TexasHotJazz.com

The Texas Hot Jazz Person of the Month for May 2009 is Ryan Gould. To jazz fans around Central Texas, Ryan is a familiar figure, playing bass (and other instruments) with several of the area's jazz groups.

 

Ryan Gould’s first love was the guitar, which he began playing in the late 1980’s. Hailing from the Philadelphia area, Ryan soon became a member of several metal and punk rock bands during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. After completing a tour of duty with the United States Marine Corps, Ryan began studying and playing double bass, ukulele, and uilleann pipes. This study led him to a love of early twentieth century American music and his relocation to Austin, Texas. Through his performances, Ryan salutes, among other jazz greats, the rhythmic voracity of Milt Hinton and Pops Foster in combination with the melodic influences of Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, and Willie "The Lion" Smith. Ryan is an all around musician and does not limit himself strictly to jazz styles. His innate and balanced sense of music makes him comfortable in many musical genres including rockabilly, bluegrass, Irish, and children’s educational music. He is regularly engaged in studio work

 

Instrument(s): string bass, ukulele, guitar, voice, soprano saxophone, uilleann pipes, tin whistle

 

 

RG: A list of my influences could go on and on ... perhaps, it's best to direct interested parties to my blog where I discuss my influences: www.ryan-gould.blogspot.com  

Generally, I would say my biggest influences are Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), Roy Rogers (NOT the country guy but my uilleann pipes teacher), Kevin Smith, Milt Hinton, Pops Foster, Thelma Terry, Bill Johnson, Fats Waller, and Sidney Bechet. As for my teachers, I feel I'm a student of everyone; I'm always trying to learn from anyone near me. We all have so much to teach each other. Specifically, I've had only a very few formal lessons and teachers. My cousin, John Robinson, gets the credit as my first and only formal guitar teacher. Roy Rogers (NOT the cowboy!) is my uilleann pipes instructor, as well as a great mentor. And, I finally took some formal lessons on string bass a few years ago from a great teacher here in Austin, Glenn Schuetz.

 

 

RG: I don't have a definite answer for this question. Music was always part of my awareness. As a child, I loved playing and singing along with my parents' old records. Mom and Dad also listened to the "oldies" channel on the radio all the time so I got a good ear-full of 60s doo-wop and rock-n-roll. I do remember thinking my cousin must have been the coolest person in the world since he was always entertaining his friends with his guitar playing. Maybe that was my first clue? I knew I wanted to be a professional musician around 1997 when I started working as a string bassist with my cousin's bluegrass band. I was also doing manual labor jobs that were leading me nowhere. Music seemed to elevate my interests beyond just making enough money to pay the rent and buy food and trinkets for the house.

 

 

RG: I shoot for a full, round, robust sound with little to no electrical assistance to amplify that sound. I'm thinking Pops Foster, Bill Johnson, Sidney Bechet, Leo Rowsome, Paul Robeson, Cecilia Bartoli, Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Hygema, USMC. My approach to music is somewhat religious. I consider music to be very spiritually important to the human mind and body. I believe that we all have something to share that can benefit our communities and the world: music is my thing. I feel like music helps me to speak to the world, as well. I think it is absolutely amazing that I get to do this for a living. So, the sum and balance of those things is my approach. I try to honor the folks who have beaten a path for me to follow; I try to honor the folks who share this music with me by staying connected to the music. I hope to leave everyone within earshot with a sense of happiness and lightheartedness through my music. The short answer is actually just that love music and playing music so much that I'm usually bubbling over with excitement at the chance to share it. So, I do it, intentionally or not, with a bit of gusto.

 

 

RG: It's tough for me to accept myself as a "teacher" because I consider myself a student and will, more than likely, always feel this way. I'm always trying to evolve and enhance my technique and understanding of music. Nonetheless, I have taught lessons. While I do present information and techniques to practice and internalize this information, it usually comes in the form of discovering the material with the student: "Let's learn this together!" I also believe that the process should not be grueling. It seems to me that having a very natural connection to music, uninterrupted by negative attachments is vital to anyone learning to share his experience through music.

 

RG: A dream band is an obscure concept for me. I really enjoy playing with the bands and individuals with whom I play music now and in the past. It would seem difficult to be connected to the music in the moment if I was thinking about playing with a different group of musicianers. So, to assemble my dream band, I usually just look around at the musicianers who are sharing any given stage with me and know that I love them as family and individuals and musicianers or look forward to getting to know them in such a way through music. Then, as the feeling sinks in and I find that connection to these folks, my heart is happy, my brain is smiling, and I find myself in my "dream" band.

 

 

RG: There are so many!

A number of years ago I played a gig at the airport (ABIA) with my old pals, The Boxcar Preachers. It's an interesting gig to say the least. On the break, Korey and I took a little walk down the concourse to stretch and headed back. We returned to meet the father of a family who had been enjoying the music during the first set. He motioned for his four or five year old daughter to join our conversation. She was pretty shy so Dad tried to encourage her to speak, "Go ahead, you can tell them what you told me."

She was still too shy to speak but she was able to hand to each of us a gift she made while she listened to us play earlier.

 

The gift was a drawing of her hand with stars above each finger, signed “Amanda” across the top. Amanda had drawn five of these beautiful pieces, each in a different color for each member of the band.

 

Dad realized she wasn't going to speak to us and said, "In her words, 'The band gave me the gift of music, I want to give them the gift of art.'"

 

It didn't take long before there was a small lump in my throat. The story still encourages me to well up a bit.

 

If there’s any interest, a photo of the picture is posted on my blog: http://ryan-gould.blogspot.com/2008/08/august-17-2008-amanda.html

 

 

 

RG: My most favorite venue in Austin is Flipnotics CoffeeSpace on Barton Springs. I prefer to play on that stage acoustically. It's a small listening room requiring NO amplification. I've played with numerous bands on that stage and have appeared there at least once weekly since May 2000 (barring tours and vacations).

My most favorite gigs there have been all acoustic shows with Aunt Ruby's Sweet Jazz Babies, Giant City, Shorty Long, and Les Niglos (The Dave Biller Quartet).

Honorable Mention for an amplified venue would probably go to The Continental Club shows with Giant City. The soundmen there have always honored our wishes to be mostly acoustic with just enough assistance from the PA to fill the room with sound for the dancers.

 

RG: I have three favorites. In no particular order:

Les Niglos (Dave Biller Quartet) - "Leroy's Swing" We recorded over 40 tracks in eight hours (counting a lunch break); each one was arguably a keeper. The sound and feel of this recording capture the band just about as closely as a recording can! The material is enjoyable and the performance is outstanding.

Shorty Long - "American Novelty" Again, the sound and feel of this recording really captured the band as it was! The material is really well written and fun. Pops Bayless is a great songwriter!

Sqwak! - "Sqwak!" I guess this is a departure from jazz but I'm quite proud of the endeavor. My punk rock band in Okinawa spent a weekend in the studio recording a few of our originals just to document our time together on the island. Surprise: the sound and feel capture almost exactly what we sounded like live! With each of these recordings, there is very little post-production - just the band as it was on that day.

 

 

RG: Vitality and honesty. As mentioned earlier, I try to honor the good in music with openness, love, and happiness. I feel like this is honesty in music. If I don't do this, I don't feel like I'm sharing music with the musicianers sharing the stage or the listening and dancing audience; I feel disconnected.

It's also important to me to honor the traditions of the past in any kind of music. I feel I do that. But, I also feel that in any traditional form of music, it is very important to breathe new life into it, lest it become lethargic and fade into oblivion as a dusty museum exhibit. If I think about a Sidney Bechet recording of tune I'm playing at any moment, I not only remember what Pops Foster was saying with his bass line, I try to think about what Geezer Butler might have said over the same passage. Then, I laugh at both of them, thank them for the experience, and play what I feel like playing - not what every other bassist is "supposed" to play.

 

 

RG: I guess if it's not readily known, I prefer it to stay that way.

 

 

RG: I don't recall which one came first? I think it might have been a double album collection of Django Reinhardt material.

How about best album? Sidney Bechet Portrait - 24 Carat Gold Edition - Past Perfect

 

 

RG: Paul Robeson - Deep River - Great Voices of the Century

Cliff Edwards - The Vintage Recordings of Cliff Edwards (Ukulele Ike) - Take Two Records

The Pogues - Red Roses For Me - WEA Records

Chirgilchin - Collectible - Pure Nature Music

Blue Voo - Blue Voo - courtesy: Hal Smith

 

 

RG: Sidney Bechet Portrait - 24 Carat Gold Edition - Past Perfect

Paul Robeson - Deep River - Great Voices of the Century

Cliff Edwards - The Vintage Recordings of Cliff Edwards (Ukulele Ike) - Take Two Records -or- Cliff Edwards - Singin' in the Rain - Audiophile

Aunt Ruby's Sweet Jazz Babies - How To Live on a Desert Island and How to Build a Seaworthy Craft to Escape Said Island & How To Signal Jazz Babies Island's Rescue Team Double Album Set - Independent

Black Sabbath - We Sold Our Soul - Warner Bros./WEA Records

 

 

RG: I'm not the best source to speak on the state of jazz nationally.

I can say that, in Austin, jazz seems to be flourishing in some way. Since I moved to town in late 1999, there has been an ever-increasing number of new bands popping up. I hope that’s a good sign! A lot of folks around town seem to be interested in the earlier styles of jazz and using those styles as springboards from which to launch their own styles. To me, that's what jazz was always about: a mixed bag of interpretations of older material with sprinkles of new ideas and attitudes. Of course, music, in general, has been on a slow, downward spiral for years and is evident in the popularity of both the "pop" music of today and the relative obscurity of older forms of music in the popular culture. That said, jazz could certainly use some more popularity today but it is still keeping time. And, with the new technology age, and the growing interest in town, perhaps, jazz will grow each year and eventually, do more than just keep time.

 

 

RG: I would think education is key but not enough. Jazz has to compete with a lot of other stimuli in today's world: video games, television, movies, a growing void of adult responsibility in the corporate music world, iPhones, swine flu, wars on terror and drugs and poverty, sub-bass woofers in silly MatchBox looking cars, etc. Jazz has to be presented to kids on a regular basis as something different than just an alternate form of boring music that must be studied to pass a test. Jazz has to be presented to adults in the same way, more or less. I think what I'm getting at is that the musicianers performing this material have to truly love it and present that love through the music. Most of us do. Let's just keep doing our thing until we come up with something better!

 

 

RG: I'm afraid I've nothing too terribly exciting to report about the near future other than it's coming.

 

 

RG: As of now, no day job. You never know, though. Things are getting tight all over the place. Right now, the day consists of getting up, sending my beautiful wife off to university, swimming, yoga, filling out interviews and answering emails, studying music and martial arts, and then heading to gigs.

 

 

RG: Perhaps, a yoga instructor? Maybe a nomadic wanderer in the mountains of some Eastern European, Indian, or Far Eastern area? Could be a community activist? How about a writer? What about an Irish piperer? I definitely wouldn't be a skateboarder or a sky jumper. I might consider taking up sumo wrestling, though? Without the jazz musicianing, mayhap, there would be time to follow a visual arts pursuit? Or, I could earn a living competing in Scrabble tournaments! It's a tough thought process.