Interview with Michael Adkins


Q: Please tell me something about your musical influences and your musical journey so far.

Michael Adkins: Well, in terms of influences I would have to mention my early musical inspiration. We always had a piano and in my neighborhood it seemed like every kid on the block played a musical instrument. Our neighbors across the street were professional musicians and my grandfather could play many different instruments, could sing, entertain, and do this stuff that I thought was unbelievable. My older sister played saxophone and my brother took guitar lessons as a youngster and I would go to their school band rehearsals, just sitting in the back listening. They had an incredible school band and I was in love with the drums at this time. My older sister's boyfriend was also a tenor player and a huge John Coltrane fan. That's how I was exposed to improvising music. I idolized all these older kids that were totally into jazz and my teachers would tell me stories about these wildly creative musicians who would shave their heads and stay indoors just practicing like jazz monks or something, and I would get all inspired. I started buying the recordings, really listening and getting engrossed in it. It became an escape for me. As I played more and more I met other musicians who were extremely gifted and creative people. I learned so much from them. I was very fortunate to be around many musicians with incredible skills and integrity. Those were the experiences that were so inspirational for me, spending hours and hours listening to music, practicing together, going to hear live music every night, then being in cities like Boston and New York that offer so much musically. That's the basis of my experience. I learned that it was possible for an individual to find a completely unique voice in the music and that no solo or no two people could ever sound exactly alike. That was a big attraction for me.

Q: Like I've mentioned in my review, I love the cover of your album. Please tell me where you took the cover shot and why you've chosen this particular photo as the cover.

Michael Adkins: Thank you so much, I appreciate it and a lot of people comment on it. I'm really happy with the way the album cover work came out. I felt like I had some design ideas that I definitely wanted to steer the artwork towards and was fortunate to be able to do it. The cover photo comes from a building on the upper west side of Manhattan near Riverside Drive. I don't remember exactly where but there were three or four other totally different photos that I gave to the graphic designers and we bounced these ideas off of each other and decided that the building one was the most appropriate. I gave them these photos and said, " What do you think? What can we do with this?" It just fit into to the whole experience of the process and felt right, that's all.

Q: What does Infotation mean?

Michael Adkins: Infotation was a word that just came into my head for some reason. That's the way those things work with me, I'll just get an idea that pops up. I put that name on a new composition I was bringing into a rehearsal and when everyone saw it they laughed. Infotation! Laughs. I brought it into another rehearsal and everyone laughed again, so I thought, hmm, there must be something to this word. I went with it and it became the encapsulation of that period of music making. I like the idea of creating and combining an experience as a whole unique entity. I think that is what it's all about, you know, make things. On another level as a word it could also be a social commentary on currents in modern society. Like a play on the connection we have with technology and how superficial that can be or on the unquestioning power we place on symbols like those found in advertising and other places. Those are some of the ideas in general that infotation points to when I look at it as a word after the fact, but initially it came simply as an impulse or a sound.

Q: Please tell me more about the inspiration behind the eight songs on your debut album.

Michael Adkins: I knew when I started thinking about recording that I wanted to make something with all original tunes. I felt strongly about this. All these compositions came together in a very short period of time. When I am involved in a certain regular project or rehearsal situation I start getting ideas for things I want to do and start writing everything down and working with the things I like and discarding what doesn't work. The key for me is to start the writing process and no matter where it begins to keep working everything so that eventually it becomes something complete. I have definite concepts that I absolutely will want to emphasize or express throughout. In the end hopefully you arrive at a statement. With this album I had a number of tunes that we recorded. Most of this album is first takes and at the most we did three takes. There was an immediate musical connection from the first bar when we began rehearsing for this album and it just seemed like everything worked. There was a lot of effort to get it to a certain point but when we were actually doing the playing, everything was extremely easy. Anything else inspirational probably comes just from the experience of the New York scene itself.

Q: Is Semblance Records your own imprint? If so, what was your purpose in establishing this label and do you want to release other artists as well?

Michael Adkins: Semblance was formed around and coincided with this particular recording. It is a totally independent operation. I have a hand in the music, and the manufacturing costs are covered by an outside source, but it's basically 3 people. It's a very basic bare boned set-up that will hopefully expand to include more recordings and other artists as well, but continue to be and gratefully so, entirely independent. It's a learning process. The key is distribution and we're looking into wider financing opportunities right now, so we'll see where it goes. I think independent groups are extremely important and without them there would be stagnation in the arts, especially nowadays. That's why people need to come together and support each other to grow and hopefully thrive. It's really vital.

Q: Infotation was already recorded in May 2000. Why have you waited 5 years to release it?

Michael Adkins: The whole thing with the timing came about because I wasn't even sure if I was going to release it at all but someone came up to me and said here do it. For me the delay was entirely due to financing. I was actually given the money to put it out. I still believed in the validity and freshness of the music so I put it together myself. It's been an unbelievably gratifying experience. It's really amazing when you come home and find messages on your answering machine by musicians you've idolized for years. That's happened repeatedly and we've made so many new listeners too, it's something we didn't really expect. So I suppose you could call it an archival release, but it doesn't matter anyway. In classical music they do that all the time. It's like releasing a specific moment or a valid interpretation that people will enjoy listening to. That's all that matters.

Q: What does the Michael Adkins of 2005 sound like? Where do you see your personal progression as a saxophonist since the recording of Infotation?

Michael Adkins: I've been fortunate to have had a lot of playing experience since this time and hope to show that growth and document it on record. I'm looking to record new musical projects that will include different instrumentation, simple form, and also build on the work of this trio recording. I would love to do more but for me that will be the best way to listen to the progression that has taken place. It's hard to put into words. I wish it was sooner, but I'm just thankful to be able to play and do this.

Q: Most jazz musicians these days seem to take the safe road with their debut by recording mainly (or only) cover versions. I like that you took the other road and recorded original compositions only. Please tell me more about your motivation behind this move.

Michael Adkins: I guess I like the idea of taking a chance and thought the composing would highlight my voice more. It was all an experiment, a process toward more growth. I worked hard and was not under any pressure so I tried to make music that I liked. The ideal in mind was to express individuality and not to copy or force it. I thought this was a good way to do it.

Q: When will we hear new, recently recorded music from you?

Michael Adkins: Hopefully very soon, I'm looking to go into the studio soon and have new finished recordings to release for '05. I am working on 2 new musical projects that I want to record this summer. It's a juggling process right now, but the response from the recording of Infotation has been overwhelming and deeply inspiring. We are very proud of this recording and hope to continue to reach new listeners and use this opportunity to build new relationships with people who may not have been exposed to jazz music before. Infotation has been a great bridge to reach out, we are very thankful and look to build on this and release new material as soon as possible.

For more infos visit michael-adkins.com, semblancerecords.com, cdbaby.com and read my review of Infotation.