Name: Kresten Osgood
Nationality: Danish
Occupation: Drummer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser

If you enjoyed this interview with Kresten Osgood and would like to know more about his music, visit his official website.

Over the course of his career, played with and appeared on records with a wide range of artists, including Johan Berthling, Mette Rasmussen, and Jakob Bro.

[Read our Mette Rasmussen interview]
[Read our Jakob Bro interview]
[Read our Johan Berthling interview]



When did you first start getting interested in musical improvisation?  

I have been improvising music my whole life. When I was 4 years old, I was working with a pretty big percussion setup of found objects. Of course at the time I had no idea of the context - I was just interested in making sounds. Improvised on piano a lot too.

Later I guess it kind of came through jazz playing on the drums. We had a band as teenagers and we were trying to play stuff that was much too complicated for us so we would try to cover it up or save / survive a performance by going dada - dancing around the room, making strange noises somewhere between performance art and comedy.

Then as I grew as a musician it became clear to me that the biggest challenge (and the most rewarding one) was to be able to be completely free in the music and in life.

Which artists, approaches, albums or performances involving prominent use of improvisation captured your imagination in the beginning?

One of the first things was a VHS tape of a program on German TV showing an interview with Klaus König and a performance with his orchestra and in there there was a solo by Rainer Winterschladen that blew me away. He was so expressive.

Around the same time I also started listening to Cecil Taylor which was quite different from the other stuff I was into like Hendrix, The Doors and Led Zeppelin but I was drawn by the energy and the audacity of it. I had my mother make me a tshirt with a black and white photo of Cecil and I tried to cultivate the same sideburns as he had. Around this time I was 17 or 18.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to improvisation?

One of the ideas that is most important to me is that improvisation has the potential to be the place where the most interesting music can be created. It is far superior to composition … or has the potential to be at least.

I am very influenced by some of the people I have worked with. Paul Bley made a huge impression on me. He once told me “whenever I play … don't play” that, to me, meant: “play strong”. Also he refused to repeat himself, which I really also try to avoid.

I think that one of my main values in music is that I insist on creating new art when I improvise. I hate when people pretend to have a language and stick to that. I immediately want to fuck that up if I feel that they are playing it safe in that way.

Also I would say that Tristan Honsinger has influenced me a lot and put some ideas in my head. He was saying that when you get an impetus to do something - do it. If you are deciding what to do, it's too late. So you have to be ahead of your own ideas in a way. You have to have the courage to react before you know what you are doing.

John Russel also meant a lot to me. The idea that something very delicate, almost private can be understood by others. That there is no limit to the amount of detail and care you can put into something … and you don't have to consider whether others get it or not. They will.

Herb Robertson is also important as far as forming key ideas in my improvising. We have worked a lot together and he remains consistently dangerous and fresh!  Tthe idea of going beyond yourself, being so invested that losing your mind is right there staring you in the face. And the thing that keeps it in check is some kind of formal relationship with the instrument.

Do you see yourself as part of a tradition or historic lineage?

I do. I have had masters and teachers that I looked up to and aspired to be like. Ed Thigpen and brother Yusef Lateef being two of the most important. They both made this very central argument: The tradition IS to innovate.

What was your own learning curve / creative development like when it comes to improvisation - what were challenges and breakthroughs?

In the beginning when I started playing completely improvised concerts I sometimes found it difficult to concentrate and I also think that philosophically I hadn't quite understood what I was dealing with yet. I had this idea that you had to be inside every move you made in the music and be aware and conscious about every action.

I remember attending a masterclass with Cecil Taylor and I asked him directly if he ever found it difficult to concentrate (I still sometimes can't believe I asked him that … but it was coming from a very honest place) and to my surprise he looked me straight in the eye and said “It's OKAY to lose your concentration. Your mind wanders and you just keep doing what you are doing and come back into it.” It was a great relief to hear that from him.

I also remember playing for Andrew Cyrille and I was trying to play this really introspective thing that was inspired by Randy Peterson (who I consider to be one of the most important drummers in the last 30 years) and Andrew stopped me and asked why I was doing all this ornamentation. Why not just get to the point? If you want to do something, do it. Don't try to make it look and sound smarter than it is - and that was something that helped me pace my playing better.
 
I spent a lot of time and money seeking out those who were older and more advanced than me. I would pay them to record a duet with me only for private use and then study those recordings over and over again. I have a duet I did with Derek Bailey when I was in my early 20s that I learned so much from. He was so far ahead of me in a way and at the same time I really love what I did … I sound young. But young people also have a voice.

Tell me about your instrument and/or tools, please. How would you describe the relationship with it? What are its most important qualities and how do they influence the musical results and your own performance?  

I don't care much about my instrument. I try to borrow drums and cymbals wherever I go and I rarely use extra toys / tools … I might disappear into nature and find some branches and flowers and integrate them or find something backstage to use. But otherwise I just use a fresh pair of sticks when I go out.

I go through periods of multiinstrumentalism. There was a time where I would often pick up a pocket trumpet and play that (I have even done that at a duo show with Wadada. What was I thinking ?!?), and if there is a piano or a church organ I might gravitate towards that or recite poetry or dance … but that all happens spontaneously. My basic concept is to just play the regular drum kit.

[Read our Wadada Leo Smith interview]

Can you talk about a work, event or performance in your career that's particularly dear to you? Why does it feel special to you? When, why and how did you start working on it, what were some of the motivations and ideas behind it?

There have been many.

One that is very dear to me is a concert in Tivoli in 2009 with the Universal Quartet with Brother Yusef, Brother Adam (Rudolph), Kasper Tranberg and myself. Everything came so naturally. it was incredibly deep and intense what we played and the way Brother Yusef just moved through it it felt like one long breath. It was an 80 minute concert, but it could have been 20 seconds. And it was so much fun. We were looking at each other and it just felt like the music was bigger than us and we laughed and smiled.

I also remember a duo performance with Jerome Cooper where we kept playing the same motif for 15-20 min and each repetition felt like it was new information. Tiny details in phrasing. Different perspectives on the material. It was truly transformational. Jerome was so unique. He was dealing with very heavy messages in the music. Spiritualism, ritual power, magic. I still think about him daily and try to understand the depth of his message.

And then there was a very special duo concert with Paul Bley where he spent the whole day doing mind tricks with me … which I have no problem with. I liked Paul very much and he was super generous with me. Before the show he did everything in his power to mess me up and I found the strength to hit back and “throw the kitchen sink at him”, as he would call it. That was an important moment for me and I still think about it if I meet resistance from somebody. Paul loved a little resistance.

How do you feel your sense of identity influences your collaborations? Do you feel as though you are able to express yourself more fully in solo mode or, conversely, through the interaction with other musicians? Are you “gaining” or “sacrificing” something in a collaboration?

I don't play solo concerts so often on the drums. But when I do, I enjoy it. I would rather play solo piano shows. It seems more clear for me what to do solo on that instrument.

I don't really want to play solo for myself.

If there is an audience and I play solo, I am not really alone anyway. I feed a lot off people around me. Whether they are actually playing or not.

Derek Bailey defined improvising as the search for material which is endlessly transformable. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his perspective, what kind of materials have turned out to be particularly transformable and stimulating for you?

I think Derek is right! But to me all material is equally transformative and stimulating … timbre, dynamics, melody, rhythms, motives, ritualistic things, humour, gravity.

When you're improvising, does it actually feel like you're inventing something on the spot – or are you inventively re-arranging patterns from preparations, practise or previous performances?

Definitely the first thing. I believe in fairy tales and I definitely feel like and aim for inventing something new.

Utopian? Perhaps … but isn´t utopia at the core of most art? In my world it is

To you, are there rules in improvisation? If so, what kind of rules are these?

No rules. But I do have a set of values. I won't put to words what they are because they are musical values and don't translate into words.

In a live situation, decisions between creatives often work without words. How does this process work – and how does it change your performance compared to a solo performance?

The reason it's happening without words is that words usually lower the ambitions for what can happen in the music.

But I don't mind communicating while I am playing … I might suddenly move the ideas faster than expected if I feel like it's getting too redundant. Or freeze something if I think it's getting too intellectual. I might look someone in the eye and send them a look they can't decipher or smile at someone who needs a smile …

Mostly these kinds of communications are integrated in the music in a way. The music that's happening is far superior to the communication that normally happens between people socially.

There are many descriptions of the ideal state of mind for being creative. What is it like for you? In which way is it different between your solo work and collaborations?

I don't understand why you keep talking about solo performances all the time. Why should that be so different from everything else? The audience is still there! Anyway …

The ideal state of mind: A state of being acutely awake and aware. Ready for anything. Slightly puzzled. Like you have a secret. Or know that a secret is there …