In This Site
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Interviews
| Greg
Federico and his music have received critical
acclaim in both radio and print. The
following is an except from Greg's interview
with Tom Harrison, of Princeton University's WPRB
103.3 FM. |
| TH: |
How
did you form The Greg Federico Project? |
| GF: |
(In the late
80???‚¬?„?s) I had written a few compositions
and I had gone into S.S. Studios in
Hamilton Square, New Jersey to begin
recording them.
At first it was kind of a solo
thing ???‚¬??? I was doing my own keyboards and
my own drums.
Then I became very interested in
wanting to work with a longtime friend,
Robb Edwards, who is a bass player, guitar
player, singer, kind of
multi-instrumentalist.
So I brought him in on a tune
called "February", which is on
the first record, Returning.
It was a long process from there.
Eventually I brought in Dave
Edwards who ended up being my writing
partner throughout the entire process of
that first recording.
I then added different
instrumentalists who were going to provide
various textures for the album.
Interestingly, when I first started
out I wasn???‚¬?„?t thinking about doing an
album.
It was kind of more like, I was
just recording tunes and then pretty soon
I had enough material and I kind of said:
???‚¬?“Hey!
You know, we have something
here.???‚¬??
So I forged ahead and finished it. |
| TH: |
What
influences your writing? |
| GF: |
One
thing is nature.
For example, anybody that has the
first album, if they look on it they see a
cover shot ???‚¬??? it???‚¬?„?s a nature scene, and
actually the scene is just off of Maryland
Route 137, which is one of the tunes from Returning.
It???‚¬?„?s kind of a ???‚¬?“Countryside In
Early Spring???‚¬?? shot, and that road was
very influential for me.
It???‚¬?„?s a very meditative driving
experience for me and I wrote a
tone-portrait to describe that experience.
Certain people also influence my
writing as well as different happenings in
my life.
I???‚¬?„?d say that pretty much people
and places are the main influences. |
| TH: |
Do
you think it???‚¬?„?s more important to get the
theory down before you get in touch with
your emotions and trying to bring that out
in your playing? |
| GF: |
Do
you mean the theory from the standpoint of
the actual written notation? |
| TH: |
Right. |
| GF: |
That
is actually an afterthought most of the
time for me. There are two basic ways that I write. The first way is where the changes kind of come to me in my
head, and before I even spend any
appreciable time physically working them
out on the piano I spend a couple of days,
or sometimes even weeks, listening to my
???‚¬?“inner spirit???‚¬??, or ???‚¬?“soul???‚¬??, or
whatever you want to call it, really kind
of manipulating these changes
???‚¬?“upstairs???‚¬?? first.
And then, once I???‚¬?„?ve developed my
initial ideas, I have to basically
transcribe what???‚¬?„?s in my head via the
piano, which is of course followed by my
writing it down on paper.
The other way that I write is more
of an improvisational way, where I might
sit down at the piano and spontaneously
come up with ideas, and then I either put
them down on tape or write them out.
I???‚¬?„?ve discovered that I tend to
enjoy the outcome of my writing more when
it is via the first method ???‚¬??? that is to
say, writing the tunes ???‚¬?“upstairs???‚¬?? in
my head first. |
| TH: |
Right.
. .because you???‚¬?„?re kind of listening to
your ???‚¬?“inner voice???‚¬??. |
| GF: |
Yes.
That is the method by which I do my
best writing. |
| TH: |
What
would be your favorite live setting?
Would it be a concert?
Outdoor concert?
Club date?
What do you prefer? |
| GF: |
I
think that the more intimate the
atmosphere, the more I like it usually.
I typically like playing in front
of people when I???‚¬?„?m pretty close to them.
I also enjoy listening to jazz in
more intimate settings. I enjoy when the performers are close enough to you
that you can sort of share even more in
what they???‚¬?„?re doing.
As a perennial student, I like to
see up close what is actually going on
from a technical perspective, but I also
enjoy making eye contact with the
performer ???‚¬??? somehow this seems to help
you, as the listener, connect with what
they are about musically. |
| TH: |
So
do you think that???‚¬?„?s where Jazz belongs,
in the intimate setting, or do you think
Jazz should also be played in concerts? |
| GF: |
I
don???‚¬?„?t think there necessarily is a
medium where Jazz is going to survive
better or not.
I mean, Pat Metheny for example
seems to do a wonderful job getting his
message across while playing to large
crowds of people.
I personally can???‚¬?„?t remember a
time when I???‚¬?„?ve seen his group play,
usually in a large setting, and haven???‚¬?„?t
been awe-inspired.
No.
I think Jazz fits in just fine in a
lot of different venues.
My personal favorite just happens
to be the small club type. |
| TH: |
If
you could collaborate with any musician,
past or present, who would it be? |
| GF: |
Wow!
There are a lot of great ones and
there are a lot of musicians that I
strongly look up to.
Certainly my main influence in my
composing has been guitarist Pat Metheny.
It???‚¬?„?s interesting that I gravitate
toward guitar players.
I like Al DiMeola???‚¬?„?s music a lot.
Chuck Loeb, who used to play with
Stan Getz, is another one I admire.
So I???‚¬?„?m very intrigued by guitar
players, which is strange because I
don???‚¬?„?t really know much about playing
guitar except for a few chords.
But I am very influenced by
Metheny???‚¬?„?s composing style where you have
kind of this ???‚¬?“Latin/World/Jazz hybrid
thing???‚¬?? with varied textures. So I would say that I would love to collaborate someday with
Pat Metheny. |
| TH: |
What
kind of music did you grow up listening
to? |
| GF: |
Well
my dad was very much into Jazz.
He listened a lot to Dave Brubeck,
who was one of his favorites.
We also listened a lot to Stan Getz
and jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd.
My dad had quite a few jazz albums,
one of my favorites of which was ???‚¬?“Pal
Joey???‚¬??:
Andre Previn, Red Mtchell, and
Shelly Manne on drums.
That was a great album from the
movie that Frank Sinatra was in ???‚¬??? I
always loved that album.
My dad also played piano, and he
was a pretty good reader of music.
When I was just a kid and he used
to play, I???‚¬?„?d stand by the piano and
watch him work on Chopin and other
classical compositions as well as some Pop
tunes of the day.
So I???‚¬?„?d say I received a pretty
good upbringing of listening to Jazz and
Classical from my parents.
And then I???‚¬?„?d have to say I sort
of received my Pop and Rock influences
from my two older brothers.
I learned a lot by listening to
what everyone in my family listened to. |
| TH: |
Do
you feel pressure to change the music you
want to play in the interest of being
commercially successful? |
| GF: |
That???‚¬?„?s a good
question inasmuch as I feel that every
musician who creates music outside of the
commercial/Pop genre (i.e. ???‚¬??? Jazz)
should answer it.
I think that ???‚¬?“up and coming???‚¬??
musicians are generally kind of stressed
out and put pressure on themselves to
???‚¬?“make it big???‚¬??.
And I???‚¬?„?ve seen instances of this
where the prospect of ???‚¬?“making it big???‚¬??
becomes more important, so important, that
they actually become less concerned with
regard to the music itself.
My theory from the start with my
own music, even before I knew I was going
to record any albums, was that if I was
able to I wanted to write music for
music???‚¬?„?s sake.
The main thing for me is that
hopefully I can strike a balance between
creating what I think is good music and
creating music that makes others feel
good.
Making others feel good through
listening to my music is definitely very
important for me.
In addition to making what I feel
is good music, I want to create my music
to share with others, and I want to be
able to communicate something to them
through my music. That???‚¬?„?s where it???‚¬?„?s at for me.
If I can accomplish both of those
goals I think I???‚¬?„?ll be successful, and
I???‚¬?„?ll just go ahead and let the chips
fall where they may as far as the
???‚¬?“commercial???‚¬?? aspect of it all. |
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In This Section
Buzz:
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| "Greg, I like this
music very much, this journey through pieces of your life.
Knowing you makes listening a very personal experience, very
real and close. A moment of triumph and I'm happy for
you.???‚¬??
P.G., Bronx, NY
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