David Becker

For over 20 years, guitarist/composer David Becker has continued to define himself as one of the best and most unique voices in contemporary jazz guitar. Combining diverse influences and a passion for the new and different, Becker’s latest CD “Where’s Henning?” reflects his gifts as a player and composer, and his ability to play for the present while always keeping an eye on the past and future.

Joined by his brother and longtime collaborator, drummer Bruce Becker and bassist Tom Lilly, Where’s Henning follows the trio into the studio for an impromptu recording session. Selected from over 6 hours of music taken from these sessions, the CD combines unique originals and some well-known standards for what is undoubtedly a great, solid jazz record.

We spoke with David about the process of making the CD, his dual existence in both the U.S. and Germany, and what keeps him going to make better music each day.

JazzReview:  Tell me a bit about the process of putting together Where’s Henning?

David Becker:  That’s a good question. We didn’t really know it was going to be a record, truthfully. The idea was just to go in and play, and see what would come out. I think a lot of the records we have made were more calculated in terms of composition, which I wanted to do, but we haven’t done one that was just about going in and playing. My brother and I figured we’d go in, try and see what we could do with that idea – we didn’t even listen to anything we recorded, until it was all finished. A lot of the tunes on there were either 1st take or 2nd take.

We kind of sat on it for about 6 months before we listened back to everything, and the only thing I had heard was a rough mix of Footprints and another tune I took on a CD that we listened to when we got back from Europe. I sat down and though, ‘what are we going to do with it?’, and started contacting some labels and that was what took place.

JazzReview:  When was this recorded, by the way?

David Becker:  It was 3 different days in L.A., in November last year and then I came back a couple of months later after being in Europe and we did about a half day, like a few hours, and that was when we got Green Dolphin Street, That Man’s a Legend, and I Could Write A Book.

JazzReview:  I assume these were studio, not live?

David Becker:  All studio, one was a home studio of an engineer friend of Tom Willy, and the second was done at a studio owned by a guy who is partners with Steve Lukather [guitarist, of Toto fame], which had this great Neve console. This was the console they took from the studio in England that did [Pink Floyd’s ] Dark Side of The Moon.

We had worked there before, and we ended up mixing the whole record there, and even though he’s not really a jazz guy, he did an amazing job. We had 6 hours of music, so I flew straight to LA from Europe, got right off the plane and needed to listen to CDs of all these takes, and the 3 of us picked out what we thought should go on the record. There are some tunes like The Monkey, which we had 5 versions of. All of them were very different, but we chose what we thought the best representation was.

JazzReview:  Having done all of the record in the studio, how did you manage to keep the sound as “live” as possible, which is what I know you were probably going for? Being a musician myself, I know it can be difficult to achieve in a very controlled recording environment.


LINKS



BBC Review – 02/22/08

“A jazz album with a hint of latin spice and a whole lot of warmth, skill and style.”
– Guy Hayden, BBC

Ohio born Becker mixes a regular recording career with touring and teaching guitar all over the world – always a sign that someone has both a real love of their instrument and a genuine talent for it, too. Another sign of someone’s class is the level of talent that they have played with – in Becker’s case this includes time with Miles Davis, Chick Corea and The Yellowjackets. Pretty good company.

Leaving Argentina is Becker’s 10th album in 20 years of recording and was inspired by his many recent visits to that country. Featuring, as ever, his brother Bruce on drums and the bass wunderkind Bolle Diekmann on both fretless and stand-up bass, this is essentially a trio album that is perhaps something of a rarity these days – brilliant musicianship by people with a terrific understanding of each other and their medium. Never too flashy or trying too hard to show just how brilliant they are, these three guys nonetheless play up a storm together. Each is given plenty of chance to show their chops with some blinding solos, but never to the point of outstaying their welcome or muscling in on anyone else’s territory. Consequently, the overall feel of the album is warm, inviting and invigorating with the mood swinging from the rollicking uptempo numbers such as Cafe Con Leche, Rio de la Plata and Racin’ Through The Andes (very Pat Metheny/Jaco Pastorius circa Bright Size Life) to the contempletive, rather lovely ballad, Hard To Say Goodbye.

The one cover on the album is a very tasteful, but elegantly and expertly played version of Keith Jarrett’s Memories of Tomorrow and the latin flavour is at its most obvious with the guest appearance of Daria Polonara’s bandoneon on the tango of It Takes Two.

I admit to some nervousness when seeing that this album was influenced by Argentina and other Latin countries – this sort of inspiration can so often be overplayed to the extent of seeming false and forced, or just as bad be so hard to find in the music as to be almost pointless. Here, the latin flavour is used as just that. A flavour. Enough of it to give the musicians a sense of structure to explore their way around but never too much to be kitsch or unwelcome. This is a jazz album with a hint of latin spice and a whole lot of warmth, skill and style. A really lovely album, in fact.