A Manhattan maestro's mix of music and martial arts

Photo courtesy of Barry Danielian

Martial arts through music? For New York trumpet virtuoso Barry Danielian, it’s as natural as a chord progression.

Danielian, a former member of famed horn band Tower of Power who has accompanied everybody from Dizzy Gillespie to Billy Joel to Barbra Streisand, teaches the relatively esoteric martial art of Filipino kali at Five Points Academy in Soho--and the even more obscure Indonesian martial art silat. And if he likens martial arts to playing jazz, well, he teaches that, too.

Both disciplines, he notes, seek an ability to express one’s self in the moment—the jazz musician in response to a fellow player’s musical approach, the martial artist in response to an opponent’s physical attack. And each demands years of practice in order to achieve, in Danielian’s words, “honest expression of the art.”

The jazz musician, obviously, must master his instrument in learning how to freely express himself within the context of jazz improvisation. Same with the martial artist, whose instrument is his body.

“He must develop proper body mechanics and footwork, then various striking patterns and angles,” says Danielian. “These are akin to scales and chords in music, the tools to express one’s self in combat.”

Listening to Danielian discuss the concept of combat is jarring. He’s a big bear of a man, but an incredibly gentle one, to the point of being almost cuddly. A devout Muslim, he’s also deeply spiritual.

“The moral/spiritual component in instrumental music like jazz or classical music is subjective and abstract,” he says, “that is, unless one speaks with the composer/player to get their personal inspiration or explanation of their musicianship. I don’t know that there’s a similar moral/spiritual component in ‘warriorship,’ though the path I follow allows the use of force only in self-defense and fighting off tyranny or oppression. But Bruce Lee spoke of ‘honesty,’ even in combat: Are you being you, or merely imitating your teacher? And Clark Terry--the master of jazz trumpet—says, ‘imitate, assimilate, innovate.’ If we’re talking about mastery, the paths are similar—although the application of the two art forms, obviously is different. That said, they both provide a path to self discovery.”

But Danielian, who is now completing his latest solo album, stresses that like jazz, martial combat is not completely free in its discovery or expression.

“There is structure in martial arts, although to the untrained eye it seems quite chaotic,” he explains. “Likewise jazz, to the untrained ear, seems to be without form. But there is form and structure taking place--albeit at a very sophisticated level.”

Both disciplines, then, require “a keen intuitive sense,” says Danielian.

“This can only be developed through many hours of playing--in the case of the jazz musician--and many hours of sparring, in the case of the martial artist,” he says. “When deficiencies are apparent, the martial artist will go back to the drills that will address them--while the jazz musician likewise practices with the same goal. At the end of the day, the more the languages of these two arts are internalized in the practitioners, the more in the moment they can be. This leads to the ability to flow and respond to what is happening right here and right now.”

The inability to be ‘in the moment,’ of course, “can lead to painful results for both artists!,” the jazz maestro/martial arts master concludes, with a knowing smile.