JazzNation Talks With: Iain Ballamy

19.11.2001

JN: When I spoke to you on the phone, you'd had some sort of accident. Have you managed to clear it all up yet!?
IB: The plant that fell from the roofgarden and exploded down the stairs has changed the colour of our carpet for ever!

JN: You were recently given the Jazz Innovation Award at the 2001 BBC Jazz Awards, and were nominated for best CD. What did that mean to you?
IB: I am very happy to see a credible and legitimate awards for jazz for the first time in the UK. I was thrilled to recieve some recognition for the work which I have spent 19 years developing. Delighted!

JN: You were initially a self-taught player. Has that hindered your career in anyway. Have you encountered any nagativity?
IB: It has been in many ways a plus. Music in all times and places has been handed down by example and interaction, college jazz courses en masse being in some ways a relatively recent thing. I could have become more disciplined in theory and a better reader perhaps but I am happy to have discovered it all for myself and been spared a few red herrings along the way. Negativity? Not at all.

JN: Your new album, "Organic and GM Food", is out now. How difficult is it to bring such an improvisational approach into a studio?
IB: Not difficult with the right people. In some ways the options are multiplied by the possibilities studios offer and not having to "perform" can have advantages too.

JN: You co-founded Feral Records. How important has it been to work under your own label?
IB: It's an essential solution to the problem of getting the work done in the way it should be (ie.without compromise) and I wouldnt know where to begin looking for a deal today anyway. I will be happy to make recordings for other labels if it is a condusive situation.

JN: You've worked and studied music around the globe. What have you taken from those experiences?
IB: Music is universal - Hermeto Pascoal says that all the time and it's true. The more travel I do the clearer that is. Music is magic! It's a light to guide you through your life.

JN: Which musicians do you most enjoy working with?
IB: Arve Henriksen and all the Food members plus Stian Carstensen (accordionist and banjo and guitar nutter also from Norway). Too many to mention but I like Django (Bates) John Parricelli and Kenny Werner. Everyone I play with I do because I like them.

JN: You're still gigging with Django, who you've been with from the very beginning. You 2 must have a very strong musical connection?
IB: I know where it began but I have no idea where it will end.

JN: How healthy is the UK Jazz Scene?
IB: Do you want the polite answer or... I could liken it to a badly neglected and under-nourished plant that is pot bound but survives through thick and thin. It is strong and hardy but just watch it grow with the right conditions, some new soil and more light and a bigger pot - you would be astounded. I think like most exports, the good stuff gets sent overseas and thats where the the real appreciation is. There's very little competition between promoters here and that's a sign of a less than bouyant scene. In short, music apart, I think it's in a pathetic state with no infrastructure and a bleak future on home turf.

JN: What was the last CD you bought?
IB: Spike Jones.

JN: What will be your New Years' Resolution?
IB: Start a family.

JN: Do you have some advice for a budding sax player (me, for instance)?!
IB: Dont bother with the other saxes - tenor is the sublime incarnation of the horn and always consider yourself a lucky man to have discovered it!

JN: When and where can we next see you?
IB: I have a web page with dates listed www.ballamy.com, also all my titles can be ordered from the JazzNation shop.

-JN-