JEFF ANDREWS TRIO
**Price includes brunch, music and a drink.**
Although the Electric Bass has become the general standard in rock, pop and Rhythm and blues, it bas long struggled to be accepted by the Jazz community. The Instrument is still shunned by most in the jazz community despite the immensely creative and artistic contributions of Jaco Pastorius, Steve Swallow, Anthony Jackson, and John Pattituci, amongst many others. The reasons for the rejection of the electric bass by a large part of the jazz community are understandable and vague at the same time. On one hand, many believe that jazz music should remain an organic medium. Musicians of this point of view believe strongly in the natural sound of acoustic instruments. Others more logically argue that the substance of the music can only be judged by the content itself and not by peripheral details such as what instruments are being used to create the music. Steve Swallow once put it very well, saying "I've always thought the means are a fair game.... I feel as comfortable with digital delays as with the fingerboard of my bass, and as strongly connected to them... .so, I'm prepared to lose even more friends, if Necessary!"(Bass Heroes.Mulhern pg.61) Swallow's humor is only partly ironic. It is true that his own decision to play electric bass has cost him some, but not nearly as much as he has gained....
read more
JEFF ANDREWS TRIO
**Price includes brunch, music and a drink.**
Although the Electric Bass has become the general standard in rock, pop and Rhythm and blues, it bas long struggled to be accepted by the Jazz community. The Instrument is still shunned by most in the jazz community despite the immensely creative and artistic contributions of Jaco Pastorius, Steve Swallow, Anthony Jackson, and John Pattituci, amongst many others. The reasons for the rejection of the electric bass by a large part of the jazz community are understandable and vague at the same time. On one hand, many believe that jazz music should remain an organic medium. Musicians of this point of view believe strongly in the natural sound of acoustic instruments. Others more logically argue that the substance of the music can only be judged by the content itself and not by peripheral details such as what instruments are being used to create the music. Steve Swallow once put it very well, saying "I've always thought the means are a fair game.... I feel as comfortable with digital delays as with the fingerboard of my bass, and as strongly connected to them... .so, I'm prepared to lose even more friends, if Necessary!"(Bass Heroes.Mulhern pg.61) Swallow's humor is only partly ironic. It is true that his own decision to play electric bass has cost him some, but not nearly as much as he has gained.
Jeff is blessed to have worked with some of the best drummers in the world. Some of them include Peter Erskine, Adam Nussbaum, Omar Hakim, Dennis Chambers, Dave Weckl and many others. It's fascinating how bass players and drummers with different feelings for where the beat lies can still connect, create an incredible pocket, and fire a band up with an amazing groove. Jeff has had amazing experience with this issue as a touring and studio musician. He also has a unique way of putting it into words for his students to grasp. "When I talk about time I like to define that because people have different concepts of what time is. I define it as two different things. There is one called absolute time which is the space between two points. It's like the space between two stars in the universe. In space we measure distance by how long it takes to get from one point to another. This time is absolute, 60 seconds in a minute right? Time feel is an interpretation of the space between these two stars, or between points A and B. If you look at points A and B as 7am and 7pm then the space between them is filled with the events of that day. These events can be of infinite quantity. What happens between two quarter notes is the same thing. How you fill that space creates your own personal feel, and is variable, but those two points are absolute". Again here Jeff shows why he is in such high demand as a player and teacher. (He is currently teaching at The New School as well as the Manhattan School of Music) He simply has the ability to express an abstract and nebulous idea in a very clear, succinct and beautiful way. His understanding of time and feel as two closely related yet different concepts has rendered him malleable enough to respect and adapt to the diversity of time feels of so many wonderful and different drummers. This is very similar to legendary stories you hear about Pablo Casals playing Bach's Cello Suites. If you know the tempo and amount of measures in the Courante from the first Cello Suite, you can extrapolate almost exactly what the performance time will be. Let's imagine its 3:35. Let's imagine a hypothetical Situation where Casals would push, pull and breath in the time in his rendering of the Courante and yet his performance time is 3:35 on the nose. This illustrates the point that Jeff is trying to make. It's simple yet difficult to grasp. Jeff feels that what really defines a musician is his or her time feel. He feels it's impossible to copy or imitate the way someone fills the space between beats. "A great example of that was Jaco Pastorius. He had a very unique and personal feel when he played 16th notes. Many people were able to cop his sound but nobody could ever cop his feel...... it was too personal. It's odd, but no matter how hard you try to be like someone else you never will because of that variable. Feel is very personal and becomes existential after a while; it's the most personal part of music for why does one person feel something one way and another person another way? I don't know but I'm glad they do because that's what makes everyone different"
As a Bassist he is able to both groove and solo with equal virtuosity. He has toured the world 15 times over with some of the finest players in the world. These musicians include Mike Stem, Bob Mintzer, the great Bob Berg, Dennis Chambers, The Gil Evans Orchestra, Mike Brecker, Wayne Shorter and Kenny Kirkland amongst many others. He has been a presence on the scene for over 20 years and helped shape the Jazz performer's landscape in NYC by putting the 55 bar on the Map.
At present Jeff is bard at work on a highly anticipated solo album. The album will be a pivotal moment in what has so far been a long and illustrious career. It will probably feature a great cast of collaborators and will be informed by all the things Jeff has learned wm his 1ravels around the world and his incredible mends and band mates. I'm certain many are looking forward to this exciting release by a phenomenal, humble and underrated musician and composer.
Jeff Andrews »
Jeff Andrews @ Facebook »
show less
