Jeff Albert is an innovative New Orleans-based trombonist and composer whose projects include the Jeff Albert Quartet and Lucky 7s. Recently I spoke with Albert about his influences, working in small group and larger ensemble contexts, co-curating the Open Ear Music Series, and collaborating with musicians in New Orleans and Chicago. 

DG: How did you first get interested in making music?

JA: My extended family is very active musically. My grandfather was an Army bandmaster, then music educator after he retired from the Army. He played piano and organ, and all sorts of wind instruments, although clarinet and tuba were his "primary" instruments. When I was very young I would beg him to play things, whenever we went to his house. I don't remember there being a time that I didn't just know that I would play in the school band when I was old enough. Three of my grandfather's siblings were also professional musicians and/or music educators. One of my father's cousins is the composer Thomas Albert, and Tom's son is Matt Albert, who is the violinist/violist with the modern chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird. My mom's side of the family has a number of active amateur church musicians, so I got it from both sides.

DG: Who were some of your early musical influences?

JA: The first time I heard J.J. Johnson was on a Jazz at the Philharmonic Live in Europe record that featured Dizzy Gillespie. J.J. kind of freaked me out at first. What originally appealed to me about J,J. was his clarity of both execution and idea -- I'd never heard a trombonist play that much stuff, that cleanly, with such swing. 

DG: What were some things you started to listen to, as you got older? 

JA: When I was a pre-teen, in the early 80's, I listened to lots of big bands because that was what we played in jazz band at school, and things like the Yellowjackets and Weather Report and Spyro Gyra because, well it was the early 80's. As my tastes expanded, I listened to a lot of the various Miles Davis bands. Finding the music of Ornette Coleman was a big turning point for me conceptually. Now, pretty much anything will get at least one good listen.

DG: You mentioned the trombonist J.J. Johnson earlier. Who would you say are some other trombonists who have influenced you? 

JA: If you just want the trombonist list, it should start with George Lewis. He does so much, so well. The first time I heard Roswell Rudd and Steve Lacy playing Monk's music, I thought, "That's what music is supposed to sound like." Steve Swell was playing in New Orleans on the night that I realized what my quartet should look like. Later he came to hear my quartet in Brooklyn. That was nice. Steve has been very cool to me. I love Josh Roseman's playing. I guess I have to mention Jeb here as well, because he has been very influential on me as a trombonist and musician.

DG: How did you first get interested in composing?

JA: I first started trying to write in a more straight ahead jazz bag because I had this idea that all great jazz artists wrote at least some of their vehicles, so I should start writing. I wasn't very good at it. Studying composition with Ed Petersen (while I was doing my Master's degree at the University of New Orleans) made a big difference for me. Ed helped me get through my lousy piano chops and find productive ways to compose. Once I gained some confidence through my studies with Ed, it was much easier to branch out into broader compositional practices.

DG: Who would you say are some of your influences as a composer?

JA: When I compose, I am pretty much an equal opportunity thief. I have had some organizational ideas that have been inspired by Ken Vandermark, and the sounds, if not the conceptual basis, of some of Anthony Braxton's music have been important to me. Lots of New Orleans' rhythmic vibe finds its way into some of my stuff. I am willing to take any kernel of interesting sound and work it into something I am writing.

DG: You’ve been involved with the music scene in New Orleans for a number of years. New Orleans has amazing culture and a unique musical vitality. What are some things that you find interesting about playing music in New Orleans?

JA: I love the fact that many of the musicians are active in many different scenes. One can see the same musician playing free jazz, trad jazz, world music, funk, or business gigs on any given series of nights. It is nice to be able to do those different things myself, and it is also fun to get a call to back the Temptations, and find out that Kidd Jordan may be on the gig to. This musical cross pollination informs much of what happens here.

DG: What is the Open Ears Music Series? How did that get started? 

JA: It's a weekly Tuesday night performance series that happens at The Blue Nile music club on Frenchmen St, in their upstairs space, which is called the Balcony Room. We have been presenting all sorts of craziness since November of 2007. I started the series, and originally co-curated it along with Justin Peake and Dan Oestreicher. Justin has been out of New Orleans for a while, and Dan has been on the road with Trombone Shorty, so I have been handling the curatorial duties on my own for a bit.

DG: What are some of the concepts behind the series? Are there other series that it's modeled on? 

JA: Its guiding principle is to provide a place for people to present things that they might have trouble getting booked in other clubs. The series was inspired (and in some ways modeled after) some of the musician presented series in Chicago. Josh Berman gave me some really great advice and guidance when we were getting started, and it helped tremendously.

DG: What are some recent developments with the series?  

JA: The other night we had Cliff Hines & Paint, which is a band that features a musical painter. Sensors in the paint brushes send info to a computer that converts it to musical input. We have had classical chamber music, and all sorts of other things, but the majority of the shows fall in the free jazz/improvised music continuum.

DG: You’ve done a lot of writing, in terms of your website, blogging about the music scene, etc. What would you say is an interesting relationship between your writing and your musical career?

JA: I started my blog Scratch My Brain in August of 2005. It started with the idea that there were many cool creative things going on (in New Orleans) that got no mainstream press, so I was going to write about them. Katrina came, and things changed. For a while there were no places to play music around here, so the blog took up some of that creative energy that would have gone into music making.

The blog has been great for meeting people (I think I met you through the blog). I also find that writing about music makes me think about it in different ways. One must clarify one's thoughts before they can be written down. The blog has been good for that.

DG: You’ve done a lot of work in a quartet context. How would you describe an aspect of your quartet’s approach?

JA: I like the quartet format because it is small enough to be somewhat freewheeling, and just barely big enough that I can write for it in a way that considers orchestration. I like my quartet to be able to hit lots of different spaces. We always have hard-swinging, crazy freedom, deep grooves, or some combination of those things on the table. I like being able to do very intricate completely composed music, then a moment later look at the band and say, "go" and still have great music happen.

DG: “Similar in the Opposite Way” is a great recording. How did that come together?

JA: I wrote all of the music for that CD in the three or four months preceding the recording session. We played about eight gigs over the course of the summer leading up to the session, so most of the music was very comfortable for the band.

DG: What were some of the compositional concepts that you brought to the project? How did those compositions relate to the what the musicians brought to the project?

JA: The general idea with those pieces is for them to be jumping off points for improvisation. I wanted us to get as close as we could to the sensation of free improvising, while still starting in roughly the same spot and pointed in roughly the same direction. Each piece was intended to set up a certain musical space, then let the band freely explore that space.

DG: I really enjoyed your quartet's performance at the Skylark last year. What would you say are some highlights of your quartet's tour last year?

JA: We had two great gigs in Chicago -- at The Hungry Brain and the Skylark. We had lots of fun in Cincinnati with my friend and colleague Napoleon Maddox's band IsWhat!?, and played at a nice warm space for lots of friends in Brooklyn at the Douglass St Music Collective. That gig was hosted by Josh Sinton. We also received some great hospitality in Richmond, VA from what seemed like the whole jazz scene in that town. They have a great bunch of energetic people making things happen there in Richmond.

DG: What are some recent developments with your quartet? 

JA: I am mulling over reorganizing it and some of the basic musical spaces we explore. The quartet is likely about to become a quintet, but those changes are still seeking clarity in my mind at this point. 

DG: How did the Lucky 7s get started?

JA: The Lucky 7s came out of a telephone conversation that Jeb Bishop and I had in the days following Hurricane Katrina. I wanted to bring my band to Chicago and asked Jeb to help me book some things. He suggested a co-op group with my band and some Chicago folks. The Lucky 7s is what eventually came of that idea, which I must admit was initially Jeb's idea.

DG: How did you start working with Jeb Bishop? How has that ongoing collaboration developed? 

JA: Jeb and I first performed together in February of 2006, which was the week of the first Lucky 7s meeting, although we had been friends for some time before that. Jeb and I have worked together in the Lucky 7s (which we co-led), in ad hoc improvised settings, and we are both members of Hamid Drake's Bindu band (version 3 - Reggaeology). I dug his trombone playing long before we met, and it is great luck on my part that he has moved from being a musical influence to a great close friend.

DG: I like the Lucky 7s "Farragut” a lot. How did that recording project come together?

JA: Farragut is interesting in that it was recorded (mostly) on a Sunday night at the Hungry Brain, and the band's first rehearsal had been the previous Monday. Matt, Quin and I met some of the other guys in the band for the first time that Monday. Jeb and I each wrote about four pieces for the group, and Matt and Quin each brought one as well. We all wrote this music somewhat blind, in that we knew some of the players well, and some almost not at all.

DG: Historically there has been a strong musical connection between New Orleans and Chicago, going back to the 20s, such as when Louis Armstrong recorded his Hot Five and Hot Seven records. What would you say are some interesting musical connections between these two cities?

JA: That's hard to say. I think those connections are as much about individual people as they are about cities. If Pops had moved to New York first, people might not ask this question.

I do find that the current New Orleans and Chicago scenes seem to share a sense of self-determination. Chicago has a long history of that going back to the early AACM and farther, and New Orleans is developing a crop of musicians that's taking control of their own situations as well.

DG: Lucky 7s' recent release, “Junkyard Pluto”, has a lot of interesting songs. How were those songs developed? Two of those songs have "Jaki" in the titles. Are those homages to Jaki Byard? 

JA: Actually those songs are named for Jaki Cellini (Jeb's wife, was fiancée at the time). Jeb's tune, "Jaki's Walk," was used as recessional music at their wedding. My tune, "Future Dog (for Jaki)," got its name from a phrase uttered in a conversation about Jaki wanting a dog, and their landlord having different ideas about pets.

I think part of the reason the songs on Pluto Junkyard fit the band so well, is that we all knew who we were writing for at that point. The band had been together a few times, had played the Chicago Jazz Fest, and had developed something of a personality. Each composer took advantage of that knowledge on this CD. We didn't really do much "arranging" in rehearsal. Each composer came in with largely complete ideas, and communicated those ideas to the band.

DG: What do you think is interesting about performing in smaller musical configurations, such as duets and trios?

JA: There is a great intimacy in duos and trios that I really love. In a way it is easier than in larger groups, in that you only have to find musical agreement (or agreement to disagree) with one or two other personalities, whereas in larger improvising groups the process of reaching a consensus can be tougher. On the other hand, you can't take time off in a duo. You can't hang out and wait for someone else to drop a good idea, then take it and run. You have to be actively dealing all the time. Well, in a large group you should be actively dealing at all times as well, but it is easier for cats to BS it in a larger group.

DG: One of your performances during Chicago Calling 2008 was your duet with saxophonist Dave Rempis. Would you comment on what you remember about that performance?

JA: Well, I remember hoping I could keep up with Dave. (insert chuckle here) Dave has a real improvisational stamina, and he takes advantage of the high volume capabilities of his instruments. This can make playing in that setting with Dave both musically and physically demanding, but the payoff is great. I remember having a good time that night.

I also remember that right before we started, we both noticed that Douglas Ewart was in the audience. I nervously commented to Dave that I had been checking out the Ewart/George Lewis duet disc in advance of playing in a trombone and sax duo setting. No pressure, right? About a year later I was talking to Douglas and told him that story. He was gracious and encouraging as always.

DG: How are things coming along with your PhD program? 

JA: I am very nearly finished with the course work in the PhD in Experimental Music & Digital Media program at LSU. I still have a dissertation left to do, so it will be a while before I am completely finished. The program is largely computer music driven, and I am looking at models for human/computer improvised interaction. One aspect that I'd like to explore is the process of improvising on the human side. If we can discern what is is that we do and value when we improvise, then we will be a step closer to being able to program a believable computer improviser colleague.

DG: You are also married with kids. What would you say is an aspect of your relationship between your family life and your musical career?

JA: Yeah, I've been married for 10 years, and have a 16-year-old step son, and daughters that are 9 and 4. My family gives my life a perspective that I would miss if all I did was make music. If we use music to express our life's dreams, and loves, and fears, and joys, our lives must contain things other than music, so we have something to express.

All of the kids are pretty active musically, and the 16 and 9 year olds each participate in some sort of organized musical activity. There is a fine balance that I try to keep between sharing the things that I have learned with them, and letting them discover things on their own. I think both are important.

DG: What other projects have you been working on?

JA: I've been doing some computer programming work at school. It is ultimately a music project, but the part we are working on right now is pretty much straight up programming. I am learning a lot from that on a number of levels. Another school project is the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana (LOLs). This group is making us really look at different sides of our ensemble and performance paradigms, and I get to play some trombone in it as well.

I have been playing in Hamid Drake's Bindu group. We released the CD Reggaeology earlier this year, followed by a tour in France, Italy and Switzerland, and have two more trips to Europe scheduled for later this year. I am also taking part in a project organized by Georg Gräwe in Dortmund on September 30 and October 1.

There are also the other regular ongoing New Orleans bands that I play in like Magnetic Ear, and the Naked Orchestra, plus whatever other improvised fun gets put together on the Open Ears, or by one of the other adventurous presenters in town.I am also having odd compulsions to write a string quartet. We'll see how that shakes out.

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