chord sequences at blistering tempos. His time was incredible. And his vocabulary appealed to me as I’d studied a lot of bebop through college, and so anything sourced from the Charlie Parker school of harmony appealed to me because I understood it.

Consciousness by Pat Martinois another. I discovered him rather late; I was in my mid-thirties, but it was a life-changing moment. The album was Joyous Lake, and because it was a kind of progressive rock album with him blistering over changes, I got it immediately. But his time was like a machine, and his harmonic language seemed again to be coming from bebop. I hadn’t heard anyone play with such conviction, metronomic time, and dexterity up until this point. I then devoured everything he released. I actually took a lesson with him a couple of years before he died. I was doing a show in Philadelphia, and that morning I spent two hours with him, another life-changing moment. And he even came to my show that night. I was pretty honored. But in his lesson, rather than learn anything technical or harmonic (I’m sure I did that too), the one thing I took away from spending time with him was that he subliminally gave me the permission to be a jazz guitarist. Here was this legend in front of me who lived and breathed jazz guitar and made no excuses for it. I decided to try to adopt that same attitude and persona. So, no more playing Stratocasters or other strange guitars, from this point on, a clean, focused jazz guitar sound became the thing I forged ahead with.

Offramp by Pat Metheny. Another life-shattering moment. Metheny, like Pat Martino, gave me permission to be passionate in my own writing. I remember being in tears when I heard one track on that album called “Au Lait”. So beautiful. Of course, he is an astounding player too, but it is his writing that has gotten under my skin. And whenever I am in need of real musical inspiration, I still turn to Pat. He never fails.

JB:  Briefly talk about your musical goals when you combined jazz and hip-hop in your group Solar System.

CS:  The Solar System album was meant to be my first solo album back in 1996. I had been a sideman to a bunch of established contemporary jazz artists, and I was positioned well to release my own. So, Rodney Lee and I went into the studio to write and record, but as many young, hungry musicians do, we experimented a great deal and got a bit too creative for an album to be a solo album for me. By that I mean, we wrote songs and instrumental tracks, and of course, the Acid Jazz movement was in full flux at the time, and I loved that crossover. So, we brought in a rapper, two singers, and a horn section. Well, once the album was finished, it was far less about me as a player than it was about the overall vibe and band sound. So, Rodney and I decided to partner and put it out as a band project. It was essentially a one-off project, too difficult to really keep a band like that together for long. And we were signed to a tiny label with no real support for us. But it got me in the game.

JB: Briefly discuss your musical relationship with pianist Rodney Lee and what you appreciate about working with him. 

CS:  Rodney and I met playing in a band back in 1993 for a singer-songwriter called Lauren Christy. We found we had many things in common, particularly a love of jazz harmony and soul music. My classical and jazz background and his soul and funk leanings made for a really good partnership. I tend towards major-sounding melodies and pop songwriting structures, whilst Rodney is a hardcore progressive jazz-funk-soul guy who leans more towards darker harmonies and indulgent fusion ideas. So, it was a great match and of course we are still playing and recording to this day. He is less involved in writing with me these days as I have a fully-fledged studio set up at home, but I bring him in to record whenever I can. He has a deep groove and is very much responsible in part (perhaps to blame!) for the development of my branded sound.  

JB:  Tell us about your new CD , Time of Change. It looks like the songs were all composed by you.

 CS:  Yes I wrote all 11 tracks on this new album. It all ended up with a very nostalgic feel reminiscent of heroes of mine who released albums in the early eighties. But particularly arrangers like Larry Willams and Jerry Hey who would work on albums by Randy Crawford and Al Jarreau, and of course Earth Wind & Fire. There was a certain style in those chord sequences and super tasty orchestration, and I tried to emulate that on this record, of course, all the while sounding like me. I’m not good at sounding like anyone else these days. The older I get, the more jazz-sounding my albums tend to be, and this one is no different in that regard.

JB:  You are an excellent tunesmith. Talk briefly about how you go through the compositional process.

CS:  Well, thank you. Of course, there is no hard-and-fast rule for writing, but I often write at the keyboard. It takes one germ of an idea for me to be off to the races and flesh it out. I tend to commit to ideas quite quickly, well, if they sound good to me, and fleshing something out is the fun part as the composition generally dictates where it wants to go. Then once the song or tune is written, it’s then about orchestration and arranging, and it’s that part that I tend to focus mostly on these days, I get the most fun out of that part. But I must say, probably my favorite way to write is old school; I’ll be out in my backyard with an acoustic guitar, manuscript paper, pencil, eraser, and I’ll sing a melody over a chord sequence. Because I’m a lousy singer, if it sounds good to me, I might run with it. Once the piece is complete on paper, then there are a million ways it can be fleshed out, but at that point, I can take my time and try a few things out.

JB:  Bassist Andre Berry and drummer Chad Wright play superbly.  What do you appreciate most about these two musicians as your rhythm section?

CS:  Andre and I go way back to the beginning, along with Rodney Lee in fact. He has a very unique pocket as a bass player. His leanings are towards the real funk players like Larry Graham and Bootsy Collins, but he really has his own unique thing. He was David Sanborn’s bassist for many years. He is very picky about drummers he plays with, but when it’s right, boy, look out! He is still very much part of my band after 30 years of playing together. Chad Wright has come on the scene in the last few years and is one of those players who just make the band feel incredible. His pocket is tight. He has been playing with the Jacksons and also Bruce Hornsby, so he’s very versatile. He doesn’t always play live with me, but his studio playing is amazing. So precise. I tend to gravitate towards the R&B soul/gospel schooled players rather than the fusion players. The groove is very different. It seems to be more about a swing coming from the kick, rather than playing on top of the beat and more open, as a fusion player might. It’s hard to explain, but it’s really about how they feel it. And I like a very infectious, hypnotic foundation to improvise on top of, rather than a busy feel. So Chad is one of a few guys I call in this very specific style. Imagine the difference between perhaps Steve Jordan playing in the band rather than perhaps Dave Weckl or Vinnie Colaiuta. Both fabulous players, but the feel and approach are wildly different. Of course, if I’m recording a jazz ballad, which I do frequently, I would always go for a real straight-ahead guy who plays brushes authentically. Peter Erskine comes to mind.

JB:  It has been said of you that you use heavily “1970s-style musical nuances.”  Talk about this.

CS:  Well, I grew up in the seventies. It was a fantastic time musically, and all my favorite bands came out during this time period. I am obsessed with jazz harmony, and all the bands, certainly those that I responded to, were kind of pop bands with a deep harmonic foundation. Earth, Wind & Fire come to mind. They wrote incredible songs with such an ambitious sense of harmony in so much of their music, pulled off perfectly. Steely Dan, another. I spent a life learning how to use those kinds of chord progressions. And of course, if you want to learn how to arrange, listen to these guys. It’s all there. Also, it was a time of real musicians playing together, and groove was king. I find myself constantly still drawing from that time period.

JB:  We don’t have the Smooth Jazz radio stations like we used to.  What are some of your greatest challenges in getting your music “out there?”

CS:  It’s a new day for sure. Social media plays a big role, although I can be a bit lazy about it. It can be a full-time job if you do it right. We have Sirius XM, which is nationwide, and that is most artists’ focus these days. There are many smaller stations, which, of course, are all valid, but yes, you are right: the big-city stations are mostly gone in this format. I have thankfully been around a good while, so I have grown a pretty loyal base, allowing me to tour. Other than radio, it’s about the artist growing a following bit by bit over the years, using any possible way they can. I have been a stickler for building a newsletter subscriber list so I can direct market any albums or merch, something I get to own and retain 100% of. It’s a long-term thing. No one gets to pack a venue straight out of college. It can take years. It’s like the stock market. If the company is a good one it might be worth something over time.

JB:  You often play your Benedetto guitar. Tell us about it.

 Yes. Actually, I play the Benedetto custom Bambino pretty much exclusively now. I’ve had a few of them. I met Bob Benedetto through Ron Eschete back in the early nineties, who was kind enough to recommend me. Bob made me an instrument which I played for many years until it became a bit too valuable for me to tour with. I have had, I think, three others since then, the latter ones made by luthier Damon Mailand, who is insanely talented. This instrument has absolutely become part of my sound. I’m sure there are other guitars I could play, but hell, I don’t know where or what they are.

JB:  Tell us about your YouTube program,  Love Miles & Music, on Sundays.

 CS:  This is a new weekly YouTube series that my wife Erica and I have recently started. Erica comes with me on the road these days, at my age, it’s so nice to have a little help, and of course, we get to share the travel experiences together. The show is all about our relationship, music, and a behind-the-scenes look at my touring and recording life in real time. So, it’s kind of a reality show, but unlike most reality shows, this one IS actually real life. There is a lot of footage of us traveling, backstage shenanigans, talking to musicians on the road, that kind of thing. We’ll do a Q&A. It’s in its infancy as a show, but we are having fun gaining knowledge about cameras, lighting, and audio issues, etc. It’s a fun project we get to do together.

JB:  Do you still live in England or in the States?  Talk about the kind of gigs you do, the tours you do, and how you make a career in music work for you.

CS:  I live in Los Angeles, have for about 36 years now. Moved here February 1991. My shows are 99% out of town, which means I’m jumping on planes during the touring season. I guess the usual kinds of venues I play are the more upscale jazz clubs along with perhaps a concert series or a festival spot. Depending on budget I like to bring a four piece horn section with rhythm section, something that I’m doing quite a lot these days. I’ve had a ball doing the horn arrangements. I also go back to London and play a string of dates annually. Tour schedule

I have a pretty comfortable life these days (touch wood!) after building up my touring persona over all these years. It actually took me many years to get a real foothold on the US touring scene, but through my agent and tour manager, things turned around, and I get to headline at many events these days. The other thing is I started my own record label in 2008 at a time when labels were going out of business, and I didn’t want to be stuck with having to figure out how to buy back my audio masters from non-existent companies (something that still is a thing today). Because I started my label when I did, it enables me to pick and choose the live shows I do, as I’m not having to squeeze money out of record labels. So this means all distribution royalties come straight to me monthly, as well as radio royalties. And I get to direct market to my newsletter list too. This has all taken many years to get to this place, and no one is more grateful than I am that I get to do this for a living. And right at a time when AI is stepping in and changing the world. Another story.  

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