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Humble and self-effacing, without a trace of attitude or ego, Jimmy Herring's demeanor nearly belies his status as one of the most acclaimed guitarists of his generation. Plying his skills in contexts ranging from classically song-driven rock to technically demanding jazz fusion, Herring's playing combines a restless, jazz-inspired improvisational zeal with the immediacy and intensity of his rock'n'roll roots. His formidable chops, combined with his thoughtful and unassuming personality, have made him much sought-after, a musician's musican. Now, after over thirty years in the game and stints with such beloved outfits as Widespread Panic, the Dead, Phil Lesh and Friends, the Other Ones, Project Z, the Allman Brothers, Col. Bruce Hampton's Aquarium Rescue Unit, Jazz is Dead, and others, Herring is finally releasing his first solo album, Lifeboat, via Abstract Logix Records on October 21, 2008. "
Despite his illustrious list of past collaborators, Herring wisely avoided the super-session trap for Lifeboat, opting instead to focus on a core band featuring his longtime cohorts Jeff Sipe (drums), Oteil Burbridge (bass), Kofi Burbridge (piano, flute), and Matt Slocum (clavinet, piano, organ), along with special guest appearances by slide guitar master Derek Trucks on two tracks and maverick jazz saxophonist Greg Osby on five. "Jeff and Oteil and me," Herring reflects, "…we've always done crazy stuff together - live, without a net kind of stuff. But this time I really wanted to do an album about the songs - even though it's jazz-oriented and all instrumental, it's still about the songs. The melodies are the focus of the album, not people playing fast all the time." As a result, Lifeboat is eminently listenable, while remaining surprising and stimulating. By turns fiery and introspective, the album is composed of six Herring originals, two contributions from Kofi Burbridge, Wayne Shorter's "Lost," and an unexpected interpretation of the overture from the Disney film The Jungle Book. Herring was able to capture the Jungle Book's evocative allure by cleverly and carefully dividing the orchestral elements of the original between several guitars, Kofi Burbridge's flute, and Greg Osby's saxophones. "That's a really passionate piece of music," says Herring, "and I'd been captivated by it since I was a kid. For twenty years I've talked about recording it…" While Herring is justifiable proud of the forethought and consideration that went into Lifeboat, he is equally quick to point out the happy accidents that influenced the sound of the record. "To me the sleeper tune of the whole record is 'Grey Day,'" he says. "When we recorded it, I didn't put any lead on it yet. The chord changes are pretty hairy, and I had to practice playing over them. So at the end of a twelve-hour session, I asked the engineer to plug my guitar in, direct to the board, just so I could practice playing over the track. I made one pass through it, and the engineer said 'Do you want to hear it?' I didn't know he even recorded it, and I just knew it was going to suck. He played it back and I was frozen…I thought it was one of the best things I'd ever done. I did two more passes, and we took the best parts from each pass for the record. I didn't let them put on any EQ or anything - I loved that fragile, vulnerable sound we got by going direct." "Lost," written by former Miles Davis and Weather Report sax player Wayne Shorter, features the frontline of Herring's guitar, Osby's soprano sax, and Kofi Burbridge's flute, and proved equally challenging. "Wayne Shorter's tunes are so easy to listen to," Herring explains, "but then you try to play them, and you realize how hard they are! He lulls you in with this really simple, cool melody. I had to shed that one more than any other tune on the record. But Kofi and Osby, they absolutely killed it. Their solos are absolutely masterful…on that song, and a few others on this record, I just wanted to be a horn - no rhythm guitar, just play the theme and solo. Overall, I wanted to make an album of music, not a guitar record. Some people might be disappointed that there aren't twenty-minute guitar solos, but this a side of my music that I don't get to do as much any more, that is very important to me." Herring's cutting, serpentine solo on "Lost" is an accurate reference point for where he is as a musician, soulfully skirting the divide between the introspective passion of jazz and rock'n'roll's more extroverted firepower. "I love jazz," says Herring, smiling. "I love Wes Montgomery, I love Django. I like to draw from the jazz vocabulary to expand the horizons of what I do, but I love Led Zeppelin as much as anything. That's my roots, and I want to stay true to them. That's why I love playing with these rock bands." "These rock bands" read like a who's who the most popular improvisational-driven groups of the past three decades. Herring first achieved prominence in the late 1980s as a member of Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, with Sipe and Oteil Burbridge. "We learned so much from him," says Herring fondly. "He didn't teach us to play - he taught us to listen. He taught me to listen to horn players, because they have to breath. If you want to play musically, you have to play in phrases. Sometimes, Bruce would yell at me and say 'If you were a horn player, you'd be blue in the face right now!'" After almost a decade with the Aquarium Rescue Unit, Herring joined Derek Trucks (who contributes to two tracks on Lifeboat, including a remarkable solo on "New Moon"), the Allman Brothers' Butch Trucks, Blues Traveler's John Popper, the Burbridge brothers, and Marc Quinones to form Frogwings in 1997. In 1998 and 1999, Herring toured in Jazz is Dead, playing radical fusion versions of Grateful Dead music alongside such icons as Bill Cobham and Alphonso Johnson. The year 2000 found Herring working on the debut album of Project Z, his trio with Jeff Sipe and Ricky Keller. That same year he auditioned for, and was offered, the guitar position with Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh's new endeavor Phil Lesh and Friends. He toured extensively with Lesh, while also playing with the Allman Brothers on their 2000 summer tour. In 2002, he joined the original members of the Grateful Dead as the reunited, first as the Other Ones, then as the Dead, and toured with them through 2004. Herring joined venerable jamband pioneers Widespread Panic in 2006, and continues to perform and record with them to this day. Herring is quick to credit the influence of playing in more song-oriented contexts, such as the Dead and Widespread Panic. "These songs on Lifeboat aren't Panic songs or Dead songs or Phil songs, but their influence was huge. It might not sound like it, but it is." Above all, Lifeboat is exceedingly musical, the product of longtime friendships and mutual respect. "When I first moved to Atlanta from North Carolina in 1986," Herring reflects, "Jeff, Kofi, and Oteil were some of the first people I met and played with. I've played with them on and off for 20 years, but I don't get to play with them nearly enough. They are the best musicians I know. When we have a history like that, it becomes like family, and this record is about family. Playing with your heroes, like I've done, is great, butI can't think of anyone on the face of the earth that I'd rather play with than Oteil, Sipe, and Kofi." The feeling is mutual. "I just think it is flat out the best thing he's ever done," says Oteil Burbridge. "When I heard it, I said 'You broke through the ceiling.' He nailed it. Once you get to that level, it doesn't matter what style you're playing." "If there's one thing that I'm really happy about with this record," Herring concludes, "it's that we were all true to ourselves. It's all honest. We played the way we play." Lots of great press on Lifeboat. A big thanks to everyone that
are supporting the record. Check it all out on the
press page |
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