Interview with Francisco Mora Catlett


Q: Your album River Drum has been released some months ago. How content are you with the responses it's got so far?

Francisco Mora Catlett: This is an album with great significant meaning for me. It was on the shelf for sometime, and at one point it was almost lost (the celluloid in the "2'inch 24 tracks", where it was originally recorded, decayed and it had to be baked, restored and transfer into a digital format). It is out now and has brought about the opportunity to manifest one of the most important works I have done in Detroit, with some it's best musical talent. I am also very happy with the audience response; it should have been out a while ago.

Q: Please tell me how you've hooked up with Premier Cru Music who released River Drum.

Francisco Mora Catlett: George Katsiris the CEO of the label is an old student of mine from MSU. We have stated to work on his projects in NYC, when he heard the digital master he said it would be a crime to let it sit any longer so he took the initiative to master it and released. I thank him for that his courage and his musical sensitivity.

Q: How would you describe your music to someone who hasn't heard of Francisco Mora Catlett before?

Francisco Mora Catlett: In the best of my ability and experience, I'm always working to best represent the collective Presence of the African Historical Heritage in the Americas, north, south and the Caribbean. Jazz is the looking glass and the African Presence in the Americas is the horizon.

Q: You also played with the Sun Ra Arkestra and Max Roach's M' Boom Band. How influential was this time for you as a musician and composer. Did it changed the way you respond to music?

Francisco Mora Catlett: I have been very fortunate in my life time to have had great mentors like Max Roach and Sun Ra who are responsible for my conceptual musical foundation. We should ad to these remarkable mentors Babatunde Olatunji and Alan Dawson who in my earlier years in the USA, instructed me with strict discipline into the African and Jazz Drumming.

Q: You've also worked with Carl Craig's Innerzone Orchestra and more recently with him as part of the Outer Zone Band. Please tell me how you've met Carl, what musical vision do you share and what is it you can realize with the Outer Zone Orchestra that you can't realize as the solo artist Francisco Mora Catlett.

Francisco Mora Catlett: One of the most remarkable musical experiences I have enjoyed coming out of Detroit has been associated with Carl Craig (C2). His outstanding way to organize sound and his intuition to get to musical situations puts him as one of my preferred music explorers. I met him trough my daughter Ife Mora ( vocalist, trip-hop, rock experimental and so on artist), and we had lengthily conversations about the collective experience of African American musicians in electronic music, I had worked with Sun Ra, one of it's earliest pioneers, and I have always though about Detroit Techno to be a continuity of this experience. The Outer Zone Band trough my experience, is a Jazz outburst of the experiences in the Inner Zone Orchestra, my work leads my in that direction. I have directly introduced elements of Afro Cuban folklore, Mexican surrealism, Free Jazz and of course electronic music. I would hope that for all the musicians involved in future Outer Zone projects it can become a fresh expressive vehicle.

Q: What do you like about drums that you picked them as your favorite Instruments?

Francisco Mora Catlett: It was the easiest instrument I could play when I started out in Music. Progressively became the most complicated and the hardest thing to do, playing drums is the most fascinating thing to me, and I strive to play and practice everyday.

Q: I'm especially impressed by the Amazona suite on River Drum. Please tell me how you've come up with the idea. Is there a special story behind these songs?

Francisco Mora Catlett: I'm glad you do, because it started out as an environmental tribute and a warning call to the devastation of our natural resources. As the music evolved other very significant and important conceptual elements (that where there) evolved and surfaced. The Orisha Oshun, the African Yoruba deity (now in the American continent), owner of the rivers and the sweet waters, makes her presence as a defender of the pristine, pure and clear water.

Q: Mora! and World Trade Music are albums you've released before River Drum. Where do you see your progress as a musician and composer when you compare these three releases?

Francisco Mora Catlett: I had to get this works out of my experience; I have so many conceptual projects standing in the wings. It is a matter of time, El Morro (re- released in River Drum) has already been choreographed by Cuban Dancer/ Choreographer "Eduardo Rivero" General Artistic Director for Danza del Caribe one of Cuba's major modern dance companies. El Morro has been recorded already twice by other people, the same as The Cultural Warrior (tree times) and this appreciation of my music, lets me know I have a lot of work ahead and very little time to get to it.

Q: The traditional jazz song AJ's Blues offers a welcome change of style on River Drum. Why didn't you include more songs in this style? And why did you dedicate this song to Ali Jackson?

Francisco Mora Catlett: I'm also happy to hear you welcome a straight up swing tune like this one; it is encouraging there are more where this one came from. Ali Jackson was a good friend of mine an outstanding Bassist, educator and theorist of Jazz Music, who work hard and struggle raising two young kids by himself (one of them is Ali Mohamed drummer with Winton Marsalis), We became close in Detroit and he passed under tragic circumstances, he was also a mentor and a figure of what Jazz Musicians have to go through to maintain themselves working on their craft and their art form (it is not easy).

Q: In which way do you like your music to develop? What can we expect from you on future releases?

Francisco Mora Catlett: Straight up swinging, strong, honest and sincere music coming your way.

For more infos visit premiercrumusic.com and read my review of River Drum.