So we were kind of kindred spirits. We recognized that somehow we had a connection. I think the incredible thing is that Chicago, our hometown, gave us a foundation that we could take with us around the world. Each one of us pursued their music, composition, and improvisation, and in the process put their mark on it.
He was my mentor, you know, and I used to go over to his house. Okay. Yes!
So he go do his jacket, do his stuff, come right off the jacket. Ping, ping, we in the number four. And just keep... His door was always open.
He was always... open to a lot of things. After playing, say like in traditional situations, jazz, bebop, I started exploring other ways of composition and improvisation.
And we would get together and we would play something. We'd been talking for a long time, you know, and Caden and we'd talk about doing something together. You know, so it wasn't a surprise when he said he wanted to do this, you know what I mean? It was like, well, we finally got to something. Once you play music with people it creates a bond that is never broken.
I met Roscoe, I was going to junior college in Wilson. Wilson Junior College. In Henryville.
Yeah, we were all up there. So we all... We sort of recognized something in each other and we started getting together to play.
In the houses they had attics and we used to play concerts in the attics. We polarized around people that you kind of sensed they had some kind of... of individual voice and vision without talking about it at that point because we were much younger but we knew that I think we knew that about it that this person has got an individual thing that they're trying to do and like I think you know you're looking for somebody that's tried things in life that you tried because you need some kind of comradeship especially if you will strike out on your own.
We're just picking up from wherever we left off at. So to me it's just a continuation. In the early days, Moo Hall had the experimental band.
We used to rehearse every Monday night up at the CNC on 67th and Cottage Grove there. And Jack was in the band there at that time. And so it's like family, so to speak. And I think you can make great accomplishments in music by having these long standing relationships with people. Because if you'd have told me back then that this thing never stops.
I might not have believed you, but now I see that that's really true. So it's a good thing, it's a great thing to have these long-standing relationships with people in the industry. Jack in 1994, he had this deep love of these musicians that came out of Chicago because they were his roots, at the same time always having his own sound, knowing exactly what he wants to do and having his own voice within that context.
Certainly the feeling of community in Chicago and the idea about what would be expected when you're coming up to play with somebody. The flow is the most important thing that I connect. It's not about, you know, we're going to play these notes that we rehearsed.
And that's the thing about AACM and about free music. When you get into something where you're not thinking about, you know, I have to play, here comes the fifth bar, you know, I've got to go to the C sharp minor and all that sort of thing. You know, this is really about having a real connection, you know. and then things will really come out. People have to stay engaged in their art form.
I think everyone stayed highly engaged in it. I think that's how Jack was able to pull it together because we were all doing what we were doing 150% and had some kind of contact. I couldn't imagine what was in Jack's mind, what was the plan, but I knew it was going to be something that would have to work. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I mean, if you don't have to work, I'm discouraged if it don't work. I lose faith in things. So the New Zealand Time, you know, there's a book called Self Speaks. It talks about how our realities and consciousness way beyond what we've been fed about so-called three dimensions. So she talks about the concept there's a museum of time which means if you go someplace like where you kind of feels familiar to you like and somebody's gonna say something to you and they say you know what they're gonna say you know these thoughts and it's a bleed through that's what they call a bleed through another time that sort of cross and mesh and sometimes if you're not you know open to them it can be kind of disorientating.
So that's what the idea is like, when I was playing that Everybody brought music that challenged us, but we rose to the occasion because we like being challenged. But everybody's like open. Sometimes there's disagreements, but ultimately it's going to the goal of saying what works best.
So everybody sort of comes around to an accord. to say, yeah, yeah, that's great. And we used it just for one of my pieces, you know, or more, and I did how we organized the solo. And so that's part of the music, too.
One of the things about this is that we bring that individual. A high level of improvisation, which is an expectation. I expect these guys, just and myself, just take it to the next level.
And I know we'll do that and continue to do that together and our own individual pursuits.