An Exclusive Interview with American guitarist Russ Spiegel
Comments (0) American guitarist Russ Spiegel is a musician who wears many hats. Alongside performing – from solo guitar to running his ensemble The Russ Spiegel Jazz Orchestra, Russ is a commissioned composer, written music for film, TV, and musicals, taught college-level courses, ran workshops & seminars, given private instruction, and has copied music for Broadway shows and major-label recordings, as well as having appeared in a number of feature movies as both a musician and actor.
A prolific recording artist, Russ also released several CDs. Ucombo Music Reviews editor Meg Dilts had the opportunity to interview him this week about his early musical training and his recent CD release entitled “The Russ Spiegel Jazz Orchestra ~ Transplants”.
Meg: Hi Russ, thanks again for letting us interview you. You were born in Los Angeles, but moved to Germany with your family while you were in high school. Did you receive your earliest musical training in the US?
Russ: Hi Meg, great to talk with you. I grew up in a musical household. My father plays trumpet, my brother Victor, who is a pianist and composer, was always rehearsing his band at the house, my sister Shelah plays violin and my mother would sit down at the piano from time to time. I tried playing trumpet like my dad when I was about 9 years old until about 12 but I was never really motivated to practice. When I was about 14 I discovered a picture of Fender Strat in my father’s music catalog and was fascinated by it. I don’t know why, but I just had to get one. My father said I could play guitar but only if I took lessons. We went down to the local music store in Fountain Valley and they started me off on a classical guitar. I practiced every day and that summer I got a part-time job and saved up enough money to buy a Strat. I kept taking lessons but got into a couple rock bands and learned a bunch of tunes from my bandmates. Then, my junior year in high school my dad got a job in Germany and that was it for my lessons for the time.
Meg: While living in Germany, did you continue your music studies?
Russ: I don’t think so. At the time, I was just trying to emulate people like Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, and the like. I learned some solos and got some books and tried to work through some concepts, but it was really kind of half-assed, to tell the truth. I do remember a high school trip to Nuremberg for the Christmas Market. Pat Metheny had just released his groundbreaking 80/81 album and, I don’t know why, but I picked it up and listened to it a lot, but never really tried to play like that.
After a year in Frankfurt I moved down to Munich to go to college. It was funny, the place was the University of Maryland, Munich Campus! It was housed on an Army base in the southern part of the city. I was always on the lookout for new music, trolling the local record shops and discovered some recordings featuring Allan Holdsworth with Gong and Soft Machine, and later came across some Wes Montgomery records. I had a bass player friend named Jim Foitik who tried to get me to listen and play more jazz and who taught me a couple of standards. Another jazz-crazy friend of mine, Andy Heinze, dragged me to concerts around the city. I remember seeing Weather Report when they were at their peak, which was just an amazing show, and later we went up to the Northsea Jazz Festival for three days. I think at the time I was just listening to a lot of music, though I was always playing in different bands back then.
The college in Munich was only a two-year program. On the advice of my professors I transferred to the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. It was there that I started taking lessons in Jazz Guitar. I remember one of my teachers was Johnny Lawrence, who is a great player. I got involved with a student-run club called Eclipse Jazz which put on quite a few concerts a semester with big-name acts: Johnny Griffin, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Wynton Marsalis, and many, many more. Sometimes the artists would also give workshops and I attended those religiously. I also joined the University Big Band, which at the time was run by trumpeter Louis Smith, who at one point had a career on Blue Note records. Up to then, I couldn’t read a lick of music and struggled for quite a while. It did help me to develop a very basic ability to read chord charts.
Meg: You traveled back and forth between Germany and the US for a number of years while establishing your musical career in Europe. What was it like to be a starting out Jazz musician in Europe, in terms of getting gigs?
Russ: I didn’t really get started, in a career-sense, until after I finished college. After my undergraduate studies at Michigan I went back to Germany for a year to be with my family, hang out, work, etc., and then went back to Michigan to work on what was going to be a Master’s Degree in Public Policy studies. It was a very elite program, letting in only about 50 students a year. It was very intensive, however, with lots of classes in statistics, economics and the like, and I found myself doing less and less work and playing more guitar. At the end of the semester, I think the only class I passed was Big Band. I decided to take a leave of absence and in the meantime had applied to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. They awarded me a scholarship, so I thought, “It’s now or never,” and I packed off to Boston to learn guitar for real.
After six semesters at Berklee, I had a ton of stuff to work through and was fairly broke. Someone had stolen my car and ran it into a wall and I felt it was going to be pretty hard going trying to survive as a musician in Boston. I knew the Berklee name carried some weight in Europe so I packed up my things, mailed a bunch of my stuff to my folks, and headed back to Germany to try my luck there.
Back then there were a lot of gigs and places to play in Frankfurt. The American military was still based there and I did find a lot of acceptance in getting work. The pay scale was also pretty good, and the cost of living a lot lower. I think for Europeans, at least at that time, there was the benefit that Americans were still considered exotic. I’m not sure that’s the case any more.
Meg: You did all of your higher education in the US, earning a Master’s degree in Jazz Performance at the City College of New York studying under John Pattitucci. Your undergrad degree was in Philosophy, why Philosophy?
Russ: Well, that’s not entirely true. As I mentioned I went to the University of Maryland in Munich. I also took a couple of academic courses at the University of Frankfurt and did a summer program at Oxford University in England before attending the Masters program at Michigan. However, for most of the time I was at college I was a bit adrift, kind of idealistic but with no real goals. Guitar and music was a hobby, but at the time I didn’t really entertain the thought of making that my livelihood. At one point I was toying with the idea of getting involved in mathematics, but found I didn’t have a great interest or aptitude in it. Literature was always important, as I have always been an avid reader, but I somehow just drifted into Philosophy as I was intrigued into the history of thought.
Meg: You moved back to the US in 2001, and quickly found yourself busy on the music scene, playing solo, composing, giving workshops and master classes, and forming The Russ Spiegel Jazz Orchestra – a 17-piece band. It is quite large for a jazz band. How did you meet all the musicians?
Russ: New York City is a wonderful, inspiring place. I am very appreciative of my time in Europe but found that the musicians here in New York are really hungry for any and all playing opportunities. I think you’ve got the best musicians in the world all congregating in one area. I had been playing in a rehearsal band over at the Musician’s Union on 48th Street and had been subbing for a friend in the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra and had gotten to know a lot of cats. Then a job at a West Village club fell in my lap. If you have an opportunity to gig, it’s more about the music and the experience than the money here. That’s not to say that money isn’t important. It’s just that everyone knows it’s hard to make anything with a big band. I’ve always tried to write interesting and challenging music for my musicians so that it’s rewarding for them to play in my band and that they will want to stick with it. I made some phone calls and when I got stuck finding someone another musician would inevitably help out and get the part covered. Fortunately, since then I’ve been able to have a fairly steady crew of musicians and also been able to get my name out to the general music community so if there is an open chair I’ve got a nice choice of musicians to choose from.
Meg: Your recent CD release entitled “The Russ Spiegel Jazz Orchestra ~ Transplants”, featuring 9 big band jazz piece all arranged and produced by you. Is this the debut CD for your orchestra?
Russ: Actually I had started doing big band work in Germany. I had written a couple of pieces for the local radio big band, the Hessischer Rundfunk Bigband, but never had a chance to actually hear the pieces performed. I was playing at the time in jazz organist Barbara Dennerlein’s group and the saxophone player recommended I start my own group. I followed his advice and, after more phone calls, not only had a big band, but had a regular once-a-month hit at a local club. One of my last years in Frankfurt I received a special award from the city for my work and was asked to perform with my ensemble at the German Jazz Festival. That was back in 1999. It was a real honor, with lots of press, and the concert was covered on radio and TV. We got to open up for the Dave Holland Quintet and Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy. That was a real highlight. Earlier that same year we did a gig at a nice club in Aschaffenburg, which was recorded and I released that a while back under the title, “The Russ Spiegel Big Band – Live in Europe.”
Once I had relocated to New York in 2001 I was doing small band stuff for a while but the itch to put a big band together got to be too great and I started up my group here. To prepare for the recording we did a bunch of gigs and rehearsals before we went into the studio. What a tight band! We managed to cut 9 tunes in about six hours. I was and still am amazed at the level of commitment and quality of musicianship of all the players. The CD itself took about 3 years to finish due to editing & mixing, which was an expensive process because of the size of the project. I had also recorded a smaller group that same week that I decided to put out first because it was much easier to do. That was “Chimera”, which was released on the Steeplechase label.
In the meantime, I have a pretty large number of big band pieces in my book – mostly my original compositions but also some standards and compositions of friends which I have arranged. I recently did a concert with the great Hendrik Meurkens, who plays the chromatic harmonica, and we are trying to get that project off the ground. I also am thinking of doing a more groove-oriented big band album. It’s always a question of money, alas, and for the moment, this CD has pretty much emptied my cash reserves. I am hoping some doors will open when people hear this recording, maybe get some guest spots somewhere or be able to sell some of my charts to schools and colleges. I have also begun writing for film and TV and am hoping that that will take off. Otherwise I am always on the lookout for new ideas and concepts that I can incorporate into my writing. I feel very fortunate to be able to work with such a large project.
Meg: It’s great talking to you and thanks again. Look forward to hearing more wonderful compositions from you.
Russ: My pleasure, Meg.
Russ Spiegel is represented by Redwood Entertainment, Inc. in New York.
