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Guillermo
Cides: When did we last meet?
Jim Lampi: I don't know,
eight years ago
Guillermo Cides: That's a lot of time. We should
see each other more often. Because… I feel older,
you know.
Jim Lampi: Yes, me too.
Guillermo Cides: Now that I see you again, after
all these years, I have the feeling that now you think more
what notes to play.
Jim Lampi: Hopefully I think
more. And also maybe that has to do with what we were talking
about before. I try to be more of an audience for my own
playing. If, at the best, you're relaxed and listening to
yourself, and you would like to hear things that are in
your mind… Maybe you're singing while you're playing…
Just trying to… What was the question? (laughs) That's
another thing about getting old. You can answer the same
question twice! Every song is new every time because you
keep forgetting. One of the best things I ever read was
an interview with Carlos Santana. He's not an academic musician,
but he used to record all his rehearsals. When you're practicing
you can say: "This is me", "This isn't me".
After he learned to play (he practiced and practiced), then
he started to say: "I want to sound like me".
So, I'd rather be musical than really, really good techniqically.
I don't have that much time to practice. I want to succeed
at life, which means I want music to be more musical or
whatever it's supposed to be. If it's supposed to be emotional,
I want it to be that; if it's supposed to be delicate, I
want it to be that. Probably, technically, I'm not as good
as I was ten years ago, when I met you, because I was practicing
all the time; but maybe I was not as musical. |
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Guillermo
Cides: Sound good...!
Jim Lampi: (whispering)
Buy my CD… (laughs)
Guillermo Cides: What do you think about musicians
who divide in group themselves depending on the instrument
they play?
Jim Lampi: (laughs) What
was the question? (laugh...)
Guillermo Cides: Por example, I play the bandoneón,
so we all bandoneón players are together…
Jim Lampi: If you never
played a bandoneón, then you are missing something.
And life's too short. Life's too short to play that game...
(Historic moment in the Seminar:
Lampi, Vidal, Baggerman and Cides playing other instruments...)
Guillermo Cides: Are you are playing with John Martin
at present?
Jim Lampi: Maybe…
John's a bit ill at the moment.
Guillermo Cides: But you were…
Jim Lampi: Yes, on and off
over the last five years.
Guillermo Cides: Is it an interesting experience
for you to play with other musicians, or in a band; or do
you see it more like a job?
Jim Lampi: I don't think
I've ever really played with people that I didn't like their
music. I mayhave done a job... But, I think, hopefully,
I've never felt that compromised. John's got great songs,
a great voice, all the musicians are better than me, so
I've learned a lot. I was never a bass player, so I've learned
to be a bass player and I got to play with great bass players.
John Giblin is one of the best bass players. He's played
with everyone. He was the bass player when there was a bass
player. He's played with Brand X. I can occasionally forget
what I'm doing because I'm watching his bass parts. The
keyboard player is a great keyboard player, very interested
in the detail, so he makes me more interested in the details.
He's the one on my album, on my new CD, (whispering) which
you can buy… (laughs)
Personally, also, I'd have wished I could have played with
more people. There is a difference between playing with
people you really like their playing and playing with people
that you're playing with just because they are there. |
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Guillermo
Cides: Is your latest record is more one of a composer
than one of a Stick player?
Jim Lampi: Yes. I've already
made the Stick album, where I'm exploring the Stick. My
first album was very much about different ways of playing.
Even this album is exploring a way of playing. But I think
originally I chose the Stick because I wanted to compose
and at that time, and traditionally, the best instrument
to compose is the piano. The Stick is the only compositional
instrument that can almost compete with piano. Other instruments
are wonderful instruments but very difficult to compete
in terms of polychordal, polyrythmic ideas ofcomposition
in the way you can compose with the Stick.
In this album I was getting more control over the ability
to record and I'm more interested in making recordings than
just playing. So, I was actually making a CD and part of
the idea was of a group I'd like to have or be part of.
I wanted it to be an album with friends and people that
I like their playing.
I was as a composer writing for a specific kind of group.
In my head, this time, my bass hand was going to be basically
more of a bass player sound. So, in a sense, I was thinking
as the Stick as two different parts. In my first album I
was thinking more pianistically. This time I was thinking
the bass hand had to sound independent from the right hand.
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Guillermo
Cides: Is your latest record is more one of a composer
than one of a Stick player?
Jim Lampi: Yes. I've already
made the Stick album, where I'm exploring the Stick. My first
album was very much about different ways of playing. Even
this album is exploring a way of playing. But I think originally
I chose the Stick because I wanted to compose and at that
time, and traditionally, the best instrument to compose is
the piano. The Stick is the only compositional instrument
that can almost compete with piano. Other instruments are
wonderful instruments but very difficult to compete in terms
of polychordal, polyrythmic ideas ofcomposition in the way
you can compose with the Stick.
In this album I was getting more control over the ability
to record and I'm more interested in making recordings than
just playing. So, I was actually making a CD and part of the
idea was of a group I'd like to have or be part of. I wanted
it to be an album with friends and people that I like their
playing.
I was as a composer writing for a specific kind of group.
In my head, this time, my bass hand was going to be basically
more of a bass player sound. So, in a sense, I was thinking
as the Stick as two different parts. In my first album I was
thinking more pianistically. This time I was thinking the
bass hand had to sound independent from the right hand. uillermo
Guillermo Cides:
What is Lampi Media?
Jim Lampi: Lampi Mediaï is
a subversive group of terroristsï (laughs)
Lampi Media is just a name I was using. It's pretty boringï
I'm hunting for a better one, but I needed a name just for
the website. I do artwork in multimedia and digital art.
Guillermo Cides: What was
your impression of this seminar in Spain?
Jim Lampi: It's been a wonderful
week. I'm not joking now, buy my recordï It's been a great
week. AS it is, right now we're standing in a Zen forest,
with perfectly lined up pine trees and there's a garden in
which you mast work everyday, in which you have already grown
the fruit and crops to support the place and it's been music,
music, musicï it's been warm weather, which I hadn't seen
for a yearï There's a swimming pool, in which I swim three
times a day. I'm actually a bit browner than when I came hereï
The musicians have been great, the San Juan Party was magic..
I got to be part of a human castleï I'm actually living life,
that's what it is all aboutï And got to play great music and
the concerts were greatï And I want to come back.
Guillermo Cides: Thank you
Jim. |
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Jim
Lampi
por Guillermo Cides
Version en castellano |
Guillermo
Cides: ¿Cuándo fue la última
vez que nos vimos?
Jim Lampi: No sé,
hace ocho años
Guillermo Cides: Eso es mucho tiempo. Deberíamos
vernos más a menudo. Porque, me siento más
viejo, tú sabes.
Jim Lampi: Sí, yo
también.
Guillermo Cides: Ahora que te veo de nuevo, después
de todos estos años, tengo la sensación al
escucharte de que ahora piensas más que notas tocar.
Jim Lampi: Afortunadamente
pienso más. Y también quizá eso tiene
que ver con lo que estabamos hablando antes. Iintento ser
más un público de mi propia ejecución.
Si, a lo mejor, estás relajado y escuchándote
a tí mismo, y te gustaría oír las cosas
que están en tu mente. Quizás estes cantando
mientras estás tocando. Simplemente intentandolo.
¿Cuál era la pregunta? (risas) Ésa
es otra cosa acerca de envejecer. ¡Puedes contestar
la misma pregunta dos veces! Cada canción es nueva
cada vez porque tienes olvidada. Una de las cosas más
buenas que leí en mi vida fue una entrevista a Carlos
Santana. Él no es un músico académico,
pero acostumbraba a grabar todos sus ensayos. Cuando estás
practicando puedes decir: "Éste soy yo",
"Éste no soy yo". Después de que
aprendió a tocar (...practicó y practicó),
entonces empezó a decir: "Quiero sonar como
yo mismo."
Por lo tanto, preferiría ser musical, antes que muy
bueno tecnicamente. No tengo mucho tiempo para practicar.
Quiero tener éxito en la vida, lo que significa que
quiero que la música sea más musical o cualquier
cosa que se supone que sea. Si se supone que sea emocional,
quiero que sea eso; si se supone que sea delicada, quiero
que sea eso. Probablemente, técnicamente, no soy
tan bueno como era hace diez años, cuando te conocí,
porque estaba practicando todo el tiempo; pero quizá
no era tan musical. |
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Guillermo
Cides: Suena bien...!
Jim Lampi: (susurrando)
Compra mi CD... (risas)
Guillermo Cides: Qué piensas sobre los músicos
que se dividen, o se agrupan dependiendo del instrumento
que tocan?
Jim Lampi: (risas) Cúal
era la pregunta? (risas)
Guillermo Cides: Por ejemplo, si yo toco el bandoneón,
entonces todos los bandoneonistas estamos juntos.
Jim Lampi: Si nunca tocaste un bandoneón,
entonces te estás perdiendo algo, y la vida es demasiado
corta.
La vida es demasiado corta para jugar ese juego.
Guillermo Cides: ¿Estás
tocando en la actualidad con John Martin?
Jim Lampi: Quizás.
John está un poco enfermo en este momento.
Guillermo Cides: Pero tocabas?
Jim Lampi: Sí, de
vez en cuando durante los últimos cinco años.
Guillermo Cides: Es una experiencia interesante para
ti tocar con otros músicos, o en una banda; o lo
ves más como un trabajo?
Jim Lampi: No pienso que
haya tocado en la vida realmente con personas que no me
gustaba su música. Puedo haber hecho un trabajo...
Pero pienso, afortunadamente, que nunca sentí ese
compromiso. John ha conseguido grandes canciones, una gran
voz, todos los músicos son mejores que yo, por lo
que he aprendido mucho. Yo nunca fui un bajista, por lo
que he aprendido a ser un bajista y conseguí tocar
con grandes bajistas. John Giblin es uno de los mejores
bajistas. Ha tocado con todos. Era el bajista cuando había
un bajista. Ha tocado con Brand X. Puedo olvidarme de vez
en cuando de lo que estoy haciendo porque estoy mirando
sus partes de bajo. El tecladista es un gran tecladista,
muy interesado en el detalle, y él me hace más
interesado en los detalles. Está en mi álbum,
en mi nuevo CD, (susurrando) qué puedes comprar...
(risas).
Personalmente, también habría deseado poder
tocar con más personas.
Hay una diferencia entre tocar realmente con personas que
te gusta su forma de tocar, y tocar con personas con las
que tocas sólo porque ellos están allí.
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Guillermo
Cides: Tú último disco es más
de un compositor que de un Stickista?
Jim Lampi: Sí. Ya
he hecho el álbum del Stick, donde estoy explorando
el Stick. Mi primer álbum fue mucho sobre las maneras
diferentes de tocar. Incluso este álbum está
explorando una manera de tocar. Pero pienso originalmente
que escogí el Stick porque quise componer y en ese
momento, y tradicionalmente, el mejor instrumento para componer
era el piano. El Stick es el único instrumento de
composición que casi puede competir con el piano.
Otros instrumentos son instrumentos maravillosos, pero es
muy difícil competir en términos de ideas
poliacordes y poliritmicas de composición de la manera
que puedes componer con el Stick.
En este álbum quise lograr un mayor control sobre
la habilidad de grabar y estuve más interesado en
hacer grabaciones que solo en tocar. Por que, realmente
estaba haciendo un CD y parte de la idea era la de un grupo
que me gustarían tener o ser parte de. Quise que
fuese un álbum con amigos y personas que me gusta
como tocan.
Yo era como un compositor que escribe para un tipo específico
de grupo. En mi cabeza, esta vez, mi mano del bajo iba a
ser básicamente más como el sonido de un bajista.
Por lo que, en cierto sentido, estaba pensando en el Stick
como dos partes diferentes. En mi primer álbum estaba
pensando más pianisticamente. Esta vez estaba pensando
que la mano del bajo tenía que sonar independiente
de la mano derecha. |
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Guillermo
Cides: ¿Qué es Lampi Media?
Jim Lampi: Lampi Media. es
un grupo subversivo de terroristas. (risas)
Lampi Media es sólo un nombre que estuve usando. Es
bastante aburrido. Estoy buscando uno mejor, pero necesitaba
un nombre para el website. Hago obras de arte en multimedios
y arte digital.
Guillermo Cides: ¿Cuál
fue tú impresión de este seminario en España?
Jim Lampi:Ha sido una semana
maravillosa. No estoy hablando en broma ahora... compre mi
disco. Ha sido una gran semana. Como lo es, ahora mismo estamos
parados un bosque Zen, con árboles de pino
absolutamente alineados, y hay un jardín en el que
debes trabajar todos los días, en el que ya has hecho
crecer la fruta y la cosechas para mantener el lugar y ha
sido música, música, música. Ha hecho
un tiempo caluroso, que yo no había visto durante un
año. Hay una piscina, en la que nado tres veces por
día. Realmente estoy un poco más moreno que
cuando vine aquí!. Los músicos han sido grandes,
la Fiesta de San Juan fue mágica... conseguí
ser parte de un castillo humano... realmente estoy viviendo
la vida, de eso se trata todo.
Conseguí tocar una gran música y los conciertos
fueron grandes. Si, quiero regresar aqui.
Guillermo Cides: Gracias Jim. |
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Jim Lampi official Web Page
The Stick Center thanks Jim Lampi's collaboration for
this interview.
Traducción:Matias Betti.
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©
The Stick Center
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