Latin Jazz Conversations: Michel Camilo (Part 1)

This great interview with Michel Camilo was conducted by Tomas Peña last year and has some fascinating insight into the man and his music. Originally published on Jazz.com, this two-part interview makes a wonderful addition to the Latin Jazz Conversations series. Enjoy!

Speaking with composer, bandleader and pianist extraordinaire Michel Camilo is much like seeing him perform. In next to no time you get caught up in his boundless passion and enthusiasm for life. In March of 2009 I had the pleasure of speaking with Michel via telephone and what started out as an interview with time constraints evolved into a full-blown conversation about all manner of things. Prior to speaking with Michel I was already familiar with his music. However, it wasn‘t until we spoke one-one-one that I got a sense of Michel Camilo, the man. Read on as the veritable dynamo speaks candidly about his life, his music and his natural ability to spread light wherever he goes.

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TOMAS PEÑA: Hi Michel. You are a very busy guy! Since your time is limited, let’s cut to the chase and talk about Spirit of the Moment. The recording was released in 2008 and amazingly is still going strong.

MICHEL CAMILO: That’s right. This has been a long tour but the album has a quiet intensity all its own. After I recorded Live at the Blue Note (2003) I decided to stop playing with a trio for a while. In between Live at the Blue Note and Spirit of the Moment I recorded Solo (2005), Rhapsody in Blue (2006), and Spain Again with Tomatito (2006). The break gave me a chance to work with a new unit and develop a sound and it has been paying off ever since because we have been touring since the album was released. Incidentally, the album came out of a tour where we did something like 42 performances.

TP: You practically live on the road. How do you do it?

MC: (Laughs) Thank God I still have the energy!

TP: I have seen your trio perform on several occasions. The first occasion was at Lincoln Center in New York about 5 years ago. More recently, I saw your trio perform at The Caramoor Jazz Festival in Katonah, New York.

MC: Wow! The concert at Lincoln Center was probably the first time that (drummer) Dafnis Prieto played with me!

TP: The band was spectacular!

MC: Thank you. I am very proud of what’s happening with this trio. I think the advantage here has been time. Dafnis has been with me for 4 years and bassist Charles Flores has been with me for 7 years. There is no substitute for honing your skills and polishing the sound, the nuances and the textures. Our level of communication has reached the point where I call it a “seventh sense.” It’s amazing how we hear things the same way and compliment each other’s playing. It’s a dream come true.

TP: You have always been enamored with the trio format.

MC: Well, it’s my core foundation and my center. For me the trio is like a mini-orchestra and that’s how I write for it. I like to challenge my sidemen, not just with the interplay that comes from improvising, but also the orchestral part of it. For example, the charts contain big band ensemble moments. That keeps us interested in the music.

TP: The interplay between you and your band mates is nothing short of astonishing. You seem to respond to one another in a nanosecond.

MC: That’s what makes it so rewarding for us as well as for the audience. We have been touring this album for two years and we are seeing the fruits of our labor. During this tour we performed in every situation imaginable, from the smallest to the largest clubs in the U.S. and Tokyo, where we played for an audience of 5000 people.

TP: Tell me about the significance of Spirit of the Moment. I am guessing that it has something to do with the fact that you enjoy the challenge of creating your art in the moment.

MC: Actually, it reflects what’s happening with the trio. That was the whole thing, to try to capture the magic, that nanosecond like you said before. It’s that incredible that happens when everything falls right into place. When we hear things the same way we compliment each perfectly and the energy is just right. As I mentioned earlier, there is a quiet intensity to the album and that’s what I call the spirit of the moment.

TP: I understand that you composed the material for this recording in record time.

MC: I wanted the process to be organic. I wanted it to be part of it self. That’s why I challenged myself to write the material in eight days at the rate of one tune per day. My inspiration was the trio, what we have done in the past, what I knew they could do for me and how we interact with one another. In fact when we went into the studio we asked Telarc to record us direct to the master. That way everything was focused according to the concept of the album.

TP: Essentially it’s the next best thing to listening to your trio live.

MC: It’s about immediacy and the moment that can never be repeated, which is very difficult to capture because it is so elusive (laughs).

TP: Improvisation and creating in the moment is what jazz is all about.

MC: That’s what makes us look forward to each concert and that’s why we are able to play the same material over and over and it still sounds fresh.

TP: Ironically, the more you play the material the fresher it sounds.

MC: That’s what I mean! It’s the ultimate trust between the leader and the sidemen and it’s a three-way conversation. That’s why you see so many smiles and winks on stage. We know each other so well that I don’t even know how we do it. Recently we were playing at the Regatta Bar jazz club in Boston and we did something that we didn’t even talk about. We heard it the same way and nobody fought it. When nobody fights the musical discourse it’s a great flow.

TP: It‘s like creating a work of art and marveling at the results!

MC: You discover new shades, new colors and nuances. Sometimes a song that has been bright becomes obscure. All of that has a lot of value for us because it keeps us on our toes creatively. And the fact that we encounter so many different types of audiences all over the world and each one reacts differently. For some a jazz performance is like a classical concert and they don’t applaud until the end.

TP: I take it that you are referring to a concert somewhere in Asia.

MC: In Japan they respect us so much that they want to hear every detail, but it’s kind of weird because we are used to interacting with the audience. Unless you are very seasoned you could easily get spooked! (Laughs)

TP: Rumor has it that you are fascinated with the number 3.

MC: You know about that?

TP: Actually, you spoke about it during an interview with Maria Hinojosa on National Public Radio. After I heard the broadcast I did some research on my own and came up with some interesting insights about the number 3.

MC: Really?

TP: Among other things, it represents the triad - the father, the son and the Holy Ghost - the sun, the moon and the stars and spirit, soul and body. I understand that the album is divided into three sections, which correspond with the number 3.

MC: It’s in all of my recordings; you just have to find it. The most obvious reference to the number 3 is the album, Triangulo. I have been reading esoteric books since I was fifteen and I learned that the number 3 spells out our nature. I am Catholic so you know there are the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. That’s why there are no coincidences and the album is divided into three parts - body, mind and soul. The first four songs are original tunes, the middle section consists of three standards and one original tune (3 + 1) and the last section is 1 standard and 3 original tunes (1 + 3). I you listen carefully to “Giant Steps” you will see that the arrangement is based on the number 3. Also, there are three syllables in the words Gi-ant-Steps. It’s all there! Also, the treatment of “Nardis” is based on the number 3 because it is a Spanish Buleria.