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Name: Garrett Saracho
Nationality: American
Occupation: Composer, improviser, pianist
Current release: Garrett Saracho teams up with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad for JID015, available November 18th 2022 via Jazz is Dead. Subscribe to the series here.

If you enjoyed this interview with Garrett Saracho and would like to know more about his music, visit his artist page on the Jazz is Dead website.



When did you first start getting interested in musical improvisation?

Nineteen years old!  

Which artists, approaches, albums or performances involving prominent use of improvisation captured your imagination in the beginning?

West Montgomery, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis.

Focusing on improvisation can be an incisive transition. Aside from musical considerations, there can also be personal motivations for looking for alternatives. Was this the case for you, and if so, in which way?

Yes, it was! Improvising for me was a way to connect with my community, connect with my roots.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to improvisation? Do you see yourself as part of a tradition or historic lineage?

1st Question: My improvisation is a melange of cultures, a crossroads of an entire and people. When you hear my writing, you hear the land, and the people who inhibited it,

2nd: Historic lineage, definitely!

What was your own learning curve / creative development like when it comes to improvisation - what were challenges and breakthroughs?

My life, heart and soul changed completely when I discovered a different world in music. One I thought never exsisted. I embarked upon a different path with different people, people who liked the way I thought. I learned a great deal from my close friends and associates in South Central.

A major breakthrough was the opportunity of meeting incredible, gifted musicians such as Herbie Baker Jr. He’s always been my inspiration and a major guiding star in my life. In the span of two short  years, we would prove that when we won the prestigious Frank Sinatra Music Award given at UCLA. I played Vibraphone and wrote the two compositions along with Herbie, who was the Pianist and Arranger of the compositions.

The challenges I’ve faced were not as much of a problem as I was myself. I always expected more, through hard work, toil and sweat. I never liked being second to anything in my life. I don’t suffered fools!

Tell me about your instrument and/or tools, please. How would you describe the relationship with it? What are its most important qualities and how do they influence the musical results and your own performance?

Music composition has always been a key in my life, no matter what genre. I’m not limited. Whether rock, ballads, blues, latin, funk, Native funk, hip hop or Jazz. For the last 35 years, I’ve enjoyed my KORG synthesisers.

The time I spend with my instruments is precious and sacred. You're one on one with the instrument, like an artist is with his paints and brushes ready for the canvas. All my emotions and desires are fulfilled.

Through my music rhythm, beats and melodies, through exploration, I’ve discovered the keys to many other art forms. Music, Art, Dance, Stage, Video and Film. Thus, I’ve chosen life as a Composer, Filmmaker and Storyteller!

My musical compositions will precede me. My work awaits me.

Can you talk about a work, event or performance in your career that's particularly dear to you? Why does it feel special to you? When, why and how did you start working on it, what were some of the motivations and ideas behind it?

There are two events that are very dear to me.

The first was the concert and audition I performed at UCLA’s Ackerman Union. Our group’s performance was terrific, ABC sent down their A&R staff to the show. They loved the performance and as a result, I was signed with ABC Dunhill / Impulse Records, thanks to Producers Lee Young and Ed Michel.

Another was a performance my group and I performed at Cal State Los Angeles. Unbeknownst to me and my group, there was simply a cattle call to get any band members from the area to open up for the two honoured performers, Jose Feliciano and legendary Vick Carr.

When my band got there, I suddenly realised, there were many groups and different musicians that were standing around, waiting to be called by the stage manager. Suddenly he appears and asks which of the groups are ready with their instruments.

As luck would have it, none of the other bands had their instruments and equipment, because their roadies had their equipment in their trucks. No backline support from KABC/TV was ever offered. When the stage manager asked me, I told him we had our instruments and equipment, so we scurried up and played our tails off for the people who were arriving for the main event.

When we finished, I was announced as, “En Medio!” The crowd cheered. As I walked off the stage, I could hear the thunder then faint sound of the applause, as I headed to my van, exhausted! I sat on the edge of my Van, doors open, then suddenly, I was introduced by my cousin to the gentleman whose beer company was sponsoring the event! He was Vice President of the famous Schlitz Liquor Brewing company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin! He was jubilant, and very robust about the love he had for my music and the group.

“We should be touring in Europe”. he stated. Ben Barkin introduced to the renowned concert promoter George Wein!

How do you feel your sense of identity influences your collaborations? Do you feel as though you are able to express yourself more fully in solo mode or, conversely, through the interaction with other musicians? Are you “gaining” or “sacrificing” something in a collaboration?

Keith Jarrett answered this best when he told me, “forget your dreams, and they’ll remember you forever.”

Derek Bailey defined improvising as the search for material which is endlessly transformable. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his perspective, what kind of materials have turned to be particularly transformable and stimulating for you?

The past and its remnants reverberate through me when I improvise.

When you're improvising, does it actually feel like you're inventing something on the spot – or are you inventively re-arranging patterns from preparations, practise or previous performances?

I try not to think about anything but the composition of what I’m playing.

If I know the melody and chordal structure, then I feel free to improvise in the amount of time or measure I’m playing, keeping in mind the time and measure I’m allowed to work in.

To you, are there rules in improvisation? If so, what kind of rules are these?

There are no rules in improvisition, particularly if you can improvise. You know the composition and feel comfortable enough to create a particular sound and arrangement in the time and piece you're playing.

You simply embark on your own feelings, emotions, thus your contribution to the piece.

In a live situation, decisions between creatives often work without words. How does this process work – and how does it change your performance compared to a solo performance?

When you're soloing it’s you and you alone. In a group performance, everyone is laying out the rhythm to solo / improvise on. That’s the magic of it.  

There are many descriptions of the ideal state of mind for being creative. What is it like for you? In which way is it different between your solo work and collaborations?

I’m driven, I feel like I’m on a cloud. When I’m locked in on a composition, on my own, I play and imagine something different and original.

With musicians on stage, listening and accompanying, I can achieve my goal or premise. Like flying on a cloud or magic ride.

When musicians listen and back me, they enable me to fly.

How do you see the relationship between sound, space and performance and what are some of your strategies and approaches of working with them?

I see that relationship like I see love - it’s a delicate, fragile dance that often only makes sense in the moment.

As for my strategies, I try to move with love, to improvise with warmth and to create as if I were realising the version of myself I’d be most proud of.

In a way, improvisation reminds us of the transitory nature of life. What do you feel, can music and improvisation express and reveal about life and death?

Music and life vary, but are connected. They express emotional feelings from ecstasy to sadness.

Improvisation, in both areas, reminds us of our authorial power, and our ability to make the world that we want to live in.