by Zeal Patel

Interview with John Klopotowski

John Klopotowski is a Jazz guitarist based in Oakland, California. He graduated from the Jazz Studies and Performance program at William Paterson College in New Jersey. As an undergrad he also chose to explore classical music in depth through private composition lessons and piano lessons. Most recently, John has joined the Universit Chorus at Berklely. The chorus has about 65 members with a diverse group of people from all backgrounds such as physics, economics, data science, computer science, etc. John was gracious enough to provide me with a link of Berkeley Music Live Stream – University Chorus: The Light of Peace, featuring Mozart’s Requiem

I had the pleasure of asking John a few questions over email and he has graciously provided detailed answers.

ZP: Can you talk a little about your process for composing tracks for your album, Project 59?

JK: For my CD, “Project 59,” I documented in the liner notes the events that led to making the recording, and will take a broader view of your phrase ‘composing tracks.’ I did bring one of my original jazz compositions, but also chose to feature some jazz standards, some compositions by favorite teachers, and last but not least, two compositions by my co-producer, pianist Rave Tesar (he is a gifted composer). There may be two CD projects squeezed into one (there are 5 tracks with a quartet and another 5 with a quintet) but this project felt a bit like recording a jazz guitar concert or recital in the studio with a variety of composers represented.

Specifically though, I brought the original piece “Child’s Play.” I wrote this in 1982 when I was studying jazz improvisation in New York with tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh. It is a jazz ‘line’ – an original melody – and is written over the song form of the standard tune “My Melancholy Baby.” I wrote it as an assignment as part of the compositional aspect of the studies. As a starting point, I always liked “My Melancholy Baby” both as a song, and as a vehicle for improvising. With the composition, I found an opening phrase that worked and then went from there, incorporating some of the musical and technical exercises that I was working on with Warne. I was happy with this piece in that it felt organic at the time – a whole piece in spite of the various aspects that I drew on – and it got a good response from Warne and also when I would bring it to sessions with other musicians. And, I wanted to honor my mom by recording it, I always felt like the lyric to “My Melancholy Baby” could have been sung by her, to me, when I was an infant. Finally, I had studied formal composition extensively before 1982 and strove to

bring to my jazz composing some of the aesthetic that I learned when studying the structure of JS Bach’s writing.

ZP: You began your musical career as a classical musician, what inspired you to dive in the realm of improvisation and jazz?

JK: Actually it was the reverse: classical music studies came as a result of my studies in jazz, so please allow me to reverse the nature of the question. I started playing guitar at age 11, took ‘normal’ lessons, and was influenced by The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, and lots of other popular bands at that time. Then, at the age of 17 I happened to be visiting a record shop in NYC, was beginning to feel the draw of jazz, and bought two LP’s – one by guitarist Django Reinhardt, the other by trumpeter Miles Davis. These two records found their way into my musical psyche, and it was hard to get certain tracks out of my head. Not long after this a friend shared that he was studying with a jazz guitar teacher and encouraged me to do the same, and I started lessons around the age of 18. These studies led me to apply to be a Jazz Studies major at William Paterson College in New Jersey. It was a very inspiring musical environment, and for the first year I was devoted to my jazz studies but also studying music theory drawn from classical music. There were great musical influences at William Paterson, notably classical piano studies with concert pianist Gary Kirkpatrick, and also concerts by the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, an acclaimed contemporary classical music group. I knew that one of my jazz guitar heroes, Jim Hall, had studied classical composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music and seemed to me to have a beautifully thoughtful approach to his improvising, similar to pianist Bill Evans (the pianist on the first Miles Davis LP that I purchased). So I started studying ‘classical’ composition privately over the summer of 1976, and showed an affinity for it. I was also greatly inspired by everything that I was listening to, no matter the genre.

These studies eventually led me to enter graduate school (Stony Brook University) as a composition major, and this was entirely a classical music educational environment. However, after two years of rigorous study I met jazz bassist Sonny Dallas, a local resident on Long Island. He had a very active jazz performing career in New York in the 1950s and 1960s, notably with pianist Lennie Tristano. The experiences of playing and studying with Sonny, and his friendship and support, led me to study in New York with Warne Marsh from 1982 to 1984, and thereafter by mail and phone (he had moved to Los Angeles, his hometown) until his death late in 1987. At that time I became fully committed to improvisation and still am. JS Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin were all gifted improvisers. In my later years I have become aware of the close connection between music and spoken language, and improvising is something like telling a story but with no predetermined framework of how the player should tell it – the story therefore can be quite personal. Improvising also takes place in ‘real time’ – the present moment – and both of these factors can make the music emotionally direct for both performer and listener.

ZP: How does your background in classical music & jazz play off of each other?

JK: In performance or practice by myself, while I realize that I may be improvising on a jazz tune or practicing a ‘classical’ piano piece, the musical language can be the same, or very similar, especially if the music is tonal and structured around common-practice harmonies (the common-practice period in music is roughly considered to be from 1685 through 1900). Jazz draws much of the harmonic language from developments in Western classical music, and also the interesting period around the turn of the last century (1900 up to around the beginning of World War II). That said, improvising brings a freshness, a feeling of surprise, that can infuse a musical performance with life. Classical performances that capture this feeling are very attractive to me. Last and definitely not least, the rhythmic element of music is pronounced in jazz. Certainly this comes from the African roots, and the way the music developed in America in the slave community. However, rhythm also underwent drastic expansion and transformation in classical music in the period following 1900. There are jazz elements in classical pieces from that time (ex – Ravel Piano Concerto in G, Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue), and classical harmonic language in jazz composition and performance (the writing of Gil Evans – “Birth of the Cool,” “Sketches of Spain”). In sum, I am aware of a fruitful cross-pollination between classical and jazz music.

ZP: Who are your original and current influences?

JK: (See answer to #2 for info on some important early influences.) The first jazz player I was drawn to, in terms of wanting to emulate, was guitarist Pat Martino. He died recently (November 2021) and was a large force in jazz and jazz guitar. I was lucky to hear him perform several times in New York in the early 1970s but did not get to study formally with him then. However, I did take a week of master classes with him at Stanford University in the summer of 2001. In terms of formal study, northern New Jersey was home to a robust community of jazz guitarists and I studied then with Bob DeVos. We are still friends and you can hear Bob performing currently in New York. He had a very similar approach to Pat Martino in both playing and teaching, and they had both studied jazz with Dennis Sandole in Philadelphia.

After relocating to the Stony Brook area on Long Island I met bassist Sonny Dallas, and he led me to listen to several early jazz masters. Studying jazz history also led me to these players, and private studies with Warne Marsh did the same. I came to be influenced by all improvisers of note, but especially tenor saxophonist Lester Young, alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, pianist Lennie Tristano, saxophonists Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, and Sonny Rollins. One reason is that these are players who contributed greatly to creating a language of improvisation that other players emulated. Finally, I came to be influenced by the great jazz singers – Billie

Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and many others. At the core, the best jazz is directly connected to the voice and these artists show us the way.

With guitar, I became enamored by the playing of Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery, and I also have had a great affinity for the ‘Toronto School’ of jazz guitarists. The first jazz guitarist from Toronto who attracted attention was Lenny Breau, and I also greatly admire Ed Bickert. If I made a full list of players I admire, who I consider to have influenced my thinking, it would be long and might be a bit boring for you. These are all players that I love dearly though, their playing speaks directly to me and I have learned and sung many of their improvised performances. Referring to the last question, for me these sorts of jazz recordings are ‘classics’!

ZP: Technology has played an important role in Jazz recordings & performances. Do you think upcoming tech like Virtual Reality (VR) would play a role in reshaping the next phase of Jazz recordings or performances?

JK: For this question, let me draw on the last 20 years in terms of technology evolution: in my experience the learning tools used in jazz have developed exponentially. These include transcription, practice, and recording tools. This is not what the general public would notice, but the level of playing is much higher than it was 30 or 40 years ago, and also the speed at which a student of jazz performance can develop has increased significantly. I don’t know how VR would play into this, but I am sure there will be an effect. Perhaps musicians in different locations will be able to collaborate more meaningfully in real time, and more easily, with VR as it develops. But the great news is that people need to practice their art for a lot of reasons and this will not stop. Technology will only continue to enhance learning and performance.