Paul McCandless and Glen Moore about Zbigniew Seifert and the Zbigniew Seifert Competition
Paul McCandless: Zbigniew Seifert was a great musician and not only for Krakow and for Poland but also for Europe and the to the world. He found a way to speak in a very modern language on the violin. He broke free from the tradition of swing violin. Various (musicians) like Stuff Smith and Stephane Grappelli had their style but he achieved the independence from them and found a way to make the violin sound
very modern and powerful. He developed his hard-driving kind of accent that made the violin sound as
modern as a saxophone or a trumpet. He always said that he followed Coltrane in his efforts to play the violin and I think he was quite successful. (I’m) very sorry he had such a short career because he had a wonderful gift. Personally, I had a great time playing with him as an oboe player and woodwind player. Our instruments were a very good blend. And both had this classical background and the repertoire for the oboe and a violin including very famous concerti by Bach. There are other composers that feature these two instruments together. This was nice in an improvising situation to be able to use the voices of our two instruments together to make a fresh music.
Glen Moore: I can only second what Paul said. His approach to the violin was just extremely fresh. When he sent me his album, “Man of the Light”, I played it for saxophonists in New York and they were immediately taken by it. Bennie Wallace particularly said that this was the way that all saxophonists wished that they can play because he had taken so much from the Coltrane and he made it so clear that the violin was a jazz instrument. He came able to do that but able to also in his work with the recording I did with him, he could improvise in any direction. He had many ideas far beyond anyone else I ever played with and to go in so many directions with such a drive and such clarity. It was a great thrill to be able to play with him and to know him.
Paul McCandless: His style and our style blended very well. The instruments blended very well and we almost felt in a way like this was a fifth member of the group. He really was a great fit for us. We had challenges because the violin and the oboe are so specific and we had to work very hard to get them well in tune. We managed to do that. Also, we were dealing with a harmonic language that was a little different from some of the modal harmonies that Ziggy had worked with. We had to work to learn what scales to use and how to express the music. There's one piece of big, long improvisation called “Violin”. It's maybe, like, 15-18 minutes long and it takes up the whole first side of the record. It’s just us moving through all these different worlds and commenting and playing off each other. There's another piece called “Friend of the Family” that was dedicated to Ziggy. It's composed by Ralph Towner. and we had that feeling of like someone in the same family. There's a piece called “Serenade”. It's the last piece on the first side. That's a violin and guitar duo. Was there bass in there?
Glen Moore: Yes, there was bass in there.
Paul McCandless: I think it showed off the very poetic side of Ziggy’s playing, the more lyrical, expressive singing side. It was a lot of interesting music and we didn't have a great amount of time to do it but we had good music to play. The improvisations were going so well that we went with that. We took the liberty of putting on a big, long improvisational.
Glen Moore: He played this “Flagolet” piece, which is a piece based on harmonics of the bass. When we presented it to Zbigniew, he said, “Oh, well, then we should play it on the harmonics of the harmonics.” He made it a very high level piece and we did a recording of that for the “Violin” album. We made almost a symphony of it by introducing Glenn Moore and with David Darling. He always had many, many ideas of
possibility. He had an extremely open and positive approach to the instrument. It's really is like a dream come true to be able to choose the people and choose the music. I had a kind of a dream that it should be possible to play with two other string players and to cover the register of the string quartet plus the lower register of the bass. Speaking of David Darling with Jan Hammer playing drums as well I was really able to achieve that with these players in that situation. Though the music was mine, he conducted the music. He conducted David and had many suggestions for how this could be and just live in the improvisation so he would kind of conduct those two. He could hear the possibility and we would urge us in different places. It was a dream come true because he was also recording passion at the same time. He felt that there was one day of rehearsing in the forms, just a part of the day, and then he went to work on passion. The next day came and had part of a day to do four different pieces for that. He came to me the week after and said, “Oh,” he said, “You know, I didn't play well. I just I didn't play well. We have to go into the studio again. Just you and I. We have to go and make up for this.” I'd been listening to the recording. I said, “I would love to go in, but you finished your passion.” He was leaving for Buffalo for medical treatment. I said, “What you did was fantastic.” I played him some of the things that he had done. He said, “Oh, okay.” and decided it was good enough.
Interviewer: So you didn’t go to the studio.
Glen Moore: I'm very sorry I didn't but there wasn't really time in his schedule.
Paul McCandless: I think having a competition under the name of Zbigniew Seifert is a wonderful idea because he is such a national figure and has made such a difference on his instrument in the musical world. Having a competition that would bring up young players who are trying to achieve something great. It could be a great event not only for who wins and loses but the focus and the interests that it focuses jazz and violin and Zbigniew.
Glen Moore: Yes, I agree it can only it can only help. I know many young violinists after introducing Glen Moore came out and wrote to me about how much that music meant to them. Darol Anger, the young violinist, started the Turtle Island String Quartet because he heard that record. Mark Feldman said to me that for the next five years after he heard that he tried to become Zbigniew. It was such a great influence on him. If he could just be heard by more people, it would be very good for the violin and for Zbigniew’s memory to pull everyone in.
Interviewer: Thank you.
Glen Moore: Thank you.
Paul McCandless: Zbigniew Seifert was a great musician and not only for Krakow and for Poland but also for Europe and the to the world. He found a way to speak in a very modern language on the violin. He broke free from the tradition of swing violin. Various (musicians) like Stuff Smith and Stephane Grappelli had their style but he achieved the independence from them and found a way to make the violin sound
very modern and powerful. He developed his hard-driving kind of accent that made the violin sound as
modern as a saxophone or a trumpet. He always said that he followed Coltrane in his efforts to play the violin and I think he was quite successful. (I’m) very sorry he had such a short career because he had a wonderful gift. Personally, I had a great time playing with him as an oboe player and woodwind player. Our instruments were a very good blend. And both had this classical background and the repertoire for the oboe and a violin including very famous concerti by Bach. There are other composers that feature these two instruments together. This was nice in an improvising situation to be able to use the voices of our two instruments together to make a fresh music.
Glen Moore: I can only second what Paul said. His approach to the violin was just extremely fresh. When he sent me his album, “Man of the Light”, I played it for saxophonists in New York and they were immediately taken by it. Bennie Wallace particularly said that this was the way that all saxophonists wished that they can play because he had taken so much from the Coltrane and he made it so clear that the violin was a jazz instrument. He came able to do that but able to also in his work with the recording I did with him, he could improvise in any direction. He had many ideas far beyond anyone else I ever played with and to go in so many directions with such a drive and such clarity. It was a great thrill to be able to play with him and to know him.
Paul McCandless: His style and our style blended very well. The instruments blended very well and we almost felt in a way like this was a fifth member of the group. He really was a great fit for us. We had challenges because the violin and the oboe are so specific and we had to work very hard to get them well in tune. We managed to do that. Also, we were dealing with a harmonic language that was a little different from some of the modal harmonies that Ziggy had worked with. We had to work to learn what scales to use and how to express the music. There's one piece of big, long improvisation called “Violin”. It's maybe, like, 15-18 minutes long and it takes up the whole first side of the record. It’s just us moving through all these different worlds and commenting and playing off each other. There's another piece called “Friend of the Family” that was dedicated to Ziggy. It's composed by Ralph Towner. and we had that feeling of like someone in the same family. There's a piece called “Serenade”. It's the last piece on the first side. That's a violin and guitar duo. Was there bass in there?
Glen Moore: Yes, there was bass in there.
Paul McCandless: I think it showed off the very poetic side of Ziggy’s playing, the more lyrical, expressive singing side. It was a lot of interesting music and we didn't have a great amount of time to do it but we had good music to play. The improvisations were going so well that we went with that. We took the liberty of putting on a big, long improvisational.
Glen Moore: He played this “Flagolet” piece, which is a piece based on harmonics of the bass. When we presented it to Zbigniew, he said, “Oh, well, then we should play it on the harmonics of the harmonics.” He made it a very high level piece and we did a recording of that for the “Violin” album. We made almost a symphony of it by introducing Glenn Moore and with David Darling. He always had many, many ideas of
possibility. He had an extremely open and positive approach to the instrument. It's really is like a dream come true to be able to choose the people and choose the music. I had a kind of a dream that it should be possible to play with two other string players and to cover the register of the string quartet plus the lower register of the bass. Speaking of David Darling with Jan Hammer playing drums as well I was really able to achieve that with these players in that situation. Though the music was mine, he conducted the music. He conducted David and had many suggestions for how this could be and just live in the improvisation so he would kind of conduct those two. He could hear the possibility and we would urge us in different places. It was a dream come true because he was also recording passion at the same time. He felt that there was one day of rehearsing in the forms, just a part of the day, and then he went to work on passion. The next day came and had part of a day to do four different pieces for that. He came to me the week after and said, “Oh,” he said, “You know, I didn't play well. I just I didn't play well. We have to go into the studio again. Just you and I. We have to go and make up for this.” I'd been listening to the recording. I said, “I would love to go in, but you finished your passion.” He was leaving for Buffalo for medical treatment. I said, “What you did was fantastic.” I played him some of the things that he had done. He said, “Oh, okay.” and decided it was good enough.
Interviewer: So you didn’t go to the studio.
Glen Moore: I'm very sorry I didn't but there wasn't really time in his schedule.
Paul McCandless: I think having a competition under the name of Zbigniew Seifert is a wonderful idea because he is such a national figure and has made such a difference on his instrument in the musical world. Having a competition that would bring up young players who are trying to achieve something great. It could be a great event not only for who wins and loses but the focus and the interests that it focuses jazz and violin and Zbigniew.
Glen Moore: Yes, I agree it can only it can only help. I know many young violinists after introducing Glen Moore came out and wrote to me about how much that music meant to them. Darol Anger, the young violinist, started the Turtle Island String Quartet because he heard that record. Mark Feldman said to me that for the next five years after he heard that he tried to become Zbigniew. It was such a great influence on him. If he could just be heard by more people, it would be very good for the violin and for Zbigniew’s memory to pull everyone in.
Interviewer: Thank you.
Glen Moore: Thank you.