James Silberstein is a working Jazz Guitarist out of New York who shares with us his unique and oft times humorous insights into what it takes to be a working Jazz Guitarist. A great read!

JazzGuitarLife.com Interview with James Silberstein: This interview was conducted via email October, 2004. Check out his website at www.jamessilberstein.com

JGL: How old are you?

JS: When it got into triple digits I lost track.

JGL: What geographical area do you live in?

JS: NYC - Manhattan, Upper West Side.

JGL: At what age did you first get into guitar playing and were you interested in jazz from the beginning or were there other musical interests before jazz? What was the motivating experience to get you involved in this particular music and instrument?

JS: When I was about 12, my father decided I should learn to play guitar. He rented an acoustic steel string guitar from a local guitar store and bought me a chord dictionary. The next day, our family went on a short trip. The weather turned sour and we ended up spending most of the time in the hotel room, which gave me a chance to start learning to play. I'm left-handed, and no one explained that the chord dictionary was diagrammed for someone to play right-handed. I played everything upside down. So, for example, a C chord actually sounded like a Bbma7b5, and so forth. My sister was soon complaining. By the end of our trip, my brother, sister and father were sure I was tone deaf. My mother, however, thought that no one could be that bad and concluded that the guitar was defective. So we went back to the guitar store and my mother had me play for the storeowner. At first, he looked perplexed, then, he smiled and said: "oh, you've got to play right-handed." Although that set me on the right path, I'm not sure my family ever fully recovered from that weekend. For many years I played rock, folk and other popular music, including some Indian style ragas. I loved the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Burt Bachrach, Ravi Shankar, Cream, Sandy Bull -- all kinds of music. But when I was about 18, I heard a Brazilian guitarist named Gaudencio Thiago de Mello playing in Central Park in NYC. I'd never heard anyone play so fluidly, maintaining an independent baseline, some beautiful chords and a melody and singing over all of that. I was hooked. Gaudencio was taking a break from teaching a school gym class. He went back to the class and asked me to watch his guitar. The next thing I knew, one of the students accidentally crashed his bike into Gaudencio's guitar and smashed it!! Great way to begin a friendship!

JGL: You have studied with the great Chuck Wayne. What other, if any, formal training do you have (ie: lessons, schooling, that sort of thing). And how did these experiences help you get where you are today?

JS: The day I met Gaudencio, I went to Manny's music store and bought all kinds of instructional books, chord diagrams and songbooks and started pouring through them. I took some lessons with Guadencio (notwithstanding the smashed guitar). As I progressed, albeit really slowly, I started hearing more and more jazz and more guitar players at jazz clubs in NY. Two guitarists I heard were Chuck Wayne and Joe Puma, both of whom sounded awesome. I plucked up the courage and asked Chuck if I could take some lessons with him. Chuck had a very organized and systematic way of teaching and the lessons were really helpful. I learned some of Chuck's ideas about developing solo guitar arrangements, including counterpoint lines, moving block chords and maintaining an independent baseline. Chuck was a musical encyclopedia. I also studied briefly with Barry Galbraith, who helped get me started with sight-reading, and with Rudolph Schramm, a brilliant arranger, who taught me some fundamentals about arranging. During this period, I used to go to a club called "The Guitar," where many famous guitarists, including among others, Jim Hall and Kenny Burrell, played regularly. I heard a guitarist there named Sam Brown who just knocked me out. He was a very melodic player, knew a million tunes and to my good-fortune started playing and gigging with me regularly. Sam was a big influence on me then, and still is now. Probably my biggest guitar influence was Tim Breen, a fantastic guitarist, who played with Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, among others. He had the unique combination of phenomenal chops, endless ideas, incredible time and phrasing and a genius for creating solos that had real architecture and form. In the early 1980s, Tim and I played together all the time. At one point we had a three night a week gig at a club in the East Village. It was a great education for me. Although he died earlier this year, I'll always be learning from him. In the 1980s, I lived in Miami for about a year and a half. While I was there, I took some composition classes at the University of Miami music school, some jazz guitar lessons from Randall Dollahan, who was the head of the guitar department, and an excellent teacher, and some classical guitar lessons from Juan Mercadal, a former student of Andres Segovia, and also an excellent teacher. I also met some great guitarists there including Randy Johnston and Larry Camp, who have been my close friends ever since. Since then, I've learned mostly by playing with other players, listening to lots of different music, transcribing many solos and practicing, practicing ….

JGL: What was your first guitar? What are you playing now?

JS: My first guitar was a Gibson ES 125. I own one of those guitars now. But my primary guitar is a Gibson L5 Wes Montgomery model.

JGL: Who were your influences on jazz guitar when you were beginning? And have they stayed the same or have they changed over the years? Who are you listening to today (guitarists or non-guitarists)?

JS: Including the players I've mentioned, my main guitar influences when I was starting to play were Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino, George Benson, Joe Pass, Tal Farlow, Baden Powell and Bola Sete. I still love those great players as much as ever. But, nowadays, there are so many great guitarists -- pretty much everyone I hear sounds great and has some unique ideas and playing styles. To name a few that come to mind, Gene Bertoncini, Russell Malone, Jack Wilkins and Paul Myers are master solo guitarists. I also love John McLaughlin, Frankie Gambale, Rodney Jones, Peter Leitch, Gregg Skaff, Peter Bernstein, Kurt Rosenwinkle, so many others. I listen to everything I can.

JGL: Did you know early on that music was something you wanted to do as a career choice and if so, what were some of the things you did to make this choice work for you?

JS: I was actually very fortunate. When I was just starting out, I played with another guitarist named Richie Bell at a party sponsored by the United Nations. While we were playing, a woman kept coming over to us and asking us all sorts of questions: "why do you do this?" "how long have you been playing?" etc. We were very courteous. The next day, I must have gotten about 20 calls for gigs. The woman turned out to be a writer for the New York Times. She liked our playing and wrote a favorable review about us and included my phone number. I was inundated with work for a long time as a result of that article. This helped me decide what direction to take.

JGL: When you were younger what was your band experiences like? Did you have friends who were involved in music as well or did you have to search for people to play with.

JS: I played with quite a number of folk and rock players when I was growing up. After I started playing jazz, I met lots of players through friends and sitting in. The first big band I was in though was somewhat of a disaster. It was a very well-known big band and I was called to sub. Usually, the band had a piano player, but I think it was a last minute thing and the contractor couldn't find anyone so somehow I got called. The gig was outside of Pittsburgh. So I drove there with some of the other guys in the band. I was quite nervous, partly because I didn't know whether the charts were going to be for a piano player. But once we started playing, it seemed that it would be ok. The charts were mostly chord symbols with some rhythmic figures and simple fills. Everything was going well until the contractor decided to try out a new chart - in six flats, written for a piano player (two clefs) and no chord symbols. I said: "this is too hard;" he said: "you'll be fine;" "I said noooo." He counted it off. I thought the band would come in and I'd be able to hear where the tune was going, because there was no way I was going to be able to read it. But … it was 16 bars of guitar solo. Within 2 beats, I was lost. I could hear the trumpet player muttering "where's one"; I could see the contractor getting agitated. But worst, I could see the people on the dance floor trying to dance. When the band came in, it was like dominos. Everyone came in on a different beat. It wasn't pretty. I had some other train wrecks too, but most early gigs were a lot of fun.

JGL: OMG that's too funny. Were your parent(s) and family members supportive of your musical career choice?

JS: Well, after that episode in the hotel I mentioned earlier, there wasn't a whole lot of family enthusiasm. But that's changed over time.

JGL: What was your practice routine like when you were beginning and what is it like now? Are there specific areas that you work on or do you just play through tunes?

JS: When I first started playing, I spent many, many hours on technique and learning scales, arpeggios and chords. I practiced both finger-style and playing with a pick, trying to build speed and fluidity. None of that really started to come, though, until I experimented with using finger picks (just a thumb and middle finger pick). I found that with finger picks, I had more control over clarity and precision and could also play wider intervals more comfortably. The biggest challenge with them was learning the articulation so that the picking didn't sound overly staccato. Over the years, I've gotten into a bit of a routine. I spend about an hour in the morning working on sight-reading, and then practice playing through tunes, in and out of tempo, and with and without a metronome or some other rhythmic accompaniment. I work on lines, solo playing and chord playing. I try to practice at different tempos and meters, to build equal comfort with them all. I'm still more comfortable with some than others. I also practice trying to integrate ideas so that they sort of flow into each other. Now I practice mostly with finger picks or a flat pick.

JGL: How difficult do you find it making a living as a jazz guitar player? Or have you found it to be relatively easy?

JS: It's up and down. Sometimes I have a string of private events that pay well. But there can be long stretches without much happening. I've often had to rely on other work for income.

JGL: How do you go about searching for gigs? And what have you found in your experience that makes looking for gigs easier?

JS: I've found it very difficult to find club gigs. Even when you find them, the pay is generally so poor that it's almost more costly to take them then not to take them. At various points, I've done some advertising in a number of publications. Sometimes that's helped, sometimes not. As I mentioned above, I get calls for private events, usually by word of mouth. But, all in all, getting gigs isn't the easiest thing in the world.

JGL: Could you describe some of your best musical situations or experiences and the worst?

JS: I've had many very satisfying gigs, where the audience is really into the music and you feel so connected. One of the best of those was with guitarist Tim Breen. As I mentioned earlier, we used to play at a club in the East Village in NYC three nights a week. The place was always really crowded and loud and no one paid the slightest attention to the music. One night it was particularly loud and there must have been two to three hundred people in the place. At one point, we played a Freddie Hubbard song called "Fancy Free." The room was so loud I could barely here what I was playing. But at the end of the tune, we got a long and loud standing ovation. Tim and I looked at each in amazement - we didn't think anyone had heard a note. We thought they must have been applauding something else. One of the worst gigs I've had was the big band date I mentioned earlier. But there have been others. One was with a drummer who played like he was driving a garbage truck and crashing into all the garbage cans on the street. Others have been with singers who have a free concept of ensemble playing. That reminds me of the story of the pianist who asks the singer: "ok, when we do this tune, do you want to do a measure of 11/8; two measures of 5/16; one measure of 3/4;" etc. The singer says: "I don't know if I can do that." The piano player says: "well, that's how you did it last night."

JGL: What type of musical situation do you enjoy the most (ie: trio, quartet, duo, solo, etc.)

JS: Guitar, bass and drums is my favorite setting. In that setting, you have more freedom to control the harmony; direct the focus of the tunes; really establish a mood. But other settings are very enjoyable too. On my CD, I explored lots of different settings and they were all very satisfying and instructive.

JGL: What type of guitar/amp sound do you prefer, or does it change from one situation to the next?

JS: I have an AER Amp, a Polytone and a Fender Twin Reverb. I like them all. But the AER has 60 watts, only weighs about 15 lbs. has a great sound and can be used on gigs with bass and drums. So I've been using that amp fairly regularly.

JGL: Where would you like to see jazz guitar go in the coming years?

JS: Somewhere nearer my apartment.

JGL: LOL....Do you like performing more as a sideman or as a leader? And if you could comment on the pros and cons of both.

JS: Performing as a leader has a number of advantages: you can control the music, the general mood and feel, select the tunes, hire the players who seem to fit best and have a chance to play with some players you might not otherwise have an opportunity to play with. However, performing as a sideman helps you to develop an instinct for what leaders are hoping to hear and forces you to increase your repertoire, learn new styles and listen carefully to how to blend best with the other players. I like both.

JGL: Song for Micaela is your first CD as a leader. What was the motivation to release your own CD? And what was your experience as such getting that first CD out (from the initial idea to the final product)? Do you have any plans for future projects and if so, will there be more original compositions on it or do you prefer playing standards?

JS: I credit Tony Cimorosi as the motivating force behind my CD. I met Tony about eight years ago, through a mutual friend. Tony and I became friends and started playing together regularly. Tony's a great bass player and a very savvy and motivating guy. Tony persuaded me that I should do a CD. He convinced me that it would help get my name out and advance my career. We spent a lot of time thinking about how to put it together. Tony helped with the overall concept and involving some of the other players. Tony introduced me to Vince Cherico. That formed the original nucleus for the group. Later Harvie S became involved. I'd known Harvie for a very long time, through Sam Brown and always loved his playing and playing with him. The two trios (one with Tony and one with Harvie) really clicked and became the foundation for the CD. As the CD started to take shape, my aim was to have variety in tune selection, time feels, instrumentation and mood. The guitar trio is the heart of the CD and the other instrumentation was intended to add color, variety and texture. What better players to do that than Randy, Eric, Bruce and Carla. The CD has done very well. As of early-September it was #28 on the US Jazz radio charts, and there have been some very positive reviews. This has given me the confidence to begin thinking seriously about a second CD. At the moment, I'm not sure what form it will take. But my inclination is to follow a similar path, perhaps with some more intricate arrangements of originals and standards.

JGL: There are some wonderful and very high profile players on your CD. Guys and gals like Randy Brecker, Harvie S, Carla Cook and others. How did these associations come to pass and had you played with these individuals prior to this date?

JS: Although I hadn't played with Bruce before recording the CD, I'd known him for quite a long time through Randy Johnston and always loved his playing. I was so pleased when he agreed to participate. He introduced me to Carla, who sang a fantastic version of So Many Stars. I'd heard Eric at Smoke for quite a few years, but didn't know him. He's arguably one of the best tenor players around today. I met him through Vince. I was amazed that one of the best tenor players in the world would play on my CD. Then to top it off, a mutual friend introduced me to Randy Brecker, and I asked him if he would be interested in participating in the project. To my amazement, he agreed too. I was lucky to have such great players agree to play with me.

JGL: Your bio states that you have played with Bucky Pizzarelli and vocalist Norah Jones (although I guess not at the same time). Would you talk a bit about how these pairings came about and in what context?

JS: Many years ago, I heard Bucky and Georges Barnes play. Bucky was the warmest and friendliest guy and occasionally let me sit in on some of his gigs (though he might not remember that now, all these years later). He used to play at various clubs around the city and I'd try to go hear him whenever I could. I met Norah through a mutual friend about five years ago before she hit her home runs. We had a gig at a fine Italian restaurant on the East Side in Manhattan. We played there quite a few times - just duo. I thought she was really talented and could actually get somewhere. I guess I was right!! The gig eventually ended and I fell out of contact with Norah. The next time I heard about her, her record was #1 on the charts and she was winning five Grammys.

JGL: You played quite a few gigs as a solo guitarist, and on your CD there is a beautiful solo arrangement of the tune "Why Did I Choose You". Is this a style you would like to incorporate more in your playing and recording, or is it just a one off kind of thing.

JS: Thanks for the kind words about the solo arrangement. I love to play arrangements like these. I'd like to develop more of them. As I mentioned earlier, Russell Malone, Jack Wilkins, Paul and Gene are real masters of this style of playing. If I could pluck up the courage, I'd call each of them for a lesson.

JGL: You have been playing in the New York scene for the past 25 years or so. Have you found it difficult to work much given the heavy competition or is there still enough work for anyone who can "cut" it? Also, your bio states that you have "... been quite active on the private party circuit". What is a "private party circuit"?

JS: There is really heavy competition in NY and not that many club gigs. But, fortunately, there are still a number of private events I get called for. The "private party circuit" is really just a number of people I know who have or know of private parties and/or events from time to time and recommend us for them.

JGL: Any advice for the younger guy or gal who is thinking about playing jazz guitar?

JS: Practice, practice; get a good teacher; play in a lot of bands; make a high quality CD; get a good press kit and pound the pavement for gigs.

JGL: Have you ever had second thoughts about your choice to have music as a career and if so, what other career path do you think you would have followed had you not been a guitar player.

JS: I love playing guitar. It's nearly always satisfying to play, except infrequently, either when nerves, equipment inadequacies or other road-blocks get in the way. I think if I hadn't become a guitar player, I probably would have become a mattress tester.

JGL: Thank you James for participating in jazzguitarlife.com. It is most appreciated.