The Putter Smith Interview

I realized at a certain point that this (melodic invention) was what I was suppose to do with my life. It was to develop this music, this melodic improvisation and carry it through and expand it and get better at it. At the time all you wanted to do was get to a point where you had enough chops that you could play what you heard. Then it becomes, “I need to hear more, I need to expand my hearing.” I’ve kind of been in that ballpark since I was thirty. You’re trying to expand your hearing ability without being phony. I’ll hear a recording and it will just kill me. I live with that for a year and listen to it over and over and over again, and not by willpower, but because I’m drawn to it. Everybody should have that rhythm going at the same time. A great player like Sam Most or George Muribus or Sonny Rollins or Charlie Parker, you can take their stuff off and remove the rhythm section and it’s still like there’s a rhythm section there. There was a point when they “outlawed” upright basses on gigs. You couldn’t play at The Playboy Club with an upright bass. Woody Herman called up and needed a sub for that night, I ran down to the gig and walked in with my upright and he said, “what’d you bring that for?” Even a band like that, they were using electric basses. One time they sent over an electric bass player to play with Thelonious Monk. They started to play and Thelonious stood up and said, “wrong sound.” You can really recognize someone by their intonation, and that’s what really makes them sound different. That’s what’s different about the upright bass, like in the violin family, you can play your own personal intonation. I can tell Paul Chambers from Ron Carter, even if they play the same notes. When you’re playing electric bass it’s the same as pressing a keyboard. You have no control over the intonation.