#262 Joe Locke- Vibraphonist, Educator, Composer and More!
Photo of Joe by John Abbott.
This week’s guest, Joe Locke, is widely considered to be one of the major voices of his instrument. He has performed and recorded with a diverse range of notable musicians, including Grover Washington Jr, Raul Midón, Kenny Barron, Eddie Henderson, Cecil Taylor, Dianne Reeves, Eddie Palmieri, Ron Carter, The Beastie Boys, the Münster Symphony Orchestra, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, the Orchestra da Camera della Sardegna and the Lincoln, Nebraska Symphony.
Long known to be a soloist capable of stunning physical power and broad emotional range, it was not until the last decades that he emerged as the composer, bandleader and conceptualist that he is considered today. This is in no small part due to his solo projects since the beginning of the 2000s. “Four Walls of Freedom” (Sirocco), a 6 movement suite based on the writing of the monk Thomas Merton, which he composed as a vehicle for tenor saxophonist Bob Berg, garnered high praise from the critical community as a major work and won several international polls. “Live in Seattle” (Origin), by The Joe Locke / Geoffrey Keezer Group, won the 2006 EarShot award for “Concert of the Year”. This group is well-loved and emulated by younger musicians looking for direction and inspiration. The overwhelming success of his quartets, such as “Force of Four” (Origin), can be attributed to the talents of Locke’s exceptional collaborators and to the leader’s musical philosophy, which is to honor tradition while keeping both feet planted in the present and future. His 2011 album, the captivating, immersive “VIA”, is the result of a reunion of Storms/Nocturnes, the transatlantic trio with Geoffrey Keezer and Tim Garland.
In 2011 Joe joined the Motéma label for four intrinsically different albums bearing witness of his immense stylistic versatility and ability to create artistic depth in a variety of contexts:
After Signing, the long-awaited follow-up studio album of Live In Seattle, 2012 also saw the release of Joe Locke’s first-ever symphonic project, Wish Upon A Star, featuring Locke‘s Quartet with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra (NE), and the Jazz radio charts #1 Blues & Ballads album Lay Down My Heart in 2013. In 2015 Locke released Love Is A Pendulum – a suite based on a poem by Barbara Sfraga – is already being hailed the most important work of his career.
Locke’s latest album, Subtle Disguise (Origin Records, 2018) represents “the total expression of who I am as a musician and human being.” and features Jim Ridl, Lorin Cohen and Samvel Sarkisyan as part of the core quartet, plus guests Raul Midón, David Binney, Adam Rogers and Alina Engibaryan.
Locke is a six-time recipient of the Jazz Journalists Association’s “Mallet Instrumentalist of the Year” Award, has received two Earshot Golden Ear Awards for “Concert of the Year” and the 2013 Hot House NYC Jazz Awards for Best Vibes Player, and keeps topping critics and readers polls. In 2016 Joe was honoured with the induction into the Music Hall of Fame of his hometown Rochester, NY.
As an active clinician and educator in the United States and in Europe he is a faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music and has been the International Vibraphone Consultant at the Royal Academy Of Music, London, on a visiting basis since 2008, holding the title of Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy Of Music (Hon ARAM) since 2013.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Tom Aungst. Tom is the Director of Percussion at Dartmouth Public Schools in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. His job includes teaching percussion students at all levels of the program, from the beginners starting in 5th grade, to the middle and high school students. Mr. Aungst has been in the Dartmouth school system for the past 24 years. Under Tom's direction, Dartmouth has participated in the WGI indoor percussion activity since 1998, capturing five World Class Percussion Championships (1998, 1999, 2008, 2009, 2014) and has consistently placed in the top three.
Mr. Aungst has also been involved in the drum corps activity for over 36 years. Tom has recently returned to The Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps as the Caption Head and Arranger for the 2017 season. He was formerly the Caption Head for Carolina Crown in 2015 and 2016. Mr. Aungst got his start in drum corps in the late 70's by marching with the Reading Buccaneer's all-age corps, winning two DCA World Championships in 1979 and 1980. In 1981 Tom became involved with The Cadets, first as a member from 1981-1984, then as the Percussion Arranger and Caption Head through 2008 and later returning as a consultant in 2013. While with the corps, Tom was involved with capturing nine championships and seven percussion awards. Mr. Aungst has always remained actively involved in the drum corps activity, recently writing for the Cadets2 corps in 2013, and working with various groups like the Blue Stars, Pacific Crest, Hawthorne Caballeros, and the Connecticut Hurricanes. Tom is a member of The Cadets, Drum Corps International and the WGI Halls of Fame.
Mr. Aungst is a graduate of West Chester University, where he received his Bachelor's in Music Education and also has a Master's in Jazz Performance from Rutgers University. He is also a proud father to Alan Aungst and Noah Aungst.
Happy Birthday to Nate Morton. Self-taught from age 5, Nate's formal drum set training began during high school with Grant Menefee in Baltimore, Maryland. He continued his education in Boston, Massachusetts as a performance major at the renowned Berklee College of Music, studying with drummers such as Ed Uribe, Ian Froman, John Ramsay and Ron Savage. Upon graduating in 1994, he taught and played locally in Boston until moving to Los Angeles in 1999 where he has since amassed live performance and recording credits that include Natalie Cole, Michael Bolton, Madonna, Miley Cyrus, Richard Marx, Paul Anka, Paul Stanley, Pete Murray, Pink, Paulina Rubio and Thalia among others. Nate was also the hard hitting force, driving the house band, on the Mark Burnett shows, ROCKSTAR:INXS and ROCKSTAR:Supernova. He cites Animal from The Muppet Show as his first and biggest influence.
In 2010, he was the house band drummer on Bonnie Hunt's day time talk show, as well as performing with Cher for her string of appearances at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Now, you can catch him grooving during prime time on the NBC hit show, THE VOICE.
Gig Alerts
The World Vibes Congress is a FREE two-day, Live Streamed event featuring performances, clinics, and discussions from the world’s best vibraphonists - covering a variety of musical styles in diverse sessions that delivers over 9 hours of streaming content! You will experience everything from intimate ‘living room’ performances to thoughtful discussions and insightful clinics. Sit back and take it all in, or interact and participate with the artists and others in the live chat - all from the comfort of your own home!
Educational Spotlight
This week’s educational spotlight is a guiro lesson for beginners from the CongaChops and Latin Percussion Educational series.
Social Soundbyte
This week’s social soundbyte is a duo video collaboration from Congahead Studios. Presenting a living legend in Latin percussion, Nicky Marrero in performance with Marcos Torres.
Timbales / Drums / Surdo / Bongo / Vocal: Nicky Marrero
Congas / Vocal / Producer: Marcos Torres
Violin: Rigdzin Pema Collins
Producer / Audio / Video: Javier Raez
Food and Hospitality: Vivianne Cohen
Executive Producer: Martin Cohen
Iconic Recording
This week’s iconic recording is “Mujer Divina” by the Joe Cuba Sextet, from the ‘Wanted Dead or Alive (Bang Bang Push Push Push)’ album from 1965.
Music News
New $125 million program offers guaranteed income for NY artists. 2,700 artists will benefit from steady monthly stipends and paid positions. Applications open in early 2022 -Article
You can stay informed about things the Creatives Rebuild NY organization does by filling out THIS FORM HERE.
Winnie-the-Pooh and other early sound recordings from 1926 are now in the public domain in the United States. Duke University published the full list of works entering the public domain this year. In addition to the usual books, movies, and other compositions, 400,000 early sound recordings entered the public domain as part of the 2018 Music Modernization Act. -Article
Rapper T-Pain has reignited discussion about the question that so many in the music industry have asked – “How much do artists make per stream?” – with a new social-media post. -Article
Damon mentions Charles Alexander and the companies he started, Streaming Promotions and Outside The Box Music. You can see a video of Charles explaining Spotify and their playlists.
Joe Locke Interview
The song leading into the interview is “Who Killed Davey Moore?” from the album 'Subtle Disguise' featuring Joe Locke - vibes Raul Midón - vocals, guitar Jim Ridl - piano, keys Lorin Cohen - bass Samvel Sarkisyan - drums
Damon met Joe at the most recent PASIC.
Damon and Joe talk about being an extroverted introvert.
As a kid, Joe played drums and piano, and continues to play the piano, but not so much with the drums.
Joe mentions writing a song (“Parkway”) for the percussion duo, Escape Ten (Annie Stevens and Andrea Venet). The song he wrote for the LSO percussion ensemble is called “Her Sanctuary”.
Joe talks about some of his influences for composition.
His mom introduced him to the vibes from her wanting him to play the glockenspiel in the marching band. She taught him piano lessons and found a jenco vibraphone in an ad that he started to play on one rainy day.
Joe talks about his family’s musical influence on him as he was growing up.
Joe talks about the importance of the credits and liner notes on the albums he listened to.
Damon and Joe talk about how pop music of the day has evolved.
Damon and Joe talk about improvisers on the xylophone like, George Hamilton Green and Red Norvo. The player Joe couldn’t remember was Teddy Brown. Shout-out to the late great Ian Finkel.
Joe is one of the featured players (along with other greats and friends of the show) in the book put together by Anthony Smith called “Masters of the Vibes”.
Damon brings up some of the more popular latin vibes players in Cal Tjader, Tito Puente, Tommy Berrios and Louie Ramirez. Joe mentions Bobby Paunetto and Johnny Rae.
Joe mentions participating in a recording with the Spanish Harlem Jazz Orchestra.
Joe does some teaching privately as well as the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Joe talks about one of his former students, (and friend of the show) Stefon Harris and the way that he teaches.
Joe talks about his “holding the door” mentality of helping people that are less gifted.
Joe talks about Ron Carter helping him move his vibraphone through airports in Japan.
Joe is finishing a book about the great migration by Elizabeth Wilkerson.
Damon and Joe talk about the correlation of music and other performance arts like standup on comedy and theater acting.
Joe talks about how the history of the USA is taught in the US and some social justice. Joe also enjoys Rev. William Barber and some of his writings.
Damon and Joe talk about some of the evolutions of the US and what was going on musically at the same time.
Joe can record from home and you can reach out to him and have him play on your music or get his sheet music and more.
Damon and Joe talk about Norwalk and Westport, CT.
Joe busked with George Braith, who played the Braithophone (two different horns (straight alto and soprano sax mended together by extensions, valves and connections.) on the corner of 42nd street and 6th ave. Robin Williams used to check them out to prepare for his role in Moscow on the Hudson.
Joe worked with the Beastie Boys on the “Hello Nasty” album.
Joe uses Malletech instruments and Malletech Mallets. Shout-out to friend of the show Leigh Howard Stevens.
You can follow Joe on his Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. There are also more videos of Joe HERE.
The song leading out of the interview is “Blondie Roundabout” from the ‘Subtle Disguise’ album.
