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Biography:
Photo: Danny Clinch
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Above all else, Billy
Martin believes in the power of unguarded expression to capture
glimpses of the truth – sometimes only fleetingly,
sometimes for extended, intoxicating stretches. He pursues
the ecstatic and the insightful from a variety of vantage
points: as a drummer and percussionist, as a composer, as
a filmmaker, sculptor, visual artist, and even as a carpenter.
To varying degrees, each endeavor is marked by Martin’s
dearly held belief that unfettered improvisation and an honest
commitment to the moment at hand can bring about new levels
of understanding, new perspectives, new sonic textures, and
a more profound emotional impact. “In any circumstance,
any medium,” he reflects, “you need to be sincere
with yourself and with your audience. This is who you are,
and you’ve got to be trying as hard as you can to create
something for the situation that’s new and fresh. There
are going to be some mistakes, it may not be perfect, but
you’ve got to be willing to take that chance at any
given moment.”
While Billy Martin’s own creative journey has had innumerable forks and
bends, he is best known to music enthusiasts as one-third of the indescribable
Medeski Martin & Wood. About to enter their twentieth year as a performing
and recording aggregation, Medeski Martin & Wood are an entirely unique instrumental
ensemble, able to apply principles from a staggering range of traditions (from
free and modern jazz to classic R&B and well beyond) while remaining eminently
relatable, even accessible. Via fifteen albums, tireless touring (performing
everywhere from jazz clubs to jamband festivals), and collaborations with the
likes of John Scofield and John Zorn, the trio have united audiences from disparate
corners of the musical universe who react with equal awe and enthusiasm to the
band’s infectious grooves and undiminished exploratory zeal.
Few if any major acts are able to simultaneously function so successfully – both
artistically and commercially – as both a laboratory as Medeski Martin & Wood
have, and their work exemplifies many of Martin’s ideals and principles
as an improvising composer/performer. Forever refining and rediscovering his
own signature sound, Martin vividly explores these notions of creative identity,
of surrendering to the moment, of developing one’s own artistic voice,
in Life on Drums, his feature-length directorial debut, which will be
released on DVD by Vongole Films on October 8th, 2010. Sumptuously filmed in
a disused New Jersey radio station, the informative yet atmospheric Life
on Drums combines conversations with solo and group performances (some improvised,
some composed) to create an engrossing portrait of Martin’s evolving musical
aesthetic.
“Life on Drums is my reaction to all the bad instructional videos
I’ve seen,” Martin elaborates. “Much of what’s out there
tends to put a lot of focus on technique, but most creative things don’t
come from technique. I want the viewer to see this and come away with the idea
that they can be an artist – you don’t need this full spectrum of
technique before you can start thinking creatively.” Accompanying Martin
on this voyage is Allen Herman, Martin’s first drum teacher. The two converse
about matters both practical and artistic, and it is their easy yet insightful
rapport that helps to illuminate even the most elusive ideas. “It’s
this strange kind of karma, this nurturing feeling I get from him,” Martin
continues. “We first met in 1974, when he was my teacher. He has been in
and out of my life a few times since then. He even stopped playing drums for
a while. But now he’s turned it around, saying I am the one who is nurturing
him. He is ecstatic to be back in the drumming world…”
When Martin first began studying with Herman, he was an energized, precocious
teenager, residing in New Jersey – having relocated from Manhattan at age
ten. His father, a classical violinist, photographer, and audiophile, ensured
that Martin was surrounded by music for as long has he can remember. When recorded
music wasn’t blasted from the ample sound system in the basement, the Martin
home was alive with rehearsals and young Billy’s growing percussive prowess – initially
sparked by the discovery of his older brother’s abandoned trap set. By
high school, Martin’s musical obsessions began to flower: he was writing
percussion cadences for the school marching band, performing with the student
jazz ensemble, and had his first garage band – a power trio whose repertoire
ranged from George Benson to Van Halen. He even sub’d for Herman in the
pit band of the Broadway show Bob Fosse’s Dancin’.
Upon graduation from high school, Martin bypassed full-time college, electing
to make a go at being a professional musician in New York City. His arrival there
in 1981 coincided with the emergence of a downtown music scene that dovetailed
perfectly with Martin’s own sensibilities, holding equal reverence (or
irreverence) for free improvisation, classic jazz, film music, and even the kitschiest
of pop culture. Embracing every possible opportunity, Martin performed alongside
such luminaries as John Scofield, Bob Moses, Bill Frissel, Cyro Baptista, Dave
Liebman, Jerome Harris, and more. He went on his first tour as a member of Moses’s
ensemble, and indulged his fascination with Brazilian rhythms by co-founding
the group Batucada, who were a fixture on New York’s Brazilian scene for
two years. After touring and recording with Chuck Mangione for two years (1987-1989),
Martin reinvested himself in the downtown scene, participating in John Zorn’s
Cobra improvisational game pieces and performing with John Lurie’s Lounge
Lizards.
Medeski Martin & Wood first convened in 1991, embarking on their remarkable
journey, which continues to this day. By then, Martin was a formidable musician,
armed with a rich cultural understanding of rhythm and a vast, tastefully deployed
technical vocabulary. Over the past ten years, he has begun to impart unique
musical philosophy in instructional contexts ranging from master classes to private
instruction to his book, Riddim: Claves of African Origin, released
in 2006. “I think that teaching can be as creative as performing and composing,” he
explains. “I believe strongly that creativity and individual style is important.
I feel so strongly about that, and the only way to be active or push people in
that direction is to offer my teaching. Hopefully that will have a little ripple
effect on the next generation of musicians.”
When not performing with Medeski Martin & Wood, Martin continues to collaborate
with other musicians in improvisational projects, many of which are documented
on his own Amulet Records imprint, which he founded in 1995. He also records
and performs solo – with results ranging from the exploratory to the downright
funky, as heard on his triple-LP/CD breakbeat extravaganza illy B Eats – and
has taken an increased interest in composing for both percussion and chamber
ensembles. An album of Martin’s chamber works, Starlings, was
released by John Zorn’s Tzadik label in 2006. “My way of composing
is to write sketches out to musicians,” he explains, “and to then
let them work in a way that allows them to improvise based on the limitations
I have given. Even when I work with my students and my percussion ensembles,
there is always a little room for them to interpret my compositions. It’s
exciting to me because you never know exactly what’s going to happen – it’s
more rewarding for me and for the listener.”
Parallel to his musical adventures, Martin is an accomplished visual artist,
whose drawings have been featured on album covers and in gallery exhibitions.
His burgeoning interest in filmmaking has resulted in several music videos and
short subjects, with Life on Drums being his first feature-length project. “Making
videos and films – the whole idea of images moving along in a time frame:
that’s very musical and rhythmic,” he reflects. “Whether it’s
music or films or my drawings, I take the same approach: I improvise. I do have
conceptual ideas I try to realize, but I think the best stuff comes out of improvisation.
It comes from the same place, the same creative part of myself in the moment.”
With so many outlets existing for his creative energies, Martin is always in
the midst of multiple projects. Even now, as he is helping to formulate Medeski
Martin & Wood’s upcoming 20th anniversary celebrations, he is working
to bring to light recently-recorded chamber compositions for a bass clarinet
quartet, a documentary of the making of Medeski Martin & Wood’s Shackman album
from recently-recovered videotape footage, and a sculpture project that combines
composition with visual arts via graphically notated scores welded to oversized
metal canvases. “It’s all more complicated than ever,” Martin
concludes, “because now I have two boys, who are going to turn seven and
ten soon. Handling the family life and home life with my work and creative projects
is a delicate balance – but I have a studio-slash-shed in my backyard that
I can use to get away and still be home. Honestly, I try not to keep everything
too separate: it’s all creative living, it’s all satisfying. It feels
good with each little thing I accomplish. I just have to give myself the time
to improvise, to experiment. Usually I find the meaning later, after I’ve
created it.”
Timeline of these events
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