Howard Alden - Jazz Guitarist

A lot has happened in Howard Alden's career in the last ten years. When Howard was in Pittsburgh for the Guitar Workshop at Duquesne University I sat down with him to get caught up.

JB: Howard, you have made a lot of recordings in the past ten or so years. Which two or three CDs of yours best represent your playing and why?
HA: First, would be Ken Peplow ski and I playing duets at the Maybeck Recital Hall. Ken and I enjoy playing duos together, and each December we would try to put together a little tour and do as many duo gigs as we can, The Maybeck Hall night was recorded on that first tour, We have such a great musical conversation together.

JB: The Encore album was just af ollow up to that?
HA: Yes, The first record went so well we thought we would do another one, Again, that first Duet album is one of my favorite albums. Things just came together so well that night for Ken and me. We hope to record a duo album again,

JB: Then there's the live CD and video at Ambassador Auditorium and Ken's ensemble albums you are on. Talk about your relationship with Ken,
HA: I met Ken soon after moving to New York, We played together at a little noon concert in front of an office in New York, Soon we played the opening of a 7-11 store in New Jersey, he with his clarinet and I with my banjo in front of a Slurpy machine (laughter)! Ken and I realized that we had similar tastes in jazz, We found ourselves playing a lot together. I had him appear as a guest on my first album and he has me on several of his, Now we are neighbors as he moved into the apartment right above us, We haven't had the opportunity to play as much in recent years. He is so busy being out on the road.

I also want to mention Take Your Pick. It was fun to do because the tunes I play aren't things I get to play too often. I like all my other albums for different reasons,

JB: Talk about your work with George Van Eps,
HA: George was someone I had been listening to since I was twelve or thirteen, Over the years I would study any printed material I could find on him, listen to his records and transcribe solos whenever I could, I finally got to know him in 1986 at a jazz festival in Conneautt Lake in Western Pennsylvania, After I made my first album for Concord, Carl Jefferson, president of the company, read in the liner notes of George's impact on me and suggested that I call him up and do a duet album with him, Well, it took a year to finally do it but once we did, Carl Jefferson wisely asked that we do more together,

When we played together I concentrated on single-line things that gave him the space to his beautiful chordal work, He fills things like a chamber orchestra, He would play just the right bass notes and harmonies just effortlessly. He is such a natural.

JB: Talk about the duet album with Jimmy Bruno: Full Circle,
HA: It was Concord's then-president, Carl Jefferson, who suggested that I record with Jimmy. In the summer I was doing a little tribute to Eddie Lang in.a park, and up walked Jimmy Bruno and introduced himself. I had only been playing 7-string for about a year and he asked to see my 7-string and said, "This is great. I have to call Bob (Benedetto) and get one of these," Sure enough, about a month later he had a 7 string and was playing it great. He came up to New York and rehearsed with me a couple of times, and I went down to Philly and played a couple of gigs with him, We just hit it off great, We recorded the quartet record in 1995 , with Carl Jefferson in the booth producing, but he had cancer real bad. He flew home after the sessions and dies a week or so later. It was his last production project. When we were recording he would say, “This is just like the first album I recorded with Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Jake Hanna!” Obviously, that first album with Joe and Herb was very special to him.

Another thing that Carl wanted to do was put together another version of the Great Guitars with Jimmy, Frank Vignola. . .

JB: That became the Trio with Frank & Jimmy The Concord Jazz Guitar Collective?
HA: Yes. The company actually put the Collective out before the duet album with Jimmy. I am sorry that Carl never got to see the Collective because it was his dream.

JB: Talk about the dynamics of adding Frank to the duo.
HA: It worked out really great. Frank was focusing on acoustic guitar and so it was a nice contrast to Jimmy's and my electric 7-strings. I ended up writing out lots of arrangements for us. We also had a week-long gig out at Yoshi's in Oakland before we went into the studio. So we were able to work out the arrangements before recording them. They both have great ears and know when to back off and when to support.

Frank, Bucky Pizzarelli and I play trio gigs from time to time, and Bucky is another who does very well in those settings.

JB: Any recordings of that trio?
HA: We did one album for a small label, Victoria Records, entitled Three of a Kind. It can be found on Mel Bay's website.

JB: Talk about recording the soundtrack to the Woody Allen film Sweet and Lowdown.
HA: I got a call from Dick Hyman, whom I have worked with for over 20 years, where he asked if I could play like Django Reinhardt. I said jokingly, "Of course Dick, can't everybody." Dick does the music for almost all of Woody's films. At the time Woody gave out very little information about his film projects. All Dick knew was that it was about Django. Soon I was asked to coach Sean Penn on how to play the guitar. Later he told me it was about this fictitious guitarist who was a contemporary of Django. At first, I thought it would be two or three days of recording but it turned into about five months of coaching Sean Penn on guitar. He had never touched a guitar before. I helped them select the instruments for the movie. I had to cancel things to do all this, but it was well worth it. Sean was very serious and dedicated to learning what he had to do to play the part. I think he did an amazing job.

JB: What was it like working with Woody?
HA: He knew me from before and was very trusting of me. So, he spoke to me very little about what to do. When they would shoot a scene where Sean was playing the guitar I would sit off camera and play the tune where Sean could see where my fingers were going. During the non-musical scenes I would hang out in my trailer.
One of the strange things was that we weren't given a lot of names of the tunes that were wanted. So, I coached Sean on the tunes I thought may be selected. Every now and then we'd get word of a tune to be used that I hadn't coached Sean on, and we'd have to do a crash course on how to play it.

JB: Woody selected the tunes?
HA: Yes. Again, Woody's way is to give out as little information as possible. I was in Italy coaching Sean while he was making another movie, and Sean asked me if I had seen the script and I said no. He gave me a copy of the script and it was very helpful to see what was gomg on.

JB: Did you pick Bucky (Pizzarelli)for the rhythm guitarist of the soundtrack?
HA: Yes. Dick Hyman wanted to have the combo be a Hot Club of France with a violin, and I suggested that this was America in the 1930s and the violin wasn't all that popular then. I suggested they have a clarinet and drummer, and they went with that idea. It was a great experience to see a film made from the ground up and to be on the set every day.

JB: Talk about In a Mellow Tone with Bucky Pizzarelli.
HA: Long ago Bucky had to sub for George Van Eps when we were doing a short tour in western Pennsylvania. George had the flu and his doctor didn't want him getting on an airplane. Bucky and I developed a nice rapport on that tour and played often over the years. Our good friend, Bob Weil, who runs the Santa Fe Jazz Foundation suggested to us that we should do an album together. So, I called Concord Records and they were open to it.

Bucky is like two guitarists. First, he has this mellow reflective side to his playing. Then he can turn around and play the most rhythmic, physical kind of things. Along with seeing George Van Eps play his 7-string, it was also Bucky who encouraged me to play the 7string. In fact, after I ordered my first 7-string from Bob (Benedetto), Bucky loaned me one of his 7-strings to begin practicing on it.

JB: That was how you came to playing the 7-string?
HA: Yes.

JB: Were you playing a Benedetto before that first 7string?
HA: No, I was playing my Gibson Howard Roberts.

JB: Tell about these jazz parties that Dick Gibson arranges where you are one of 24 musicians invited to play.
HA: Back in the 1960s Dick Gibson, a businessman in Colorado, started having these jazz parties. Their first party had about 10 musicians invited in from around the country. He then started inviting more musicians. The first time I went, it was the 25th anniversary of these parties, and there were about 70 musicians, including Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, and Ray Brown. George Van Eps and Johnny Smith would do these. They were either in Denver or Colorado Springs. Dick Gibson made a lot of money off a couple of inventions, and loved jazz, and would have these big parties in a hotel, having different musicians play in different combinations. Over the years, other people started doing the same thing. There are now some in Texas and Florida and a big one out in San Diego, California. Years ago you could hear "Sweets" Edison with Milt Hinton or Clark Terry with Buddy DeFranco, or Zoot Sims with Al Cohn. A lot of legends played these in combinations not heard elsewhere.

JB: That would have been great to hear. Changing the subject, on your recordings, you often play less familiar standards.
HA: Yes, I am always looking for new things, something off the beaten path. I am sometimes guilty of putting too many of those tunes on an album. Sometimes at a gig I will see someone looking at one of my albums and say, "I don't know these songs." But, I need to play new material. Some people can play "Stella" and "Satin Doll" forever. I can't.

JB: Let me ask you about your approach to playing. Talk about what goes on in your mind as you solo over a tune.
HA: I guess it depends upon the setting. Usually, I am thinking about trying to develop a melodic motif that isn't real obvious. Of course, a lot depends upon what has just happened before you and what will happen after your solo. If the soloist before me has played a flurry of notes up and down the fingerboard or horn I might play something that is simpler or more melodic to contrast withtheir solo. Whatever I play, I want it to be like a conversation, so that I am not saying the same thing that the person before me just said.
If I am soloing on an original composition I keep the melody of the music in front of me so that I am soloing on that tune and not just a set of chord changes. I try to find what is unique to that tune and bring it out so it doesn't sound like a bunch of scales and chord changes.

JB: How much of your playing is truly spontaneous?
HA: That is a good question because you are always referring to things in your background. I'd say 30% to 60% is. Of course, playing with certain people can inspire more spontaneity. They push you on to more creativity. There are times when you fall back on things you know work in certain situations, and then the spontaneity is in how you arrange those things for that situation.

JB: As you observe younger guitar players, what are some traps that guitar players get themselves into?
HA: I have had the opportunity to hear a lot of younger guys lately and I am amazed at what I hear and the excellent level of these younger guys. One thing would be the solos built off of scales and chord changes that I just mentioned.
JB: What are you thinking about as you are comping behind a solo singer?
HA: I am thinking of how I can give them a cushion to work upon. Laying out the chord changes, not too obviously, but clear enough so they know where they are. Thinking about finding a counter-melody in my playing that will tastefully contrast with what they are singing so as not to bring too much attention to yourself.

If I am comping for a solo instrument I will sometimes play something that may spur them on to something creative. You don't do that for a singer. It depends upon the setting.

JB: What about in a combo with a pianist?
HA: A lot of the same things apply. You don’t want to get in the way of anyone. SOmetimes you may lay out a bit to crteate space. I like working with a pianist, and with the right guys it sounds really good. Sometimes you play accented chords, sometimes a Freddie Green type 4/4, sometimes octaves, it all depends. Joe Pass and Oscar Peterson were really good together. Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis had a great way of working with Oscar, in different ways. Jim Hall and Bill Evans created a different type of interplay. Every personality is unique.

JB: I want to move on to the instrument that you play. Talk about how you began your relationship with Bob Benedetto?
HA: It was through Bucky. I think he suggested to Bob that he contact me. It was about the time I wanted to switch to playing 7-string. So, when Bob contacted me, I said that I wanted a 7 -string guitar. This was before a lot people were playing 7 -strings, and he was a little reluctant, but he said OK. Then he said that if it didn't work out, he would be happy to make me a 6- string. This was 1992 and Bob wanted to see what I had been playing. So, I brought my Howard Roberts to him and we agreed that a 16" body would work well for me. He asked me if I wanted an oval hole and I said that this is a Benedetto, not a Gibson, and I don't expect an ovalhole. He said that he had made one before and he would like to make an oval-hole again. I said that would be great because I liked the look of the oval hole, plus the sentimental aspect because of my memories of my work with Howard Roberts. He finished the guitar when he was still experimenting with pickups, and the first pickup wasn't best suited for it. He changed the pickup and I was to leave the next day for a three-week tour of one-nighters in Europe with the Newport All Stars. I told Bob that I would take my six string because I didn't want this nice new guitar to get beat up with all that travel. He said "No, take it. If something happens to it, I'll fix it. It is meant to be played." I am so glad I took it because I really got comfortable with it with all that playing.

JB: What is it that you like about the 7th string?
HA: It gives me a fuller harmonic pallet. The fundamental of the chords are there more. Whether I choose to use them or not, I like to know they are there. Plus, you get a fuller, deeper sound. That fuller sound is especially important when you are playing duo work with a horn player. I also have been able to carry my melodic lines down to those low notes, occasionally.
A couple of years later I had Bob build me a second oval-hole. I wanted one that was 25 1/2 scale rather than 25. The extra 1/2 inch brings clarity to the 7-string on the lower end. I also wanted a little thinner body and a different pickup. This new guitar was more of what I wanted. It is really a beautiful instrument.
In 1996, I went on tour in Europe with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. It was a series of one nighters all over, three airplanes a day with this big guitar. It sounded great but it was a lot to carry. I remember we were in Finland and I am coming down the stairs of my hotel with my big hardshell case in one hand and my big suitcase in the other, sweating already at 6am, and there is Bill Frisell at the bottom of the stairs cool and refreshed with his small Klein guitar in a thin case and a small suitcase in the other hand. We chatted with each other and then I said to myself I have to get a small guitar. When I got back, I asked Bob about a small guitar. We came up with the 14 1/2 inch body, a little thinner, but still a full 25 1/2 scale neck, and a built-in pickup rather than the floating pickup. I wasn't expecting a great sounding guitar, but one small and easy to travel with. To my surprise, it sounds beautiful and has a great feel, too.
At first, I used it when I traveled, but now I am using it more and more because it has such a great sound. After seeing mine, a couple of people wanted one, as well. Then when the deal with Fender and Benedetto came about, Bob asked me about a Howard Alden model, and we decided that this would be a good model as a 6-string with a 7-string option. It has a remarkable sound. In fact, a couple of years ago I was in Switzerland on tour and I got a call to fill in with this little combo at a Press Party because the pianist could not come. They sent a car and when I got there, there wasn't an amp. They forgot I needed an amp. So, I played with two horns, bass and drums with a just microphone on my guitar and it sounded great!

JB: What other guitars do you have and use?
HA: I have a Selmer Maccaferri copy made by Dupont that I used on Sweet and Lowdown, and I continue to use when I'm called upon to play Django-style. I also have myoid L-5 and one Howard Roberts. I had more of them when I was using the Howard Roberts model.
I also have a nylon-string guitar made by a friend of mine in England, Vince Hockey. He is a retired cabin steward for British Airways who builds guitars on the side. I had mentioned to Bob that I wanted a 7-string nylon-string, but that isn't the kind of guitar that Bob builds. So, in one of my many trips to England, Vince said that if Bob wasn't going to build one that he would like to try. Vince had built mostly dreadnought, Martin style guitars. About a year later he had this 7-string nylon-string guitar for me that is a really great guitar. I have been getting into fingerstyle guitar more and studying with a Brazilian percussionist in New York. I also use it when I sub for Gene Bertoncini at his solo guitar gig.


JB: What amp do you use?
HA: The last four or five years I have been using a Polytone Mega Brute with an 8 inch speaker. For a lot of years I used a Mesa Boogie with a 12 inch speaker and loved it. But with the tubes, it was heavy. This Poly tone with the 8 inch I use for all my gigs and for recording. It has a great sound, even with the low 7th string notes, and it is only about 25 pounds to carry.

JB: What strings do you use?
HA: In the last year I've been using D'Addario XL nickel, round-wound strings.

JB: In a combo setting, what do want from a bass player?
HA: A ride (laughter)! That's a real New York thing. A bass player has to have a car so he can give you a ride to the gig. But seriously, the basic things: the chord changes and good time.

JB: ... a drummer?
HA: I want more than time. I want someone who will have a musical conversation with me. The ideal drummer is someone like Jake Hanna who knows the tunes inside and out. He knows where the high points and low points are. He knows where the phrases end. He knows how to accent things. Then he can choose to play straight time or play some fills and stuff. That really applies to any instrumentalist in the group.

JB: What do you want from a recording engineer at your sessions?
HA: Someone who knows what the music is supposed to sound like and what the instruments are to sound like. I want them to do what they need to do and stay out of the way and not stop the flow of ideas.

JB: You have had to deal with a very difficult disease: sarcoidosis. Talk about maintaining a career while battling a disease like that.
HA: It is a somewhat rare disease that can effect different systems of the body--most commonly, the lungs. In my case it attacked the lining of the brain. The medical profession considers this incurable. Their treatment is suppressive, using steroids and chemotherapy. That threw my system out of balance. What helped me was a good nutritionist. After a week of following the nutritionist's advice, I began to see the first improvements in four years. It took a few years to get where I really felt better, and in the last couple of years I have been feeling great.

JB: That is great to hear. What would you like to do on the guitar that you are currently not doing?
HA: In the last couple of years I have been trying to get into more Brazilian-type music and working on fingerstyle playing.

JB: How has your playing changed over the years?
HA: Every year I try to incorporate more of a vocabulary of different things. I have more focused convictions of melodic ideas in my playing. I am a much better accompanist than I was 20 years ago. Also playing the 7 -string guitar for 13 years has allowed me to experiment with different textures and ranges.

JB: What advice would you give to a young jazz guitarist?
HA: I think that young people need to build up a repertoire of songs so that what they are playing isn't just technical ideas. Then commit that repertoire to memory to make it part of your musical language. If you have to look at the fakebook, you don't know the tune.

JB: How does one learn those tunes?
HA: You need to go out of your way to play with other people. Play-along CDs and Band-in-a-Box are good but there is no substitute for playing with other musicians. Don't wait for someone to call you. You need to get out there and make it happen.
JB: Howard, thanks.

Just Jazz Guitar. May 2006