Geoff 0:05

Today I'm in Tokyo, Japan, and I'm playing this evening uh with a wonderful guitar player called Larry Koonse. Uh, Larry's from Los Angeles, he's a wonderful jazz guitarist. Uh I first came across him in uh some of his teaching videos online, and he's a wonderful educator, a very clear communicator. So I've taken advantage of being together with him and uh I've cornered him in the hotel room and we're gonna talk about influences and uh the people he's played with and uh find out what his favourite sandwich is and all the usual stuff. So looking forward to it. So here we go.

Announcement 1:01

The Quartet Jazz Standards podcast is brought to you by the Quartet app for iOS, taking your jazz play along to another level.

Geoff 1:11

So, Larry, how are you today?

Larry 1:12

Hey Geoff, it's great to be here with you. Really.

Geoff 1:15

We just met recently. We're in Tokyo, we're in a hotel room in Tokyo. Uh it's beautiful. I mean, it's a gorgeous day out there. Um, we can see the cherry blossom. Yeah. We're playing with Sarah McKenzie at the Blue Note this evening.

Larry 1:27

Love being in this country.

Geoff 1:29

It's great, isn't it?

Larry 1:29

It's totally unique, yeah. The people are wonderful, the food is amazing. The denim, the fashion,

Early Influences and First Jazz Steps

Geoff 1:36

the fashion, yeah. So, can we start by talking a little bit about your background where you got started in jazz? What turned you onto jazz in the first place?

Larry 1:44

Sure. Uh, my father's a guitarist. So I have early memories of him playing with George Shearing.

Geoff 1:51

Really?

Larry 1:51

And actually went on a tour when he was with Shearing. Uh, and in the band at that time was uh Andy Simpkins, great bass player that played with Sarah Vaughn later on, and uh Stix Hooper, who was later to form the Jazz Crusaders. Crusaders, yeah. Yeah, and the sound of um Bill Evans and Count Basie and Stan Getz was always sort of wafting through the house on the on the turntable. So it was always part of my early memories of music. Um, although I didn't start playing jazz till about 13 or 14. And it was a result of being in a programme in junior high school that had a great music programme. It was more about the uh the hang with my peers at that time who were interested in the music, and that's that's how it really evolved when I when I became active in terms of playing with my friends.

Geoff 2:43

I think that model is is the same now. It's always been like that, hasn't it? Hanging out with your peers. My son is doing exactly the same thing.

Larry 2:50

Absolutely.

Geoff 2:50

It's not really about the college, it's about the the hanging and playing.

Larry 2:54

And it's a street language. I'm not sure that it exists completely comfortably in a in a college setting. You know, it's it's really about sort of uh meeting other players and and bringing whatever knowledge they have into your own sort of realm, right?

Geoff 3:10

And your your father, did he teach you at all?

Larry 3:12

Uh you know, the father-son thing when it comes to like learning, especially when the son is sort of listening to stuff that his father is not so much into, doesn't work out so well.

Geoff 3:23

I know. I've gone through it myself.

Larry 3:25

Oh, did you?

Geoff 3:26

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can't you can't force ideas onto your children. They have to, they have to come to you, don't they, with what they, with a request. Was that what it was like with your

Why Standards Shape Your Playing

Larry 3:34

Absolutely. And we had a family friend at the time, guitarist named Jimmy Wyble, who was actually one of the first five really preeminent guitarists in the swing style that sort of took it to another level. He actually was a contemporary of Charlie Christian. He played with Red Norvo and Benny Goodman, and my father had the good sense to send me to him to study. And Jimmy was fantastic. In fact, this guitar that I'm playing right now is uh a guitar that I acquired through Jimmy.

Geoff 4:04

In terms of standards, because this podcast is all about jazz standards and it's uh related to my apps as we talked about. What part did standards play in your development?

Larry 4:14

They form the bulk of my education early on. You know, that's really where I developed my harmonic depth, my my sense of telling a story in terms of melody, terms of um sort of understanding phraseology and form and having a deeper notion of those things. Standards were at the core, really at the core. And that's what I did basically with my peers at from a young age. We learned standards, and it's afforded me the ability to sort of travel abroad and play with musicians I've never met, such as yourself, and form a musical association immediately.

Geoff 4:54

And in terms of gaining your vocabulary, did you transcribe other guitar players?

Larry 4:59

Uh you know, not a lot of transcription. I did one full transcription of a Wes Montgomery solo that was really informative, but for the most part, it was listening to a two-bar or four-bar phrase that really impacted me. And trying to take that phrase and own it in a certain way through my own lens, you know. Uh, that that for me was much uh better than transcribing an entire solo because it's so much information to take in. So when you have that, you have that little gem, you hear that two bars or that four bars that you know you want to own in some way, and then you do a deep dive with it. I I find that for me is more effective.

Ear-Led Improvising Beyond Shapes

Geoff 5:39

I like that phrase, owning it, owning it. That's great. Now, I know you've you've made a lot of videos and you've done a lot of teaching. Have you developed a kind of teaching method of your own out of what you've learned?

Larry 5:50

Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, I'm I'm I'm very uh nuts and bolts in terms of like dissecting chords and seeing how uh, for example, a chord scale can can um sort of describe a harmony. Uh and and I also have a really specific way of organizing chromaticism. But beyond that, I also have a methodology for sort of involving the ear and the instinct with melody, because I think ultimately you have to do that. If you think from a perspective of a fixed scale over a chord, it limits the possibilities. But if you're thinking of um using your ear, which is basically the same thing as your instinct, it always is true. The scale or theory is most of the time a successful tool to use. But there are stumbling blocks you run up against, you know. So if you're thinking in terms of what does do your senses, just like you're cooking, you know, what do your senses tell you needs to be the next motion? Uh it's a pure and quicker way of improvising. So I've devised a lot of material surrounding what I call those sort of right brain approaches.

Geoff 7:03

Because I I know that guitar players, guitar knowledge is based around shapes a lot of the time, isn't it? Right. So how do you break out of the shapes? That's the question.

Larry 7:13

Yeah. Well, okay, so for example, um if I was improvising melodically over um uh All The Things You Are, let's say, and I want to describe a melodic pathway, and the approach that I'm gonna take is basically um two-tiered. You start on a pitch, you play a bass note for reference, because a bass note colors the upper pitch if it's a melodic motion. Uh and then I'm gonna play all eighth notes, and I'm going to have two decisions to make. I started on a pitch, do I want to go up? And by the way, this is mostly stepwise motion, because the ear can grasp stepwise motion in a really complete way. It's not as big a stretch as using wide intervals. Um, and then at that point, uh I have two decisions, like I said, do I want to go up or do I want to go down? And so, for example, if you're working with chord scales, you're always going in one direction. And that's not melodic. Melodies go wherever they want to go, right? Depending on what tension uh comes about. And so after I've made that decision, do I want to go up or do I want to go down? The simple the next part of the decision is very simple. Uh, by what interval do I want to go up or do I want to go down? Is it a half step or a whole step? And you could reduce it to just that, you know, because most, you know, when you think about great melodies over time, you know, it's stepwise motion, you know. So there's some thirds there, but it's mainly stepwise motion, right? And you look at melodies throughout time, you know, even from like Gregorian chant onward through romantic classical era music, jazz, you know, Dixieland, um pop, melodic pop, like the Beatles, um, most of the motion is stepwise motion, you know, and then occasionally you see the little jaunts here and there. But you know, if you open up a fake book, you'll find for the most part these motions that go from line to space, line to space, stepwise motion. So when I talked about improvising over All The Things You Are, it would sound like something like this if I played a bass note. But the caveat is that you in if you make a choice to use an interval that's larger than a step, you have to hear it. You know. It's something that comes from your sensibilities. It comes from the same place that I mentioned before, you know, when you're cooking, you're using your senses, you know, and you're adjusting as you go.

Geoff 10:20

We got quite technical quite early on, actually, there. I wasn't intending to, but uh no, it's lovely. Um so can we get back to what were your first breaks as a guitar player? You you grew up in the LA area.

Larry 10:31

Correct. Yeah.

Geoff 10:31

And um, so what were the first kind of gigs you did?

Larry 10:36

Well, initially, you know, I basically it's the life of a musician. You you don't say no to anything. All right. So I, you know, I bought my first banjo, you know, for about $100, and it was a you could trash it immediately. I mean, it was hideous. And I played a Dixieland band, right?

Geoff 10:52

Fantastic. They're loud banjos, aren't they?

Touring With Cleo Laine and Dankworth

Larry 10:55

And obnoxious too, sometimes, especially in my hands. Um, you know, and I I also bought a ukulele, you know, and played some Hawaiian music, played a lot of restaurant gigs, played top 40 bands, and I was not really equipped to do any of that stuff. But it all adds to the mix, you know, that range of abilities. You always always learn something. Um, even if it even if you've never done something before, you have to use your instincts, you have to use what you have. There's something that comes out of that, yeah. Right? Uh and then when I was in college, uh, I was actually really fortunate to be uh at the University of Southern California, great program at the time. And uh we had as guest artists at one point, Cleo Laine and John Dankworth. And Cleo was very interesting because she performed with a larger ensemble and she and she performed some classical music. I think she sang Pierrot Lunaire, uh Schoenberg, and then she did the second half featuring John Dankworth's arrangements. And I played as part of that, and I also had some uh solos here and there, and John thought enough of me to sort of hire me for some road gigs, and um I ended up being with them for six years.

Geoff 12:09

Fantastic.

Larry 12:10

Yeah, yeah, I missed them greatly. Well, it's interesting. I reached out to um to Cleo's manager, Kurt Gebauer, and uh I had sent a letter uh after John passed to Cleo telling him what he meant to me and what he taught me and my and how grateful I was for both of them. And uh when I heard that Cleo was failing, I reached out to the to her manager and said, Well, can I send an email to to Cleo? And he said, No, it's not a good time now, so I was too late. I re I really regret that I didn't write her earlier. Yeah.

Geoff 12:43

So you traveled a lot with with Cleo and John, did you?

Larry 12:46

Quite a bit. First big tour was in Australia, and it was basic we were there for a month, you know, because Cleo's huge there.

Geoff 12:52

She was a superstar, really, wasn't she?

Larry 12:54

Oh, yeah. She really was. Yeah. And what a lady. I mean, she uh also a great actress and a soulful lady, too. We would take long walks when we arrived at a city for sometimes two hours. She was a walker, and uh we just talked about life, and she was so giving, you know, despite the fact that I had really done nothing before I started playing with her.

Geoff 13:17

I'm sure Jackie will be delighted to hear you talk about it. I'll make sure she hears it.

Larry 13:20

Yeah. Wonderful people.

Warren Marsh and Lee Konitz Lessons

Geoff 13:22

Fantastic. So so what happened after that? I saw that you played with Lee Konitz. Can you tell me a bit about that?

Larry 13:28

Sure. I you know, I actually played a lot more with Warne Marsh. In the last year of his life, uh, he preferred playing with guitar to piano. I think maybe it it opened up more possibilities for him. Doesn't cover as much.

Geoff 13:39

Similar to Paul Desmond as well, was like, wasn't it?

Larry 13:42

That's right, yeah. Yeah, with Ed Bickert, right?

Geoff 13:45

The good thing about the guitar is it it takes up a kind of a lot less space in that middle register, doesn't it?

Larry 13:50

Right, right.

Geoff 13:50

That's the way I always look at it.

Larry 13:52

Right. And the voicings aren't as thick. You know, we only have four fingers, so you know, we we we can't sort of uh be all over the keyboard in terms of range. Um so yeah, I ended up playing with Warne quite a bit in the last year of his life in a lot of different formats. In fact, there's a duo concert that we played that ended up being released. It's a Japanese release, actually, called Final Interplay. It's it's Warne's last project.

Geoff 14:20

Fantastic.

Larry 14:21

Warne had conversations with Lee, and Lee would come to town and he'd hire me for uh uh the occasional quartet or quintet gig. We did an extended uh five-day run at the Jazz Bakery with Alan Broadbent, just piano, guitar, and saxophone. And interestingly enough, we played a duo concert which followed this sort of iconic recording that Lee did with uh Charlie Hayden and Brad Mehldau at the Jazz Bakery. Brad couldn't make the third day, so I ended up playing the third day. That was recorded and almost released. His manager found a recording in Lee's archives and intended to release it, but this extenuating circumstances that have sort of gotten in the way of that release.

Geoff 15:06

Did you learn anything specific from playing with Lee? What did it feel like?

Larry 15:10

Yeah, you know, with Lee, he did not like to plan anything. So you wouldn't even talk about the set when you were off stage. So interestingly enough, he says to me, Do you know My Foolish Heart? Yeah, I played My Foolish Heart where I'm the bandstand. He says, Okay, key of G flat. So this is some insight into how Lee operates. And it's just Lee and I, you know, immediately my stomach turns to ice. You know, I'm thinking, oh my God, to navigate this tune, even in the original key, is a challenge. I also learned to like accept when something goes awry and you have to recover, which is a very important aspect of what we do. You know.

Geoff 15:48

Playing a tune in G flat. Do you do you think of chord sequences in terms of numbers, you know, one, three, six, two, five, and or so on? How do you remember standards?

Larry 15:58

Not so much numbers, but uh bass motion, definitely. That's kind of what I mean. Intervalic, intervalic relationships. Uh try to dissect tunes to a greater extent in terms of the relationship of root motion, yeah. Right. And chord quality as well.

Geoff 16:20

So I asked you to pick a tune to play today. Yeah. Can you tell me what you picked and um why you like it?

Larry 16:27

Uh yeah, I picked Whisper Not by Benny Golson. And uh, first of all, Benny Golson's repertoire is just the best. Uh his harmonic and melodic language is just always so beautifully formed. But I like Whisper Not because it has this sort of um Baroque kind of feeling with the bass motion, right? And I'm a big fan of Bach, and I just love tunes that have a really prominent bass motion.

Geoff 16:52

And it's also a great workout for minor two five ones, isn't it?

Larry 16:56

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Multiple keys.

Geoff 16:59

So we're gonna play two choruses of Whisper Not. First A is your introduction. Uh first chorus, the bass plays two feel. Second chorus, the bass plays a four feel.

Larry 17:10

Got it.

Geoff 17:10

You ready?

Larry 17:11

Yeah. Let's go for it. Here we go. Yeah.

Geoff 19:18

Killing. How did that feel?

Larry 19:21

Great. I can't believe I'm playing with backing tracks. Felt really organic.

Geoff 19:25

Did you ever use the Jamey Aebersold play-alongs?

Larry 19:28

Yeah, but it's not like this.

Geoff 19:30

Right answer. Right answer.

Larry 19:32

Very easy to play with. Obviously, you know, it's not reacting to me. Yeah. But it's organic. You know, if the sound is organic. This is massive. It's like playing with a live rhythm section.

Geoff 19:44

It is a live rhythm section.

Larry 19:46

It is a live rhythm.

The Guitar, the Sound and Play-Alongs

Geoff 19:47

We were essentially live at the time. Fantastic. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about this guitar. It's a gorgeous guitar you're playing.

Larry 19:54

Yeah, this guitar was made by Roger Borys. Roger was D'Aquisto's top apprentice. D'Aquisto basically gave him the design of this guitar and said, run with it. So this was his BG100, Barry Galbraith 100. And it's become his signature guitar. And I bought this back in uh 1984. I was the original owner. Roger's, he works in a solitary way. I think he makes 20 guitars a year or something like that.

Geoff 20:25

That's a gorgeous thing.

Larry 20:26

Yeah, I love it.

Geoff 20:27

Just one pickup. That's all you need, isn't it, for a jazz guitar?

Larry 20:30

That's it. Yeah. Yeah. Is that Ken Armstrong?

Quickfire Favourites and Career Highs

Geoff 20:33

Yeah. Incidentally, we're just recording just through the microphones. There's no amps in the room here, so it sounds gorgeous. Yeah. Okay. I asked the same questions to all my guests.

Larry 20:45

When you're at the Pearly Gates.

Geoff 20:50

Starting with what's your favorite album?

Larry 20:53

We talked about this album earlier. It's definitely one of my top five. And it just occurred to me. Amaroso, Joao Gilberto. Just a beautiful record. Just transports me to another place. And Claus Ogerman's writing. It sounds impossible what he did. It's like a Picasso sketch. You know, he does it's so little, yet it's so huge.

Geoff 21:17

So that's the one where Gilberto played first, recorded first, and then the strings were added afterwards. That's right. Okay, which has its advantages. I know I've done that before. It has its disadvantages, but it has its advantages. The disadvantages are there's no interaction between the you know, a live interaction. But the advantage is, of course, the arranger can pick out the nuances of uh of what the guitar player does. You know, exactly. It's a beautiful thing.

Larry 21:42

Yeah.

Geoff 21:42

I'm going to re-listen to that um to that album for sure. Second question Is there a musician alive or dead that you would like to play with?

Larry 21:50

Yeah, Brad Mehldau would be one of those musicians I'd love to play with. And I've met Brad before, uh, but never had the opportunity to play with him. A really close friend, Darek Oles. Has played with Brad a lot. And I've talked with him about that experience. He's a musician that really intrigues me.

Geoff 22:08

So when you play with a piano player, how does it work in terms of comping and you know, you don't talk about it, or does it you do often discuss how it's gonna go?

Larry 22:19

That's a great question. Uh it obviously it depends on uh the character of the pianist, right? Um some pianists like to play with ten fingers all the time and not leave any space, but you know, if you use the uh Bill Evans Jim Hall recordings as sort of a as a uh uh barometer of some sort, um, you know, you can really get the sense that Bill Evans is playing orchestrationally, um, which allows Jim Hall to do the same thing. You know, sometimes Jim Hall is a percussionist, when Bill is playing more lush voicings, uh, and sometimes um Bill is playing just melodically and allowing Jim Hall the ability to sort of fill out that space harmonically. Um, so that's that's a really great um example of how to work in a piano guitar context. And I'm fortunate to have played with a lot of pianists that understand how to play orchestrationally, what to leave out. I think that's the biggest sensibility that is required in that in that situation, the ability to sort of let go of certain functions that don't always have to be present.

Geoff 23:35

Can you tell us some of the some of the good piano players that you played with?

Larry 23:39

Sure. Um I have a duo recording with a pianist named David Roitstein. Um and he was the head of the programme at uh California Institute of the Arts, where I taught for many years. David has that orchestrational sort of ability to sort of to gauge what is necessary and what isn't. Another pianist that I played with quite a bit in the past is uh Alan Pasqua, who also has that same sensibility and is a great accompanist and and responds to the moment, you know, what what the moment brings. So those are two that come to mind.

Geoff 24:17

Gorgeous, yeah. Yeah. Question number three. What would you say was or is the highlight of your career so far?

Larry 24:25

One of the highlights uh was playing with John Patitucci and Brian Blade. John made a recording with Adam Rogers, New York guitarist. And Adam uh occasionally couldn't make some of the tours that they put together. Um so I got to step in there and play with both of them. And uh it's really interesting because I've played with Brian in a number of different contexts. I also played with uh Billy Child's Chambers sextet, and Brian was an integral part of that group. And I've also played with Brian in some singer or songwriter projects. And he plays very differently for each of those. But in the in the context of playing in a trio with Brian, I've heard him play in a number of uh circumstances, and his playing sort of defies my ability to sort of categorize it or to quantify it. You know, you listen to him, you hear these outbursts, and you say, where did that come from? And how is he subdividing things? And where where what crack is he finding? And then when you play with him, you realize that he's listening to you intently and he's supporting you. And that that gives all of his playing sort of an uh an inner logic. You start to understand the logic because it comes from that place of responding to the spaces in the music. So that was a huge lesson for me. Um it was quite different than hearing Brian from a perspective of an audience member.

Geoff 25:53

He's such a musical player, Brian, isn't he?

Larry 25:54

Totally.

Geoff 25:55

For a drummer. I mean, he's a great composer as well, isn't he?

Larry 25:58

Yeah. He's got it all. He always travels with a guitar.

Geoff 26:01

Does he?

Larry 26:02

Yeah.

Geoff 26:02

Right.

Larry 26:03

Yeah.

Geoff 26:03

Um what would you say was your musical weakness?

Larry 26:07

You know, those ridiculous, ridiculously fast Bebop tempos. Guys like Pasquale Grasso just sort of eat up. Yeah. You know, it's like they're eating, you know, it's basically like they're taking a walk in the park. Those for me are beyond me. Yeah. You know, we're talking about, you know, those 400 tempos. Just crazy. I don't I don't even see how the reflexes can work at that tempo.

Geoff 26:32

Yeah, yeah. Well, it's actually speaking of tempos, a good way to use my apps is you you search by keyword, search tempos. So put in 220, see all the tunes by well, I mean, there's nothing that's that fast, but you know, and then change the tempo slightly and just it's a really good way of keeping it in check, you know.

Larry 26:51

So No, I I totally get that, Geoff, because uh to play in an or organic circumstance, to hear, to hear these warm sounds, to hear these natural instruments and this natural interaction between those instruments gets you out of your own head. And yeah, I find that that if we're if we're talking about weakness, that's one of my weaknesses too, overthinking things. Right, right. You know, and I I have a better handle on it now as I get older.

Geoff 27:20

And how's your sight reading?

Larry 27:22

Uh sight reading, fortunately, is very good. Yeah. You know, I studied classical music at a young age. Yeah. And so uh the printed page feels pretty comfortable to me.

Geoff 27:31

Well, that's that's quite unusual for guitar players, though, isn't it?

Larry 27:33

Yeah, it is. Um, there's the running joke, you know, how to get a guitarist to turn down, put music in...

Geoff 27:39

In front of him, yes! It's a good joke. It never gets old. Um, do you ever get nervous on stage?

Larry 27:45

I used to. I I I would say now it's it's more of a uh a burst of adrenaline that helps the music. In the past, that burst of adrenaline could sort of lead to uh shaking hands and and uh maybe playing too many notes or not being grounded in a certain way. But now I find it useful. I I I don't think I I I don't think nerves are a thing anymore.

Geoff 28:11

No, no.

Larry 28:12

Yeah. No, I think so. They used to be.

Geoff 28:14

Have you ever been starstruck?

Larry 28:16

Oh yeah. First time I met Pat Metheny, I was starstruck. Yeah. And he's the most down-to-earth, natural person, yet I could not get to that place where I was having a conversation between two human beings. Yeah, you know. It's funny, it just felt godlike to me.

Geoff 28:33

You know, I was speaking to Romero Lubambo a couple of weeks ago. He's um he said the same thing because he played duo with Pat Metheny. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, imagine that.

Larry 28:42

It was Pat for him, too. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. And you know, it's interesting. Uh, subsequent to that first meeting, I've met Pat many other times, and now I can have a conversation with him and deal with him on a human level.

Geoff 28:56

Yeah.

Larry 28:56

Yeah.

Geoff 28:57

Fabulous. What's your favourite sandwich?

Larry 29:04

Wow. I I hadn't prepared one, were you? I hadn't prepared for that question, Geoff.

Geoff 29:08

That's okay.

Larry 29:09

You know, I'm from California, so avocado, cheese, and alfalfa sprouts.

Geoff 29:14

Alfalfa sprouts? Jeeps.

Larry 29:16

You don't know about that.

Geoff 29:17

I've heard of them, yeah. That's a big yeah.

Larry 29:19

That's a big thing in California. Wow.

Geoff 29:22

Yeah. It's all about turkey as well, isn't it, in in America, turkey sandwiches?

Larry 29:27

Turkey sandwiches are big, but you know, when you're talking about California, you're talking about a lot of, you know, like uh navel, navel contemplating, yeah, you know,

Geoff 29:36

Do you have a good diet?

Larry 29:37

Incredibly healthy. All right. Um you see my yoga mat, right?

Geoff 29:45

I did see your yoga mat, yeah. Yeah. Do you use it?

Larry 29:47

Yeah. Not really. It's good for a show.

Geoff 29:52

Yeah, put it down and then we get out of the shower.

Larry 29:54

Yeah.

Geoff 29:54

Um, all right. What's your favorite movie?

Larry 29:57

2001 A Space Odyssey.

Geoff 29:59

Okay.

Larry 30:00

Love that movie. I love Kubrick.

Geoff 30:02

And you love sci-fi?

Larry 30:04

I love sci-fi. Right. That's my favorite genre.

Geoff 30:06

Funny enough, that's my least favorite.

Larry 30:08

Is that right? Yeah, yeah. Blade Runner is another great movie. I love Blade Runner. All right, okay. Yeah.

Geoff 30:13

Do you watch a lot of movies?

Larry 30:15

I'm returning to it in my, you know, I've just retired from teaching. So I have a little more space and time, and I'm sort of revisiting older movies, like, you know, Citizen Kane stuff that I haven't seen in a long time. And I have a little more time to do that.

Geoff 30:29

I retired from teaching two years ago as well, actually. Funny enough, and it's amazing how much time that frees up, isn't it?

Larry 30:35

Oh, unbelievable.

Geoff 30:36

Uh not not just in physical time, but the time in your head.

Larry 30:39

Yes. That's a really great point. It just has a way of occupying your thoughts when you're away from it.

Geoff 30:45

Did you find when you were teaching you were giving so much away that you sometimes it affected your playing?

Larry 30:52

Yes. There was there was a definite um curve to my ability to play that sort of toward the end of the school year, I noticed I was more in my head because I, you know, you have to verbalize when you teach. Of course, you teach by example, you play. But ultimately, you do have to describe certain processes. And sometimes I find those descriptions limiting. They occupy a place in my head.

Geoff 31:19

Because as soon as you come to take a solo on a gig, you're thinking, should I be you doing that? So I've been taking it.

Larry 31:24

What scale should I be using?

Geoff 31:25

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Wow, it's crazy, isn't it? Um, is there a favorite venue that you like to play in?

Larry 31:32

Yeah, there was, there's a there used to be a venue uh called the Blue Whale in uh Los Angeles that was fantastic. The owner was Joon Lee, um, a Korean singer and uh sort of jazz aficionado, was just great. He really got it. And he developed this venue into a place that in the beginning sort of featured local artists, but then became sort of known on the international scene as well. So you'd have a lot of musicians from New York, even some musicians from Europe appearing there. Uh unfortunately, it closed during the lockdown, as a lot of places did, but it's reopening this summer. The Blue Whale.

Geoff 32:12

Great, great. And do you ever play The Baked Potato?

Larry 32:15

Yeah, I love the Baked Potato. Great. In fact, I still to this day play there. I'm playing there in two weeks, actually.

Geoff 32:23

Oh, cool.

Larry 32:23

Yeah. With who? Yeah. With a drummer named Jason Harnell and a saxophonist named Matt Otto.

Geoff 32:29

Fabulous. You've traveled a lot, obviously. Um we're here in Tokyo. Um, what's your favorite city to visit?

Larry 32:37

Tokyo is one of my favorite cities. Yeah. Just Japan in general. Love Japan. Kyoto, another nice city. Um, San Francisco. I love San Francisco and the Bay Area. Um, London. I mean, these are my favorite cities. You know, San Francisco, London, uh, any city in Japan.

Geoff 32:57

Um, window or aisle?

Larry 33:00

Aisle. I have to pee more as I, you know, as I've grown older.

Geoff 33:05

I know what that's about too. Cats or dogs?

Larry 33:09

Cats. Two cats. Shmooly and Olive.

Geoff 33:13

Okay.

Larry 33:13

My wife's Jewish. Shmooly is Samuel, basically. Hebrew name. Two tabbies. Great kitties.

Geoff 33:21

You always had cats, have you?

Larry 33:22

Always.

Geoff 33:23

Right. What's the most used app on your phone?

Larry 33:26

My metronome, I would say. I think so. And there's oh, there's another app. I use this a lot on my iPad, Boom Beach. It's a video game. And I just I'm I'm addicted to this. I have to play it every morning for at least 10 minutes.

Geoff 33:40

What kind of thing is that? Game?

Larry 33:42

It's like a cartoonish war game with strategy. Okay. You know? Digital uh you're you're basically fighting digital Nazis, but they're they're cartoonish Nazis, you know, they're not really that evil.

Geoff 33:56

You will have a few new apps to play with, of course, so maybe there will be a new app that will be your most used.

Larry 34:02

Oh my god, I'm gonna play with this app. The Quartet app is is next level.

Geoff 34:07

Thank you very much.

Larry 34:08

Um I'm wondering how it's gonna sound through my Apple speaker?

Favourite Chords and How to Use Them

Geoff 34:11

Probably incredible. Yeah, fantastic. And I have one more question for you. Okay. What's your favourite chord?

Larry 34:16

Favourite chord? Can I play it for you?

Geoff 34:19

I would like you to play as many of your favorite chords as as you like.

Larry 34:23

This is definitely one of my favorite chords. Okay.

Geoff 34:28

Oh, woohoo! What's that?

Larry 34:30

See what I mean?

Geoff 34:32

Yeah. Go play again. Okay, tell us about that chord.

Larry 34:38

So to me it's very Stravinsky-esque. A flat, D flat, F. So it's a D flat triad in second inversion, and then E minor, which is in uh first inversion, E minor triad. Right. And you can also, you can, you can also um, you can't do a lot of these chords on guitar because you only have four fingers, but you can also bar the third fret and play a G minor chord. I like this one too.

Geoff 35:14

Okay, tell us about that one.

Larry 35:16

That's that's what America feels like right now. It's very Trumpian!

Geoff 35:24

Yeah. How do you use these chords? That's that's the question, I guess.

Larry 35:30

Um very sparingly.

Geoff 35:34

You didn't use it, you didn't use it last night?

Larry 35:36

I didn't use it, I didn't use it last night, no. Uh, you know, you have to pick and choose your moments. Yeah, yeah. Um actually some of my compositions get a little out there and I might, you know, find a place for these things.

Geoff 35:49

Do you write a lot? Do you compose a lot?

Larry 35:51

I do.

Geoff 35:52

Yeah. It's a hard instrument guitar. I've s I started playing guitar in lockdown, and when I first started playing it, I just thought. I mean, I I grew up with a playing piano, you know, where that is your this is only one place to play a C.

Larry 36:05

And it's very visual.

Geoff 36:06

It's uh to to navigate a guitar is is uh is another level. You know, four places to play middle C or something, it's it's it's crazy. Yeah, isn't it?

Larry 36:16

Yeah, it is.

Geoff 36:17

Um it's an amazing instrument and uh you play it beautifully.

Larry 36:21

Ah, thank you.

Closing Thoughts and Subscribe Message

Geoff 36:22

So um, well, I think that'll do it. Thank you so much for your time.

Larry 36:25

Geoff, this was really a pleasure. I learned so much, and I, you know, I I have this beautiful app to play.

Geoff 36:31

You have, yes.

Larry 36:32

I mean, it's really going to change a lot of things for me in terms of practice.

Geoff 36:36

I'm so glad, yes. Um uh and please spread the word.

Larry 36:40

Definitely will.

Geoff 36:41

And um looking forward to playing tonight at the Blue Note in Tokyo.

Larry 36:44

Yes. Oh, it was such a pleasure playing with you last night. You know, to me, it's amazing that we do this thing where we, you know, I've known about you, but I've never had the opportunity to play with you. And uh, you know, you meet and play for the first time and it just works.

Geoff 36:58

I guess that's the universal language, isn't it? We play It's so beautiful. Yeah, it's a it's a beautiful thing, yeah. Yeah, and that you can connect with somebody just you know, without talking. But um, it's great that we could we could get to do this as well. So thank you so much, and um have a good day.

Larry 37:15

My pleasure.

Geoff 37:15

All right, see you later.

Announcement 37:18

Thank you for making it to the end of another podcast. Please subscribe if you want to hear more of them as they land. The Quartet Jazz Standards Podcast is a UK Music Apps production. Quartet for iOS, taking your jazz play along to another level. Search for Quartet on the App Store or find out more at quartetapp.com.