Name: Web Web
Members: Roberto Di Gioia (piano, synth, percussion), Tony Lakatos (saxophone), Christian von Kaphengst (upright bass), Peter Gall (drums)
Interviewee: Roberto Di Gioia
Nationality: Italian-German (Roberto), German (the rest of the band)
Current release: The new Web Web album WEB MAX II, a deep dive into spiritual jazz, is a collaboration with Max Herre. The record is slated for release October 27th 2023 via Compost.

[Read our Peter Gall interview]

Over the course of his career, Roberto Di Gioia has worked with a wide range of artists, including Jan Bang, Nils Petter Molvaer, Peter Kruder, Max Herre, and Eivind Aarset. For an even deeper dive, also check out our previous Roberto DiGioia interview.

[Read our Jan Bang interview]
[Read our Nils Petter Molvaer interview]
[Read our Nils Petter Molvaer interview about Certainty of Tides and Orchestral Meditations]
[Read our Eivind Aarset interview]
[Read our Peter Kruder interview]
 


When did you first start getting interested in musical improvisation?  

When I was 12 years old, I listened  to John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner Trio, so I was totally hooked and tried my own way of imitating their way of improvising.

I developed my own system of scales and harmonies and voicings which I still use 55 years later :)

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

John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Bill Evans

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?

Both. There are rules like in a football game …you can't just take fixed harmonies and play wrong scales over them.

On the other hand, of course, you have freedom in your individual playing, such as structure, construction, and especially how far you go away from convention.

In the end, it's a matter of individual taste.

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

The moment you have learned something, you have to forget it again, otherwise your playing will become boring. You have to come so far as to trust yourself in order to be able to forget again.

Listen to yourself as a listener, but above all listen to your fellow musicians, and serve the music.

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?  

I have been playing the piano since I was 6 years old. I am one with the piano, so to speak, it is not a foreign instrument, but a part of me. That's why I learned other instruments like bass.

I prefer to play bass, then piano because it gives me the feeling of discovering something new.

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?

I had the extremely great honor of making a recording with Charlie Watts of the Stones in 2003. He was so humble and served the music. He was so ignoble, in his playing, in his character. Such a normal likeable guy.

I was really ashamed of my airs and graces, and whenever I start to get arrogant, I think of that particular moment.

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?

I can't play alone, I can't perform alone. It's like telling a joke to myself.

What I can do alone is write and record music in the studio.  I love that because I appreciate the quietness and calmness. I'm just in dialogue with myself and reflecting. But I can't play live alone. Boring like hell:)

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?

You grow all the time, you forget all the time. One learns through forgetting.

Quoting oneself is mostly unproductive. This constantly changes the point of view. It's more a philosophical question than a musical one.

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?

There absolutely must be a strong relationship of trust between the musicians themselves. Trust is everything.

Listening is also everything. Just like in a normal dialogue, you listen carefully and answer a question exactly. And like in an inspiring conversation, playing together can lift you into higher spheres.

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 make no distinction between solo work and work with others.

First and foremost, I am a worker, and through work creativity arises automatically, not the other way around.

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

It must already be a prerequisite that you are satisfied with the instrument, that it sounds warm and comfortable, that the environment is right, that it sounds good in the room. If one of these doesn't apply, it's a struggle with the situation.

That can sometimes sound exciting, maybe even better than when everything is perfect. But it is exhausting.

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

None of this applies to me at all. It's just music.