Jane Bunnett: Musical Spirit Out from Toronto, jazz musician Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana '98 arrived in April to kick off the 'Dialogue with Cuba' conference at UC Berkeley and tour the West Coast. Jane's new CD with BlueNote, Chamalongo, is comprised of jazz mixed with Cuban folkoric voice and percussion. The talented ensemble of musicians on this recording include Larry Cramer (trumpet), Cuban musicians Hilaro Duran (piano), Pancho Quinto (percussion), Merceditas Valdes (vocals), Tata Guines (congas, vocals), Yosvanny Terry (sax), Frank Emilo (piano), Carlitos del Puerto (bass), Raulito Hernandez (timbales) 'El Goyo' (vocals) and 'El Gato' (vocals). At a last minute gig in San Francisco the following week, I caught up with Jane for an interview. Throughout the interview, music was being practiced by Roberto Occhipinti on bass, which was very nice. At one point, Pancho Quinto and Jimmy Branly started to play percussion and it was impossible to hear Jane. They continued for a short while and soon a reasonable sound level was found and I could hear Jane speak. Q: During the concert that opened the 'Dialogue with Cuba' conference, you mentioned that here in the Bay Area in 1978, something important happened. Tell us about that time. JB: Basically, it was my first trip here. I was a classical musician and had developed tendonitis and was going to have some surgery done. They said to take a few weeks off and go someplace warm. So, for my first extended time away from home and in the States, I came to San Francisco with my cousin. This particular night we went to the [jazz] club Keystone Corner and Charles Mingus was playing. That was a major turning point for me. It was beyond what I could imagine. I was a classical piano player and I thought these musicians were classically trained. I hadn't realized that jazz is a whole other discipline, and though a lot of people have classical training, that isn't what it [jazz] is about. Having gone every night to hear them [Mingus], I decided to finish up my piano studies. I knew I was not going to be a professional classical pianist with these hand problems. Also, after hearing that music, I didn't want to be one. At the time, being white, female and sort of upper class, I didn't have the economic background to be like the African-American musicians I had seen. I just assumed that I couldn't do that music. But I was still very excited by the music. Once back in Toronto, I searched for places that played jazz and I hung out in record stores and asked them to play stuff. I must have drove them crazy! One time, I just happened to take a different route home and passed a house of music that had been set up by a professor for jazz. I went into this school and started studying saxophone with a woman who was teaching there. It was a great little school. This professor had an interest in playing jazz and there were a lot of Toronto musicians that would teach. That is how it all started for me. San Francisco was the catalyst for it all. Later, from working with Don Poland, who was with the Mingus group, I recorded on 5 records with Don and went to Cuba with him. Q: Was that your first trip to Cuba? JB: That was my second trip to Cuba at the Jazz Festival in 1990. That is why I had it in my head to bring in these guys (Duran, Quinto, etc.) here. Q: Having gone to Cuba, and taken everything in, and you having been brought into the fold, I take it the response there has been positive? JB: If your attitude is open, Cuba is probably the most excepting place in the world. I think it is the most socially together country I've ever been in. Now, I haven't been to Africa, and I would think it might be similar there. In terms of a society so devoid of consumerism, all the outward things that European and North Americans society need, like cosmetics, electronics, all the distractions, Cubans seem to be happy just to talk, and not need all the crutches we need in order to relate to one another. I really enjoy how people in Cuba related to each other and that fact that they love music so much. I'm a musician so automatically, if you can play, and if you have an interest in their music, you can be an instant success. For me, I think that is why I feel so accepted. We all just want to play great music. Our intentions are honest, and I think the Cubans we met trust us so we have had many great opportunities. People have been extremely generous and supportive and teach us more about the music. Q: What I enjoy about the last performance was the collaboration with you all and some Bay Area musicians. JB: Yes it was nice. I still intended to have these people (Roberto Borrell, John Santos, Jesus Diaz, Omar Sosa) join us. I didn't know they would be the core because of the visa problems. But that is what happened and they took the places of instrumental people. It was very fortunate. (Note: For this first concert, Pancho Quinto and Hilaro Duran were delayed entering the US from Canada and did not perform.) Q: When you return to Toronto, do you already have other recording projects in mind? JB: Yes, the next project I would like to do, would be a fusion of progressive jazz and Cuban music. Along the lines of the Coltrane album, 'Africa Brass', with extended arrangements and a concept of a suite with both North American and Cuban musicians. It is going to be a really big project and I'm starting to turn the wheels right now. Q: You also compose and arrange. I've heard from various Cuban musicians that they feel you have to play keyboard and know something about arrangements, no matter what main instrument you play. JB: Yes, that is the thing about Cuban musicians. Their training at the conservatories is so good, most of the people I know can play piano, play conga and also arrange. They are so well rounded and can do so much musically. Virtuosos pop up a lot there. They get so much technique together at such an early age. While we are out playing for an hour, watching TV, bicycling around, these guys are playing 6-7 hours of music. The social scene is such that they go out and play music, and this is 14-15 year olds. Q: Are you planning go over soon for this project? JB: We'll probably go over in the Fall to start. I'm so busy. To do something like this, you really need a space of time just to block everything out. I'm looking at August as a time to write. We have a cabin in the North [of Ontario], my Grandfather's, that was built in 1919. Right in a national park. I'm slotting that time to go there and write. Larry [Cramer] writes a lot too. Probably Hilario will be up there too. He is a city guy, having grown up in Havana. [At this point, the drumming got even louder, and Jane was having to shout!] We will do some work then and go to Cuba in the Fall and start to rehearse. I think our projects have been successful because of the work here and then we go down and have everything together. We do 2 or 3 trips, working and playing with some of the musicians. We work with them at their homes, play another tune, try things. It is a real give and take, getting their ideas .Still, we have a concept of what we want to do and sort of the essence of a piece. The essence is very important to me in that each peace you play has an emotional trigger. You have to really listen to what the band is doing and what's going on around you or you are not truly able to communicate. At least, that way I am able to go in any direction, not just have this set thing in mind that I want to do . A lot of the times is when those surprises come is when you have something in mind you want to do but something else happens, and hey, it takes on another direction. To me that is the beauty of so called creative forces: there is that possibility for something to turn out and not so much what was predetermined. Q: Do you see yourself branching out anywhere else musically? JB: No, I found for me that flute and soprano [sax] are really my voice. I play tenor also. I feel that the possibilities to go further with these instruments. The soprano is a peculiar horn, they are all so different. People like Chris Coltrane and Steve Lacy and a few other people that really went far with the instrument. I want to see where it takes me. In terms of everything else, I just don't have the time. I would like to: I still have my clarinet and my tenor. In the back of my mind, I keep thinking, I would like to, but I don't know if there is time. Besides, I feel like I'm working with the best [musicians] right now. Plus, they are really good people which is really important, when you are trying to have momentum to keep the same personal. This makes the cohesiveness. Then they start to see what you are trying to do. It was sort of funny. I think Pancho wondered what I was doing when I started playing with him in 1990. At that time, I think there were not many people working with folkoric music and jazz. I play a particular style and I think he was thinking 'Who is this woman. I think she is really funny.' No, they are really good people'. He is really fair, no matter what the project. For example, a friend of mine was recording in Cuba and doing some modern jazz with some Cuban musicians, not folkloric. Pancho heard about the record and just arrived in the lobby where we were staying and says 'Do you need some bata?' We said it wasn't our record and that is was a modern jazz recording. He says, 'So, do you need bata?'He arrived with a few other bata players, and he was the one who made these compositions happen for this recording. It had never been done before. To me, he was more than 50% of that recording. He just believes in the music. And he is an exception. Even though it is folkloric, his playing is highly sophisticated music. Maybe that is one reason people don't jump into the Cuban music because there is no way to just get involved part way. There is so much knowledge that you need to know. I certainly don't consider myself an expert at all about this music. There are others that are experts and have cataloged the music. I'm just trying to learn a much as I can, along with developing some things. I'm not a scholastic sort of person. I try to educate myself as I perform and rehearse. I'm trying to capture the spirit of what is happening and work with the tools I have. I'm not Cuban, but I think there is something I can add to it and yet keep the music in its truest and purest form, which in itself is perfect. I'm just trying to enhance it and go in a direction that is progressive in terms of jazz. Most feedback has been positive and very flattering and enthusiastic. Jane had to attend to some other business so we ended our talk. A dynamic performer who gives her all, Jane truly has a musical spirit, wherever she plays. Listen to a RealAudio5 sound byte from Chamalongo. You can reach Jane Bunnett by e-mail or visit her web site. Check back for an interview with Pancho Quinto and his warm regard for Jane Bunnett. Interview by Julia Sewell Photos © 1998 courtesy of Hector Rivera.

Jane Bunnett: Musical Spirit Out from Toronto, jazz musician Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana '98 arrived in April to kick off the 'Dialogue with Cuba' conference at UC Berkeley and tour the West Coast. Jane's new CD with BlueNote, Chamalongo, is comprised of jazz mixed with Cuban folkoric voice and percussion. The talented ensemble of musicians on this recording include Larry Cramer (trumpet), Cuban musicians Hilaro Duran (piano), Pancho Quinto (percussion), Merceditas Valdes (vocals), Tata Guines (congas, vocals), Yosvanny Terry (sax), Frank Emilo (piano), Carlitos del Puerto (bass), Raulito Hernandez (timbales) 'El Goyo' (vocals) and 'El Gato' (vocals). At a last minute gig in San Francisco the following week, I caught up with Jane for an interview. Throughout the interview, music was being practiced by Roberto Occhipinti on bass, which was very nice. At one point, Pancho Quinto and Jimmy Branly started to play percussion and it was impossible to hear Jane. They continued for a short while and soon a reasonable sound level was found and I could hear Jane speak. Q: During the concert that opened the 'Dialogue with Cuba' conference, you mentioned that here in the Bay Area in 1978, something important happened. Tell us about that time. JB: Basically, it was my first trip here. I was a classical musician and had developed tendonitis and was going to have some surgery done. They said to take a few weeks off and go someplace warm. So, for my first extended time away from home and in the States, I came to San Francisco with my cousin. This particular night we went to the [jazz] club Keystone Corner and Charles Mingus was playing. That was a major turning point for me. It was beyond what I could imagine. I was a classical piano player and I thought these musicians were classically trained. I hadn't realized that jazz is a whole other discipline, and though a lot of people have classical training, that isn't what it [jazz] is about. Having gone every night to hear them [Mingus], I decided to finish up my piano studies. I knew I was not going to be a professional classical pianist with these hand problems. Also, after hearing that music, I didn't want to be one. At the time, being white, female and sort of upper class, I didn't have the economic background to be like the African-American musicians I had seen. I just assumed that I couldn't do that music. But I was still very excited by the music. Once back in Toronto, I searched for places that played jazz and I hung out in record stores and asked them to play stuff. I must have drove them crazy! One time, I just happened to take a different route home and passed a house of music that had been set up by a professor for jazz. I went into this school and started studying saxophone with a woman who was teaching there. It was a great little school. This professor had an interest in playing jazz and there were a lot of Toronto musicians that would teach. That is how it all started for me. San Francisco was the catalyst for it all. Later, from working with Don Poland, who was with the Mingus group, I recorded on 5 records with Don and went to Cuba with him. Q: Was that your first trip to Cuba? JB: That was my second trip to Cuba at the Jazz Festival in 1990. That is why I had it in my head to bring in these guys (Duran, Quinto, etc.) here. Q: Having gone to Cuba, and taken everything in, and you having been brought into the fold, I take it the response there has been positive? JB: If your attitude is open, Cuba is probably the most excepting place in the world. I think it is the most socially together country I've ever been in. Now, I haven't been to Africa, and I would think it might be similar there. In terms of a society so devoid of consumerism, all the outward things that European and North Americans society need, like cosmetics, electronics, all the distractions, Cubans seem to be happy just to talk, and not need all the crutches we need in order to relate to one another. I really enjoy how people in Cuba related to each other and that fact that they love music so much. I'm a musician so automatically, if you can play, and if you have an interest in their music, you can be an instant success. For me, I think that is why I feel so accepted. We all just want to play great music. Our intentions are honest, and I think the Cubans we met trust us so we have had many great opportunities. People have been extremely generous and supportive and teach us more about the music. Q: What I enjoy about the last performance was the collaboration with you all and some Bay Area musicians. JB: Yes it was nice. I still intended to have these people (Roberto Borrell, John Santos, Jesus Diaz, Omar Sosa) join us. I didn't know they would be the core because of the visa problems. But that is what happened and they took the places of instrumental people. It was very fortunate. (Note: For this first concert, Pancho Quinto and Hilaro Duran were delayed entering the US from Canada and did not perform.) Q: When you return to Toronto, do you already have other recording projects in mind? JB: Yes, the next project I would like to do, would be a fusion of progressive jazz and Cuban music. Along the lines of the Coltrane album, 'Africa Brass', with extended arrangements and a concept of a suite with both North American and Cuban musicians. It is going to be a really big project and I'm starting to turn the wheels right now. Q: You also compose and arrange. I've heard from various Cuban musicians that they feel you have to play keyboard and know something about arrangements, no matter what main instrument you play. JB: Yes, that is the thing about Cuban musicians. Their training at the conservatories is so good, most of the people I know can play piano, play conga and also arrange. They are so well rounded and can do so much musically. Virtuosos pop up a lot there. They get so much technique together at such an early age. While we are out playing for an hour, watching TV, bicycling around, these guys are playing 6-7 hours of music. The social scene is such that they go out and play music, and this is 14-15 year olds. Q: Are you planning go over soon for this project? JB: We'll probably go over in the Fall to start. I'm so busy. To do something like this, you really need a space of time just to block everything out. I'm looking at August as a time to write. We have a cabin in the North [of Ontario], my Grandfather's, that was built in 1919. Right in a national park. I'm slotting that time to go there and write. Larry [Cramer] writes a lot too. Probably Hilario will be up there too. He is a city guy, having grown up in Havana. [At this point, the drumming got even louder, and Jane was having to shout!] We will do some work then and go to Cuba in the Fall and start to rehearse. I think our projects have been successful because of the work here and then we go down and have everything together. We do 2 or 3 trips, working and playing with some of the musicians. We work with them at their homes, play another tune, try things. It is a real give and take, getting their ideas .Still, we have a concept of what we want to do and sort of the essence of a piece. The essence is very important to me in that each peace you play has an emotional trigger. You have to really listen to what the band is doing and what's going on around you or you are not truly able to communicate. At least, that way I am able to go in any direction, not just have this set thing in mind that I want to do . A lot of the times is when those surprises come is when you have something in mind you want to do but something else happens, and hey, it takes on another direction. To me that is the beauty of so called creative forces: there is that possibility for something to turn out and not so much what was predetermined. Q: Do you see yourself branching out anywhere else musically? JB: No, I found for me that flute and soprano [sax] are really my voice. I play tenor also. I feel that the possibilities to go further with these instruments. The soprano is a peculiar horn, they are all so different. People like Chris Coltrane and Steve Lacy and a few other people that really went far with the instrument. I want to see where it takes me. In terms of everything else, I just don't have the time. I would like to: I still have my clarinet and my tenor. In the back of my mind, I keep thinking, I would like to, but I don't know if there is time. Besides, I feel like I'm working with the best [musicians] right now. Plus, they are really good people which is really important, when you are trying to have momentum to keep the same personal. This makes the cohesiveness. Then they start to see what you are trying to do. It was sort of funny. I think Pancho wondered what I was doing when I started playing with him in 1990. At that time, I think there were not many people working with folkoric music and jazz. I play a particular style and I think he was thinking 'Who is this woman. I think she is really funny.' No, they are really good people'. He is really fair, no matter what the project. For example, a friend of mine was recording in Cuba and doing some modern jazz with some Cuban musicians, not folkloric. Pancho heard about the record and just arrived in the lobby where we were staying and says 'Do you need some bata?' We said it wasn't our record and that is was a modern jazz recording. He says, 'So, do you need bata?'He arrived with a few other bata players, and he was the one who made these compositions happen for this recording. It had never been done before. To me, he was more than 50% of that recording. He just believes in the music. And he is an exception. Even though it is folkloric, his playing is highly sophisticated music. Maybe that is one reason people don't jump into the Cuban music because there is no way to just get involved part way. There is so much knowledge that you need to know. I certainly don't consider myself an expert at all about this music. There are others that are experts and have cataloged the music. I'm just trying to learn a much as I can, along with developing some things. I'm not a scholastic sort of person. I try to educate myself as I perform and rehearse. I'm trying to capture the spirit of what is happening and work with the tools I have. I'm not Cuban, but I think there is something I can add to it and yet keep the music in its truest and purest form, which in itself is perfect. I'm just trying to enhance it and go in a direction that is progressive in terms of jazz. Most feedback has been positive and very flattering and enthusiastic. Jane had to attend to some other business so we ended our talk. A dynamic performer who gives her all, Jane truly has a musical spirit, wherever she plays. Listen to a RealAudio5 sound byte from Chamalongo. You can reach Jane Bunnett by e-mail or visit her web site. Check back for an interview with Pancho Quinto and his warm regard for Jane Bunnett. Interview by Julia Sewell Photos © 1998 courtesy of Hector Rivera.