Rick Stone

Rick Stone

Continuing my series of email “interviews” with Jazz artists, I turn my attention to New York guitarist Rick Stone.  By Rick’s calculations he’s been on the scene in New York for 27 years.  It seems like just a couple of years ago that we met at one of the Jazz Times conventions in Manhattan.

I’ve always enjoyed Rick’s straight-ahead playing style and have admired not only his playing but his compositions as well.  I’ve been pleased to follow his career as performer. composer and teacher.

For more on Rick, visit his website here.

I sent Rick five questions for his consideration.  I am overwhelmed by his response which runs to multiple pages, every word carefully chosen and insightful. We’ll serve up this email interview in multiple parts.  Here’s the first installment.

1. You’ve been around the New York Jazz scene for a number of years.  Can the define the special nature of New York Jazz?  Does the music reflect the vibe of the city?

Well, it’s been said that New York is a jazz fan’s heaven and a jazz musician’s hell, and that pretty much sums it up.  The good and the bad of the New York Jazz scene is that there are just so many amazingly talented musicians here.  People come from all over the world to be part of this scene.  As a musician who lives here and has to try to make a living, it’s sort of a love/hate relationship. The “fan” part of me loves being able to go out any night of the week and have 30 or more choices of where to go to hear great jazz.  Even when you narrow it down to a specific genre of jazz (or even a specific instrument!) you’re likely to find 5 or 6 musicians you really want to hear on a given night, but the logistics probably only allow for 2 or 3.  It’s like being a kid in a candy store.

The “hell” part of it is just the other side of the same coin.  With thousands of great musicians here, we can’t all be working all of the time. I go to clubs to hear great musicians play, and look around and realize that half (or sometimes most) of the audience is made up of musicians. So simple supply and demand knocks down the musician’s pay in many venues.  So in a place where everything costs far more than most other U.S. cities, the prevailing pay for musicians working “local” gigs in NYC is actually a lot less than other parts of the country.  The economics of this situation quickly becomes apparent.  If you want to make you’re living just playing, you’re going to have to do a lot of that playing on the road in places where your New York residence gives you street cred.

Other solutions are possible as well.  I’ve been here 27 years now.  I figured out pretty early on that I didn’t really like to travel much.  After a few rocky years and a failed marriage, I got a computer job, saved some money, remarried and bought a multifamily house.  With a little rental income, and a lot of teaching work, I managed to quit the day job and just deal with music.  Now I teach anywhere from one to five days a week depending on the season, play some semi-regular gigs around town, and go out of town a few times a year, and that works for me.

If I’m not teaching or gigging, I’m going out and listening to other musicians as much as possible.  For example, since the start of the year I’ve been out to hear Gilad Hekselman, Jack Wilkins, Howard Alden, Bucky Pizzarelli (a couple times), Paul Bollenback, Jonathan Kreisberg, Pat Martino, Peter Mazza, Nick Moran (a former student of mine and a fine guitarist!), Chris Crocco with George Garzone, Lage Lund, Joe Giglio with Dan Adler.  Sometimes I’m asked to sit in which is always nice.  It’s funny, I heard somebody say recently that jazz was the only profession where guys will get finished playing a job, and then go play another job for free.  On Jack Wilkins gig, the audience is always filled with guitarists, so a lot of guys will wind up sitting in; myself, James Silberstein, Randy Johnston, Howard Alden, Carl Berry and Russell Norkin are all regulars. Last time I was there Howard Robert’s son Jay (who now runs the Musician’s Institute out in California) was there and played a few tunes with Jack and Bucky.

There’s a real camaraderie among the musicians here which easily outweighs any of the negative factors.