We've had so many interesting questions and wonderful suggestions through our on-line guestbook, we thought why not write the next book as a collaborative project with Chick's fans! If you'd like to submit a question for consideration, please visit our guestbook. The end result will be the book "A Work in Progress II – A Collaborative Project."
We'll be posting selected questions and Chick's answers on a regular basis. Check back often to see what people are saying!
QUESTION #3 (submitted on-line):
Rusty Edwards from Georgia asks: Early on, a friend of mine heard you play, and remarked, "Chick seems to be a very spiritual person." I have known this to be the case for the thirty years we have known each other. The music itself, and sometimes even the song titles reflect your spirituality. What I want to know is this: I know you write with intention. Do you write with the intention of a particular spiritual idea, or is the intention to write enough, and then the idea comes forth? In other words, do you at times intend to write a spiritual song?
CHICK'S ANSWER (#3):
Hi Rusty,
Thanks for writing.
I believe that any "awareness" of life is "spiritual" since awareness can only be a quality of the spirit not of the material world or of matter and machines. Only a spiritual being has awareness.
But if you mean "spiritual" in the sense of a kind of "celebration of Life", then yes, I write music to celebrate life. I think most artists do, no matter how they themselves describe it.
It's the joy of creating. It's a way of life.
Chick
QUESTION #2 (submitted on-line):
Brian Giarraffa from Florida asks: You did a series of consecutive shows at the blue note, each with different musicians and different music. How do you switch styles night after night and play each so authentically?
CHICK'S ANSWER (#2):
Hi Brian,
All of the groups that performed with me at the Blue Note in December '01 were groups I had formed and made lots of music with through the years. Each one has a particular repertoire of music connected with it and, of course the way we developed playing that music together. So each group has it's own personality which includes repertoire, sound, orchestration, a developed approach, etc.
"Style" is what the listener sees after it's all put together and gliding along. Style is never something which I consider while creating a composition or a band or a performance.
Like, if it rains, you put on a raincoat and a hat - and that's your style that day. If the sun's out you put on your sunglasses - and that's your style that day. When I play with Bobby McFerrin, it's its own communication; when I'm playing with Roy Haynes, it's another.
All the best - Chick
QUESTION #1 (submitted on-line):
Cody Campbell from Kentucky asks: "I wanted to ask you what kind of effects you used on your electric piano for those shows (Miles). I like the sound of a Rhodes and want to get one, but I want to find out how to get that distorted tone that I hear on fusion records. I don't know whether it is a feature on the Rhodes itself, or if it's some separate box or module."
CHICK'S ANSWER (#1):
Dear Cody,
Thanks for writing in.
When I was with Miles during those live shows and also in the recording studio, I had a different rented Rhodes each night so the sounds I got were very random and of the moment. I had to work with what was presented to me by the rental company. There were a few pieces of effects gear that I would carry with me sometimes. One of them was a box called an "Echoplex". It was basically a little tape recorder that the signal passed through with an adjustable record head that enabled me to wiggle it while the sound was going through and get all manner of weird effects.
I also used an old ring modulator made, I think, by Oberheim. But the distorted sound of the Rhodes you refer to was achieved by having bad sounding amps and no knowledge of how to use amplifiers or electric instruments. It was all new and unfamiliar. This is true but not a recommended way to achieve the result causatively of course. I know there are ways to achieve distortion by overdriving the amplifiers in the way that guitarists do it. But I'm no authority on this. I'm sure any self respecting distortion creating guitarist can show you how to do this with pre amps and amps.
The viewpoint about making that music that way at that time though was: you take anything and make music out of it. Good luck with your music creation. Have lots of fun.
Chick
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