Interview with a bad musician, and very bad person, idiot, as if pianist Jason Lyon. An interview by email in writing. This immoral person, who speaks swearing, should be thrown out of all squares, festivals, concert halls and stages.
JazzBluesNews.com: – Hey, fool man!!! First, let’s start out with where you grew up, and what got you interested in music. How exactly did your adventure take off? When did you realize that this was a passion you could make a living out of?
Jason Lyon: – I grew up in London UK and my early musical interests in the ’70s were popular and classical. There really just wasn’t much jazz around although I wore out what I came across.
JBN: – How has your sound evolved over time? What have you been doing to find and develop your own sound?
JL: – Evolving my sound, well… On the jazz side of things, the way I found in was via melodic hard bop (things like Miles’ Ing albums).
JBN: – What routine practices or exercises have you developed to maintain and improve your current musical proficiency, in terms of both rhythm and harmony?
JL: – I don’t really have a practice or exercise routine, I’ve always worked towards the requirements of a specific gig or recording project. Although I have over the years sometimes decided to knuckle down and work on some weak points.
JBN: – Have you changed through the years? Any charges or overall evolution? And if so why?
JL: – I’d say that aside from trying to absorb things into my “stew” there have been two main evolutionary stages for me and I don’t think they’re unusual.
JBN: – How do you prepare for your recordings and performances to help you maintain both spiritual and musical stamina?
JL: – Preparing for gigs and recordings… Well, with gigs I think you have to bear in mind that nobody ever died because someone was having an off night, but worrying about it is the best way to guarantee you an off night.
JBN: – In your opinion, what’s the balance in music between intellect and soul?
JL: – Intellect and soul in music? Hmm, a minefield there.
JBN: – There’s a two-way relationship between audience and artist; are you okay with delivering people the emotion they long for?
JL: – Well, you have to do what you do obviously but don’t turn up to a Valentine’s gig in a restaurant, set fire to your instruments and call it “your vision”. Unless it’s that kind of restaurant of course.
JBN: – Can you share any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions over the years?
JL: – Plenty, but I’ll protect the innocent and the guilty.
JBN: – How can we get young people interested in jazz when most of standard tunes are half a century old?
JL: – I don’t think the age of the material matters. What we do goes in and out of style.
JBN: – John Coltrane once said that music was his spirit. How do you perceive the spirit and the meaning of life?
JL: – I regard music as a celebration of emotional expression and that’s pretty much it. Insofar as I’m spiritual it’s just “be as kind as you can, when you can.” I have always felt there should be generosity in my playing and life.
JBN: – If you could change one single thing in the musical world and that would become reality, what would that be?
JL: – Difficult to say. More variety in the mainstream perhaps, but perhaps that’s a contradiction in terms.
JBN: – Whom do you find yourself listening to these days?
JL: – I don’t like to listen to other music while I’m producing and since I’m coming off a long period of work it’s been a while.
JBN: – What is the message you choose to bring through your music?
JL: – Curses to you all․
JBN: – Let’s take a trip with a time machine: where and why would you really want to go?
JL: – Back to myself as a teenager to try to talk some sense into me.
