East Coast jazz guitarist Sheryl Bailey leads an active music life, performing with her organ-based band in popular jazz venues, composing and recording original material, and teaching at the Berklee School of Music in Boston.

Her latest CD release, “The Power of 3,” has received excellent acclaim from a number of reviewers. I’ve known Sheryl for some time now, and recently had the opportunity and pleasure to interview her.

MS: Sheryl, how about a little background for those readers not familiar with your work. How and when did you first pick up the guitar?
 

SB: I loved guitar-driven hard rock: Bands like Deep Purple and Humble Pie. A neighborhood kid showed me how to play barre chords and a boogie-woogie guitar ‘riff, and the guitar never left my hands - still doesn’t.

MS: Do you come from a musical family?

SB: My great-grandmother and grandmother were professional pianists, and my mother played professionally now and again to pay the bills. She is an incredible pianist still. She was very serious about me studying privately. I had little interest in school. I preferred to skip school and learn rock solos from records by Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption” was big then. I played all of that stuff. But my mom kept at me, and she found a teacher in Pittsburgh—not far from home—John Maione. John introduced me to recordings of Wes and Jimmy Raney that really changed my life. We would work on pieces by Carl Kress, George Van Eps, and solos by Joe Pass, Charlie Christian—the whole bag of early cats. It was a great and important foundation. These were my most important jazz influences, and really laid the foundation for understanding the instrument.

MS: I know that you’re very excited about your current organ trio and recent CD recording. How did the three of you first meet?

SB: I met drummer Ian Froman through the great tenor saxophonist, George Garzone. We did a series of trio gigs (no bass) at The Cornelia Street Cafe in NYC. Ian is amazing. He is really a master modern drummer. He has the deepest understanding of the style of Elvin Jones that I’ve ever heard, and the most unbelievable linear concept. I knew then that I wanted to do a project with him, but was missing the third person. Months later, I kept hearing about this great Hammond player, Gary Versace. I’ve worked a lot in the organ trio format and have always wanted to explore it from a freer 60’s perspective ala the Grant Green/Larry Young/Elvin Jones band. I’m particularly fond of the writing and improvising styles from the late 50’s to mid-70’s. Gary really knows the tradition of the Hammond B-3, but also is very fluent in modern harmony and time feels. After playing with him I knew I had the missing piece of the puzzle. I was supposed to leave on a 6-week tour on September 12, 2001. Well, that didn’t happen, so to fill the space and to try to find some sanity and healing from music, I called Gary and Ian for a session. It was pure magic and great fun. Everything has since fallen into place—tunes, gigs, recording and a special friendship. A great example of creating something life-affirming out of death and destruction.

MS: I’ve enjoyed listening to your latest CD. How would you compare it to your earlier releases?

SB: The newest disc is really personal, because it’s straight-up guitar playing; no effects, just pick against the strings through an amp, live and intimate. My first disc, “Little Misunderstood,” was a funk/fusion blowout. I spent a lot of time producing it to fit into that soundscape. At the time, I was living in Baltimore, and playing in a power trio with bassist Gary Grainger and drummer Larry Brite, so the material evolved from that scene. I was pretty fresh out of Berklee then, so my influences were more along Abercrombie, Stem, and Scofield. After moving to NYC in 1996, I really refocused on the jazz guitar sound and style, listening to players like Pete Bernstein, and playing with all of the incredibly swinging drummers here.

MS: And the second recording?

SB: “Reunion of Souls” is also a live, jazz guitar date, and a collaboration of sorts with guitarist Chris Bergson, bassist Ashley Turner, and drummer Sunny Jam. I’ve always loved playing guitar duo and quartet, and all of us had been playing together at different points since we moved to the city, so it was really a celebration of all that creativity. I think it’s a different kind of jazz guitar recording, because it’s about the group interplay and compositions more than two guitarists trying to outdo each other. Chris and I are both unique and different, and I think our styles complement each other and search out the music, not just the chops. Frank Forte wrote a really accurate and beautiful review of the disc for JJG.

MS: Will we get to hear a follow-up to the latest CD?

SB: I’m planning to record “The 3” again in early 2003. We have been evolving a great deal from playing live together, so I’m excited about what comes next.

MS: I know that you’re pretty active gigging with the trio. Where are some of your favorite places to play?

SB: I play a lot at the 55 Bar, with “The 3” and with other artists. It’s one of the best jazz dives on planet Earth! 5B3 also plays at Comelia Street Cafe, The Zinc Bar, and Detour and Smoke. These are all rooms where you can really stretch, and people come to listen. NYC has so many nooks and crannies where great music is being played.

MS: You mentioned a recent gig with fellow jazz guitarist, Jack Wilkins. What was it like to play with him?

SB: Playing with Jack is a real adventure. It reaches all of the extremes, from the profound to the absolutely silly. My face actually aches from smiling. He has so much facility and wisdom, and his comping swings. He adds a lot of inner lines to his chords, so it’s also filled with a lot of melodies and interesting harmonic twists.

MS: Any plans for work with Jack or other jazz guitarists?

SB: The gig we did was the first official performance we ye ever had. People went nuts over it, so Jack and I agreed to find more situations to work in. I’ve always loved guitar duos. At Berklee it was the easiest way to jam, because there are 1,000 guitarists around, so it’s a situation I’m really comfortable in. I love the intimacy of duo, and playing at a low volume really brings much more sound out of the guitars. I also find that many people are intrigued by the guitar, so whether they really know about jazz or not, they respond to that format.

How did you first get involved in the educational field, and later Berklee?

SB: In 1992, I started teaching for the jazz program at Towson University in Baltimore. I’ve become a regular at the National Guitar Workshop’s Jazz Seminar and at the Stanford Jazz Workshop. Berklee contacted me about two years ago to teach—I think through my association with Garzone.

MS: Is your current teaching schedule a busy one? SB: I commute on Mondays and return on Tuesdays, in between touring and such. It’s a bit of a whirlwind, but I really enjoy my students. I pretty much have free reign, in terms of developing my own curriculum. That’s how “Chord Rules” evolved. Having gone to Berklee, I can identify with the student’s academic head-space, but being a working/traveling artist, I try to cut through the non-practical swirl and get down to the fundamentals—what it’s REALLY like to play jazz professionally. We focus on the basics of the instrument and of jazz improvisation.

MS: Tell us a little about your book, “The Chord Rules.” I assume that ther is a double-meaning to that title.

SB: The “Chord Rules” deals with navigating LI-V-I’s,

drop—2 voicings, applications for the Jazz Melodic Minor Scale, and other assorted pet topics of mine. The underlying theme of everything is that playing jazz is about creating melodies from harmony. To be able to play changes means melodically interpreting arpeggios. That’s why Charlie Christian changed the jazz line; he created melodies from harmonic shapes. No one really played “vertically” before him.

MS: Then I get the impression that you’re not too big on scales?

SB: When students endlessly ask, “What scale fits?” my reply is,” There are no scales; only chords.” If you wonder why your solos “don’t sound like jazz,” it’s because you aren’t defining the structure of the chords. Lines should flow from the inside of the chord, outward. Understanding voice-leading is essential to creating good lines. The book is geared more towards intermediate—to—advanced players, but I’ve had several students really rip through the material with successful results. It’s always evolving too, depending on feedback from students. The best advice is: Learn all of the rules. Now break all of the rules.

MS: Yes, just as Bird said many years ago. Sheryl, during a past conversation you mentioned a fairly “down— to—earth” approach you use to write original music. Care to elaborate on that?

SB: My process of writing is very simple: 15 minutes or one sitting. If I can’t conceive the whole tune within that time, it never makes it to the final book (performance). I’m not very deep about it. I write tunes that will be fun to blow on. When I ‘m writing, I keep a completely open mind about the outcome. I find a few phrases and let them flow. Almost all of my tunes turn out to be oddly phrased, like 29 bars or 19 bars, but never on purpose.

MS: I assume that you’ve been influenced by standard repertoire and notable jazz composers?

SB: I’ve studied standard tunes and transcribed volumes of jazz tunes, Monk in particular, so I just trust my instinct at this point. I’m not really attached to any of them per se; it’s more amusing to me. I write 4-5 tunes a month, at least half of them, or more, making the final book. So every performance, I have new material, basically.

MS: How about your favorite guitar and amplifier? Or are there more than one?

SB: I love, love, love the Trademark 60 amp by Tech

21! I even travel with a Sans-Amp on the road, in case I’m provided with any suspect gear. I can get that warm sound from a toad. I’m currently playing a Yamaha SAS-1500, which is only available in Japan. I was there earlier this year with Richard Bona, and visited Yamaha. They gave me this guitar from their prototype lab. It’s a small, ES-335 style. The body is about the size of a Les Paul, so it feels great to me, being of pygmy stature (laughs). Working with Richard and some of the other ‘non-jazz’ artists I travel with, I use my Parker Fly and a humongous pedal board.

MS: What gauge and make of strings do you prefer?

SB: I use .13’s on the Yamaha and .11’s on the Fly. Any brand will do.

MS: Any affinity for fingerstyle acoustic guitar work?

SB: I don’t really get called for any acoustic work. I admire classical guitar, but I’ve never studied it. I work within the varying styles of electric guitar.

MS: You must get lots of questions on the subject of women in jazz.” I would imagine that can get pretty tiring?

SB: Man. Woman. Black. White. Jazz. Rock. These words only define forms, not experience. Playing jazz is an incredible human event. Art is about communicating the divine through human activity. We all possess the divine and the ability to express it and share it.

MS: Very well put, Sheryl. I couldn’t agree more. Any words of wisdom for other aspiring jazz guitarists?

SB: Know your history. Nothing comes from nothing. When you understand how jazz has evolved—melodically, rhythmically, harmonically, and even politically and spiritually—your playing will take on a new richness. Transcribing and playing with people is the fastest route. It takes a lot of discipline and soul-searching to achieve your goals, and it is endless. Know that you are experiencing creativity and that you’re part of something really special and unique the only true American invention and export.