Sunday, January 20, 2008

Aaron Goldberg Jazzes it up

Jazz pianist Aaron Goldberg turns his focus to his trio
Friday, January 18, 2008
BY EVELYN SHIH

You may not have heard about the Aaron Goldberg Trio -- but jazz aficionados will have heard Aaron Goldberg. As a sideman, the pianist has toured with the likes of trumpeter and jazz preservationist Wynton Marsalis, saxophonist and jazz orchestra leader Joshua Redman and guitarist frontman Kurt Rosenwinkel.

Ten years into his game, Goldberg is ready to make his mark as a bandleader. For him, 2008 will be the year of the trio, and he kicks it off this weekend at the Jazz Standard. In an interview, he got fired up about his music, jazz tradition and even politics.

Q. Why do you feel that now is the time to focus on your trio work?

I spent the first 10 years of my full-time professional life as a musician on tour with various bands as a sideman. ... I love doing it. It's one way that I've grown as a musician and learned everything I know. On the other hand, I've kind of kept my own trio on the back burner. It's difficult to find time to play with the trio when you're touring with different bands, and to find time to write songs.

But it's also very difficult to handle the business side of being a bandleader. There are skills I had never cultivated in myself. It's just a lot of non-musical headaches you have to deal with.

Over the course of this past year or two, since the CD [2006's "Worlds"] came out, we've been working more, and we've been getting better. I'm also starting to believe we have something unique to offer that the world of jazz needs to hear. ... It is rare to find a band that's been together for so long in jazz.

Q. How long has your band been together?

Reuben Rogers [bass] and I have been playing together for about 15, but we met Eric Harland [drums] about nine, 10 years ago.

Q. You came from a jazz education background, having attended the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Do you feel that jazz can be taught?

No one's born playing jazz. It has to be learned. Whether it can be taught in the classroom, that's another question.

Jazz schools as a whole do the music scene a service, in that they bring young musicians together to play together and meet each other. ... They create a culture of people.

But you have to learn to speak the language of jazz. ... The most effective way to learn is immersion.

Q. What was the idea behind "Worlds"?

The general idea of the album was that we'll take songs that come from different parts of the world -- from our experiences or knowledge -- and put them in a jazz context. We're playing real New York jazz in the way that we've learned to in the past few years.

Q. In 2004, you organized a jazz concert in support of John Kerry. Are you a very political person?

Now that I'm older and I'm watching people die needlessly everywhere as a result of egocentric and irresponsible decision-making, it's gotten me thinking about making my contribution.

Last time, we were relatively successful in making an overt political statement with the big concert. Even among the people who did it, there was trepidation. Is it OK to make jazz political? ... In the '50s and '60s, jazz was overtly political, but it hasn't been since then.

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

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