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Name: Owen Broder
Nationality: American
Occupation: Saxophonist, composer, producer, arts consultant, educator
Current release: Owen Broder's Hodges: Front and Center, Vol. 1 is out October 14th 2022 via Outside In.

If you enjoyed this interview with Owen Broder and would like to know more about his work, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.



When did you first start getting interested in musical improvisation?

When I was in 6th grade, my clarinet and saxophone teacher gave me a book of written solos over George Gershwin tunes with a play-along CD. I think that was my first introduction to jazz language.

Moving into 7th grade, I transferred to a performing arts magnet school in Jacksonville, FL, where jazz band director Carol McQueen nurtured young musicians and gave us the confidence and fundamental tools to start improvising in jazz band rehearsals and after-school small group rehearsals.

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

During middle school, my teacher was a trumpet player and a good friend from school who played trumpet lived with my family for a year, so I was listening to a lot of trumpet in the beginning - Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Clifford Brown.

I remember being particularly interested in the arrangements by groups with a few horns, like Blue Train, Kind of Blue, and some of the Jazz Messengers and Horace Silver projects. A lot of the improvised counterpoint from players like Bob Brookmeyer, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz and others really piqued my interest for the same reason.

I think even from the outset, the ensemble arrangements and interacting horns really pulled me in.
 
What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to improvisation? Do you see yourself as part of a tradition or historic lineage?

My goal as an improviser is to accommodate the musical setting I’m in, brining my own ideas into the environment in a way that supports the music we’re playing.

I lean on different influences that have shaped my playing depending on the musical context so that what I’m playing is rooted in the jazz tradition and presents a unique intersection of those influences to meet the moment.
 
What was your own learning curve / creative development like when it comes to improvisation - what were challenges and breakthroughs?

Before I got into jazz and even with several years of continued overlap, I studied classical piano, clarinet, and saxophone. My teachers until college were primarily classical players. There are a lot of advantages to having that foundation that I’ve benefited from, but I think there are certain aspects of playing jazz music that were missing in my education and I’m still trying to make up for it.

A challenge that became very important in my first year of jazz studies in college was being able to feel the form of a tune without a rhythm section to help mark the harmony and phrases. It’s something that rhythm section players certainly develop early in their training, and anyone who improvises should be able to do on their own as well. It took me a long time to be able to play a tune on my own with just a metronome without adding bars or beats, and to be able to feel the harmony move underneath my playing without having to actually hear it.

It’s something I still work on, trying to be able to play freely and clearly without a rhythm section, maintaining the clarity of harmony and form.

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?
 
Heritage is a project I’m particularly proud of. Because of who was involved, the crowdfunding element from ArtistShare®, and certainly because of the many valuable ways it pushed me to grow as a band leader–artistically and professionally. The project gave me the opportunity to design a concept that really reflects my interests, strengths, and musical personality.

Through the ArtistShare® model, I learned several meaningful strategies for engaging an audience in the creative process as well as the final product. The scope of the project gave me experience in managing a significant budget and the many administrative logistics in leading a large ensemble on that level. And being around musicians of that caliber was an eye (and ear)-opening experience that helped me mature as a player.

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 actually thrive in a collaborative environment. I feel my work has benefited from the multiple perspectives that have shaped it.

There are certainly professional and creative reasons why solo projects are necessary, but I do enjoy having a sounding board for my own ideas and incorporating valuable input from trusted collaborators.

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 to be particularly transformable and stimulating for you?
 
I think my American Roots Project and my upcoming tribute to Johnny Hodges are good examples of how I utilize transformable material.

With Heritage, I found an intersection of two American music traditions–chamber jazz and various forms of Americana–that hadn’t been explored as thoroughly as some other cross sections.



With the upcoming Hodges tribute, I want to highlight a figure in jazz who was well known as a member of Ellington’s band, and has a body of work as a leader that is largely unexplored.

I enjoy the process of finding pieces of musical history that I connect with and finding a new way forward with that material.  

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?

Jazz is often described as a language, and I think that works on a number of levels. Each artist has their own voice; different decades, genres within jazz, and ensembles are defined by idiomatic ideas; individual players develop their own vocabulary that contribute to making them distinctly unique.

When I improvise, I rely on the musical context to influence the vocabulary I use so that what I play remains relevant to the larger performance. I try to express myself with creativity and originality, but I’m tapping into the language that I learned from the history of the music.

To you, are there rules in improvisation? If so, what kind of rules are these?
 
I can always rely on Wynton Marsalis for a strong analogy.

While at the U.S. Open one year, he likened jazz to tennis. There are lines on the court, and you have to play within them. But within those lines is a lot of freedom to move as you improvise through the game, reacting to what is being sent to you from across the net, and strategically placing your response.