Interview with Ben Flint


Q: You are a pianist and multi-keyboardist. Please tell who and what has influenced you to pursue a professional career as musician. And who are your main musical influences?

Ben Flint: Well, I was not really good at anything else, so that didn't leave me with many options. And I wasn't interested in anything else either, so that helped focus me. We had a great High school band director (Jim Terry), and I went to a couple of Aebersold jazz camps and met the late James Williams (Art Blakey's pianist). It was just a scene in Memphis - we used to go down to Huey's every Sunday and hear the Midtown Jazz Mobile, and over to hear the Tony Thomas trio. Also, Joyce Cobb's group with Donald Brown , Hot Fun. Bill Mobley would play around town too. I was hooked (later, Gerard Harris took over the Midtown Jazz Mobile gig and led it for years; Tony Thomas is still a great pianist in Memphis).
My first great influence was Chick Corea. But James turned me onto Phinneas Newborn, Jr. Then of course, I got into Herbie Hancock, the stuff he was doing in the 60s. I listened to James an awful lot, he was recording then. Later, I went thru this long period of trying to distill my ideas into a more succinct style. At that time, I was listening to a lot of Ahmad Jamal. Still do. Also, I love EST. They're trying some new stuff.

Q: You've played with Isaac Hayes for over a decade. How influential was this time for you and the way you deal with music?

Ben Flint: Well, as a younger musician, I was not really rooted in the groove, I tended to play a little on top of the beat, and not dig in that much. One of the greatest things about playing with Isaac was that, learning how to really settle into a groove, dig in without rushing. The other thing I practiced with Isaac was trying to connect with the audience. As a pianist, it's easy to look down all the time, which leaves everyone else out. So I would look out, and try to communicate the excitement of the music thru my face, and body. If you notice, when you're talking to one person, you can be pretty relaxed about how clear you are, how loud. If you're talking to 40 people, you really have to enunciate and project, maybe use your hands too. If you giving a speech to 10,000 you're going to probably practice, of course use a mike, but also body language, tone of voice, enunciation, accents. The same when playing, the larger the audience, the bigger you have to communicate the music. With Isaac we played maybe 30,000 people at a time on some of the bigger shows.

Q: Please tell me how the World Soul Project came about.

Ben Flint: I live in California and go to Memphis twice a year. As well as being a family visit, I would usually get together with Gerard and record some tunes at his home studio. Barry Campbell, the bassist, had been a friend of mine since high school. He went to New York and had a great career, but had returned back to Memphis, and lived just down the street from Gerard. He can play anything. Although, you notice his taste runs to the more commercial. His cut was #7. Ekpe is one of the few guys in Memphis who really specializes in percussion and he's really interested in African drums. But he has begun to develop his Brazilian bag too. So he was a shoo in. James Sexton, I guess Gerard met him. He's a composer too, but he didn't contribute anything (yet) to the project. He just had a great spirit, really loved the music and nailed the feels. Patricia Reis was an exchange student from Brazil studying in Memphis. I think Gerard met her down at Isaac Hayes' club, playing and singing. So he brought her in to do the lyrics for those tunes. Her tracks were really scratch tracks - she recorded live with the band - and left for Brazil a few days later. However, when we tried to find another singer to do it, noone sang in Portuguese that we could find. So we just left her tracks as they were. Adriano Faquini is a friend of mine, he lives in the bay area, and ex Brazilian. Kimiko Joy and Darian Gray and Dan Parenti recorded with us on two tracks - Love Divine and Intrigue. They all belong to a great band called Dynamic in the bay area. I'm friends with Darian's family for years, and he's just a brilliant musician. Kimiko wrote that tune to my chord progression, and I couldn't resist.

Q: Will there be more releases by the WSP or is this just a one-off?

Ben Flint: It remains to be seen. We're pushing to get some gigs at festivals and have already had a CD release party, very succesfully , in Memphis. We have another scheduled for the bay area in March. I think if things gel, yeah, we could do another. But we're going to have to solve to problem of being too spread out, as I live in California, and most others live in Tennessee.

Q: How would you describe the music of the WSP to someone who hasn't heard it yet?

Ben Flint: Music of the African Diaspora all combined together - Brazilian, Cuban, Soul, and cajun all played with a jazz/improvisational ethic.

Q: What's the message of the WSP? And where do you see its niche in today's music scene?

Ben Flint: Well, ultimately, it's just nice music. We are aware though, of the struggle of all people's against the corporate globalization that's threatening us. They have the money, the political connections, the profits, the press, the insatiable selfishness. We have the music, the soul, the will of thousands, humor, love. We're using what we can to try to carve out a decent dignified lifestlye. Musically, it's a little odd, as least as of yet. I think in the future there will become a new wave a music that is more politically motivated. There's some already. Until then, you can find us in the jazz section.

Q: I've remarked in my review that some of the songs have a raw demo feeling. Was it intended this was, was it just a question of money or was I just too hypercritical?

Ben Flint: I don't know if you're being too critical. Actually, Gerard and I work on this music in our spare time. We really got down to the wire last summer, trying to finish up before I had to go back to Cali. There were some snafu's that could have been avoided. The biggest one is actually a title mix up. Track 6 & 7's titles are reversed. So 6 is actually Love Divine, 7 is Night Moods. Most people could figure out where Love Divine is because that line is sung so many times, But Night Moods, being, instrumental, you can't tell. This upset Barry to no end. (He wrote Night Moods). And I don't blame him. I guess we were just rushing too hard.

Q: You currently teach at Laney College in Oakland. Please tell me more about this job.

Ben Flint: Actually, I currently teach at Vista College in Berkeley. I'm teaching the History of Jazz, Blues and Ragtime. It's a great course, designed for non music majors to learn about our African American heritage. And a very needed course. Someone once told me it takes several years to begin to develop your tastes in jazz. And in our rush rush society people don't take out the time to do that. So I give them the story, and leave them with several CD's to listen to. I ran into a former student at a jazz parade last fall. A New Orleans street parade was happenin in West Oakland to honor the dead from Katrina and she was there, dancing. It was a great moment.

Q: Though you (partly) live in California the WSP album and your solo album Onyx were recorded in Memphis,TN. What do you like about the music scene in Memphis? And what's different to the scene in the bay area?

Ben Flint: Well, the music scene is very healthy in the bay area. We have Yoshi's, the worlds' greatest jazz club, lots of great local music and out of town performers constantly playing here. But in Memphis, there is a local scene. People don't tend to move in and out so much, so you know people for years and develop relationships. The down side of Memphis is the tourism industry there is centered on pushing the ideas of old Memphis music - the blues, rockabilly (Elvis Presley), Stax, gospel. They're not really into modern stuff. At least, not at the political level, which is where the money get's spent. They feel tourists wouldn't be interested in hearing something modern. But there is a scene there that is hungry for relevant music, connection, art, poetry - kind of like the Love Jones movie. Those people suppport us when we have an event. And there is an element that loves straight ahead. But it's had to lure them out.

Q: Why isn't there a benflint.com website to promote you and your music online?

Ben Flint: Well there is - www.cdbaby.com/cd/benflint or www.cdbaby.com/cd/worldsoulproj. We're working on a Worldsoulproject.com website, to be up shortly.

For more infos visit cdbaby.com/cd/worldsoulproj, cdbaby.com/cd/benflint and read my review of World Soul Project.