Interview with Free Time DJ Miff Mole

Interview with Free Time host Miff Mole of Jazz 88.3 KSDS
by Chuck Walker
April 6, 2006

Free Forum What differentiates free jazz from other sub-genres of jazz?

Miff Mole An agreement based on intent to create a freestanding moment of artistic communication without a chart.

FF With regards to terminology and nomenclature, would you elaborate on the functional language of free jazz?

MM As a non-musician, I am satisfied with being mystified by whatever methods creative musicians use to achieve their goal. As a listener, I try to be open to whatever methods are being used and allow the music to achieve its own dimension, rather than shape what I hear with my expectations. As a DJ, I am listening for continuity and contrast between pieces.

FF Who do you consider as the primary free jazz artist?

MM I don’t think creative musicians set out to achieve awards or notoriety. I like to think that there is some undeniable inner urge to express human qualities and conditions with musical instruments. This expression may not be musical in the popular sense, but in the context of creating sound that has feeling or some thought provoking quality, is seems there are some who are consistently able to create on a high plane. But if I say that Cecil Taylor is the primary free jazz artist, then what do I say about Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, or Bill Dixon? Where does that leave Julius Hemphill, or Eric Dolphy? I guess I can’t answer this question.

FF Please illuminate the standout artists that have propelled free jazz over the years?

MM If someone asked me “How do I wrap my brain around this free jazz thing” I would say try wrapping your brain around Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and Charles Mingus. Get inside that and set up shop. Listen to everything by the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Consider the collaborations of Jackie McLean and Grachan Moncur III. Find out what Vinny Golia is up to. Keep your ears open and follow as many directions as you can. The standout artists will remain illuminated regardless of the category they are assigned.

FF How has improvisation, a core element of the jazz art form, evolved?

MM As a non-musician I can’t say specifically. As a DJ, I am amazed at the many individual ways that the same result is accomplished, which is to convey a personal expression through an instrument with absolute honesty and without hesitation.

FF What common thematic threads are inherent with "in the moment" improvisation?

MM I don’t know about you, but when its over I feel like I just had a complete blood transfusion. And it seems like my thinking cap has been adjusted.

FF How does time relate to improvisation?

MM I would say only between begin and end. However, breathing is important.

FF Can you give examples of how various artists treat time in their compositions?

MM As a non-musician, I can’t pretend to know the technicalities of how the parts are manipulated and result is achieved, but I know what I like.

FF Metaphorically speaking, math and geometry underlie musical structures, what other common denominators parallel sound?

MM I can’t even bs my way around this one.

FF In general, how does a musician's body of work over time evolve?

MM Like anyone, if a musician can deal with relationships, unhealthy habits, poor decisions, and money problems, not to mention accidents or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, if an artist stays focused, the art will evolve as it will, and, if there are no legal disputes along the way.

FF Can you comment on the impact of other artistic stimuli, such as visual arts and literature on the free jazz movement?

MM I think it goes without saying that an agile brain is helpful in grasping what is offered by any creative artist. I’m not saying intellect necessarily, but if you can’t get out of the box, how can you dig what’s out there? Art appreciation resides in a section of the brain that is open to coping.

FF How does artistic consistency and re-invention influence the nature of improvised music?

MM If the consistency isn’t stagnation and the re-invention isn’t gratuitous the improviser has two less things to worry about. It may not help much, but it’s better than it could be.

FF Currently, who do you recognize as an emerging improviser to listen to?

MM Nathan Hubbard.

Free Time with Miff Mole airs every Thursday 10 pm to Midnight KSDS 88.3 FM

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Jazz by rm

Jazz

Just then the ocean wells up
to dance the moon with
shimmy of cymbals and
curve of the bass.

And at that moment
-sax slips in-
real
sultry
like
a woman
wrapped in sheets of silk
and shadows shaped by candlelight.

Zen reborn
to the beat of a drum, the insistence of a piano to be played,
not by the hands alone,
but the entirety of the body.

Zero in on this explosion
where fingertip and string
fuse to cries
of solitude and joy -
lost but finally one inside

the sheer

delectability

of sound.

-rm

When A Bassman Grooves

When a bassman grooves
Search man search
for that vibe
he's on


His world of bounce and rhyme
and Oh what time


Maybe you'll get a chance
Maybe you'll be able to dance
when a bassman grooves.

by Fenton Brown