Jazz interview with jazz guitarist Micaela Martini. An interview by email in writing.
JazzBluesNews.com: – 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?
Micaela Martini: – When I was 10 I had a guitar in my house, which belonged to a friend of my father. I started to play it without knowing anything about it. My mother, on the other hand, worked in a studio and probably I started to love music listening to a thousand LPs. When I was 13 I started to study guitar in a classical musical school and there my journey started … and still go on! When do I realize that my passion could make a living out of? Sincerely, I don’t realize yet … I enjoy the trip day by day.
JBN: – How has your sound evolved over time? What have you been doing to find and develop your own sound?
MM: – I grew up listening to a lot of guitarists, like Wes Mongomery, Pat Martino. I played their solo a lot, every day, trying to find my sound, but even if I think I have found my sound, this is a constant research and evolution.
JBN: – What routine practices or exercises have you developed to maintain and improve your current musical proficiency, in terms of both rhythm and harmony?
MM: – Usually, I play 6 hours a day: I start with little themes of Charlie Parker and Pat Martino. I play the drum at least 30 minutes a day to improve and maintain my perspective on the rhythm. I study saxophonist and guitar solo too, to improve my technique and my speed. At the end of the day, I play guitar on the standard jazz and blues to improve my improvisation.
JBN: – Have you changed through the years? Any charges or overall evolution? And if so why?
MM: – I started to play classical and rock music: my first concert was in a cover band but when I was 19 I started to get interested in jazz, for its sound, itv player, its story and all about that…and I found my dimension in that music.
JBN: – How do you prepare for your recordings and performances to help you maintain both spiritual and musical stamina?
MM: – I love to dance … This is another way to live music. It also helps a lot for the physical preparation for concerts eh eh. Before every performance I get a sort of visualization of the pieces that I will have to play…as a sort of meditation: it helps me a lot.
JBN: – What do you love most about your new album 2022: Micaela Martini, Luca Pasqua – Ask The Dust, how it was formed and what you are working on today.
MM: – I love the interplay between me and Luca: it’s easy and relax to play with him. Ask the Dust was born with the intention of expressing our vision of jazz standards, revisiting and interpreting it, adding two of our original pieces developed precisely on this mood. It just realized another album called “Electric Trane” with Bruno Marini and Cristina Mazza like guests, an album dedicated to John Coltrane, an electric reinterpretation of his music … it’s cool!
JBN: – How did you select the musicians who play on the album?
MM: – I have known Luca since 2012 and I always love his musicality and his approach to improvisation.
JBN: – In your opinion, what’s the balance in music between intellect and soul?
MM: – Both are important: I prefer to live music with instinct and soul but without intellect it’s very hard to improve your skill as a musician.
JBN: – There’s a two-way relationship between audience and artist; are you okay with delivering people the emotion they long for?
MM: – I started to play like street artists so for me it’s really important to feel this relationship: without this trait, music, like all arts, would lack a vital characteristic.
JBN: – Can you share any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions over the years?
MM: – Some years ago, after a jam, it was 3 am in the morning, a police patrol chased me for about 3 miles but I didn’t notice it because I was listening to the jam recording again. When they finally stopped me, they were a little angry … ops …
JBN: – How can we get young people interested in jazz when most of standard tunes are half a century old?
MM: – Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven are dead nearly 300 years ago but their magic is still alive. Young people should have to look for a bit of magic … and so standard jazz would suddenly appear contemporary.
JBN: – John Coltrane once said that music was his spirit. How do you perceive the spirit and the meaning of life?
MM: – It’s a really hard question … He wrote “A love supreme” and maybe, in that title, there are more than three words. Live day by day, trying to find the right place to stay like musicians and like human beings … and trying to make the world a better place.
JBN: – If you could change one single thing in the musical world and that would become reality, what would that be?
MM: – I don’t like “talent show”: an artist doesn’t care about competition but he should find a way to express himself and his art freely.
JBN: – Whom do you find yourself listening to these days?
MM: – Pat Martino, Charlie Parker and Lennie Tristano.
JBN: – What is the message you choose to bring through your music?
MM: – Improvisation teach us that we have to accept our mistakes, like in music, like in real life: we don’t be perfect but true.
JBN: – Let’s take a trip with a time machine: where and why would you really want to go?
MM: – I’d like to take a quick peek into the future, maybe 30 years from now, just to see what awaits us.
JBN: – So far, it’s been me asking you questions, now may I have a question from yourself…
MM: – How did you find our CD?
JBN: – I have all the new CDs in advance. Will, years of work and cooperation are paying off, they send me from Europe and other States.
JBN: – At the bottom line, what are your expectations from our interview?
MM: – I hope to have the opportunity to be heard by a wider audience and maybe be able to play in the US sooner or later eh eh …
Interview by Simon Sargsyan
