Interview - Abe Rábade

What brought you to music, to jazz? And why did you choose the piano?
My parents are both writers but they always had a great deal of passion for music. Since I was a kid, music was always around. My sister Maria and I started a music program at the Conservatory of my home town Santiago de Compostela. I was 4. My first steps in music were in the Kodaly system (which I think is amazing since it emphasizes the creative aspect in music rather than the rational one) and my teacher was Sally Albaugh. Later on, the conservatory had its official program for the following years and we studied solfege and piano. But we quit a couple of years later since it was too theoretically oriented and the lack of creativity was too vaste. My parents decided to try a new approach in our music education and we started out Estudio escola de música, directed by Suso Atanes. Estudio’s method had a great orientation towards jazz music (its solfege program included many standard tunes and ear training was important in the school). I kept studying piano but from a whole different point of view (where improvisation was one of the main goals and jazz the major style to learn). Suso Atanes was my piano, solfege, harmony, improvisation and arranging teacher for many years. I also studied drums in Estudio as my second instrument.
I don’t really know why I chose piano. It was at a very early age I started having lessons. But I can say it always felt a very natural means of expression for me. Piano is a great instrument because it’s very complete. The piano blends the main aspects of music; harmony, rhythm and melody.

Who are your biggest musical influences?
My two biggest jazz piano influences are two masters I have real devotion for; Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock. I also have the need to constantly hear the major pianists in jazz history; Lennie Tristano, Wynton Kelly, Red Garland, Bill Evans, Hank Jones... Besides piano, I admire the art of two jazz figures such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane and to put it in recordings: Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme. Right now I have a great interest in a band which I think is very powerful and imaginative: The Terence Blanchard Group. It combines the respect for jazz tradition with an amazing urge to go forward by experimenting with new timbers, playing odd meters and incorporating ethnic flavors. Terence is a very good composer, too. And the band has its own powerful sound... I love it.
Besides jazz, I like the piano touch of Glenn Gould and the unique way he approached. One of my favorite composers; Bach. I like Scriabin works for piano. I have a huge admiration for flamenco music, especially in the voice of Camaron de La Isla or the guitar of Paco de Lucia. Jimi Hendrix is my only rock idol and I truly love his soloing...
Besides music (because I think music is part of a major whole which would be a fully artistic view) I love very different photographers such as Gregory Colbert, Diane Arbus, Paul Caponigro or Chema Madoz; painters like Franz Marc; novelists like Ernesto Sabato and Paul Auster; poets like Rui Belo.

You studied at “Berklee College of Music” in Boston. Looking back, what can you tell us about this time?
It was a very solid experience. I graduated in 99. I had the chance to study two different majors: Piano and Jazz Composition. Joanne Brackeen, Paul Schmelling and Dave Frank were three of the best piano teachers I’ve ever had. I had the chance to study composition with the great Greg Hopkins.
Berklee was about playing everyday, writing everyday and jammin’ everyday with people from all over the world.

What fascinates you by music (in general) and jazz (in particular)?
Music is the only art form which you can’t touch or at least see... That ambiguous nature of music is very attractive to me. I think the way music touches human beings is almost sacred. This has to do with its essence (inmaterial and invisible) and therefore a great amount of imagination is taking place by the listeners in this artistic experience.
Jazz, particularly, is a concept where the synthesis of traditions is always present, improvisation (meaning spontaneous composition from learned resources) is a major part of it and the interaction between band members, past improvisers and composers and audiences make it one of the most powerful contemporary arts.

Which project so far was your favorite and why?
My favourite project so far is perhaps my last album “Playing on Light -7 sounding photos” since it combines jazz music with photography and poetry. This record was published by Karonte in April 06 and it is a trio CD with Paco Charlin on double bass and Bruno Pedroso on drums. On live performances we even project the 7 images while playing the tunes. I “translate from the images” by Ralph Gibson, Arno Rafael Minkkinnen, Donna Ferrato, Nikos Economopoulos, Mitsuaki Iwago, Bruce Davidson and Paul Caponigro.

What was your most exciting and thrilling musical experience?
Anytime there is real communion with the musicians I’m on stage with. This doesn’t happen that often because deep concentration and honesty are needed from everyone. I can recall last week in Teruel with the Raynald Colom Quartet: Raynald Colom on trumpet, Tom Warburton on bass and Marc Ayza on drums.

Tell us more about your new projects; also the very interesting trio CD, “Playing on Light - 7 sounding photos”? What inspired you to do this record?
I wanted to do something special, not just another trio album. It was a quite different precess to write music based on images. Usually, I write tunes based on personal experiences and I forced myself in “Playing on Light” to translate pictures into jazz composition and improvisation. For that I needed to somehow capture the essence of the photography and use that feeling to write a tune. There is a variety of feelings throughout the album: sensuality, nostalgia, brightness, viscerality...

Pure instrumental music is wordless but not lacking in intention. What is the message behind your music?
I try that every tune I write has a purpose. Some of the compositions are pretty clear on the intention: I wrote a tune called “Prestige” when the boat Prestige sink in front of the coast of Galiza in 2003 full of oil and it spilled it all over. Obviously it’s a sad tune and the intention is to make people think (even meditate) on this issue...
I try to have a balance in my albums. This would involve tempos, character of the tunes and even the “message” on them.
But I also think that fortunately music is a very open art which produces individual non-intentional emotions in the listener. It’s a matter of taste, psychology and sensitivity...

Already now, you have achieved a lot. You are an in demand and a very versatile pianist in today’s competitive age. How do you think your future will look like? Where do you go from here?
I’m really enjoying the music life I have. I have the opportunity to be working with two managers, Bea and Elias who are fully supportive and really understand this path of jazz for my future. I have the chance to be working with very talented musicians such as Bruno Pedroso, Jesús Santandreu, Raynald Colom, Chris Kase, Marc Ayza... It’s very important for me the energy Paco Charlín and Luís Carballo put in the SPJ (Seminario Permanente de Jazz de Pontevedra). We have 40 students in the SPJ this year and we are constantly working in projects (concerts, master classes, recordings...).
My next album will be a Septet record with trumpet, alto, tenor, trombone and my trio.
For the future, I would love to put tons of passion in the projects I work on or lead.

What advice would you give to jazz musicians and specifically students that are learning to play the piano? Would you recommend them to go to America for their studies?
The first thing I would really advice is that they should meditate about the function of music in their life. Why do you play an instrument? How does that relate to you? How does that relate to others? We should never forget the word INSTRUMENT: it is a means to communicate (not an end itself).
Going to the USA is a very good choice if your main interest is in jazz. Jazz music is originally an US Art Form. The great thing is that jazz is now spread all over the globe and that fact doesn’t make the trip strictly necessary. But I would recommend a stay in the States if possible.

http://www.aberabade.com/

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