In this engaging conversation, Otmaro Ruiz shares insights into his musical journey, from his upbringing and early influences to his teaching philosophy and collaborations with renowned artists, including Dianne Reeves, Alex Acuna, Abraham Laboriel, Justo Almario, Gino Vanelli, John McLaughlin, and Protocol – Simon Phillips. He discusses the challenges of adapting his music for live...
The post Otmaro Ruiz, Protocol / Dianne Reeves / Gino Vanelli / Alex Acuna / Solo Artist appeared first on The Keyboard Chronicles.
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(00:00):
I'm not that in love with my music.
You know, it might sound like a sin, but I truly don't.
I I love what I do, but I also love what I learn from other people.
(00:23):
Hello and welcome to the keyboard Chronicles of podcasts for keyboard players.
I'm your host, David Holloway.
And I'm excited as always to be here with you.
This episode sees us talking to the brilliant Op Murrow Ruiz.
What an hour and a bit this is.
I know I talk up every show because all of our guests are amazing.
I mean, that's what this show is about.
(00:43):
Op Murrow's career.
is literally impossible to encapsulate across an hour.
Do check out Show Notes because you'll see a link to Otmaro's discography.
And as I mentioned in the interview, there are literally hundreds of projects that he hasworked on, both in a live and studio setting.
So it's impossible.
And there are some major names we don't even talk about, but we certainly do talk aboutsome great artists and let alone his perspective on education.
(01:12):
AI and music, whole bunch of different stuff.
So you're lots and lots to enjoy here.
So I'll let you jump in and listen and I'll talk to you after the show.
It's an absolute pleasure and honor to have you on the show sir, and I do need to kick offum Asking you it's a Saturday afternoon your time.
(01:38):
Why are you not on your way to a gig?
Oh man, you see that is a very, very, very tricky question.
But all I can say is that I'm here with my friend Simon Phillips working on my wife'sshow.
And that takes prevalence above all gigs on earth.
(02:02):
Yeah, we're putting together a show for the record that we just released.
And there's a lot of
stuff from the record that after I recorded it, I went like, well, how are we gonna dothis in a live setting?
So we've been kind of like finding out strategies to sample or to trigger certain things.
(02:24):
And Simon was helping me with that.
So today, whatever gig I had, this is more important.
It is, you're a man that knows his place.
And I do want to talk about that album.
And just for the sake of our audience, I felt the interview had already peaked before werecorded because Otmaro gave assistance from Simon Phillips to adjust his headphones.
(02:47):
Doesn't get any better than that.
So, uh yeah.
So do tell us about the recent album, Otmaro, and the challenges of getting that into alive context.
Well, uh this is a sequel to our first album.
We have a project called the Lado Bay Brazilian Project.
(03:09):
uh It's a beautiful project.
has a very special place in my heart, actually, even if I wasn't married to her.
My wife is Brazilian and she's a wonderful pianist and singer, but most of all, she knowsher music very well, the music of her country.
She has done extensive research, ethnomusicology studies and stuff.
(03:33):
And then she's very, very good at finding these tools that are like gems that wereprobably overlooked, that were in a side B of a vinyl somewhere.
That's why we call the project La Dove, because it was side B.
It's like some of those tools people never even got to hear.
ah And then it is a...
(03:56):
It is a reimagination of these tools.
I get to arrange them.
I get to reshuffle the harmony.
To some people, it might be a little too much.
I mean, the ones that have been done that are standards have been done so many times thesame way.
So I thought, well, if this is my chance, I'm going to do something completely different.
(04:18):
So that's what this project is about.
And it's an acoustic um endeavor.
oh
is no electronics involved.
I play acoustic piano.
I play a very beautiful instrument, French accordina.
And then everybody's like nylon guitar, acoustic bass.
(04:41):
And we use, I substituted the old orchestral stuff.
I substituted by choirs.
I love what the human voice can do to warm up a track.
So everything is based out of the choir uh contribution.
And that's where we thought, well, know, we'll probably, I don't know, the way things areright now, um touring with Simon and touring with all the people, I didn't even know that
(05:13):
we were gonna get to tour so quickly after releasing the album.
So all of a sudden we have these dates, like, well, we have to play the album.
How are gonna do?
In the past we did it with a real choir and there's a nice video running around where wehave all these people on stage but these times we might not have that luxury so that's why
(05:35):
we're working on ways to trick it.
That's yeah, look, that's quite the undertaking.
So it's all going well so far.
You've not encountered any big hurdles.
Lovely, lovely.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right.
It took a lot of Simon's patience in teaching me the inner workings of this little machinethat I got.
(05:57):
So I'm a slow learner, but I'll get there.
oh
I'm sure you will.
And you've got many years of learning and teaching.
So I do want to take a step back initially, O'Mara, to your musical upbringing.
So I know I'd love to hear about those early years as a child into your teenage years.
(06:17):
And I know your parents had a big impact on your music and that as well.
Just tell us a little bit about your musical upbringing.
Well, uh my parents were total music addicts, but they were not musicians.
They were both uh physicians, actually.
uh But my mother used to be into opera, and she was a very good singer herself.
(06:44):
And my father had a very vast knowledge of classical music.
film scores.
He knew every film score, especially all the John Barry and all the Jerry Goldsmith stuff.
He was like really into it.
So from early age, was my, um that's what I used to listen in my house.
(07:10):
And then I decided that I wanted to get into music when I was seven years old.
And by eight, I joined the local
National Conservatory uh as a classical guitar player and I did the whole career, nineyears of classical guitar.
(07:30):
In the meantime, I also thought that I was falling in love with the piano and uh towardsthe end of the guitar career uh program, I realized that I had a more instant connection
with the piano, with the keyboard instruments than with guitar.
ah In other words, I couldn't create music with a guitar.
(07:53):
For some reason, there a uh block there.
Someone was blocking that connection.
And then I decided, okay, I think piano is going to be the thing.
And then I changed the instruments and never looked back.
Also, was studying, at the moment, I was also studying biology.
And I also left biology and decided to be a full-time musician.
(08:19):
That's amazing.
so those, the classical training obviously stands you an incredibly good st- a st- st- ast- st- a a a st- a st- a st- a st- st- st- st- a st- st- st- a st-
(08:40):
Well, you know, I have to admit, I was very young when I decided to, oh, I want to be apiano player.
And I thought I had to spend so much time with the guitar.
I thought that I had a lot to catch up with.
So uh I centered my focus in only technique, getting rid of, uh mean, taking care of asmuch technical issues as I could.
(09:10):
So that was my focus.
Like I started technical books like crazy.
I neglected starting repertoire, classical repertoire, which now I regret because thatgives a perspective into certain harmonic processes, you know?
But that's a different story.
I'm trying to catch up at my age.
(09:30):
I'm trying to catch up with that now.
ah But then the technique thing, I realized that whatever you're going to do,
whatever style you're going to do, the technical issues is like, is what is going to giveyou the proper initiation for the words.
When you are an announcer.
(09:50):
So everything that I did was solved a lot of problems because I went through, I wentthrough a progressive rock phase and uh progressive rock demands a lot of piano uh baroque
knowledge, a lot of classical em language.
(10:13):
And then by the time I went to the jazz uh repertoire, the jazz phase, which is what hastaken a bigger part of my life, ah then the technique what allowed me was to sound
clearer, to have a better initiation in my ideas, which is not a guarantee that it's goingto be good.
(10:36):
But at least what I'm saying is understood.
So that's our view technique.
Absolutely.
And I'm going to pick you up on that point you just mentioned about the classical trainingsort of put forward a certain way of doing harmonics and so on.
(10:56):
And you said that you're now playing catch up on that many years later.
Just tell us a little bit about how you're approaching that and how you have had to changeyour style or adjust your style to open things up further.
Well, what I noticed is that as I got into more like composition and trying to developcertain aspects of especially voice leading and voice conduction when I'm playing, even
(11:27):
when I'm improvising, I realized all that has been already invented.
All that language has been around for centuries.
So...
I realized that wow, that one chord, that one texture that I want, was, mean, Ravel wasdoing that and all that sparse stuff that has that ringing of harmonics, Satie already did
(11:51):
that and all that rhythmical stuff, Bartok already did that.
So at this point, it's like I go back and I don't have the luxury of studying a wholepiece, but I can go and take a score and
go to the place where, this is what I'm looking for.
This is like that device that I can use it to what I'm doing now.
(12:15):
yeah, of course, if I did it when I was a kid, wouldn't have to spend the time now, but.
Hey, no, no.
Great, great response.
And so while I was planning on going onto some of your work, but, we will get to that, butI think while we're on the education side of things, a great deal of your career has been
spent educating others, which is amazing in its own right.
(12:38):
How have you developed your approach over years to educating other players?
What are some of, I know it's hard in a short interview, but what are some of the coreconcepts you want a new player to develop?
to be a successful player.
When I teach my students, oh don't have the luxury of teaching them how to play theinstrument.
(13:03):
I hope they already have that solved.
Especially at a college level, ah I see a lot of mixed bag of people that get to collegeknowing a lot of music, but with terrible technical proficiency and a lot of the other
stuff.
Guys that can play a billion scales.
(13:23):
but they don't understand the music.
So I don't have the luxury of starting either side from the beginning.
I get them wherever they are.
So now, am I a good, first of all, the question that I ask myself, am I a good instructor,a good teacher?
I don't know.
(13:44):
What I know is that for many years, I have many questions, for many years, that...
went unanswered because when I was in Venezuela, we didn't have jazz instructors.
We didn't have the luxury of lectures, of master classes that we have now.
We didn't have YouTube.
We didn't have this, that.
(14:04):
So now that I can sit one-on-one with someone and ask them, what would you like to do?
Whatever they ask me, I'm ready to tackle that.
And, and, and.
As you know, not everybody learns the same way.
So I have a lot of students that come from the classical world and I know how to deal withthem because I was in the classical world.
(14:31):
So you cannot teach a classical guy the same way that you teach a guy that has developedeverything by ear.
So you have to go for a more formulaic uh approach for a more uh foundational.
approach, based on scale, based on composition exercises, and that's how I developedimprovisation on classical people.
(14:57):
It's like, okay, let's analyze this melody, this iconic melody, see how it's developingbased on certain intervalid stuff.
So this is the scale now, let's do that with that scale.
With a jazz guy, I to do the complete opposite, you know?
They already know all this stuff.
So it's just about, okay, where are we gonna get a foundational harmonic so that we candevelop more stuff like that.
(15:27):
Yeah, so that's the two things that I'm always balancing.
Yeah, no, amazing.
And have the challenges of teaching changed over the years?
And even now in an environment where AI is starting to get a foothold in music, how hasthe landscape changed as an educator for students?
(15:48):
Well, I could get in trouble, one of the things is that, uh first of all, the kidsnowadays, the amount of information out there is dramatically more magnified to where it
was five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago.
(16:10):
So you get kids that already know more stuff.
Now, ah
What I noticed also is that because most of the information is located in the same places,most of the kids go to these sources and then they all pretty much sound the same.
(16:32):
Yeah, so I see a lot of these pros and cons.
Remember, like only 20 years ago, to learn something you had to...
like repeat the same place in the record a million times until it would permeate.
And now you have it there on the screen.
(16:55):
And it's already transcribed.
You don't even have to do transcribing process.
So I don't know.
think we have exchanged uh an expedite
uh way of acquiring information.
(17:18):
We have that now, but we have sacrificed the uniqueness of how we got our informationbefore.
Yep.
No, great point.
Yeah.
I hadn't thought of that.
Yeah.
Really good point.
um and, and so I do want to kick off, um, artistically, um, talking about your career andyour output.
So it's difficult to even in an hour cover those, let alone everything else you've done,but, you've just mentioned your most recent album.
(17:46):
Um, I do want to talk about what I would call your solo album.
So Elements, Ascensia, Sojourn and so on.
Well, how, let's go back to Sojourn probably.
Um, what?
Well, actually, I'm going to go back a bit further to your amazing 1991 album where youplay Ryotchi Sakamoto.
Now, obviously, been a keyboard podcast.
That was one I had to pick up on.
(18:07):
Do you recall what the inspiration was there and probably your relationship withsynthesizers and things like that, if there is one for you?
ah First of all, relationship with synthesizers, I got my first setup when I was still 15,16 years old.
(18:29):
And that was my progressive rock phase, right?
So I learned with, I remember my first setup was a Federal Rose, a CP-70, electro-acousticpiano, and I had a...
um
Poly 6, something like that, if I might remember correctly.
(18:52):
And Moog kind of monophonic uh synth by Yammer.
It was a CCS-15 Yammer.
That was my first setup.
uh But what that allowed me was to learn how to like the signal flow, right?
(19:13):
Understanding how things work, how do you do like with a...
square wave or a serrated wave and adding these and the filters and that was my...
then by the time I hit the mid 80s, in the mid 80s with FM, I kind of like lost a littlebit of that.
(19:35):
I fell a little out of love because it was...
I couldn't get into it.
I couldn't go into that little window and do everything by venues, especially the DX7s andall that.
When I arrived in the United States, I didn't bring any keyboards with me.
I sold everything in Venezuela and I was more known as a pianist.
(20:04):
And then I arrived here in 1989 and then the contact for this Ryuichi Sakamoto album was Imet this person in the next year basically.
ah And they were looking for someone to do arrangements, piano, solo piano arrangements ofRyuichi's scores.
(20:29):
That was the task.
It was not understood as a record that was going to be earth shattering in terms of mycareer.
And I understood that.
But first of all, they were surprised that I knew who Ryuichi Sakamoto was.
The Japanese
the people from the label was like, wow, you know who we reached is?
(20:51):
He's like, of course.
I mean, I used to do music for TV and films.
it's like, why not?
I mean, he's an iconic name, right?
So immediately they went, okay, you are the guy, pam pam.
And then that was my bargaining chip for me to negotiate two more albums after that.
(21:11):
So I did the Rich's album.
And then after that,
They allowed me to record my first two solo albums, Distant Trends and Nothing To Hurt.
And let's talk about those.
So over your career, your solo albums, I imagine each of them have occurred at a differenttime and had a different inspiration, but given how busy you are, what itch does doing
(21:39):
your own work scratch for you?
Aside from obviously your own creative output, what are you able to do across those albumsthat you may not be able to do elsewhere?
ah
Well, the first album, Distant Friends, I took it like, this might be my firstpresentation card to the world, right?
When I was very young, and it was more like a catalog of things that I can do.
(22:07):
ah I tried to keep within the maturity that I had at that point, whatever, or lackthereof.
I tried to keep some kind of like a cohesive product out of the whole musical product outof the whole thing.
But it was very analog sounding.
(22:27):
I wanted people to know that I could do this and I wanted people to know that I could dothis other thing and solo piano and orchestration and this.
uh And then for the second one, for Nothing Too High, a different uh challenge wassuggested by the level.
built by the label.
It's like, well, I think it's also based on how I burned through the budget in the firstmonth because I wanted to do so much.
(22:55):
So for the second one, it's like, well, do you think you could do something a little morewithin the budget?
Still they allow me to use the budget, the same budget, but why would you like tochallenge yourself to do something more effective?
So I did this quartet direct to this.
Directed tape, sorry, directed digital tape.
(23:17):
So we bypassed all the mixing and it was an incredible experience.
And we took it more as a performance kind of CD, more than the production part.
That's amazing.
And so, I mean, you've continued to release albums.
As you said, you're working on one with your wife at the moment.
(23:38):
I imagine, do you have another solo album after this that you already got?
Is there a vault of Otmaro's work waiting to see the light of day?
Yeah, well yeah, yeah the thing okay after after Nothing to hide.
I did that few more records, you know, I I forgot the names But uh, it wasn't untilsojourn that was recorded in 2008 That record was very important because
(24:16):
I went back to my focus.
I wanted to my quartet music as I've been doing it for so long and I never had the time toreally get to it.
In the meantime, I was doing all these different projects and I did one called Latino,which was a trio album with Abe Lavariel and Alex Acuna, but it was not my music.
(24:40):
So it wasn't until Sojourn that I got to play my music.
again.
And then after that, I went uh into a uh sideman kind of phase that took me away from thatmomentum because truly, you know how hard it is when you have a solo project.
(25:07):
Whatever history you might have, it's not a guarantee of anything.
You need so many moving parts for this to be successful, to tour, to...
And I was a little frustrated with this.
then I got into, again, into my Simon side of things.
Then I did a couple of more projects.
(25:29):
One is called Elemental, which was, again, my music, but the electric side.
uh And Essencia, which I always wanted to do an album like Essencia because I'm a big
Brazilian music lover.
And as a pianist, I grew up listening to Cesar Camargo Mariano.
(25:49):
And he did this wonderful iconic album called Sabambaya in the 70s.
I always wanted to do something like that.
So, Essencia is my homage, pretty much, to Cesar Camargo.
And uh again, was right after that, my wife, okay, it's time to do, it's time to do...
(26:13):
our Lado Bay again, you know.
The first one was in 2015, so it's time to go.
So we got, I got involved into the production.
We wanted to do it better than the first one, better songs, more developed sound.
(26:33):
So that's what took me away.
And then I realized, wow, it's been 15 years since Sojourn.
So it's been...
15 years since I can do something that really depicts my real heart as a musician.
uh So I'm sitting, as you say, I'm sitting on probably 30 songs, like two or three CDsworth of music at the moment that I should document soon before it starts stinking.
(27:07):
Yeah, love it.
That's good to know.
I can't wait to hear it.
No, that's amazing.
And look, you've mentioned your Sideman phase, which I think is a modest way of alludingto the massive collaborations you've done over the years.
uh So I'm going to cover off a couple of them, get you to call out some that have reallyinfluenced you.
(27:27):
So in no particular order, so this will jump all over timelines.
um
Alex and sorry for our listeners, I've already warned up my Australian accent and some ofthese wonderful Latin American names I will struggle with.
So bear with me, but Alex Acuna.
Tell us about your role there and what that brought to your career.
(27:49):
Well, uh Alex Acuna is an iconic drummer and percussion player.
Everybody knows he represents an important chapter in fusion music with his collaborationwith Weather Report.
ah The same night that I arrived in LA, and this is something that I cannot, I mean,
(28:17):
I tell people that come here to try luck, right?
It's like, it might happen or it might not happen.
You know, when you move to a town like New York or LA, you just have to be there and waituntil it happens.
Well, in my case, the night that I arrived in LA, a friend of mine was playing a concertand Alex was playing in that concert.
(28:40):
And I went to that concert almost directly from the airport.
put my luggage in the apartment and I went to the concert and
in the concert they were playing one of my songs and they asked me to play with the bandand I played and from that day I started playing with Alex.
So it's one of those things it happened, no uh it was not planned.
(29:04):
Alex was a big catalyst in allowing me to get all these relations going in Los Angeles.
in the recording circuits and also in the live shows.
And through Alex, I met Abraham Laborel.
(29:26):
They used to have this band called Coinonia.
Through Alex, met Alex in Abraham, and from Abraham, met Justo Almario, which is awonderful saxophone player.
And that was my starting point in the Latin jazz community in LA.
(29:46):
Great.
And you've mentioned the next two on Melissa, Hustah, Mario and Abraham.
Let's talk about Abraham, obviously another iconic person based player, one of the mostmassive session bases of all times.
Tell us about that relationship and what you learned there.
Well, with Abraham, uh we didn't only play together, but we got to be part of a facultyteam in one of the universities where I used to work.
(30:14):
So we really had this multi-side uh relationship as friends, as performers, and alsocollaborators uh in...
in academia, you know?
So he's a very, very dear, dear friend.
(30:35):
ah And ah it is one of those players that ah I always, I always go back as a reference.
ah I wish I could use him more in what I do.
He's very busy.
He's still very busy.
(30:56):
ah But I keep...
going back to his references, his musical references, uh in terms of how to place theright groove, the right amount of notes, the right placement of the notes.
ah I learned lot from him, I mean, that revived.
(31:16):
Yeah, absolutely.
And then, Husto, how that relationship developed, as you said, from Abraham, I think yousaid.
yes.
With Justo also we became very good friends.
Justo is from Colombia.
And uh Colombia and Venezuela, are neighbors.
But more than neighbors, Colombia and Venezuela used to be the same country.
ah So immediately we started like, hey, you know, we're brothers, you know, and the foodis the same and some of the expressions are the same.
(31:46):
ah So we created, we have this uh great, uh great relationship.
And then later we thought together at UCLA.
that was another part of our, you so we used to play together, but also get together inthe faculty meetings and, you know, portray another side of our.
(32:08):
ah But yeah, Hustus is a wonderful cat, wonderful cat.
Excellent.
And we're going to talk about the performance aspects of each of these in a minute, but Iwant to throw two more into the mix.
Now, Diane Reeves, I know you spent a significant period of time with those sort of fiveyears or so.
um That I'm assuming was an even bigger role for you.
(32:29):
Tell us about that period of time and what you took out of that.
Well, Diane Reeves was certainly one of the highlights of my, not my career, but my story,my life story.
ah Because we traveled the world for many, many years, around the world like a milliontimes.
(32:58):
And we developed a wonderful friendship.
And...
uh
And before Diane, my experience playing with singers was that of allowing a safety blanketat all times for the singer.
That was also my perception because most of the singers I have always played with, theywanted to have like, can you give me that one chord?
(33:26):
Can you give me that one phrase?
So that was my approach to comping for singers.
And then, that's one of the funny things that happened immediately with Diane.
It's like, within the few first concerts, I noticed that she wanted to tell me something.
It's like, well, what is it?
(33:47):
And she said, you know, you are always playing the same.
It's like, well, yeah, because I want to make sure that everything is clear.
It's like, no, don't do that.
So that day she asked me, you know, I want you to
to just, first of all, be free to set it up in a different way.
But also, I want you to be free to take the song somewhere else if you feel like.
(34:12):
So if it is a ballad, you can play that ballad in a million different ways.
You can set the introduction in a million different ways.
You can come from a 12-tone row and then infer the tonality somehow and bam, there we are.
Or just play a blues.
or just play like something.
And then that day my head pretty much exploded with freedom.
(34:39):
The consequences of too much freedom were killing me.
And I went like, oh my God.
So every night was like, okay, here we go.
Here we're gonna play, let's say Misty for the hundreds time this tour.
And I have to play differently, you know?
(35:00):
And I had to set it up differently in a different meter or anything.
So that was the school of Diane Reeves for me.
I think after Diane, that's around the same time that I read this book written by, I knowyou must know it, by Kenny Werner, this book called Effortless Mastery, which is a
(35:27):
wonderful book.
Around that time I read this book and that book kind of deals with that.
know, with the, to liberate yourself, yourself and embrace sound, embrace whatever pathyou take and make it work.
And uh it was, that was a total liberation phase for me.
(35:51):
Absolutely.
although even in my limited experience, Diane's approach seems incredibly unusual to me.
So it sounded like at that stage it was unusual to you.
Have you ever come across another singer that is that liberal in allowing you to drive orinterpret the song?
No, no, but the truth is that after I played with Diane, I would like to talk aboutanother singer because yeah, because it's an interesting contrast, but a total valid point
(36:25):
of view nonetheless.
After Diane Reeves, I went on to play with uh Gino Vanelli, which is an iconic mychildhood hero.
ah the guy that merged pop, jazz, rock in such an organic way and a mega singer with oneof the biggest, most beautiful instruments, vocal instruments.
(36:54):
And then Gino was doing his uh jazz tour.
uh He went through a phase in which ah he took his songs and rearranged them in a jazzformat with a jazz quintet,
by my phonempianist.
It was beautiful, beautiful.
(37:14):
And I thought I was coming from the Diane Reeves experience, right?
Or I was doing both kind of like at the same time.
But then I went like, okay, now I can do this, I can be free.
And then Gino, it's not that he wouldn't hear the harmony, it's that he wanted to have theproduct.
(37:40):
solid.
So because in his mind, you know, some mega producer, so he already knows the sound in hishead, all the, every single passing note, everything was charted.
So that was another eye opener because here in this tour, we're going to have to createthe illusion of being free, but we're playing exactly the same notes every night.
(38:08):
and
It was a test for my memory because I usually don't exercise my memory.
And then I had to really learn how to memorize a full show, make it sound like it'scompletely impromptu.
And then every so often we would change the arrangements because it was concerned that ifpeople listened to the show several times, they would find out that it was the same notes.
(38:39):
It was kind of like borderline psychological abuse because, my God, now we have to relearnanother show.
But it was that.
it's like, those are the things that make you grow as a professional is facing thesechallenges.
(38:59):
Exactly.
And, um, before I get you to choose a couple of other artists, Mario, the one that I haveto bring in the Australian ankle and that's Frank Gambale.
Um, obviously you've, you've worked with Frank, I think on a couple of albums and heoriginated out of Australia, but I know I spent a lot of time in LA.
Tell us about that relationship.
(39:20):
I cannot remember how we met.
I've been trying to think about it because some people uh have asked me about that.
And I don't remember who introduced us, how he got to know about me.
But I'm glad he did because we became really, really, really good friends almost finallywhile he was living in the United States.
(39:45):
know, when he got there, we were there.
He got married when he had his daughter.
I mean, it's like family.
But also that's a super virtuoso that happens to be also a great composer.
uh again, I didn't have a problem setting whatever I'm doing as a composer myself.
(40:11):
I didn't have a problem setting that to a side in order to work with him.
I'm not that in love with what I
with my music.
You know, it might sound like a sin, but I truly don't.
I I love what I do, but I also love what I learn from other people even more because Ilearn their perspective.
(40:34):
I learn how they use certain devices different than me.
So I want to learn that.
And Frank had this really interesting style, harmonic style.
that I learned a lot from.
And so I didn't have a problem putting all myself in the back burner and playing withSimon.
(40:57):
We did wonderful ah time together, especially the last two projects, the Natural High Trioah with Alain Caron.
Those were like such a highlight.
uh We got to, again, travel the world with two of my best friends.
(41:18):
ever and I'm playing some of the most complex but beautiful music.
Yeah.
No, amazing.
And you just mentioned, Omara, about you quite happy to put your own preferences, youknow, in the back corner, which is a sign of a, you know, a great collaborator.
How often do you suffer from imposter syndrome or have low self-confidence?
(41:40):
All of us as players go through phases.
How do you manage times where you think if, you know, not that you're not up to it, butjust where you struggle with your confidence?
Well, we are musicians.
We have that little bug.
We all have that little bug.
(42:00):
uh usually the guys that don't have that bug, recognize them immediately.
And those are the guys you don't want to play with.
I don't want to play with a guy that says, man, I got it all solved.
He's like, no, well, Right.
um
Yes, I, especially now, I'll be honest.
(42:27):
We were talking about how the new generation gets this information so quickly, in such anexpedited manner.
And uh at my age, we process things a lot slower.
And our curve, our learning curve declines after a while.
(42:50):
So sometimes, yeah, I think like, wow, I wish I was...
I had this facility to change or to adjust quicker.
then another part of me tells me, well, you know, I think I can play a few notes.
(43:10):
And people have told me that without just a few notes, they know it's me.
They know, they can recognize my touch.
They can recognize a certain phrase.
a certain way of voicing.
And that is something that has taken me my whole life.
It's great when you achieve this in your 20s.
(43:33):
But in my case, okay, I'm in my 60s and now I'm still developing this, but I'm glad it'shappening.
ah So when I feel like, wow, I wish I could do this, I could do that, I have to remindmyself, well, but I have this.
that I have this that has made the whole journey now makes sense.
(43:56):
The whole amount of suffering and enjoyment or whatever you call it, all the highs andlows, now it all makes sense because at the end of all this time, I achieved this thing
where I can just be myself and people will recognize the song.
So at that point, I think that that...
(44:19):
is that feeling of not feeling like up to a task or out of place.
Yeah, no, great perspective.
And I'm interested too, while I think of it, I mean, are you the sort of person, can youever envisage retiring from music or this is a lifetime for sure.
You'll go until you drop.
(44:40):
uh Internally, I wish I could stay in music all my life.
I don't think a musician will ever retire from music.
ah
Even the people that claim to have retired, they all keep their little studio and they,it's like, all joke, they all go back and play with their toy soldiers.
(45:08):
So they all have their little studios and they keep doing music.
So that's not something that you can break away from so easily.
ah I think the music business has made it so hard.
And so, and the future is so uncertain that I understand why some people feel closer totaking that decision.
(45:38):
I understand, but I haven't got there yet, quite yet.
Excellent, excellent answer.
so, Otmar, I do want you to choose, em and for the sake of our listeners and viewers thataren't aware of Otmaro's full discography, it literally runs into the hundreds.
So never have we barely scratched the surface more than in this interview.
(45:58):
So I'm just fascinated what you would call out as two or three artists, no matter how wellknown or not well known, that had a big impact on you.
uh Due to their musicality, just the collaboration itself, the hang, whatever it was.
I'll tell you, I think there's three big kind of landmarks in this whole story, ongoingstory.
(46:31):
ah Diane Reeves, ah with Diane I was playing, I was in my element.
At the moment I did it, I was in my element.
It was a crossover of music, multi-genre oriented, hybrid setup, acoustic piano, straightahead, synthesizers, fusion, everything combined.
(46:58):
ah John McLaughlin, although it was a very uh limited chapter, we did a tour and twoalbums together.
But that absolutely blew my mind ah with regards to the understanding of his musicaluniverse in terms of the linear conception and his harmonic metric conception as well.
(47:37):
When I played with John W.
Laughlin,
I had heard Mahavishnu, but I admitted at that point, I admitted to him, it's like, I wasnever really into it, deeper into it because I didn't understand it.
I was too young.
(47:58):
So I cannot, I enjoyed it, but I didn't understand it.
And it wasn't until I played with him, I was already ah in my late 30s, mid late 30s.
then it's like, oh, this is, I mean, this is how he thinks about this.
(48:18):
There's an internal thing going on.
There's this scale that, that glues everything together.
There's this other thing.
So that's where I could really get into the depth of John's music.
And I think of, of all the albums, I think the Heart of Things is one of his mostbeautiful albums.
(48:41):
The compositions are gorgeous.
and the playing is unbelievable by the plants.
With John's work, did you find that was one of the more complex rehearsal processes eitherbefore recording or playing live?
That yeah, there is so much in that music.
Was that one of your more challenging gigs?
uh Okay, this might be this might be a world premiere I want to tell a story that not manypeople know when I play with when John call me He had a situation with Jim Beard rest in
(49:13):
peace my superhero And Jim Beard had to bail he had another offer at the very last minuteso John was
in the situation of having to find somebody to learn all this music that they developedtogether.
(49:35):
Right?
They developed it with a lot of time.
And then all of sudden he needs someone to jump in.
So when he called me, I asked him, OK, do you have I need I need you to send me some livetapes, live recordings.
I have the album.
(49:56):
the studio album and send me the charts.
Well, there's a problem.
We don't have charts.
And this is ah at that time, that was in 1997 or 98.
There was no finale.
So I think I can find some charts.
(50:18):
at this, this meanwhile, the time is running and I'm listening.
to the music, but I have no idea what's going on because Dennis Chambers is doing allthese displacements that I didn't understand where the one was, where the phrase started.
I was really freaking out.
(50:38):
And I really had to program, I wanted to program a set of sounds that would allow a fairtransition between Jim Beard's sounds because I was stepping in.
I mean, I didn't want people to go like, this guy sounds different.
So I had to program sounds.
(51:01):
And I wanted to program sounds, the same sounds in multiple units.
So the same kind of like piano with a layer of bells and the modulator, I had to programin three different axes in case the rentals were not available.
(51:22):
So I was really, really
freaking out with lack of time.
And then John sent me these charts that he had done with Logic.
But Logic took the sound of the MIDI but didn't quantize the sound.
So the charts were plagued with 32nd notes rests and it was like a torture to look at.
(51:50):
ah It was
I don't know anybody that could have sight read that or even made sense out of that so Butit gave me an idea of the notes if you if I saw if I heard it as a scale Okay, here's that
scale.
So I will rotate it again.
Well ah The story that most people don't know is that when I arrived to Monaco We had onerehearsal We had one rehearsal and the next day
(52:22):
was national TV, was Leverkusen Festival on TV.
Yeah, that I almost had a honorism that day during that rehearsal because of course Ididn't want to look like I was glued to the charts ah So yeah, it was very very Stressful
(52:53):
but after that day after we did that TV, which is by the way is the only
document from that tour.
ah After that, everything was smooth sailing because, okay, I already pushed the thehardest.
So now it's like smooth sailing from that.
(53:13):
That's amazing.
Yeah, look, that's absolutely amazing and well done.
Yeah.
And then after, after, um, McLaughlin, I've done all this amazing, you know,collaborations with, I play with Liedert and Hauer, which is a joy to work with.
Lee is such a, such a wonderful musical guy that in one single concert we go and playBrazilian music and we play jazz, straight ahead and fusion.
(53:41):
oh Yeah.
But, it's not until I started working
eight years ago with the protocol with Simon that I get that fresh infusion of like ahealthy challenge.
ah Because it's now I'm back into the multi keyboard saddle kind of situation, theprogramming, the choreography of the hands, the triggering stuff, and most importantly,
(54:12):
understanding getting into the music.
uh complex meters and understanding it enough to solo and to improvise and to interactnormally.
So that's a new challenge.
So that's been the last eight years for me.
And let's talk a little bit about protocol.
(54:35):
I'm a major fan myself.
mean, let's just talk briefly technically about your keyboard rig, because I can imaginethat on its own is quite a complex setup.
Yes and no.
mean, it is complex.
If you compare it to the average, uh, plugin oriented computer based thing where you havea a single controller and then you have everything mapped.
(55:07):
Of course.
I mean, nothing beats that in terms of practicality.
But as I told you, I grew up.
with knobs and I grew up really having access to a single machine at a time.
So for many years when I was working with Diane, I used to talk a lot to George Dukebecause they were related and George kept telling me that, you should start using plugins,
(55:35):
you should start.
But I noticed that every time I saw George on stage, something happened with his plugins,something happened with his computer.
So it's like, didn't know.
mean, he had a whole team of people that made that situation like a non-situation.
But in my case, I'm just by myself.
(55:55):
If something happens on stage, I'm the one that is going to freak out.
I'm the one that is going to have to reboot, like ask the audience for forgiveness and youknow, all that.
So I didn't want to go through this.
So I like when I can have my different keyboards and I have, I know exactly if somethingfails in one.
I know exactly where to go to the other one.
(56:16):
ah So I uh can have, of course, it's a choreography of two hands, plus all the magic thatyou can do with sustain pedals, volume pedals, and triggering uh an occasional sample.
Yep.
(56:36):
And that's probably a good segue up, Mauro, to a train wreck story across all of yourcollaborations and probably more in a live sphere.
Has something gone spectacularly wrong that you can look back and laugh about now?
many, many times.
Many, many, times.
ah You know that I've compiled some of these funny stories uh and someday I'm gonnarelease a book.
(57:05):
I've gone through some really embarrassing situations ah and now I look back and I laugh.
uh But one of them, one time I was playing for a singer.
in a show in which we had to follow a very iconic singer.
(57:26):
then this happened in Havana, Cuba, in the Karl Marx Theater.
was packed, thousands of thousands of people.
So this iconic singer was singing and then the curtain came down and we had to changebands really, really quick.
(57:47):
And then for the next act.
you know, with the singer that I was working with.
And that is exactly what I did, what we did.
The curtain came down and then we went to the piano and I was in position.
And then when the curtain went up, it was the same singer that was singing before.
The audience asked for another song.
(58:12):
An encore.
uh And then this lady looks back, she turns to
to her pianist and her pianist is not there, it's me.
Imagine that it was like a 15 second, the 15 seconds of silence, of deadly silence untilwe figure out that, okay, there's nothing we can do here.
(58:37):
So the only way we can, that is gonna get us out of here is for you to start hummingsomething and then I'll go along with it.
And that's how we got it.
That would easily be one of the best tray rig stories ever.
That's like, that's one of those things that you have nightmares with when you're aperformer.
(58:59):
That's like with the sexual performer nightmare being in a stage and not knowing whatyou're going to do.
That is amazing.
that is one of the best.
Oh dear.
Yeah.
I think I will now have nightmares about that.
That's great.
And probably, probably while we've been reflective and this doesn't have to be a seriousanswer as such, but I mean, looking back over your career to date, are there any musical
(59:24):
regrets?
And I'm not talking about not getting on with people, but just so there things you wishyou could have done differently or you're not that sort of person.
No, not at all, not at all.
And uh honestly, I can say that every gig that I've played in my life has enriched mesomehow.
(59:49):
Sometimes we do gigs for money, and that also enriches us financially.
No, but seriously, the gigs that I've...
invested my heart into.
I, no regrets, I always find something that I'm going to learn from this and make mebetter.
(01:00:10):
Yeah.
No, great perspective.
And now we have the dreaded desert Island discs question on Murrow.
So if you had to choose five albums that have had a big impact on your life, what wouldthey be?
Wow.
uh
You know, well, I'm a big of course, I mean I think I would include Chikoria's now shesings now she stops There's no way not to include oh any of Keith Jarrett's From any phase
(01:00:38):
of Keith Jarrett from the earlier like con concerts to To whatever standards, you know ahI would include some ah
orchestral Ravel.
I would include some Lyle Mace and I would include any of Ernie Hancock's explorations,harmonic explorations.
(01:01:09):
There's five, you rattled them off very effectively.
And if you don't mind, I'll curate the ones you've just said, Ravel or Keita, I'll chooseone of the more relevant.
That's perfect.
Ravel or I'm a big sucker for Samuel Barber too.
Yes.
uh
Yep.
No, thank you.
And then our final question, Altmer is a 10 parter.
(01:01:30):
It's what we call a quick fire 10.
So 10 short and sharp questions with short and sharp answers.
um So due to some serious crime that you've committed, you've been sentenced to six monthsin a tribute band.
What tribute band are you choosing?
Punishment?
Oh, that would be...
Bad Bunny.
Okay, nice.
Yeah, great.
(01:01:52):
Before a gig, I know this will vary depending on what you're playing, but what is animportant pre gig ritual to you?
So what do you need to do to feel settled before a gig?
ah I never have the luxury of warming up before a gig, but if I can have it my way, Iwould have least ah a few moments by myself just to stretch.
(01:02:17):
Yeah, great one.
uh If you hadn't been a musician, what do you think your career choice would have been?
Would it have been biology related?
It would have been biology, would have been acting, or it would have been magic, which isanother thing that I do for fun.
I was like, well, I'm like semi-professional or a little more than amateur, I would say.
(01:02:42):
my magic took a lot of my last 20 years.
years.
Yeah, amazing.
Love it.
um If it's possible, and I think it is nearly impossible in your case with your career,but is there a favorite tour you've ever done?
I would say Diane Reeves.
Yeah.
It's hard to go past that.
Um, and is there a favorite gig you've ever done?
(01:03:03):
A one-off gig that has really stood out to you.
Oh, a one-off gig.
I did this thing with Bill Evans, Randy Brecker, and Simon Phillips.
That was incredible.
But it was like one.
(01:03:23):
Never again.
That's yeah, wow.
I'm in awe.
Is there a favourite city you like playing in?
Japan, Tokyo.
I have to say I have never been to Australia and I have heard wonderful things frommusicians that perform in Australia.
(01:03:46):
So I cannot of course include that but so far Tokyo takes
Tokyo is, is I'd argue is what the second capital of jazz.
It's amazing.
And yeah, we definitely need to change getting you to Australia.
Um, do you have a favorite music documentary or movie?
Yeah.
Great.
Um, name one thing you'd like to see that were invented that would make your life as akeyboard player easier.
(01:04:11):
Oh, the carrying, the keyboard carrying robots.
I love it.
That's great.
I second that motion.
And outside of music, Otmaro, is there a favorite non-musical activity or hobby?
What do you like to do to keep grounded outside of music?
(01:04:33):
Of course.
Yeah, that's my, and look, I think magic is one of many terms that could be applied toyour career to date.
Your playing is magic.
Your attitude is magic.
Your education is magic.
And I know I cannot thank you enough.
for taking the time, but just for the sake of our listeners and viewers, this has been along time coming.
Not because Otmaro has refused to come on the show.
(01:04:55):
I only approached him recently and he didn't hesitate.
um Otmaro was Ruben Valtierra that said probably two and a half years ago, you have tohave Otmaro on the show because we've spoken with Ruben and it's a thrill to actually
finally get to speak with you.
Wow, Ruben is a dear friend of many, many, many years.
And I'm gonna now find the moment to thank him profusely for this.
(01:05:20):
No, pleasure is all ours and thank you so much, Opmo.
It's been an absolute honor.
Thank you so much.
you
And there we have it.
Again, hope you enjoyed that.
What an amazing amount of insights Otmaro provided.
(01:05:41):
And I did love the fact, and we alluded to it into the interview, that the amazing SimonPhillips was there at the time.
Otmaro was in the middle of some work he's doing with Simon and seeing him walk across thebackground was an added bonus.
So yeah, look, I just can't thank Otmaro enough for his time.
He's an absolute force of nature.
(01:06:01):
One of the best players I've ever seen.
And just can't wait to see what's coming up next.
So yeah, a huge thank you again.
A huge thank you to you as always for listening and also to our gold and silversupporters.
So the amazing Dave Bryson team at themusicplayer.com forums.
Thank you, Dave.
And the keyboard corner in particular.
Such a great forum to hang out on and talk keyboards and related issues.
(01:06:25):
The amazing Tammy Katcher from Tammy's musical stew.
Thank you so much as always Tammy.
the brilliant Mike Wilcox at Midnight Mastering.
If you're creating your own music and need someone really, really good to mix and masterit, Mike is your guy at midnightmastering.com.
And last but definitely not least, the brilliant, amazing, likable, great, Dewey Evansfrom the Sunnylander Wales.
(01:06:51):
Big shout out to you as always, Dewey, and hope you're doing well.
Again, thank you all for listening.
We'll be back all too soon in a couple of weeks and until then, keep on playing.
I'm not that in love with my music.
You know, it might sound like a sin, but I truly don't.
I I love what I do, but I also love what I learn from other people.
(00:23):
Hello and welcome to the keyboard Chronicles of podcasts for keyboard players.
I'm your host, David Holloway.
And I'm excited as always to be here with you.
This episode sees us talking to the brilliant Op Murrow Ruiz.
What an hour and a bit this is.
I know I talk up every show because all of our guests are amazing.
I mean, that's what this show is about.
(00:43):
Op Murrow's career.
is literally impossible to encapsulate across an hour.
Do check out Show Notes because you'll see a link to Otmaro's discography.
And as I mentioned in the interview, there are literally hundreds of projects that he hasworked on, both in a live and studio setting.
So it's impossible.
And there are some major names we don't even talk about, but we certainly do talk aboutsome great artists and let alone his perspective on education.
(01:12):
AI and music, whole bunch of different stuff.
So you're lots and lots to enjoy here.
So I'll let you jump in and listen and I'll talk to you after the show.
It's an absolute pleasure and honor to have you on the show sir, and I do need to kick offum Asking you it's a Saturday afternoon your time.
(01:38):
Why are you not on your way to a gig?
Oh man, you see that is a very, very, very tricky question.
But all I can say is that I'm here with my friend Simon Phillips working on my wife'sshow.
And that takes prevalence above all gigs on earth.
(02:02):
Yeah, we're putting together a show for the record that we just released.
And there's a lot of
stuff from the record that after I recorded it, I went like, well, how are we gonna dothis in a live setting?
So we've been kind of like finding out strategies to sample or to trigger certain things.
(02:24):
And Simon was helping me with that.
So today, whatever gig I had, this is more important.
It is, you're a man that knows his place.
And I do want to talk about that album.
And just for the sake of our audience, I felt the interview had already peaked before werecorded because Otmaro gave assistance from Simon Phillips to adjust his headphones.
(02:47):
Doesn't get any better than that.
So, uh yeah.
So do tell us about the recent album, Otmaro, and the challenges of getting that into alive context.
Well, uh this is a sequel to our first album.
We have a project called the Lado Bay Brazilian Project.
(03:09):
uh It's a beautiful project.
has a very special place in my heart, actually, even if I wasn't married to her.
My wife is Brazilian and she's a wonderful pianist and singer, but most of all, she knowsher music very well, the music of her country.
She has done extensive research, ethnomusicology studies and stuff.
(03:33):
And then she's very, very good at finding these tools that are like gems that wereprobably overlooked, that were in a side B of a vinyl somewhere.
That's why we call the project La Dove, because it was side B.
It's like some of those tools people never even got to hear.
ah And then it is a...
(03:56):
It is a reimagination of these tools.
I get to arrange them.
I get to reshuffle the harmony.
To some people, it might be a little too much.
I mean, the ones that have been done that are standards have been done so many times thesame way.
So I thought, well, if this is my chance, I'm going to do something completely different.
(04:18):
So that's what this project is about.
And it's an acoustic um endeavor.
oh
is no electronics involved.
I play acoustic piano.
I play a very beautiful instrument, French accordina.
And then everybody's like nylon guitar, acoustic bass.
(04:41):
And we use, I substituted the old orchestral stuff.
I substituted by choirs.
I love what the human voice can do to warm up a track.
So everything is based out of the choir uh contribution.
And that's where we thought, well, know, we'll probably, I don't know, the way things areright now, um touring with Simon and touring with all the people, I didn't even know that
(05:13):
we were gonna get to tour so quickly after releasing the album.
So all of a sudden we have these dates, like, well, we have to play the album.
How are gonna do?
In the past we did it with a real choir and there's a nice video running around where wehave all these people on stage but these times we might not have that luxury so that's why
(05:35):
we're working on ways to trick it.
That's yeah, look, that's quite the undertaking.
So it's all going well so far.
You've not encountered any big hurdles.
Lovely, lovely.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right.
It took a lot of Simon's patience in teaching me the inner workings of this little machinethat I got.
(05:57):
So I'm a slow learner, but I'll get there.
oh
I'm sure you will.
And you've got many years of learning and teaching.
So I do want to take a step back initially, O'Mara, to your musical upbringing.
So I know I'd love to hear about those early years as a child into your teenage years.
(06:17):
And I know your parents had a big impact on your music and that as well.
Just tell us a little bit about your musical upbringing.
Well, uh my parents were total music addicts, but they were not musicians.
They were both uh physicians, actually.
uh But my mother used to be into opera, and she was a very good singer herself.
(06:44):
And my father had a very vast knowledge of classical music.
film scores.
He knew every film score, especially all the John Barry and all the Jerry Goldsmith stuff.
He was like really into it.
So from early age, was my, um that's what I used to listen in my house.
(07:10):
And then I decided that I wanted to get into music when I was seven years old.
And by eight, I joined the local
National Conservatory uh as a classical guitar player and I did the whole career, nineyears of classical guitar.
(07:30):
In the meantime, I also thought that I was falling in love with the piano and uh towardsthe end of the guitar career uh program, I realized that I had a more instant connection
with the piano, with the keyboard instruments than with guitar.
ah In other words, I couldn't create music with a guitar.
(07:53):
For some reason, there a uh block there.
Someone was blocking that connection.
And then I decided, okay, I think piano is going to be the thing.
And then I changed the instruments and never looked back.
Also, was studying, at the moment, I was also studying biology.
And I also left biology and decided to be a full-time musician.
(08:19):
That's amazing.
so those, the classical training obviously stands you an incredibly good st- a st- st- ast- st- a a a st- a st- a st- a st- st- st- st- a st- st- st- a st-
(08:40):
Well, you know, I have to admit, I was very young when I decided to, oh, I want to be apiano player.
And I thought I had to spend so much time with the guitar.
I thought that I had a lot to catch up with.
So uh I centered my focus in only technique, getting rid of, uh mean, taking care of asmuch technical issues as I could.
(09:10):
So that was my focus.
Like I started technical books like crazy.
I neglected starting repertoire, classical repertoire, which now I regret because thatgives a perspective into certain harmonic processes, you know?
But that's a different story.
I'm trying to catch up at my age.
(09:30):
I'm trying to catch up with that now.
ah But then the technique thing, I realized that whatever you're going to do,
whatever style you're going to do, the technical issues is like, is what is going to giveyou the proper initiation for the words.
When you are an announcer.
(09:50):
So everything that I did was solved a lot of problems because I went through, I wentthrough a progressive rock phase and uh progressive rock demands a lot of piano uh baroque
knowledge, a lot of classical em language.
(10:13):
And then by the time I went to the jazz uh repertoire, the jazz phase, which is what hastaken a bigger part of my life, ah then the technique what allowed me was to sound
clearer, to have a better initiation in my ideas, which is not a guarantee that it's goingto be good.
(10:36):
But at least what I'm saying is understood.
So that's our view technique.
Absolutely.
And I'm going to pick you up on that point you just mentioned about the classical trainingsort of put forward a certain way of doing harmonics and so on.
(10:56):
And you said that you're now playing catch up on that many years later.
Just tell us a little bit about how you're approaching that and how you have had to changeyour style or adjust your style to open things up further.
Well, what I noticed is that as I got into more like composition and trying to developcertain aspects of especially voice leading and voice conduction when I'm playing, even
(11:27):
when I'm improvising, I realized all that has been already invented.
All that language has been around for centuries.
So...
I realized that wow, that one chord, that one texture that I want, was, mean, Ravel wasdoing that and all that sparse stuff that has that ringing of harmonics, Satie already did
(11:51):
that and all that rhythmical stuff, Bartok already did that.
So at this point, it's like I go back and I don't have the luxury of studying a wholepiece, but I can go and take a score and
go to the place where, this is what I'm looking for.
This is like that device that I can use it to what I'm doing now.
(12:15):
yeah, of course, if I did it when I was a kid, wouldn't have to spend the time now, but.
Hey, no, no.
Great, great response.
And so while I was planning on going onto some of your work, but, we will get to that, butI think while we're on the education side of things, a great deal of your career has been
spent educating others, which is amazing in its own right.
(12:38):
How have you developed your approach over years to educating other players?
What are some of, I know it's hard in a short interview, but what are some of the coreconcepts you want a new player to develop?
to be a successful player.
When I teach my students, oh don't have the luxury of teaching them how to play theinstrument.
(13:03):
I hope they already have that solved.
Especially at a college level, ah I see a lot of mixed bag of people that get to collegeknowing a lot of music, but with terrible technical proficiency and a lot of the other
stuff.
Guys that can play a billion scales.
(13:23):
but they don't understand the music.
So I don't have the luxury of starting either side from the beginning.
I get them wherever they are.
So now, am I a good, first of all, the question that I ask myself, am I a good instructor,a good teacher?
I don't know.
(13:44):
What I know is that for many years, I have many questions, for many years, that...
went unanswered because when I was in Venezuela, we didn't have jazz instructors.
We didn't have the luxury of lectures, of master classes that we have now.
We didn't have YouTube.
We didn't have this, that.
(14:04):
So now that I can sit one-on-one with someone and ask them, what would you like to do?
Whatever they ask me, I'm ready to tackle that.
And, and, and.
As you know, not everybody learns the same way.
So I have a lot of students that come from the classical world and I know how to deal withthem because I was in the classical world.
(14:31):
So you cannot teach a classical guy the same way that you teach a guy that has developedeverything by ear.
So you have to go for a more formulaic uh approach for a more uh foundational.
approach, based on scale, based on composition exercises, and that's how I developedimprovisation on classical people.
(14:57):
It's like, okay, let's analyze this melody, this iconic melody, see how it's developingbased on certain intervalid stuff.
So this is the scale now, let's do that with that scale.
With a jazz guy, I to do the complete opposite, you know?
They already know all this stuff.
So it's just about, okay, where are we gonna get a foundational harmonic so that we candevelop more stuff like that.
(15:27):
Yeah, so that's the two things that I'm always balancing.
Yeah, no, amazing.
And have the challenges of teaching changed over the years?
And even now in an environment where AI is starting to get a foothold in music, how hasthe landscape changed as an educator for students?
(15:48):
Well, I could get in trouble, one of the things is that, uh first of all, the kidsnowadays, the amount of information out there is dramatically more magnified to where it
was five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago.
(16:10):
So you get kids that already know more stuff.
Now, ah
What I noticed also is that because most of the information is located in the same places,most of the kids go to these sources and then they all pretty much sound the same.
(16:32):
Yeah, so I see a lot of these pros and cons.
Remember, like only 20 years ago, to learn something you had to...
like repeat the same place in the record a million times until it would permeate.
And now you have it there on the screen.
(16:55):
And it's already transcribed.
You don't even have to do transcribing process.
So I don't know.
think we have exchanged uh an expedite
uh way of acquiring information.
(17:18):
We have that now, but we have sacrificed the uniqueness of how we got our informationbefore.
Yep.
No, great point.
Yeah.
I hadn't thought of that.
Yeah.
Really good point.
um and, and so I do want to kick off, um, artistically, um, talking about your career andyour output.
So it's difficult to even in an hour cover those, let alone everything else you've done,but, you've just mentioned your most recent album.
(17:46):
Um, I do want to talk about what I would call your solo album.
So Elements, Ascensia, Sojourn and so on.
Well, how, let's go back to Sojourn probably.
Um, what?
Well, actually, I'm going to go back a bit further to your amazing 1991 album where youplay Ryotchi Sakamoto.
Now, obviously, been a keyboard podcast.
That was one I had to pick up on.
(18:07):
Do you recall what the inspiration was there and probably your relationship withsynthesizers and things like that, if there is one for you?
ah First of all, relationship with synthesizers, I got my first setup when I was still 15,16 years old.
(18:29):
And that was my progressive rock phase, right?
So I learned with, I remember my first setup was a Federal Rose, a CP-70, electro-acousticpiano, and I had a...
um
Poly 6, something like that, if I might remember correctly.
(18:52):
And Moog kind of monophonic uh synth by Yammer.
It was a CCS-15 Yammer.
That was my first setup.
uh But what that allowed me was to learn how to like the signal flow, right?
(19:13):
Understanding how things work, how do you do like with a...
square wave or a serrated wave and adding these and the filters and that was my...
then by the time I hit the mid 80s, in the mid 80s with FM, I kind of like lost a littlebit of that.
(19:35):
I fell a little out of love because it was...
I couldn't get into it.
I couldn't go into that little window and do everything by venues, especially the DX7s andall that.
When I arrived in the United States, I didn't bring any keyboards with me.
I sold everything in Venezuela and I was more known as a pianist.
(20:04):
And then I arrived here in 1989 and then the contact for this Ryuichi Sakamoto album was Imet this person in the next year basically.
ah And they were looking for someone to do arrangements, piano, solo piano arrangements ofRyuichi's scores.
(20:29):
That was the task.
It was not understood as a record that was going to be earth shattering in terms of mycareer.
And I understood that.
But first of all, they were surprised that I knew who Ryuichi Sakamoto was.
The Japanese
the people from the label was like, wow, you know who we reached is?
(20:51):
He's like, of course.
I mean, I used to do music for TV and films.
it's like, why not?
I mean, he's an iconic name, right?
So immediately they went, okay, you are the guy, pam pam.
And then that was my bargaining chip for me to negotiate two more albums after that.
(21:11):
So I did the Rich's album.
And then after that,
They allowed me to record my first two solo albums, Distant Trends and Nothing To Hurt.
And let's talk about those.
So over your career, your solo albums, I imagine each of them have occurred at a differenttime and had a different inspiration, but given how busy you are, what itch does doing
(21:39):
your own work scratch for you?
Aside from obviously your own creative output, what are you able to do across those albumsthat you may not be able to do elsewhere?
ah
Well, the first album, Distant Friends, I took it like, this might be my firstpresentation card to the world, right?
When I was very young, and it was more like a catalog of things that I can do.
(22:07):
ah I tried to keep within the maturity that I had at that point, whatever, or lackthereof.
I tried to keep some kind of like a cohesive product out of the whole musical product outof the whole thing.
But it was very analog sounding.
(22:27):
I wanted people to know that I could do this and I wanted people to know that I could dothis other thing and solo piano and orchestration and this.
uh And then for the second one, for Nothing Too High, a different uh challenge wassuggested by the level.
built by the label.
It's like, well, I think it's also based on how I burned through the budget in the firstmonth because I wanted to do so much.
(22:55):
So for the second one, it's like, well, do you think you could do something a little morewithin the budget?
Still they allow me to use the budget, the same budget, but why would you like tochallenge yourself to do something more effective?
So I did this quartet direct to this.
Directed tape, sorry, directed digital tape.
(23:17):
So we bypassed all the mixing and it was an incredible experience.
And we took it more as a performance kind of CD, more than the production part.
That's amazing.
And so, I mean, you've continued to release albums.
As you said, you're working on one with your wife at the moment.
(23:38):
I imagine, do you have another solo album after this that you already got?
Is there a vault of Otmaro's work waiting to see the light of day?
Yeah, well yeah, yeah the thing okay after after Nothing to hide.
I did that few more records, you know, I I forgot the names But uh, it wasn't untilsojourn that was recorded in 2008 That record was very important because
(24:16):
I went back to my focus.
I wanted to my quartet music as I've been doing it for so long and I never had the time toreally get to it.
In the meantime, I was doing all these different projects and I did one called Latino,which was a trio album with Abe Lavariel and Alex Acuna, but it was not my music.
(24:40):
So it wasn't until Sojourn that I got to play my music.
again.
And then after that, I went uh into a uh sideman kind of phase that took me away from thatmomentum because truly, you know how hard it is when you have a solo project.
(25:07):
Whatever history you might have, it's not a guarantee of anything.
You need so many moving parts for this to be successful, to tour, to...
And I was a little frustrated with this.
then I got into, again, into my Simon side of things.
Then I did a couple of more projects.
(25:29):
One is called Elemental, which was, again, my music, but the electric side.
uh And Essencia, which I always wanted to do an album like Essencia because I'm a big
Brazilian music lover.
And as a pianist, I grew up listening to Cesar Camargo Mariano.
(25:49):
And he did this wonderful iconic album called Sabambaya in the 70s.
I always wanted to do something like that.
So, Essencia is my homage, pretty much, to Cesar Camargo.
And uh again, was right after that, my wife, okay, it's time to do, it's time to do...
(26:13):
our Lado Bay again, you know.
The first one was in 2015, so it's time to go.
So we got, I got involved into the production.
We wanted to do it better than the first one, better songs, more developed sound.
(26:33):
So that's what took me away.
And then I realized, wow, it's been 15 years since Sojourn.
So it's been...
15 years since I can do something that really depicts my real heart as a musician.
uh So I'm sitting, as you say, I'm sitting on probably 30 songs, like two or three CDsworth of music at the moment that I should document soon before it starts stinking.
(27:07):
Yeah, love it.
That's good to know.
I can't wait to hear it.
No, that's amazing.
And look, you've mentioned your Sideman phase, which I think is a modest way of alludingto the massive collaborations you've done over the years.
uh So I'm going to cover off a couple of them, get you to call out some that have reallyinfluenced you.
(27:27):
So in no particular order, so this will jump all over timelines.
um
Alex and sorry for our listeners, I've already warned up my Australian accent and some ofthese wonderful Latin American names I will struggle with.
So bear with me, but Alex Acuna.
Tell us about your role there and what that brought to your career.
(27:49):
Well, uh Alex Acuna is an iconic drummer and percussion player.
Everybody knows he represents an important chapter in fusion music with his collaborationwith Weather Report.
ah The same night that I arrived in LA, and this is something that I cannot, I mean,
(28:17):
I tell people that come here to try luck, right?
It's like, it might happen or it might not happen.
You know, when you move to a town like New York or LA, you just have to be there and waituntil it happens.
Well, in my case, the night that I arrived in LA, a friend of mine was playing a concertand Alex was playing in that concert.
(28:40):
And I went to that concert almost directly from the airport.
put my luggage in the apartment and I went to the concert and
in the concert they were playing one of my songs and they asked me to play with the bandand I played and from that day I started playing with Alex.
So it's one of those things it happened, no uh it was not planned.
(29:04):
Alex was a big catalyst in allowing me to get all these relations going in Los Angeles.
in the recording circuits and also in the live shows.
And through Alex, I met Abraham Laborel.
(29:26):
They used to have this band called Coinonia.
Through Alex, met Alex in Abraham, and from Abraham, met Justo Almario, which is awonderful saxophone player.
And that was my starting point in the Latin jazz community in LA.
(29:46):
Great.
And you've mentioned the next two on Melissa, Hustah, Mario and Abraham.
Let's talk about Abraham, obviously another iconic person based player, one of the mostmassive session bases of all times.
Tell us about that relationship and what you learned there.
Well, with Abraham, uh we didn't only play together, but we got to be part of a facultyteam in one of the universities where I used to work.
(30:14):
So we really had this multi-side uh relationship as friends, as performers, and alsocollaborators uh in...
in academia, you know?
So he's a very, very dear, dear friend.
(30:35):
ah And ah it is one of those players that ah I always, I always go back as a reference.
ah I wish I could use him more in what I do.
He's very busy.
He's still very busy.
(30:56):
ah But I keep...
going back to his references, his musical references, uh in terms of how to place theright groove, the right amount of notes, the right placement of the notes.
ah I learned lot from him, I mean, that revived.
(31:16):
Yeah, absolutely.
And then, Husto, how that relationship developed, as you said, from Abraham, I think yousaid.
yes.
With Justo also we became very good friends.
Justo is from Colombia.
And uh Colombia and Venezuela, are neighbors.
But more than neighbors, Colombia and Venezuela used to be the same country.
ah So immediately we started like, hey, you know, we're brothers, you know, and the foodis the same and some of the expressions are the same.
(31:46):
ah So we created, we have this uh great, uh great relationship.
And then later we thought together at UCLA.
that was another part of our, you so we used to play together, but also get together inthe faculty meetings and, you know, portray another side of our.
(32:08):
ah But yeah, Hustus is a wonderful cat, wonderful cat.
Excellent.
And we're going to talk about the performance aspects of each of these in a minute, but Iwant to throw two more into the mix.
Now, Diane Reeves, I know you spent a significant period of time with those sort of fiveyears or so.
um That I'm assuming was an even bigger role for you.
(32:29):
Tell us about that period of time and what you took out of that.
Well, Diane Reeves was certainly one of the highlights of my, not my career, but my story,my life story.
ah Because we traveled the world for many, many years, around the world like a milliontimes.
(32:58):
And we developed a wonderful friendship.
And...
uh
And before Diane, my experience playing with singers was that of allowing a safety blanketat all times for the singer.
That was also my perception because most of the singers I have always played with, theywanted to have like, can you give me that one chord?
(33:26):
Can you give me that one phrase?
So that was my approach to comping for singers.
And then, that's one of the funny things that happened immediately with Diane.
It's like, within the few first concerts, I noticed that she wanted to tell me something.
It's like, well, what is it?
(33:47):
And she said, you know, you are always playing the same.
It's like, well, yeah, because I want to make sure that everything is clear.
It's like, no, don't do that.
So that day she asked me, you know, I want you to
to just, first of all, be free to set it up in a different way.
But also, I want you to be free to take the song somewhere else if you feel like.
(34:12):
So if it is a ballad, you can play that ballad in a million different ways.
You can set the introduction in a million different ways.
You can come from a 12-tone row and then infer the tonality somehow and bam, there we are.
Or just play a blues.
or just play like something.
And then that day my head pretty much exploded with freedom.
(34:39):
The consequences of too much freedom were killing me.
And I went like, oh my God.
So every night was like, okay, here we go.
Here we're gonna play, let's say Misty for the hundreds time this tour.
And I have to play differently, you know?
(35:00):
And I had to set it up differently in a different meter or anything.
So that was the school of Diane Reeves for me.
I think after Diane, that's around the same time that I read this book written by, I knowyou must know it, by Kenny Werner, this book called Effortless Mastery, which is a
(35:27):
wonderful book.
Around that time I read this book and that book kind of deals with that.
know, with the, to liberate yourself, yourself and embrace sound, embrace whatever pathyou take and make it work.
And uh it was, that was a total liberation phase for me.
(35:51):
Absolutely.
although even in my limited experience, Diane's approach seems incredibly unusual to me.
So it sounded like at that stage it was unusual to you.
Have you ever come across another singer that is that liberal in allowing you to drive orinterpret the song?
No, no, but the truth is that after I played with Diane, I would like to talk aboutanother singer because yeah, because it's an interesting contrast, but a total valid point
(36:25):
of view nonetheless.
After Diane Reeves, I went on to play with uh Gino Vanelli, which is an iconic mychildhood hero.
ah the guy that merged pop, jazz, rock in such an organic way and a mega singer with oneof the biggest, most beautiful instruments, vocal instruments.
(36:54):
And then Gino was doing his uh jazz tour.
uh He went through a phase in which ah he took his songs and rearranged them in a jazzformat with a jazz quintet,
by my phonempianist.
It was beautiful, beautiful.
(37:14):
And I thought I was coming from the Diane Reeves experience, right?
Or I was doing both kind of like at the same time.
But then I went like, okay, now I can do this, I can be free.
And then Gino, it's not that he wouldn't hear the harmony, it's that he wanted to have theproduct.
(37:40):
solid.
So because in his mind, you know, some mega producer, so he already knows the sound in hishead, all the, every single passing note, everything was charted.
So that was another eye opener because here in this tour, we're going to have to createthe illusion of being free, but we're playing exactly the same notes every night.
(38:08):
and
It was a test for my memory because I usually don't exercise my memory.
And then I had to really learn how to memorize a full show, make it sound like it'scompletely impromptu.
And then every so often we would change the arrangements because it was concerned that ifpeople listened to the show several times, they would find out that it was the same notes.
(38:39):
It was kind of like borderline psychological abuse because, my God, now we have to relearnanother show.
But it was that.
it's like, those are the things that make you grow as a professional is facing thesechallenges.
(38:59):
Exactly.
And, um, before I get you to choose a couple of other artists, Mario, the one that I haveto bring in the Australian ankle and that's Frank Gambale.
Um, obviously you've, you've worked with Frank, I think on a couple of albums and heoriginated out of Australia, but I know I spent a lot of time in LA.
Tell us about that relationship.
(39:20):
I cannot remember how we met.
I've been trying to think about it because some people uh have asked me about that.
And I don't remember who introduced us, how he got to know about me.
But I'm glad he did because we became really, really, really good friends almost finallywhile he was living in the United States.
(39:45):
know, when he got there, we were there.
He got married when he had his daughter.
I mean, it's like family.
But also that's a super virtuoso that happens to be also a great composer.
uh again, I didn't have a problem setting whatever I'm doing as a composer myself.
(40:11):
I didn't have a problem setting that to a side in order to work with him.
I'm not that in love with what I
with my music.
You know, it might sound like a sin, but I truly don't.
I I love what I do, but I also love what I learn from other people even more because Ilearn their perspective.
(40:34):
I learn how they use certain devices different than me.
So I want to learn that.
And Frank had this really interesting style, harmonic style.
that I learned a lot from.
And so I didn't have a problem putting all myself in the back burner and playing withSimon.
(40:57):
We did wonderful ah time together, especially the last two projects, the Natural High Trioah with Alain Caron.
Those were like such a highlight.
uh We got to, again, travel the world with two of my best friends.
(41:18):
ever and I'm playing some of the most complex but beautiful music.
Yeah.
No, amazing.
And you just mentioned, Omara, about you quite happy to put your own preferences, youknow, in the back corner, which is a sign of a, you know, a great collaborator.
How often do you suffer from imposter syndrome or have low self-confidence?
(41:40):
All of us as players go through phases.
How do you manage times where you think if, you know, not that you're not up to it, butjust where you struggle with your confidence?
Well, we are musicians.
We have that little bug.
We all have that little bug.
(42:00):
uh usually the guys that don't have that bug, recognize them immediately.
And those are the guys you don't want to play with.
I don't want to play with a guy that says, man, I got it all solved.
He's like, no, well, Right.
um
Yes, I, especially now, I'll be honest.
(42:27):
We were talking about how the new generation gets this information so quickly, in such anexpedited manner.
And uh at my age, we process things a lot slower.
And our curve, our learning curve declines after a while.
(42:50):
So sometimes, yeah, I think like, wow, I wish I was...
I had this facility to change or to adjust quicker.
then another part of me tells me, well, you know, I think I can play a few notes.
(43:10):
And people have told me that without just a few notes, they know it's me.
They know, they can recognize my touch.
They can recognize a certain phrase.
a certain way of voicing.
And that is something that has taken me my whole life.
It's great when you achieve this in your 20s.
(43:33):
But in my case, okay, I'm in my 60s and now I'm still developing this, but I'm glad it'shappening.
ah So when I feel like, wow, I wish I could do this, I could do that, I have to remindmyself, well, but I have this.
that I have this that has made the whole journey now makes sense.
(43:56):
The whole amount of suffering and enjoyment or whatever you call it, all the highs andlows, now it all makes sense because at the end of all this time, I achieved this thing
where I can just be myself and people will recognize the song.
So at that point, I think that that...
(44:19):
is that feeling of not feeling like up to a task or out of place.
Yeah, no, great perspective.
And I'm interested too, while I think of it, I mean, are you the sort of person, can youever envisage retiring from music or this is a lifetime for sure.
You'll go until you drop.
(44:40):
uh Internally, I wish I could stay in music all my life.
I don't think a musician will ever retire from music.
ah
Even the people that claim to have retired, they all keep their little studio and they,it's like, all joke, they all go back and play with their toy soldiers.
(45:08):
So they all have their little studios and they keep doing music.
So that's not something that you can break away from so easily.
ah I think the music business has made it so hard.
And so, and the future is so uncertain that I understand why some people feel closer totaking that decision.
(45:38):
I understand, but I haven't got there yet, quite yet.
Excellent, excellent answer.
so, Otmar, I do want you to choose, em and for the sake of our listeners and viewers thataren't aware of Otmaro's full discography, it literally runs into the hundreds.
So never have we barely scratched the surface more than in this interview.
(45:58):
So I'm just fascinated what you would call out as two or three artists, no matter how wellknown or not well known, that had a big impact on you.
uh Due to their musicality, just the collaboration itself, the hang, whatever it was.
I'll tell you, I think there's three big kind of landmarks in this whole story, ongoingstory.
(46:31):
ah Diane Reeves, ah with Diane I was playing, I was in my element.
At the moment I did it, I was in my element.
It was a crossover of music, multi-genre oriented, hybrid setup, acoustic piano, straightahead, synthesizers, fusion, everything combined.
(46:58):
ah John McLaughlin, although it was a very uh limited chapter, we did a tour and twoalbums together.
But that absolutely blew my mind ah with regards to the understanding of his musicaluniverse in terms of the linear conception and his harmonic metric conception as well.
(47:37):
When I played with John W.
Laughlin,
I had heard Mahavishnu, but I admitted at that point, I admitted to him, it's like, I wasnever really into it, deeper into it because I didn't understand it.
I was too young.
(47:58):
So I cannot, I enjoyed it, but I didn't understand it.
And it wasn't until I played with him, I was already ah in my late 30s, mid late 30s.
then it's like, oh, this is, I mean, this is how he thinks about this.
(48:18):
There's an internal thing going on.
There's this scale that, that glues everything together.
There's this other thing.
So that's where I could really get into the depth of John's music.
And I think of, of all the albums, I think the Heart of Things is one of his mostbeautiful albums.
(48:41):
The compositions are gorgeous.
and the playing is unbelievable by the plants.
With John's work, did you find that was one of the more complex rehearsal processes eitherbefore recording or playing live?
That yeah, there is so much in that music.
Was that one of your more challenging gigs?
uh Okay, this might be this might be a world premiere I want to tell a story that not manypeople know when I play with when John call me He had a situation with Jim Beard rest in
(49:13):
peace my superhero And Jim Beard had to bail he had another offer at the very last minuteso John was
in the situation of having to find somebody to learn all this music that they developedtogether.
(49:35):
Right?
They developed it with a lot of time.
And then all of sudden he needs someone to jump in.
So when he called me, I asked him, OK, do you have I need I need you to send me some livetapes, live recordings.
I have the album.
(49:56):
the studio album and send me the charts.
Well, there's a problem.
We don't have charts.
And this is ah at that time, that was in 1997 or 98.
There was no finale.
So I think I can find some charts.
(50:18):
at this, this meanwhile, the time is running and I'm listening.
to the music, but I have no idea what's going on because Dennis Chambers is doing allthese displacements that I didn't understand where the one was, where the phrase started.
I was really freaking out.
(50:38):
And I really had to program, I wanted to program a set of sounds that would allow a fairtransition between Jim Beard's sounds because I was stepping in.
I mean, I didn't want people to go like, this guy sounds different.
So I had to program sounds.
(51:01):
And I wanted to program sounds, the same sounds in multiple units.
So the same kind of like piano with a layer of bells and the modulator, I had to programin three different axes in case the rentals were not available.
(51:22):
So I was really, really
freaking out with lack of time.
And then John sent me these charts that he had done with Logic.
But Logic took the sound of the MIDI but didn't quantize the sound.
So the charts were plagued with 32nd notes rests and it was like a torture to look at.
(51:50):
ah It was
I don't know anybody that could have sight read that or even made sense out of that so Butit gave me an idea of the notes if you if I saw if I heard it as a scale Okay, here's that
scale.
So I will rotate it again.
Well ah The story that most people don't know is that when I arrived to Monaco We had onerehearsal We had one rehearsal and the next day
(52:22):
was national TV, was Leverkusen Festival on TV.
Yeah, that I almost had a honorism that day during that rehearsal because of course Ididn't want to look like I was glued to the charts ah So yeah, it was very very Stressful
(52:53):
but after that day after we did that TV, which is by the way is the only
document from that tour.
ah After that, everything was smooth sailing because, okay, I already pushed the thehardest.
So now it's like smooth sailing from that.
(53:13):
That's amazing.
Yeah, look, that's absolutely amazing and well done.
Yeah.
And then after, after, um, McLaughlin, I've done all this amazing, you know,collaborations with, I play with Liedert and Hauer, which is a joy to work with.
Lee is such a, such a wonderful musical guy that in one single concert we go and playBrazilian music and we play jazz, straight ahead and fusion.
(53:41):
oh Yeah.
But, it's not until I started working
eight years ago with the protocol with Simon that I get that fresh infusion of like ahealthy challenge.
ah Because it's now I'm back into the multi keyboard saddle kind of situation, theprogramming, the choreography of the hands, the triggering stuff, and most importantly,
(54:12):
understanding getting into the music.
uh complex meters and understanding it enough to solo and to improvise and to interactnormally.
So that's a new challenge.
So that's been the last eight years for me.
And let's talk a little bit about protocol.
(54:35):
I'm a major fan myself.
mean, let's just talk briefly technically about your keyboard rig, because I can imaginethat on its own is quite a complex setup.
Yes and no.
mean, it is complex.
If you compare it to the average, uh, plugin oriented computer based thing where you havea a single controller and then you have everything mapped.
(55:07):
Of course.
I mean, nothing beats that in terms of practicality.
But as I told you, I grew up.
with knobs and I grew up really having access to a single machine at a time.
So for many years when I was working with Diane, I used to talk a lot to George Dukebecause they were related and George kept telling me that, you should start using plugins,
(55:35):
you should start.
But I noticed that every time I saw George on stage, something happened with his plugins,something happened with his computer.
So it's like, didn't know.
mean, he had a whole team of people that made that situation like a non-situation.
But in my case, I'm just by myself.
(55:55):
If something happens on stage, I'm the one that is going to freak out.
I'm the one that is going to have to reboot, like ask the audience for forgiveness and youknow, all that.
So I didn't want to go through this.
So I like when I can have my different keyboards and I have, I know exactly if somethingfails in one.
I know exactly where to go to the other one.
(56:16):
ah So I uh can have, of course, it's a choreography of two hands, plus all the magic thatyou can do with sustain pedals, volume pedals, and triggering uh an occasional sample.
Yep.
(56:36):
And that's probably a good segue up, Mauro, to a train wreck story across all of yourcollaborations and probably more in a live sphere.
Has something gone spectacularly wrong that you can look back and laugh about now?
many, many times.
Many, many, times.
ah You know that I've compiled some of these funny stories uh and someday I'm gonnarelease a book.
(57:05):
I've gone through some really embarrassing situations ah and now I look back and I laugh.
uh But one of them, one time I was playing for a singer.
in a show in which we had to follow a very iconic singer.
(57:26):
then this happened in Havana, Cuba, in the Karl Marx Theater.
was packed, thousands of thousands of people.
So this iconic singer was singing and then the curtain came down and we had to changebands really, really quick.
(57:47):
And then for the next act.
you know, with the singer that I was working with.
And that is exactly what I did, what we did.
The curtain came down and then we went to the piano and I was in position.
And then when the curtain went up, it was the same singer that was singing before.
The audience asked for another song.
(58:12):
An encore.
uh And then this lady looks back, she turns to
to her pianist and her pianist is not there, it's me.
Imagine that it was like a 15 second, the 15 seconds of silence, of deadly silence untilwe figure out that, okay, there's nothing we can do here.
(58:37):
So the only way we can, that is gonna get us out of here is for you to start hummingsomething and then I'll go along with it.
And that's how we got it.
That would easily be one of the best tray rig stories ever.
That's like, that's one of those things that you have nightmares with when you're aperformer.
(58:59):
That's like with the sexual performer nightmare being in a stage and not knowing whatyou're going to do.
That is amazing.
that is one of the best.
Oh dear.
Yeah.
I think I will now have nightmares about that.
That's great.
And probably, probably while we've been reflective and this doesn't have to be a seriousanswer as such, but I mean, looking back over your career to date, are there any musical
(59:24):
regrets?
And I'm not talking about not getting on with people, but just so there things you wishyou could have done differently or you're not that sort of person.
No, not at all, not at all.
And uh honestly, I can say that every gig that I've played in my life has enriched mesomehow.
(59:49):
Sometimes we do gigs for money, and that also enriches us financially.
No, but seriously, the gigs that I've...
invested my heart into.
I, no regrets, I always find something that I'm going to learn from this and make mebetter.
(01:00:10):
Yeah.
No, great perspective.
And now we have the dreaded desert Island discs question on Murrow.
So if you had to choose five albums that have had a big impact on your life, what wouldthey be?
Wow.
uh
You know, well, I'm a big of course, I mean I think I would include Chikoria's now shesings now she stops There's no way not to include oh any of Keith Jarrett's From any phase
(01:00:38):
of Keith Jarrett from the earlier like con concerts to To whatever standards, you know ahI would include some ah
orchestral Ravel.
I would include some Lyle Mace and I would include any of Ernie Hancock's explorations,harmonic explorations.
(01:01:09):
There's five, you rattled them off very effectively.
And if you don't mind, I'll curate the ones you've just said, Ravel or Keita, I'll chooseone of the more relevant.
That's perfect.
Ravel or I'm a big sucker for Samuel Barber too.
Yes.
uh
Yep.
No, thank you.
And then our final question, Altmer is a 10 parter.
(01:01:30):
It's what we call a quick fire 10.
So 10 short and sharp questions with short and sharp answers.
um So due to some serious crime that you've committed, you've been sentenced to six monthsin a tribute band.
What tribute band are you choosing?
Punishment?
Oh, that would be...
Bad Bunny.
Okay, nice.
Yeah, great.
(01:01:52):
Before a gig, I know this will vary depending on what you're playing, but what is animportant pre gig ritual to you?
So what do you need to do to feel settled before a gig?
ah I never have the luxury of warming up before a gig, but if I can have it my way, Iwould have least ah a few moments by myself just to stretch.
(01:02:17):
Yeah, great one.
uh If you hadn't been a musician, what do you think your career choice would have been?
Would it have been biology related?
It would have been biology, would have been acting, or it would have been magic, which isanother thing that I do for fun.
I was like, well, I'm like semi-professional or a little more than amateur, I would say.
(01:02:42):
my magic took a lot of my last 20 years.
years.
Yeah, amazing.
Love it.
um If it's possible, and I think it is nearly impossible in your case with your career,but is there a favorite tour you've ever done?
I would say Diane Reeves.
Yeah.
It's hard to go past that.
Um, and is there a favorite gig you've ever done?
(01:03:03):
A one-off gig that has really stood out to you.
Oh, a one-off gig.
I did this thing with Bill Evans, Randy Brecker, and Simon Phillips.
That was incredible.
But it was like one.
(01:03:23):
Never again.
That's yeah, wow.
I'm in awe.
Is there a favourite city you like playing in?
Japan, Tokyo.
I have to say I have never been to Australia and I have heard wonderful things frommusicians that perform in Australia.
(01:03:46):
So I cannot of course include that but so far Tokyo takes
Tokyo is, is I'd argue is what the second capital of jazz.
It's amazing.
And yeah, we definitely need to change getting you to Australia.
Um, do you have a favorite music documentary or movie?
Yeah.
Great.
Um, name one thing you'd like to see that were invented that would make your life as akeyboard player easier.
(01:04:11):
Oh, the carrying, the keyboard carrying robots.
I love it.
That's great.
I second that motion.
And outside of music, Otmaro, is there a favorite non-musical activity or hobby?
What do you like to do to keep grounded outside of music?
(01:04:33):
Of course.
Yeah, that's my, and look, I think magic is one of many terms that could be applied toyour career to date.
Your playing is magic.
Your attitude is magic.
Your education is magic.
And I know I cannot thank you enough.
for taking the time, but just for the sake of our listeners and viewers, this has been along time coming.
Not because Otmaro has refused to come on the show.
(01:04:55):
I only approached him recently and he didn't hesitate.
um Otmaro was Ruben Valtierra that said probably two and a half years ago, you have tohave Otmaro on the show because we've spoken with Ruben and it's a thrill to actually
finally get to speak with you.
Wow, Ruben is a dear friend of many, many, many years.
And I'm gonna now find the moment to thank him profusely for this.
(01:05:20):
No, pleasure is all ours and thank you so much, Opmo.
It's been an absolute honor.
Thank you so much.
you
And there we have it.
Again, hope you enjoyed that.
What an amazing amount of insights Otmaro provided.
(01:05:41):
And I did love the fact, and we alluded to it into the interview, that the amazing SimonPhillips was there at the time.
Otmaro was in the middle of some work he's doing with Simon and seeing him walk across thebackground was an added bonus.
So yeah, look, I just can't thank Otmaro enough for his time.
He's an absolute force of nature.
(01:06:01):
One of the best players I've ever seen.
And just can't wait to see what's coming up next.
So yeah, a huge thank you again.
A huge thank you to you as always for listening and also to our gold and silversupporters.
So the amazing Dave Bryson team at themusicplayer.com forums.
Thank you, Dave.
And the keyboard corner in particular.
Such a great forum to hang out on and talk keyboards and related issues.
(01:06:25):
The amazing Tammy Katcher from Tammy's musical stew.
Thank you so much as always Tammy.
the brilliant Mike Wilcox at Midnight Mastering.
If you're creating your own music and need someone really, really good to mix and masterit, Mike is your guy at midnightmastering.com.
And last but definitely not least, the brilliant, amazing, likable, great, Dewey Evansfrom the Sunnylander Wales.
(01:06:51):
Big shout out to you as always, Dewey, and hope you're doing well.
Again, thank you all for listening.
We'll be back all too soon in a couple of weeks and until then, keep on playing.
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