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profile: Dave Easley |
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| In Fellowship: Dave Easley And Brian Blade | |
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| He’s
probably the only pedal steel guitarist performing with an internationally-known
jazz artist. So, you might think Dave Easley cut his teeth in the studios of Nashville,
like six-stringer Hank Garland, a musician who broke out from country with jazz recordings
in the late fifties, which are said to have influenced the likes of George Benson. Nothing
could be further from the truth. Though he is an eclectic musician who works in many
idioms, the Brian Blade Fellowship band member claims roots in psychedelic rock and bebop.
Easley’s steel adds an ethereal touch to the atmospheric and meditative music performed by drummer Blade’s group. Just when you think you have his role pegged, however, he breaks into a blistering solo, with all the passion and facility you’d expect of a great jazz player. The steel guitarist has been with the group since its inception, and appeared on their 1998 release "Brian Blade Fellowship," and the second CD, "Perceptual," which was released in 2000. He has also toured extensively with them in the U.S. and Europe. The Blade group takes a fairly arranged approach to the music, which is mostly written
by Brian Blade and pianist John Cowherd. According to Easley, much of the material
"…seems to be written, not just for a seven piece band of those particular
instruments, but for those particular seven individuals." He feels the parts he is
given are well-suited to his style, though they are mostly single notes, like horn parts.
Since the Brian Blade Fellowship includes piano and six string guitar, the composing
members can be forgiven for not fully exploiting the harmonic possibilities of the pedal
steel. |
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| Though conventional wisdom says it
is a difficult instrument to play, Easley doesn’t feel there are any technical
reasons why the steel has been so rarely used in jazz. His only reservation is bass
lines-- "if there is just one other guy on the gig, I like for it to be a bass
player." While many jazz pianists and guitarists are adept at walking the bass while
comping, Easley says having to hold down the bass is not something he enjoys, and it makes
it much harder for him to "feel loose." "The amount of bass notes you can
have under any chord is limited. You can work your pedals this way and that, and twist the
bar around, but it gets a little hairy." Like many six string guitarists, he often
uses chord voicings where he doesn’t play the root, and says that bassist James
Singleton of 3 now 4, a New Orleans--based group with whom Easley also works, prefers him
not to play chord roots "too close to his neighborhood." In contrast to his work with Blade, 3 Now 4 and many of the ensembles Easley works with around his adopted home town of New Orleans use a lot of collective improvisation. 3 Now 4 is anchored by the rhythm section of drummer Johnny Vidacovich and bassist Singleton, known for their work with Astral Project, Mose Allison, and Johnny Adams. Easley has a strong sense that this tradition of "improvised counterpoint," and the way it is played in the Crescent City follows a line from early traditional jazz, even in an outfit like 3 Now 4 leans toward the avant-garde. "It may sound completely different melodically, harmonically and mood-wise, but I still feel there’s a really strong thread going back to those days." Incidentally, he also hears a similar approach to improvisation in the music of the Grateful Dead, an early influence. Besides his role as an unconventional player on an unconventional instrument, Dave Easley seems to gravitate to bands whose music is difficult to categorize. In addition to the Brian Blade Fellowship and 3 Now 4, he is closely associated with Coco Robicheaux, a blues-rooted songwriter known for his spiritual bent and psychedelic voodoo image. He also leads a group called Heartifacts, in which he is singer and songwriter, with influences from bossa nova to Bob Dylan. Easley believes that the connection between himself and these varied artists and projects is spiritual. "Sometimes I wonder if some guardian angel led me to meet these people so that I would form a musical relationship with them." Noting that the Blade group is called "Fellowship," he says, "I feel a spiritual communion in the band’s music, but none of the fellows have ever asked me if I go to church or which denomination I would go to if I did." He also notes that Blade’s father is a Baptist minister, as was his grandfather. There are other connections among the musicians Easley sees as significant: Coco Robicheaux, himself an ordained minister, officiated at Blade’s brother’s wedding, and 3 Now 4 drummer Johnny Vidacovich was an early mentor for Brian Blade. Fellowship bassist Chris Thomas and pianist John Cowherd also spent time in New Orleans, like Blade and Easley, and have felt the influence and the mystery of the city’s musical legacy. It is a city that nurtures those who have a different vision--sometimes to give them a safe corner in which to be themselves, and sometimes, as in Dave Easley’s case, a vantage point to broadcast to the world. |
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Note: This story was originally assigned, then killed, by Downbeat ,in the fall of 2000, but I thought it deserved to see the light of day. Due to the high cost of keeping a seven-piece jazz group on the road, Dave Easley no longer tours with the Brian Blade Fellowship. He continues to work with many artists in the New Orleans area, including the Bowling Lamas, which also includes Plunge webmaster/editor Mark McGrain. SP |
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Spike Perkins is a bassist and freelance writer, and has resided in New Orleans the past 19 years. His work has appeared in Option, The Austin Chronicle, The Times-Picayune, Offbeat, and The Maple Leaf Rag. More information can be found at his website: www.fastband.net/~spikep | |||
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